Meeting #3!

           Things are going much better! This time around, I met Young in the Rec with one of her friends. In fact, it was Carmen’s conversation partner, Shinhye! When I first arrived, there were actually three of Young’s friends there. Honestly though, I cannot remember the two boys’ names. Anyway, the two boys left after we were introduced and Shinhye, Young, and I proceeded to talk. Young and Shinhye had actually been playing pool with the others and asked if I wanted to join them! Just then, one of my friends from my dorm room, Michael, walked up. I introduced him to Young and Shinhye and then asked him if he wanted to play as well. The four of us split up into two teams, Michael and Shinhye versus Young and myself, and racked the pool balls.

            This was certainly a different start than my previous two meetings with Young, and it was great! I think Young felt more comfortable to have Shinhye there because they were able to help each other with English. I noticed that I am getting better at understanding Young, as well. (I was able to help Michael a few times.) This was certainly the first time for us to meet and not feel completely and totally awkward!

            The first two really weren’t that bad, they were just difficult. I really think that both Young and I are finally past the awkward introduction stage and on to the friend stage! We were making jokes the whole time and laughing at our misunderstandings of each other. I loved being on a Young’s team also. She is quite the pool player! Certainly better than me, because after Michael and Shinhye left, we stuck around and played one more game. Although it was close, I managed to scratch while trying to get that final 8 ball into the hole, handing the well-fought game over the Young as the victor.

            It was nice getting to know Shinhye, as well. She is also from South Korea, and is so excited to be at TCU! She really seems to love TCU. Shinhye and Young are just about on the same level when it comes to English. However, when one was struggling to find a word in English, they were able to figure out another way to say it by speaking Korean to each other. (Or they were talking about me, but I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do that…)

            Seeing Young and Shinhye together really gave me a better sense of their culture. Young has always been very outgoing and rather physical, but I wasn’t sure if that was just the way she is. However, Shinhye seemed to be the same way! This leads me to think that it is very common in South Korean culture to be very friendly and physical in relationships. (By “physical” I mean that they both hugged me and constantly grabbed my arm in a playful way when we were joking.) This is pretty much the complete opposite of what I expected. Although I don’t know much about South Korea, I would not have guessed that these girls would be so friendly and outgoing! I actually assumed quite the opposite. I would have thought that I would constantly be guiding the conversation and at most, shaking hands with Young. Playing pool with Young and Shinhye was so much fun!