Last time Sari and I met, I felt like I was asking a lot of questions. I was very interested in what he had to say, but I felt like I asked the majority of the questions. I see these meetings as a way for both partners to learn about the other culture. Sari was getting the short end of the straw in my opinion. I felt like I was learning so much about his culture, yet he had barely scratched the surface of mine. Hoping to remedy this, I asked Sari to have some questions for me next time we met.
When we met up at Chick Fil A, Sari had informed me that he had "done his homework." He had thought about possible questions, and came up with "What is a typical week for you?" At first, I thought this was a pretty simple question. I follow a pretty set schedule every week. As I thought about it more, however, I realized it would truly reflect American culture. The ways in which I budgeted my time, the places I visited, and the people I hang out with reflect on me as a person.
I started off by telling him about my living situation. I currently live in a house near campus with four other roommates. We all met freshman year and have been great friends since. We may get in fights over who has to clean the house or do the dishes, but we ultimately get along very well. All of us have contributed furniture, electronics, silverware, etc to the house. We even decided to all pitch and buy a real Christmas tree this year. From finance to biology, we have a diverse set of majors that keeps conversations interesting. Sari joked that he would have loved to live like that when he was younger, but he didn't think he could handle it at his age now.
He already knew a lot about my school schedule, so I didn't spend too much time on that. I briefly mentioned research, and Sari's ears perked right up. I'm not quite sure if he was being polite or genuinely interested, but he seemed eager to hear about my research. I tried my best to describe working in a lab to a non-science major. I also don't know how well words like "pipette" and "growth medium" translate.
Finally, I talked to him about some extracurricular activities I am involved in. Explaining the concept of a fraternity to him was interesting. I told him how we hosted different events both on and off campus. We were involved in philanthropy and participated in many events with sororities. Sari likes to stay active, so we talked about the gym a bit. I told him that if he looks running or biking, the trails by the Trinity River offer a great view while you exercise. He seemed very interested in visiting.
After this meeting, I felt like we had evened out the playing field. Sari had asked questions about my culture. He seemed very engaged in the conversation. Hopefully, Sari took something from our meeting today. I can't wait to see what he has to say next time!
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