Multi-Cultural Experience

Growing up in Wichita County during the 60s and 70s, we didn't see much unfamiliar culture here. Most citizens were caucasion (white) and there were a few citizens whose ancestors had come to the United States from Mexico. Until the later 1970s, no Asian people lived in Leoti until the U.S. brought them to the U.S. for a better life. I remember that there was a large Vietnamese family who were relocated to Leoti for a very short time. One of their daughters was in my class. She was sooooo nice but had limited knolwedge of the English language.

Teachers "assigned" her to me so that I could help her in any way that I could. This was a task that I loved and completely appreciated. Li (ponounced Lee) and I became very good friends but then her parents decided to move elsewhere. (Probably because of the way that many of us stared at them as if they had four heads and two noses.) I never learned where they moved to after they left Leoti. Since then, very few Asian families set up their homes here.

Going to Garden City is really an educational thing to do. We needed odds and ends that could not be purchased in Leoti so our famly loaded up in the Blau Mobile yesterday and headed there. Eventually, we made our way through the Wal-Mart doors. While I spent MAYBE 3 minutes there looking for cold medicines in the drug department, I spotted an Asian family that included people from the very old to the very young. It was simple to see that they were very happy with one another. They visited in their native language, laughed and hugged. It was great to see that!

Just a few feet on the other side of them was an older woman who was dressed in a long and colorful dress that was completed with a piece of fabric of some sort that covered her hair, etc. All that was visible was her pretty face. She was accompanied with a much younger man whom I believed to be her grandson. They, too, were enjoying each other's company. They were speaking a language that was also unknown to me. Later, when I met the man when he was alone, we conversed briefly in English which he appeared to have mastered.

During our time there, we met many white people, many hispanics and many black people who appeared to have lived in the U.S. for their entire lives. We also came across a family that included two parents and several young children. I could not decide what race they were from. They definitely did not speak English but they did not appear to be speaking any Asian, Spanish, etc language. I couldn't put my finger on it just where they were from. The mother of the family was VERY loud and "pushy" with her husband and children.

Anyway, it is always quite interesting to be in a location where many people of other cultures congregate...

VLE-B