Week 10 - Giverny Yang
Giverny Yang
Week 10
This class was much different than what I had expected when I first enrolled. It completed exceeded my expectations. When I showed up on the first day, I was shocked that we discussed Shamanism and Hmong people because I never meet people away from my hometown who know anything about my culture. I was definitely a class that I wanted to stay enrolled in. I was debating dropping it due to my class scheduling but I chose to keep it and I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot about my culture, more specifically Shamanism. At home, it really isn't spoken about. I feel that the way we do things is done because 'that's just what we're supposed to do'. With the help of the articles you provided and the Shaman speaker, I learned so much more about why we do what we do in my religion and now I have a much better understanding. For example, I just attended a funeral and because of everything we learned from the articles, speaker, and spirit box presentation, I knew a lot of the reasoning behind most of the things we were doing and for the things I didn't understand, I wasn't afraid to ask anymore because I knew I wouldn't be satisfied being left unanswered. I really enjoyed how this class was more of a discussion and not a lecture. I like how interactive we were with the readings because sometimes the information was just overwhelming with information or I wanted to hear other people's opinion on them. Being in this class was something I never knew I needed but I did need it. I never really knew where I stood with religion or spirits or anything because my family doesn't necessarily explain why we practice what we practice or what it's for. Also everyone surrounding me typically tends to fall into the typical religions and it makes me feel like I should too because that's the only thing people explain to me and they aren't open to the possibility that there are spirits such as ancestral spirits, etc. But being with these classmates was just so nice because everyone was so open minded about everything and for once in my life I didn't feel judged for not falling into the stereotypical religions. I also enjoyed how this class didn't feel like a class that was required. I didn't feel like I was obligated to come because I wanted to. I also appreciate how we had a day where we went out and had class outside or how we had circle meetings. It really helped me destress in the middle of such a crazy quarter. I feel like classes are so rushed and so hectic and sometimes we just need to wind down, but can never get the chance to because we feel like we must be doing something/working. In this class we had moments of self-care and mediation moments, which I believe to be really important, especially in this time of our lives because we are constantly stressed. I think, however, it would've been nice to have about 10 minutes once a week or something to just close our eyes and meditate/relax/wind down like in the beginning, middle, or end of class, whichever is fitting. Also, a lot of my friends were insanely jealous about the topics we were learning about and the things we did in class, such as our spirit in the box project, so I will definitely recommend this course to people I come across. Thank you for an amazing quarter!!
Week 10
This class was much different than what I had expected when I first enrolled. It completed exceeded my expectations. When I showed up on the first day, I was shocked that we discussed Shamanism and Hmong people because I never meet people away from my hometown who know anything about my culture. I was definitely a class that I wanted to stay enrolled in. I was debating dropping it due to my class scheduling but I chose to keep it and I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot about my culture, more specifically Shamanism. At home, it really isn't spoken about. I feel that the way we do things is done because 'that's just what we're supposed to do'. With the help of the articles you provided and the Shaman speaker, I learned so much more about why we do what we do in my religion and now I have a much better understanding. For example, I just attended a funeral and because of everything we learned from the articles, speaker, and spirit box presentation, I knew a lot of the reasoning behind most of the things we were doing and for the things I didn't understand, I wasn't afraid to ask anymore because I knew I wouldn't be satisfied being left unanswered. I really enjoyed how this class was more of a discussion and not a lecture. I like how interactive we were with the readings because sometimes the information was just overwhelming with information or I wanted to hear other people's opinion on them. Being in this class was something I never knew I needed but I did need it. I never really knew where I stood with religion or spirits or anything because my family doesn't necessarily explain why we practice what we practice or what it's for. Also everyone surrounding me typically tends to fall into the typical religions and it makes me feel like I should too because that's the only thing people explain to me and they aren't open to the possibility that there are spirits such as ancestral spirits, etc. But being with these classmates was just so nice because everyone was so open minded about everything and for once in my life I didn't feel judged for not falling into the stereotypical religions. I also enjoyed how this class didn't feel like a class that was required. I didn't feel like I was obligated to come because I wanted to. I also appreciate how we had a day where we went out and had class outside or how we had circle meetings. It really helped me destress in the middle of such a crazy quarter. I feel like classes are so rushed and so hectic and sometimes we just need to wind down, but can never get the chance to because we feel like we must be doing something/working. In this class we had moments of self-care and mediation moments, which I believe to be really important, especially in this time of our lives because we are constantly stressed. I think, however, it would've been nice to have about 10 minutes once a week or something to just close our eyes and meditate/relax/wind down like in the beginning, middle, or end of class, whichever is fitting. Also, a lot of my friends were insanely jealous about the topics we were learning about and the things we did in class, such as our spirit in the box project, so I will definitely recommend this course to people I come across. Thank you for an amazing quarter!!
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