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Three:
The third meeting was a struggle, to
say the least. We planned to meet twice before it actually happened. The first
time, we planned to meet for dinner, like usual, on Thursday; however, I had an
emergency and had to go home. That was strike one. Then, we all planned to get
dinner the following Thursday at BLUU 2. Unfortunately, Elle and I went to BLUU
2 and Cindy and Frances went to market square. They thought we were referring
to the second floor of the BLUU, which would be market square. That was strike
two. I was just getting frustrated at that point, but then we finally agreed on
getting coffee at Union Grounds one day before I had class.
That afternoon, I had fallen asleep,
on accident, after my other class that ended at 3:20. I had not set an alarm or
anything because I was not planning on falling asleep. At four, I woke up in a
complete panic because that is when I was supposed to already be at Union Grounds.
I ran, literally, from my room to Union Grounds. I got there and they said not
to worry about being a couple minutes late. Finally, when I got settled sitting
down we started talking about the tree lighting happening that night. I came to
find out that this would be the first time they would go. I told them that it
is so extravagant, but so amazing at the same time. They mentioned that
Christmas was not as big of a deal in China. They said that they celebrated it,
but that it was just for fun (there were no breaks from school/work). On a
completely different subject, later Elle was telling a story about her Asian
friend named Tu. During her story she said, “Tu did that too.” Elle and I
started to laugh because of the pun. With our class in mind, I wondered for a
split second if Cindy and Frances would laugh as well; since, understanding a
language is key to catching on to the pun. Surprisingly, they laughed as well,
and I do not think it was just because Elle and I were laughing. As a result, I
felt more comfortable talking with them the rest of the time, compared to
usual. If they understood that joke, then I would not have to be super careful
of not saying words that I may have thought they would not understand.
This meeting really helped develop a
sense of friendship with them. We laughed a lot. This time it was not Elle and
me laughing at things, and Frances and Cindy laughing at other things, like
before. I think that is why I enjoyed this meeting so much. Laughter always
makes the atmosphere more enjoyable.
Meeting has been a real struggle for me as well. Often times I would show up late on more than one occasion. It's insane hearing that other cultures don't celebrate christmas the way we do. Here in the U.S., christmas is such a central part of our culture that we often times completely bypass Halloween and Thanksgiving. A lot of times we tend to think that the world revolves around us and don't really put other cultures into consideration. I'm one of the biggest offenders of this if not the biggest. Having IEP partners has truly helped me broaden my horizons when it comes to other cultures, and I like to think it has done so for other people in our class as well. When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student who struggled a bit with the English language. This language barrier often times made things difficult when it came to conversations. It's awesome that you were able to utilize the good ol' pun to break this language barrier. I might have to resort to that next time.
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