I finally was able to meet my conversation partner
today. We had had a little trouble finding a time that worked for both of us,
but have now figured it out!
I met my convo partner, Jacira Dombolo, at Union
Grounds after walking all the way across campus in the bone-chilling
wind.
I went to shake her hand with my icy fingers, but
she greeted me with a hug. I knew in the back of my mind that this would happen
because I have Brazilian friends who greet everyone with a hug and a kiss on
the cheek. Since Jacira is from Angola, a Portuguese speaking country, I
figured the greeting style might be similar.
After introducing ourselves and clearing up how to pronounce her name,
we began asking each other questions. They were simple questions. Small talk
questions like "what are you studying?" and "is English hard to
learn?" Jacira speaks English pretty well and is not shy. She told me her
father speaks English well because he has been in America for business before.
She started learning English from him and her older brother before coming to
study in America. Her older brother will soon graduate from TCU and after
Jacira is finished with the English program, she will begin taking classes at
TCU.
I asked her if learning English was difficult and she said yes of
course. Well, I told her that learning Portuguese was hard too! It’s funny how
one’s native language seems so easy to them but when a new language is
introduced how difficult it is to learn it. I wish that learning new languages
was not hard because I would love to be able to speak in other languages and
communicate with more people than just English speaking people. I don’t know if
it would be a good or bad thing to be able to learn languages easier. The world
would probably be a lot different than it is.
So, first meeting with my conversation partner went awesomely. There
really was not an awkward feeling between the two of us, which I am thankful
for. I am excited to get to know Jacira a little bit better this semester as we
continue to meet.
Until next time Jacira!
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your experience with Jacira. That's really cool/interesting that you had used your previous knowledge about your Brazilian friends to anticipate how Jacira might decide to greet you. I'm glad your first experience didn't feel too awkward at all, as I've heard that some conversation partner meetings have taken some time to get past the awkwardness. I do think it's both a good and bad thing that it is rather difficult to learn new languages, as language is primarily what makes different cultures so unique, but also creates barriers between the world as a whole.