Heather - CP - Week 1

When I got to CIES for Tea Time there were people everywhere! It was crazy. Ryan's analogy of it being like Christmas day is fairly apt. I thought it was neat to see so many people of different ethnicities in one place and interacting. Its something I miss about living in Miami. Of course, some of the students tend to group together with others from their own country, which made it neater to see people from different countries and languages talking and you could tell that they're friends. I got there before my CP so I had to wait a little while before I got to meet Xin, but it was worth the wait.

Xin and I talked a lot! She's only been in the U.S. for 3 months, but her English, like Chomy's, is good enough that she can communicate fairly well. Hence, why we talked so much. She asked me lots of questions, sometimes repeating them, I think because my answers didn't click. It got interesting figuring out how to convey some things in a simpler way to make it easier for her to understand if she didn't understand what I had said in the first place. And sometimes I had difficulty understanding what she was asking me. It's great practice! Overall we did quite well, covering a wide range of topics, ideas, etc. She definitely learned some new words too. It was fun to see the click moments with the new words.

This weekend she's taking part of the TOEFL and she's nervous. She really wants to go to University and continue to work on her education. She talked about different options she's considering if she doesn't get the score she needs this time around. We also established that we have some of the same interests, she was very excited about my being an artist, being from Miami/Key West and having pets. She really was very excited about my pets and Key West (because she wants go there!). I told her she could come over anytime to meet our dogs and cats and even have dinner with us, citing Cuban food as an option. All in all I think we will have a great time over the next few weeks!