International? Multicultural? Both?

     I'll quickly admit that I'm no expert when it comes to cross-cultural comparisons and  their implications.  But, like everybody else, I do have opinions about it and here are mine!

Remember, I'm an amateur expressing only my own thoughts here.  

   It seems to me that some countries aspire to be "international" even though they're basically mono-cultural or homgeneous and seem happy to be that way.  For many years in Japan, I was the "token foreigner" who was asked to be on committees and show up at events to somehow make them "international."  (I lived out in the mountains where it was decidedly monocultural and not very international.  Tokyo is totally different, of course.)  It made no difference, but it looked good to have a foreigner or two in media photos and such.  I happily went along with it, so I can't criticize and I'm not.  If a country wants to maintain its racial harmony or try to remain homogeneous for its own reasons, that's their business, I reckon, as long as they don't mistreat the foreigners who do live there.  

Photo from the GPB blog of Mavian Arocha-Rowe

   Other countries, like my own, the United States, are plenty multicultural.  Big cities like New York have residents from almost every country in the world living there.  Even small towns all over America have residents from the most exotic places you can imagine.  My sister-in-law taught elementary school, and their class pictures showed the most multicultural collections of cute kids you ever did see. It was like this "borrowed" photo here times five. The majority were not "real Americans" (whatever that is), but were kids whose parents or grand-parents had come from other countries. 
      It seems to me that if you come to America, it's expected that you'll assimilate quickly and become "American," whatever that means.)  We assume that newcomers will speedily learn English and live by our cultural norms even if they don't officially become a citizen.  And most newcomers do, if only because life is easier and your business will be more successful that way.

   Then we come to Malaysia, where Kuala Lumper, at least, is exceptionally international. Even little ole Penang is. Our ladies' organization here has about 30 nationalities represented and that doesn't begin to cover all the people from different countries who live and work here.  Besides being very international, Malaysia seems to be a truly multicultural country as well.  As an outsider, I can't comment on how well the cultures get along with each other or treat each other. But when I opened the newspaper this morning I was struck yet again by how many different cultural aspects appear here, naturally and on a daily basis.  For example:

 "Kolam"-- an intricate Hindu decoration  

    We've just finished the Indian festival of "Deepavali" or "Diwali" as it's called in some places.  It's the "Festival of Lights" and it's kind of like the Western Christmas, but also like the Japanese New Year and well . . . .  You'll just have to google it yourself if you want to learn about it from folks far more knowledgeable than I!   What it meant to me was confusion because, for example, the photocopy shop on one side of our little main street was closed because the staff is Indian but the one across the street was open because their staff is Chinese.  Lucky for me, because I REALLY needed to get something copied in a hurry.

    The paper today said that Penang is now a hub of vegetarian cuisine, with 45 such restaurants in the country and the largest concentration being here in Penang.  I assume that there are so many to cater to the part of the Indian population that doesn't eat meat for religious reasons.  There are 2-3 such restaurants within a block or two of our condo complex here.

    Another article explained earnestly that you might want to go shopping for blue, green or purple clothes or paint part of your house in those colors.  This is because feng shui experts have predicted that these are the auspicious colors for the upcoming Year of the Snake, which commences on Feb. 10.  Many Chinese will actually do these things.  They also listed auspicious dates for weddings, starting up businesses or giving birth.  I noticed a ton of prettied-up cars this past weekend, so I suppose this was also a lucky weekend for getting married. 

  

  Over the weekend, Penang devotees made food offerings to Buddhist monks in a practice called "Pindapata."  They can only accept food -- no money -- and only enough for that one day.  The 10 novice monks and two regular ones were led by an Australian forest monk teacher.  They were doing it to let the the novices experience what it's like to be a "forest monk."  They usually wear dark brown robes  and observe 227 precepts, like abstaining from luxurious things and entertainment.  (How can they even remember all 227l, I wonder?) Regular novice monks have to observe only 10, the article said. 

   In another weekend event, young drum troupe members (aged 14 thru 25)  spent four days carrying a war drum relay-style around Penang Island, walking 12 hours a day.  The drum weighed 22 kg.  That's 'way too heavy for any human being to carry for any distance. I know this because  that's how much my suitcases are allowed to weigh when I drag them back from a trip.   The troupe only started in September, and here they are, two months later, building stamina and raising awareness by walking for four days and sleeping overnight in a Chinese community center, a temple and a nutmeg factory.

    What interesting things you can be exposed to when you live in a place where multiculturalism is practiced on a daily basis!