Xavier Garcia and Derek Vidal

FMSC
Section: 0101
10/14/20

Reflect first on the similarities between your responses. Then reflect on the differences.
The reflection should demonstrate what you learned from the process, some of the
challenges, surprises, and how the process impacted you. It may be easiest for each of
you to write a paragraph individually, but you will turn in one reflection per pair.

A few simple similarities between Derek and Xavier would be they were both
born in Maryland and both attend UMD. They both have great hobbies that allow them
to relieve stress from their everyday lives, these hobbies, for example, are: video games
or music. In such a stressful environment it is important to have an outlet. Both Xavier
and Derek have adjusted to the rigors of a UMD schedule and both feel hopeful about
the future they have at college. In general neither person had anything negative to say
about UMD as a whole. Both partners had a Mom and a Dad and both feel that their
family is an important aspect of their lives. Derek stated how he looks up to his Mom
and Xavier stated that he too looks up to his Mom and Dad. Both felt their parents were
strong, caring and hardworking. The partners agreed that their strong work ethic is
something that is a worthy example of a role model. While their PROGRESS-Plus
choices did not line there are many similarities between Xavier and Derek. For example:
they were both Males, Christians, worked two jobs and attended highschool. They both
agreed that working two jobs and attending high school actively shaped and provided
important traits that would be used in their everyday lives. In addition having religion in
their lives allowed them to have a solid set of morals and beliefs present in their lives.
Both partners believed that the PROGRESS-Plus present in their families allowed them
to be raised properly and definitely affected their health status in a positive manner. The
knowledge distilled from their parents taught them respect, hardwork and control.
Despite their cultures being somewhat different both Xavier and Derek both believed
their culture allowed them to learn another language (Tagalog/Spanish), enjoy the
ethnic foods and listen to the wonderful music of their cultures. Xavier and Derek both
believed that their culture and health did intersect and that their cultures had a great
focus on the health of themselves and others. An example of this is how Derek’s family
made sure to visit the doctor annually for a check-up and how Xavier’s family believed
in the health of their elders. The partners both mentioned how they found themselves to
be more privileged than oppressed on the wheel. They mentioned how they were both:
Male, Able, Heterosexual and Ecucated. Both did agree that they are blessed with many
privileges but they both believe that the privilege-oppression wheel is too broad and
does not acknowledge oppression that is specific to certain cultures. While on the topic
of oppression both Xavier and Derek both experienced racism in a public setting. Both
partners experienced this form of oppression in the school setting and had seen it occur
firsthand to someone else. In addition Xavier and Derek were both judged for particular
aspects of their culture. Both mentioned how they were judged for the food they brought
to school and how it is an uncomfortable position to be in. It is interesting that some
people feel the need to judge others based on food they eat or the music they listen to.
Both partners did believe that their cultures did influence their decision especially on
how they will be going about their lives in the future. They both agree that in their
cultures having fun while staying safe is an important part of living. Lastly, both Derek
and Xavier felt pressure in learning the language specific to their culture. Despite them
being different languages, they both agreed that the language they speak is an
important part of communicating with their family and immersing themselves in their
cultures.

When they interviewed each other, they expected there not to be a lot of
differences due to the fact that the Filipino and Spanish culture do not differ that much.
However, the interview showed us how different two people’s lives can be. In each
family, the number of people in the close family differed, Derek had his mom, dad,
brother, half-sister, stepmom, and grandfather while Xavier only lived with his mother
and father. Although they both had extended family, the family that they lived with was
not completely the same. In terms of who their role models were, there was not much of
a difference in who and why they admired their parents. Xavier chose education, social
capital, and occupation as the elements from the PROGRESS-Plus list of social
determinants of health that he most strongly identified with while Derek chose race,
gender, and religion. It was interesting to see how they both chose different elements to
identify with. The PROGRESS-Plus characteristics that they chose affected their
upbringing in different ways. In Xavier’s case, these elements taught him valuable
morals including respect, to work hard, and focus on loving his parents while Derek’s
choice of elements reflected his parent’s strictness on how they raised him to make sure
he was heterosexual and how they didn’t let him go outside as much as every other kid.
When talking about culture, there were not many differences except for the different
holidays that are celebrated. For example, in Puerto Rico they celebrate Tres Reyes
and in the Philippines, they celebrate holidays like Maundy Thursday. When relating
culture to health, the ways it intersected differed. In the Hispanic culture, they focus a lot
on care for the elderly and many households will keep the elderly in their homes for
many years. Although Filipinos also do this, it is not consistent throughout most
households. Filipinos are known for home remedies because they dislike going to the
doctor so they ensure everyone in the household is always healthy. Comparing the way
each culture influenced each other was the most interesting part. They both saw the
differences in culture when comparing it to America and what they were used to at
home. When talking in their native language, Xavier felt pressure to speak Spanish
when going back to Puerto Rico while Derek felt pressured to speak Tagalog to his
relatives in the US. In the US, they both were judged because of their culture however
in Xavier’s case, he was judged because of the music while Derek was judged by his
food. Seeing how they were both judged by other people, they asked whether or not
they’ve experienced racism in a public setting. Xavier has experienced racism from
others who have mocked a Mexican accent while Derek saw it first-hand when
someone was praying at school and people were making fun of him. The differences
they had reflected the influence of culture on each of their lives.

Some difficulties that they experienced was having to plan and execute and interview in
an online setting. They both agree that the cross cultural interview exposed them to new
cultures and were able to get a view on how other people cultures imp[roved and
affected their lives. Both partners were able to see how they both grew up and were
raised. The cross cultural interview created a strong impact on how each person views
culture and taught them to be more accepting.