Tuesday, September 10, 2013

In Love with Language and Culture in My Cincinnati

Julie Tolbert, Childcare Enrichment Specialist

Julie Tolbert
When I was growing up in the 1970’s, Cincinnati was a different place.  I would look around and see that most my classmates were either  German ancestry, Irish ancestry or African American.  At least from my vantage point, Cincinnati was very small and did go past these three cultures.  

Cincinnati, at that time, did not seem to me to grow culturally, but I did.  I grew more and more interested in the fact that Ireland and Germany were not the only countries out there.  I would watch Wide World of Sports on TV, mainly the winter sports like downhill skiing and figure skating.  I would see a flag next to the athlete’s name on the screen and the name of the country.  I would imagine what Switzerland was like and where was Austria?  This began my interest of other countries and cultures, I was around 7 and this passion is just as strong today at age 43.

I went to Xavier University my freshman year.  This is a university in Cincinnati but the whole universe opened up to me that year.  I met people from Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Columbia, Japan, and Thailand.  The friends from Thailand invited me to come visit them for the summer.  I saved and worked hard all school year and had my plane ticket.  I learned a few Thai phrases and I was off.  It was my first plane trip and I was by myself.  The traveling to Thailand is another story and I can write a book on what NOT to do when you are travelling.  I fell in love with Thailand seeing it through the local inhabitants’ eyes. 

I finished up my education at the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Geography.  The geography department takes a spring trip to the Yucatan Peninsula Mexico every year.  One day at class, the Professor asked if anyone wanted to work at a resort in Chichen Itza, Mexico, that was one of the places that they stopped on the trip.  They needed someone on staff that spoke fluent English.   I was the only one that raised my hand.  I spent about a year there working at a resort in the middle of nowhere.  But you would hear German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish of course, and at night the staff would speak a form of Mayan.  What a great experience to live and experience Yucatan culture and the importance of Mayan culture and language in the modern age. 
So now I sit here in Cincinnati and marvel, not only have I grown in terms of culture and languages but Cincinnati has too.  My small Catholic grade school is now Su Casa and the church is San Carlos.  They both serve as a welcoming point for Hispanic families.  I work at the International Welcome Center and we helped people from 20 different countries last year.  Cincinnati, Ohio even hosted the World Choir Games last summer and many different languages were heard there.
Cincinnati 2013 is so different from Cincinnati 1977.  The diversity has only made our fair city…Stronger.

When I was growing up in the 1970’s, Cincinnati was a different place.  I would look around and see that most my classmates were either  German ancestry, Irish ancestry or African American.  At least from my vantage point, Cincinnati was very small and did go past these three cultures.  
Cincinnati, at that time, did not seem to me to grow culturally, but I did.  I grew more and more interested in the fact that Ireland and Germany were not the only countries out there.  I would watch Wide World of Sports on TV, mainly the winter sports like downhill skiing and figure skating.  I would see a flag next to the athlete’s name on the screen and the name of the country.  I would imagine what Switzerland was like and where was Austria?  This began my interest of other countries and cultures, I was around 7 and this passion is just as strong today at age 43.

I went to Xavier University my freshman year.  This is a university in Cincinnati but the whole universe opened up to me that year.  I met people from Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Columbia, Japan, and Thailand.  The friends from Thailand invited me to come visit them for the summer.  I saved and worked hard all school year and had my plane ticket.  I learned a few Thai phrases and I was off.  It was my first plane trip and I was by myself.  The traveling to Thailand is another story and I can write a book on what NOT to do when you are travelling.  I fell in love with Thailand seeing it through the local inhabitants’ eyes. 
I finished up my education at the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in Geography.  The geography department takes a spring trip to the Yucatan Peninsula Mexico every year.  One day at class, the Professor asked if anyone wanted to work at a resort in Chichen Itza, Mexico, that was one of the places that they stopped on the trip.  They needed someone on staff that spoke fluent English.   I was the only one that raised my hand.  I spent about a year there working at a resort in the middle of nowhere.  But you would hear German, French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish of course, and at night the staff would speak a form of Mayan.  What a great experience to live and experience Yucatan culture and the importance of Mayan culture and language in the modern age. 

So now I sit here in Cincinnati and marvel, not only have I grown in terms of culture and languages but Cincinnati has too.  My small Catholic grade school is now Su Casa and the church is San Carlos.  They both serve as a welcoming point for Hispanic families.  I work at the International Welcome Center and we helped people from 20 different countries last year.  Cincinnati, Ohio even hosted the World Choir Games last summer and many different languages were heard there.


Cincinnati 2013 is so different from Cincinnati 1977.  The diversity has only made our fair city…Stronger.

No comments:

Post a Comment