Dumplings in NC State

Let me start by saying that the only interaction I have had with Chinese culture was when my brother came back from China and showed me pictures and gave me souvenirs. So when I went to the Chinese Food Course at NC state, it was very exciting and enjoyable. When I first arrived there, they handed me the menu that we would be preparing and eating for the night. This is what it looked like:

When I first looked at the sheet, I was extremely fascinated by the language that was on the side, to show what the name of the food was in Chinese. There was a couple of students from the NC State Confucius Institute at the table I was sitting at and I began to ask them about Chinese. They explained how it was a tonal language and by saying a symbol differently can imply different meanings. I asked them to teach me the basics, i.e. hello, goodbye, thank you, and delicious, and I began to think how the world is so different. It is amazing that people can communicate on a daily basis and know little to nothing about each others language. This thought brought me back to when I studied abroad in Vienna, Austria and had to step outside my comfort zone and be able to communicate to the native speakers to just to eat, that I learned quickly. If these language barriers affect everyday life, they must affect foreign policy, foreign medical aid relief, foreign business, etc. It is one important aspect to globalization process that occurs everyday.

Anyways, the class started off by washing our hands to prepare to make..... DUMPLINGS!!! Noted: The dough and the stuffing was made already, but wrapping those puppies was difficult. It did not at all compare to the Chinese people who were helping us make them. Their's looked immaculate! I asked one lady that was helping us make them how long she had been making them. She answered, "My mother and father first taught me when I was 8 years old." She said it equaled to about 30 years! I then thought about family tradition and China. From what I hear and see in movies, family tradition is very important to the Chinese. It is something that is cherished for centuries. In my own Italian family, we have many traditions that we still do to this day. It is important to think of how tradition affects how people view the world and how it affects everyday processes.

After that we watched the instructor cook a noodle type chinese cuisine, seen below. This part was especially important for me because their was an ingredient in it that has been controversial in the past, MSG. The noodle dish was delicious and perfect. I ate every bite. After we ate, the instructor talked to us about the food we cooked. She talked about MSG and explained that the mass hysteria should not scare people away from chinese food that contains MSG. She said that it needs to be cooked correctly to be applied to food. Though, the students around me said that it could cause cancer. So it is really important to understand what you are eating and if it is harmful to your body. This coincides with the discussion of the GMO's in our international studies class and whether or not they should be marketable. 

The class was excellent! I had a lot of fun learning about Chinese culture and cuisine. It also made me think about certain things we talked about in class. It is important to apply what we learn to everyday life to question and think about how it affects the world around us. I would suggest participating in a food course because it is always delicious and it helps your ability to cook. So, ask questions, take a food class, and keep the global diversity alive!

The Vampires of NCSU Campus Cinema

My next adventure began at the NCSU Campus Cinema, where I attended the 2nd Annual International Film Festival and saw this movie:

(Courtesy of IMDB Images)

So, let me give you a background of this film. The genre is a romantic horror film, which many people could relate this to a twilight-like film genre. Personally not my cup of tea; though, I decided to give it a shot and see what it was like. The story is set in Sweden, about a boy who is awkward and quirky. He is often lonely and when he goes to school he is bullied for being different. Do not forget about this as it is important later on if you watch the movie. Anyways, a new family moves into the apartment building that he is living in and he befriends the little girl that has a room beside him. The film spares no time as getting at the fact that the little girl is a vampire. From there I would say you should go see how it ends because it was very well done and interesting movie.

For a little insight into why this movie was done, I decided to endure a search on Wikipedia. The movie was based off the book Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The director, Tomas Alfredson, was given the book by a friend and became immediately connected to it because off the bullying he faced when he was a child. Anyways, the movie featured snow, tons and tons of snow. So, they really set the mood that you were in Sweden and that it is cold. As it was a Swedish film and to set the mood that this was set in Sweden, the entire thing was in Swedish (Dubbed in English of course). In my opinion, it is very different to watch something in another language than to watch in English. You get a closer perspective and by the end of the movie you feel almost empowered that you can speak Swedish or whatever language it was in. 

This was very violent and true to vampire lore. Look, I know I said that it was a Twilight-like film, but this was way better. It had the gore and violence as a horrific vampire movie should and it had the safe and romance between a boy and a girl as a romantic chick flick should. Though, there was an element that touched the international aspect of our course and that would be about bullying. I told you that this would be important. Bullying has increasingly been popping up all over the world. We are forced to focus on our country because we want to help ourselves first and then others. Though, this is a big issue. I mean in the movie the kid was basically carrying around a knife and stabbing every bully tree he found (part of the movie, you'll see). I think this is the point in the movie where I said to my self, "This is not only Sweden, this is the whole world." That is when I faced a certain global perspective for this movie. Though, it seemed as though it was not as big of a problem in their culture and it was to be accepted. I mean the teacher anticipates a fight between two students and does nothing to stop it until its too late. 

I really enjoyed this movie. I was expecting the Twilight light heartedness of the genre, but was given the gruesome and horrific experience that I was looking for, for the week of Halloween. I was very pleased with the turnout of people who showed up to the movie, as I was expecting me, a few groups, and the people putting on the film festival. I also was very impressed with the people who put on the movies for the campus that it might coerce me to become a helping member, it looked like a lot of fun and you get to watch movies (my house is a movie-devoid zone). If I were to give this movie a rating it would a good 8.5/10. 

Here is the Film Festival Poster as a plug for anyone looking for something to do next year to set the Halloween mood, GO TO THIS!!!!

(Courtesy of their Facebook page)

And as always, keep the global diversity alive. ~Mike~

The 27th International Festival of Raleigh

        For my first international expedition, I chose to go to the International Festival held in the Raleigh, NC Convention Center. I decided to go with my girlfriend, mom and my brother for a fun thing to do for the Saturday afternoon. My expectations were set very high because I heard from very high that it was so culturally diverse. However, I felt something was missing after I left.

       When we arrived, we sat through the line that most of have experienced if you have ever attended a convention. My hopes were at an all time high for the anticipation that they were creating. We then walked to the balcony overlooking the whole festival, and it was spectacular. There was a sea of people from the Biergarten, past the boardwalk of food, through the expo's of different countries, to the international dance stage. 

      First, we browsed the different stands of countries. If you wanted to know about Asia, South America, Middle East, and Africa, you were in luck. Though, the deeper I went into this area the more upset I felt when very little amounts of European countries were being exposed. Do not get me wrong, I definitely loved the Tibetan Mountain Flags and the Japanese Kimonos. Though, I missed the German Lederhosen, or Scottish plaid. I must admit they had the Scottish booth, but very little was shown to express there culture. So, I made the conclusion that other areas are more in depth with their culture or the european areas are still yet to be filled. All in all, I loved looking at the different items to buy in each stand as I am a sucker for international artifacts.

     The boardwalk of food made me feel excited at first, until I saw those prices. Good Gosh! I mean it was expected that: convention... high prices...blah, blah, blah. Though, the amount of food for the price was not equal. Either way, the food diversity actually astounded me. I was shocked that they had a booth for the Netherlands. Though, I couldn't bring myself to try it, I was very impressed. The Biergarten also looked like fun though I was on a tight budget and did not have the time to wait for a table and then finally get a beer from the booth. Saying that, it did look like fun to watch a musical act and drink. 

     The International dance stage was were we spent the other majority of the adventure. I saw a lot of Bollywood dancing and middle-eastern dancing but unfortunately missed any scottish or irish dancing, which is my favorite style. Though I would have to say, the variations of dance was extremely distant. For example, when I heard the Philippines dancers were upcoming, I was expecting something island-like or tropical. I was very dumbfounded when it was the properness of an English Ball. I greatly enjoyed their dancing, and learned that my mother had done something like the Bamboo Stick dancing in high school. 

(Sorry for the horrible iPhone photo)

    Overall, it was fun to be there just upsetting that my favorite region was being missed. Its not that they weren't present, it was that they have so much more to bring to events like those. It may be that I travelled just recently this summer to Vienna, Austria and I am coming off the international high, but I expected there to be more. I am very excited to see what transpires next year and see if I can do anything to help the european aspect of the festival. Keep the global diversity alive. ~Mike~