Learning Journal 18

I read, "Helping, Fixing or Serving?" by Remen. I really liked this article. It really made me think about the differences between helping, fixing, and serving. The two stories that were told really made me think about how easy it is for people to become a number, or just another customer. Or how easy it is for someone to see a problem and want to fix it for someone else but forget that that person has a story too. They have needs, wants, desires, and dreams. I think it is very easy to get caught up in life and doing things that you forget what is most important to remember. People you see everyday are not just a number or a customer. They are just like you. They have dreams. They have feelings and you can't treat them like a number. I thought about how this relates to doing a field study. I realized that its really important while we are interviewing people to remember that they aren't just a number. That they aren't just another person to interview. They are an individual with needs, wants, and desires. Everyone you interview is different and its really important to keep that in mind.

Learning Journal 17

Today I had good practice with meeting someone new and getting a lot of information out of him. I met him at Wasatch Elementary where we both mentor little kids. Our kids we mentor were put in the same group so I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk to someone new and see how much information I could find out about him. I asked him his name, where he was from, and what year he was in school. I thought they were simple enough questions that should be easy to answer and could run into conversation. He must have thought so too because all he did was give me one word answers. So I thought maybe he wouldn't be such a good candidate to practice getting information from since he didn't seem to keen on giving any. But then I thought to myself, "Well here is a challenge" and I kept asking him questions. He kept giving me one word answers. But then when we were both walking back to BYU he started talking to me. And talking and talking and talking.... I hardly got to get any word in except to practice probing which I'm pretty sure I'm getting really good at! We walked all the way back to the library and stopped in the atrium. I thought this would be where we would part but he had other ideas. He kept talking and talking. I mean I got a lot of information out of this guy and learned a lot about him but I had a ton of homework to do. So we talked for about another 45 minutes and I didn't know how to stop him. I wondered why he was so eager to keep talking to me. I thought it might be because he doesn't really have people to talk to so he latched on to me or maybe he just likes to talk. But then I realized something. I am a girl and he was a guy. Usually a guy doesn't want to keep talking to a girl if he wasn't interested in her and this guy kept talking with no signs of quitting. I thought, "Shoot how do I get away? I'm not interested in this guy and need to leave!" After another 20 minutes I finally saw someone I knew and asked him where he was going. He said he was going to the no shh zone to study and I said oh me too! So I said goodbye to my new found friend and walked away with the words "see ya next Friday at Wasatch!" ringing in my ears. So I suppose my practice of talking to someone new was a success because I certainly gained a lot of information from him but it cost me a lot of lost time. I really needed to leave and do some other important things but I didn't know how to get away. I guess there will be experiences in the field like this one. I will need to leave and my informant will just keep talking. I need to learn how to adequately and nicely say I need to leave and go. I guess it will just take more practice. Good thing I found someone who loves to talk to practice on ;) Till next Friday...

Learning Journal 16

Today I read "Diagnosing and Treating the Ophelia Syndrome". It was a pretty interesting article and really made me think about myself. It made me question whether I think whatever I am told to think or whether I truly do think for myself. I know I ask people what they think about a certain subject and when they tell me their opinion that generally becomes mine. Unless I really don't agree with what they say. Especially when teachers or people in authority say things I generally believe them. I hadn't really realized this about myself until I read this article. It made me think about why I am this way. Why do I believe what people say or think they way the tell me to? Maybe it's because I'm not really confident in my own thoughts or feelings about things. Maybe it's because I don't really believe what I say either. I think this is why I have trouble critically analyzing things and situations. I know that this could be a potential problem as I go into the field because I am not only going to have to get information but I am going to have to analyze it as well. This article made me realize I need to learn how to think for myself and not just believe anything someone tells me.

Learning Journal 15

Lately I have been thinking about the different perceptions and ideas people have that can differ from others. Some people have different perceptions and it can be hard when they differ from yours. I am having this problem with one of my good friends. We both have completely different views on a certain subject and how it should be. I think it should be this way and he thinks it should be a different way. I don't really understand his viewpoints and he doesn't really understand mine. I think a lot of how we came to have the viewpoints that we have are because of how we were raised and how we grew up. I think it also has to do with our personalities and who we are. It causes a lot of difficulties and is hard to deal with. This situation I am in now makes me wonder what situations like this I will run into in the field. I know pretty much everyone in Tonga are going to have different viewpoints on certain things or maybe on everything than I do. My question is how do I deal with that? Do I just ignore my perceptions and just listen to theirs? I guess the point of a field study is to immerse yourself in the culture and do everything their way so you can learn about them and their perceptions. My ideas and perceptions don't really matter. Just some more things I have been pondering lately.

learning Journal 14

I have been thinking about one aspect of my project question a lot lately. The question is how tongans view physical activity. This thought led me to question what they consider to be physical activity or exercise. I thought that maybe Tongans view physical activity separate from exercise. This thought was brought on by learning about the work Tongans do on a daily basis. The men go to the bush early in the morning and work hard all day. The women go to the reefs and harvest clams and other forms of food which isn't easy labor either. They might consider this just work and not exercise. They might even respond negatively if asked if they exercise or not. Hard labor in my book is definitely exercise. They might also think physical activity has to do with playing sports or active games and not working in the bush or on the reefs. They might think work is just work and has nothing to do with physical activity or exercise. Tongans might have a different opinion than I do about what is exercise, physical activity, or just plain everyday work.

Learning Journal 13

So a couple weeks ago I had an experience with my own culture. I was asked out on a first date by this guy in my ward via text message. I didn't really want to go but I thought it was common courtesy to give him a first date at least. I already knew I wasn't interested in this guy but I said yes anyway because that is just what you do if a guy asks you on a first date whether you want to go or not. I went on the date and I didn't have a bad time but it was definitely not the way I would have liked to spend my evening. I went because that is what was normal. I could have said no but I didn't because that is just not what you do in the "culture" I am apart of. This got me thinking about how many other things I might do just because it's the social norm or part of my culture. How many times do I find myself doing things to avoid going against social norms? It also really got me thinking about other cultures and their social norms. How many people do things they don't like just because it is part of their culture? Another thing is if social norms and culture are similar or if they are completely different. I defined culture as how a group of people believed, thought, and acted. When they act according to the social norms are they really just following what their cultural believes or what is culturally acceptable? Culture is an interesting topic to study and some things don't seem to have a right answer. The best way it seems to find out is to go and study a different culture.

Learning Journal 12

My project took a hundred and eighty degree turn this last week. I decided to do a project on physical activity in Tonga instead of obesity. I feel a lot better about my project than I did before and I feel like I will be able to study everything I wanted to and more. My project is going to study how Tongan's view physical activity and how methods they use to stay fit. I also want to study Tongan's viewpoint on what is healthy and their idea of the ideal Tongan.

I think it will be really interesting to study the ideal Tongan and compare and contrast their views of what is healthy and what is not with our American viewpoint. I think that their viewpoint is different than ours in a lot of ways. Our image of physically fit or healthy is skinny and buff. that is not always the case but it is what Americans think is fit and healthy or the ideal American. In my methods 1 assignment the person I asked the person I interviewed about what they considered to physically healthy or fit. Their answer said that someone who is slim and works out is healthy. He even went so far as to say that he thinks someone has to run to be healthy and fit. I also asked him if he thought that eating right or healthy had to do with being physically healthy. His reply was that he thought it probably had to do something with it but "I mean I don't eat terribly healthy but I still consider myself to be pretty physically fit and healthy". This comment made me think about the Tongan viewpoint and if they thought they were physically fit and healthy even though they weren't healthy by our standards. These were just some interesting thoughts going through my head as I thought about my project.

Learning Journal 11

Yesterday Joseph Ostraff came into our class and talked to us about Tonga. It was good to hear about how it will be once we get down there to Tonga from someone who has actually been there and not from articles from the internet. It kind of made me nervous when he told us that we are all kind of in trouble with our projects. I knew I couldn't go up to anyone and ask them why they are fat but he even said I shouldn't really go the route of asking them about physical activity either. A lot of his information was good though. He said that we need to ask questions that apply to us individually because they will be more willing to answer it. He also said to ask them more round about questions and they will tell us what we want to know. It made me think about questions like what is the ideal Tongan? What do they consider healthy and fit? What are their core values? What image is important to them? Thinking about these questions made me think about other things I haven't really thought about before. Things such as how they view obesity. Do they think it is unhealthy to be obese? Is obesity an issue to Tongans? Does it affect them in ways that prevent them from being happy? Is obesity or exercising a priority in their lives or are there more important things for them to think about and occupy their time? These are some of the questions going around in my head now. One thing I did really like that Joseph told us was to shift from being honored guest to part of the family as quickly as you can. The family will treat us like guests and won't let us do anything but if we push it and try to do things with them they will love us for it. Even when we do it wrong. I know when I get there I am going to try and do this with my host family. I really want to become part of the family and be treated like part of the family. He also told us to be willing to give up our identity while we are in Tonga and we will have an amazing experience.

Extra Credit Learning Journal 1

My experience at the Rafa Rafa activity was fun. It was very interesting to be put in a situation where I was not part of the culture and had to figure out what was culturally acceptable. I haven't ever been put in a situation like that so it was very different for me. I was in the Alpha culture. I figured out how to act in my own culture pretty quickly and actually won a couple times. But when I went in to the Beta culture I had no idea what was going on. They were making different animal sounds and trading cards. It was definitely different then what I was used to and I had no idea how to act. I even got shunned a couple times. When I went back to my own culture I felt much more comfortable and even enjoyed watching the people from the Beta culture try to interact with us. Afterward we all gathered back in our original room and discussed the activity. It was interesting to hear exactly what the Beta culture really was all about. It was kind of what we thought but then again it was a lot different as well. It was a good experience and kind of eye opening for me.

Learning Journal 10

While I was looking for an article on kinship in Tonga I found out it is a patriarchal and patrilineal society. Despite this fact women have their own special rights and powers over men because of their respected position as sisters and paternal aunts. This position is known as the fahu. The fahu is the oldest sister in the family. She has total dominance over her brothers. Their number one job is to serve the fahu. When I first heard about this position it intrigued me. Not only is it completely different from my culture but it is different from the world's perception of women. Usually women in the world don't have any power or really get any respect. They have their positions of taking care of the family and are expected to do certain things. In Tonga however, women are shown proper respect and even have power over the men. I still don't quite understand the position of the fahu but I know that it is a deep part of their culture. I would really like to learn more about the gender roles of men and women, especially the fahu.