Recap on conversations

Today, I met with Suneon again, and we talked about Halloween. It was an interesting conversation. She said she was going to the International students Halloween party tomorrow night dressed in original Korean attire. She tried to explain what she was going to wear, and it was fun watching move around in different ways playing charades. I told her that we had just learned about Halloween in class, and she said she had too. She said she had always thought that Halloween was a bad holiday and did not celebrate it, but now that she has learned more about it she is excited to go to the party and celebrate with the others.

We also talked about her daughters. She told me that one of her daughters went to the Rangers game when they won the playoffs to go to the world series. I, naturally, thought that was awesome, but she did not seem to care. I asked her if she watched baseball and she replied, "I hate sports." That made me laugh. She really had no idea how big a deal the Rangers are today. She said her daughter had so much fun at the game, but she thought it was silly. She also told me that two of her daughters enjoy sports, and she does not know why. She said one of them is a lifeguard. When I informed her I was too she was surprised, because in Korea life guarding is known as a dangerous job and not many people do it. She said they only hire lifeguards for one season and no one ever wants that job. I think her daughters are Americanized in a way, because I can tell she wonders about what they do. She asked me why swimming is so popular in Texas, and why we have so many pools. I told her because it gets hot here and it is good for exercise. She said her other daughter runs for fun, but Suneon could not see the fun in running. It is interesting to see how our cultures differ and how her daughters have taken to it much quicker than she has.

She told me that her daughters told her she was crazy last week for cooking Korean food when an American was coming to dinner. They asked her what she was thinking. I told her that I had a great time and did not see anything wrong with the food. I wanted to taste Korean food. Her daughters thought it was odd, but Suneon said that when Robert and his conversation partner came all they ate was the Korean food so that is why she made it for me. I am happy that she did, because it was something different that I had never had before in my life. Her daughters were positive I would not like the food and she was happy to prove them wrong.

Our next meeting is going to be at 1873 in the BLUU. She asked if we could do lunch and I thought it was a great idea. It will be interesting to hear her stories of the weekend, and to know how her party went the next time I see her.