Blog Post #16

I chose three examples from my fellow classmates blogs over the past two weeks to analyze and understand whether or not their intercultural communication was effective. I chose to pick one of Meng’s blog post (blog post 9) because I feel as if she offers a unique perspective being a student from China. I want to evaluate if she experiences intercultural communication differently than I do. I chose as a second blog post Sarah’s blog post 14 because she discuses the cooking with our professors and shares some of the same feelings as I do. The last blog post I chose to comment on in Zanes blog #15, which he discusses the things he is most looking forward to coming home. I chose this one because he speaks about his experience with food, which I think a lot of people experienced. 

In terms of Meng’s blog post, she discusses her experience at Mitad del Mundo. She explains that at first the tiny head made her feel a "bit scary and disgusting.” However, she recognizes her belief to be ethnocentric and corrects herself later in her blog post. She says how she stopped herself from judging and chose to listen to the guide about why the people did this practice. I respect the fact that at the end of her post she says that even though it is strange to her, she respects it! That is one of the most important things about intercultural communication! It is being able to move beyond the initial assumptions you may have about something strange; and listening to the reasoning behind the practice and just taking it as it is!

In Sarah’s blog post #14 she talks about the experience she had while cooking with her professors. I experienced a similar feeling as her throughout this experience. She says she "I would have liked to do more hands on cooking, instead of just watching the professor do the cooking.” I agree with her; however, I chose to step forward and ask our professor about what I could do to help. The reason I believe her communication was ineffective is because she did not participate and if she would have simply asked she may have been able to participate earlier in the process. 

The last blog post I chose to comment on in Zane’s blog #15 where he speaks about what he is looking forward to most about coming home. I chose this blog because I am on the fence about whether or not it is effective or not, and thought this blog would be an interesting opportunity to evaluate it. Throughout the trip there were a few people who did not eat much and made it known that they did not like to food. I struggled with this because the cooks worked very hard preparing our meals and I worried that it was due to their ethnocentrism why they didn’t like the food. I wondered if they possibly removed their assumptions they would have enjoyed the food. Zane talks about the fact that he could not eat a whole meal because he was unaware of what was in his food. I think this is sort of an ineffective way to communicate because if he would have just asked he could have found out! However, I also think it is ethnocentric because it is assuming we need to know what we are eating. I think a lot of other cultures are less concerned about what they are eating; as they are about if it tastes good or fills them up! I think this instance of intercultural communication was ineffective and was prohibiting him from fully experiencing the Ecuadorian culture. 

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