Second Conversational Partner Meeting

After our last meeting, Sari and I decided to meet up every Friday as long as we were both free. Although he was relatively quiet last time, Sari seemed much more engaged in our conversations. I am sure that it was just nerves the first time. He had never met with a conversation partner before, so I am sure he was a bit nervous. Luckily, his English is very good, so we rarely have a misunderstanding. I try my hardest to not use idioms or slang, but that is usually where he gets hung up.

We met at Chick-Fil-A again and caught up about the previous week. He seems to be enjoying his classes and effectively managing his work load. I filled him in on the pre-med class load. He had not heard of "Developmental Biology" or "Mammalian Physiology" which comes as no surprise. It was fun to try and explain those classes in layman terms. "Embryology" or "G-protein coupled receptors" just don't translate very well.

The main topic of conversation though was Fort Worth. Sari was wondering what to do around Fort Worth. He lives in downtown Fort Worth, but he had not ventured out much. He had been to the cinema and mall, but that was the extent of his exploration. After compiling a list of his "interests," here is the list that I came up with for him.

My first suggestion was the TCU vs OU football game. Sari is a huge fan of volleyball, basketball, and soccer. He has never seen an American Football game. I explained to him how big of a game this was for TCU. He had never even been inside of our stadium. I told him that this was the "stereotypical American" activity that he had to do. He also had never heard of tailgating. Although he doesn't drink due to religious reasons, he seemed very interested in the food. I will have to check with him to see if he went to the game. He was a little bit concerned because he did not know any of the rules. I assured him that someone there would explain the game to him.

My second suggestion was the Fort Worth food truck park. Everyone can appreciate food; it transcends all cultural boundaries. The first step was trying to explain to him what a "food truck" actually was. He had never heard of them before, and they are kind of difficult to explain without seeing them. I explained to him that there is a truck park about 10 minutes away that usually has 6-10 trucks.

Finally, I suggested that he visit the Fort Worth Zoo. He had been to a zoo before, but he had never been to the FW zoo. To my understanding, baby elephants were just born a few months ago. That would be really cool to see. Also, the weather is starting to cool off, so the animals will probably be active. During the summer, they usually just hide in the shade to beat the heat.

Sari said that these would probably be good for the next month or so. Hopefully he has the opportunity to visit a few of these local attractions. I hope that he went to the football game, so I can see what he thought about it.