We (well, I) got in a healthy dose of jammin' & dancin' while Ahmed conversed with the TEFL girls and the sizable group of CIES kids. After having to rescue poor Ali from a belligerent and quite intoxicated American woman, we decided it was time to call it a night. Thanks to Ramin and the Maharaja Flamenco Trio for providing an evening of entertainment!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Jules CP-9
To all who missed Ramin's band on Friday at Chez Pierre, you can go ahead and kick yourselves now. Brittany, Whitney, and Pat will certainly back me up on this one. My conversation partner Ahmed had called that afternoon to see if I'd take him laptop-shopping, and afterward I invited him out for a taste of Tally nightlife. I was flabbergasted to learn that this was his first time to go out at night in America -- we need to organize some trips for our car-less international friends!
Brittany-CP 3
For my third meeting with Gyusang we sat during tea time again. I have offered a few times to relocate and asked him if there's somewhere he'd like to go, but he doesn't find much objection to the noisy lounge like I do... I think I may need to be more persuasive next time!
Gyusang and I caught up on what we did over the weekend- he’d spent time with his grandparents then saw them off at the airport. When we talk about Korea, I can tell Gyusang misses it a lot, but he doesn’t get upset, in fact he gets pretty excited knowing he’ll be heading back later in July. For now he is just enjoying the time he has left in the States, before starting back at his University. Gyusang will be a sophomore, focusing on pharmaceuticals, but it won’t be long before he enlists in the Korean military- mandatory for all Korean men for 2 years. I asked how he felt about this, versus other countries like here where it’s voluntary. Gyusang gave a slight laugh and said ‘not good’ and that no one wants to do it. I asked him why he thought the reason for mandatory service was, and he explained simply, ‘because of North Korea.’ We spoke a bit more about current events involving North Korea and how these affect life in South Korea, but I was left thinking mostly how Gyusang, and many other students we work with are from countries where the threat of danger and/or political tension are never far away from them, whereas we have oceans and a major world power as our home to ensure we live life feeling, for the most part, safe. The idea of mandatory military service to ensure a country is prepared to should their neighbor invade, well it’s a concept we certainly couldn’t imagine. No doubt a law like that would cause many Americans to claim a breech of personal liberty and choice, but it is just a part of what comes next for Gyusang, and he takes it in stride.
The previous two meetings I felt at times that I was bombarding Gyusang with questions about his life in Korea and trying to learn all I can about his experience... while he is always eager to answer and seems to get my jokes most of the time, I was glad this time lead to a more in depth conversation of how our countries differ and what his future holds.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Jules CP-8
A couple of weeks ago, I met up with Stéphane for a brief chat session before his CIES soccer game. They have been doing much better after he passed the TOEFL exam. We had planned on meeting at 5 p.m., and he called around 4:45 to say he was making some food. I asked if he wanted meet up a little later, but he said no, come on over. At some point there was a lack of communication because when I arrived, there was a plate of chicken and veggies waiting for me... So much for my weekday vegetarian plan!
We ate our meal, and caught up on what's been going on in our lives. I told him I had just broken up with my sort-of boyfriend-ish, because the guy had assumed that my phone must have been broken since I wasn't returning his calls and that therefore it would be a good idea to drop by my house unannounced at 9 a.m. on Memorial Day. Stéphane jokingly (at least I hope) said that I was evil and that the guy was just trying to be nice! Dating is so different around the world, and this sparked a discussion on what it's like in the Côte d'Ivoire. There, they don't "beat around the bush" (I taught him that phrase -- good to see it put to use!) when they like someone. You just go up to someone in a club or on the street, tell them they look beautiful/interesting, and if they reciprocate then you are pretty much boyfriend and girlfriend. It's as easy as that. Here, we have this whole business of, I'm gonna get your number but not call for 3 days, cause I don't want you to think I'm that into you, and yada yada yada. It has been interesting to hear what dating is like in West Africa and the Middle East, which are pretty much two opposite ends of the spectrum. I wanted to continue the conversation, but he had to go kick some more butt at soccer. Go team CIES!
Jules CP-7
This is a long post, but I think you'll enjoy it.
We sat down, kicked off our shoes and talked about his plans for after CIES. As I mentioned before, Jamal is on a Fulbright scholarship which is supposed to pay for graduate school at the institution of his choice... emphasis on the word "supposed". The Institute of International Education (IIE) is the organization that administers the Fulbright funds. They receive money from Fulbright, send in the students' grad school applications, and then take care of paying the tuition and fees. Apparently, the IIE receives a fixed amount of money each year, say, $5 million for 100 students. The allocation of these funds is at the IIE's discretion. In other words they have a vested interest in finding the best deal possible. For example, if a grad school offers the student a full tuition waiver, then IIE gets to pocket the Fulbright money. It sounds like this is what's happening to Jamal, and I'll tell you why:
When he found out he'd been selected for Fulbright, Jamal was prompted to select his top five colleges. In order from top to bottom, he chose the University of Missouri, FSU, New School of New York, UCF, and the University of Arkansas. A couple of weeks ago, one of the CIES teachers (I believe it was Dr. Kennell) mentioned in passing, "Oh Jamal, I'm sorry to hear that you pulled your application from FSU". Jamal was confused by this, and contacted IIE but received no response. They did message him a few days later to say that he'd been rejected from Missouri. Surprised and wondering what had gone wrong, he called UM but they had no idea what he was talking about. There was no record of him in any of their databases. The next day, IIE told Jamal that Arkansas had offered him a complete tuition waiver -- independent of Fulbright -- and they were now proceeding with his acceptance letter. Guess who's getting to keep that Fulbright money?
Jaded and more than a little frustrated, we decided to be on our way. It was getting dark and buggy, anyway. I stood up and donned my flip flops, and as I turned to the west I saw something floating in the water. At first I thought it was a piece of wood, but then it started moving. You guessed it -- alligator. Knowing that Jamal had never encountered such a creature, I didn't want to scare him so I just said, "C'mon, let's go". But he saw where I was staring and hastily put on his sneakers, not bothering with the socks. I wasn't extremely alarmed because the gator wasn't heading toward us; it was, however, swimming toward the mainland. So we speed-walked up the peninsula, and I lost sight of our reptilian visitor. Chuckling and breathing a sigh of relief, we turned onto the path back to the car. We hadn't walked 50 feet before there was a thrashing in the bushes. I will never be sure of what it was, but it was big, and it was low to the ground.
Jamal gasped, "WHAT WAS THAT?" and I pulled him back about 20 feet. "We should call the cops", I remember him saying, and though it was certainly no consolation I told him, "The cops can't help us out here". "Maybe we should run," he offered, but I told him that was precisely what we should NOT do. I just told him to take a deep breath, remain calm, and everything would be all right. Listening, breathing, and waiting for at LEAST several hours (okay it was probably closer to 10 minutes), he finally convinced me it was time to proceed. Those first 60 feet were some of the most agonizing steps I've ever taken, but clearly we escaped unscathed. We arrived at the car in probably under 8 minutes, even though it had taken at least 15 on the way in.
Once we were safely in the car with doors locked and windows up, we burst into jittery laughter. My heart finally stopped pounding once we hit Capital Circle (I've never been so ecstatic to see a Walmart sign). Jamal may not get to attend the grad school of his dreams, but at least he's alive today.
Kasper - TP 6
Yesterday I met with my tutee to discuss her essay about the values that are important to her. She improving and wrote a great essay. She continues to struggle with articles but still very well written. She began her essay with this line "In this materialistic world people dont stop to think about think about the people about them and sometimes not even themselves". She wrote about how she feels the most important things for her are health, family and faith. We discussed her mistakes and talked about her sister who lives in Slovakia. She has a learning disability but she is very smart. Andrea doesn't talk to her that often but when she does her sister reminds her about the important things about her life.
Kasper - CP 5
Yesterday I met up with my conversation partner, we talked about traveling and where he wanted to go after finishing up with school. I told him about the peace corps and going to Colombia. He said he was in Miami and like it very much. The architecture in parts of miami known as art deco was something he like since it was different. There werent many sky scrappers. He went to the seaquarium a place similar to seaworld but smaller. He like the whale shows and saw many cool animals. They did go to southbeach but werent able to go in the water because they forgot their bathing suits. I told him that he needs to see other places in Florida and the US. He mentioned that the US is always pictured like a place that has skycrappers everywhere but there are so many cool outdoor places to see.
Kasper - CO 3
Last week, I observed a listening class taught by Anisa. There were 6 students in the class. She began the class by giving back homework from last week. She quickly moved into a video from PBS, "Power Surge", that dealt with the energy crisis and global warming. She asked the students to pay attention and to take notes by either answering the 5W or use the cornell method. They watched about 8 minutes then Anisa asked them questions about what they saw. She wrote down all the questions and answers. Most of the questions she asked were based on the film but she also connected it to other videos the classed viewed. She continued to played the video for another 8 minutes and afterwards had another Q and A session. At the end of class she reminded students that they will finish the movie next class. I really enjoyed the class, Anisa was very patient with the students and gave them time to think about the questions before they answered. Her voice was always loud and clear. She allowed everyone to participate. I like that she connected older videos and her topics are ones that deal with real issues that affect the whole world.
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