Dealing with more than two cultures?

[Ganbare!]

I know it's already hard enough to deal with 2 cultures but the world is vast so I wonder if you are linked to other cultures than your parents' ? I sometimes have trouble really assimilating with other EAs because often I don't even share the same cultural references and background.

I spent my life between Europe and North America and obviously I'm part Asian, so I'm virtually into both traditional and contemporary Eastern things but I also have a great interest in other cultures especially pan-Arabic food, architecture, history, politics etc

What about you?

[Kalvien]

Let's see. I have dutch-chinese-javanese-manadonesse-makassaresse mixed heritage but live predominantly in chinese culture. I sometime experience culture shock when learning other's people culture because they are bit different than mine.

from my dutch side, I called my grandfather and grandmother as Opa and Oma. I thought it was universal in Indonesia and I was wrong because most people except dutch indonesian or dutch-educated people never called their grandfather as Oma/Opa. My oma used to cook me dutch cuisines too, which makes us enjoy food with a lot of cheese.

From my javanese side, I know virtually nothing, because I dont really like my javanese blood. Javanese has been long portrayed negatively by chinese. We see them mostly feodalistic people without hard working ethic. Stereotype, but I cant deny there is some portion of truth because even the javanese themselves admit they are not hardworking, lazy, and feudalistic in culture.

from makassarese side, my father is a chinese makasserese. He speaks makasserese dialect which is as loud as german, and most of my family living in Makassar speak this language while I'm not. It kinda make me alienated when I heard my families speak makasserese because I dont undersand a thing.

growing in multicultural environment is not a bad thing. It makes me easily attracted to other people's culture and I guess I'm officially xenophile.

[catgirl]

I have 3 close cultures in my family. But Im mostly Norwegian because I lived in Norway my whole life.

[milkman's baby]

Dec 3, 2009 2:42:31 GMT -5 Kalvien said:

Let's see. I have dutch-chinese-javanese-manadonesse-makassaresse mixed heritage but live predominantly in chinese culture. I sometime experience culture shock when learning other's people culture because they are bit different than mine.

from my dutch side, I called my grandfather and grandmother as Opa and Oma. I thought it was universal in Indonesia and I was wrong because most people except dutch indonesian or dutch-educated people never called their grandfather as Oma/Opa. My oma used to cook me dutch cuisines too, which makes us enjoy food with a lot of cheese.

From my javanese side, I know virtually nothing, because I dont really like my javanese blood. Javanese has been long portrayed negatively by chinese. We see them mostly feodalistic people without hard working ethic. Stereotype, but I cant deny there is some portion of truth because even the javanese themselves admit they are not hardworking, lazy, and feudalistic in culture.

from makassarese side, my father is a chinese makasserese. He speaks makasserese dialect which is as loud as german, and most of my family living in Makassar speak this language while I'm not. It kinda make me alienated when I heard my families speak makasserese because I dont undersand a thing.

growing in multicultural environment is not a bad thing. It makes me easily attracted to other people's culture and I guess I'm officially xenophile.

If you don't mind me asking, are you Muslim? I know Islam is strong in Indonesia, so I was wondering. I have the feeling that would impact a lot of your social views, including those on race and ethnicity.

[Emily]

Aren't you part Arab, yourself? Sorry if I'm completely wrong, I might be confusing you with someone else.

[milkman's baby]

Dec 11, 2009 22:08:27 GMT -5 Emily said:

Aren't you part Arab, yourself? Sorry if I'm completely wrong, I might be confusing you with someone else.

Me? No. lol

Although I used to have a unibrow, so it make you wonder...

[Kalvien]

Dec 6, 2009 18:18:42 GMT -5 milkman's baby said:

Dec 3, 2009 2:42:31 GMT -5 Kalvien said:

Let's see. I have dutch-chinese-javanese-manadonesse-makassaresse mixed heritage but live predominantly in chinese culture. I sometime experience culture shock when learning other's people culture because they are bit different than mine.

from my dutch side, I called my grandfather and grandmother as Opa and Oma. I thought it was universal in Indonesia and I was wrong because most people except dutch indonesian or dutch-educated people never called their grandfather as Oma/Opa. My oma used to cook me dutch cuisines too, which makes us enjoy food with a lot of cheese.

From my javanese side, I know virtually nothing, because I dont really like my javanese blood. Javanese has been long portrayed negatively by chinese. We see them mostly feodalistic people without hard working ethic. Stereotype, but I cant deny there is some portion of truth because even the javanese themselves admit they are not hardworking, lazy, and feudalistic in culture.

from makassarese side, my father is a chinese makasserese. He speaks makasserese dialect which is as loud as german, and most of my family living in Makassar speak this language while I'm not. It kinda make me alienated when I heard my families speak makasserese because I dont undersand a thing.

growing in multicultural environment is not a bad thing. It makes me easily attracted to other people's culture and I guess I'm officially xenophile.

If you don't mind me asking, are you Muslim? I know Islam is strong in Indonesia, so I was wondering. I have the feeling that would impact a lot of your social views, including those on race and ethnicity.

I was born in catholic family, currently, my mom and dad are catholic, my sister is catholic, and I'm myself pagan agnostic. I'm registered as catholic though, since our government only recognizes 6 religions, and you cant be atheist or agnostic here.

surprisingly, Islam is not influencing my view so much because I never have islamic education. most chinese enroll in catholic school. It's pretty scary to live as minority when there is threat and possibility of syariah law enforcement (and arabization) in my country, but fortunately many moderate muslim opposes the idea.

still, many of my good friends are muslim. kinda sad when people have prejudice against islam. there are conservative faggots like the one in saudi, but there are also a lot of moderate people who are just islam in id card only

[quiapo]

I am Filipino Spanish and speak both languages fluently. I am also a quarter Chinese Hokkien and grew up mainly among Hokkien people ( though I dont speak the language). I married an English girl of Jewish background and my only son married a Korean, and now our first grandchild has just been born.
Perhaps some of us are beyond national classifications.

[FreckleFoot]

I'm half British, half Chinese. I was raised in Britain and my father never taught me much about the Chinese culture or traditions. Only a few tit bits here and there.

In school I learnt Japanese and, as my teachers were native, they also taught me about the culture. I would have loved to have learnt Cantonese or Mandarin, but it was not taught and Japanese was the only other East Asian language available. In a way, I wanted to learn more about my own culture through becoming familiar with another culture that would likely be closer to Chinese culture than a European one (if that makes sense).

I then went to Canada and became quite familiar with things. I also had the opportunity to spend time with my Chinese side of the family (my father was the only one that went to the UK). In Toronto, there are areas where 80% of the people you might walk past on the street will be Chinese. It was very easy to get a taste of the culture. I realise it may not be identical to Chinese culture in China, so I am left hungry for more!

I also developed my relationship with my now husband, who is Dutch. His family have introduced me to a few Dutch things and I can understand a little of the language.

I then moved back to Europe, but to the south of France. It is so different from Canada that the culture stood out to me. I enjoy the laid-back and relaxed attitude as I myself am quite easy-going, but it can be a negative thing when you need to get something fixed!

After living in several places and experiencing several cultures I have come to recognise my home country's distinguishing features more and more along with those of the country or culture that I was experiencing. If people are dressed in a way that is typical for their country, I can sometimes identify where they come from without hearing them speak. It is a fun game to play with my husband!

When I am interested in other cultures, it is usually a combination of their traditions, architecture, language, food, fashion, art (I would include traditional dances in here), religion and etiquette. I am more interested in ancient history than I am in more recent history (I do not know why). For example, the history of ancient Egyptians and the Aztecs are far more fascinating to me than the more recent history of my hometown or the area I'm currently living in. Apart from those two ancient cultures, I am mostly interested in learning more about China and Asia in general (both East and South Asia). I would love to learn about any and all cultures, but those cultures are what interest me most at the moment.

[Ganbare!]

I have a genuine interest in East Asian cultures however I dislike the weight that it comes with. I prefer more laid-back cultures like Mediterranean ones. I grew up in ethnic enclaves in Montreal, 80% of my neighboors were Portuguese, Lebanese, Jews or Italians...

On weekends, we would often go to cheesy yet fun festivals to share and celebrate traditions. I kind of miss that, France has very few folkloric celebrations, the Revolution and subsequent remodeling of national identity based on universalism changed that.

Japanese have matsuris season, Spaniards have ferias, Chinese have numerous festivals are really lucky to have so many popular celebrations. Since I got here, I've been taking sirtaki dance classes with a colleague after work, what can I say couldn't resist Greek music and breaking plates !

I am beyond Eurasian in terms of culture.