About Time.

To be honest, it’s been a real struggle to meet with my conversation partner. I know everyone that goes to TCU is a “busy person,” but it’s been like pulling teeth to meet up with my conversation partner. Once I finally got her to respond to my insistent emails, it was seemingly impossible to get our schedules to match up. She would have a dental appointment or I would have an interview and it just seemed like I was never going to be able to fulfill this part of our blog assignment simply because there are not enough hours in the day.

I guess that as November rolled in and the semester passed the halfway mark, I was getting a little frantic and nervous about the possibility of never getting to meet my conversation partner. Although I was nervous about what to expect, I was also really excited about to getting to learn from someone who was so different than myself. This would be a huge learning and growing experience for me.

After several exchanged emails, we FINALLY found a time that would work for us. Friday, November 1 at 2 PM, and I penciled it in. As the time to meet grew closer, I grew more nervous. What can I possibly have to talk about to this woman from a different culture that I’ve never met before? What if I can’t understand her and need her to repeat herself? What if I say something that may be funny in the United States but offensive in her culture? I was freaking out.

I got to Union Grounds a few minutes early, just so I could scope out a good location where it was private enough to talk but public enough to not be uncomfortable. I sat and I waited… and waited… and waited… and finally I sent her an email to tell her where I was sitting when she got here. Within a few seconds, she walked around the corner and found me sitting at the tall tables at Union Grounds (she had been sitting on the other side and I had not seen her). We exchanged introductions and her jovial disposition instantly put me at ease. Her name is Bayan and she is from Saudi Arabia. She moved to Texas 7 months ago to work in the English program and get her masters degree in public relations. Her and her husband share an apartment off campus; he participates in the English program as well. Once introductions passed, we sat at an awkward impasse. She then told me that she didn’t really know why she was meeting me. I explained, and then told her that I wanted to get to know her better and wanted to understand her culture. That simple statement opened the door for much more conversation.

I realized in our first interaction that though our cultures are worlds apart, there are some things that stick in every culture. We bonded over our love of reading (I was able to talk about my English minor, and she told me about how she read in her free time), our love of cooking (I just moved off campus and finally have a kitchen, and she watches YouTube videos to find new things to cook), and our favorite places to travel (hers: Houston, mine: Chicago).

Our first interaction was brief, but more than enough time to establish a foundation for our relationship. I hope that it will continue to grow and as our meetings increase, we learn more about each other and our conversations become less forced and more like friends. Though we are vastly different people, I am enjoying my time with Bayan. She has so much to teach me, and I hope that she will be able to learn from me as well. I will continue to look forward to Fridays at 2 as the semester advances!