Sarah- CP3

I had the pleasure of meeting Xubin Li today, and his wife Zhihui. They are both graduate students at FSU and in CIES's research and teaching assistant night class. I picked them up at the Alumni Village (who knew that was there!) and we went to Starbucks. They said that they like coffee, but hardly get to go because they don't have a car. However they did say, like most of the other CIES student's I've met, that they're working on getting a driver's license.

They are completely awesome! We sat for two whole hours! At first, I was bombarded by questions, as they wanted to know all about my schooling, life, and interests! I heard about how much Zhihui likes Titanic, and how Xubin's favorite is the Lord of the Rings, even though it took a while for me to figure out which movie he was talking about because he called it the King of the Rings at first. His accent is definitely heavier than his wife's and sometimes I needed her help in understanding him. He said he is concerned that his students have a hard time understanding him as well.

They also told me about the speaking test that they have to take and some example questions they might have to answer. I told them we could work on putting together some answers, and sometimes I asked them questions that they had to think about. She said something about viewing the Titanic movie very differently the second time around than the first, and I asked her, "In what way was the second showing of the movie, ten years later, different from the first time you saw it." They both laughed at my official tone, and I had to speak with Xubin while Zhihui composed an answer for me. It was actually a very insightful thought! She said the first time she saw Titanic, she viewed it as mostly a love story, maybe becuase she was younger. But seeing it the second time, all these years later, she found herself wondering if Jack and Rose made a good decision. She said that if they hadn't decided to stay together, they could both be alive becuase Rose is wealthy and would have been put on a lifeboat, and Jack was very smart, so he could have saved himself somehow. They told me about a Chinese saying that basically states: If two fish want to stay together in a small amount of water, they will both die. But if they agree to separate, and live in the sea, they will survive. I found this fascinating becuase of our saying: it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. These are not describing exactly the same situations, but I still think the messages are mostly opposite. It seems that Chinese tradition values preservation of life over being stupid in love, and maybe our tradition would tell Jack that hey, Rose was worth it! Not that everyone in each society agrees with these morals, but it was interesting to see the contrast and think about it from a new perspective. I also realize, if Rose had gotten on that lifeboat like Jack told her, he'd still be alive and they could be together! UGH.

We also spoke about some other cultural differences, like how important tea is in Chinese culture, and how coffee is a growing tradition but mostly amongst young people. Apparently in China, Starbucks is for the wealthy businessmen to relax after work. When I dropped them off, they were so appreciative of our time together. As was I!