Cultural Experiences

I have a few cultural experiences to write to share. One, happened on Sunday while I was at a friend's apartment here in Geneva. Both are from other parts of the world. I went over to just hang out, but then we decided to cook together because it was about that time. No plans, just cook what is in the fridge.

What do you have? I have some tomato sauce and some beef and an onion. Okay, we can make something with that. Let's put the onion in and then add the beef. No, you put the beef in first. No, you put the onion in first. No, the beef has to go in first to give the taste to the onion. Back and forth. Back and forth. Okay, now what do we add. Water, of course. No, oil. Why would you add water? Clearly, we need more oil. Just a little more water is good. Let's taste it. Ugh! It needs something else. It needs.. hmm... sugar? Let's add some sugar. Great idea! No. I won't eat it if we add sugar. Just a little. I promise it'll make it better. Are you sure? We NEVER add sugar at home. Oh, I always add sugar. Okay. Let's try it.

Eventually, we ate the dinner. It was pretty tasty, even with the sugar. I realized how simple we think cooking is. Even if I know that there are certain dishes that belong to our country, I don't think of the way that I cook as particularly "American." I just cook the way I learned at home, the way my mom taught me, the way her mom (or my dad depending on who you ask) taught her. I just cook. There is no intentional thought process. I do things because that is the way you do them. This experience cooking makes me wonder what other areas of my life are unintentionally influenced by my upbringing. I have much to learn about healthy ways to interact and share in intercultural dialogue. Cooking, which I take for granted, is an arena where I can learn and improve my intercultural experiences.


Another cultural experience that I had was on Monday during lunch. I have been hearing about this Focolare Movement. I have met one person that is part of their movement, but I didn't really know much about them. However, a large group of them came to the Ecumenical Centre on Monday. They live near here in Switzerland. I had the chance to have lunch with them. The group at our table was a group of young men from: Brazil, Uruguay, Italy, China and Uganda. Only two of them spoke English. The Chinese man and the Ugandan. There were two options for conversation:
1. Those that spoke English can chat together and ignore those that cannot speak English
2. Those that can speak both English and Italian can translate so that all can be involved in the conversation.

Although option two is clearly the more inclusive and more loving option, in similar situation I've been in option one has always been chosen. Talking amongst those that already speak a language is much easier than having an actual conversation among people who do not speak the same language. Perhaps occasional interpretation so that everyone can "follow" what is going on, but those that cannot speak English cannot really participate. Yet, on Monday, during lunch, Thomas, the young Chinese man did not even have time to eat his sandwich because he was interpreting for all of us (He was going from Italian to English and back - just imagine!). We answered questions about why we are here; what we do here; what motivates; we heard answer to questions about what they do; what the focolare movement is; what their purpose is. I am very intrigued by the idea. They are basically a group of people who are striving to live the gospel together. I am not quite sure what that means - but I would like to learn more. Hopefully I will get a chance to learn more when the Interns go and visit their house. It's not very far from here.

I was amazed at the effort and intentionality of our conversation. Although we were having a simple lunch there was an effort made to make sure that all people included and allowed to share their ideas and opinions.