Informal interview with immigrant - Essay Example

Also, according to my culture, public expression of romantic feelings is discouraged; in fact, according to my culture, it sounds a bit odd to tell your lover publicly that you love her. For that reason therefore, dating in my culture is quite different from dating in the American culture- in my culture, rarely do the dating couple express their romantic feelings in public as is the case in American culture. Again, in socializing, the people of culture behave quite differently from the American people.

This is because the people of my culture considers the community to be more important than the individual, for that reason, therefore, the people of my culture are quite united as a community, unlike the American people who are individualistic and who regard the individual to be more important than the community/society. Answer: There are two main situations in which I felt completely misunderstood when I arrived in America. In the first situation, on the first day of my arrival in America, I extended my hand in greetings to all the people I interacted with at the airport.

To my surprise, many of the people I extended hands to in greetings looked at me suspiciously and they did not shake my hands; I really felt misunderstood by these people and ever since I wait for the people to first extend their hands in greetings before I extend my hand and shake them in greetings. In the second incident, on my second week in America, I held my friend’s hand, my compatriot mr. Eric Odhiambo, as we were walking along the road; to our surprise, the people looked at us suspiciously.

I later learnt that the people who looked at us suspiciously thought that we were gays; in my culture, holding hands among people of the same sex is never associated with gayism or lesbianism. I really felt so much misunderstood in this incident. Answer: One of the things that really surprised me upon arriving in America is the high level of public