Aung
Paing Soe Hein
February
17, 2025
ESL
100
Culture Shock
Living with two lives in a new place is not easy. I have had to face a lot of culture shocks since I arrived in Chicago. As a newcomer, it is easy to see the different cultural or social aspects between Chicago and Yangon, Myanmar, where I came from. I arrived in Chicago one and a half years ago. I have tried to fit in the United States. However, going shopping for food and the weather have given me a hard time because pricing differences and payment methods are really different from Myanmar. To be honest, I don’t exactly know about most holidays in Chicago. Moreover, I realized that some cultural experience from my country, Myanmar, that I can’t participate in Chicago or that would be misunderstood if I did them here. Although I have embraced some parts of the culture in Chicago that I found interesting, I really miss the cultural activities that I participated in Myanmar.
When I arrived in Chicago, I found
out that it would be really hard to celebrate some holidays from Myanmar, like
Thingyan Festival which is the Water Festival. I also tried to find out if the
Burmese community in Chicago celebrates that holiday. Unfortunately,
the Burmese community here is much smaller than other cities in the United States, so these Burmese in Chicago don't celebrate. On the other
hand, I have seen some different social aspects between the United States and
Myanmar in classroom. In Myanmar, if I want to use restroom or leave the
classroom, I have to tell the professor . Professors in Myanmar consider that as
respect. In my first day of school in the United States, I told professor that
I want to use restroom, but professor told me not to interrupt the teaching.
That was the first culture shock that I have seen.
On the other hand, there are some parts of the culture that I have embraced since I arrived in Chicago. Some holidays of the United States, like Halloween and Christmas, are not very popular in Myanmar. Even if Christmas is celebrated around the world, Myanmar doesn’t celebrate this holiday that much, but some people do. The reason is a lot of people in Myanmar are Buddhist. After arriving in Chicago, I participated in some Christmas parties with my friends. I love it when people trade Christmas gifts and enjoy the holiday and Christmas songs. “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey is a song I love, and it is very common in the Christmas. On Halloween, I did some decorations with pumpkins and even went to my friend’s parties with costumes. I once dressed as a Joker. Sometimes, my friends and I walked through neighborhoods to look at the Halloween decorations of houses. It is so great to be participate in that holidays
Even if I had a hard time trying to fit in this culture, I found out some interesting for me. Once I realized that the United States is more like a Salad Bowl, and that I don’t need to try hard to fit into any particular culture, I started to enjoy and adapt to different aspects of culture. Even though I went to the bazaar to buy some food or vegetables in Myanmar, I have to go to supermarkets to buy what I want in Chicago. All I think about this new culture is that I am just having new experiences. I love every part of the culture in the United States that I have ever experienced. In the future, I will find more habits and try to enjoy them.
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The water festival must funny! You can also get more by celebrating Christmas and Halloween in Chicago. I still want to come back to China to celebrate the traditional festival like Chinese New Year with my friends, but I also enjoy the American festival here. Have you introduced any traditional festivals from Myanmar to your friends here?
ReplyDeleteAbout the restroom's request, I was really surprised too😂 and I started to ask myself if I could ever imagine doing this in my old school without asking the professor. Is there any special meaning behind the Water festival?
ReplyDeleteLeaving the classroom without having to ask permission is culture embraced here too. If you do that in my country it is considered as disrespectful towards the professor.
ReplyDeleteYes leaving the classroom without the teachers permission is actually disrespectful but also for the student safety so that the teacher knows the student where about. After all during school hours he is responsible for the child but I think that only applies to elementary and high school
ReplyDeleteIn China, there is also a rule that as same as your country. Sometimes, some professors wouldn't allow students to go, as they wanted to help children develop self-control. I personally experienced this when I was in elementary school. I really like the rule here in the U.S., where you don’t need to ask the professor for permission to leave the classroom. Back when I was in China, there were times when I wanted to go to the bathroom but didn't dare tell the teacher—mainly because I didn’t want to interrupt the class, and also because I felt embarrassed.
ReplyDelete