Author: Ivan (Page 7 of 8)

In addition to my Colombian culture, I relate to the author since another community that I was part of when I lived in my native country was a very low-income family so we always had that similarity in terms of ‘i am alright. Low-income people or families keep in a constant struggle to survive due to the financial difficulty that exists. There is always this farce that we show other people that we are fine, but deep down there are many problems that overwhelm us, that are slowly destroying us.

One of the peculiarities was to leave my country to live in a completely unknown one with my family to get ahead and get out of that difficulty. Living day to day looking for things to do to get out of that dark hole that tormented us was something difficult and more in an unknown place and culture since we spent hard days and nights in which even food was very limited. Little by little we were adapting and relating more with people, my parents finding job opportunities and so little by little we were building a stable life out of so much need that we came to have in a moment.

I found this article very interesting since it is based on how someone enters a new field, in this case, the character of the text who enters a health field and has to learn a new language. To adapt and relate to people around him, he learned health terminology and how the doctors would make themselves look like baseball players. This new language is sometimes done to change the dynamic since they have a lot of work stress and also to be very discreet when they are close to patients. I certainly identify with this article since I am in the same position, I am Colombian, and I have been here in NYC for two years. I am learning a new language to relate to the communities here.

One of the communities to which I belong now is the American culture. As I said before, I have only been here for a short time, so I have been learning English and improving it to communicate with the diverse culture found in this city. Things that helped me understand everything quickly were watching movies, listening to music, and reading everything in English, even if I had to translate things constantly. Recently at school, I am joining another community in the health field. I am learning new words and medical terms to relate not only with my classmates but also with the professors and eventually when I work and find myself surrounded in that world just like in the text.

I find it fascinating how people have to learn new languages ​​to communicate and integrate into these new communities, be it professional or due to circumstances such as school, going to a new place, or living in a new location. Learning new languages ​​is not only to integrate into a group but also to communicate with people to understand them and even help them if they ever need something, as in the text. Someone young learning to practice their career as a doctor and help the population be in good health. That is why I invite everyone to open their minds and always learn new things and even new languages to learn and get to know different cultures and communities. If at any time they need help, they know how to communicate with them.

To be honest and direct, when I started reading the text, I was completely lost, which I still am. English is my second language, so mostly I had a hard time understanding the author and even more so when he used very unusual words that are out of my vocabulary, like the ones in this text. I think that right now, I am still connecting points regarding the general idea. I believe “fuku” is a word that is part of a culture that identifies and unites a community like the Dominican Republic. It is a name for a type of curse that a person or a family may have or had suffered.

Something that, in particular, confused me a lot about the text and made me think a lot was page number four. In its entirety, it talks about the curse of Kennedy, also of the country Vietnam. I get the idea that it has to do with Trujillo, a head of state who had the Dominican Republic under a dictatorship. Still, I’m not so sure since the vocabulary he uses is very formal and at the same time with a lot of slang and also somewhat poetic through all the text, which made me feel very lost.

I think the author was trying to tell us the story of the word “Fuku” which means curse. Also, talking about where it came from and how the belief began started in the community. This happened through the time of the dictator Trujillo, of whom people believed that he was closely related to that. This word is very much from the culture of the Dominican Republic since the author concludes that each person or family has their “fuku” as I said before. It is presented in different ways, and sometimes the curse also takes time, but it eventually arrives.