Meeting 4

            Meeting number 4. It’s getting pretty serious…

Okay, that’s not an accurate statement. Our conversations are probably getting less formal all the time.  I view it as a good thing. We are getting more comfortable talking with each other, and hopefully Rosa is getting more comfortable using conversational English. It certainly seems like she is. Her speaking has definitely improved since the first time we met. Her vocabulary has expanded, and her command of speaking seems stronger (she speaks faster/spends less time planning out what she’s going to say). There’s the occasional error such as “wifehouse” (meaning housewife), or pronunciation error. All of which make sense in Spanish. They place the adjectives after the noun, and give “u” an “oo” sound instead of an “uh” sound. I remember thinking that seemed so ridiculous when I was in Spanish 1. I bet she feels the same way- just for English. It’s all backwards.

           

            The obvious subject to converse about was Spring Break, seeing that it’s only three days away. Both of us are feeling pretty burnt out on school now. We’ve realized in the past nine weeks we’ve become quite the movie connoisseurs. No hate on Texas, but it seems in the wintertime, there isn’t much to do beside eat and see movies. I laughed when Rosa said she’s exhausted Netflix. This weekend she scrolled through what was available and found that she’d already watched everything that seemed interesting to her. She’s on to documentaries now. She laughed- she said some of them are really slow.

            Then we started to talk about some cultural differences in family life. Rosa said that it seems to be the norm for people around 18 to just want to get away from their parents. They don’t want anything to do with them. It’s goodbye, so long. In her country, the children stay really close to their parents into there twenties. I love my parents and definitely want to maintain a close relationship with them, but I don’t want to be that guy living with his parents at 25 or whatever it may be. That seems to not only be ok, but normal where Rosa’s from. She said there’s simply a much greater importance for connectedness in the family, or less importance on independence.  Even though Rosa is 23 (or somewhere around there), her parents still call relatively frequently to check up on her. She said she’s still dependent on them for some things. I know that won’t be the case for me. Sure I’ll still be emotionally vested in parents, but both them and I would not like me being financially dependent on them. Cultural norms.

            Another thing I found interesting was how Rosa feels like she has become a daughter again by living with her uncle. For one, he’s her ride- so once again she’s dropped off and picked up from school. Her schedule is somewhat dependent on her uncle’s. I feel the same way without a car. I’m basically stuck at TCU unless one of my friends can take me somewhere else. I never appreciated how freeing it is to have a car. In another way, Rosa has to get permission from her uncle to do things. She has to let him know where she’ll be. She said it can be frustrating at times as an adult to have to check in with a parent. Of course Rosa’s uncle is only concerned for her well-being. Regardless, I know that would bother me. It makes me laugh imagining being over twenty-years old and saying, “Hey Mom, can I sleep over at Jensen’s house?” Is this a difference of cultural norms again? Probably. It make sense with what Rosa was telling about how children stay linked to their parents much longer.