Sabrina - Conversation Partner Week 1 - "I Got Seoul!"

When I entered the lounge at the CIES office on Wednesday for the meet and greet I was a bit winded from my ride over from the stadium and the climb up two flights of stairs to reach the fourth floor. My face flushed as it recuperated from the winter air outside. In addition to that, I had little waves of warmth washing up my body from nerves.

The room was buzzing and humming away like a swell of vibrating molecules. I saw many of my classmates scattered about the tables and chairs paired up and engaged in conversations with their partners. I knew my partner's name was Shin-hye and that she was female so I looked around the room to see if I could intuitively pick her out. Ryan saw me scanning with that look on my face I suppose and facilitated an introduction.

My first impression was that in comparison to Shin-hye's cosmopolitan style I must have looked like a slob! My NYC days of fashion-forward expression have been tempered by Tallahassee backyard garb. I tried to read Shin-hye's reaction to our introduction to see if she was disappointed, or afraid, or impressed in one way or another. I think she was just nervous like I was.

It was apparent pretty soon that her spoken English was pretty clunky. The first thing she said was "I need very much help English. My very bad." I immediately went in to slowed down mode and annunciation overdrive. I noticed that I slipped right into this way of speaking without much thought. I used it alot in my past work with non-English speakers assisting with immigration as well and my stint teaching English in India. It is exhausting but it helps; slowing down, finding more simple words to express an idea or to ask a question. Also facing the person you are talking to helps. Shin-hye was looking at my mouth as the words came out to see if there was more understanding to be had direct from the source!

I noticed that she had braces and was covering her mouth quite a bit or keeping her lips closed around her teeth. I imagine this will be an interesting fact as we speak more. I hope she can learn to relax her jaws and move her mouth more freely as she practices speaking English.

I am not sure she understood everything that I said but I sensed that her listening skills are at a higher level than her speaking skills. We shared some basic personal information and I learned that she is 27 years old and is here at FSU studying in The School of Music for her graduate degree as a cellist. She has been studying the cello since she was very young (8 years old). She is from Seoul, South Korea which is the capitol. She finds Tallahassee (our capitol) very pretty and quiet. She would like to visit NYC perhaps on a school break. We shared some thoughts on big city living and the slowness of a place like here.

When I told her I am considerably older than her, that I am 42 years old, she seemed shocked and said "Oh! so old!" I think she believed she was getting another student assigned to her. Although surprised, she did not seem disappointed to have a practically moribund partner to chat with once a week.