Final Meeting with Conversation Partner

For our last meeting, Francesca and I met outside of Smith yesterday afternoon. I have really enjoyed meeting with her so this was a very bitter sweet meeting. We had our usual conversation, catching up on the happenings of the past weekend. We then spoke about our Christmas plans. She said that she is having some family come into town and I told her that I was going back home. We also spoke a lot about the traditions that our family has. In particular, her family plays certain games and eats certain foods that go along with the holiday season. I also told her about my family traditions that go along with my mixed Jewish and christian heritage. We both laughed and joked about old funny stories that we had had from past Christmases.

As I mentioned, I have really enjoyed my time with Francesca. I thought it was really cool that I was able to have a conversation partner that was a girl around my age. We were able to find a lot of similarities and were able to relate a lot. It was really neat to have the opportunity to help her with her English and her transition to school in America, and I feel that she has taught me a lot as well. I plan to stay in contact with Francesca and stay up to date on how she is doing.

7th Meeting with conversation Partner

Today, I met with Francesca at the TCU bookstore. We walked around the store and picked out funny books or books with funny titles. I told her how I love going into the store Urban Outfitters because they have the funniest books. In particular, there is a book called Dancing with Jesus that I thought was really funny that I described to her. We sat down and enjoyed some coffee and got on a tangent about shopping. We talked about our favorite stores and the differences in clothing between our countries. She told me that most of the people dress a lot like Americans, especially the young people. People wear shorts and t-shirts on a day to day basis. But, she also described some of the traditional clothing of Chile. I thought that this was really neat because Americans doesn't have any traditional clothing because we all come from a diverse set of backgrounds. We googled and You tubed some of the outfits and dances that are traditional in her country. I explained to her that I found these very similar to the traditional outfits and dances of the people in Peru. Then, I showed her a video clip from Greece saying that this was the history of our culture. We both laughed about that and she commented on how she had liked that movie. We then just spoke about our weeks and talked about what we had done over the last weekend.

Class Reading 0 the wit and wisdom of Mark Twain

I thought that this reading was actually really interesting. One of my favorite sections on Pinterest is the Quote category, so this was great.... a whole book of them! There were a two sections that I liked in particular:

Courage (page49)
My favorite quote in this section was, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." I like this quote because I am afraid of literally everything. This made me think  of my fear of flying. I am from California, so I have to fly a good amount during the year. I have been able to sort of conquer this fear by rationalizing it away, but the fear is still there none the less.

Humor (page108)
I really liked the quote, "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." This made me think of the first day of this class. We spoke about laughter can be healing and how our professor would read a book of jokes when he got sick. I believe that laughter can heal all things and I think that this quote represents that belief.

6th Meeting with Conversation Partner

I met with Francesca on Monday November 26th. Because of the freezing weather, we decided to switch it up from our usual spot outside of Smith and go to potbelly for lunch. I got my usual pizza sandwich and she got a turkey and Swiss cheese sandwich.

We started off by talking about out Thanksgiving vacation. I told her about how I went home and stayed with my two older sisters. She also had a traditional thanksgiving dinner with one of her friends. She said she loved all the wonderfully yummy food that they had. We also laughed about how we had to lay on the couch for 3 days just to recoup from the massive meal. She also told me about how she went shopping on black Friday. Unfortunately, she didn't find any of the good deals she was hoping for. But, she was excited to take part of this "weird" American tradition. I got to explain  to her why they called it "black Friday." She said she now understood the name because of the thousands of people she saw out shopping at 3 in the morning.

Other than that she said she has been really busy with school and is getting a little stressed out. I could definitely relate. I told her that I was also very stressed with school and that I was nervous for finals.

Class Reading - Tales of Juha Part 2

I really enjoyed this section of the book. I commented last time that there were 1 or 2 stories in the first section that touched on social issues, but this section really brought the focus in on topics people would usually try to avoid. Although I really loved the witt in the first half of the book, I think that this piece was definitely my favorite. As a whole, I this is one of the top books we have read in the class in my opinion. I loved that the stories were short because I can't stay focused on long stories, especially if they are boring. I also enjoyed the humor in Tales of Juha compared to the humor used in the other books we have read.

There was one specific story that I really liked. This is the story on pages 48 and 49 where Juha and is son are walking down a road with the donkey. They continue to make comments and remarks about people passing whether the person rode a donkey or didn't ride a donkey. This really brought to light how judgmental people are and how there will always be people there to criticize you no matter what you do. This was highlighted when Juha says, “Let me tell you something, son. You can never please everyone.”

5th Meeting with conversation partner

I met with Francesca on Friday November 16th outside of Smith. Unfortunately, this was before Thanksgiving break so it has taken me a little while to blog about this meeting. It was a really pretty day outside which was great. During this meeting we talked a lot about school. She had a lot of questions about TCU and she shared some concerns she had about going back to school again. In Chile, she had gone to college for two years, but they stopped going and just did a little traveling. Since then, she has been taking some basic courses and working on her English so that she can go to an American college. As you may remember, I brought Francesca to my organizational management class. Although this did mitigate some of her concern and worry, she is still very nervous. She was able to get the gist of what the teacher was saying and could generally understand the subject, but she is nervous that when she has to get into an actual class where she has to earn a grade, that she wont understand enough. I was able to help her by telling her how much her English has improved already during this semester. I reminded her of our first meeting where she was excusing her self the whole time and saying that she didn't know how to say something. Now she is sounds much more confident when speaking. I did give her some advice regarding her accent. Sometimes it is a little hard to understand her through her accent when she speaks fast, so I told her to just slow down a little bit.

Other than talking about school and classes we just updated each other on the new things that have gone on in our lives since our last meeting. It was a very fun meeting and a great conversation!

Class Reading- Tales of Juha

I really liked this read. I found it a lot more interesting that the other pieces we have read because of the witty humor and the cleverness in each story. I was really surprised by the amount that I could actually relate to and I found myself wishing that I could come up with "come back" like Juha had. I also found it humorous how he was able to use his witt to get out of basically every situation.

There were a few stories that I particularly enjoyed. The first was the story of Juha and his two wives that he gave a necklace too. This story really displays his cleverness and ability to get out of predicaments. Second, I really liked the story about Juha steeling a donkey, which then got stolen. When asked how much he sold it for he replied, "at cost." Again, the way he handled the situation was really funny. I think I liked this one because I am not really a funny or witty person, so I wish I could come up with something like this right on the spot as he did. Lastly, I thought the story about Juha naming the baby racewinner was really funny. This one stood out to be because he was able to bring out a social issue that would normally never be brought up and that a topic that people would try to avoid. He also does it in a stealth and witty way and makes the others kind of pause to take it all in. I could imagine myself in that group of friends with my mouth open like, "did he just say that."

Although I found many of the stories very funny, I also didn't understand a lot of them. In particular, I didn't know what he meant when he told the story of the two women fighting. But, all in all, I enjoyed this reading.

Class Reading- Hokum, Dirty Deceivers

For today's class reading we were assigned Chester Himes's Dirty Deceivers. I found this story extremely interesting. First, I found it intriguing that a person was considered a "Negro" if they had even a "drop of blood" of Negro in them. I found myself contrasting this to modern times. I can't imagine what it would be like to completely judge a persons character and worth on the color of their skin. I have always been exposed to many different cultures. My father is Jewish and my mother is Korean. As I read this story, I realized that if my mom and dad had met in the 40's or 50's they would have probably never been married. Although it is still not extremely common to have interracial marriages, I do think that it is at least accepted. Additionally, I found that it sad and humorous at the same time that they each when up to Harlem to enjoy their heritage and culture. In the case of my family, my parents and their families have been able to teach each other so much about their individual cultures. I think that it adds a bit excitement to their relationship because they get to partake in the good and bad traditions and customs from each persons families.

The humor in this story can be found in the extreme irony. As I mentioned earlier, I found it humorous that they had to work so hard to avoid each other while they were both just doing the same exact thing. Also, it was ironic that they both developed extreme prejudice against Negros and separated themselves from them as possible. The irony increases in this situation because it makes the other partner feel even more nervous and stressed about covering up their heritage. Lupe even goes so far as to say that Ferdinand would kill her if he ever found out the truth. But, the greatest irony is found at the end of the story. After they discover the truth about the others race they become blissfully happy. However, this doesn't last long. They become bored and feel betrayed by the other, even though they were also the betrayer. They completely stopped talking, and eventually filed for divorce under false pretenses.

4th Meeting with Conversation Partner

I met with Francesca today, November 5th in our usual spot outside of Smith. Today was a really short meeting because I have a test tomorrow and she had errands to run. During our conversation, we laughed about beautiful and sunny it is at the beginning of November. Along with that, we complained about our busy schedules and how we wish we could just lay out at a pool and not be stressed with school and the many other things that clutter our lives. Francesca then told me that she was ready for some cold weather because she has had summer/ summer weather since she left Chile. This is because the seasons are the opposite in Chile. So, when she left her home it was the end of summer there but the beginning of summer here. Personally, I would love this because I hate cold weather.

Then for the rest of the time, Francesca told me about all the things I should see and do while I am in Chile this next summer. She gave me a lot of hints about safety and the best areas to visit while we are there. Francesca also warned me about some of the big differences that I should be aware of, mainly food. I mentioned that I am a very picky eater and she said that I may have a difficult time on the trip. I also voiced my concerns about the language barrier while I am there. I took Spanish through elementary school, middle school, and high school, yet I can still barely ask someones name or how there are doing. She told me that I should have no reason to worry because most people can speak at least a little English, especially in the touristy areas.

Although we had to quickly end the conversation, it was enjoyable as always. We set up another time to meet for this Thursday.

3rd Meeting with Conversation Partner

I met with my conversation partner, Francesca, on Thursday October 18th. We met outside the business school and enjoyed the beautiful weather as we chatted. During our conversation we spoke more in-depth about her family, her possible career option and her life in Chile.

I noticed that during this meeting Francesca was much more confident with her English speaking abilities. She did not try to clarify things or excuse her self saying, “I hope you can understand me," or "I'm not really sure if I am saying that right." She said that she had been practicing her English more with her sister and her friends. She also spoke less formally and had clearly picked up some of the American slang. We also laughed together about the strange things that people in Texas say such as, "Y'all" and "Fixin' to." It was interesting to see how we could both bond over the fact that neither one of us was from Texas.

Additionally, we spoke about traveling. I have always loved to travel and have enjoyed my experiences abroad. She told me all about how she has traveled to many of the countries in South America. After high school, she and a few of her friends went back packing through Peru and Ecuador. We talked about this specific trip for quite a while I also visited Peru and Ecuador after High School. We went to many of the same cities and experienced the same things. I also noticed that the more we spoke about things that were interesting to her, the more comfortable and confident she became in her English speaking abilities. However, the more excited she got about the conversation the less she focused on correcting her strong accent.

 I found this meeting really fun and enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this meeting and found our conversation very interesting.

Class Readings: Donald Barthelme

For today's class reading on of the stories we were assigned was Donald Barrthelme's In The Morning Post. I read this story while I was working out on the elliptical in the TCU Recreation Center, and as embarrassing as it is, I found myself chuckling out loud. I will admit that I was "that person" that everyone was staring at, probably thinking I am crazy. But, that's besides the point, I chose to blog about this reading because it actually caught my attention and made me laugh. Usually, I find our class readings less than entertaining and more of a chore than anything else. But, this story was different.

I really liked how In the Morning Post was written. I have found that I enjoy a more conversational text, rather than just straight narration. Barthelme's writing style kept me engaged through the story. He is also very descriptive. I found that I could picture him going to his mail box and picking up the magazine Writer's Digest and the perplexed expression that must have been on his face. Then, he goes into the details of his thought process as he reads the letter from the magazine. This was very entertaining to see his scattered brain jump from one question to another regarding his drinking.

I also found his answers to the various questions very humorous and witty. Particularly, I enjoyed his response to the question, "how would you describe your own drinking habits? Light, Medium, Heavy, Other?" He responded with, " Medium. Light is sissy and heavy doesn't go down so well with Deans, Loan Officers and Publishers, and who in the world would want to be Other?" I love how he is so blunt and honest about how he feels through out the text.

Lastly, I connected to the story because there have been a lot of times that I have thought to myself, "He must have been on something when he wrote this," when reading certain stories or books. I thought it was really funny that Barthelme wrote a whole story about this and made light of it in a sarcastic and blunt way.

2nd Meeting with Conversation Partner

So, Francesca finally made it to my class. She came to my 2:00 O'clock Organizational Management class. I chose this class for a few reasons. The first was because she could only come to a class that was after 2:00PM. The second was because this is one of my fellows classes. I thought this would make it more fun because everyone in the class are all really good friends, so it makes for good discussions. The third reason was because this is one of my only non accounting or finance classes. I figured that if I get bored in those classes then SHE was bound to fall asleep in them, and that would not be good. The last reason why I chose this particular class is because it is usually pretty fun. Our teacher is really outgoing and engaging. Plus, we usually play some sort of game in this class, and who doesn't like games? Well, after I put all this thought into choosing a fun class that would be anything but boring, it was boring. All my teacher did that day was read off a bunch of slides! Needless to say I was very disappointed. But, luckily I think Francesca didn't think it was as terrible as I did. After class she told me that classes in Chile are all three hours long and the teacher will keep you even longer if they want to. I think that this experience was really good for her because she got to see what a class at an American University is like. If I were in her position I would really like to do this just to get some nerves out. I also think that this was helpful because she got to really practice her English compression. She said that she could understand pretty much everything that my teacher was saying. This is really good for her confidence in her English speaking abilities because she had mentioned to me earlier that she wasn't very good at English. But, now I think she will be more confident and willing to speak to Americans because she won't be so self conscious about it.

50 Funniest American Writers - James Thurber

Part of today's reading for class was James Thurber's story More Alarms at Night. This story stood out to me for a few reasons. The first, although silly and no where near relevant to the story, was with in the first few lines; to open the story Thurber says that the father "threatened to get Buck." To be honest I'm not really sure when this story was written, but since it takes place in the early nineteen hundreds I am going to assume "getting buck" does not mean the same thing as it does today. In today's terms "getting buck" means that the person is getting "crunk" (AKA extremely drunk, wild, and crazy) according to urban dictionary, and any other 20 year old n America. I have included a link to the song, "get buck in here." I thought that this may give the reader a more complete understating of the word.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x45xic_get-buck-in-here-akon-ft-diddy-luda_music

So, as I read the story I kept waiting for the faster to start going crazing and "raging." But, it wasn't till half way through this short story till I learned that buck was supposed to be a name, not an act of getting "crunk." Once I learned this I had to read the story all over again because I was clearly reading it in the wrong light.

The second reason why I found this particular story intriguing is because I really love pranks. I have always found pranks to be very funny and ever since I was young I was pulling them on people. As a self proclaimed "master of pranks," I must say that this is a pretty good one (at least for its time). Basically, the son pranks the father by running into his room and speaking in nonsense (calling him Buck, when in fact his name is Charlie). The father runs out of the room as to not catch what ever it is that the child must have. Then the son sneaks back into his room as if nothing had happened. Subsequently, the entire family is awoken by the father’s shouts. But, instead of blaming the son, they blame the father. They wrote it off and said that it must have been a nightmare because clearly the son was asleep. The perfect prank always ends with someone else getting blamed for it, but this story goes even further and blames the prankee.

I found this story very witty and funny and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

 

Conversation Partner

Today I met with my conversation partner, Francesca. We met outside of Smith Hall at 1 O'clock. Francesca is a very nice girl and stylish 19 year old girl. After our brief introductions we quickly got into a very interesting conversation. I learned that she just moved to Fort Worth from Chile. I can't remember the name of the town that she is from, but I do remember that it is in the center of the country. She described her home town to be similar to Fort Worth, but a little bit smaller. Apparently the weather is very similar, however her favorite thing about her country is that no matter where you are you are always two hours from the mountains and two hours from the ocean. I found this particularly interesting because I am from Orange County, Ca. If you know anything about "the OC," then you know that I am also two hours from the beach and the mountains. As our conversation progressed, we began to talk about our families. Francesca is living about fifteen minutes away from TCU with her mother, step-father, and two younger sisters. Fortunately, she and her sisters are very close as she described them as her best friends. This became particularly important because she has had a very hard time making friends since she has moved to America. It has been difficult for her because all of the other AP students are either much younger, much older, or completely different than her. She was telling me a little bit about the cultural differences that she has had to face in these classes. I thought it was very interesting to hear her speak about her social interactions with these people that are from all over the world. As you can imaging, it is very hard for them all to agree on something social to do because they come from such different and diverse backgrounds. Because I noticed that she had been very lonely I decided to invite Francesca to come out with my friends and I. I think that this would be really fun for her to get to hang out with more people her age and to finally have the American friends she talked so much about. Also, I think that this may help to do adapt to the culture and language a little bit better because she will be submersed in it while still having fun! Francesca also mentioned that she is trying to find a school for next year. She had attended a university in Chile for one year before she came to college and is now read to go back to school. She asked a lot of questions about TCU and why I chose the school. So, of course I told her all the wonderful things about our wonderful school! I also invited to sit in on one of my classes. I chose for here to observe my organizational management class because this is a very fun and lively class. Also, the material is not too heavy... I don't want her to get bored with my finance and accounting classes. This will be a really cool experience for her because she will have a better understanding of what the universities in America are like.

I had a really great time speaking with Francesca. It was really interesting to learn about her background and the struggles of moving to another country. Although, it was really cool to hear about the things that made our lives so different, the best part of our conversation was learning about all the things that made us so similar. It was awesome to learn that even though we come from extremely different backgrounds and circumstances we had so much in common.