First Cultural Experience, 2nd hand

A group of students from University of Houston, went into China (mainland) last night to get massages and shop. It's about a 45 minutes train ride from Hong Kong. They got a 1 hour massages for $5, but don't get too jealous just yet, because the trauma they experienced, might have just taken their massage buzz away.

Jetlag had taken over yesterday, so I opted out and went back to the hotel. Slept a good 11 hours and am thankful I now hear their story, 2nd hand.

The paperwork, because of the swine flu, was an overload and the difference between Hong Kong and the Mainland was unexpected. They were touched often, begged upon, and burdened by the need. They were in a mall type area and looked a couple stores over to see two teenage girls arguing very loudly in mandarin. A few seconds later, one began to run toward the escalators, them assuming that she was stealing something but before they knew it, the two were in front of them beating one another while the Chinese citizens surrounded them with cameras and phones to take pictures. As everyone laughed and cheered, many of those from my group began to cry. They were locked in the store and all they could do was watch. A man jumped in and beat the girl to the ground and for 30 minutes she was beaten.

No one knows the outcome, as their view became blocked and no one really wanted to watch anyway. Our teacher says its cultural, but cultural to us, doesn't mean okay.

A group of social work students at this conference didn't accept the whole "cultural" bit too well.

It's what our profession teaches however, and I will be the first to say, I struggle with the 'cultural' thing the most.

I realized this morning that my brain is like a box. When people do things outside my box, I question, I hurt, I often get very angry and it takes a lot to begin the process of understanding. Herein lies my professions work. Understanding. Not necessarily accepting and liking, but getting a glimpse into the why and how must be the first step.

More on this understanding later, as I have a conference to attend now. My session is titled "Social Justice Initiatives: Peaceful Solutions to Challenging Opportunities."