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I have always been fascinated with meeting people from different cultures.
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I think it’s awesome getting to know new people. Especially those from different parts of the world. There are times that they do pretty much the same type of things as I do and there are other times when they do much more exciting things than I do. For instance. I love boxing and a few years ago when Mayweather was fighting Pacquiao, a new family moved into my neighborhood. They were from Ghana. I thought that this event would be a great chance to get to know each other. I invited them over. The whole family and their friends came by. Just as I thought, we had a blast getting to know each other while watching the fight. And wouldn’t you know, today he is my best friend. We do lots of things together and for each other, ever since then. I think it all began when I was in grade school, there was this Asian girl in my class named Fannie Yung. She was so different from everyone else, I was instantly attracted to her. Instead of being boyfriend and girlfriend, we became close friends. We studied together, we ate lunch together, we played at recess together. She taught me how to speak and write the Chinese version of certain cuss words, that I do not remember at all. She taught me about the Chinese New Year. She explained to me the Chinese Zodiac to me. Apparently, I was born in the year of the Pig. EEEWWW. But, at least, the year of the Pig gave me certain characteristics that are still true to this day. Fannie told me that because I was born in this year of the Pig, I was just like the Pig. Diligent, compassionate and generous. At first, I thought it was all bull. But, as I got older, I began to see my ways becoming more and more like Fannie predicted.
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Thanks to Fannie Young, I am wide open to meeting new people, especially people from different cultures. You can learn a lot and teach just as much. I learned understanding. I learned that patience is truly a virtue. I learned that my way isn’t always the best way, let alone the only way. I learned to mix and mingle when out of the country of even simply, out of state. I used to work with some Haitians back when I was a teenager. My first job was in a fast food restaurant and a lot of my coworkers were from Haiti. Again, I learned choice cuss words. I also learned that Haitians make some good music. From the relationship I had with my Haitian coworkers, I was able to excel with my French in school. Never really realized it was the same language until about 2004. Haitian Creole is nothing but broken French. Did you know that?
My coworkers were around the same age as I and it was very interesting to learn how different but at the same time how alike we all were. We all pretty much liked the same things, girls, making friends and Kompa, which was the name of the music from Haiti. For me, it was very interesting to learn how much influence the American culture has on the world. My coworkers used to love American tv shows and music. Hip hop music, to be exact. And they didn’t just all of a sudden get into Hip Hop. They were listening to it before they moved to the states. They knew lyrics that even I didn’t. It was awesome being able to share these same interests. We would exchange tapes and even stories of different Hip Hop concerts we had gone too. I never before knew how much Popularity Hip Hop had out of the states. I always thought it was just an East Coast thing. Not even just an American thing. I thought this music was in and about my immediate culture, only.
Throughout the time of my employment there, we all got along very well. We even added each other on MySpace the second day we met (that’s how fast we all got along and that’s how long ago this was)! Nevertheless, meeting people from around the world is an exciting experience for me. I hope to continue meeting people from different cultural backgrounds to broaden my perspective on the world. And you should, too. It helps create harmony in the world. Harmony and unity. We all can use a bit of that.
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