Since I am not able to meet with Julia again, I will use my final Conversation Partner blog to talk about an experience I had with people from another country. The reason I cannot meet with Julia again is because she is on vacation with her husband for a month.
So, an experience I had with someone from another country was the person that lived across the hall from me in high school. His name was Xavier. At first we did not get along. He was from Mexico City, Mexico and was completely different than me.
As I got to know Xavier more, I realized how much of a friend he could become. He was very nice. One fall break he even let me go with his family to Colorado because I had no place to go.
Through Xavier, I learned a lot about what it means to be a friend. I had to look past our differences in order to see it, but I soon found one of my best friends. We still talk to this day.
Another experience I had with a person from another country was not as great as the one I had with Xavier. A couple summers ago my family and I took a vacation to Spain. We were in Seville at the time and my sister and I wanted to go shopping. We went out and before we realized it, we were lost. We asked many people for directions but were not fluent in their language so it was not any help.
It was hard to communicate with them and soon we became angry. It was hot, we were sweating and we were lost in a foreign country. It was not looking good for us. It wasn't until we ran into a person from America teaching spanish over there that we were able to find our way home.
This was the first time I was truly introduced to the language barrier in a dangerous situation. It was hard and it taught me the importance of patience. If my sister and I would have been more understanding and patient, we wouldn't have made things worse by running around and confusing ourselves more.
All in all, I have had many experiences with people from other countries. Some of them are good and some are bad, but I always seem to learn something. This is the message I have gotten out of my experiences.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
3. Last time we met: Conversation Partner
The last time I met my conversation partner was at the Starbuck's coffee shop in the bookstore. She was already on campus and I had class later so we decided to stay on campus. We met, had coffee, and talked about our goals in life. This is the first time that I saw Julia so enthusiastic about her future.
Julia came to America to learn English. Not only does she want to learn English, but she wants to learn sign language. There are children in her home country that are deaf. She wants to learn sign language in order to communicate with them and help them. She also feels English is a necessary thing to learn if she wants to grow and make more friends in life. Julia is amazing in this aspect. She has many goals and ambitions, most for other people.
This goal of helping and becoming a teacher for some people is similar to my goal in life of becoming a doctor. This allowed Julia and myself to connect and we further talked about our goals. Julia's husband travels the country and teaches students "knowledge". Julia would like to help her husband out in this aspect and this is where the English comes in. She could teach people English all over her country, "the beautiful country".
After we talked about our goals, we had a laugh about something that had occurred earlier that day. The last time that we met, Julia introduced me to one of her good friends in the EPL program. His name was John, or 서보성 in Korean. I know this because he facebook messaged me, telling me he is my friend and I am introduced to myself. We both figured that he meant he was the person Julia introduced during our last meeting. Julia had told me earlier that if I ever wanted to go to Korea, I had a place to stay. This information must have been passed on to John because he asked me if I was interested in Korea. We both laughed. It was funny and a good way to end our conversation.
The sad thing is, Julia and myself have not met since. She is now out of town, on vacation with her husband, so our conversation is only occurring over facebook at this point. The last I heard from her was just after Thanksgiving. She wanted to know how my Thanksgiving went with my family. We had discussed that I was going back home over the break. She also wanted to update me on her vacation with her husband. They are traveling to many places, her favorite so far has been the hot springs in Arkansas. I do not know why someone would take a trip to Arkansas, but she informed me that it was very relaxing. Overall, I had a great experience with Julia and hope to continue in next semester, even if it is only over facebook.
Julia came to America to learn English. Not only does she want to learn English, but she wants to learn sign language. There are children in her home country that are deaf. She wants to learn sign language in order to communicate with them and help them. She also feels English is a necessary thing to learn if she wants to grow and make more friends in life. Julia is amazing in this aspect. She has many goals and ambitions, most for other people.
This goal of helping and becoming a teacher for some people is similar to my goal in life of becoming a doctor. This allowed Julia and myself to connect and we further talked about our goals. Julia's husband travels the country and teaches students "knowledge". Julia would like to help her husband out in this aspect and this is where the English comes in. She could teach people English all over her country, "the beautiful country".
After we talked about our goals, we had a laugh about something that had occurred earlier that day. The last time that we met, Julia introduced me to one of her good friends in the EPL program. His name was John, or 서보성 in Korean. I know this because he facebook messaged me, telling me he is my friend and I am introduced to myself. We both figured that he meant he was the person Julia introduced during our last meeting. Julia had told me earlier that if I ever wanted to go to Korea, I had a place to stay. This information must have been passed on to John because he asked me if I was interested in Korea. We both laughed. It was funny and a good way to end our conversation.
The sad thing is, Julia and myself have not met since. She is now out of town, on vacation with her husband, so our conversation is only occurring over facebook at this point. The last I heard from her was just after Thanksgiving. She wanted to know how my Thanksgiving went with my family. We had discussed that I was going back home over the break. She also wanted to update me on her vacation with her husband. They are traveling to many places, her favorite so far has been the hot springs in Arkansas. I do not know why someone would take a trip to Arkansas, but she informed me that it was very relaxing. Overall, I had a great experience with Julia and hope to continue in next semester, even if it is only over facebook.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
2. Scheduling With Julia: Conversation Partner
Julia is one of the busiest people I have ever met. Whether it be with her children or with school, Julia seems to always be doing something. Therefore, I have found it hard to schedule meetings with her. We always seem to be on different schedules.
One thing that has helped is facebook. About a month ago, Julia befriended me via facebook. The conversation hasn't stopped since. It was easy to ask her questions and get to know her a little better because she had time to edit her writing. It made it easier to understand. I learned more than I thought possible about South Korea and Julia. In the same regard, Julia also became familiar with my life and everything that goes with it.
Although this was great, I wanted to meet Julia in person more often. We decided to set up two times to meet each week. Then if one of the times doesn't work out, we always have a second option. At least, that is what I thought we were going to do. At first, Julia did not get this. It is a struggle with the language barrier, but eventually we were on the same page.
So, I finally met with Julia again in person. It had been awhile since we last met, but we had been talking for a long time so we picked up right where we left off. I talked to her about sports and her children mostly. She is very proud of her children. She said that their English was better than hers, when at the beginning of the year it was worse.
The thing that I took most from this meeting and the build-up to it, is the language barrier. It is very difficult to communicate with someone that doesn't speak much of your language, if any at all. Every culture is different and every language is different. It might not be acceptable to talk with someone without referring to them with a title in some countries, and others are more laid back about that. This is just an example and was not a problem for Julia and myself. I learned to be more accepting through this experience with Julia. Though the language barrier is difficult and something that people need to learn how to get past. It was an interesting experience building-up and finally meeting Julia for the second time and I couldn't wait to meet her again.
One thing that has helped is facebook. About a month ago, Julia befriended me via facebook. The conversation hasn't stopped since. It was easy to ask her questions and get to know her a little better because she had time to edit her writing. It made it easier to understand. I learned more than I thought possible about South Korea and Julia. In the same regard, Julia also became familiar with my life and everything that goes with it.
Although this was great, I wanted to meet Julia in person more often. We decided to set up two times to meet each week. Then if one of the times doesn't work out, we always have a second option. At least, that is what I thought we were going to do. At first, Julia did not get this. It is a struggle with the language barrier, but eventually we were on the same page.
So, I finally met with Julia again in person. It had been awhile since we last met, but we had been talking for a long time so we picked up right where we left off. I talked to her about sports and her children mostly. She is very proud of her children. She said that their English was better than hers, when at the beginning of the year it was worse.
The thing that I took most from this meeting and the build-up to it, is the language barrier. It is very difficult to communicate with someone that doesn't speak much of your language, if any at all. Every culture is different and every language is different. It might not be acceptable to talk with someone without referring to them with a title in some countries, and others are more laid back about that. This is just an example and was not a problem for Julia and myself. I learned to be more accepting through this experience with Julia. Though the language barrier is difficult and something that people need to learn how to get past. It was an interesting experience building-up and finally meeting Julia for the second time and I couldn't wait to meet her again.
First Conversation Partner Meeting
My conversation partner, KyungJu Jang, goes by the name of Julia. I first met her though e-mail. She responded to me and we ended up meeting that week. She was not what I expected. I was thinking a college kid, around my age, would come in. Julia was around 30 years old. She had spoken a little bit of English before, but struggled with some words.
The first think that I asked her was where she was from. Apparently, Julia is from the country-side in South Korea. She kept referring to it as the beautiful part of the country. The way that she described it sounded like heaven. Again she was from the country. She lived next to the sea, with mountains in the north and fields in the south. It sounded like she had everything there.
As we began talking, she told me more and more about her life. Julia loved her country, but saw that she needed to come to America to study English. She is a mother of 2 children, both of which live with her in America. The thing that she misses most about her home country is her husband. He had to stay back and work, while his family moved to America for a year and a half to study English.
After hearing this about Julia, I was in shock. It was amazing to listen to her. The fact that she left her home country to pursue her goals was amazing. I could never do that. Putting myself into Julia's eyes is a a treat. She is definitely a mother that wants the best for her children. She brought them to America where they have to speak English constantly. This will help her children in the future and they will thank her some day. To do this she had to leave her husband and friends behind in her hometown. This is something that I could never do and I admire her courage.
The think the most admirable thing about Julia is her desire to go after what she wants. She will not let anything stop her, whether that be her family, friends, language, or her hometown. She is a very amazing person and I couldn't wait to continue talking with her the next week.
The first think that I asked her was where she was from. Apparently, Julia is from the country-side in South Korea. She kept referring to it as the beautiful part of the country. The way that she described it sounded like heaven. Again she was from the country. She lived next to the sea, with mountains in the north and fields in the south. It sounded like she had everything there.
As we began talking, she told me more and more about her life. Julia loved her country, but saw that she needed to come to America to study English. She is a mother of 2 children, both of which live with her in America. The thing that she misses most about her home country is her husband. He had to stay back and work, while his family moved to America for a year and a half to study English.
After hearing this about Julia, I was in shock. It was amazing to listen to her. The fact that she left her home country to pursue her goals was amazing. I could never do that. Putting myself into Julia's eyes is a a treat. She is definitely a mother that wants the best for her children. She brought them to America where they have to speak English constantly. This will help her children in the future and they will thank her some day. To do this she had to leave her husband and friends behind in her hometown. This is something that I could never do and I admire her courage.
The think the most admirable thing about Julia is her desire to go after what she wants. She will not let anything stop her, whether that be her family, friends, language, or her hometown. She is a very amazing person and I couldn't wait to continue talking with her the next week.
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