Conversation Partner 1

Friday was my first interaction with my conversation partner. Her name is Fanny and she is from Colombia, though she has lived in Vietnam, and is moving to Guatemala in just a few months. She has a six year old daughter Katie, who we spent most of our time talking about. 
We started our conversation off by discussing the basics of our lives (majors, etc.). Since I am also a Spanish major, in addition to Biology, I thoroughly enjoyed getting paired with her, since she would sometimes say things in Spanish, and I could follow along very easily. It actually seemed to help my Spanish a lot. She even recommended that the next meeting, I could speak in Spanish and she could speak in English. This way, we will both be learning! 

We spoke a lot about Colombian culture, and its similarities and differences to United States culture. She said politically, they are just now starting to be more democratic and the president does not have total power. There is no distinct food represented in Colombia, and that most people find the food tasty, but not distinct. The education system has too little public schools, but she thinks they are getting better as time goes on. She said it can be dangerous at times, and one has to hold their purse a certain way when walking down the street, and cannot answer their phones also. I didn't quite understand the phone one, but I've heard similar "purse" stories in many countries. One has to be safe wherever they travel. 

After I asked her what seemed to be a million questions about her life, I asked if there was anything she wanted to know about me and my life, or English in general. All of her questions centered around her daughter, which I found very interesting. She truly loves her husband and her daughter more than anything, which I value in a person. Family is the most important thing in her mind, as well as mine.  She mostly wanted to know how to teach her daughter to be studious and successful in school, and she was asking me these questions since I am in the Honors college.  She asked what my parents did to help me become studious. I explained to her that they made it known from when I was a little kid, that studies were the most important thing aside from family, and I worked so hard because they would be so proud of me every time I did my homework correctly, or did well on a test. After a certain point in time, I was able to do it on my own without them telling me to, and I wanted to do well, not just because I wanted them to be proud, but also because I wanted to do well for myself.  She was very concerned that with her taking another job, she would lose quality time with her daughter. I explained to her that my mom and dad have always worked, and I never felt I lost time with them, and it helped my independence immensely. 

When speaking about the English language, she said the hardest part of learning was that sounds were different depending on the word, for example ('line' is pronounced one way, but the "line" in the word 'gasoline' is pronounced differently). She said it was so confusing that there are hundreds of exceptions to rules in the language. 

Speaking with her not only helped my English, but also helped my Spanish, and gave me a different outlook on life. I can say with certainty that our meetings will be very beneficial to the both of us.