This year, two brothers crossed continents into the United States for the first time to join the MHS student body. Eduardo Silva, junior, and Maia Silva, sophomore, have just transferred from the International School of Beijing in China.
Eduardo and Maia have moved from place to place throughout their lives due to their father’s career in agriculture. Their father is currently working with Monsanto, which is why they moved to St. Louis.
Prior to living the past three years in China, they also have lived in India, Thailand, and Brazil. They are both fluent in English and Portuguese, and know Chinese.
As this is their first time living in the United States, both Eduardo and Maia have observed several cultural differences but also many similarities.
Both Eduardo and Maia said academically, MHS is “about the same” as the international school.
Maia said MHS seems like it has a lot more students and the schedule is different than at the international school, while Eduardo said the biggest difference is the level of diversity.
“You would walk down the halls and hear people speaking different languages,” Eduardo said.
Eduardo said he has found the biggest cultural differences between China and the United States to be the way in which people interact.
In China, kids speak more respectfully with their parents and grandparents, Eduardo said. The differences in interaction even apply to customers and sales clerks: in the United States their interaction is more conversational, whereas in China it is more direct.
Maia said food is a huge difference that he has noticed between the two countries.
“There they eat a lot of vegetables,” Maia said. “They don’t eat junk food.”
However, both Eduardo and Maia said there are many cultural similarities.
“In the area where we lived, there were not many Chinese people,” Maia said. “It was just mostly foreigners. Everybody spoke English.”
Therefore, Maia said, moving to St. Louis was not an extreme adjustment.
Eduardo also said he was used to an American type of atmosphere.
“As far as trends and what people wear, they try to be as American as possible,” Eduardo said. “Food-wise, you wouldn’t think [there are similarities], but there are McDonald’s. I didn’t have to eat Chinese food all the time.”
Eduardo said he thinks people around the world are more similar than they realize.
“People are becoming more connected than they know,” Eduardo said.
Silva said one of the positive things about moving around so much is knowing many different people in many different places.
“I can pretty much go anywhere in the world and have a friend living there or someone who can help me out,” Eduardo said.
Maia said what he likes best about moving from country to country is getting to meet new people, see new places and experience different cultures.
However, he said the hardest part is leaving friends behind. While keeping in touch is “relatively easy” because of Skype and Facebook, Maia said it can be difficult because of the time differences.
Eduardo, too, said it is hard not being able to have a certain constant group of friends.
Eduardo said getting used to his new school and home will take time, but students have been welcoming.
Eduardo said people aren’t able to tell that this is his first time living here and sometimes, people think he’s lying at first about moving from China.
In fact, Stephanie Larson, senior, sat next to him at lunch with her friends on the first week thinking he was another senior she just hadn’t met before.
“When you look at him and talk to him you think he’s just another student,” Larson said.
Larson said right now, a lot of their conversations at the lunch table are about the differences between his life in China and life in the United States.
“I think later in the year our conversations will get more casual,” Larson said. “But right now we’re all just fascinated by him.”
Maia and Eduardo plan on staying in St. Louis to graduate from MHS.
