Journal #4
Prompt: Week 4 Journal Entry: Exploring Retroactive Imagined Interactions
For your only journal this week, you need to examine one of your Imagined Interactions from this week, a recurring Imagined Interaction that you have, or an Imagined Interaction that you mull/ruminate/brood on and answer the following questions for this journal:
" Which II did you choose? Is it a one-time II, or is it a recurring II? Describe the imagined interaction.
" How does/did the II play out? It is overall a positive II or a negative II?
" How do you portray yourself in this II? For example: Are you bolder in the II than in real life? Why do you portray yourself this way in the II?
" How is the II different than you in real life? How is it the same?
" Do you see evidence of your mindset in this imagined interaction?
One of my recurring Imagined Interactions is of the next time I get to see my friends in Afghanistan. I have been trying to learn Dari so that I can more easily communicate with my friends there, but also with the families and kids I come in contact with there. Language is not something I have a gift for. I've been over the material almost twice now and still struggle to make it stick, so I am nervous to try it out with native speakers I respect. On one hand I know that they will love me and appreciate the effort, but on the other, I would hate to offend them by saying something silly like, "Your grandma is an elephant who eats spaghetti" when I'm really trying to say, "It's so nice to see you!"
In this II, I arrive at the guest house where my Afghan friends are waiting. I walk in and we great each other with an embrace and kisses on the cheeks. We continue to hold hands (very normal in this culture) and look into each other's eyes, most likely getting emotional because it has been so so long since we have seen each other (I started to cry, just thinking about it as I write this). My heart has missed them so deeply and for a moment we just stand there so grateful to be together again, then I venture my first statement, "Salam, chetor hastin? (Hi, how are you?)." At this my friend's eyes brighten both with appreciation and humor, since this is my II and I'm sure I've miss pronounced something. They respond in Dari asking when I learned to speak the language I tell them in a mixture of English and Dari that David and I have been working on it for a while now and reiterating multiple times that I only know a very little bit of Dari, but I hope they will help me learn more. The II takes many turns from there and I try my skills bartering in a store, or with a child I'm working with, the kids I talk to are always much more forgiving than the store keeper when I mess something up.
Even though I feel some shame and embarrassment only knowing a few phrases, stumbling over words, and having to say "mebakhshen, nafamidam" (Excuse me, I don't understand) over and over again, this over all a positive II. I am defiantly bolder in the II than I expect to be in real life with my friends right off the bat and especially the shop keeper. I think I'm more willing to take risks in my II because I feel safe in my own head and I can control the other's responses to my fumbling's. I tend to be decently bold and willing to take risks in real life, but often in my II's I take that to a whole new level of cool confidence and willingness to put myself out there. I think in many ways I feel like if I practice in my head enough times I will somehow have that same confidence in real life. This points to the growth part of my mindset unlike many of my II's. I chose this one because it's reoccurring, and it is positive unlike so many II's that are negative and point to the fixed-mindset I can so often be in. The willingness to work to learn a new language in the first place points to the growth-mindset, but also the willingness to take a risk to communicate for the first time with native speakers who I respect also points to the growth-mindset. I also chose this II because I am actively trying to shift my mindset into the growth-mindset as the primary mindset. My hope in this is to focus on things that show me that I can actually grow and change and improve. In this II my motivation is to be able to better understand a people and culture I love, and to be able to hear their stories and share my own to continue to bridge the language and cultural gap. In doing this I want us all to realize more and more that we are all people who desire hope, security, and connection. I'm starting to think that finding more things that motivate me like this, while utilizing more Imagined Interactions in my processing, will help me shift more into the growth mindset.
For your only journal this week, you need to examine one of your Imagined Interactions from this week, a recurring Imagined Interaction that you have, or an Imagined Interaction that you mull/ruminate/brood on and answer the following questions for this journal:
" Which II did you choose? Is it a one-time II, or is it a recurring II? Describe the imagined interaction.
" How does/did the II play out? It is overall a positive II or a negative II?
" How do you portray yourself in this II? For example: Are you bolder in the II than in real life? Why do you portray yourself this way in the II?
" How is the II different than you in real life? How is it the same?
" Do you see evidence of your mindset in this imagined interaction?
One of my recurring Imagined Interactions is of the next time I get to see my friends in Afghanistan. I have been trying to learn Dari so that I can more easily communicate with my friends there, but also with the families and kids I come in contact with there. Language is not something I have a gift for. I've been over the material almost twice now and still struggle to make it stick, so I am nervous to try it out with native speakers I respect. On one hand I know that they will love me and appreciate the effort, but on the other, I would hate to offend them by saying something silly like, "Your grandma is an elephant who eats spaghetti" when I'm really trying to say, "It's so nice to see you!"
In this II, I arrive at the guest house where my Afghan friends are waiting. I walk in and we great each other with an embrace and kisses on the cheeks. We continue to hold hands (very normal in this culture) and look into each other's eyes, most likely getting emotional because it has been so so long since we have seen each other (I started to cry, just thinking about it as I write this). My heart has missed them so deeply and for a moment we just stand there so grateful to be together again, then I venture my first statement, "Salam, chetor hastin? (Hi, how are you?)." At this my friend's eyes brighten both with appreciation and humor, since this is my II and I'm sure I've miss pronounced something. They respond in Dari asking when I learned to speak the language I tell them in a mixture of English and Dari that David and I have been working on it for a while now and reiterating multiple times that I only know a very little bit of Dari, but I hope they will help me learn more. The II takes many turns from there and I try my skills bartering in a store, or with a child I'm working with, the kids I talk to are always much more forgiving than the store keeper when I mess something up.
Even though I feel some shame and embarrassment only knowing a few phrases, stumbling over words, and having to say "mebakhshen, nafamidam" (Excuse me, I don't understand) over and over again, this over all a positive II. I am defiantly bolder in the II than I expect to be in real life with my friends right off the bat and especially the shop keeper. I think I'm more willing to take risks in my II because I feel safe in my own head and I can control the other's responses to my fumbling's. I tend to be decently bold and willing to take risks in real life, but often in my II's I take that to a whole new level of cool confidence and willingness to put myself out there. I think in many ways I feel like if I practice in my head enough times I will somehow have that same confidence in real life. This points to the growth part of my mindset unlike many of my II's. I chose this one because it's reoccurring, and it is positive unlike so many II's that are negative and point to the fixed-mindset I can so often be in. The willingness to work to learn a new language in the first place points to the growth-mindset, but also the willingness to take a risk to communicate for the first time with native speakers who I respect also points to the growth-mindset. I also chose this II because I am actively trying to shift my mindset into the growth-mindset as the primary mindset. My hope in this is to focus on things that show me that I can actually grow and change and improve. In this II my motivation is to be able to better understand a people and culture I love, and to be able to hear their stories and share my own to continue to bridge the language and cultural gap. In doing this I want us all to realize more and more that we are all people who desire hope, security, and connection. I'm starting to think that finding more things that motivate me like this, while utilizing more Imagined Interactions in my processing, will help me shift more into the growth mindset.
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