Cruising

                                                                                                                                                               Blog Post 7

I have very much enjoyed this first class in my master’s education. I think the part I have enjoyed most is the class time and hearing other people’s experiences with work and life, and how they shaped who we are today.  We have all have had different journeys, and we are fortunate to have a range of experience and professions in our small group. The blogs have been an extension of the class experience, reading about people’s lives and how they interpret the readings with their/our own lives.

I recently travelled into the USA for a vacation, driving through the eastern states, stopping along the way and finally touring around Florida. These days, a lot of people enjoy the all-inclusive vacations, the type that includes everything from flight, accommodations and, of course, food and drink. We’ve travelled this way ourselves occasionally, and have enjoyed our time, but for us, it lacked something.

Diner in CT.

Travelling in a car (or train I guess), stopping along the way in the various communities lets us experience a bit of local culture and lifestyle. We just didn’t get that hopping on and off a plane.

This time we stopped along the way in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Baltimore, Washington DC, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and many gas stations and restaurants in various communities along the way. Each of these stops allows us to pick up a little bit of local flavor along the way. On this trip, when we were in South Carolina, we told the waitress about being from Nova Scotia. There was little reaction to this from her; she likely had no idea where NS is located, which is pretty common in the US. When I asked her what grits were, she told me they were “sorta like ground corn, I have them with cheese and they’re real good”. I ordered them with my breakfast but did not get them with cheese, I immediately regretted not getting cheese, they weren’t as good, she gave me a local tip and I didn’t listen, silly me. While in the restaurant, we were the only white people there, an unusual situation, where we come from, it is often the opposite situation. I think that is why I enjoy travelling. While these experiences do not  submerse me into the whole experience of being a local in their communities, that would take far more time. But travelling gives us a taste of other people’s way of life, even if it is a brief stop in a gas station.

In class we discussed Wenger and Lave’s Communities of Practice, and how each of us can belong to a community of practice within our profession and our culture, as well how these communities of practice can sometimes overlap or even collide.

Savannah Georgia

In North America, english is the predominant language, the only time we encountered a different language was Spanish and one of the hotels down south and some French speaking people in New Brunswick. But within the English language are various accents that define the local community. It can be difficult to understand someone talking even though they are speaking English. I can imagine someone from another part of the world trying to understand someone from New Waterford or Ingonish. These communities have strong local dialects and newcomers must listen attentively to understand. This was our situation in some parts of the US, the southern drawls and local expressions means listening attentively to what people are saying. “y’all ‘bout to order ur meal”.

Travelling is such a great experience. I truly love all of it, the sights we see along the way, the food we eat, and of course the many people we encounter. I think travelling can enable us to be more accepting of people and more willing to accept different points of view. We all cruise in various communities of practice, if we are a tiny bit aware of other people’s culture, we can be more willing to accept people ways and accept their differences.

References:

Lave, Jean & Wenger, Etienne. (1991). Situated learning Legitimate peripheral participation. New York: Cambridge University Press.