Conversation Partner- 1

          On Tuesday, I met a woman named Monica Bustamante. I say woman because she was 53 years old (she volunteered that information, I didn’t ask). Within our 45 minutes together, we actually learned a lot about each other. Not that I didn't think we would get along, but I would have never imagined it would be as easy as it was with her. She’s a mother of two so she was just FULL of questions for me. She asked about my parents, my siblings, where I grew up, my major, my hobbies, and everything else under the sun. Of course I asked her everything in return. Monica (we’re on a first name basis now, basically we are besties) is from Venezuela and came to America a couple years ago to be with her son, who happens to be a student here at TCU. She also has another son, but he lives in LA so she doesn’t get to see him as often as she’d like. Other than that, we touched on just about everything, but didn’t stay on one topic for too long.

            I know we are supposed to speak in English during these meetings, but once she found out I was a Spanish minor, there was no going back to English. I would have said something, but who am I to tell a grown woman what language to speak in? That's right, no one. From what little English she did speak at the very beginning, I could tell she was still learning a lot. Honestly though, I didn’t mind having the meeting in Spanish, I can always use the practice. I can say that I had a MASSIVE headache afterward—switching languages that quickly for that long was not something I was prepared for. More than once I had to ask her to slow down, her speed plus her thick accent was more than I could handle. After a while, though, we got to a place where we could understand each other really well. She corrected some of my Spanish and I helped her figure out how to say some things in English. I have to admit that there were a few times where I just could not understand what she was saying and just ended up nodding like I knew exactly what was going on. I don’t know if she could tell when I was lost or not, but if she could she was very nice about it. I’m fairly positive more that half of what I said in Spanish made next to no sense. I don’t think it bothered her though; she seemed very relieved to be able to relax and speak her native language. That was perhaps the most enlightening part of my first meeting with her. During our meeting I was extremely worried about making sure I was saying the right things and being polite in another language that I’m far from fluent in. I had to think on my feet and find creative ways to say things I didn’t have the easiest words for. After I left the meeting I was exhausted and anxious to speak in English again. That must be what it’s like for her and all foreigners all the time; I can’t imagine it. She got an hour break with me and took full advantage of it. I can’t say that I blame her. When I go to Spain this summer, I’m sure I’ll do the same thing. For however badly I want to learn Spanish, it’s difficult and tiring. Just trying to speak in Spanish consistently for an hour was a lot to handle, so hats off to Monica and all of the other IEP students who do that every single day.

            I’m excited to meet with Monica again, but I’m also nervous—that's a lot of Spanish. Hopefully I’ll get better every time we meet; we may even try some English this time!