It was a zoo, a war-zone, a replica of The
Shire. I for once was finally considered "tall" (yes, if you've met
me, you would quickly realize that if I'm considered "tall", then
everyone else must be horrendously short). I avoided the mass of little munchkins
scurrying into the front entrance of the BLUU today at just around 1 PM. Why
elementary schools would venture to have excursions here when their students
are probably still at the point in their lives when they're deciphering right
from left or still thinking that boys have cooties, is beyond me. Regardless of
this chaos, I hurried over to Union Grounds once again to meet my conversation
partner, YiRay. Amongst the crowd of people, I saw her, reading a magazine
patiently, elegantly poised in the midst of the commotion. I waved and smiled;
her face lit up as our eyes met as she ventured over towards me. My eyes
searched for an open table, and we quickly found a place to be seated
comfortably. Here we were, once again ready to learn about one another, and to explore
further the wonders of the English language in conversation.
Although
this was only our second time meeting with one another, our conversation began
so naturally, like friends. We inquired about how the other was doing, and what
we had done over this past weekend. I told her that my weekend was pleasant as
I spent it studying and hanging out with friends. After a moment of hesitation,
she quickly blurted out, "what is 'hanging out'?" Her eyes wide, she
looked at me, waiting for an answer. I pondered for a moment of how to explain
this odd term, as I had never really considered its literal meaning; for the
last 19 years of my life, I never once questioned the term of "hanging
out", yet I use it on a regular basis.
Monkeys hang
from trees; we hang laundry or our coats; we hang a painting on the wall.
Hence, to a non-native English speaker, I can now see how "hanging"
with friends can seem like such a bizarre concept, for we are certainly not
monkeys (or at least, that is what we tell ourselves). After some thought, I
began to explain "hanging out" through the use of examples, such as
watching movies with friends, eating a meal together, and simply spending time
with them; in truth, I told her, she and I were also "hanging out".
That made her smile, as she happily jotted down notes about this funny phrase.
For
the rest of our meeting, we continued to discuss phrases as we reviewed a
worksheet of sample conversations that YiRay had from her personal studies
aside from her class work, and I did my best to explain some of the phrases
that she found confusing. Some of the American phrases that we discussed were
"I'm on my way" and "there are two sides to every story",
along with what it means to "get along", have a "back up",
and say "you don't want to catch it" when you have a cold. YiRay
found these terms quite fascinating, and I also found myself in awe of these
terms that would literally not make sense if you took it at face-value; yet,
when it is in the context of conversation, society has given them new meaning.
Some phrases, such as "back up" and "you don't want to catch
it", were actually quite difficult to explain, and I felt nervous as I
discussed these terms, as she was recording the entirety of our conversation.
After a while, though, I forgot that she was recording us, and continued in my
silliness at trying to offer clarity to the English language.
As
we prepared to go our separate ways, we chatted about cartoon movies and things
we planned to do this weekend. She told me excitedly about her plans to “hang
out” with her daughter and husband, who would be returning from Florida by the
end of the week. In return, I happily told her about my plans for the weekend,
such as going to watch the baseball game and then seeing a concert on the
following day, as well as the not as joyous aspects of my weekend, such as
studying for numerous exams in the upcoming week. Although our lives are so different,
it felt so natural to find connections within our lives and our interests,
connections discovered through the power of conversation.
After saying our
farewells, YiRay turned around as she left and said, "Thank you so much;
our time together and conversations are special to me."
My
heart smiled; these times are special to me too.
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