Today, I met with my mentor again at a coffee shop. We talked for about two hours and I really appreciated our conversation.
The day before we met was the Chinese Lunar New Year. It’s like the Christmas Eve in China. People get off work and have a big meal with their family. However, since I’m all the way in the State, I couldn’t celebrate it with my family. It was tough the first year when I came here, but I kind of get used to it now. Maureen and I talked about some interesting traditions that my family usually does on this day such as making dumplings and exchanging red envelopes. My family used to stuff several coins and dates into dumplings, and whoever have those ones means they’re going to be lucky or wealthy for the rest of the year. I still remember when I was a kid, my parents would purposefully give me the ones with dates (the red color of date is quite visible through the dumpling wrap). And I was super super happy because it represented “good luck”. Then, we started to talk about different cultures and traditions.
Maureen told me about her experience staying in Hungary for six months. It’s amazing how history plays an important role in the language system of a country. Now, no matter where I go, I automatically consider English as the second language of non-native English-speaking-countries. However, back then, the second language in Hungray was French. This added an extra challenge for her to communicate with people there. She had to carry a small dictionary with her no matter where she goes.
We also talked about how to emerge well into a new culture. It’s important to find a balance between making friends from the same home culture and friends from the local new culture. For me, I find this extremely benefiting. My best friend is from North Carolina. Through our daily conversation, I learned a lot of slangs and cultural insights that I couldn’t learn from textbook. In the same time, it’s also important to have some friends who understand my home culture and share some of my feelings. I also told Maureen some of my embarrassing but funny stories about cultural shock.
We then talked about our spring-break plans and summer plans. We both like travelling, but we have very different travelling style. When I travel somewhere, I’d like to book the hotel ahead and figure out everything before I go. However, she prefers to have a flexible schedule and just go and explore.
The day before we met was the Chinese Lunar New Year. It’s like the Christmas Eve in China. People get off work and have a big meal with their family. However, since I’m all the way in the State, I couldn’t celebrate it with my family. It was tough the first year when I came here, but I kind of get used to it now. Maureen and I talked about some interesting traditions that my family usually does on this day such as making dumplings and exchanging red envelopes. My family used to stuff several coins and dates into dumplings, and whoever have those ones means they’re going to be lucky or wealthy for the rest of the year. I still remember when I was a kid, my parents would purposefully give me the ones with dates (the red color of date is quite visible through the dumpling wrap). And I was super super happy because it represented “good luck”. Then, we started to talk about different cultures and traditions.
Maureen told me about her experience staying in Hungary for six months. It’s amazing how history plays an important role in the language system of a country. Now, no matter where I go, I automatically consider English as the second language of non-native English-speaking-countries. However, back then, the second language in Hungray was French. This added an extra challenge for her to communicate with people there. She had to carry a small dictionary with her no matter where she goes.
We also talked about how to emerge well into a new culture. It’s important to find a balance between making friends from the same home culture and friends from the local new culture. For me, I find this extremely benefiting. My best friend is from North Carolina. Through our daily conversation, I learned a lot of slangs and cultural insights that I couldn’t learn from textbook. In the same time, it’s also important to have some friends who understand my home culture and share some of my feelings. I also told Maureen some of my embarrassing but funny stories about cultural shock.
We then talked about our spring-break plans and summer plans. We both like travelling, but we have very different travelling style. When I travel somewhere, I’d like to book the hotel ahead and figure out everything before I go. However, she prefers to have a flexible schedule and just go and explore.
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