About Unit 4: The Age of Communications
Communications between People from Different Culture
-My first culture shock in Canada: the raid of Wreck Beach-
As a visitor to Canada, many Canadians and Koreans have asked me about my culture shock experience. Actually, my answer had always been “not yet” until I went to ‘Wreck Beach’ in Vancouver.
About two months ago, my family moved to Vancouver from Prince George. The day after we put our stuff in a new house, we decided to go to the nearest beach and enjoy some sun bath. My family drove around UBC’s campus, and finally we found a trail to the beach, but nobody knew that was a way to a nude beach. The trail was very beautiful. We couldn’t take our eyes off the forests’ beauty until we saw a naked girl. She ran to a public washroom that stood beside the trail. It happened in a short time, so we didn’t get any ideas about what’s going on there. Thus, we kept going down to the seaside. Eventually, we arrived at Wreck Beach. It was totally surprising, stunning, and even outrageous for some of my family members. I thought I was a pretty open-minded person, and knew how to react in unpredicted situations; however, I was just stunned that time. We couldn’t enjoy the sea shore and the presence of the nudist during our stay for an hour to walk the seaside and sand.
Yes. I would say it was my first culture shock. A nude beach would never be accepted easily in my country-Korea- for at least a few decades. In spite of the shock that we got, I don’t thinks it is evil or crazy. In my opinion, they were just expressing their ideas or their identities and trying to communicate, by their behaviors. For example, an anime costume play- event or exhibit about Japanese animations and costumes- was held on the UBC campus at the same time we visited Wreck Beach. At the costume event, there were many people with their distinct costumes and hair styles that our parent’s generation would describe as outrageous or even mad. I found it is very interesting but also irony that one group of people ‘took off’ of their clothes to express themselves while the other group of people wanted to ‘put on’ their special costumes in order to show their creativity and interests ;also, to communicate with each other. Perhaps, it was totally miscommunication for me because of cultural differences and my preference, but for them, it probably was just a way of communication between them. Moreover, nudism is not against human beings’ “vital values.” To be specific, nudism and nude beaches don’t harm mankinds’ dignity; it is not about one’s life or discrimination.
For these reasons, we should accept their ideas and opinions under the name of diversity and freedom.
As I mentioned above, when you are facing with culture shocks, you should consider whether it contrasts with the standards of human beings’ values or not. I firmly believe that this is one of the ways to communicate and live with others.
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2 comments:
This is an interesting personal experience with culture shock. I like how you compare the Wreck Beach incident with the other incident and talk about how one group gets naked while the other group dresses up in order to express a part of their identity. i also agree that a little tolerance of one another goes a long way. We are, after all, more alike in this world than we are different. We are all humans! Why do you think there are some people who react so strongy against what they see as 'wrong', when in fact it is just a different way of behaving?
I really like the Comparison of "take off" and "put on". It described vividly and the differences were clearly put out. I have to say they are diverse views of different countries and even different people in the same country. Because of the various idea among people, we may act totally opposite things. But how about this, try to think in their way, in their view of world. The phenomenon may be weird or even shocked, but when we understand the essence, we possibly change our mind.
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