通訊

The title of this post is the Chinese translation for "communication". I chose to title it in a different language to highlight the differences in communication that my conversation partner, Simon, and I went through. When we were first assigned to our partners and received their contact information, I had assumed that email would be the best means of communication. However, I waited close to two weeks without a reply, and finally received a phone call from an unknown number. I answered, and was pleased to be met with a voice who introduced himself as Linze Hu (Simon is his American name) and informed me that he had problems with his internet and that the best way to contact him in the future would be through text. We hung up, and I texted him a little later saying that I was glad to have talked to him and asking when the best time to meet would be. He promptly texted back, and we had a great conversation establishing a meeting date/time, and also some essentials like major, age, and that sort of thing.

For the first few weeks, our method of texting and keeping the same meeting day and place worked out well. However, we hit a problem when Simon needed to pay his phone bill. His service had been cut off for a bit until he paid. Instead, I received a text from his friend, Mikko (See blog, "An Eager New Face",) saying that she was acting as Simon's communicator, as he had not gone to the phone store yet. This worked well for a bit, as Mikko was trying to meet with us, too. However, she soon informed me that she had received her own communication partner, and that she would no longer be meeting with us. So, I went back to trying to email Simon, yet with the same success I first had. This problem in communication was demoralizing, and made it very difficult to try and set up meeting times.

Thus, problems in communication would probably be the one thing that I would try and simplify in next semester's partner program. It really is an amazing idea, with the chance for both the IEP and Lit/Civ students to learn much about one another and to grow as individuals with more of a global mindset. Problems in communication detract some from this, and thus it would be easier to have a mandated day, place, and time to meet. I really liked the idea brought up in class of meeting the students outside of their IEP class. This way, everyone would be in the same place. Other than this, I would maybe further emphasize the idea of having a concrete day/time picked out with your partner from the beginning, and sticking with that. This could be emphasized in the syllabus. Part of the problem with our conversation set-up was that we had to switch days often due to prior commitments from the both of us. It made it difficult to know what to expect, and thus made communication a key. If we had emphasized keeping the same day/time from the beginning, perhaps it would have been easier to meet and we would have depended less on technology for communication. However, I greatly enjoyed the program and know that, if given the opportunity to participate again in the future, I would be much more understanding of the possible problems of contacting and organizing. In all, despite the communication problems, I am extremely thankful for the time I spent conversing with Simon!