Reflecting on the River

This class has provided me with opportunities to do things I would not have done on my own, including visiting the Trinity on my own free time. Before taking this course, I had only been to the Trinity once before and it actually held a bad memory for me as I associated it with a past relationship I am no longer in. I was a little skeptical of returning to the river but with my best friend accompanying me for the first trip, I kept an open mind.

The weather was perfect for our outing to the river; a bright blue sky, sunny with some light, wispy clouds in the sky and a cool breeze. We parked by a trail down to the water because I wanted to experience the river from the water, not from a bench on the hill above the river bank. The trail led straight to the river and we walked across the water on an island of rocks to find the perfect spot to sit and reflect upon. We sat a few rocks apart from each other to allow us the space to individually reflect before we regrouped and talked about how we were each experiencing the river. 

Although I hadn't brought my camera to the river, I was in awe of its beauty on this sunny day so I improvised and captured it on my iPhone camera. For the first few minutes I was on my rock, I was seeing the river through a photographer's perspective; which angle would capture the water running through the rocks the best, how close to the surface of the water could I place my phone to capture the reflections of the water. I love the way my mind works when I am trying to capture a moment on camera because I see things differently and often notice things I normally wouldn't. While looking at the river through my camera lens (aka my iPhone 5 screen), I noticed how the green hue of the river wasn't as unattractive as I originally thought, it actually contrasted well with the bright green grass on the river banks. As it flowed over the rocks and cascaded down them, the water was crystal clear and mimicked the sound of rain or a small waterfall. Looking at the water through my camera gave me the opportunity to appreciate the Trinity's natural beauty, something I don't usually take the time to do.

Sitting on the Trinity was such a peaceful and serene experience and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. I am not one to sit with my thoughts and reflect but I found myself doing exactly that on the river. I was thinking back to our reading in The Big Thirst and realizing how lucky we are to live so close to water. I can't even begin to imagine how my life would be affected if my access to water was suddenly cut off. If we no longer had a dependable water supply or easy access to a body of water, our lives would immediately be centered around what we would have to do to get water. It would drastically change the way we live and our priorities in life. Becoming aware of this made me appreciate our river, a body of water that we disregard and degrade so often, so much more. 

Conversation Partner: Coffee with Rebecca

As we approach Thanksgiving break, I wanted to ensure that I meet with Rebecca I left Fort Worth for a few days at home filled with food, family, and friends. As I looked at my schedule for the next week and a half leading up to break and the week after returning to campus, I realized that today would be the last possible day to meet with her until after break. The next three weeks for me are going to be absolute hell as I two semester-long projects come to a conclusion and two other projects begin. At Union Grounds, I explained my busy schedule to Rebecca and she looked at me in awe. I told her that the next couple of weeks was my chance to show off the hard work I had been putting into these two projects all semester and while I was terrified of the amount of time that was about to be spent in the library and study rooms in Reese-Jones Hall, I was also ecstatic for the projects to be so close to completion. She told me that she was excited for me and was sure that I would do well on both projects. These words of encouragement meant a lot to me coming from Rebecca, as she has heard about my struggles with these projects for the past couple of weeks and knows the amount of work I have put into them.

To show how thankful I was to Rebecca and her friendship over the past month, I bought her coffee today at Union Grounds. It was a small gesture but the smile on Rebecca's face showed me that it meant a lot to her and I was happy to show her my thanks. Today's conversation was very casual, talking about our plans for the break and our amazement that the semester was almost over. While language was still an obstacle in our conversations, we have spent enough time with each other that we have become much more familiar with each other's speaking. She is so patient with me, especially when I try to explain concepts that are unfamiliar to her and I could appreciate her patience more. Today I was telling her about my job as a TCU Athletics Ambassador and how I work with football recruiting. This was a difficult concept to explain to her because she is still trying to understand the sport of football so the process of recruitment was a completely new idea to her. She was very patient and understanding as I did my best to convey the whole process in the simplest way possible. Rebecca's eagerness to learn and her steady patience with me never ceases to amaze me and it makes talking to her so easy and so enjoyable. I hope to have time within the next couple of weeks before finals to meet with her again and hear how her Thanksgiving break went.

Conversation Partner: Hometown and Family

Yesterday was my third meeting with Rebecca and we met again at Union Grounds, a convenient and friendly atmosphere offering both coffee and sweet treats to share our time over. Rebecca and I both have very busy schedules so our get-togethers have been sporadic and irregular. Since our last meeting, I had gone back to my home state, California, for the weekend to visit family and attend my cousin's baptism and Rebecca had taken a test that would determine if she would be able to transfer to another school in the spring.

This meeting was unfortunately short but in the short time we spent together we were able to learn a lot about each other. During our first meeting, Rebecca shared with me her family and her hometown and yesterday I shared my family and hometown with her. I told her about my trip back to California, about surprising my brother and sister at our best friends' home, about visiting my friends, and about seeing my family in San Francisco for my cousin's baptism. Rebecca loved hearing about the ocean and the beaches that I lived close to, as she has never been to the beach before but hopes to go one day. I showed her pictures of my favorite beach and told her stories of me and my friends spending summer days in the ocean in and downtown Laguna Beach. Since my weekend at home was dedicated to family, I told her about my parents and what they do for a living and about my little brother and sister and how they are my best friends. She enjoyed hearing how I kept it a secret from them that I was coming back to California for the weekend so when I showed up at our friends' house they were so surprised.

Rebecca was really interested in hearing about the baptism process and I did my best to explain it but this proved difficult for me to do. I realized I have never had to explain what a baptism is or what it means to be baptized, much less to someone from a different country and culture, so I wasn't really sure how to express it in an easy way for her to understand. I think I was finally able to get the idea across, at least Rebecca reassured me that she understood, but it was a stumbling block that encouraged me to later go home and research the most straight-forward and easy way to explain a baptism.

Before we departed, Rebecca told me that she had received the results of her test from the weekend before and she had unfortunately not passed. She was not discouraged though and she already had another test scheduled for the next weekend. Her positivity was inspiring and I am confident that her determination and hard work will result in a passing grade the next time she takes the test.

Conversation Partner: Classes and Anti-Morning People

This week I had my second meeting with Rebecca. We met on Wednesday, October 29th, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The day before I had taken an exam that I had been studying for all weekend and once it was over all I wanted to do was relax with a friend and some coffee. Rebecca and I met Wednesday afternoon at Union Grounds and we talked about our weekend and what we had in store for the next week. While we are two very different people, we seem to have very similar schedules during the week; BUSY schedules! Rebecca explained to me that class for IEP last from 9 am til 1 pm and when she is finished with class she returns home and studies for the rest of the evening. My weekday schedule follows a similar pattern, attend class and study (although I manage to fit in quite a few naps during the week because I love my sleep almost more than I love people). We compared our courses and I found it interesting to learn about the class she takes for IEP. I was under the impression that IEP students, like other TCU students, had multiple classes during the day but this was not true. Rebecca explained to me that she attended one class that lasted four hours each day and this one class was broken up into different objectives, such as writing and speaking. I found this very interesting because I had a completely different idea of how the Intensive English Program was structured and I guess that was because I had not taken the time to understand it and learn about it.

Because Rebecca was used to this single course structure, she did not know how TCU students formulated their course schedule so I had the chance to teach her about this process. She loved the idea of getting to choose what time you went to class and which professor you studied under. I told her how, as the anti-morning person I am, I took advantage of this freedom and scheduled my classes for the afternoon this semester, giving me the opportunity to sleep in. Like many others who hear about my unusual class schedule, Rebecca though it was funny for me to leave all my classes til the end of the day when I could get them over with in the morning. I explained to her that I am more productive in the evening and night time and, more importantly, that I have a very difficult time waking up in early (before 11 am) in the morning. She wished she had the same opportunity to make her own schedule however she doesn't mind how she works now, because it allows for plenty of time to study in the afternoon and an early bedtime for her.

This talk of course scheduling and morning-versus-night people, while not seeming like a lot of content, took up most of our sixty minute meeting. As only our second official, in-person meeting, both of us were still getting accustomed to each other's language skills and way of speaking. We discovered that the language barrier was a two-way barrier, making it difficult for both us to understand each other completely. This made for some stumbled words and a lot patience on both ends. 

I am excited to meet with Rebecca again as I can tell we both have a lot to learn from each other.

Conversation Partner Social: Food and Friends

Last week was my first meeting with Rebecca, my conversation partner for the semester. We met at the Conversation Partner Social, a small gathering for the students in the Intensive English Program and us, their conversation partners. The social was the perfect setting for my first meeting with Rebecca; there was food, cake, drinks, and friends to socialize with. I can sometimes have anxiety over meeting someone new so having my best friend, Sara, there with me calmed my nerves.

I absolutely loved meeting Rebecca! She is so sweet and kind and so excited to meet with me over the next few weeks. At the social, we talked about our own hometowns and families. She is from a city south of Beijing, China, and she has two older brothers. Similarly, I have two siblings, although both younger than myself, and I found it extremely interesting to talk to her about the child laws in China. She told me how her parents had to pay the government in order to have herself and her second oldest brother because she was a girl and because her parents already had one child. I can't imagine living in a society that dictates how many children someone can have and demand payment for additional children. 

While talking about Rebecca's family, I asked her if anyone else in her family had ever been to the United States or if she was the first and only one. She said that she was indeed the first one in her family to venture overseas to the States and not only that but no one else in her family was even interested in following in her footsteps. This amazed me and I could not understand how her family members could not want to come to a country as amazing and as filled with opportunities as America, When I took the time to think about it, however, I realized how naive I had been. Rebecca had mentioned what a financial burden it had been for her family to send her to the States and I realized it might not be financially feasible for any more of her family to come to America. I also considered how as an American born and raised in this country, I am proud of my country and don't understand why someone wouldn't want to move here and take advantage of the opportunities it has to offer. Not everyone has this view of America, however, especially those not born here. Rebecca's family might be perfectly happy in China and have no desire to move because they simply do not need to. With this new outlook, I think I will be able to connect with Rebecca on a deeper level and I look forward to talking about her move here on a deeper level.

Conversation Partner

Meeting with my conversation partner for the first time was a journey of its own. I was originally paired with a young woman from Brazil but I unfortunately never had the opportunity to meet with her. After a couple weeks of trying to contact her, I discovered I had been given the incorrect contact information with which to reach her. Finally after about two and a half weeks of futile attempts of meeting her, I was finally able to email Christianne at the correct address. About a week passed with no word from her and I began to worry. I soon received an email from the head of the IEP program expressing her apologies but Christianne would not be returning to TCU to complete her time in the program. I was crushed, I had so been looking forward to getting to know this young woman and becoming her acquaintance. I was sad that I would not be able to learn about her home in Brazil and her culture. However, I knew that if it was not meant for me to meet with this young woman then there must be another plan in place for me. Having the opportunity to interact with a student in the Intensive English Program is a very unique opportunity and I want my experience with my partner to be worthwhile and special so I am not disheartened by my (so far) bad luck. I recently received notice that I would be paired with another student in the program and my first opportunity to meet with her would be tomorrow, at the Conversation Partner Social. Her name is Rebecca and she is from China and I cannot wait to meet with her. I have traveled to China in the past with my family so I can't wait to share my own experiences with her. I am so thankful to finally have a partner to meet with for the semester.

Learning: Water Gardens, Picture Perfect

Visiting the Fort Worth Water Gardens was a refreshing break from the classroom, giving us the opportunity appreciate a different function and use of water. The Water Gardens were erected in 1974 and are placed in the south end of Downtown Fort Worth, offering a cool oasis and escape from the bustling city life. The gardens offer three main pools; the meditation pool, the aerating pool, and the active pool, and each water feature offers an environment true to its name.

The meditation pool is a large, rectangular pool surrounded by towering walls and trees, providing a quiet and serene atmosphere. Water cascades down the surrounding walls, giving the ambiance of a light rain fall and adding to the serenity of the pool. 

The aerated pool features dozens of illuminated spray fountains that make the pool look like a huge fizzing and bubbling pool. From every angle, the reflection of the sun creates rainbows in the flying water droplets, adding a magical feeling to the setting. 

The main attraction of the Water Gardens is the active pool, the largest pool of the three and set deep in the group with steps leading down to the base. The steps allow access to the bottom of the pool and many people take advantage of this interactive aspect of the pool.

Our trip had little structure with regards to the learning experience and this gave us the freedom to explore the gardens and learn on our own. I took advantage of this liberty and learned through my camera lens.

Photography is my passion and I am always looking for opportunities to improve my skills. I knew that the Water Gardens would be a great environment to capture on camera so I explored the grounds with my Canon hanging from my neck. At each pool, I gave myself a couple minutes to observe its beauty and reflect on how the environment made me feel. I would then capture the scenery through different angles and different settings on my camera, Through this reflection, I found that my favorite pool was the aerated pool. The spraying fountains kept the area around the pool cool and, if you were close enough, it provided a light, refreshing mist. The sound of the water droplets hitting the pool was reminiscent of a rainy day and very relaxing. I could see myself retreating to this place to escape the stress of school and to simply enjoy its simple beauty.

Not only was the aerated pool my favorite pool to experience but it was also my favorite to photograph. I was able to capture water droplets suspended in the air before they fell into the pool. It gave me a beautiful new perspective on and appreciation for water. Even though the Water Gardens are manmade and not a natural part of nature, they offered an insight to the visual attraction functionality of water.