A Little Lesson in Culture

I've always thought of myself (Erika) as a fairly "cultured" person. I have had the good fortune of living in 1 other country other than the U.S., and traveling to 19 others. However, it occured to me today that I've really only had extended moments of "culture". If you were to go knocking on the doors of my neighborhood, 10 out of 10 times you would meet a middle class, english- speaking, caucasian person. Most of them probably have gone to similar schools, had similar upbringings, shop at the same stores, eat similar foods, etc. Though there isn't anything "wrong" with this likeness, it does show me that I'm not really "cultured" when it comes to my day to day life.

Today, as part of our orientation preparing us for our lives in Turkey, we took the "Urban Plunge." We were paired up, given $10 and a set of instructions, and were sent off to different ethnic neighborhoods in the city (for your info, the twin cities have more U.N refugees per captia than another other city in the U.S.). The purpose of the exercise was to practice establishing relationships with people in a culture where we didn't speak the language and didn't understand the "ins and outs" of how things worked (much like we will be when we first arrive in Turkey). We were encouraged to take the bus to the neighborhood, eat lunch, converse with locals, and, if really brave, do things like get a haircut, challenge a local to a game of pool, etc. Wow...it was eye opening. My partner and I got into a very tense situation because she was documenting some things by taking pictures (as many tourists do). We took some pictures in a store (without asking permission) that was selling camel meat. The owner of the store came out from the back room very upset and, in the little English he knew, told us that we had to leave the store and erase the pictures. They continued to express how upset they were, and we were ashamed that we had offended them. We apologized, bought something, and left.

What did I learn from this experience? It's crucial for us KNOW the CULTURE in which we are operating (aka....Turkey). Without knowing the culture, we may be offending people without even knowing it.