tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post774340050925395377..comments2024-03-20T19:23:09.857+02:00Comments on Notes from underground: Notions of a white or black culture in SA are pure bollocksSteve Hayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-53753638561911372332008-02-05T09:24:00.000+02:002008-02-05T09:24:00.000+02:00Growing up in monocultural Northern Ireland I had ...Growing up in monocultural Northern Ireland I had the same sense of dislocation when visiting London, and it's something I never really got used to. Even today I scurry in and out of English cities with the same bewilderment I felt when I visited Bangkok.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-897545531356487962008-01-23T16:06:00.000+02:002008-01-23T16:06:00.000+02:00Mnatali,One of the nice things about South Africa ...Mnatali,<BR/><BR/>One of the nice things about South Africa is that we have a big choice of cultures, which have all influenced each other to some extent. <BR/><BR/>Sometimes there is resistance, like the time a friend and I went to church on a motorbike in the middle of winter, 40 years ago. It was cold, so we wore blankets, as in Lesotho, and the respectable middle-class white suburban congregation freaked. They might not be so uptight nowadays, though. I think we've made some progress, even if we do have a long way to go still.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-23157282787643024132008-01-23T16:00:00.000+02:002008-01-23T16:00:00.000+02:00Elevation Perception,The nice thing about the Mosc...Elevation Perception,<BR/><BR/>The nice thing about the Moscow thing what not just that I knew where the station was, but that I looked enough at home in the place that the guy thought he could ask me -- that he took me for one of the locals and not just another foreign tourist. <BR/><BR/>And yes, I'm sure you'll find Sittzerland easy enough to adapt to. Once you've coped with two cultures a third is much easier. And Switzerland is multicultural, or at least multilingual.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-67930037786214579462008-01-23T15:41:00.000+02:002008-01-23T15:41:00.000+02:00Steve, there is a saying that goes: you can't choo...Steve, there is a saying that goes: you can't choose your parents but you can choose your family/friedns... In your case, mine and of mant South Africans you can't choose your race but you can choose your nation. I think that your overwhelming experience and open-mindedness has allowed you to choose to identify yourself with a nation by bonding with the culture. i thing that is what we need as a nation to say that let me learn about a culture and then teach mine without imposing. Your story is a typical example that one can use to say that let learn about each other's culture before we reject it. believe it or not may people have found spiritual confort in coultures not of their own because they have learned about it and have chosen it as the right way of living for them. this shows that the politics which we are facing today could be a better ball game if we resolve our cultural differences. one of the gratest cultures that you can find within the American nation is the culture of pride. Americans have taght themselves that their country is the best and the in that way that confidence has been translated to business practice, that if it's not American then not.<BR/>The racial problems that we are facing today can be attributed to the fact that the minuite one starts to enjoy and be proud of being part of this nation, somebody comes and reminds them that "Hey, don't forget that you are inferior than me because you are xyz (racial terms)".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-4627076589586911602008-01-22T14:45:00.000+02:002008-01-22T14:45:00.000+02:00I like the Moscow story from your previous comment...I like the Moscow story from your previous comment :)<BR/><BR/>But I do agree about culture shock. Also, of course, the younger you are, the easier it is to adapt. I came to the US when I was 12 (from St. Petersburg, Russia) and did not have a terribly hard time, even though I didn't speak English. I was hit pretty hard first, but it was over quicker that for most people, I think. My parents are still adapting, after 5 years.<BR/><BR/>But I do hope that the first time is the hardest because I am anticipating going to college in Switzerland in the fall, and I hope the transition will not be too difficult :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-9382051776594723662008-01-22T09:07:00.000+02:002008-01-22T09:07:00.000+02:00Unsane,Thanks for the comment. Of course the first...Unsane,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the comment. <BR/><BR/>Of course the first time is always the hardest. After 6 months in the UK I began to feel happier about it, and after two years didn't feel quite so alienated. Since then I've visited other countries where they didn't speak English, like Thailand, Greece, Bulgaria, Russia and Albania, and some that did, like Singapore and the USA. And after the first time, it was easier to adapt to the others.<BR/><BR/>I was rather chuffed when, after a few days in Moscow, a bloke came up to me in the street and asked me for directions to the nearest Metro station, and I was able to tell him.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19384577.post-62225372064240749122008-01-22T07:33:00.000+02:002008-01-22T07:33:00.000+02:00A very interesting post indeed!Yes -- it is intere...A very interesting post indeed!<BR/><BR/>Yes -- it is interesting about culture shock. I think that this facet of human experience is very much misunderstood by most people who haven't experienced it.<BR/>The general view about it seems to be that if you read the right books, do the right preparation, you will not have any culture shock. But this is based on an overstimation of what can be achieved through knowledge and reason.Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15364161667997825733noreply@blogger.com