Conversation #3

Today, November 16th, I had my third meeting with Li. Since we had just met last week, it was a little difficult at first to think of things to talk about. One of the things that has impressed me each time that we have met is how easy it is for Li to come up with things to talk about-whenever there is a lull in conversation, he is quick to fill it. This is something that I tend to struggle with in my native language, so I was somewhat surprised when he had little trouble keeping the conversation going. We talked about how our weeks had gone, and about Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break. I found out that his aunt lives only 10 minutes away from campus, and he will be celebrating his first Thanksgiving this year with his family. This led to a conversation about how he decided to come to TCU. His cousin graduated from here two years ago, and now has a good job because of his degree in Business. I was really interested to learn about what made Li choose a school so far from home, and it makes sense that family in the area would have influenced that decision. We talked a little about our plans for after graduation, even though that is far away for both of us. Finally, we talked about how classes were going, in particular his English class that led him to do the conversation partner program. He seemed a little flustered about the class, and talked about how difficult it is to write essays on the computer and to get a high enough score on them to pass onto the next level of classes. I asked about how long it generally takes to move between classes, and he did not know for sure, saying it ranged from a month to a year, depending on the person. As usual, his speaking skills were quite good, and from what I could tell he understood most if not all of what I said. There are few times when I’m talking to him that he has trouble with grammar or with remembering a word, which I always find impressive. Once again trying to fit in conversations before the end of the semester, we scheduled a meeting for next Tuesday before the holiday.