(Disclaimer..this conversation actually happened one week ago, but I forgot to post it! Oops!)
I met with Bayan again today. I was running a little bit
late but as always she was so polite about it and apologized in case she had made me rush! When she makes comments
like this it reminds me what a valuable experience
this is to her, and it makes me appreciate
it even more. She wants so badly to be strong in her English and talks a lot
about not having good pronunciation or grammar or vocabulary, but honestly I
believe the only thing she truly lacks is confidence!
I am truly hoping that through this experience, I will be able to give her
some. The conversation moved a little more slowly
today, mainly because I think we just covered SO MUCH in our first conversation
that we weren’t really sure where to go from there! However, a subject that
doesn’t seem to fail with us is food,
because we both enjoy it so much. We discussed more in depth about our favorite
types of food, and recommended some local restaurants to each other. She loves
all kinds of foods, as do I. We also share a huge bond over desserts, and I
promised to take her to Sweet Sammies during one of our conversations, because
she has never been!
Unfortunately, some of my restaurant suggestions may not be able to come to fruition for her. It is difficult for Bayan to try new places or get around Fort Worth because she doesn’t drive and relies on her husband to get her around. As a married woman who lives about 15 minutes away from campus, I can only imagine how hard that would be. I asked her if she had any plans for the weekend, but she said no, because her husband had plans with some of his friends. I found this kind of sad that she can sort of only live around his plans, and she doesn’t get opportunity outside of class to spend time with her acquaintances. This does not seem to bother her too much, though, because it gives her plenty of time to relax and focus on her studies.
Another thing that she enjoys doing is going to movies. We talked for a while about the movie Frozen, and how we both really liked how the movie is centered on sisterly love rather than romantic love. This led us into a discussion about her family. She has so many siblings; I wanted to learn more about them! It turns out that Bayan is the second youngest, and the majority of her older brothers and sisters have children. The oldest and youngest are extremely far apart. Her oldest siblings have children that are nearly her age! I asked if she gets to speak with her parents often. She does get to talk to her dad, but her mom was on some medication for a mental issue and it took away her ability to talk. It sounds like her mother has some health problems that we didn’t really go in depth on. The inability to talk makes it entirely impossible to speak with her mom, because her parents are not educated, so they cannot read. This means she can’t write or email them. I am sure this is difficult for her. I don’t know what I would do if I could no longer speak to my mom. In my eyes this makes Bayan even more courageous for coming to America to learn English. I admire her a lot, and hopefully by the time these conversations are over, she will realize that and learn to admire herself too!
Unfortunately, some of my restaurant suggestions may not be able to come to fruition for her. It is difficult for Bayan to try new places or get around Fort Worth because she doesn’t drive and relies on her husband to get her around. As a married woman who lives about 15 minutes away from campus, I can only imagine how hard that would be. I asked her if she had any plans for the weekend, but she said no, because her husband had plans with some of his friends. I found this kind of sad that she can sort of only live around his plans, and she doesn’t get opportunity outside of class to spend time with her acquaintances. This does not seem to bother her too much, though, because it gives her plenty of time to relax and focus on her studies.
Another thing that she enjoys doing is going to movies. We talked for a while about the movie Frozen, and how we both really liked how the movie is centered on sisterly love rather than romantic love. This led us into a discussion about her family. She has so many siblings; I wanted to learn more about them! It turns out that Bayan is the second youngest, and the majority of her older brothers and sisters have children. The oldest and youngest are extremely far apart. Her oldest siblings have children that are nearly her age! I asked if she gets to speak with her parents often. She does get to talk to her dad, but her mom was on some medication for a mental issue and it took away her ability to talk. It sounds like her mother has some health problems that we didn’t really go in depth on. The inability to talk makes it entirely impossible to speak with her mom, because her parents are not educated, so they cannot read. This means she can’t write or email them. I am sure this is difficult for her. I don’t know what I would do if I could no longer speak to my mom. In my eyes this makes Bayan even more courageous for coming to America to learn English. I admire her a lot, and hopefully by the time these conversations are over, she will realize that and learn to admire herself too!
Thanks for another good response.
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