There was an argument in the class with dr.taiba about the fact that culture is shaped since early age. I think that we acquire culture since infancy the lullaby that’s sung to child in the cradle differs from one area to another. I still remember my mom singing to my little sister ( name name wa aeeb lch freekh elhammam ) years later when I moved to Saudi Arabia with my family one of my Saudi relatives was singing to her child ( dooha ya dooha seedi raah le mecca ..) I noticed this little thing among other things like the way we speak ,our intonation, behavior , food , clothes have some differences even though that there is a quiet similarities but the differences were much more noticeable . the way we address ourselves here in Kuwait we call the person by her \ his first name while in ksa they call each other by the first and second name for example ( Sarah – Sarah elmuhammed ) . then in school I used to call the teacher ( ablah ) but there we called her ( ustathah ) a lot of things that I was used to do and see here in kuwait were missed and replaced with another norms of Saudi culture . at the age of 13 I wore “abaia ” in ksa unlike when I was in Kuwait its part of their culture and believes I had to accept that and acculturate with the kind of culture I lived in .also the eating habits were different after dinner they always serve watermelons ! it was weird thing to me I used to see it only after lunch time .I spent about 4 years in different country and I gained little bit of the Saudi culture. I missed some of the norms I was raised on , I’ve gone through a lot of arguments with my relatives because I had my own thoughts and believes , I got my own way of talking , my tone level and my accent which I acquired from my culture ( the Kuwaiti culture ) however, I had to acculturate with the other culture. It was hard to assimilate but somehow it was fun to adapt another culture, language and norms with trying to give some of your culture.
by : sarah mohammad
