This was our second and final visit with our new family. We got to the apartment and knocked on the door and no one answered. We thought we heard a baby crying from outside the door, but we knew they did not have a baby. So, we waited a couple of minutes and knocked again. Nobody answered. We did not know if they didn't hear us or if they just weren't home, so after waiting a little while Carly called the father and finally he came to the door. He greeted us and told us his wife was just crying on the phone with her mother because she misses her family and her home. We felt really bad as if we were intruding on what should have been their alone time, however, the family continued to be super welcoming and friendly. This was yet another way I saw the true values and social practice of the Arabic culture. Luckily, it was a sunny 50 degree day so we were able to walk to the park which was only a block away. The little boy brought a kite and it was a perfect day for it because it was super windy outside. The son ran all around the park, up and down the slides, and flew his kite. He couldn't stop giggling and truly looked like he was having the time of his life. The mother went from crying to grinning ear to ear with happiness. We continued to talk with them and helped them recognize words for each item at the park in order to increase their english and vocabulary skills, which enlightened me to the nature of language. The father couldn't stop thanking us for simply bringing them to the park. He said his son now gained 20 pounds and is becoming obese from being stuck inside with nothing to do and just being able to see him running around was a blessing. The family ran around and constantly laughed with one another for a good hour. I had never seen someone so extremely happy. It was truly a perfect day at the park. As politely as they could they asked us to leave so that they could have their own family time. With tears of joy the mother thanked us as well as the son and father. When we were leaving we drove past the park and noticed them having a blast and interacting with another Arabic family. The rest of my day I couldn't stop smiling. I felt like I had made the biggest impact on this family by simply bringing them to a park, it was the greatest and most rewarding feeling I have ever had.
Social Practices are the behavior patterns that members of a culture typically follow. It is the demonstration of values. Arabic culture values politeness and hospitality much more than American households. In both families we worked with, the mothers waited on us and served us drinks and food on a tray as if it was their job. This is an example of the Arabic social practices. Also going off of politeness and hospitality, the mother immediately stopped crying when we came to the door and warmly welcomed us. This exemplifies how much they value their reputation based off of manners.
The Nature of Language: Language is subjective. Also meaning words can be translated completely differently or have their own personal meaning in different cultures. While we were at the park, the father pointed to his son trying to get on the swing and asked me what those were called. He recognized the swing as a completely different word that I was unsure of, so when I told him we call it a swing he continued with, "Oh because it is suspended?" as he held his hands up. I wasn't really sure what that meant, so I explained to him that we call them "swings" because they swing back and forth, as I showed him the motion with my hand and said, "this is what swinging is."This was very interesting to me because it showed how words can have different meanings in different cultures and I had never realized that before working with this family.
The main and most important thing I learned in this visit is that it isn't always the big things that matter, that the smallest acts can make the biggest difference and impact in a person's life. This can be used in future interactions with other cultures because I feel as if we are always trying to impress people of different backgrounds than us and now I know that it is not that complicated. The smallest actions can go a long way.
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