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April 13, 2008
Friendship in a language connection
We have tea together at her place, and she usually has some sort of chocolate on a dish in the center of the table. It's charming, but it goes deeper than that because of the connection we've forged over language.
It started as a project for my second language acquisition course. Life story interview: find someone who has learned English as a second language and talk about life as a whole. Awesome project, but I knew I needed to find someone I knew well enough so the interviews would be deep and not contrived. I went to the source of my inspiration for doing the TESOL program at IUP--what better place to start?
During my senior year at SHU, I worked at the Writing Center and I always looked forward to my hours there each week. I had some clients who became regulars (I assume because my hours were convenient and they perhaps liked working with me), and I particularly enjoyed working with international students. Of the international students, I really took joy in working with the Korean Sisters of Charity who stayed at the campus. One became a regular client of mine and working with her was not only rewarding, but also invigorating.
So I interviewed her in her dormitory on campus. She played hostess to me, which I didn't expect but welcomed anyway. The tea and chocolate joined my laptop on her table as I recorded our conversations to be later transcribed and turned into a narrative for my project.
At the end of March when I finished my interviews with her, I was packing up my laptop when realized a couple of things all at once: 1) I really felt connected to her after these interviews, 2) I made a good friend, and 3) I didn't want to stop joining her for chats. So I told her these things. She said she enjoyed our time too, that she liked talking with me because I understand her, and that I should tell her when I would be on campus to see if we could get together more.
This past Friday was our first unofficial meeting. (I say "unofficial" because the others were for the interviews, and before that it was solely email contact or working at the WC.) No laptop for recording, no prompt questions, just our connection over language. Delightful. I can honestly say that I never expected this, but I am so glad to have such a friend.
In lieu of it all, I am learning Korean. She gets so excited when I pronounce things well and remember them. Maybe I'll be able to speak it at some point. I plan to buy a dictionary or elementary Korean book. I pick up language easily, but with a native speaker to teach me I think I can learn quickly.
I learned more than how to transcribe or form a narrative from interviews. I learned more than how to listen to a different form of English than my own. I learned to open my heart to another person from a completely different walk of life, from a country on the other side of the world, to a language very different from my own. I don't yet know the entirety of what I've learned, but I'm okay with that too. I'm really glad that I've learned it though.
My teacher cautioned us that this project would carry some weight to it that didn't involve our grades (even though the narrative is 40% of our grade for the course). He mentioned that interviewers grow closer to the interviewees. I thought I already knew this person, but I know now that I did not. Not at all. But I am happy that I do, and have time to get to know her better still.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at April 13, 2008 9:29 PM
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Comments
Wow... this is a WONDERFUL story! What a happy outcome. Good luck with the Korean language!
Posted by: Mike Arnzen at May 3, 2008 10:58 AM