Learning Journal 30

My last learning journal! I can't believe the semester is almost over, and in less than one month, I WILL BE IN TONGA!  It almost doesn't seem real.  It's like everything that we have been doing in the prep class has been fine, but now I'm realizing everything we learned is about to be incorporated into this HUGE three month experience I am about to do. Today in class we reviewed basically everything we talked about this semester and I realized it was a ton of information, which is sad for the final, but really good at the same time.  Hopefully, I will be able to take all of these things I have learned and make one really awesome field study experience.  I was talking to my friend last night about how crazy it is that it's so close and how the closer it gets the more nervous I get.  But in class today, I started thinking about I think I am more prepared in some days than I remember.  For example, one of my concerns is what if I don't meet people.  But we have learned in the class how to enter the community and find gate keepers that can help you enter the community, which will help with that concern.  Another concern I had was what if my interviews go badly?  But this really shouldn't be that much of  a worry for me because I realized I know a lot more about interviewing than I think  I do, and I know the probes that can help interviews go better.  So it's really nice to see as I look back on everything we have learned this semester, that everything is coming together and things I have learned are REALLY preparing me for the field.  In my mind I'm kind of thinking ok, this class is over, now I can focus on my project.  But in reality, this class is helping me all the time in my project.  Anyways, it was just nice to see that connection today during the review session.  I'm excited to use all of the prep that we have had so far and actually go out into the field!

Learning Journal 29

I can't believe we only have one month before we go to tonga!!!  Some days I feel totally prepared, and then other days I feel really unprepared!  It's like one day I'm thinking ok, I have my project pretty settled and it's very doable, and I'm going to hang out with the family and figure everything out as I go, then the next day, I'm like what am I going to do down there? what am I going to wear?  what am I going to do with my hair?  how am I going to meet people and get involved in the community????  Mostly, I'm just really excited!!!

As I continue to read this book about migration, I'm so impressed with the people in the book.  One thing I read in the most recent chapter said something about how the people don't have very many things or very much money, but they don't really need it and it's not "sad" if they don't have much money.  The author was saying how the culture isn't driven by power and money the way that our culture is, so it's like they most of them are totally content with what they have.  It's funny because I don't consider myself to be a super materialistic person, but I'm always thinking about money and how I wish I had more, so I could buy these other things and pay for more things.  I really think that the mentality of being content with what you have and not always wishing you had more is something very admirable.  I would love to pick that up when I'm in Tonga!

Learning Journal 28

These last few journals are getting very difficult because I feel like I'm running out of ideas of things to talk about! We have had a lot less readings and class discussions than before, so I'm not getting as many ideas from those sources.  In class on Monday, we talked about culture shock. I realized when I was reading the article before that there is  a very real chance that I could have some form of culture shock, especially given that I have never been anywhere outside the U.S. Dallin brought up a good thought at the end, suggesting that we may have "living in a third world country for three months" culture shock. It's funny because I feel like after 5 hours of class a week about the field study and the Tongan culture, I have a somewhat general understanding of what it will probably be like, but in reality I know that there is no way that I can really prepare myself and understand it completely until I get there. It's the same way with the culture shock.  I can picture myself being surprised by things they do or a little concerned with how many of the material things I'm missing, but until I actually get there I don't think I can really understand and prepare myself completely. A lot of what we are doing is preparing us, but at the same time I feel like you can't really be totally prepared, and that's probably part of the fun.

As far as my project goes, I'm just tying up loose ends.  The project presentation went well in my opinion, and made me realize that although I don't know exactly how everything is going to go in Tonga, I do have an understanding of what my general goals are and that I will be flexible and sensitive to the culture.  I hope that everyone in the audience felt the same way.  Most importantly, as I continue to learn about Tonga, I am able to adapt my project (without changing the basic methods or outline of the project) to the culture itself.  For example, as I have been reading about migration in the book I am using for my book report, I have discovered that the migration rates really affect the family, especially the extended family, and that might be an interesting to see what I can learn about that. Anyways, the point is that I know things can be changed and expanded as I learn more about the culture and as I attempt to enter the community, and as long as I have done all that I can to prepare for those things here, I think it will be ok while I'm there!

Learning Journal 27

I thought the article about "Coping with Culture Shock" was very interesting.  It was funny because on the second page of the article it basically says, the basic make up of another city will probably be the same as your town, there will be tall buildings and taxis and stop lights, etc.. . . . but I was thinking, I don't think Tonga is really going to look like that right away.  So from the very beginning, it's probably going to be a culture shock, because the make up of the island is quite different.  As the article listed different things that one could have culture shock to, I tried to pick the ones that most worried me.  Some of the things he listed were: confusion over role behavior, surprise or disgust about some of culture characteristics, loss of familiar surroundings, being rejected (or not accepted) by community members, and sense of doubt when old values are brought into question.  Although all of these are concerns, some worry me a lot more than others.  I have been thinking about how scary and depressing it would be if the community members rejected me, or just didn't like me.  I'm not worried that they won't be friendly or nice to me, but it's really scary for me to think about them never really liking me or letting me into their community.  Of all of the things listed in the article, this scares me more than all of the others.

A couple of suggestions on how to deal with the culture shock really stuck out to me, first being prepared. We have been working on that for the past few months, so I feel like I'm getting prepared as much as possible.  I think it's really great that we have learned things about the culture here though, because I feel like if I would have just gone there without knowing certain things it would have been a lot harder.  For example, the dogs that are deserted on the streets, or eating horse, or letting someone else take your child and raise them.  All of those things would have been a lot more surprising and upsetting if I would have seen it there without knowing about it before.  Another suggestion he gave that I thought was really helpful was to become familiar with local ways of communicating.  I think the best way for me to overcome my culture shock, and feel like I can be accepted in the community, is to learn as much as possible about what the do, how the communicate, and what is acceptable and expected.  Although I think there will obviously be some shock when I get to culture, I think this article was really helpful in helping me to deal with that shock.

Learning Journal 26

Earlier this week we did methods practice assignment that involved us making observations of people and then entering an unfamiliar community.  I thought these were helpful assignments because they made me realized how hard it is to observe other people without applying my own value statements or assumptions on the people. This is a good skill to have when in the field because many of the things that would be viewed one way in one culture can be viewed totally differently in another culture.  Another thing I thought of was how this is something that we can kind of practice everyday, just by not making judgments about people based on what we see.   I think that's just something little that we can do to be better at not making assumptions when IN Tonga.  The  entering into a community assignment was even harder because it's more uncomfortable.  My experience wasn't bad, it's just a little difficult and awkward at first because you don't know what to say. But it's definitely a helpful thing to practice before we go.