While some Greyhounds feel the cultural gap, some are comfortable with intercultural mingling

By Erum Rizvi
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For senior Michael Mestetsky, having a discussion with his parent’s sounds different than the usual conversation teenagers have with their parents here in America. Although he might be getting congratulated on a grade in his class, he said it sounds more like they are yelling loudly rather than giving him a soft pat on the back.

“Most of my friends ask me why my parents are yelling at me all the time but it’s just the way they talk since we’re from Ukraine; it’s not like they’re mad or anything,” Mestetsky said.

Mestetsky said that it is common with Ukrainian speech for it to sound loud, but these misconceptions sometimes can be difficult to explain. According to world language teacher Kay Vazquez, many students here find it easier to be around others who share a similar nationality or background because of the similar cultural ties. Vazquez said that this happens commonly during school and outside of school as well.

“Some people are fearful of what they don’t know about different cultures, but they should realize that there’s nothing to be afraid of but rather something to learn from cultures different from your own. Once you get to know people from different cultures, you realize that we are all human beings and very similar in many ways,” Vazquez said.

Mestetsky is the first generation from his family to come to America from Ukraine. He said that he feels a cultural difference from living and going to school in America although he was born in Ukraine and moved here when he was four years old.

“We have different customs in Ukraine like no ice in drinks, and here people usually put ice in their drinks to make them cold. We don’t put ice in drinks because we think it will make us get sick,” he said. Mestetsky also said that speaking a different first language, Russian in his case, is another cultural difference.

“Another difference is food. Fruit is usually eaten after meals. In Ukraine we eat a lot of potatoes and hotdogs without any buns and people probably don’t eat them without buns,” Mestetsky said.

Food is another common cultural difference and Vazquez said she thinks that diversity makes people respect others more, no matter what cultural differences everyone might have.

Along with Mestetsky, sophomore Savini Ranaweera said that she thinks that there are numerous differences between her Sri Lankan background and the culture here in America.

“When I moved here, I was only 8 years old and I remember going to school and seeing the cafeteria and thinking how no one bought lunch at school back home,” she said.

Ranaweera said that she thinks that her parents are stricter than American parents while Mestetsky said that he feels that Ukrainian parents, including his own, are not as strict as parents here. “We have about half as many rules as kids have here. I think I was only grounded maybe once,” Mestetsky said.

Rather than mingling with a mixed group of culturally diverse students, the majority of Ranaweera’s friends are originally from around Asia. For Ranaweera this is normal simply because the comfort of talking to those of similar backgrounds as her.

On the contrary, Mestetsky said that he associates more with Americans than Europeans. “When I first came to America, I only talked to Ukrainians because I barely knew English. Now that I can speak English, it’s cool. I mean I don’t only have to hang out with Europeans,” he said. Mestetsky said that he would rather get to know others’ personalities because that is more comforting to him rather than just being with them because of their shared ethnicity.

Vazquez said that she worked at an International School when she lived in Germany and the school had students from many different countries. “Everyone tended to intermingle with others of different ethnicities, and it was very interesting to compare cultures and ideas during class. We all had one very important thing in common that drew us together. We were foreigners,” she said. Vazquez said that every once in a while, however, talking to the Americans was more comforting for her because they had similarities in background. “Sometimes there were customs from other countries that I did not like or agree with, but we learned to agree to disagree.”

Ranaweera said that she thinks the people are more accepting here in America than in Sri Lanka. “I think that seeing all the diversities here makes me more open as a person.”

This story is a part of the “Everybody has a story” series. For more information on “Everybody has a story” refer to “The Story Behind the Story.”

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EVERYBODY HAS A STORY

According to the HiLite student name list, there were 4,199 students registered at CHS as of the first day of school. We plan to cover some of them randomly. This issue, we feature number 2,463.