Stories and Intercultural Surprises

One of the things we do in InterPlay is we tell 30 second stories to each other.  (6th and 7th graders, you might remember that I've invited you to tell each other 30 second stories...did you know you were doing InterPlay?).  It's been fun to notice how much we can learn about other cultures through the short stories others tell; it's also fun to notice how much we have in common.  Here are a few that were told to some of us by some children (they are shorter here than they were told to us); what similarities and differences can you find?

• I was riding in the rickshaw, and we had to come to a stop so suddenly because of a bullock in the road! (boy)
• I like to ride my bicycle with my brother.  But there is lots of dust that sprays up at us, and the dust is stinky! (girl)
• I have a cat.  This beautiful cat.  It sits in my lap.  It's a very very beautiful cat. (girl)
• (spoken very passionately by a young girl): I like butterflies, because they're beautiful and they flutter around.
• When I go home, I like to dance with my sister. (girl)
• I love to cook!!  It's my favorite thing to do.  But I put soooooo many chilli's in my cooking, most people find it too pungent.  But me--I love it!  (told by a middle aged nun)

Here are some of the kids quoted above. In the picture, they are doing fake karate with Kathy. Kathy is Korean American, and everyone kept on asking her if she knows karate because of her Asian face. So...after being asked one time too many, she decided to show them karate InterPlay style:

From India Part IV...