Today was a big culture shock and culture absorption day. It all began during our drive to visit the Ingapirca ruins. We drove through and stopped in the town of the Cañari indigenous tribe. We first drove past their little stop along the side of the road where they cook a pig. The pig is roasted in a specific way where the skin is crispy like a potato chip and the meat inside is tender. People drive by, stop for a little bit, eat some of the pig, and then continue on about their day. These stops sell 2 to 3 pigs per day. I found this so interesting! I did actually initially find this practice of their culture a little unsanitary because they are selling meat right off of the street, but I soon realized this is unique to their culture and it has meaning to them. How cool would it actually be to have a fresh roasted pig with quick and easy access to at home when craving a snack while driving around doing errands?
This new cultural exposure did not end with the roadside pig roasting because we saw their market soon after which consisted of selling various foods and animals. The animal market was extremely packed with people showing off their animals for sale. For example, there where chickens stuffed in bags, chickens sitting out in the open beside their owner, and puppies stuffed in boxes with their little heads peeping out. This was definitely something I had never seen before! Dogs/puppies are widely owned in the U.S. as family pets that are shown affection and love rather than treated as goods to be traded and bought/sold. Walking through the market was new to me, but that did not mean I was turned off or disgusted by it. I actually thought it was very interesting. After reflecting on my observations at the animal market and connecting it to book material, I realized I was actually doing cross-cultural communication because I was comparing the Cañari behavior of treating their dogs as goods to be traded to the generalized American behavior of treating their dogs as a family member. This was not very good for me to do because it caused me for a little bit to see what they do to their dogs/puppies as not “right.” However, I quickly snapped out of those comparisons and simply appreciated their activity as selling animals at the market as simply what they do to stay alive and make a livelihood.
I not only saw a connection to the book in relation to the concept of cross-cultural communication, but also to the concept of schemas. When I saw both the pig roasting alongside the road and the numerous animals being bought and sold in such a crowded place, I initially felt uncomfortable simply because I had never seen such things so I did not have a schema to frame how to look at it all. To get rid of my discomfort, I quickly created a new schema to put it all in. This new schema is one in which that everyone and every culture is unique and beautiful. In this schema, I see things as different from my culture, but I do not compare these things as better or worse than my culture. Behaviors and values of cultures different than your own are what makes the world and the human race so interesting, and it is important to not assign these unique aspects to an existing schema in which you would judge the behavior.
