As you can see in the video, I am by no means a professional dancer, but I think I did okay at the beginning, and eventually, I got back on track.
And here is my reflexion
Category: PE 9
Global Connections Social Responsability and Communication Reflection
This is a core competency reflection for a project in which I interviewed someone online from India in order to build a connection with someone involved in something I am passionate about.
Here is the link to the original project:
And here is my reflection:
Unit 2 Role Play-PE 9
Here is the script for our substance abuse roleplay in PE9
You and your friends want to lose weight for a school dance. Your friends decide to start smoking and they are really pressuring you to start as well. They have been smoking for two weeks, and have already lost 5 pounds each. They always say “Just try it… It’s not like a hard drug or anything.”
Scene 1:
(opens on Ava talking to Ari and Erik)
Ari: Oh my god! The dance is a month away, and I need to fit into my dress! What am I going to do?!
Ava: I KNOW. School dances are so stressful!
Erik: Yes I totally understand your struggles (sarcastically). How about we start smoking. I heard that you can lose crazy amounts of weight in short amounts of time so you guys will like that plus it looks super cool.
Ari: That’s such a great idea!
Ava: I’m not sure about that. Isn’t it really bad for you?
Erik: That’s just what they want you to think.
Ava: I’ve got to go now maybe we’ll talk about this later.
( everyone freezes and Ari says Two weeks later, then we unfreeze )
Ari: Ava! I can’t believe that you haven’t started smoking with us yet. Sure, at the beginning, it’s kind of gross but look I lost like five pounds!
Erik: Even though we’re always coughing now it’s actually fun too. It’s something we can do together. It totally relieves stress, plus it’s not like it’s a serious drug or anything.
Ava: I’m not sure I really want to, how about we do something else that we all like to do?
Ari: Aw Ava, your such a baby. come on just try it.
Erik: It’s so satisfying.
Ava: You know guys, I’ve looked into it and smoking is really bad for your health and can cause serious health issues later on in life. Ari, we can go to the gym together instead, and Erik there are lots of other things we can do together for fun. I’d rather you didn’t smoke, but if you really need to, you guys can keep on doing it without me.
Erik: Wow, ok I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about it.
Ari: Ya. If you want we can do something else, I just wanted to do it because it’s an easy and fast solution to our problem, I guess I just never really thought about the problems that came with it. If you want to find another way and I’d be ok with that.
Ava: thanks guys this means a lot.
Community Connection
Who I Interviewed
I chose to interview someone named Delphine who I first contacted through Instagram about a month ago when I started to look into the possibility of going abroad for a year. I had seen that Delphine was in India for a year of school through one of the programs that I was looking at and thought that she could give me some insight on what I could expect if I chose to go through with it. Delphine is 17 years old, lives in Quebec and is in the equivalent of our grade 11, however as she explained to me, school in Quebec is different from here. She actually completed her secondary school the previous year and is taking a year in between secondary school and university to gain some global perspective. What Delphine is doing isn’t really a job, so she doesn’t have any responsibilities in that regard, however she does attend a local high school in Gujarat which is considered to be a conservative and traditional region of India and is near the border with Pakistan. There are responsibilities that go along with this just as with any high school experience, and Delphine has also taken it upon herself to become somewhat of an ambassador for AFS (the program) as well as for her host country through her social media account. I’m very fortunate to be able to complete this project, because as I write this, Delphine is on a four-hour bus ride texting me the answers to my questions while on her way to go with a group and meditate for ten days without electronics or even talking! This is just another example of the extraordinary things that Delphine is doing.
(Photo of Delphine from her Instagram account)
Why I chose to Interview Delphine
There are a couple reasons that I chose to interview Delphine. Firstly, because of what she’s doing and how it relates to my passion for travel. Delphine is going completely off the beaten path and is being completely immersed in a culture very different from her own. This is something that I’m striving for, and hope to be able to accomplish either during high school or shortly after. I love the idea of going out of your comfort zone and experiencing something completely foreign, which is evidently something Delphine and I have in common. Secondly, I admire her for her courage to go through with all of this and felt like she would be an exceptional person to interview for this project. I thought that there would most likely not be many people in situations similar to Delphine’s as the interview subjects for this project and that it would be interesting to talk to someone who is doing something completely out of the ordinary. I doubt that there are many if any people at our school who have thought of going abroad for an extended period of time anywhere during or after high school, never mind somewhere as foreign as India. I think that this is a shame because as Delphine will tell us over the course of the interview, it is most definitely an experience worth having.
The Interview
1. Why are you passionate about what you’re doing?
Because every day I am doing something new, meeting new people, learning new skills or lessons. For example, I am living with an Indian family and going to an Indian school, so daily I interact with people from a completely different background who are having their own opinions and way to do things. By creating deeper relationships with them, instead of criticizing their mindset, I understand them and become more open-minded. Also, since I arrived, I tried so many activities: I danced on Bollywood music, on folkloric songs, and on some classical hymns, I learned one language and am working on learning another one, I got introduced to delicious food items and how to prepare them, I tried to put some mehndi, I attempted rangolis (mehndi and rangolis are both typical Indian arts), I played cricket, I watched some dramatic Bollywood serials, I sang Indian National anthem on Independence Day, one of the many festivals that took place here! Being in India is getting out of your comfort zone, everything is different, but it is the nicest gift ever because I will never have the chance to do all this stuff in any other place in the world! I also feel I am gaining a better global perspective and understanding about world issues.
(Photo from Delphine’s Instagram of her host family shortly after arriving in India)
2. What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?
Before going I didn’t really have any obstacles, but after lending, I realized that an exchange year is not easy. My first challenge was my lack of language skills at the beginning: it was very frustrating not to be able to understand anything around you and to always need an English speaker who translates… But with a lot of efforts, this time passed, fortunately! AFS actually really well prepared us about the typical problems we could have, such as loneliness, homesickness, culture shock or feeling nothing is happening like you would like it to be. Except for homesickness (I think it’s because I am too busy here haha), I went through all of them, but the thing is that I realized they were all in my mind. I understood that feelings are just a matter of how you see things, when I got that, I could easily take control again. «You are feeling a certain way because you allow yourself to». The craziest thing is that even if I had some hard times, I would never say I had a bad experience. like if the brain was magically remembering all the nicest moments. I actually think that I learned a lot about problem-solving and my personality. The easiest solution was simply to talk to someone, just a small chat, whatever the topic, made me instantly happy after!
3. What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?
You will be proposed a lot of things and be confronted by any kind of situation, you should always be open about it stay positive! Basically say yes every time you are asked to do something, like a speech, or an activity, attend an event, etc. Also, I would say (very basic) but never give up! Like some days, you will feel discouraged just by very small reasons (the emotions you go through an exchange make every small things way bigger!) maybe like a family member saying you are not able to speak the language properly or still feeling not at ease in your environment, but in this moments, remember why you came here and that you are progressing even if you don’t feel like it. Take hard times as a growing experience, and use them to get closer to your host family and school friends :)) They are the one who can help you easily and we forget it most of the times. For me when I was feeling bad I tended to ask help to my Canadian friends and family, but it’s not going to change anything. An exchange year is happening in the host country only.
(Photo from Delphine’s Instagram)
4. Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?
Yeah, of course, that’s why I have this Instagram profile! I wanted to share my experience because people are having a lot of prejudices towards India and I wanted to show them how is life here really like! You can contact me at any time on this profile.
5. What did you learn from your time abroad?
– Learning to live more minimalistic
– Learning to share and to give back to others
– Learning your best strengths but also your weaknesses, then being able to improve them
– Learning to take to good, and to leave the bad, in every situation
– Learning to live like every day was the last day you are living. One year is so fast: maybe you will probably never meet this person again or see this part of the road. You get to enjoy more and not to regret!
– Learning in details about another country, like the deepest parts of its culture. AFS is a total immersion and with that, you can really understand what the country you’ve picked is going through. You also understand more about your own culture, its ups and its downs. My favorite thing is also to interact with other exchange students from all around the world, to get to know them! I will come back with friendships from all around the world!
(Photo from Delphine’s Instagram talking about a local festival)
6. What are some cultural norms/things you do on a daily basis in India that would be considered foreign concepts or unusual in Canada?
I think here I’ve danced more in 7months than in all my life! Here danced is used to express happiness and I love it so much! Every event is incomplete without music and some moves, and everyone participates, even your uncle and this old lady! We would clearly not see this in Canada!
Also, I talked with so many people, whatever their age. In Canada, I feel we are unconsciously separating ourselves with generation gaps, like for example saying that these high school students of the grade below us are so stupid. But this approach stops us from interacting together and building friendships. Here, I learned that I can be friend with little girls, my friends’ parents or elders. I have nice chats with people I am sharing a rickshaw with or a train bench. In such a big world, why don’t you turn yourself to your neighbor and talk?
It is also frequent here that we go visit friends or relatives without advertising them earlier! It is totally normal here! In fact, people come also visit us at our home, whatever the time (it happens sometimes at 9-10pm!). We always welcome them and treat them as guests. Hospitality is incredible! I don’t know if my Canadian friends will appreciate my surprise visits to their houses…
The last thing is a bit funny: here I eat with my hands! I first was a bit hesitant about it, but I realized the house environment was really clean. But yeah eating rice with dal and mixed vegetables using hands will probably scare Canadians… Let’s try it when I come back!
(Photo from Delphine’s Instagram showing the variety of foods from India)
What you learned from the interview and how that connects to your passions/interests
I have communicated with Delphine on several occasions before this project, but from the answers she gave me today I’ve gained even more insight on everyday life in India and what it involves to go abroad for an extended period of time. This clearly relates to the interest of travel that I have because she is going out and experiencing this culture completely different from ours. She is doing exactly what I aspire for in my future and it’s inspiring to witness someone actually living it. I have learned a lot from our conversations about what I would have to do in order to go abroad. It’s also interesting to hear her opinions because most of the information online is completely positive and by talking to someone who is actually doing it, I can also gain insight on the struggles of going abroad at a younger age. Our correspondence has helped me learn much about life abroad with the struggles, but also all the many reasons it is worth doing and ways to make it even better. Most importantly, the interview has cemented my belief that people need to experience cultures other than their own in order to gain empathy for others. Many people might mock parts of Indian culture without even really knowing about it. People should open up to other opinions, and realize that perhaps what they were taught to believe isn’t the only way or maybe not even the best way of doing things. People shouldn’t judge others based on second-hand information without actually knowing the facts and talking to the people that they’re making assumptions about. Here it is not considered normal to eat with your hands but in India it is routine. Without trying other ways, it is impossible to know if you’re doing things right.
This project has led to connections between Delphine and I. I had already communicated with Delphine before, but even my initial contact with her was with the intent of creating connections so it correlates with the purpose of this whole project to talk to others in order to be able to communicate better and form bonds of some sort which might lead to opportunities in the future. We now remain in contact and talk over text a couple times a week, though it is difficult because of the extreme time difference. I’m not certain if our communication will lead to any opportunities in the future, but I’m glad that I reached out to her because I got to hear her amazing story and in a way meet this new person who has a life so different from my own and is very inspirational to me.
CC Reflexion-PE 9
Below is a link to sn exerpt from my “artifact” or health reflection
And here is my Reflection
