Wednesday, April 1, 2015
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.
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Being from Chicago, asian cuisine is a pretty big part of life, in addition to pizza of course. I've noticed the lack of asian cuisine around campus, but I fix that by ordering Papa Chang's. Your partner might not have that luxury of ordering take out whenever they feel like it, not to mention that take out is not at all like the real deal. If I thought Tex-Mex was a culture shock, I can't even imagine how different the food here must be for your partner. I also am glad that other partners spend a lot of time talking about food too. My partner introduced me to Red Bull with strawberries in it- I highly recommend it.
ReplyDeleteChristy, I had the same experience with my conversation partner. I saw how much improvement she had made since she had been at TCU. She was so hesitant to take my compliment. Perhaps this is because of the emphasis in Chinese culture to value autonomy above individualism. Its interesting to see that both of us had the same experience! Hope you were able to give her encouragement about her speaking abilities and give her positive reinforcement!
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