Waikiki Day Trip, Watching me Some Nonverbal Communication
Today we talked about nonverbal communication. I think this has been my favorite topic so far. I want to hone my observation skills. We learned about oculesics (what the eyes communicate), posture, gestures, and facial expressions. I learned that there are six main facial expressions that are universal--sadness, happiness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust.
Every culture has different rules, different social mores and taboos. So today when we went to Waikiki, I was watching people's non-verbal communication. I saw a homeless woman yell at someone, storekeepers get right up next to me to try and sell me things, a man change under a towel on the beach even though there was a restroom right down the beach. We got to talk with a local guy at Roxy about our trip (he worked there, it wasn't a totally random person), and watched a storekeeper get rather anxious as someone tried on necklaces before purchasing one.
We sat at the beach for a while, then walked down to the International Market. I had a Gyro for dinner and a coconut smoothie for dessert. The man was very nice. He helped a disabled woman with her smoothie--he brought it to her, helped her get set up in her chair so she could drink it, brought her her change, and then helped her put her purse behind her back so that it wouldn't get stolen. You don't see people do that every day, especially when it means that he had to leave his stall and help her.
We didn't watch fireworks, because we were on the wrong beach. We saw the reflections on the water, but no fireworks 'cause there was a really big hotel in the way. But we got to sit on the beach at night and watch the stars and listen to the surf. That in itself was worth the trip. I love listening to the pounding of the surf.
I think to really see nonverbal communication I need to just sit down in a corner at McDonalds or Starbucks, or somewhere at the beach so I can people watch. I want to do that while I'm at the beach next week.
Every culture has different rules, different social mores and taboos. So today when we went to Waikiki, I was watching people's non-verbal communication. I saw a homeless woman yell at someone, storekeepers get right up next to me to try and sell me things, a man change under a towel on the beach even though there was a restroom right down the beach. We got to talk with a local guy at Roxy about our trip (he worked there, it wasn't a totally random person), and watched a storekeeper get rather anxious as someone tried on necklaces before purchasing one.
We sat at the beach for a while, then walked down to the International Market. I had a Gyro for dinner and a coconut smoothie for dessert. The man was very nice. He helped a disabled woman with her smoothie--he brought it to her, helped her get set up in her chair so she could drink it, brought her her change, and then helped her put her purse behind her back so that it wouldn't get stolen. You don't see people do that every day, especially when it means that he had to leave his stall and help her.
We didn't watch fireworks, because we were on the wrong beach. We saw the reflections on the water, but no fireworks 'cause there was a really big hotel in the way. But we got to sit on the beach at night and watch the stars and listen to the surf. That in itself was worth the trip. I love listening to the pounding of the surf.
I think to really see nonverbal communication I need to just sit down in a corner at McDonalds or Starbucks, or somewhere at the beach so I can people watch. I want to do that while I'm at the beach next week.
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