World Citizen Storycast

What do horses, smiling, mint chocolate and shoes have to do with who you are? Our guest for this episode, Alisa Kaiser, grew up in Ukraine and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Alisa shares with us a few personal stories of bridging two cultures, how her stereotypical image of Americans vanished after she met them, the challenges of strange food, whether shoes ought to stay on or off, and the interpretation of smiles and apologies. Marcia and Lisle reflect on their own experiences with these and other themes sparked by Alisa’s fun and interesting tales.

In a family of blended cultures, sometimes interesting challenges can be found in the mix of holiday traditions and religion. Marcia and Lisle’s older son married a young woman whose mother moved to the U.S. from Iran. In this episode, their daughter-in-law, Darya, shares her story about growing up in a household that merged Persian, American, Baha’i, and Christian customs and traditions, including accepting dogs as household pets, choosing how to react to prejudice, and Christmas for those who don’t traditionally celebrate that holiday…. Whatever YOUR holiday, though, whenever you celebrate it, we hope it’s merry and bright!

Would we expect to experience a clash of cultures within our own culture? How much is our cultural identity impacted by the physical environment, by recent history, by the economy, by local prejudices? In this episode, Iris Leung, born in Hong Kong, raised in a Cantonese family community in Canada and now living and working in mainland China, shares some surprisingly diverse experiences she discovered within her own Chinese culture in these very different settings.

In this episode, Bernie Low shares her experiences as a Singaporean studying in Japan. Among the unexpected adjustments to life there for her has been the realization that Asian foreigners and Western foreigners are not always treated the same way. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage? Hosts Marcia and Lisle discuss their own experiences with the “Superstar Phenomenon” of Americans in China. Lisle also shares an embarrassing experience he had, and he and Marcia wonder under what circumstances it might be OK in the United States to assume someone who looks Asian might not be American.

Alexandra Madhavan’s blog – madh-mama.blogspot.ca - is popular with young people who are especially interested in intercultural advice and love stories. And Alexandra shares her own very special story with us about how two very different family cultures clashed and blended in unexpected ways after this all-Canadian young woman met, fell in love with, and married a handsome young man from India.

In this episode, Carolyn Cannon, who has lived in Ecuador for three years, describes a common image some South Americans have of many North Americans, a stereotype that may not be completely unfounded. She also shares fun stories of Spanish and English language word confusion, an Ecuadoran custom about being neighborly, a lesson about lending money, and a stray dog who has become both a pet and a popular local celebrity. Note that a few comments in this episode are mildly explicit.

In our chat with Beverlee Patton, a world traveler, author, lecturer, and cross-cultural trainer, she shares insights from her diverse international background, compares the causes of war and refugees to childish bullying, and relates a story about a hilarious misinterpretation of a common cultural practice among African-Americans by a well-meaning white visitor.

Differences in understanding between North Americans and Central Americans about the significance of personal time and punctuality, the challenges of getting from point A to point B, the correct way to start a conversation, as well as whether or not people from the United States ought to be called Americans: These are a few of the subjects Marcia and Lisle toss around in their interview with Don and Stephanie Wahaus, a retired couple who faced a few surprises and cultural learning opportunities when they moved from California to Costa Rica.

When and where is cultural appropriation acceptable? We catch up with Erick Prince-Heaggans in Thailand and chat with him about this and other topics that sometimes transcend the border between culture and race, and he leaves us with plenty of food for thought. Erick is a captivating travel journalist in the midst of carrying out his goal of being the first African-American to visit every country in the world. Check out his blog at minoritynomad.com  ...He also shares with us his worthy mission to expose under-privileged youth to a wider world through experiencing international travel and photojournalism. You can find information about that at AWorldBeyondYouth.com   

In this episode, Deloria Bighorn, a Yankton Sioux Indian and Marcia’s close friend since childhood, describes her experiences growing up and living in a majority non-native environment in the US and Canada; and she tells us a couple fun culture clash stories, suggests what to call the native people of North America, and shares a bit of excellent cross-cultural advice. Marcia and Lisle reflect on the implications from the perspective of someone in a majority or privileged culture.

In this short promo, hosts Marcia and Lisle briefly introduce World Citizen Storycast, a show in which guests with multicultural experience share fun, educational or challenging cross cultural stories.