My Family Culture

This assignment was so difficult to imagine, on so many levels. The first is that I have never been to another country, so to imagine having to represent my culture is difficult. The first thing I would take would be my coupon binder. One of the cultural things that defines me is to be frugal and save as much money as possible. The coupon binder allows me to save money on the things my family uses on a regular basis so that we have money to spend on other things. This is something that may or may not be helpful to me in another country, depending on what the culture is in that country. It is something that works well here in the United States because we have a comercialized society. Other countries that are not as comercialized, I may not be able to make the coupons work as well. The second thing I would take with me would be my photo albums with pictures of my extended family. My culture is very much focused on the family, especially my parents and grandparents. I look to them for advice and information on what my culture is. They are such a large part of my culture and helped to shape it. The third thing I would take with me is my camera. Just as the people in my life shape my culture, so do the activities and events that occur in my life. Every event that occurs in my life shapes my current culture and molds it constantly. Having my camera allows me to focus on the events and look back on them.
If, when I arrived at my destination, found that I could only keep one item it would be my camera. While my culture was shaped by my past and the important people in my past, the current events and future events are what costantly shape my culture.