Final Entry: Love my World Relief Family

The experience over the past two months with my family has been AMAZING!  I love the family I was put with and we have formed a unique bond.  Some themes I noticed across my experience with the family include communication barriers, unique reaction to technology, thankfulness, difference in greetings, and difference in time orientation.

First off, there were several barriers in regards to communication.   Although I am fluent in Spanish, it will still difficult as the Spanish in Cuba is slightly different than that of Spain/Mexico type Spanish which I am more familiar with.  To get around the barriers, we used a lot of hand signals, pointing to pictures, and different objects in the room to get our messages across.  This seems to have worked very effectively and we tend to almost always understand each other eventually.  Also, the family has had a unique reaction to technology.  The children and parents thought my iPad and iPhone were marvelous!  They loved interacting with Siri on my iPhone, and exploring all the different functions of the iPad and iPhone.  The family has never seen anything like it.   In addition, the family was overly thankful for all the help, whether teaching English, or just interacting with the family members.  They are blessed to be in America, and for all the help they have received in making the transition easier.  Also, the family greets others differently.  The main difference is the mother, Kati hugs me every time I walk through the door and gives me a kiss on the cheek.  I am more use to this than other people as it is a typical greeting in Spain, where I had lived for three months in 2012, however it is not something you would typically see an American doing to another person.  Lastly, the family has different time orientation than typically found in America.  They seem to be living in the moment and taking life one day at a time.  They are not as concerned about the future at this point, as they know that every thing will be okay.  I can tell they overall feel a lot safer being in America than their own country.

My experience with the Cuban family has helped me understand how to better communicate with others from another culture.  I am now able to better make use of verbal and non verbal gestures to help others understand what is being shared.  I am able to better understand where people are coming from, after working with the family.  Also, I realize I should not be startled if someone acts in a different way when communicating, as communication and gestures are different in all parts of the world.  The key is to understand that cultures around the world are different and practice different gestures and communication techniques.  When meeting families from different cultures I will make sure to listen, help, and guide them into understanding different concepts.

Overall I have had such a great experience with the family, and I will continue to help guide them until I graduate and move back to Wisconsin this semester!