Thursday, October 1, 2009
This week in class we had to take a look at American culture. At first, it was really hard for me to put us in a general group. We are all so different. America is known as the melting pot, and each culture brings over different qualities that contribute to make who we are. However, after talking about all of this in class, I have opened my eyes to begin to see who we really are from an outsiders view. Yesterday at work I paid close attention to the eating habits of typical Americans. I noticed that each persons meal was approx. 50 minutes long. Is that really long enough for a nice, quality dinner? Later that night a group of Japanese men came in to experience "real" American dining. When they left Kona, they had been there for a total of 3 hours. I don't think it was just a coincidence. We as Americans are taught to always be in a hurry and obey time. Rarely do we just relax and enjoy the company. I am now seeing more and more "American" characteristics in many of my friends and family. It is amazing how comfortable we have become with our culture.
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I think you're right about America being a melting pot. When you try and look at us from an outsiders view it's like a whole new world.
ReplyDeleteits amazing how different and similar cultures are. i really cant imagine being able to sit down and eat dinner over a span of three hours.. which is why i tend to not like family dinners. but your completely right about how it was hard at the beginning to really put a finger down on what our culture is truly made of.
ReplyDeletei agree with what you said about America being a melting pot but i think that American's enjoy themselves just on a time constraint
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy to me and probably most other Americans that the one family could be at a meal for 3 hours...the only time i seem to do that is when I'm with friends and we just can't seem to leave because we have no where else to be. If I have other plans though I do tend to eat in under an hour and don't even feel rushed but I bet if the Japanese family were forced to it wouldn't be a good experience for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we're comfortable with our culture. I think that it's because we created it, we are the ones that put the fast pace into our own heads.
ReplyDeletei agree with amber that it's crazy for a group to have dinner for 3 hours. I don't i've ever been out to dinner for 3 hours long because i'm also on the go. I have to get to school, be at soccer at 430 get home 645, eat something realy quick and then finally get my homework done. it's seems like even if we wanted to have a long dinner he can't happen
ReplyDeleteIn your post when you wrote about how the Japanese people came into Kona and were there for several hours enjoying one another's company that is definetly part of the culture. Whenever I go to dinner with my grandma, the dinner is always around 4 in the afternoon because I know I will be there until around 8. Meal time in Japan is more of a time to catch up with one another rather than eating, paying, and leaving.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting thing you noticed about how long meals took. I would definitely say where you work is a nice restaurant so if meals are only taking 50 minutes there, how much time do we spend eating at a place like noodles?
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