Loosing Culture by Veronica

I have alsways thought of American as a place that has lost it culture with how modernized it is; it has lost it's traditions, it's values and it's depth. I thougt that it was one of the reasons why people from other countries didn't like America (because we have no real culture). Being in Thailand has caused me to look at what culture is about here versus what culture is about in America. While America is not necessarily as unique as Thailand in terms of cultural traditions, it does have it's common values among the people. I know that Americans value timliness whereas Thai's in general have a tendecy to live in the moment and let the schedule flow with the conversation. Americans also value directness and getting to the point; and Thai's in my experiences thus far have been uncomfortable with the directness of Americans in places such as restaurants. Americans value a lot of things that are also repeated over and over in media and advertisements including my passport such as freedom, security, and justice.
I have noticed that Thailand culture (and I believe Asian cultures in general, value personal relationships that are buile between friends, businesses or even schools. When we spent a day with students from CRU the vice president kept on saying that he wanted our relatiship to last forever in our memories. He wanted us to remember the beautiful dinner and dances and all the fun that wehad wit the other students throughout the day and for some of us through the night :) It was the beginning of a long relationship.
While America does not have dances similar to the ones that the students did for us at CRU or the dances that the hill tribe people performed at the new years celebration or as much emphasis on relationships, we do have local traditions in Minnesota. We have hot dishes, potlucks, graduation parties, block parties, and importantly the state fair. As I reflect on my cultural experiences in Thailand, I realize that America has definitely not had as much time to build that culture, but we are not without culture.
As society becomes more modern and we loose the cultural traditions that were tied to the land that we lost and the way in which we used to live we hold onto the things that are important to us in the end. Being in Bangkok for a few day has allowed me to see that although is becoming increasingly more modern they will not loose their culture as I worried before. They will hold on to their food their relationships and the things that bring them together because communities uphold culture. For Minnesotans we hold onto potlucks, blockparties and the MN state fair. With more crowded places we are forced to modernize and think of more efficient ways to live and maintain a livable standard of living. I think that when I thought of culture I used to think of living in a village in the jungle and hunting and gathering for food and living in a shack. Now that I have been to a village and I have been to the city I see culture a little differently.