A Little More Information (Conversation 3/6)

Conversation #3:

- This time around, it had been a couple of weeks since our last communication. One could detect a clear difference in this conversation, however, from the last two attempts. For starters, we could both actually somewhat decipher what the other person was saying. That was a plus. Secondly, we had already asked the previous basic questions that characterize the first encounter at college. “Hi, what’s your name? What’s your major? Where are you from?”…and the likes: the types of questions that every freshman has pretty much memorized to heart. Well, that was over. The simple part. Now I had to actually think of question that entail more than one word answer. The harder part. I won’t pretend like there weren’t moments of awkward silence that lasted more than ten seconds. Because there were. A lot. But I think this conversation actually managed to acquire somewhat greater knowledge of the person. So what did I learn about Fernande this time around? Well for starters, there is not such thing as trick-or-treating in Congo. Halloween does exist there though, fortunately. Halloween pretty much only consists of adult parties with alcohol and masks, not so much a holiday for children. Thanksgiving, as I expected, does not exist there. For his “First Thanksgiving” he said he has no interest in the traditional meal. As I believe I mentioned previously, Fernande is not a fan of American food. He determined that the idea of turkey and gravy sounds less than appetizing. But to each his own. A fun coincidence in terms of holidays (because once I found a topic we could both talk about I kind of just rolled with it), is that we both like New Year’s Eve the best. New Year’s eve is the type of holiday celebrated everywhere but without the religious undertone of Christmas that can always lead to some awkward conversations. And unlike Christmas New Year’s is about spending time with your closest friends as oppose to distant relatives who seem to forget whose kid you are each time. I also found out that Fernande is interested in buying his own house. For the past couple of months Fernande has been staying at his aunt and uncle’s house in Arlington, but recently he’s been saving up enough money to afford his own apartment for himself in town. After he finished his program he intends to attend classes at TCC for two years, and then finish his bachelor’s degree at University of Texas in Dallas. With regard to when he plans to return home to Congo, Frenande responded that he has no immediate plans. He says he doesn’t believe it is worth the money to return home at all this year.  That statement pretty much concluded out third conversation.