hanging with Leo 3

     Leo and I had an enjoyable lunch one Friday. It’s actually quite funny how we ended up eating lunch that day. We had originally planned to go to Market Square at 1pm, which is when we usually meet. But we ended up running into each other at 11am. Since he had just gotten out of a test, and I was free until 2, we decided to go to Market Square right away. So we went to Market Square, grabbed a table, got our food, and sat down to catch up.

     Like every other student (and faculty member) on this campus, we started talking about how excited we were for Spring Break. He asked me what I was doing, and I said that I was going home then to Ohio with my family to visit our relatives. I asked him the same question and he said that he was going to go to Colorado with friends, but not anymore because it is too expensive. His group is going to go to Six Flags instead. We then discussed our plans for the weekend. He said he wasn’t doing much, and I told him about a movie I would watch and a birthday party I would attend.

     Somehow, we always manage to discuss food during our conversations. He talked about how he likes spicy foods, and explained more about vegetarianism. He said how being a vegetarian is “good for the stomach,” and how meat is not good because it contributes to morning breath, which obviously does not smell good. I was definitely confused by his reasoning here, because any food can technically contribute to morning breath, even if it’s not meat. I admire his willpower though, because it certainly isn’t easy being a vegetarian. It must be pretty hard to eat at the BLUU, because they do not do a good job accommodating for vegetarians.

     Like every conversation so far, we discussed humor. First, he asked me to tell him a knock knock joke. So I told the only one I could think of, which goes, “knock knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock knock. Who’s there? Banana. Banana who? Knock Knock. Who’s there? Orange. Orange Who? Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?” He was confused because he had no idea that he was supposed to say, “who’s there?” and “Orange/Banana who?” and when to say it. He eventually caught on, but I don’t think he found the joke very funny. I can’t blame him, that joke is pretty lame. I then learned how Chinese humor is different from American humor. Chinese humor is actually similar to American puzzles, or riddles. He told me a joke that goes, “Nathan’s father has 3 sons. The first son is named Number 1, the second son is Number 2, what is the third son’s name?” I immediately said “Number 3,” which was wrong. The answer is actually “Nathan.” Once Leo told me, I understood the joke, but did not really see how it is funny. I did appreciate the cleverness of the joke though.

     There actually weren’t too many instances of miscommunication between Leo and I this week. There are still a few words that he has a hard time with. For example, he could not understand what the word “brain” means. He also had a hard time thinking of and understanding American slang. For example, when he was talking about how meat makes your breath smell bad in the morning, he was trying to think of how to say and understand “morning breath,” but he could not. The word “Twitter” also proved an obstacle. But what really intrigued me was that he did not know what a “smoothie” was, even though he was drinking one at the moment. While talking, I noticed that he was drinking a smoothie so I said “is the smoothie good?” And he was confused because he had never heard the word “smoothie” before. I totally understand though, there are so many words in the English language that it is extremely difficult for someone who is not a native speaker to be able to translate, speak, and understand every word.

     I eventually had to leave and finish some homework before class. I had a great time! Each meeting has been a blast, and I will miss these meetings when they end. I’ll definitely keep in touch with after our meetings and the semester ends.