Life experiences, professional background, and multicultural counseling interests

¶ … life experience, professional experiences, research experiences and interests in multiculturalism and multicultural counseling.

I was born in Hong Kong. As a child, I had traveled to many counties throughout the world such as Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and the United States, but my visits had been to mostly to popular tourist destinations. For example, in the United States, I visited Disneyland, Disney World, the World Trade Center, Sears Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Based on these trips, I had always thought that America was very similar to Hong Kong; America just had different looking people who spoke another language. My perception was also influenced by my ethnocentrism. Because Hong Kong is a very small, homogenous city, I assumed that all of America was just like New York.

I later returned to America to start my undergraduate education. It was Winter 2000, when the airplane slowly descended into the Indianapolis International Airport. I had expected to see the skyscrapers that had welcomed me on my previous journeys, but that day all I saw were corn fields and single story homes. I was shocked and left totally speechless. I asked myself, "What have I gotten into?" I did not know that farmland existed in America. I wondered, "Why do Americans need farms? Just import all your food. Who wants to be a farmer anyway?" I simply did not understand. However, I soon realized the limitations of travel on truly understanding the cultural dynamics of a country.

I also mistakenly believed that reading had provided me with a thorough understanding of world culture. When I was growing up, I liked to cook all kinds of food from different cultures, European, American, Asian and Middle-Eastern. I felt close to those cultures when I manipulated different ingredients and spices from those regions. I collected ethnic cookbooks, especially those with vivid pictures, and vibrant stories about life in different cultures. William Sonoma's cookbooks were my favorite. When I read about the different kinds of food people eat and the ingredients they chose, I felt in touch with their daily lives. To me, learning about cooking was like looking into a culture with a spyglass.

Unfortunately, reading is not always the perfect way to learn about culture as I discovered during a family gathering with my in-laws. When I reached over and spooned some vegetables off the plate across the dinning table, my in-laws were shocked by my barbaric manners. I could not understand why the entire table stared at me as though something terribly wrong had just happened. I panicked, and found out that I was supposed to say, "Could you pass the peas please?" To a certain extent, I still think this custom is a waste of energy or not practical. If I could reach over and grab those peas, why should I interrupt others' dinner, and ask them to pass the peas! Yet, this is part of American manners.

The family gathering with my in-laws is just one of the many experiences I have had that illustrate how different countries employ a different set of customs. I have come to believe that individuals should embrace their own culture, yet it is important for them to respect the customs of another country when they are living there. That is why I feel multicultural counseling is so important. While one culture might consider something as inappropriate, another might think it's proper. It is also important for the ethnic minorities in America to enjoy a culturally sensitive therapeutic environment that bridges the cultural gaps between different groups.

As an Asian international student in Indiana, I have observed that many people in minority groups often do not interact with other minority groups. I believe most counselors try to be culturally sensitive; nevertheless, understanding a different culture is often a process not an event. My husband who lived in Japan for two years has developed a strong cultural sensitivity to Asian cultures. During our four years of marriage, we have encountered problems due to cultural differences. Fortunately, we have both adjusted our expectations to resolve these differences. However, this mutual understanding is not often acquired in typical relationships. Therefore, unless people from different cultures are able to seek multicultural counseling, they may have a hard time reconciling their diversity.