Essay Contest

Cross Cultural Variety for Understanding
Stefany Lolyta

More than a hundred green, blue, grey, and hazel eyes are brightly staring at both of my brown eyes during International Education Week. As I started to show my country's flag, I felt like the center of the universe; nobody was looking at anyone else but me. They were curious about my country, like a little kid who just got a new toy. They look puzzled, perhaps with some questions stuck in their heads. Probably they were wondering if people on the other side of the earth like my country, Indonesia, still live the same way they do or not. I was standing in front of them ready to accommodate those questions and share a new culture with them.  

A ton of questions seemed to attack me at that time. I still remember what kind of weird face that I put on when they asked such awkward questions like "Do you live in a tree?" or "Do you have a car over there?" I just never knew what they were thinking about my country. So I let them watch a DVD about my country, let them see how beautiful my country is, and then see what they thought. It worked! That totally changed their minds. I showed them some pictures of my school, family, and friends. We discussed the different types of food, traditional clothing, houses, and instruments from Indonesia. During my presentation, they also told me about some of their western cultures that I've never known before. The exchange culture happened there. Sharing culture is really a fun thing to do.

I taught my classmates some Indonesian simple phrases, like how to say hello or how are you. They also learned to say the alphabet in Indonesian. That was so much fun. They kept asking me so many things to translate in Indonesian. Then they would show off to everybody after they learned how to say it. I feel so happy to hear them saying my own language. Then, I sang some Indonesian songs for all of them. I just wanted everybody to know how my language sounds. They really liked it. I know music is one good thing to share.

I didn't only sing during International Education Week, but also danced the "plate dance". That is a traditional dance from my country using a small plate as a property. I did it in my dance class. I taught them some of the basic steps, and then let them try and perform it. That was awesome; I also showed my teacher how to do that. The whole class was so excited because my traditional dance is so different than what we've learned before. Now they do not only know my culture but they can participate in it.

At home, for four days, I cooked some Indonesian dishes as dinner. I fixed some hot foods which are very popular in my home town. I worked hard to cook it because I never cooked a lot when I was still in Indonesia. My host father really liked it, but unfortunately my host mom cannot eat spicy food. So I made another food which was sweet for my host mom; I'm glad finally she liked it. But they still said my dish was extremely hot. From then on, they started to call me "fire eating dragon". That will be unforgettable.

I really enjoyed all of the moments that I have spent together with many friendly Americans during International Education Week. It's just not all about learning to share, but also about learning to give and take. By discussing and performing some cultural things, we feel closer to each other. As we think about what we have and what we don't, why we have it and why we don't have it, a huge understanding appears between us. Now instead of their many colored eyes staring at my brown eyes, I only feel our colorful eyes looking at each other.

Click here to see her video.