Introducing My Partner

My partner is a young Burmese girl of about 16 years old. I will from now on refer to her as MayZin^*. It should be noted that although Burma is now legally called Myanmar many people outside the country still call it Burma, because the new name was decided by the military and not by the country’s elected government (Culture Grams, History). She is very short. She appeared to wear thick eyeliner and bright lipstick. She wore western dress, a pair of dark skinny jeans with a sports shirt that seemed to be supporting a soccer team, and a bright colorful hijab to complete the look. One of MayZin’s favorite hobbies appears to be playing soccer; she even said she is on the school team. As we have interacted during our first few meetings it appears to me that she has assimilated to American culture quite smoothly, this is probably due to the fact that she has been in the United States for almost ten years now. She was about six years old when she came to the United States, so she seems to have adapted a multicultural attitude; she wears western clothes and texts her friends on her iPhone, but often switches to Burmese and continues to wear her hijab.

I have researched Burma to get a sense of my partner’s culture. Burma, or Myanmar, is about the size of Afghanistan or Texas. It is a fairly small country and within that small country there are over a hundred different ethnic groups (Culture Grams, Population). The national language, Burmese, is a tonal language with 26 consonants and vowels are place surrounding these consonants (Culture Grams, Language). I can tell that Burmese is a tonal language based on the way MayZin talks to her friends. Her tone switches easily and fluidly between words. The majority of the population follows the Buddhist religion with a small percentage following the Christian faith and Islam (Culture Grams, Religion). Although Myanmar allows freedom of religion Buddhism is often, and is the only religion, promoted the government. Along with this within the past few decades a Muslim ethnic group in western Myanmar has been a target of extreme violence and persecution (Culture Grams, Religion). Tis could be due to the fact that many radical Buddhists who believe in the persecution of Muslims live in Myanmar (Culture Grams, Religion). Finally as for daily life, Myanmar culture breaks up life into three stages. Children are expected to mostly focus on their education and schooling, adults should focus on work and marriage, and the elderly are supposed to focus on their religious duties (Culture Grams, General Attitudes). I can see this in the way MayZin talks about her family. It appears that education is very important to them. I believe this may be why she often says she does not get along with her family. In the classes that I am with her I see that she is often falling behind and isn’t doing work outside of class. I am unsure if this is her work ethic in her other classes, but if Burmese culture puts an emphasis on education as children it would make sense that she would be disagreeing with her parents often if her schoolwork is not being completed.

The most important thing I noticed as I talked to MayZin is a lack of motivation in her schoolwork. She did not have a favorite subject or something at school she was passionate about. I would try to get anything out of her that I could use to help me understand her likes and dislikes so I could use that to help her in our work together. I am assuming that this is mainly because she struggles in traditional subjects and is feeling defeated. The thing I want to work with her the most throughout this partnership is building her confidence and helping her find her passion.

*This is a pseudonym for my partner that I will use throughout this blog to ensure her privacy.

Bibliography:

   Myanmar: General attitudes (2016). CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?cid=198&cn=Myanmar&sname=General_Attitudes&snid=6

   Myanmar: History (2016). CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?cid=198&cn=Myanmar&sname=History&snid=2  

   Myanmar: Language (2016). CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?cid=198&cn=Myanmar&sname=Language&snid=4

   Myanmar: Population (2016). CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?cid=198&cn=Myanmar&sname=Population&snid=3  

Myanmar: Religion (2016). CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest. Retrieved from http://online.culturegrams.com/world/world_country_sections.php?cid=198&cn=Myanmar&sname=Religion&snid=5