Ethnography

Ethnography

November 6, 2014

Trying a Diffrent Culture



It is a cold windy Thursday afternoon and patio of the quaint little coffee shop is empty. I pull up to a full parking lot where I am forced to park on the other side of the street. Inside the shop it is warm with a feeling of winter in the air, and endless people ordering hot coffee and chicken noodle soup witch is the soup of the day. I sit next to the big window with the open sign hanging in it since it is the only place to sit with all the tables being taken. 

A younger looking man with a striped shirt and an Indian ethnicity comes in and as it seems it looks like he has never been here. When he walks up to the counter to place an order it takes a while because they have to explain to him that they cannot take the peppers out of the wrap that he wants. After a few minutes of the cashier helping him decide what he wants he picks the classic chicken sandwich with pasta salad as a side. She then asks the man what he wants to drink, this leading with a few more minutes because he cannot decide on the drink either. 

Once the Indian man has completed his order he leaves the counter to look around the gift shop part of the coffee shop. He is lost in all the wonderful treasures that the shop has that he does not realize his food is ready. The worker that took his order tells him his food is ready and asks were he wants to sit. The man picks a table close to the door and looks at the food in front of him with a wondering look on his face. Cautiously he takes a bit of the chicken sandwich and soon realizes how great the taste of something different is.  When he goes to take a drink of his house tea he does not have a straw, looking around he slowly walks to the counter with all the utensils on it looks around and quietly grabs the straw like he is not allowed to be getting his own straw.  

He finally gets settled down and is enjoying his new meal when the door opens and a gust of wind blows in chilling down the place. Not wearing a jacket he picks up his food and moves a couple tables away so he does not get the cold air. 

Finishing his tea rather quickly he orders another and returns to his food. As he eats the sandwich he picks out the tomatoes with a fork and puts them aside and takes another bite. He is very quiet and to himself as he sits strait up and uses his fork to eat the sandwich. When he is finished all the food from his plate is gone including the tomatoes he pulled out of the sandwich. He then slides the plate to the side and stays sitting to finish his tea. He then thanks the workers behind the counter and leaves with a satisfied look on his face.

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