Jenna CP#1

8/31, 6pm, Atomic Coffee on Call Street.

     I met with my Conversation Partner today. In short, she was totally awesome. The long version is that I first ordered a tea, she said hello to some friends she recognized, and then we sat down to chit-chat. We had the usual introductions, mainly where I asked my CP if she was sure I was pronouncing her name correctly. It was easy to chat with my partner, as she was full of energy and great conversation! She asked me to correct her English as we went along, and we delved right into things.

     We chatted about her family in China, where her mother and father live. My CP actually speaks 3 dialects of Chinese- Mandarin, and the native dialects of her mother and father's hometown! She has 2 siblings in the UK at the moment, and finds that British english is sometimes confusing for her because of the accents and various colloquialisms. Her hopes for Tallahassee include passing her TOEFL with a score of 100 and gaining a Master's degree in Accounting (get it, CP!). My CP told me that written grammar is her strong suit, but that she struggles with speaking.

     After hearing some of my partner's horror stories about college town bars, I gave her the names of some not so sleazy local watering holes. We had a great time discussing public transportation in urban areas, boys, and the lack of Chinese restaurants in Tallahassee. One thing that hit me hard were my CP's stories about when she first came to the United States (8 months ago!). She told me she didn't understand anyone or anything, and that they didn't understand her. Just making her connecting flights from Seattle to Atlanta were nerve wracking and troublesome experiences. When she arrived at FSU she told me that she shyly went to the Student Union because she was hungry, but found she didn't know how to order food or how to pay with American dollars- luckily, she was aided by a fellow Mandarin speaking student. My partner really opened up to me and said that many nights she would go to class and then go home and cry because she could not communicate with those around her and felt alienated. Most heartbreakingly, she told me some of her fellow classmates told her to pick an English name, because it is easier for others. That is something I feel is completely Eurocentric and unnecessary. If others can learn to pronounce the name Oglesby in Oglesby Student Union, then we can certainly learn to say a person's name no matter how different.

     My CP told me her name is a powerful name in Chinese culture. She told me her name is from Ancient China and that when people hear it, it comes with expectations. My partner said that when some teachers call roll and others hear that a woman's name is the name she has, they will silently scoff or give shifty eyes because they think it's too powerful a name. She then told me that where she is from, when you "grow up" or become of a certain age, your parents will give you a new name. She said she is waiting for her father to give her hers. When I asked if she wanted it to be a powerful name or a softer name she said it didn't matter, because "water is soft, but it is the strongest force there is." My CP is seriously amazing.

     Language wise, my partner is very fluent in english and enrolled in upper level CIES classes. She does seem to struggle with putting the 's' on plural nouns and using the past tense of "to go" (she will say "we go" as past tense instead of "we went"). Her pronunciation, which was something she was worried about, was not as bad as she was making it to be and will definitely get better over time.