Wednesday of this past week I received an email from Yoyo (we're on a nickname basis, it's getting pretty serious) inviting me to play ping pong with him in the Rec center. We had discussed the week before how much he liked playing pool and ping pong and how I had never played, so he was offering to teach me. Despite the high likelihood that I would end up hitting myself in the face with the paddle, I agreed.
Yoyo was a wealth of information this week in all honesty. First off I didn't even know we had ping pong tables in the rec, and it turns out there's a whole lounge in the basement that I never knew existed. As far as actually playing the game went he started me off slow, just letting me figure out the proper way to hit and control my swing. Once I got the ball to actually hit the table, we played a real game. Surprisingly to both of us, I was not awful. The game got fairly competitive at some points and we could keep the ball going back and forth for a lot longer than I expected. After some nail-biting overtime the expert prevailed, and Youness beat me 14-13.
While we practiced and played, we talked about our weeks. Youness had a presentation he had to give on Holes so we talked about the book and the movie. This turned into a conversation about what movie genres we like best and what we had seen. We found out we both liked James Bond movies and how we both disapprove of the new remakes (they just don't feel right). I did come to a odd realization when trying to describe The Lion King to Youness. I had said that it was my favorite Disney movie, and when he asked me what it was about I didn't know where to begin. I started off with a simple "It's about a bunch of lions", but the more I tried to describe the plot, the more concerned his face got and the weirder the movie sounded. It made me realize that universally people have the tendency to look at what other cultures think is entertaining or funny and find it so peculiar, but it's not just confined to adult topics. Even children's culture can seem odd through a different cultural lens.
After my sobering defeat Youness had to leave to catch his ride home so we said good-bye. He told me to invite a friend next time and he could bring his, so we could have a whole ping pong tournament. Needless to say I'm setting up a practice schedule for myself so I can redeem myself at our next meeting. Stay tuned to find out how it ends up!
First of, Can I be the friend you bring to play ping pong with y'all. Secondly, this sounds like the most fun meeting so far! I'm glad that someone had the patience to teach you how to play (hehe). It's really interesting to me that he was so willing and excited about meeting you and talking about his week and such. My conversation partner is a little less enthusiastic about talking with me haha. It's not pulling teeth, but I definitely carry most of the conversation. What's most interesting to me with our IEP partners is what they like to do in their free time, I don't know why I don't expect them to just be doing normal teenage things, I just don't! So when they tell me they just sit and watch TV like the rest of us I'm surprised haha. But I'm glad that Yoyo is your new best friend!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good response, and for playing ping pong! You seem to be having great experiences with Youness. I will look forward to reading about the tournament.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Kiley! I think it’s so fun that your meeting with your conversation partner revolved around Ping-Pong. After reading your blog and others, I’m thinking of setting up a more activity-based meeting with my conversation partner, Hussain, next time. I think conversation is a lot more natural and stimulating when something else is going on at the same time, whether it’s something like Ping-Pong or even a meal.
ReplyDeleteYouness teaching you how to play Ping-Pong is awesome. It really underscores how much we have to learn from our conversation partners. Your discussion of the progression of how you picked up playing the game made me think of how learning Ping-Pong can be a metaphor for learning a language. When someone learns a language, they have to determine the right times and proper ways to employ grammar rules, phrases, etc., just like someone new to Ping-Pong has to learn the right times and proper ways to hit the ball, move the paddle, etc. In my own experience learning Spanish, my professor has stressed certain ways to construct sentences and phrases, which I’ve picked up over time after hearing him repeat them so much. I wonder if Hussain picks up different ways to say things after hearing them from others, on television, etc.—I’ll have to ask him. Anyway, it’s similar to Ping-Pong because once you repeat the motions several times and get going with it, it starts becoming more natural, just like it’s becoming more natural to say certain Spanish phrases. Great job, again!