8th meeting-Sina

       On Tuesday, November 6th Sina and I had our last meeting (although we're definitely still going to hang out)! While eating dinner at the BLUU, I noticed that Harry Potter was playing on TV. I asked Sina who her favorite character was, to which she replied, "Draco Malfoy." After thinking a little more, she said, "Maybe Bellatrix...or Hermione." Gotta love the Harry Potter characters. :)
Since it was Election Day, we obviously had to talk about politics. She asked, "How old do you have to be to vote in America?" I told her and then she informed me about the voting process in Germany. Apparently you can vote 4 times-one for all of Europe,one for your town  (16), one for your 'state', and one for your country! They aren't all on the same ballot, but I thought that was really cool. She couldn't remember exactly how old you had to be to vote for each one, but it fell within the 16-18 age range.
     Sina plans to take the SAT in January, just to see where she is because she hopes to be accepted at a community collge next semester. She told me about when she moved here (July 31st) and how ever since she started school (August 17th), she's wanted to actually attend TCU. Students in the IEP program aren't considered to be even freshman! They have to graduate from the program to enter the university, so she's trying to do that. She's upset because her parents don't understand that she wants to go to college, since her aunt (from Arlington) is the only family member who completed college. I was upset when she said she wanted to go to a community college-although I was happy at the same time-because I would never get to see her! However, she said she would come back to see her friend, play on the polo team, and go to parties...she does that a lot because she has free time.
     As we were getting ready to leave, she told me that she was going to see the new James Bond movie that night, Skyfall. She was quite excited.
Well, I don't really know howto end my blog series. So...I have thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation partner. I think Sina and I were a wonderful match and I'm glad we got to have this experience.

Sina (7th meeting)

     On Thursday night, Sina came to my room to chat. She told me everything that happened within the last few weeks since I've seen her. One major thing she did in that time was get her belly button pierced! I asked her why she did that and she said, "Because I got a coupon from TCU saying I could get it done for $10!" I thought that was really strange, but didn't say anything. When I asked her if it hurt, she said, "Yeah, but not too bad. I would never get a tatto, though." I guess tattoos hurt more than piercings? I wouldn't know. Then she told me about how she "is a roll." When I asked her what she meant by that, she said she was "rolling everywhere." I finally figured out she meant that she felt bloated from eating so much Halloween candy last night! She went trick or treating with her cousin, uncle and uncle's brother. She didn't have a pumpkin 'basket' to collect candy from trick or treating, but her cousin let her share his candy. :) Her costume was really cool...she wore a wig and a pink outfit. She didn't know what she was, so I decided to give her the name "Pink Fairy Princess." She laughed and said, "I love it!"

     Next we discussed group projects and how much we loathe them (sometimes). At the beginning of the year, all of her peers were trying and focused on learning English, but their motivation has quickly died down. She says they "aren't trying" and she always ends up having to do all of the work. I commiserated and we found something else that we have in common. After we finished discussing these very important topics, she asked me to explain what SAC (Senseless Acts of Comedy) is. I had decided to invite her to see SAC (which performs every Thursday night at 9:00) with one of my roommates and me. I didn't tell her my reasoning behind the invite. I wanted to see if she laughed as much as I do...if she "got it" and decided to use her as a case study...in the nicest way possible. I was pleased with the results. The show was hilarious as always, but alas, she didn't laugh as much as the rest of our peers in the auditorium. Her favorite part was the skit where 3 improvisors joined together as a body with 3 heads. Each of them were only allowed to say 1 word and they had to participate in a conversation with each other. It was really funny (especially when one of the 'heads' said four words), and she laughed a lot there. At the end, she singled out three of the improvisors as her favorites and stated that one of them reminded her of one of her friends in Germany! I wonder if she is homesick... Overall, I hope she enjoyed it. It was good to see Sina again...we've both been very busy, so we hadn't been able to meet in a while. I'm glad we got a chance to catch up.

Hokum pgs 191-200 (6th response)

     I thoroughly enjoyed Bambara's short story, "The Lesson." The narrator catches the readers' attention with the words, "Back in the days when everyone was old andstupid or young and foolish and me and Sugar were the only ones just right, this lady moved on our block with nappy hair and proper speech and no makeup." You can tell right away that the narrator will take us on a journey starring these two characters-Sugar and the lady, named Miss moore. The picture Sylvia (the narrator) portrays of this woman is not pleasant, to say the least. She planned "boring-ass things for us to do", had a college degree and took the liberty to teach the kids during the summer. Needless to say, they don't like her but she has a plan. Miss Moore was always telling the kids about how poor they are and how money "ain't divided up right in this country." As children, they just hear "blah-blah-blah" like she is the teacher from Charlie Brown. She proves to have a greater purpose than just taking away their pool time fun and games. She hails two cabs and hustles half of the kids in with her, asking our narrator to calculate a 10% tip for the driver. They get off on Fifth Avenue and go inside a store called F.A.O. Schwartz, but not before gazing at the beautiful toys in the window. As I realized later, the main idea of the story focuses on a "handcrafted sailboat of fiberglass" that costs $1,195. The kids are flabbergasted and in awe of the magnificent creation. The 'class' argues about who would pay that much for a toy and how you could get a sailboat set for much cheaper without comprehending that they had just learned Miss Moore's lesson. Once they get home, she asks them what they thought of the store. Sugar says, "I don't think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs." Miss Moore is excited that someone had hit the nail on the head and prompts her further by asking, "Imagine...what kind of society it is in which some peoplecan spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven." She hopes that the kids finally realize the inequality of the 'democracy' they live in. Bambara leaves Sylvia on her way to the West End to 'think this day through,' suggesting that Sylvia understands, at least in part, the lesson for the day.
     While reading this, I kept imaging Miss Frizzle and the Magic School Bus. This wonderful TV show had a teacher take kids on adventures, which is what Miss Moore does in our short story. I don't know why images of that kept popping in my head, but I suppose there are some interrelated concepts. The quote that Miss Moore says at the end of their day really stuck out to me. It brought back some guilty feelings about how those who are not poor really do (sometimes) spend a lot of money on expensive toys (like myself) that could be used to a much greater purpose. This story didn't make me laugh out loud and had a more serious tone than some of its counterparts, but I found it to be an enjoyable read.

6th meeting with Sina

Last night, Sina and I met for dinner at the BLUU. She was wearing a cute American flag cardigan. When we sat down and I asked her where she got it, she actually said, “Germany!” and laughed. Apparently, it was a huge craze over there for a while. She asked me about my week, as usual, and then talked about moustaches using hand gestures. Sina thinks that many professors have moustaches now and used  her fingers to describe

She told me that she’s been able to stick to her diet, even though she’s quite fit. She goes to the Rec for about three hours every other day for cardio. After eating a salad, Sina went on to tell me about a German restaurant about five minutes away from Hogwarts that had delicious pasta! She also told me that she likes pancakes (although they have a different taste here). Sina thinks the pancakes here are more delicious. I asked her what they have for breakfast in Germany-like eggs, toast, pancakes, etc. but she said they don’t eat breakfast food for breakfast over there. She said they have biscuits that they open to put bagel-like shmear on it and it’s wonderful. They also eat yogurt. After that, I wanted to get a fruit smoothie and we discussed the different personnel who work at the smoothie line in the BLUU. One lady is less-than-friendly and Sina told me about a time when the lady actually yelled at her! Apparently, she couldn’t understand Sina’s accent when she responded ‘Yes’ for yogurt and “screamed” at her.

After I got my smoothie-a friendly worker made it for me J-Sina asked me what my parent’s names were. She laughed when I said my dad’s name-Bobby-and said, “like the doll!” I guess there’s a bobby doll… Her mother’s name is Andrea, but she says she likes the way we pronounce it in America better.

I had another great dinner conversation with Sina!

Response: John Hughes's Vacation '58 (5th response)

          To start off with, I can only hope this is a fictional story. This was one of the funniest stories I've read in this class. This short story is filled to the brim with the misfortunes of a family on their way to Disneyland from Michigan. From the very beginning description of the six hour car ride in a station wagon, it didn't sound appealing. As the story unfolded, everything continued to get worse and worse! They had a late start due to everyone oversleeping, had to take their Aunt Edythe-described as a "Mummy with a wig on"-to her son's house, they fell off a cliff, had to sleep on the side of the road, stole money from a motel, were hit by missiles, and attacked by Indians, to name just a few problems they encountered. At first, I felt sorry for the troubled family but as I kept reading, I just had to laugh at the ridiculous situations they found themselves in. They decided to take the car trip because of their mother's insistence, but the end has an ironic twist. When they finally made it to Disneyland, they thought they were golden because there was no one in the parking lot and they had the whole park "to themselves." Unfortunately, there was a sign that said, "Closed for repairs and cleaning," at which the father became furious. They raced over to Hollywood and the dad jumped over the fence where a few men were sitting around a pool, chatting. He had bought a revolver at a convenience store, and now used it to threaten one of the men who happened to be Walt Disney! In his rage, he chased Disney and shot him in the leg, which earned him a spot in jail. Since he couldn't leave before his many charges were dissolved, the rest of the family took an airplane home. Ironically, the mom said, "Maybe this is the way to see the country" and it was she who was being stubborn in the first place.
        My family went to Disneyland and it was really fun, although I'm sure my dad wouldn't shoot Walt Disney if the park was closed! I thoroughly enjoyed this story and found myself groaning along to the ridiculous situations that this poor family kept running into.

Day at the Fair with Sina--5th 'meeting'

Today, my roommate Ava, her friend Sarah, Sina and I went to the Texas State Fair! Ava, Sarah and I left TCU around 9:30 but Sina couldn't join us until around 1:30. It was really fun, but I'll just tell you about the last 3 hours with Sina since I know that's the part you care about. :)
When she got here, we rode on a really cool roller coaster and right when we sat down, Sina noticed that there was German writing in the cars! She thought that was great. Then, we went to go get some food. She had fries with ketchup and mayonaise (she asked if that was what "you people" did) and asked if she could just pick it up with her fingers. Sarah, Ava and I split a funnel cake!
After that, it was time to ride the ferris wheel. We got many great pictures and got to sit in a purple car. Go Frogs. Then, we went to a Greenhouse (because Ava's an Environmental Science major) and there was a scary guy on stilts dressed like a tree with emeralds for his eyes! Sina and Ava took a picture with him, but I was too creeped out.
We went on a few more rides-one called the Crazy Mouse was extremely rickety, but fun-and after that, it was time to use up the rest of our tickets. Ava and I bought cotton candy, while Sina bought Fat-free Hershey's Chocolate Ice Cream and fried oreos. She was way more adventurous than me! We asked a kind lady in front of Big Tex to take a picture of us, and then we said goodbye.


It was a really wonderful experience to get to hang out with Sina outside of the school enviornment!

Sina: New York, tattoos, and boys--4th meeting

     Today, I met with Sina for lunch. It was our fourth meeting and I’m already getting sad about (possibly) not meeting with her for lunch every week, since I’m halfway done! She texted me because we couldn’t meet last night-I had Big/Little reveal-and she couldn’t because she had to “finished a presentation.” I don’t know if I’m overthinking the syntax, but “finished” sounds like it should work in that context! If you say, “Look, I’m finished” why couldn’t you say, “I had to finished a presentation” in that context? *sigh* English is a hard language to learn, but she’s doing well. She used a lot of hand motions to communicate her intention, like when she was talking about the two tattoos she has and flapped her arms while asking, “What do you call these on a bird?” and I replied “wings.” Sina told me that she is on a diet (in addition to working out at the Rec for three hours almost every day) because she wants “to train [my] stomach up.” She's already fit, but she said she wants another tattoo. The saying, "tattoos are addiction" is somewhat true, in her opinion. Sina has to pay every time we go to the BLUU, so I’m surprised she hasn’t suggested that we meet somewhere else! Today, they were handing out cotton candy, but she didn’t know what it was because it’s a referent object. (Sorry, what I learned in my speech path classes yesterday is coming out here…) I described it as something you eat that is pure sugar, but she still had a confused look on her face. When someone walked by holding it, she said, “Ahh, we call that _____ in Germany.” When I asked her if she knew what cotton candy was, I still felt like I was talking down to her-like-a child-and didn’t like it. I’m not sure how I can change, though. She told me all about her trip to New York this past week and how her aunts' workplace payed for everything! They got to go to fancy restaurants and Sina ate lobster for the first time. (she compared it to shrimp) She said it was "really delicious." She also went to the M&M store and a wax museum (where she took a picture by 'Daniel Kregg'...she was appalled when I said I didn't know who he was and she mentioned something about Fast and Furious. 

            We sat down in a booth next to Michael Zeiser and friends. When I introduced them, he pointed out that his last name is German sounding, and she smiled. His friend said something in German (it was supposed to be, “I’m a diver”) but she didn’t understand. After I explained what a diver was-she looked at me for clarification…it made me feel good J-she said, “Oh, you’re missing a word. It’s supposed to be ____ ___ ____ _____!” She then asked me how to get to Moudy South. There’s a 2:00 German level III class and she just wanted to sit in to hear how they speak and teach. Michael explained on a map, and I hope she found it! A guy in theater was sitting on the other side of us and when he got up to get more food, Sina looked at me and was like, “I think he’s pretty.” Just then, a guy who I think is attractive walked out of the BLUU.  This led to a discussion about crushes and how attraction is treated differently in Germany than America. Apparently in Germany, the attractive people (somehow) talk to you first! She said she would never talk to someone she thinks is pretty on the outside here, because they could tell that she’s from a different country. I tried to tell her that they might find her more interesting because of that, but she didn’t seem to buy it. We ended our conversation with me inviting her to SAC tomorrow night at 9:00 after explaining what an improv group was. It was a lovely lunch.