Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Bobby - CP 1
I had my first meeting with my first conversation partner at the CIES Tea Time today! His name is Sangwook Ryu, a Korean biology student who has been in the United States for 6 months now. Sangwook has been studying English since 3rd grade. He's a nice guy, albeit a little quiet. I think he might have been a bit nervous, so I tried to direct the conversation and let him know that I'm here to help him learn to be more conversational. That being said, his English is actually very good. Although he spoke slowly, he chose his words carefully. I noticed few mistakes, and when he did make a mistake, he corrected it almost immediately. We talked about many things, including our mutual love for Korean food, where he has been in the US, what he wants to do when he graduates, and why he is learning English. It turns out his parents live in Tallahassee as well. From what I understood, they are both researchers working on their dissertations and they have a year off from their jobs so they are spending part of their time in the US. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me! They brought Sangwook along so that he could work on his English. By the end of our conversation, we made plans to do the Jingle Bell run together, go out to a Korean restaurant, and possibly get coffee. I am happy to hang out with him more!
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I believe Sangwook has a sister here as well - Sangyi. You can ask him about this. I am her tutor. I lived in Korea for 2 years and found many Koreans to be reserved. I also experienced that they do not generally talk a lot while eating like we do. I would avoid making a meal a CP time. That's not necessarily inclusive of all Koreans, but I experienced that a lot during the two years I was there. We usually had to eat, get the food out of the way, and then talk while drinking the hot tea or coffee that followed.
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