Wait, hold on now! You're probably thinking, "Hey, GRRRL, hey, it's the middle of the day in Utah! Shouldn't you be doing homework, you heathenish wretch?!"
Answer: I did lots of homework last night and this morning. In fact, I went to bed at 11 last night [an outlandish oddity for me if I've ever experienced one], which might have contributed to the strange dreams I'll discuss later on. But, the fact is, I'm not doing homework because I feel I deserve some "me time" in the form of blogging. If you happen to think this makes me a loser, so be it.
Now, before I fly into the explanation of the interesting discussion, I have to preface it by saying that Ironman was a terrible movie. If you enjoyed it, then I'd seriously reconsider remaining friends with this particular blogger--because, honestly, even the inclusion of Robert Downey Jr. couldn't save this garbage heap of a movie [aptly represented by Ironman's impossible suit!].
Anyway, the interesting discussion went as follows: Nadin and I were discussion the understory of The Dark Knight, which her professor asserted was good enough for the movie to win Best Picture of '08. This whole idea of Batman going outside the sphere of established justice in order to maintain it so that he can combat the explicit weirdness of the Joker made me think about the American approach to justice [and how we apparently think all foreign threats are insane clowns simply ITCHING to kill everyone]. If we look at Batman as more of a social/political commentary, then yes, I suppose it would be a rather hefty shoe-in for Best Picture. That, and it's just another strike against Ironman for being terrible AND having a sloppy agenda!
From there, the subject branched off on some other tangent which lead to me saying, "Nadin, you act so American sometimes." From there, she asserted that this was patently false [since she never appreciates being associated with America beyond the declaration of her "permanent residency"] because of her connections to Mexico.
"Well," I responded, "Where have you lived most of your life?"
"Texas, but still--"
"When you're away from home [where the majority of your time is now spent], do you associate more with Americans or Mexicans?"
"...well, Americans, but still--"
"So, do you find yourself acting more American or Mexican when mingling with hordes of Americans?"
This stumped her to some degree, so she pressed me to see exactly what I meant by "acting American". I told her that while she had a Mexican mentality, the necessity to adapt and blend in with the people around her cause her to act more like an American when with Americans. She said this wasn't true, that people act the way they are regardless of who they're with.
"No, that's your personality," I replied patiently, "You'll always be Nadin wherever you go. BUT, when with Americans, you act more like an American than a Mexican."
"But I would do the same things anywhere."
"So are you saying that Mexicans behave exactly like Americans?"
"Well, no--"
This lead to a rather circular discussion that came to no real resolution, so I'm posing the question to anyone who's ever observed foreign acclimation into society: for adaptation purposes, do people incorporate social norms and tendencies when with people of other ethnicites? Do we really follow the adage "When in Rome, do as the Romans do"?
Departing from this, I'll now proceed to talk about the weird dreams that scoured my brain last night. To begin with, I was in a large hotel...well, it was a big house that felt like a hotel because it had elevators. Anyway, apparently the house was haunted by a rather Moaning Myrtle-like ghost, only she was more sinister because she berated and threatened you in a rather menacing fashion when you inadvertantly hurt her feelings. She would then proceed to follow you EVERYWHERE, even after you apologized! I finally realized after what felt like an eon of this nonsense that the only way for her to stop being scary was to just write her off as annoying and ignore her. This made her no less annoying, but at least I wasn't frightened.
I suppose this realization was the portal to my next dream. Apparently, Vietnam didn't appreciate the US involvement in their infamous war because they lashed back by invading US soil--successfully. In order to reclaim our beloved Motherland, people were being drafted into this crazy futuristic army where everyone wore Master Chief outfits and wreaked havoc on those mean ol' Vietnamese. Not going to lie, it was pretty cool. I don't remember exactly what abilities the suits had [by the way, I was drafted], but they were cool.
My final dream segued pretty cleanly from the last one. Having either won the war or simply abandoned the cause, I ended up in Austrailia to attend the wedding of a friend. While I was waiting for the event to come to a conclusion [it was a temple marriage and I wasn't endowed], I ventured out into the snow desert [yes, a desert of snow] with my newly acquired
WHIP OF DESTINY
This sucker was your basic whip, but with two pointed ball things on the end [Liahonas?]. Anyway, to properly use the WHIP OF DESTINY, one merely raised it over their head, swung it down through the air, and followed the direction it landed in [which supposedly brought you to your destination...of DESTINY]. My instructor on how to wield the whip was an older gentleman in a hat with teeth around the brim [not too unlike Mick Dundee] who found his destiny in the form of an anaconda which began to do its thing. In order to save my dear mentor, I used my WHIP OF DESTINY to strike it multiple times in the eyes. Rather than explode like they were supposed to, the eyes merely increased in size and changed colors a few times before the snake let my mentor go.
Returning to the wedding festivites as a hero, I saw the couple come out of the temple very happy and such, which made me all gooshy. But, then I found out that they were flying back to the States to get sealed again in the DC temple. Weird, right? Not only that, but apparently on the flight over, the groom [who was actually this kid I liked once upon a time] turned into one of my best friends. This upset me greatly, as I didn't feel it fair that he should marry her instead of me--he likes me more in real life! I was about to witness this second sealing [very unhappily] when I woke up and realized that it had been a very eventful night.
So, now that I've given you something to think about, I expect input on the interesting discussion AND some possible dream interpretations, since I'm still stymied over here.
Happy Tuesday!
I haven't ever observed someone who had a strong foothold in two different cultures and how or if they act differently depending on the nationality of their chosen company. Rather, I have never intentionally taken note of such that I can recall. HOWEVER, I would have to agree with you based alone on human nature. Not only would each and every person act differently to some degree depending upon the nationality of the crowd they're with, but they act differently around every single person in their lives, regardless of their race, religion, creed, or whathaveyou. You are a different person around your mother than you are around your father than you are around your sister or your brother or cousin or grandmother or neighbor, best friend, employer, professor, childhood chum, stranger, etc. There is a reason no two people will ever describe a single individual precisely the same way, and that's because not only do they perceive that person in a different way, but as a direct result of that person being a different person with everyone involved. Certainly sometimes the differences between interactions are imperceptable on the surface, however they are there and they always will be.
We may think we act the same around everyone, particularly if we feel very self confident and secure in our personalities. However, there are so many different aspects to each person's personality that no two people can ever experience all of it to the same degree. We see each of our friends differently, we like them to differing degrees, we like them for different reasons, you all have differing experiences with each other, so to say that you are always exactly the same with every single person you meet is ridiculous.
While we may not realize or acknowledge it, our personalities change depending upon the environment we're placed in. Or more accurately, we allow different aspects of our personalities to come forward depending upon the company and situation and what each calls for. Sometimes we do this consciously, obviously sometimes subconsciously. Either way, we are never the same person with any two people. To suggest we are the same with varying large groups is ludicrous.
So more or less you're right and Nadin is wrong. There, I said it.