I decided to interview my tutor Sydney for this project because even though she is so young, she had great lessons of culture to share. Sydney's father was in the Navy, so she moved to nine different places, including another country, throughout her childhood. She also did an exchange program in Argentina. I have a very personal opinion that Sydney’s desire to do an exchange program came from all of this changes, which was different from Bohannan’s motivation when she decided to study the Tiv. For Bohannon it was work before anything else (at least when she arrived at the Bush).
It was really nice talking to Sydney, because I am truly amazed with people that know so many places. Moreover, I always thought that being part of a Navy family would be fantastic, especially because of the war movies I sometimes watch. However, after our conversation I could realize that having family in the US Armed Forces can represent some difficulties and moving can be one of them. For Sydney it ended up being a good thing, because she became more outgoing and less shy and I believe these changes Bohannan also experienced when she was with the Tiv.
One thing that Sydney told me when we were
talking about differences between the United States and Argentina was that in
Argentina people are more affectionate, which means that, for example, people
greet themselves with kisses. When she told me that I realized that she always
greets me with one kiss and this fact clearly show how one person can be
affected by another culture. We saw this a lot when reading “Return to Laughter.”
Finally, after I talked to Sydney and
finished reading the book “Return to Laughter” I can end my post by saying that New Orleans people have at
least one thing in common with the Tiv, even if separated by sixty years: both
of them sure know how to party!
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