One of the best things about being in a different country is to meet people with different perspectives. For instance, today I brought some homemade pumpkin pie to work and found out that my labmate from Malaysia had never tasted pie before. Pie was something he had only seen on tv.
We also spent a while trying to explain what we do for Christmas to our friend from China. It made me realize that most of the world doesn't know anything about Santa Claus or Christmas Trees, or even the nativity, except what they learn from movies.
Another interesting matter of perspective and communication came from talking to a Korean friend about how my mom had sent me a Pumpkin Spice cookie mix. She did not know what pumpkin spice was, so I started explaining that it involves the spices that we put into pumpkin pie. Apparently, in English classes here they only teach the word "spicy" and not "spices." When she heard "pumpkin spice" she pictured a spicy-flavored pumpkin. So, I explained what spices were, and which ones we put in pumpkin pie. Then I brought up the cookies again and explained that these were the spices that were in the cookies. She understood, but after more discussion I had to explain that there was not actually any pumpkin in the cookies, it was just the spices that we associate with pumpkin desserts. Here, pumpkins are used in lots of dishes, especially soup, and are never combined with cinnamon and nutmeg. I'm just glad I started explaining with pumpkin spice cookies and not pumpkin spice cappuccinos.
No comments:
Post a Comment