I met my CP at the CIES Tea Party. There was no tea. I kept saying in a very loud voice, "Where's the freaking tea already?" My CP kept looking at me as though I were some gangster movie actor from American Cinema. Like I was packing heat. It wasn't until Steven informed him that I was "crazy" that things settled down a little and we could get to conversing. Still there was no tea.
No. I'm kidding. None of that happened. Except the part about meeting my conversation partner. His name means "kind" and he is 18. He hopes to go to T.C.C and then F.S.U to study business. He misses his friends and eats a lot of sandwiches that his cousin makes for him. He tells me clothes are very expensive in Korea. Much more than in the U.S.
He told me about this interesting meal his mother makes. It is some kind of rice dish with a really stinky thing in it. He found it difficult to find the right words to describe this dish. I asked him what it smells like. He just couldn't find the right adjectives to describe it. He said it stinks so much that I wouldn't want to eat it. I said, "You don't know me very well. I will eat the hell out of that." I'm not sure he believed me.
He lives kind of far away from the campus and so I offered to sell him my car. Sort of. I mean I'm looking to sell it and all and it totally kicks butt, but I'm just getting to know him an and I probably shouldn't sell my CP my car. Besides, I wanted to steer the conversation back to the stinky rice dish. I was getting kind of hungry.
Of course, by this time it was getting to be the end of our hour and he was anxious to get to the gym. I felt like my CP had some frustration around trying to find the right words to express himself. I felt some frustration too. I wish I could just lift up my skull and put my brain with all it's information and put it in his brain. But that only happens in cartoons of ESL conversation partners. He will take the TOEFL in February and hopes to score 16 points higher. Toward the end of our time I found him being comfortable just being in silence. Natch. However, I kept trying to get him to talk a little without being too pushy. I am a Pisces afterall.
I look forward to an interesting relationship in five meeting slots with my CP.
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I did tell your CP that you were crazy though haha. We need to find a good Korean place somewhere in Tallahassee and go there with our CPs. I have never had kimchi before!
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