mercredi, décembre 12, 2007

Des couleurs et des examens!

Voila quelques jours sans posts...bon. j'passe aux aveux. Disons que j'ai plus passé de temps sur Neopets/Facebook....si seulement l'édude pouvait être autant addictive!

Update examens:

Anglais: Ça été bien, 3h d'écriture...Je peux maintenant affirmer que je n'aurai plus JAMAIS de compréhension de lecture à faire..F.I.N.I

Développement humain: J'ai appris une sacré leçon avec cet examen! Ne jamais regarder le ending d'un anime avant un examen de psycho! J'ai eu la mauvaise idée de regarder le ending de NHK...très émouvant, poignant...tellement que j'en suis restée stoique pendant 10mins et puis j'ai cassé en grosses larmes. J'ai regardé mon cadran pis ça lisait 18h45...je me suis dit, comme si rien n'étais ''oh...l'exam est dans 15mins...j'devrais y aller?''...En tout cas, j'en braillait encore en arrivant à l'exam... Craignez rien. Tout est allé bien (Daijôbu!) malgré que j'étais fortement en désaccord avec les questions sur la mort et le deuil. Si jamais je rate UNE question sur ce sujet, je pète un plomb, j'irai voir le prof et je lui dirai que je mérite des point bonis pour expérience personelle!!! Franchement...les notes de cours ne faisaient pas grand sens, avec leurs théories de merde quant à la légitimité de la souffrance! Ça paraissait que le prof n'est pas passé par là, sinon les théories, il les aurait crissé par la fenêtre! En tout cas, voilà pourquoi je me suis pas attardée sur l'étude...et que j'ai facebooké et joué su neopets à la place...comme si j'avais mieux à faire (peut-être?)

Ce soir, comme je viens de reçevoir ma note sur ma dissertation finale en Anglais, je vous présente mon essai sur ma culture et mon identité, sujet imposé certes mais très interessant. Selon ma prof, ''It's definitely the best piece of writing you have ever turned in!'' Eh bien, here it is!

The colors of my culture


In the world today, the word ‘‘culture’’ is omnipresent. It’s attached to the land we live on, to the words we speak and to the way we identify ourselves. We see culture on tv, at the movies and even in the food we eat. So how do we define such a broad concept? How can one word properly define millions of unique identities? I have asked myself this question many times while trying to discover my own identity. I believe that culture is the bond between the self, the others and the environment. It is also a link that brings people together despite their differences. For me, culture has two aspects: interpersonal and intrapersonal. The interpersonal culture is found within the language and the traditions. It is visible through cultural media, regionalisms and traditional habits. The intrapersonal culture isn’t normally seen at first glance and lies in the beliefs and in the self-perception. Although this might seem like an appropriate definition, it isn’t because I do not belong to one distinct culture. We can think of cultures as colors because several cultures overlap to create a unique shade for each person. Therefore, I believe that it’s the blending of the colors belonging to my environment, my language and my self-perception that have created my unique cultural shade.

When I was young, I perceived myself like a new paint cake tainted with several other colors without my consent. It wasn’t easy to be bathed in a culture not naturally present in my birthplace. I have always known to be mixed-up, especially after being born in Halifax from two Quebecois parents. In preschool I felt alienated from the other children. Even though we were neighbors, I just couldn’t identify myself to the Anglophone kids. As I grew up, I found some pieces of my identity through my environment. I am Canadian because it is my country and I am Nova-Scotian, because it is my birthplace. I will forever associate some aspects of the Maritime culture to my identity because it’s part of the environment I was raised in. Although my parents tried very hard to pass on their Quebecois values to me, it was hard to go to Quebec and live the culture just like a real Quebecois. People would always sense that I was foreign. Therefore, I refused to identify myself as a Quebecois. Of course, the color of the Quebecois culture still glows brightly within me. I agree to follow the traditions and I enjoy my cultural heritage, but it shares the space with other aspects of my environment. Overall, I carry the tints of several environments in which I lived .

Just like the environment, the language is another visible aspect of culture. When it comes to languages, I am a full palette of colors. Quebec French is my mother tongue although I learned English almost simultaneously. Very young, I experimented with the mixing of two contrasting colors. Unfortunately, the result was a Chiac-like language that was looked down upon at school. This obligated me to learn the academic French and English languages which were colorless. These forms of language didn’t fit in my color because my environment, my friends and my family did not speak that way. Today, I see my language as a chameleon. I can speak a language that can change its color in order to suit the person to whom I’m speaking to. I think it’s great that I have a hybrid tongue when there’s cultural and language barriers. It’s an opportunity to bridge the minority with the majority and to close the gap on cultural misunderstandings.

The last aspect of my culture is the one that others can’t see. It is also the most unique and the hardest to define. It’s the way I perceive my color. I might have zero Acadian ancestors, but through my language and my education, I perceive myself as being an Acadian because our values are similar. I believe that Acadians are brave people. Therefore, I’m proud to associate myself with their culture. Also, my perception changes whether I associate myself with the minority or to the majority. It is a very emotional experience to perceive ourselves as a minority within a majority. On the other hand, perceiving ourselves part of the majority enhances the joys of feeling perfectly integrated to the mass. The feeling is similar to the one felt while being part of the cool group at school. This happens frequently during popular holiday celebrations like Canada Day or St-Jean-Baptiste. Some days I feel proud of being part Quebecois and other days I wish I wouldn’t. In essence, I perceive myself as a cultural pot-pourri and my perception of culture might change with time.

With all of the interactions with the other colors, I managed to create solid shade where all the colors blend in harmony. Today my true color is what I truly am: a bilingual French-Canadian born from a Quebecois family in Nova-Scotia that thinks she’s Acadian. With a self-definition such as this one, I’m sure to stand out on the individual level but without feeling too foreign in regards to the majority. To me, the ability to blend in with such a strong cultural shade is a perfect example of successful integration. To me, this is the true essence, the true color of being a Canadian.

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