WHAT MY SUMMER ABROAD TAUGHT ME ABOUT CULTURAL DIFFRENCES

During the summer of 2006 i went to England to stay with my aunt. Before going there i had little knowledge of British people other than what i seen on television. i envisioned a place just like what i have seen on TV but to my surprise i learned many things that contradicted my previous knowledge. My first lesson in cultural differences was when i visited my Caucasians aunt’s grandmother’s house. I was taken to the Attic to play with my little cousins when i stumbled upon these black figuring everywhere, there was lunch boxes with black faces, and shirts. i was confused, my cousins called this image Golliwog but i still didn't understand so when i was alone with my aunt i asked her if her grandmother was racist. She quickly explained to me that in Belgium the image is known as Black Peter. She also stated that there have been much talk about whether or not it's racially induced image. She told me black peter has a complicated history but has she understood it he was Santa's helper who got black through delivering presents through the chimney. Many people especially African Americans assume that is a racially based image and they could be right but i feel the most important part of this issue is teaching cultural empathy. i learned quite a lot about race during my stay, in England it seemed that Race and racism plays out differently than in North America. North America has more successful blacks film stars, which i noticed watching many of their TV programs. It seemed pretty apparent that race is closely linked to class, and there is a lot more mixing e.g. inter-racial marriage. There is a lot of things we don't know about other cultures and we can’t base the knowledge we do have on external sources like i have with television. Other than black peter i learned not all English people have bad teeth, tell terrible jokes, not all English people live in London or live thatched cottages like in lord of the rings.