Megan Weintraub
For my connections project, I deciding to make a fortune teller. Making a fortune teller was one of my favorite past times growing up. I would go to sleep away camp each summer and make them during arts and crafts periods. I made many new friendships along the way while making them, giving me great memories with the item.
I decided to give this fortune teller to someone I met in New Zealand. The man I gave the fortune teller to was named Luke and he was born and raised in Wellington. We got the chance to get to know him and four other New Zealand locals through this experience. During this afternoon, the New Zealanders showed us the local spots, making us feel like a Kiwi ourselves. Luke was the one who picked out dinner place, which was a fun, hip, Asian tapas place that everyone loved. By going around with locals, we instantly felt a bond and learned a great deal from them. They answered all of the questions we had and added their hilarious lingo. We got to know the slang of people in New Zealand, something we wouldn’t have gotten the chance to do if we didn’t meet them. I loved this day because it allowed us to really step into the New Zealand culture.
Giving this item to Luke was such a great experience. I got the chance to show him how to play it and tell him the significance to me. Using fortune tellers was such a way to get to know people and have fun as a kid, making it perfect to give to Luke. After eating dinner with him and some friends on the trip, it became clear that he would be the perfect person to give this to. This experience was meaningful because I was able to connect something that was important to me in the past to a new friend I made. This experience was very special.
Seeing the reaction Luke had when I gave him my fortune teller was very exciting. He had seen them before, but never actually put one together. After I gave it to him, I found a piece of paper to teach him to use it. He was so excited to learn how to use it and how to make it. I told him how common it was to use in America, pushing him to ask me questions about my culture. Being able to compare the differences and similarities between cultures was a great experience to have in Wellington. The entire night that we met the New Zealand group was one of my favorite memories.
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