Conduct of Business

        America is known for its economy and how advanced its businesses are. After listening to a finance professor, I realized that businesses in America isn't that much different from businesses back in Malaysia. One common feature in both businesses is that they both stress on the importance of customers. If a business can make a customer happy and is able to satisfy its customers, the business will surely boom. Without a doubt, both American and Malaysian businesses stress on value of customer. Also, our guest mentioned that each business require a marketable product as well. If service is good, marketing is done well and relationship with customer is also good, the business will succeed. However, without a marketable product, or a product that is worth to be sold or bought by customers, there is no point with all those aspects mentioned. A company or business will not develop. This is true back in Malaysia as well. The only difference in businesses here and back in Malaysia is that in America, many companies use advertisements on television as a tool of publication of their product to the society. In Malaysia,  advertisements on televisions do not play a vital role in sales of products.

The Minorities

         In every country, there is bound to be a major group of people and a minor group as well. This situation exists back in Malaysia. Malaysian is a multicultural country with people from races such as Malay, Chinese, Indians, Punjabi and also the indegenious people who are closely associated with the Malays. The majority of people is the Malays followed by the Chinese and lastly the Indians. Unlike America, the affirmative action is not provided for the minority group. Special benefits and opportunities are provided for the major group. The reason being because this is their land and they were the native people, the people who stood here first. The other races came from other countries during colonization for economic reasons and stayed behind after independence.

Guns for Safety?

        Owning a gun here in America is not illegal as in many other countries. Back in my hometown Malaysia, guns are only allowed for police forcers and armies, not for civilians. Due to the fact that almost anyone in the United States can own a gun, Americans do not find guns as surprising. If I am not mistaken, the legal age to own a gun is 21, wheras the legal age to own a rifle is 18. From talking to Americans, almost off of them have or had guns in their homes, primarily owned by their parents. On top of that, most of them knew how to use a gun. Having said that, gun usage in America among Americans is not that abnormal. Americans see guns as a means to protect themselves and others from danger. If the same gun policy in United States was implemented back in Malaysia, it would be chaotic. The average Malaysians are not used to seeing and handling guns, what more owning one. Guns are a big part of the American culture. Many movies depict that guns were part of the values in America in the past where cowboys were famous. The wild wild west era was filled with gunfights. In Malaysia however, guns would not be such a good idea because we lack the proper system that tracks gun registry and usage. Misuse of guns would be higher than it already is. Given that reason, I would not have a gun in my home simply because it is not allowed back in Malaysia. On top of that, I would not want to provide any opportunity for accidents to happen. Having no experience using a gun, I may mishandle it and who knows, I may end up a murderer with intentions of only protecting my loved ones.

Sliding Down the Snow With Skis

        Coming to Eau Claire and seeing snow was indeed the first time for me. Not only did I experience seeing snow, I can now say that I have gone skiing as well. When I first found out about going cross country skiing with my classmates, I looked forward to it but at the same time felt that it was going to be exhausting. However, that thought turned around after that Sunday. Putting on those skis for the first time made my legs feel as if they were paralyzed. I could hardly move properly. I took slow slides as instructed and sooner or later, I got the hang of fitting my feet into those skis. There were so many aspects to learn before one can actually ski. The methods involved when going downhill, sliding your skis on flat grounds and climbing uphill. I learned that it was not an easy thing but at the same time, it was not so hard as well. My classmates and I managed to pick up skiing in that one day. We were not professionals, but we definitely knew how to stand on our skis without falling. I saw many of my classmates smiling away as they went downhill. They enjoyed skiing as much as I did. Only one of my classmate, Abba has ever had experience skiing. It was the first for the rest of us. There were many others who went skiing on that Sunday as well. Most of them were elderly people. I saw many of them skiing with their friends or spouses. They were fit! I was actually shocked that they could still ski at that age. It took me by surprise. From what I see, skiing is a big thing here in Eau Claire. This is mainly due to the fact that it snows a lot here during the winter season. I bet that if I did a survey, almost every one who lives in Wisconsin had gone skiing. All in all, I had a great time, a great weekend.

This is probably my favorite photo of all, mainly due to the fact that Harith's face got censored!

Personal Immigration Story

       As we know, America has a diverse range of people from all over the world. This happened because many people of different ethnicity immigrated over to the United States. My roommate’s ancestors did just that. Jonny’s ancestors were actually Irish-German. His maternal great grandmother was born in Ireland and it was she who immigrated here. His paternal family is from Germany. Jonny’s ancestors moved here to America during the late 1800’s to achieve more than what they had back home. It was a long time ago.  Perhaps, it is due to that very reason that nobody in his family speaks the languages of his original countries. According to him, no one speaks German or Irish anymore. Being in America does impact on one’s culture after all. There isn’t any contact with any relatives back in Germany or Ireland because most his ancestors have already moved out of those countries twenty decades ago. The one family custom or tradition observed in both sides of his ancestors is drinking. Irish people are known for their drinking habits as well as the Germans. With Wisconsin being the state where consumption of alcohol is the highest, this custom is easily practiced by them. It is a tradition for many generations in Jonny’s family. He reacted to each question with appropriate answers without thinking too long. He knows his stuff indeed. Jonny and his family live a good life now in America and if asked if he or his family has done any genealogy research to learn more about his family history, Jonny said no they have not. This, to me does not mean that Jonny and his family have forgotten about their past and not care about their heritage, this means that they know well enough of their roots and doing research is not necessary when you know who you are and where you came from. Shifting to America did not erase their origins.

Historical Moments

Boyd Elementary School

This building is historical because it has been there for a very long time. It was designed back in 1915 by an Englishman by the name, Edward Hancock and the school was renamed Boyd Elementary School in 1951.

Putnam Memorial Chapel

The Putnam Memorial Chapel was built for the people of Eau Claire at about $10,000 donated by Jane E. Putnam. It is located in the Forest Hill Cemetery here in Eau Claire.

It Makes Us Who We Are

         Culture in accordance with the online dictionary has plenty of meanings ranging from development or improvement of the mind by education or training to the product or growth resulting from such cultivation. In my own words, culture is a quality instilled in one's ownself from birth. Culture depends on various aspects and different exposures will bring about different results. A person who is brought up in China may see the world from a different angle as that of a person who is brought up in America. Culture basically moulds a person into a whole and determines how they will view the world. It affects one's belief, views, understanding as well as knowledge. It may seem like an insignificant occurence but culture plays a big role in determining what a person will turn out to be in the future. It identifies each and everyone of us. Culture varies as geographical locations change as stated earlier and this results in different cultures being born.
         However, the world is mixing as of now and many people from different parts of the world are coming together. There seem to be no borders anymore keeping each nation apart as everyone from different backgrounds and cultures accepts each other. Everyone around the world today is not bound by only one culture. The world is mixing and therefore cultures are mixing too. Many learn new cultures and some even adopt them. Culture is what you learn and what you see. It is what you practice and what pleases you. Culture determines a persons behavior and how an individual will carry him or herself later on. Culture is important.