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September 10, 2005
My Culture, My Life
I am Polish-American and sometimes, people look down upon Poles or make Polish jokes, but I am proud of my heritage. Ever since I was little, I have attended Polish Easter and Polish Christmas Eve. My most comfortable place to be is sitting at the dinner table at Christmas Eve and awaiting hot cabbage-filled dough pockets called “pierogis”, mushroom soup, and rye bread while conversing with my relatives. I feel as though I am carrying on a tradition that has been celebrated for ages. I actually had the privilege and honor to travel to Poland two times in the past two years. Seeing people with the same round faces, pudgy noses, and disposition as me was absolutely incredible. Not to be cliché, but there are no words to describe the experiences I had in my “home country”. I possess many of the same values and beliefs of the Poles. Wanting to help everyone and give everything and anything you own to others has always been a part of me. I saw this immediately when I was offered a seat in my relative’s house and was given any kind of food I could possibly want. In the United States, the news is filled with information concerning the decrease in attendance at Catholic Church Services. In Poland, this was notion was opposite. I consider myself to be a religious and devout Catholic and to witness the amount of people going to mass was inspiring and made me feel like I belonged (since the scandals in the church have turned many away). I realized that my tastes and work habits were very similar, and I appreciated and respected many of their own customs since I had experienced them myself over the years. The Polish culture defines me, in many ways, as a human, even though I cannot speak the language yet! The other half of Polish-American is of course, American. I have the American mentality of time is money and the more you work, the more you will succeed ideals to some extent, and I enjoy much of the American entertainment. I might wear American clothes or listen to American artists and read American novels, but my Polish background truly defines me.
Posted by lcisgancarz at September 10, 2005 04:16 PM
Comments
I really enjoyed learning about your culture, and it's interesting how you described your Christmas tradition because every family and every culture has their holiday traditions that make the best memories. Personally, the holiday season is one of my favorite times of year. Even though it was just a couple of lines, I thought it added to the richness of your posting.
Posted by: Ariel at September 12, 2005 04:34 PM
It's extremely interesting how in this blog about culture, I concentrated mostly on my background, where I am from specifically. My thinking about culture did not extend much farther than my Polish heritage. When we grow up, so many projects are done on your nationality. Your personality and your life is defined by your nationality, so immediately when I had to answer this question, I thought about Poland. Sometimes, I take questions so literally and forget to branch out into different areas, utilize different parts of my brain.
This blog could have been greatly improved. My culture is who I am: my family, my dogs, my religion, my hobbies, and my interests. I never wrote about my love for the French language and foreign films. I excluded my passion for decorating, cpraying, leaning, traveling, and organizing. A big part of my life has included babysitting. I am so attached to children and helping them grow. Cooking is such a incredible release for me (my speciality being garlic shrimp), and I love to ski.
In many ways, my past, present, and future describe my culture and my place in this world. Ever since I have entered this class, I have learned to stretch the limit. I should have stretched the boundaries of this question and entered into the area of the unknown, something that is very different for me, specifically in writing.
Posted by: Christina at September 26, 2005 10:14 PM
Stretch that limit now! Write about that garlic shrimp...make my mouth water....
Posted by: ellen at September 27, 2005 02:42 PM