On Sunday, February
5th, I met up with my tutee Xiaoyu to go to the Chinese New Year
Gala. Although she is my tutee, we met up just to talk and go to this event
where I wouldn’t be tutoring her. She kindly invited me and offered me tickets
to go with her and her boyfriend. I gladly agreed because it sounded like an
awesome opportunity. I previously went to the Lunar banquet, which also celebrate
the New Year, but is all in English. The Chinese New Year Gala she invited me
to is for the Chinese community living in Tallahassee, and is all in Chinese. Before
the Gala, they offered Chinese food for dinner. We all agreed to meet up early
to eat dinner, which turned out to be pretty good. Over dinner, we all chatted
about each other’s lives. I asked where Xiaoyu’s boyfriend was from and how
they met. They both met in high school, and both studied statistics. IN fact,
her boyfriend is a TA for the statistics department here and is working on
getting his PhD. One of the cultural differences I thought was funny was when
Xiaoyu took her boyfriend’s chopsticks because they forgot to get a second
pair. Her boyfriend used a fork instead, but I could see he was having a little
bit of difficulty. I then went to get him an extra pair of chopsticks so he
wouldn’t have to struggle anymore. I think it’s fascinating how something as
simple as an eating utensil could be so culturally different somewhere else. After eating, we went inside to watch the
Gala. Because it was all in Chinese, this was definitely an extensive listening
experience for me. I really enjoyed watching all the performances that went on,
and could understand some of what they were saying. But now I know I need to
practice my Chinese a lot more so I can understand oral Chinese better. This was
a really great experience, and I hope I can get tickets to next year’s New Year
Gala.
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