Conversation #4

My fourth meeting with Li was originally scheduled for before Thanksgiving Break, however he found out at the last minute that his classes for the beginning of the week were cancelled, and so he was flying to Boston to meet with a friend. When we met this past Wednesday, we talked a lot about visiting friends from high school. I am lucky that most of my good friends wound up going to school in Texas, so I see them on breaks and every now and then on random weekends. Li obviously has a different situation, and he knows people who live all over the world. Several of his high school classmates live in the United States, like his friend who attends Boston College, but he also mentioned some that live in other countries, like the United Kingdom. This started a whole conversation about traveling, which is one of my favorite things to talk about. We discussed the places that I have visited, and he chimed in with his experiences with the countries that he had also been to. I thought it was interesting that we have had similar traveling experiences, even though we are from different countries. 

We talked a little bit about the work we have before finals and Winter Break, and he mentioned that he has two important English tests coming up soon. This weekend, he will take a test that may qualify him for a scholarship as an international student. On Monday, he will take an English writing test that, if he scores high enough, might allow him to “graduate” from his current ESL class. When I had arrived to meet him, he was studying grammar for the first test, and at this point he took the opportunity to ask me a few questions about it. It was interesting to see the questions he was studying, and the ones that he was having trouble with. While it was easy for me to tell what the correct answers were, it was not always easy to explain the reasoning behind it. He seemed to understand my explanations, though, and I hope that I was at least a little helpful. 

We talked briefly about plans for Winter Break, and he mentioned that a lot of his friends return to China for the month-long break, and some even stay a little later in order to celebrate Chinese New Year. He talked about some of the traditions of this holiday, which he described as basically Christmas and New Years combined. Mainly, he said, it involves gifts, food with family, and fireworks. I really enjoyed listening to him talk about this, especially because I did not know a lot about Chinese New Years beforehand. We ended our conversation by scheduling another meeting next week, which I am looking forward to.

I noticed this time in particular that it is getting even easier to talk with Li. While we have never had too much trouble having a conversation, he seems to be more comfortable speaking in English now than when we first met. I imagine that this is mostly just because he knows me a little better now, but it is definitely interesting to see that there is a noticeable difference.