People of the World

Skateboarders in Brasilia

Did you know that one of the most famous skateboarders in the world is Brazilian? Bob Burnquist is internationally renowned for his skateboarding maneuvers and extreme flips in the air. He has one of the biggest and wildest megaramps in his backyard. Can you believe that he has even gone for a base jump in the Grand Canyon?

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Natalie: An Australian filling in the missing links to her own story in Vietnam

In this People of the World post, we have the pleasure to get to know Natalie Anderson. Natalie was raised in Australia, but now lives in Vietnam with her husband and three year old daughter. In this Q&A, we talk with Natalie about living in Vietnam, her studies on second generation Australians with immigrant family backgrounds, raising a multicultural 3-year old in Vietnam and how important it is to fill in the missing “links” to your own story through your family heritage.

First off, please tell us a little about yourself

I was born in Singapore to an Australian father and Vietnamese mother. We lived all over Australia when I was growing up and we frequently travelled overseas. When I graduated from university I spent several years travelling around the world, and was based in London for about 4 years, returning to Melbourne to complete my Masters in Language and Cultural Studies – case studies on second-generation Australians from immigrant family backgrounds (from Greece, Italy, China, Vietnam, Turkey and Lebanon) about their cultural heritage and the impact of this on their concept of self-identity. I also worked as a researcher at a social welfare organisation dealing with young people and families from CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) backgrounds.

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Ramadan for a cafe owner in France

Fatima lives in Dinan, one of the most attractive walled cities not only in Brittany but also in France.

She runs her “sandwicherie” shop Sucré Salé (yes, you would have guessed she sells sandwiches…) in Rue de l’Apport, a lovely street lined with half-timbered houses in the heart of the medieval city.

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A Taiwanese student in the USA

Mindy Chang, who is from Taiwan, first contacted us when she was doing some research for her Masters programme at the University of Michigan, USA. She ended up writing a guest post on Taiwanese culture. Now Mindy is back in Taiwan after completing her studies. We caught up with her to ask some questions about studying abroad and returning home afterwards.

First, could you tell us something about yourself?

大家好，我叫張敏儀。Hello, my name is Min-Yi Chang. (Mindy). I’m from Taiwan, the Republic of China. Not to be confused with the People’s Republic of China, or Thailand, which sounds sort of like Taiwan.

I turned 25 this year, and I just finished my master degree of Public Relations in Michigan State University. I had never traveled to any foreign country before I went to the U.S. for my graduate study (which was awkward when I was a teenager coz all my friends had been to at least one or two foreign countries like Japan, Thailand, or Korea). That inspired me to study hard and I dreamed of winning the government scholarship to study abroad in the future (unfortunately, I didn’t get it and I applied for a government loan for my U.S. study). I didn’t spend time searching for a job in the U.S. after graduating because of financial concerns and I feel the overall working environment is not quite optimistic for an international student like me. I came home this June and I’m looking for a job in Public Relations or marketing fields in Taiwan.

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My Single Story: the view from Costa Rica

Inspired by writer Chimamanda Adichie’s talk on The Danger of a Single Story, some of my students from Univesidad Nacional, Costa Rica wrote about their experiences of the single story trap.

We’ve posted about this inspiring talk before on PocketCultures, but here it is again.

The reactions from Costa Rica

When I heard the speech of Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story, I felt ashamed because as she said when I heard about Africans I think about black people, very thin, starving and with AIDS. The funny thing: that was my single story.

I think that she gave us a very good lesson about single stories. Also when she talked about Mexicans in front of Americans probably some of them also felt ashamed because they criticize them very much, not only Mexicans but also Latin-American people.

María José Rodríguez

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Rebecca Caro, a Denver native in love with Argentinean food and culture

I met Rebecca Caro (in cyberspace, not in person yet) when we took part in a group post about Argentinean alfajores organised by a common blogger friend.

I immediately checked out her blog, From Argentina with Love, and was pleasantly surprised. A free-lance food and travel writer, Rebecca is passionate about food and her passion is contagious. Her collection of Argentinean recipes is mouth-watering: short ribs and chimichurri, empanadas, carbonada. You name, she’s got it. I urge our readers to try at least one recipe!

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