What a small, wide world we live in! I know, it's part cliché, part contradiction, but meeting with my conversation partner, Simon, has really showed me this. Simon is from China, and it has been so interesting getting to know him! He has only been in America since the beginning of the school year, and it is truly incredible to me how quickly he has grasped both English and the culture that surrounds him. For example, our very first communication occurred in the form of a text message. I had been having trouble contacting Simon, as his email service was down. Thus, one Thursday I was quite surprised when I received a text message from him introducing himself and proposing a time to meet. The text message was all in English, and I was so impressed with his confidence to text me about meeting!
Our meetings have been interesting, although they make me feel a bit selfish because it seems like I learn so much about him and his culture, and I'm really not sure how much he has learned about American culture from me. You see, Simon loves to talk and he isn't daunted by not knowing a word or perhaps misunderstanding my question. He bravely continues, and asks for help when trying to articulate a word that he does not know (I love helping him out here- it makes me think that I am somehow returning the gift of learning.) Seriously, I admire him so much for this! I am in my fourth-ish year of Spanish, and I am still so intimidated by the prospect of speaking to native speakers. I get so tongue-tied and shy, and it is generally altogether an experience full of struggles. Simon is not afraid to fail, though, and this greatly impresses me.
I am also impressed with Simon's ability to travel so far from home. China is many miles away, both in miles and cultural differences. One of the subjects we have often talked about is food. He does not like cheese to the extent that we have it here, and has been adapting to eating meat like pork. He says that it is not common back home, and that fish is eaten much more often (although here I tried to explain that Market Square is not a good representation of how often seafood is consumed. Fish is rather rare at the BLUU.) He has also bemoaned the lack of real Chinese food, and he says that one of the things he misses most about home is the food. This definitely made me further reflect over how difficult it would be to travel to another country where most everything is different, especially food that I perhaps take for granted here. Food is an automatic need, but it would be so strange to have to adjust to a whole new set of dishes, as Simon has.
Although there have been obvious differences between Simon's life and the life we lead here, such as the fact that high schoolers go to school 6 days a week for like 10+ hours, there have been some fun similarities to find that reinforce the "it's a small world after all" idea. For example, although the holidays of Halloween and Christmas are not very widely celebrated in China, some people do celebrate them. I learned today from a friend of Simon's, Mikko, that Christmas is especially celebrated among young adults. Other similarities have been found in sports and music, where Simon likes Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, and Michael Jackson. And, of course, there's always the McDonald's globalization phenomenon.
So, in short, while I have been learning so much about a completely different culture, I have also been finding some threads that connect our cultures. I am looking forward to continue meeting with Simon and learning more (and hopefully helping him, too!)
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