Blog 10 - Fish Out of Water

I attended the SJSU International House's Pancake Breakfast which took place on April 11th. They host this event twice a year. The International house is an SJSU dormitory which house 72 international and U.S residents. The Pancake Breakfast takes place once every Fall and Spring semester. The house is transformed into restaurant and they serve a buffet breakfast with cuisine from many countries. The residents take on different roles like cooks, waiters, and hosts. It is organized by the house's resident advisers with the help of the director and the office manager. This semester's attendance figure was a record.
I found this event to be relevant to this assignment because it involved people with different cultures and racial backgrounds. It's interesting to see individuals with distinct origins combine and work together as a team. The language barrier was quite apparent. I noticed that many of the Asian residents were not as adept at English as the others. However, they were making a genuine effort. They could understand and be understood, which ultimately is the goal of two way communication.
The residents were like a family. I guess that is natural when you are living under the same roof. There was a very positive feeling about this place though. Most of the residents spend a total of one year there since they are on exchange programs. That drives them to make the most of their time in the United States. They just seemed to me like a very close-knit group.
The event was very enjoyable. There was great food, entertainment, and plenty of happy people. The only negative thing was the weather; It was raining. What I liked most was that it was very multicultural. I even met someone from Mauritania.
The most important thing I took from this experience was that it was an example of a productive system. People usually put aside their differences when asked to work together. In this case, they embraced their differences and that made them special. It goes to show that different cultures and races can learn to live and work together peacefully and successfully.