Katelyn_CP_#6

At the Grandmarc at 5, on February 18, I met Mohammed and Zongyu for the last time for tutoring--but we actually ended up just chatting, so I decided to count this time as a conversation partner meeting instead. 

We talked about the IELTS and TOEFL exam, and the two boys discussed their previous experiences and scores. Then we talked about Critical Incidents, and I asked if they had any incidents since they came to America. Mohammed said he was shocked about shaking hands (with anyone), because he said he didn't know how to shake hands in American culture. In Kuwait, men shake hands, but hug too, and he never shakes hands with women. He also said some Americans hugged him when they first met him, and he asked me why, because that made him uncomfortable. (I agreed--I don't like it when people I don't know hug me, and I was surprised by that too.) I just said that some Americans are like that; we're a very friendly country, but that doesn’t apply to everyone. I asked Zongyu if I hugged someone in China, what would they say, and he said people would look at you weird. He said parents don't even hug their children, in private or especially in public, which really surprised me. We talked about that in TEFL class, but I didn't know it was so extreme. Zongyu said for his incident, he was confused about why people waved to say “thank you,” such as in a car, which I hadn’t ever thought about.

I also explained that Critical Incidents could be something that sticks in your head, positively or negatively. Both boys said they had more negative experiences, which makes sense, because as humans we remember negative events move vividly than positive ones. They both had terrible incidences at the airport, which made me sad to hear, actually.

Mohammed said that he lost his boarding pass in transit to Memphis Airport, and when coming into America, immigration pulled him aside and interrogated him, and wouldn't let him speak to his brother. Because he lost his ticket, the guards accused him of entering America illegally (thinking he had smuggled himself onto the plane).  Later, they asked he knew a certain man (it was his cousin's name), but did not tell him why they wanted to know, and just walked away. Zongyu said he came a month too early for his visa--and the American guards treated him cruelly and laughed at him before demanding he return to China. It made me sad that these two men would be profiled and treated poorly because they weren't Americans, and was rather eye-opening for me--obviously, I've never had this treatment travelling as an American, nor do I know anyone who has been (besides "random" searches).