Praxis 5

 Arizona Asian Cultural Festival

Intercultural Sensitivity Scale

Intercultural Communication Skill								Total	Divide by	Average
Interaction Engagement items are 1, 11, 13, 21, 22, 23, and 24	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	33	7	4.7
Respect for Cultural Differences items are 2, 7, 8, 16, 18, and 20	5	5	5	5	5	2		27	6	4.5
Interaction Confidence items are 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10	5	5	3	5	4			22	5	4.4
Interaction Enjoyment items are 9, 12, and 15	4	4	5					13	3	4.33
Interaction Attentiveness items are 14, 17, and 19	5	4	3					12	3	4

     This is an intercultural sensitivity scale. This scale calculates your communication skills with cultures different from your own. The scale splits up your scores into five different categories: interaction engagement, respect for cultural differences, interaction confidence, and interaction attentiveness. My strongest areas of intercultural communication skills are interaction engagement and respect for cultural differences. My weakest areas are interaction enjoyment and interaction attentiveness. I would really like to strengthen these skills in religions that are different from my own. When I am around cultures different of my own it definitely takes me a while to enjoy and interaction and not just engage in activities. I would also like to be more attentive, but in all honestly it is sometimes hard for me to pay attention to long lectures. With the Asian Cultural Festival, I hoped to increase my interaction enjoyment and attentiveness. 

AZ Asian Cultural Festival

    For the cultural plunge assignment, I decide to go to the Arizona Asian Cultural Festival. This festival took place in a big parking lot in Glendale, AZ on November 5, 2023. In this festival it represents and highlights all the features of the Asian and Pacific Islander cultures. In this festival Hawaiian, Taiwanese, Mongolian, Chinese, Japanese, and Koran subcultures. I chose to go to this festival because I know of these cultures but not as acquainted and familiar as I would like. In the food sense I am, I have tried Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese food. I do as well watch Anime, which is a certain animation style of movies and tv shows originated in Japan. Yet I am not accustomed to every aspect of their culture as I would like. I am very interested in Asian cultures; I find them very interesting. Growing up I wasn't raised around people of Asian, there wasn't a high population of them in my neighborhood nor my school district. There were mostly African American and Hispanic cultures in the area I grew up in, so I am mostly familiar and comfortable in these cultures. 

    I went to this event by myself. This is way outside my comfort zone, I do not like to go to event by myself. I usually don't even go to the event if I don't have someone to go with me, so this was a huge step for me. Prior to this event I was very nervous. I expected the event to be really crowded, I found the event on Facebook, and it said over 1,000 people were going. I expected it to be really busy, loud, and swarming with people. I knew it was going to be really hot, the forecast was 95 degrees, and I was planning to go during the afternoon. When I got to the event, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't overcrowding with people, and everyone was really welcoming and nice. As soon as I got close to the event, I could smell all of the amazing food and treats. It was really hot though; the forecast was right, and the sun was burning down on my head. It wasn't really loud there either, there was maybe about 100 people and most of the noise was coming from a stage. 

    In the festival there was about 30 vendors there all offering different things. The vendors head food and drinks from Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Mongolian cultures. They had jewelry, Hawaiian leis, Japanese snacks, and other vendors of Asian ethnicities. The first thing I did there was find something to eat that I never had before. So, I went and walked around the whole event to decide what new food I was going to try. I went and tried onigiri, which are Japanese rice balls with different fillings. I got one filled with tuna & mayo and another one with pork. It was also accompanied with edamame. I thought to also get something to drink. There was this lemonade truck that held lemonades with all different flavors. I decided to get a raspberry and pineapple lemonade. After getting the lemonade I decided to go find somewhere, where I could eat without the sun burning down on me. 

    While I went in search for somewhere to sit and I was also walking and looking at what all the vendors had to offer. I saw this woman who was selling personalized cups, I started a conversation with her, and she invited me to sit down with her. Her name was Abby, and she was so welcoming. We talked about how she started her company, the cost of her cups, how long she's been in the entrepreneuring industry, etc. It was so amazing to talk to her and get her insight on this festival. Also, while I was talking to her, I was eating the onigiri and drinking the lemonade and they were both so good. I would definitely get them again. I ended up buying a cup from her and it was so cute. After I left from her table I walked around some more looking at some more vendors and interacting with different people.

    There was also a stage where they held a raffle and held traditional dances from both Asian and Pacific Islander cultures. I watched some traditional dances from the Hawaiian culture. They had two traditional dances dedicated to the devastation of what happened on Maui. They also had traditional Mongolian and Chinese dances. These dances were so beautiful and unlike anything I never seen. There were male and female dancers. They were all so graceful yet passionate during their performance. I honestly felt honored to see these traditional dances in person. There wasn't any shade or many places to sit so I didn't stand there too long watching the dances. After watching the dances, I left. I honestly enjoyed the whole experience at the festival. The only thing that I would change is that they have more shade for people to get out of the sun. While being there I didn't feel too uncomfortable because everyone was so welcoming, and they just wanted to show off their cultures to everyone. At the stage between dances there was a woman recommending food and describing what they were just in case everyone didn't know what they were. The person hosting demonstrated barrier removal and engagement of facilitators in order to be more inclusive. The components of inclusivity that I observed were solidarity and sense of belonging. The host and every vendor in the festival made sure to welcome everyone. The festival not only wanted to be inclusive to the people coming, but also to the Asian and Pacific Islander cultures themselves. They made sure there were vendors in all most every subculture. I am left with three questions after my experience at the Arizona Asian Cultural Festival. When is the next Asian cultural festival? Are there other cultural festivals like this in the Phoenix are? Lastly, why wasn't this festival marketed more, so even more people could come?