Undergraduate / "how I feel about my friend" - international student supplement essay on friendship [6]

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Prompt-
Describe a situation where you had to work or closely associate with someone from a culture very different from your own. What challenges did you face and how did you resolve them?

It is funny how two completely different things can go so well together. Like apples and peanut butter. The apple, with its fresh crunchiness and smooth, delicate texture, and the peanut butter, sticky and chewy yet delicious, are harmonious when put together. The apple gives a bit of a bite to the peanut butter and makes it easier to swallow than if it were eaten on its own. The peanut butter, on the other hand, makes the apple tastier and enhances its flavors. They complement each other and balance each other out. This is how I feel about me and _____.

I moved to Myanmar when I was twelve, grouchy and upset; upset because I had just been forced to leave behind my friends, my dog, my home, and the rest of my perfect, or so I thought, life in Eritrea. I did not want to be there. I thought I would never get used to the new culture, the new climate, the new people and the new school.

I met _____ on my first day of eighth grade and immediately realized we had nothing in common. She is Burmese with an Indian and Irish background. I am Italian. She is Muslim. I come from a Catholic family. She speaks the so-called Burglish, while I have a strong American accent. She is all about reverence and containment, keeping her feelings in check as well as her ideas. I am loud and bold, the "shameless white girl" who questions authority and dares to say that "seya", Burmese word for "teacher", is not always right.

Eventually, _____ was able to look past our differences and invited me to sleep-over at her house. I was nervous at the idea. What was her family like? What kind of food did they eat? What if they did not like me? But I was desperate for a friend so I agreed to stay over the following weekend.

When it was dinner time, I could feel my heart thumping in the chest. In my family, I am well-known for being a picky eater. Her parents offered me a variety of different curries and, not wanting to seem rude, I let them place some in my plate. I was ready to begin eating, but...where was my spoon? I suddenly realized we were supposed to eat with our hands. I wanted to make the differences between us unimportant, so I tried my best to take the food with my fingers. Everyone laughed. They asked me if I would rather eat with a spoon and a fork, but I was determined to learn and become one of them, so I politely turned down the offer. I found myself falling in love with their food and fascinated by the way they ate it.

I started to look forward to the weekends just so I could go over to _____'s house, try some new exotic curry, talk to her family and learn more about her religion and culture. I got to know her whole family, too. Grandparents and uncles and aunties and cousins- they all knew me. They taught me some Urdu and Burmese and I taught them words in Italian. We would watch Bollywood movies together and listen to Burmese music. When there were no men around, the girls would show me some dance moves or teach me how to put on a "hijab". We played soccer together and the whole family would cheer for me. I felt like I belonged. I felt at home.

_____ and I have learned from one another rather than letting our differences divide us. I have absorbed some of the respect and traditions that play a huge role in the Burmese culture and have learned the Burmese ways as, for example, the fact that it is polite to remove shoes before entering their houses (although in our culture it is the exact opposite). On the other end, _____ has become more open-minded and willing to speak out. She now realizes that displaying affection or wearing shorts is not "inappropriate" but completely normal.

There are still times when _____ is slightly embarrassed by me dancing in public or trying on an outfit that I have no intention to buy. Some other times, we fight for petty reasons, like the one time she would not ask her parents for permission to come to my birthday party, but we always remain best friends. The diversity between our cultures might have caused some misunderstandings, but it also helped us growing up. She is the peanut butter and I am the apple. On our own, we're good, but together we're undoubtedly better.