culture sharing

Anna, a photography major at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT) had always been interested in learning about the lives of international students and their experiences in the US. When she bumped into Umaira, a Global UGRAD-Pakistan participant, on the OSUIT campus, she jumped at the opportunity to interview her.

During September-November 2010, sixty-four teachers from 21 different countries came to the US for a six-week professional development program.

It sounds counter-intuitive, even cruel, but when the participants leave in tears, I know our program is working.

I'm writing onboard a train from Washington to New York, where I'm headed to attend a conference on theater and peacebuilding (more on that in my next post). I always jump at the chance to travel by train—a few summers ago I spent 86 hours straight on one from Ulan-Ude, Russia to Moscow—and I savor the meditative, unhurried feeling of getting to my destination. I also love the conversations I end up getting into with my neighbors, particularly on trains abroad.

I am not a big fan of tater tots. But last week at a cafeteria in Arkansas, I agreed to eat some in order to continue a conversation. I was sitting with an eccentric high school teacher and, as we ate, she told me how Walmart and the chicken industry had led many new citizens to settle in Northwest Arkansas.