Learning Journal 28

So I have definitely been thinking a lot about service. Especially after listening to General Conference. I feel like a lot of the talks were about serving others and watching out for the needs of those around you. It made me think about how service is portrayed in our culture and how it might be different in a Tongan society. In our culture I think that sometimes service isn't readily rendered. Meaning that we either are too busy to notice someone to serve them or we feel awkward. I know I have felt this way many times. I see someone I could serve and then I don't serve them because I second guess myself and think they don't really need help. Or else I am just too busy with my life to notice. I feel like in many instances service requires a conscious effort. by talking to many Tongan's and other people that associate with them I have come to realize that service is just a part of their life. They live to serve others and are constantly watching out for others well being. In fact I met this Tongan and when I told him about my project he was already trying to find ways to help me with it. I am really excited to get into the culture and to truly learn from the Tongans.

Learning Journal 27

I have thought a lot about culture shock and how it will affect me while when I get to the field. I have thought about all the different things I might experience and what things will be different than what I'm used to. In the article, "Coping with Culture Shock" by Ferraro, it talks about all the many different aspects of culture shock that I haven't even thought of. It defines culture shock as precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. I read through a bunch of the items on the list and a lot of them I haven't even thought of. Things like how people meet each other, how they greet and interact with each other, and the rituals or other things they do that are different than what I am used to. I also didn't think about things like our humor being different. I mean I feel like a lot of people think I am funny and laugh at me. One of the things I love to do is make people laugh and I'm afraid that I won't be able to in Tonga. I think the best thing I can do for right now in preparing for culture shock is to not expect anything. Just do my best everyday and remember that I can do anything for a day.

Learning Journal 26

So I have been thinking about the assignment Dallin gave us last class. He told us to go and talk to a random stranger and then write about it. So I did it. Today I went to Seven Peaks Ice Arena to skate with the little girl I mentor. A couple classes were there as well as hers and we were all able to get on the ice and skate. I observed a lot of things about the kids as they were skating. For some of them I couldn't help but make assumptions about. I am still working on the whole just strictly observations. I was skating around and this little girl needed help skating so I grabbed her hand and we skated. I must say for not being such a hot skater my self I did a really good job of keeping both of us on our feet! After awhile this someone else's mother came and grabbed her other hand. We just glided around and we're having a grand ole time. I wasn't really talking to the mom too much cause i was mostly concentrating on staying on my feet. Well the mom must have either wanted to practice entering my community or try to connect with me somehow by asking me about the girl I was helping, "oh is this your daughter?". It completely took me off guard. This little girl was almost 9 years old! Do I really look like I could have a 9 year old daughter? I was so shocked I just said,"oh um.... no we actually just met this morning". I think the mom was kind of embarrassed cause she didn't ask me any more questions after that. Looking back on this experience reminds me of when I tried to enter someone else's community. I asked her if she was preparing for easter and she didn't answer and then thought I wasn't talking to her. So im sure me and the mom that talked to me felt a little bit the same. These two experiences have made me think about the right and wrong ways to enter a community. There are definitely better ways of doing it as Allyson so easily illustrated to me in the bookstore. I have also thought about different ways to enter a community in a different culture. Some ideas might be paying attention to what they are talking about, what interests they might have, and other things like what is important to them. In the next couple of weeks I am going to keep thinking about different ways I can enter a community and maybe practice doing so.... maybe....

Extra Credit Learning Journal 2

I went to "Manulua: Creative Activities between Two Communities" by Prof. Joe Ostraff on Thursday afternoon. It was really good and very informative. He talked about how to get into and navigate different communities. He showed slides of different pictures of Mataika, Tonga and used the parallel between a Tongan little girl holding a kitten and his daughter holding a baby pig. He said that children do the same things. Even though they are from a different culture and have different backgrounds they still do the same thing with animals. It made me think about my views of going into Tonga and how I view the people. I think I sometimes view the people of Tonga by their culture. I think one of the most important things I need to remember when I go down to the field is that Tongan's are just like me. Yeah we have different backgrounds and perceptions regarding certain things but bottom line we are all people. We all have the same basic needs. I really liked Joe's presentation. Especially the part when he said that the Tongan's don't really care when palangi mess up or do something not culturally appropriate because they are palangi and it's okay. That really helped me to feel better about entering a culture I am not familiar with.

Learning Journal 21

I went to the inquiry conference on Tuesday and it was really informative. I went to Educate a Girl, Educate a Nation: Changing attitudes about girls education in Wiamoase, Ghana. It was a very interesting presentation and it reminded me about a movie I watched in my anthrofilms class last semester. It was about microcredit and how it is used to generate wealth among the poor populations. The companies would only loan money to women because they knew that if they gave it to the mothers the whole family would benefit. If they gave it to the men they would just spend it on things that they wanted and it wouldn't benefit the whole family. It made me think about the power of women in societies. I know that T0nga is semi-dominated by women because of the Fau of the families. It made me also think about what ways I might come across women dominance or ways that women are better suited for certain jobs than men in Tonga. Also what ways are men and women's roles different or similar in the Tongan community.

Learning Journal 20

I've thought a lot about the topic of agency lately and how it is used. I agree that agency can be used to discern from right and wrong but I definitely think that agency can also be used to choose between good and better things to do. I was thinking about how the principle of agency we discussed in class could be related to my project and ultimately to my field study experience. I think a lot of it has to do with how we use our agency and the decisions we make while we are in the field. We can choose right and wrong things pretty easily I think but being able to decide better things to do is something different entirely. When we get in the field I don't think it will be hard for us to decide not to cheat or lie. It might, however, be harder to decide how to utilize our time more effectively and do better things with our time down there. For example interviewing people is a very good method of gaining information but going with them to work and gathering food might be more valuable. Observations in the market place would be an effective way of gathering general information on a certain topic but actually talking to people and creating rapport might be better. These are just some thoughts that have been running around in my head.

learning Journal 19

I have been thinking a lot about the article "Helping, Fixing, or Serving" and what it truly means to serve someone. In my last learning journal I talked about the importance of making sure the people you talk to don't become a number. Ashley commented on my journal and asked me if I had thought about ways I can communicate to the people I spend time with that I see them as an individual. I thought about that and came up with a few ideas. First off I think just knowing someone's name goes along way. Last summer I made it a goal to know everyone's name in my ward. I learned everyone's names and whenever I would see any of them I would call them by name and say hi. It was really cool how much of a difference knowing someone's name really made. I made a lot of friends. People were more comfortable around me cause they felt like I really cared about them since I had cared enough to learn their name. Another idea I had was to ask them questions about their life and show genuine interest. Don't talk about myself unless they ask me questions. Try to focus on them and their interests instead of mine. I could also find out about the things that they cared about and ask them about it any time I see them. Also remembering things about the person even after you talk to them goes a long way as well. These are just a few ideas I have come up with so far but I'm going to keep thinking and see what I can come up with. Ps mentoring was cancelled today so I guess I'll have to practice telling someone I have to go next Friday....