Culture clash/ shock.

When i first started dating my boyfriend i was a little nervous to meet his family. He is Italian, and has this huge Italian family. I come from a little tiny family so the meeting all of them at once kind of freaked me out a little bit. Meeting all his aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, grandpa, grandmas, and more cousins was such an overwhelming experience. All of them would kiss my cheek when they greeted me, i thought it was really odd. One because they just met me, and two because it's something we don't do in our family. My boyfriend told me that they might not be so accepting at first because i wasn't Italian. When i heard that i got really nervous. You could totally tell i wasn't Italian either. Most of his family was short, and i pretty much towered over them. When they sit down and have dinner together it's more like a feast than a dinner. They have like five different courses to their meals. Most of it was fish! i hate fish. It was the weirdest fish too, like muscles, oysters, octopus, and things i have never even seen before. I really didn't want to eat it, but his mom made me try everything just to see if i liked it. Of course i didn't because i am a huge texture person when it comes to eating so i didn't even want to swallow it. I am pretty sure his mom just wanted to see my reaction from eating it. Whenever i go to family dinners now, they always make me pasta because i won't eat the fish.
Meeting my boyfriend's grandpa [ they call him Nono] was quiet the experience. He barely speaks english so understanding him was hard enough. He kept asking me if i was Italian, and when i answered no he had a look of disappointment on his face. I felt like i was breaking some sort of family tradition.
Just like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, everyone in his family has the same name so i never know who someone is talking to so it gets confusing a lot. When someone says Rino, i look at him but they aren't even talking to him. Then here i am with a somewhat of a boys name Stevie, and they are like what the heck?
I definietly see all the culture differences when i go to his house then come back to mine. It's like two different places.

Holy Symbols!

America is known for being one of the most obese countries in the world. Being fat in all is not bad thing, but when it comes to a point where you can barely walk you need to do something about it. This picture to the right shows the Statue of Liberty holding a nice luscious burger and a typical drink with the Coke-a-Cola brand on it. As you may notice the Statue is looking plump. When a person immigrates from another country they see us Americas struggling to walk from the cause of obesity. The reason i picked this as one of my pictures is because not only is it a funny picture, it represents what American culture is turning into. Americans just love their food! :)

You think it would be crazy that a day could represent a country, but not anymore. September 11, 2001 changed our country in so many ways, including our culture. It impacted many hearts, people, and soldiers across America. This is what brought many U.S. citizens together in times of desperation. This is always going to be apart of our culture for the rest of our lives. Everyone in America will take a moment of silence on September 11.

Does body image effect American culture? I think yes! Americans want to maintain that perfect body image. Some more than others are stressing out about how they look to impress others. Although we are still known for having the biggest obesity rate, most Americans are starving themselves to have the "perfect" body. When i look at guys like this i say to my self "oh dam!" That is most girls reaction when they see a body like this. American pop culture is trying to train us into being little "perfect" robots just like them. The media has effected America and some of us are blind to it.

Freedom is our culture. It gives us a chance to express ourselves in the way we want people to see us. Without freedom America wouldn't be the place immigrants want to immigrate too. If there was no freedom Americans would be able to get away with half the things they do. We are free to an education, we have freedom of speech, religion, and so much more glorious things. We live in a life of luxury. We are free to do what we want. I love it.

American sports are simply intense. I always love what they have to bring to the table. Sports have always been a huge part of American culture. Around football season families all over America are watching Sunday night football. There is different sports for different seasons so we always have something to constantly entertain us. When i think of sports i think of unity. All those teams in America create a bond. I think that is something really awesome. These teams are not just teams they are family. They are dedicated to strive to  the same goal and that is to win!

Sociology Much?!

I always have been curious of what people from different cultures think when they come to a little town like West Chicago. If a person were to come from a Australia and just took a look inside our school they would probably so lost and confused. I really never thought about how diverse our school was. Once we started talking culture it really made me think about how many people go home to different back rounds. It is so interesting to me now that i have taken a deeper look into things. For example, September 16th it is Mexican Independence i saw a whole bunch of Hispanic races walking around in sombreros and things that represented their culture. At first i thought it was silly that they would do this at school. Then i realized it's who these people are. They want to represent their culture in their own way. Us Americans do the same thing on July 4th, We are representing the day we all became free. I love how your own culture is what makes you so unique from others. Sometimes i wish i was from a different culture just to experience what it would be like in someone elses  shoes. I'm sure if i were to go out of the country I would stand out like red dye on a brand new white shirt. Learning about culture is a very fascinating topic. I love looking a several cultures and seeing the cool things that i never would have learned about them.

Come take a Jog with me into American Culture.

 Stefan Schirmer a man from Germany came to America and noticed the culture difference right way. He arrives into the city of Chicago, and notices many people jogging and running to get exercise. Stefan found this really odd. He thought it was weird that Americans wake up every morning at 5 A.M. just to go running with the car traffic breathing in toxic fumes from the cars waiting to move another inch.
  He states him and his family from Germany have never been runners, and when he came here everyone seemed to be a runner. Stefan remembers when aerobics washes over into his continent, But when it came too running it never became a popular thing. He thinks there is no point of sweating alone when there is other sports he can play like soccer. Americ
 Americans will do anything to maintain that fit body image. If that means they have to wake up every morning to go jogging they are going to do it. They have fallen into that pattern. I never really thought about how weird it is to run or jog. As a runner i never actually thought about how crazy i am for running in a circle just, or how crazy for running up to 6 miles a day. When i read this it really opened my eyes to see how different cultures react to other cultures.

Wanna get to know me? :)

  My name is Stevie Rae Limbrick. I was named after my parents Steve and Rachel. I am a very outgoing person who loves to laugh and smile. If you are sad i will always try to cheer you up. I am a girl who loves Jesus and isn't afraid to tell you. I love helping other people and volunteering! I have been on many different mission trips the past summers and i loved it. I love trying new things and being creative.
 I have always had someone to inflence my life, whether it be my best friends, my parents, or God. I live my life with no regrets, because i know everything happens for a reason. I pretty much love music and you will catch me singing all the time. I am a very unorgaized with everything. You can probably tell because my blog isn't really all together.
 When i was younger i wanted to be everything when i got older. I wanted to be a doctor, a nurse, a police officer, a firefighter, anything you named for a job i wanted to work there. Now that i am older, i have no clue what i want to do with my life. I know i want to go to a christian university for college, but i don't know what for yet. Life seems to confuse me very often with everything always upgrading and things always at a constant change. I'm not a very face paced girl. I love taking things nice and slow.