Sarah CP-1

I finally met my first conversation partner today. Her name is Ruth, and she is from the Ivory Coast. She speaks French, which I am happy about, and have already tried out a few sentences on her with success. (small, safe sentences.) She has only been here for 3 weeks, and speaks very well. She seemed really happy and flattered when I told her so. I tried to take her to 3 guys pizza but I must be old becasue they are gone. :( For convenience sake, we went to AJ's instead. Although we both noticed how funny it smells, (old beer?) We really enjoyed our food and sat for a good two hours.

She is hilarious. I love that we can both make jokes and when the meaning comes across well, she laughs really hard! We spoke about everything from family to school, to diet. One of her first questions was if I like to cook. She laughed before I even answered, I think because my face gave away the answer (I loathe cooking). She told me that her mother always said she needed to learn to cook if she wants a husband. In reality, my mother basically said the same thing, so as crazy as this sounds at first, I realized we're really not that different. We agreed that she should teach me to cook something from her culture.

She has four siblings and she is the oldest. Her mother wanted her to go to France for her education like her sisterdid, but she wanted to learn a new language. I definitely admire this. She also said some interesting things about schooling. She said, in the Ivory Coast, universities are much less expensive, like $3,000-$4,000. She thinks this is because they are not as good. She said that she feels so busy with all the homework she has in her classes here, and that even at the university level in the Ivory Coast, there is no homework at all! Once they leave the classroom, that's it! She wants to pass her TOEFL and then attend TCC, then a 4 year university.

She also said that when she first came to America she went to Atlanta and stayed with her Aunt for two days. She had noticed that people in Georgia talk differently than they do here, and that launched a whole conversation on regions in the U.S. She has always watched American TV and immediately recongnized my Jersey Shore immitation, and thought it was hysterical. She said she doesn't like how fast they talk and that it's much slower here and easier to understand. She also said she watches E! and her favorite celebrities are the Kardashian sisters. Although I can't say I agree with her on that, we both love chick fliks, and dislike action and horror movies. I suggested we have a movie night sometime at my house, becuase she is stuck watching all her TV and movies on hulu. We planned on coffee next week, and when I drove her back, she hugged me goodbye. I love new friends!