Blog 3

1. Today I arrived at the school about 2 hours earlier than normal. Because of this, I was able to work with kids in classes that I never had before. Two kids stick out in particular from this day, and they are John-Jacque (JJ), and James. JJ and James are both from Africa and have been in America for quite awhile. JJ has been here for about 3 years, and James for about 6 years. During their English class, the three of us went to the library to work on their homework. The assignment was dealing with vocabulary words. They were learning synonyms for words like happy, angry, scared, surprised, etc. The assignment was to come up with 2 sentences for each word, one example and one non-example. The boys were coming up with sentences saying how they would be shocked if the war ever ended in their country, and how they wouldn't be shocked if they never got to go back home to see their family. I wasn't very familiar with the war in Africa, so we got to talking about it. The boys explained that the war was mainly over simple things like food and water. Hearing this almost put me in a state of shock, as I had no idea that this was going on. The boys said they were happy to be away from the war, but they would really like to go back and see their family.

2. The biggest concept that I can apply to today is culture shock. I had no idea that this war over simple human needs was going on in Africa. Obviously I know about war, as America has been involved in a few, but it has never been in America, always in other countries. The boys were telling me about this war in their country like it was no big deal. It's really sad that they could talk about the war basically like it was nothing because it happens so often. Also the fact that the war is taking place in their own country is just unbelievable.

3. In the future, I need to realize that things that people from other countries are used to might not be things that we as Americans are used to. America might not be perfect, but it isn't suffering nearly as much as other countries. I have also learned to be very careful with my questions, because these kids have experienced things that I couldn't even imagine. I'm sure talking about such things isn't something they enjoy or look forward to, and I need to keep that in mind when asking questions.