Humor at the Zoo

Today, Sam, Alex, and I decided to take on the Fort Worth Zoo and observe the humor scene.  Sadly, there wasn't as much laughing as there was yelling and pointing. It was more of a chaotic scene of children screaming at the animals and parents looking super stressed out. Sam and Alex made the zoo even more fun by breaking obvious zoo laws, especially when the laughs were at a minimum.  Near the end of an afternoon without a laughter video, we went to the Texas section of the zoo to see the horned frogs, but instead came across a swinging bridge.  We observed a group of Muslim kids enjoying playing on a bridge that coincidentally, we have just played on.

Throughout this assignment, I definitely felt creepy filming all the people that I could. It was weird to think that I'm hitting the age where filming children isn't maybe the best idea. Overall, when we witnessed laughter, it was pure and innocent - the type of laugher we used to have as kids when witnessing new, out of the ordinary, things.

Conversation Partner #6

Today, I met with Tracy for the last time. Looking back on our time together over the past semester, she's grown leaps and bounds with her knowledge of the English language and he confidence speaking it. When we couldn't figure out a word, she would look it up and we would pronounce it together until she got it just right, and most of the time, she got it on the first try.  Her sister wasn't able to make it to the last meeting, but it was nice to have very quick exchanges with Tracy on her own. She told me that there was a possibility she was going to transfer to the second half of the IES program to a school in New York. She didn't like the idea of being at TCU when school was out into the summer, because she thought the town would be empty and the stores would be closed, which I denied. I totally understood her and her sister's reasoning for wanting to transfer. They wanted to be in a city where they could take the subway places and explore the city. I'm truly appreciative that I had the opportunity to meet Tracy and her sister this semester and learn about their experience in a whole new place while comparing it back to their home in Taiwan.

Conversation Partner #5

Today, Tracy and I met outside the TCU bookstore like we usually do. This was the first time she came without her sister, who was filming a project with an advertisement theme. At first, I couldn't figure out what Tracy was saying, but after awhile she googled the word on her phone and I finally realized she was trying to say "advertisement," which I would have never guessed if she hadn't showed me the word. For a few minutes we went over the pronunciation of the word slowly a broke it down into singular syllables for her to work with. After much improvement in her pronunciation, she thanked me like three times for teaching her a new word. It's incredible to think back to when we met and could barely talk to the large vocabulary she has today. Then, she invited me to the IES social and said it may be boring and we both laughed. She often talks about how much homework she has all the time and how often she naps, which I'm envious of. Tracy has been a truly great conversation partner. I'll be sad when I have my last meeting with her on Wednesday.

Conversation Partner #4

Today I met with Tracy and her sister for the fourth time. What I noticed immediately was that both of their English skills had improved greatly as compared to meeting them in January. They used to be shy and reply to my questions in short sentences, but now they ask me questions about my daily routine and where I’m free while replying without hesitancy. When I tell them they’ve been improving, they’re almost embarrassed to receive such a complement. Today, we talked about food, per usual. I know they like Potbelly’s and want to try SweetFrog, but they’re disappointed there are no restaurants in walking distance from campus with Asian cuisine.  This has never occurred to me since I usually don’t eat Chinese food, but it must be difficult going from Taiwanese food for their entire life to coming to TCU and barely being unable to get their nationality’s food unless they cook it. They said they almost always make race for their meals, while adding variance in different add-ons. Tracy says sometimes she makes a stir-fry with difference vegetables.  Before I left, I made sure to tell them about what I thought about the candy they gave me last week.  I was honest in saying I was surprisingly pleased with the candy, but it was just weird that it they were in plastic packaging – especially since it was chocolate and berry pie.  We plan to meet again a week from today. 

Learning Experience #3

Over spring break, I had the privilege of taking the Civil Rights Bus Tour to the cities of Jackson, Selma, Birmingham, Nashville, Greenwood, and other small cities along the rode.  For Spring 2015, I’ve be taking the Civil Rights Movement class taught by Dr. Krochmal. Originally, I saw it fit core requirements I needed, but the 60s is my favorite era in American History when it comes to the music styles and wars – all round, I found this time extremely intriguing, so I decided to enroll in a 4000 level history course even though I am a Biology major.

The first day of class I realized this class was going to be very different from my other classes, it was a discussion-based course, as compared to biology’s lecture-based courses. I almost felt like I was catching up constantly in discussion because by the time I understood what they were talking about, they’d be onto another topic. 

Homework-wise, we had a lot of assigned reading from three novels that all ended around the same time – at spring break.  We were told early on in the semester that we were required to go on a bus tour over spring break, but I just shallowly thought that I would see a few new places and meet a historical person or two and then return to TCU and continue on with my life – wow was I wrong.

I had noticed throughout the semester, my classmates and I became more passionate about the readings and inequality that existed in the south.  Violence, murder, and revengeful acts that we would read about caused our discussion to become very heated because we would be so upset at the treatment of people.

When we finally reached Jackson – we saw the city. Not just looked around, we saw it with our eyes wide open and our minds fully educated.  The city of Jackson, MS has not recovered from the movement 50 years ago. Builds are the same from the 50s, many homes are abandoned, and the people are completely segregated. The aftermath of the movement caused many whites to move to the outercity suburbs and blacks remained in the city. After exploring the city for 7 hours, I hadn’t seen a white person until I saw a single man at the bus stop around 4:30 in the afternoon – that wouldn’t happen in Fort Worth.

Selma, Nashville, and the Mississippi River Delta all showed the same results. White people move, black people remained.  No matter how much progress historians and high school education says the movement has made – that’s a lie.  The legal boundaries, such as the Jim Crow Laws, may no longer exist, but our parent’s generations and our generations still have a “white only” mind. The physical signs may have been taken down in the 60s, but changing the mindsets of people takes a lot longer than a year or two.

It’s just disappointing to physically see such a glorified movement through the eyes of people who are still living through the movement.

Conversation Partner #3

On March 18, 2015, I met with Tracy and her sister outside Barnes & Noble on the patio. She was extremely welcoming and immediately asked about my Spring Break. I noticed her vocabulary and confidence in speaking English had greatly improved since I last saw her.  Tracy and her sister had mentioned they would try Potbelly’s or somewhere else, next time they saw me – which they did.  They seemed content with the food, but didn’t seem amazed. They started to ask about French Fries and what I thought about them. Then, we got on the topic of McDonald’s and how there’s also a whole bunch in Taiwan.  They had mentioned earlier that they went to Dallas with a train pass given to them by TCU, and got to explore the city. They couldn’t really figure out a way to describe what they did, but they seemed to like it overall. Also, they graciously brought me Taiwanese/maybe Chinese candy from what they got from Dallas. I tried all of them – Berry Pie, Chocolate Pie, and Coffee Slims – which were my favorite. It was very nice of them and generous to think of me and bring me sweets. I plan on letting them know next time I see them how I liked them and what I thought about their type of food.

Unrestrained Laughter #2

During high school, one of my best friends had a fake front tooth. She hadn’t been in an accident or knocked it out. She was just simply born without one. When I met her, she had braces, which had attached a fake tooth to a bracket. Unfortunately, and fortunately, when she got her braces removed, she was missing a tooth, which mad her look like the ultimate pirate.  Within a week the orthodontist had given her a clear retainer with a fake tooth insert, which solved the pirate problem, but she wasn’t able to eat with the retainer on. So, when we eating lunch at a hotel we were staying at for a softball tournament, she had to take out her retainer. Surprisingly, a baseball team was also staying at our hotel so all of us were flabbergasted. My friend with the pirate teeth decided to be bold and take the elevator with a group of the baseball boys to put herself out there. To her dismay, and to our pleasure, she forgot to put her retainer with the tooth back in before leaving to meet the baseball team. As she walked up to the boys, she smiled at them, all at the same time realizing she was missing her retainer with her tooth. The baseball players’ faces all look so confused, they didn’t even know how to treat a girl who was missing a tooth – and indirectly looked like a pirate.

Whether it’s funny to others or only to us, this was our bonding moment as freshman in high school, which started a friend that has lasted five years beyond this event, as hopefully into the future. The reason I remember this is because she this story is told constantly, at times when we’re down or when we’re reminiscing on our favorite memories. No matter what, this is one of my favorite stories and I think it’s hilarious.