Ioana_TP6

For the last time I met Kosuke at the international dinner. Since he wanted to focus on speaking we ended up talking about what he made for the dinner. Him and Yuki made sushi rolls for the dinner. They had avocado inside and other yummy ingredients. I really enjoyed eating what they made. They tasted very good, a lot better than most other Japanese restaurants in the area.

Kosuke also talked about the fact that he had to borrow Yuki's clothes because he did not bring any traditional Japanese clothes with him. I didn't know why he had to wear traditional clothing though. The other international CIES dinner I went to only some of the performers wore anything that can be considered traditional at all. We were actually all talking about how Kosuke looked like he was wearing something that sushi rollers would wear in Japanese restaurants. Everyone laughed a bit at the statement. While people were performing Kosuke was talking about Yuki. I thought it was interesting that he stereotyped Yuki as an Osaka-jin or person from Osaka. I guess it was because compared to other Japanese people, people from Osaka are more lively and outgoing instead of shy. That is how I saw the comment.

At the very end we took a picture together and went on our own ways, I really hope I will get to see him during the school year and continue speaking with him. He is a really fun person to be around.

Jackson Cultural Immersion

While it has been a few weeks since I partook in my Cultural Immersion, I still remember the experience as vividly as if it were only a few days ago. As soon as I found out about this project I knew right off the bat what I wanted to do - go to an Islamic mosque. Seeing how Ramadan was approaching and I had already developed a strong bond with my conversation partner, Omar, I saw the opportunity. I began asking him all types of questions in preparation, mainly the type that would ensure that I wouldn't offend anybody. "What should I wear?" "Is there anything I need to do?" "Do I need to pay my respects to the leader of the service?" Etc. Also, in preparation, I learned everything I possibly could (through wikipedia mostly) about the prayers and actions involved in a typical mosque service. Omar seemed to find humor in my concern with doing everything "right" so as not to offend anyone but I explained to him that this was an important moment for me and I wanted to get as much out of it as possible. So on Friday, the very first day of Ramadan as well as the holy day of the week for Muslims, I got ready to meet Omar for the service. We decided we would be going to the Islamic Center of Tallahassee (also known as Masjid Al-ansar) which is located on Old Bainbridge Rd. 

**I'll go ahead and say this right now: I didn't take any photos during this Cultural Immersion. I had to use my judgement to deem whether or not it would be appropriate and given it was the holiest day of the week on the first day of the holiest month of the year, I thought it would be better not to. All pictures I'm using are found using google.

(Photo of Islamic Center of Tallahassee) 

I arrived with both Omar and his friend from the CIES, Amar. Right off the bat I knew that this was going to be a very memorable experience. The first thing we did was take off our shoes before we entered the mosque. As we walked in there were three things that were readily apparent. The first was that there were no seats, only a carpeted floor, where everyone in attendance was sitting either on their knees or with their legs crossed.

The next thing that I immediately noticed was that almost every pair of eyes were fixed on me. Since we were running a little bit late, the service had already began. As we walked to the very back corner of the room to get a seat, I both felt and saw everyone staring at me. Clearly, tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed patrons were not a frequent there. And lastly, there were no women to be seen.

The Imam (or leader of the service) was in the process of delivering Al Khtbah (sermon/speech) as we seated ourselves. He was speaking very quickly in a monotone voice, alternating between both English and Arabic. I later found out that he was reading from the Al-quran (Quaran) in order to reinforce the points he was making. I have to admit, I wasn't able to understand as much of the service as I would have liked, but I was by no means disappointed because it wasn't until 15 minutes before we arrived that I found out that the Imam would also be speaking in English. The day's Al Khtbah had an obvious message: Ramadan and it's importance to Muslims. I learned that Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The other four being: Accept Allah as the one true god, Salah (prayer five times a day), Zakat (charity), and Al Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca). The rest of the Al Khtbah was about just what exactly Ramadan means to Muslims. It is not only an homage that Muslims pay to Allah, but it is also for their fellow man who may not have access to food or water. The Imam went on to say that everyone should do their best during this holy month to help people any chance that they get.

At the very end of the service the Imam lead the men in attendance in their Al Sogod, a practice where they bow, stand up, and bow again. During this, Omar suggested that I just sit back and take it all in. It is one of the most powerful moments for the Muslim faith when they do their bowing, and I could tell that this particular moment, veiled in silence, was of great importance to every person in attendance. Even the elderly men who were not able to walk without the assistance of a cane were doing it.

After the Al Sogod, the service was over and people began filing out the doors. During this process many people approached Omar and myself and said "Al Salamo Alekm" which is a greeting that means "peace on you." After I had put my shoes back on, Omar ran back inside to volunteer some of his time to help around the Islmaic Center and I saw a group of 5 or 6 muslim CIES students, including one of my conversation partners, Awad. I introduced myself, wished them a "happy Ramadan" even though that is an incorrect way of expressing that sentiment, and tried my hardest to say "Al Salamo Alekm."

Once Omar, Amar, and I had left we discussed what my feelings were about the experience of going to the Mosque or "Abroh lil almasjid." I told them how happy I was to have partook in this experience and thanked them both for guiding me through it. They expressed that I had an open invite to attend whenever I wanted, an offer that I'm confident I will take up during my last year at FSU.

Jackson_CP6

Last Friday night I  with Brian, Claire and their Conversation Partner, Dohoun. It was a great night, which included getting to know in depth more about a culture in which I will probably be immersed in the next couple of years (South Korea) as well as exposing Dohoun to a Tallahassee staple - First Friday! We started off the night at Claire's home. Take note of how I referred to it as a home and not a house, place, or pad. It's extremely quaint and cute and feels just like a little home. We drank wine, listened to vinyl, and talked about some things that were different in South Korea. I think the funniest tid-bit that we picked up from the conversation was the differences is the "club scene". In South Korea, there are some clubs where the men sit down, and women are LITERALLY dragged by the wrist to the men by bouncers at the club. The men then tip the bouncers, who will bring more women who are attractive relative to the size of the tip they received. We were all laughing at how absurd this sounded, but Dohoun insisted that the women wanted to be treated like this - "they wouldn't be there if they didn't want it to happen." Once we got to First Friday we walked around and watched a couple bands play as well as checked out a couple of art exhibits. It was great getting to know Dohoun in more depth and pick his brain about a country in which I am most likely going to move to. We discussed many things about Korean history, and he informed me that Japan ruled Korea as early as 100 years ago. We also talked about the relations between North and South Korea. He said that for him personally, he has nothing against North Koreans and he actually feels that there is a sense of brotherhood between the people of both North and South Korea. It is only the politics of the governments that get in the way of there being a healthy, prosperous relationship between the two countries. Dohoun hopes that one day the two will reunite in harmony, but he doesn't foresee this happening in his life time. Lastly we talked about food. I told him about a famous South Korean movie which I loved called Oldboy and how during one of the scenes the main character eats a live squid. I mentioned to him that I wanted to try this and he said that he personally has and that it is rumored to increase your "stamina." He also told me about how they serve dog in South Korea, usually in soup, and how this also increases your "stamina." I plan on eating a bunch of great food if and when I move to South Korea, but live squid and dog might take some courage to attempt!

Jennifer_CP7

Last night I went to the International Dinner with my two conversation partners Joyce and Yi-jhen as well as my ITA Serena! It was an absolute blast! They all got to meet some of my friends who came to the dinner as well as my boyfriend. We all decided to sit at the same table and hang out and talk before the dinner started. All the musical performances were fun, and I was especially proud of Yuki's performance since he is my tutoring partner. I was also proud of Yi-jhen who got a certificate because it is her first semester here - she gave me a shout out when she talked on stage! I really loved trying all the international foods too. We all talked about the different kinds of food, and whether we liked them or not. Sadly Serena had to leave a little early, but I told her we would meet up for some fun after I returned from my trip to visit my family. After the dinner was over, I took a picture with each of my conversation partners and Yuki! (Pictures: Yi-Jhen is next to me at the top, along with my friend Lauren who came. Then Yuki is below that, and Joyce and I are in the bottom picture).

This is my last CP blog, as I have 10 in total combined with my 3 ITA blogs! I just want to say you guys were all awesome classmates this semester and I am so glad I took this class. I have learned SO much. I plan on being involved in CIES in some way even after this class, and I loved getting to know all the international students. I am so sad this class is over, and I wish I could have come to Milano's tonight! Thanks for being such awesome peers, this is truly a class I will never forget. :)

Charles_ITA4

Today I taught my class in CIES during lunchtime. I had asked my ITA Wangsuk if he would like to come to my class and he did. The class went well but I had not eaten so after I asked Wangsuk if he would like to get lunch with me. At first I insisted that we could go wherever he wanted but Wangsuk is very polite and made me choose. I asked if he liked American-Mexican food such as burritos and he said yes so I suggested Tijuana Flats. He told me that he had never been there so I felt as if I was showing him something new. Tijuana Flats is a chain but I think it is one of the better ones out there. When we got there I helped him order and we sat down. The handball semi-final game happened to be on between South Korea and Norway. Since Wangsuk is from South Korea we watched it together. Unfortunately, South Korea did not win but it was still fun to watch. Wangsuk really enjoyed the food, we both got burritos with chips. We talked a lot about other cities in America and how he is applying for many different schools for a PhD program. He asked me what cities I would like to live in and he had actually applied for some schools in the cities that I said. After we left the restaurant we stopped at publix and then came back to campus. Wangsuk had to go to the library to work on his thesis so we said that we would talk later. We may go to a pub later tonight. 

Stan_TP13

Yesterday (08/08), after our listening session, Soufiane and I went over composition homework that I had assigned to him. We had watched "Howl's Moving Castle," with Yuki and done some comprehension questions one Friday afternoon. I asked him to write a brief summary of the film over the weekend so that we could go over it together. He did so and was able to provide it promptly the following Monday afternoon. I told him that I would take a look at it and discuss it with him at a later time (we were currently in the midst of conversation with a large group).

His summary was good. It wasn't quite the way I would tell the story, but he delivered his message very well. There were very few grammatical errors and a few words were misused. I felt that the most constructive way to work with him on this assignment, since we had the vantage of one-on-one interaction, was to re-write the assignment, merely focusing on structure and grammar, while maintaining the message. We read though the summary sentence by sentence and retyped the entire summary. 

One of the most notable things that I witnessed him learn was the difference between "called" and "named." In the beginning of the summary, he described the main character and said there was a girl "called" Sophie...I mentioned that you 'could' say that, but more appropriately it would be "a girl 'named' Sophie." He said that he had never heard this before. He said he always writes this way and no one had ever mentioned it. Charles, who was observing the session, mentioned that in the romantic languages they typically use "called" instead of "named." The most brilliant, and therefore 'notable' thing about this was, that as he continued to read through his paper, he was automatically changing 'called' to 'named' without me even mentioning it.

When we finished typing up the 'final draft,' I emailed it to him for later reference. I gave him the rough draft so he could compare them later if he so chose to. For most individuals this method may prove of very little to no use, but since Soufiane is so eager to learn, I believe it worked very well. He is one of the few people I would say, that actually might refer to that assignment at a later point. (If given that option, I can't say for sure that I would!

Stan_TP12

Yesterday (08/08) I met with Soufiane, Jose David, and Mire for a listening lesson. This time around Mire provided the song... 

This was her first time doing this type of exercise with me so I am sure she did not know what to expect. I asked her what her favorite listening song was, and she replied, "uh, I don't know, 'Whistle' I guess," though it sounded more like she said 'weasel' in her think Spanish accent. 

So, while she was taking a bathroom break, I pulled up both the lyrics and audio/video for "Whistle" by Flo rida. For those of you who have never listened to, or heard of this song, let's just say that most people might not deem the content appropriate for a classroom environment. However, I felt that it was a great teaching moment (the line between appropriate and inappropriate are very obscure to me), after all, we are all adults, no?

This did in fact prove to be a very good teaching moment for a number of reasons...

1. Flo rida's pace forced the tutees to listen intensely.

2. The content stimulated conversation.

3. The nature of hip-hop uses a lot of puns, idioms, and metaphors that required explanation and modeling.

4. There was a definite cultural aspect to the manner in which the artist directed his words at the females which also required explanation.

When we finished with Flo rida, we moved onto California Dreaming by the Mamas and Pappas which was much easier and self explanatory by comparison. I think the only real hang-up in this song that required explanation was the noun "Preacher." None of the tutees had come across this word yet, but a brief explanation was enough for them to grasp the concept.

Soufiane had another song prepared by Aloe Blacc, but we didn't have time for it. He wants to work on it at a later date, during break perhaps. That cat is so eager to learn. Gotta love it!