Dead Day at the Zoo (Final Part 1)

So I finally got to visit the zoo during the first of our dead days. It was packed, so it gave me a lot of opportunity to observe people. There wasn't a whole lot of people laughing, but most of the kids were screaming in excitement just for being at the zoo.

In this scene, there was a lot of excitement and laughter from the kids as they watched the animals. Most of the laughing that was occurring at the zoo happened when the kids saw the animals or just as they were running or playing. There were a ton of animals at the zoo today that caused the kids, and me and my friend, to laugh. Here are some of the animals that were causing the laughter at the zoo. 

Inquisitive Turtle

Godzilla Lizard 

Aquatic Lizard? 

Frightened Bird 

In some of the videos the animals were moving around enough to cause us to laugh since most of the time the animals at the zoo are pretty sleepy and don't really do much. Our laughter was made up of excitement and wonder as we watched these usual animals move around. The last video with the frightened bird was particularly funny because the bird was fine and sitting still until I tried to get near it which was when it started freaking out and flying. This was funny because we weren't expecting it to freak out since it had been so tranquil before. 

In this picture, the kids were laughing because they were playing around during lunch. They were having fun jumping off of the rocks and running around. They weren't the only kids that were laughing because they were playing around at the zoo. 

These kids were playing around in the mist from the snow cone truck. There were many kids that were laughing because of the water. They were playing in the water and it was a nice break from the Texas heat.  

This is another set of kids playing in the water. When the water would shoot out of the water tower, the kids would all run in and play with the water. During this time, many people would be laughing because they were playing in the water. 

This is a photo I took after my friend started laughing. I couldn't figure out why she was laughing, but I laughed along as she explained that for a couple of seconds she thought that the black sticker was actually a real bird. This was funny because it turned out to be a sticker which she wasn't expecting. It also proved that laughter is contagious because I didn't even know why she was laughing when I began to laugh with her. We were already in a laughing mood and having fun, so at this point it didn't take much to make us laugh. 

There were a lot of people at the zoo and for the most part the kids were laughing because of seeing the animals and getting to run around and play. When the adults would laugh it would mostly be because of something their kids had either done or said. It was a really fun way to spend one of our dead days. There was a lot of laughter that we heard and contributed to at the zoo, and a lot of excited screams. Though some of the animals we expected to be funny ended up being the most calm.

Hyena                                                   Laughing Kookaburra 

 

Touching Mars: Conversation Partner Recap #6

My conversation partner and I started our last meeting together the same way we started our first meeting. We took a walk around campus. I met her at the rec center and we headed out toward the other side of campus.

After exchanging our normal pleasantries about school, she started telling me about one of her class assignments and how she was talking to her fellow IEP students in her native language, but no one else spoke that language, so they had no idea what it was she was saying. I was curious to finally hear what the language my conversation partner spoke sounded like, and I asked her to say something in her first language. I learned and repeated back to her phrases such as “I’m good”, “thank you”, “hello” and “how are you.” It was really interesting trying to speak her native language because it was something I had never encountered before. She said that she was surprised at how well I was able to repeat those phrases back to her, and that if she could have recorded me no one would have known that I was American. I guessed that my ability to repeat her language back to her had something to do with the fact that my choir when I was little would sing in different languages.

This is something else that we had in common because she sang back in her home country. We started talking about how when she would sing in a different language they wouldn’t teach her what the words mean. When my choir sang in another language, we normally had the translation to sing next.

We kept walking and talking about many different subjects including the many injuries that I have gotten being so clumsy. I listed some of my funnier injuries such as hitting myself in the face with my tennis racquet (on accident). It was fun to share these stories because it was like talking with a friend.

On of the most interesting things that we talked about on our walk was the cultural differences in our families. She mentioned that she would fight with her brother when they disagreed about something, but she wouldn’t argue with her parents. I had a completely different experience, because I will argue with my parents. We talked about how we navigate experiences where we don’t agree with our parents. It was interesting because we had such different ways of disagreeing with our parents, but we both agreed that we needed to respect our parents. One of the things I stressed was that if you wanted to argue, you needed to be ready to accept the consequences of arguing with your parents.

After this discussion, we walked by Sid-Richardson and I remembered that the meteorite gallery was there. I asked her if she had been there before and she said no. We quickly went into the building and signed into the meteorite gallery. Signing in was a visual reminder that we both come from such different places because we had to put down where we were from on the sign in sheet. I took her on a quick tour of the meteorite gallery and it was a lot of fun. While we didn’t have a lot of time to look around (I had class at 2pm), we still managed to hit the highlights of the meteorite gallery. This included playing on the computers and testing out different meteorite simulations. Naturally, we chose to try out the building sized meteorite. It made a huge hole in the ground! My favorite part of our “express” tour of the gallery was when we touched a piece of Mars. Even though we both came from different backgrounds, we shared a similar experience and touching Mars just seemed like a visual representation of that.

It was extremely fun meeting my conversation partner this semester. While some aspects were challenging, such as finding time in our crazy schedules to meet, it was a rewarding experience, because I have gained a new friend. Even though I am done blogging about my experiences with my conversation partner, I hope that we will still meet up and hang out as friends. It was awesome to meet someone that has such a different background that you can still be friends with. I’ll miss getting to hang out with her when she graduates the program this semester and transfers to another school, but hopefully we will keep in touch!

My Conversation Partner and I touching Mars:

"Try" Something New (Conversation Partner Recap #5)

Thursday, my conversation partner and I each tried out new things. I went with her to the bookstore for her first time, and she watched as I supported the rugby team and learned what a “try” was.

My conversation partner and I met at the rec center Thursday when I mentioned seeing a green tent outside. Both curious about what was in the tent we went outside to check it out. It turns out that it was to support the rugby team and students were being filmed while they completed a “try.” It was a giant green tent with a green turf covering thick mats for us to fall on. At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to “try”, but eventually decided that it was something new, so why not? However, I couldn’t get my conversation partner to come and “try” it out (I apologize for the puns, but there is no way around them.)

I stepped up onto the green mats and immediately started to sink into them. It was really interesting “trying” (sorry!) rugby. I landed extremely hard when I lunged across the white line and rammed into the ground right in front of the camera. The wind was completely gone from my chest and my brain slammed into the top of my head, but the victory dance was a lot of fun.

After I was done embarrassing myself by attempting to play rugby, we walked over to the bookstore. On our way there, I asked her about convocation. We were both at convocation this morning. She went with the IEP program and I was with the honors kids in my possibly graduation/possibly Harry Potter robes. She said that she understood everything at the convocation, but couldn’t understand why we were talking about water. It was interesting and fun explaining why we were studying water this year and what projects and classes I had personally experienced.

Once we were at the bookstore, she told me that she had never been to the bookstore before. Since I am an English major, and therefore love books, we ended up walking upstairs by the books. While we were around the books, we discussed what our favorite books were. We both love classic books. My favorite is Pride and Prejudice, and her favorite book is Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac. I had never heard of this book, so I promised to read it during the summer. It is really exciting getting to talk with someone who loves books and has read many different books. We also discussed Crime and Punishment, and how we both loved the book.

After talking books, I asked what her favorite part of starting school every year was. Again we found another similarity. We both loved getting new school supplies and would take any opportunity to get new school supplies like notebooks.

It is really cool getting to meet someone who is from a different country, speaks a different first language and yet has so many similarities with me. We even like the same types of books. It is always fun to meet with my conversation partner because it feels like meeting with a friend. For our next meeting we are going to walk around TCU again. What better way to finish up our meetings than to walk around the school just like we did during our first meeting? Hopefully, I will still see her around campus until she transfers at the end of the year. It has been really great making a new friend that I can learn so much from.

Friends make good teachers (Learning #3)

This weekend was a busy weekend. I had a ton going on. Sometimes it felt like every minute was scheduled. Yet, even though this weekend was packed with different events, I still had time to learn something. The lesson I picked up this weekend was to learn from those around you. Most of the time you think of learning, a classroom and a professor are the natural images that come to your mind. However, the world can teach you just as much.

On Friday and Saturday, I spent a majority of my day in a leadership seminar discussing the concept of ethical leadership. We spent a lot of time talking about ethics and what we valued. I learned about myself, things like what my values were. I knew that I valued justice, but until I was forced to chose between justice, determination and creativity, I didn’t realize how high I had placed creativity on my list.

I also learned from my peers. I listened to what they took into account when making decisions and what they valued. Through their ideas I was able to develop and discover things that I valued and didn’t realize how much. Learning from my peers was a great experience because I got to experience new ideas that I hadn’t previously taken into account.

The most fruitful learning experience from that seminar was something I had never before considered doing. We were instructed to make our own code of ethics. This is a task that I had never had to complete for a class, something that I would have probably missed out on if I wasn’t in that seminar. I learned to build something that I could rely on, and it has already helped me in making decisions.

My peers and leaders in the seminar weren’t the only people I learned from this weekend. I also learned from my sorority sisters. It seems like everyone talks about “service” and how you should serve others. My sisters illustrated how simple serving others can really be. While we were at Relay For Life this weekend, a lady asked us to do the electric slide with her so that she didn’t have to dance it alone. I was reluctant. My sorority sisters, however, weren’t. They went out and danced the electric slide, and I went with them. Even though it isn’t the most fun dance (it was actually pretty boring), we made the lady’s day by agreeing to dance it with her. I learned that the simple things can make someone’s day and “service” can come in all different forms. It isn’t always helping with charities.

These experiences are unique to me, and organic. While I was in a learning environment for the leadership seminar, I wasn’t expecting to turn around and use my code of ethics the next day. I wasn’t expecting to learn how much certain values are actually important to me. When at Relay For Life, I wasn’t expecting a lesson in service from my sorority sisters. But I was grateful to learn that lesson from them. To learn that service comes in many different forms and difficulties.

The lessons I learn from my peers will stick with me because I can look at my friends and see the lessons playing out without them knowing. They aren’t sitting me down and lecturing me. I am looking at them being their organic selves and finding lessons. I think that I can learn a lot from my friends. We all have different skill sets and different ways of approaching life. I’m excited and intrigued by the lessons they may not know they have to teach me. Friends that challenge you can be the best teachers, because they don’t realize they are teaching. You teach yourself the lessons from their examples.