Francisco CP1

I was not sure what to expect when I met SungJin. I received an e-mail from him before our meeting and I could tell our conversation might be a little harder than I expected. I first received the pleasure of meeting SungJin at the crowded tea time lounge. SungJin immediately suggested that we should go somewhere else to chat, which I saw as an extremely wise move by him. Once we agreed on a room to begin our conversation, I could tell SungJin became a little nervous. I started to talk and ask SungJin multiple questions. He struggled to answer them and he even resorted to drawing the answer in which he wished to express. I quickly realized that the I was inquiring about too many things and SungJin did not understand the context of the questions I asked. I changed my game-plan and began to ask more simple questions such as "where are you from" and "how many brothers or sisters do you have." Once I asked these questions, SungJin answered them accordingly and I learned that he is currently living with his brother and his brother's wife. SungJin's brother can speak English really well and is currently a therapist for athletes. The tension of our conversation soon turned to a comical one when SungJin made a joke saying "my brother always says you suck at speaking English!" SungJin and I immediately laughed at this ridiculous statement. I assured Sungjin that he knows English really well for only studying it for three months. My attention then turned to the smartphone that SungJin had. I pulled out my own and showed him that we have the same smartphone but different model. I then began to show SungJin some apps which I believed he would appreciate such as; Google Maps with street view, Angry Birs, and Google Earth. SungJin became amazed by all these apps and did not know that they are free. I showed him how to download them and he thanked me repeatedly. As our conversation progressed, I found out that SungJin is the runner-up to compete in the 2012 Olympics for sailing. He showed me pictures of him sailing and stated that it is his "major." I then realized what SungJin meant to say is that sailing is his job and he gets paid to compete. I corrected him in a friendly manner and he thanked me once again. I learned that SungJin has been sailing since he was in middle school. SungJin did not understand the context of the word "since." I attempted to explain its meaning and SungJin did not understand but after several different ways of explaining it, SungJin finally grasped its context. As our conversation came to a close, SungJin inquired about buying a car. I told him it is a long process and that he must attain a driver's license first, but that I would be more than happy to assist him with any questions about the process. As I looked at the time, I realized that SungJin and I chatted for more than an hour and I had lost track of time. I assured SungJin that I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and if he ever needed any more advise on buying a car or go out and get Korean food, to e-mail me. I am happy to see that SungJin wrote me an e-mail yesterday saying; "today is a good day, I am very pleased to meet you."