Ning CP#2

I met Ulisses today right after our CIES-TEFL class. I e-mailed him yesterday asking if he wanted to meet and have a talk over dinner. He replied that he usually eats at Fresh Foods which made me assume that he was okay with the idea. However, when I met him at Strozier Library today, there was some miscommunication about that e-mail. I walked up to him, greeted him, and asked him what he wanted to eat. Apparently, he was only informing me that he eats at Fresh Foods on a daily basis, rather than implying that we should to go out to eat. Bearing an empty stomach, I was ready to have a meal. However, it turned out that he had already eaten. Given that I had already mentioned the idea of going to eat, it was too late to take it back and begin our conversation session at the library.

Since he told me that he only eats at Fresh Foods, and occasionally Suwannee, I figured that it might've been a good change of pace to eat, or be in the presence of, somewhere else. Also, given that I was the one who wanted eat, I thought that since those two places charged for each entry regardless of the amount of food one indulges oneself to, it'd be better to eat at Subway. This way, I would pay for my food and he wouldn't have to pay an extra amount for absolutely no reason. Once we arrived at Subway, he kindly informed me that as a student of the CIES program, he was given the unlimited entry meal plan. It was then that I realized what I had done. I was about to make my conversation partner pay for a meal that he didn't want by trying to prevent that exact situation. Obviously, I paid for his meal. Let's move on.

We discussed about his situation in Tallahassee, where he wants to improve his English skills. However, as luck would have it, his roommate, also hailing from Brazil, only speaks to him in Portuguese. This makes him frustrated because he came all the way to America to learn, study, and practice English. His roommate makes this very difficult because he doesn't help promote this wanting of practice. Ulysses has difficulty speaking his mind due to his lack of vocabulary. His grammar seems to be fine, as the main issues we were encountering were his lacking of English words. We began talking about differences between USA and Brazil. One of the topics that we encountered were how difficult it was to go to the hospital in Brazil. While paraphrased, he said, "Going to the hospital and seeing a doctor is somewhat of a luxury in Brazil. It is very expensive, and only those with money can afford health insurance."

We began discussing about methods to study English after the discussion of hospitals due to his lack of vocabulary. I suggested that he should try to read books, as that would be a great way for him to see correct grammar structure as well as vocabulary that he would use on a regular basis. The book I suggested was Bringing Down the House, as he told me he played Texas Hold 'em poker quite a bit back in Brazil. Though not quite about poker, I thought Bringing Down the House would be a good read as it talks about Black Jack, another gambling playing card game. I figured it sort of fits into his interest, therefore would be something he would be motivated to keep on reading.

Subway was starting to getting rather chilly, so we decided to call it a night and meet up another time.