Conversation Partner 1

Today I met a young man named Kevin Peng. Kevin is from a small town about 3 hours away from Shanghai, China. He has been in the United States for a little over a month and is beginning to learn English at TCU. Once Kevin has the language down, as I understand it, he will begin to take business classes at TCU.

Kevin was very interesting to meet. He comes from a completely different background, culture, and country than I. Kevin told me about where he lives here in Fort Worth, the things he likes and dislikes, what he’s doing these days, and his future plans in America. I learned a lot from Kevin. The clear differences between our countries and cultures were very apparent during our meeting, but I also learned that we aren’t so different either.

Kevin told me he comes from a nice family about three hours from Shanghai. His mom is a stay at home mother and his dad works in real estate. I told him that my family is very similar to that as my dad is in business and my mom stays home with my younger brothers. When he asked how many brothers and sisters I had he was quite shocked to learn that I have 5 brothers. I think it is pretty uncommon to see large families such as my own in China so Kevin thought that was pretty cool.

Kevin told me about the beauty of his home. He showed me pictures of his village. Mountains and rivers surround the town. The pictures he showed me were really quite remarkable. He said he was disappointed that Texas didn’t have the same landscape (and that Texas is much hotter than his home). Kevin really seems to love the wilderness though. I showed him pictures that I took from Alaska and he thought they were awesome. He also told me he plans on visiting a national park when he gets time. He said he really wants to visit Yellowstone National Park because a teacher of his back home said its really a great thing to see. I like the wilderness too. I’ve been to Alaska, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, and the black hills. While Kevin and I are worlds apart culturally, we can both agree that we like nature and what it has to offer.

Kevin then talked to me about food in America. He said, to my surprise, that the Chinese food here is not all that different from back home. I had always had the impression that Chinese food in America wasn’t authentic and was Americanized. He said that it’s a little different but he enjoys eating it because it reminds him of home. He asked me about some of the local restaurants around TCU that he should try out and I gave him a few suggestions. I told him if you want to get some great American chicken wings, head to Buffalo Bro’s on Wednesday and you wont be disappointed.

While I found out that Kevin and I are actually pretty similar, he also pointed out some cultural differences to me between America and China. Kevin said how much he loved the big house he was living at off campus. He let me know that in China the homes are very small and expensive. He liked how he could live in a nice big house with trees and grass for a low cost. In China, he said, grass doesn’t grow well near homes, and trees in front of a home symbolize wealth. But in America, he said, trees are everywhere. He liked that.

Kevin also told me how much different Texas is to China in terms of area. China, as we know, has well over a billion people living there. In America we have about 350 million people. But, the area of the two countries are very similar. Kevin told me how he noticed how spread out everything here is, how hard it is to find a taxi, the lack of trains and public transport, etc. I had to tell him that is more of a Texas thing than it is an American thing. Chicago, New York, Boston, I told him, are probably a lot more similar in terms of crowding and public transportation than Texas is. While Texas is a big state, it is very spread out and people love their cars. I told him that’s just a cultural difference from one part of America to another.

Kevin and I ended our meeting after about 40 minutes. We agreed that next time we meet we’ll find something to do rather than just sit at the bookstore and converse. We haven’t decided what were going to do next but we’ve thrown around a few ideas. He wants to get me some traditional Chinese food and talk over dinner. I want to play basketball at the rec. I think it was great to meet Kevin today. I enjoyed talking to him and seems really happy to have someone to learn English with. I look forward to our next meeting.