Convo with Chris: Part 2

I met with my new conversation partner Chris for the second time last week.  I must say, it is interesting having to form another bond this late in the semester.  Although we are pressured to fit in a handful of meetings in such a limited time, I am grateful for Chris and his cooperation.  In a sense, I consider myself lucky to get the opportunity to meet two unique international students.  Through the service learning portion of this class, we are all able to explore the world through someone else’s eyes.  My particular journey includes New Caledonia, and now China.  On the other hand, I find it difficult not to compare my two partners.  While I take joy in the time I spend with Chris, he seems more reserved than JP.  JP opened up about his feelings and life circumstances fairly quickly, but with Chris it is a different story.  For the past two meetings, Chris and I have stayed on surface level topics, such as food, humor, geography, and classes.  I am drawn to think this contradiction is due to the different cultures they were raised in.  We are all a product of our environment, as well as our genetics.  I have always been fascinated as to what, nurture vs. nature, takes a more dominant role in a person’s personality. However, that is a totally off point topic. Needless to say, Chris and JP are extremely different, yet I call them both friends.

I met my new friend Chris at the bookstore for Happy Hour.  I arrived slightly early to ensure us a table, but when I sat down I received a text from Chris.  Chris explained that he was going to be 5 minutes late and overly apologized for his absent.  When he finally arrived, he rushed to explain his brief lateness.  In my opinion, he wasn’t rude at all, rather fashionably late.  Chris, on the other hand, remained focused on his lack of timeliness.  Whether it is the college norm, or an American mindset, Chris didn’t seem to realize my relaxed nature towards time.  Chris and I finally began our conversation with the typical, day centered questions.  We then progressed to friends, weekend plans, and classes. Our final and main topic was, drum roll please, ……HUMOR!  I asked Chris what types of things make him laugh.  He explained to me his favorite TV shows, including Walking Dead and this mock dating show.  He then explained to me that certain American cartoons made their way to Chinese popularity.  Chris explained his fond memories of the cartoon Tom and Jerry.  He mentioned that he would watch those shows on the weekend, when he wasn’t doing schoolwork.  He also told me a common Chinese joke.  In this joke, a student was late to class and the teacher asked him for a reason.  This student replied that he was walking the elderly across the street.  According to Chris, laughter would erupt in the room after this joke was told.  Chris explained that helping others in China is uncommon so that this joke offered a ridiculous answer to a general question.  This reminds me of the typical, “the dog ate my homework”, saying.  I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Chris today as well as the insight he gave me into his culture.

Mark Twain Reflection

The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain initially peaked my interest.  Prior to receiving the book in the mail, I did not know what to expect of these quotes from Mark Twain.  Having not read many of his works, I honestly imagined another book, similar to Morreal's, in which I would struggle to read; however, this was not the case.  I quite enjoyed this last piece of literature that we read.  To my surprise, it was much funnier than I imagined.  I really enjoyed the mixture of profound and thought provoking quotes and those that made you laugh quietly under your breath. I particularly liked the fact that most of the quotes were short and simple.  That feature of the book provided for a quick and enjoyable read, similar to The Tales of Juha. In fact, I found a few similarities between this book and The Tales of Juha.  Some of them include:

1. The formatting of the book-  Both of the books included short little stories, or quotes.  While Juha contained some longer stories, the books as a whole were easier to read than a extensive novel or long-winded article.  In addition, the pairing of similar stories/ quotes in different sections provided the reader an easy transition while the different plots and overall quote ideas kept the reader interested and engaged the entire time.

2. The mixture of humor and insightful thoughts- Juha and Mark Twain both gave the reader a mixture of quotes with different end results.  For examples, some quotes were simply there just to make you think, while others provided a chuckle or two. While Juha contained some short stories that seemed to only provide laughs, all of Mark Twain's humorous quotes that I can think of, had a more profound thought behind it. This is shown in the quote of page 101, in which Twain responds to the question "What are the sweetest words in the world?" with "Not guilty".  At first, this quote made me laugh at the simplicity and primary strangeness of it.  However, after further thinking about his answer, the sweet sound of freedom is probably the most relieving words to be heard.  From his quotes, one can tell that Mark Twain thought before he wrote or spoke, even in his joking.

3. Some of the quotes/stories went over my head-  While Mark Twain's quotes were more relatable due to the culture and time period similarities, I still didn't understand some of his quotes.  This may be due to the fact that I simply am not on the same wisdom level of Mark Twain and the authors of Juha stories.  While reading each of the books, I would have to stop and reread some of the ideas several times in an attempt to understand.  This happened mostly in the sections On Law and Politics and In America and Abroad.

Needless to say, I enjoyed both Tales of Juha and The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain.  I appreciated having to read these books because it allowed me a small outlet from my other more tedious schoolwork. This last book reflects this class as a whole; it made you think and work hard, but allowed you to laugh throughout.

Mark Twain Quote

"When I was  boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."   Attributed

This quote on page 15 particularly caught my attention.  Twain illustrated the typical progression of teenage thinking and development.  In an early adolescents years, a boy can not stand to have their parents around.  He thinks he knows it all and believes the whole world revolves around him. During those few years, the last place he wants to be is with his parents, better yet actually listen to what they have to say.  However, once the young boy matures into his twenties, he gains insight into life and the true wisdom of his father.

I found this quote insightful and humorous.  I like how Twain illustrated teenage years through the scope of a teenager and their typical thoughts.  It is ironic how the young boy believes that his father gained knowledge, when in fact he was the one that matured.  This quote is extremely relatable to the class and the stage of life we are in right now.  Generally speaking, college kids are in the midst of those transitioning years.  We are transforming from naive and self- centered teens into well informed and responsible young adults.  While we may all go through a different path, or have small parts of our lives that distinguish us from others, we can all relate to this idea of learning to appreciate our parents as we grow older.

New Friend

This past week, I met with my new conversation partner, Chris.  My last conversation partner, JP, went back to France to train for the swimming nationals there.  While I was sad to see JP leave so soon, I was also excited to make a new friend. Friendships, especially in this context, are so interesting in the fact that you can learn so much from them.  Through conversations, you share knowledge, ideas, and opinions.  Add different origins into the mix, and you got yourself an intriguing and stimulating relationship. 

The conversation I had with Chris consisted mainly of small talk. I learned that Chris is from China, and he has been attending TCU for the past year and a half.  Although he hasn't been here that long, Chris is already enrolled in some regular classes, in addition to his ESL classes.  This semester, he is taking intro to psychology, which he is not a big fan of.  This left me slightly disappointed since my chosen major is psychology.  We began to discuss what exactly he would like to do in the future.  Chris dreams of major in business at TCU, and then taking his new knowledge back to China to be a businessman there.  He is anxious to graduate fully from the ESL program, and begin his actual business classes.  Soon, our conversation of school expanded to include high school.  Chris shocked me with the amount of school he went to in China.  He attended school from 6:30 am to 10:00 pm and did not receive Saturdays off.  He explained that there were two class periods build in for you to do homework, however; he still managed to have to do some at home each night.  In addition, he only got a month off of school for summer break during which he had to complete a massive packet of school work.  Chris explained that schooling is the main priority for the youth there.  He wasn't able to sleep much, nor did he participate in sports.  When I asked him what he did with his free time now, he explained, "SLEEP!".  It is interesting to see that one thing Chris gained through college, was one of the things I lost much of during my past two years here. In addition, it shocked me to find out how different our upbringings were.  This only child from China focused on school work and his family during his high school career; whereas, I had a younger sister and was involved in various sports and clubs.  

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know my new partner.  While it was little more difficult to understand him, I appreciate the opportunity to meet another person.  I am excited to learn more about Chris and China through our next few meetings!

Final Section of Juha

The Tales of Juha was a roller coaster of humor.  It started of slowly, with some funny stories, some not-so-funny stories. The middle section was by far my favorite.  The stories were significantly funnier and made more sense.  However, the last section left me disappointed with the book as a whole.  During the last section, I barely laughed nor did I fully understand many of the stories.  Similar to the activities in class, I decided to pick out a story that I thought best represented the following adjectives: funny, surprising, and clever.

FUNNY:

One of my favorite stories came from the first section, Juha as the butt.  The story explains a scene where Juha is with a group of people who are all mounting their horses.  Juha mounts his horse backwards and replies to their laughter with “ What are you laughing at? Just because my mule’s put its head to the back and its buttocks to the front.” I found Juha’s response humorous for the fact that he was so naive and absentminded.  Either he didn’t realize the people were laughing at him, or he was trying to play off the fact he was riding his mule wrong.  In both circumstances, Juha is shown in a negative light as the stupid one of the group.  This lighthearted story allowed me to laugh at Juha’s stupidity, and be thankful it wasn’t me getting mocked.

SURPRISING:

In the further sections, some of the stories took a violent and somewhat disturbing tone.  On page 111, the story of the customer, baker, and a governor.  The governor smelled a goose that was cooking and ordered the baker to give it to him.  When the customer who the goose was originally intended for returned, he became angry with the baker.  He began to chase the baker, which led to some not so desirable outcomes.  Throughout the chasing process, he killed a pregnant woman’s unborn child and an innocent bystander, and cut off the tail of Juha’s donkey.  This story seemed harsh and reminded me of the dark humor presented in slaughterhouse 5.  The killings were shown in such a matter of fact way and did not receive the justice they deserved. In fact, the only person that wasn’t charged for complaining to the courts about their misfortunate event was Juha, who was the least emotionally armed.

CLEVER:

On page 128, Juha is shown as a judge figure. He is presented with a dispute between two men.  The first was angry that he did not receive his agreed upon paid for helping the second man carry a heavy load.  However, the payment of dispute was “nothing”.  In return, Juha had the man lift up a book and asked what was underneath it, to which the man replied, “Nothing.”  Juha told the man to take that nothing and leave.  I felt this entire situation and especially the way Juha handled the argument to be interesting and clever.  Juha was able to give the man exactly what he asked for in a way that the man could recognize.

In all, the last section was a bet of a struggle to read.  I found some little gems within, but as a whole, I was not pleased. 

Experience India

This past weekend I went to the Experience India event hosted by SAICA.  The event consisted of a tradition Indian dinner, choreographed dances, a hilarious skit preformed by all the members, and an dance party in which the members taught the attendees typical Indian dance moves. Through that night, I was able to laugh while I was expanding my cultural awareness.

I never had much of interest in India until this past year when I found out some of my friends were going for the summer.  With this new connection to India, I gained an interest in learning more about the culture and country of India.  Earlier this semester, my group and I researched Indian humor for our world humor project; however, I wasn’t able to get a real feel for Indian humor until I saw it first hand.  The humor portion of Experience India consisted of a skit that was based on the popular TV show, Friends.  This skit was preformed Bollywood style with dances intermixed in the acting.  The skit revolved around an Indian couple that wanted to get married; however, the young girl wasn’t able to get married until her older sister found a husband.  Apparently, the typical Bollywood movie is centered on love.  It is interesting how they took a cross cultural topic of love and fused it with Indian culture, the younger sister couldn’t get married until her older sister was wed.  The main humor was represented through the characters and the different relationships they all shared.  For example, the older sister represented the epitome a clueless girl trying to find love.  For one of her first dates, she did a background check on the guy and brought a list of topics to discuss if conversation started to wane.  In the end, the older sister found love, the fighting couple made up, the younger sister got married, and they all joyously danced off.

It was interesting to see the mixture of an American show with an Indian flair.  Within the skit, there were references to certain Indian ideas and beliefs, but the majority of the skit represented a typical American romantic comedy.  Many of the jokes were in response to awkward situations as well as stereotypes of men and women.  In all, the whole night increased my knowledge of Indian humor and culture. I felt that I was able to more fully immerse myself in the culture than simply researching it, and I had tons of fun along the way! 

Procrastination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxDSQ23cWhE

 

As I am sitting here attempting to study, I am hit with the sudden urge to look up something to distract me. Procrastination should become my new middle name.  It was at that point that I remember this funny commercial I saw yesterday while watching the National Championship game.  I am not of a sports gal so I paid just as much attention to the game as I did the commercials. This particular commercial was funny and memorable so I decided to share it with the rest of the class.  I went to look it up on Youtube, and laughed just as much as I did the first time I saw it.  This brief enjoyment caused me to then watch several other commercials by the same company…. best distraction EVER.

These commercials are chuckle worthy because they put babies in typically adult situations doing adult things. The babies are shown flying back from a bachelor party, buying stock, and participating in a wedding.  Not only are these kids adorable, but they provide a cognitive shift between our typical ideas of what babies should be doing.  The first cognitive shift occurs when the babies start to talk, in fully developed voices, with coherent and sophisticated sentences.  These babies are dressed in typical clothes for their age and are even seen in cribs and high chairs during the scenes; however, when they open their mouths, you would have expected a full grown man to be standing there instead of the innocent looking child.  The second cognitive shift appears in the various mature situations the babies are involved in, as stated above. These adult situations sometimes use fellow babies as the other characters and other times use adults.  Part of the humor is based on the fact that no one else in the scene seems to be bothered by the fact that the baby is talking.  The other characters walk undisturbed and even talk back to the young children in a nonchalant way.   In addition, the babies offer some pretty clever and cute one liners.  The scripts for these commercials are funny all by themselves, without use of unusual characters.  In all, when you put together cute babies, adult situations, and funny lines, you create an enjoyable commercial experience. While I may not know what exactly Etrade does, name recognition has been installed within my brain.

Now back to study……..

SNL: Sunday Night Laughter

Tonight has been filled with laughter, humor, and friendship.  In particular, the laughter came from the friends who served the humorous material.  My friends and I were all attempting to study in my room tonight when the Internet distracted us.  Funny pictures led to funny videos, which obviously led to lots of laughter. In the end, we decided to make a Vine video of each of us doing a spontaneous random noise.  My friend, Tori, recorded all the noise and facial expression separately and combined them into a short video post.  Not only were we able to laugh at all the funny noise as they happened, but we had a recording of our silliness to play over and over again.  By the end of the night, we had successfully watched our video several times and spent a good amount of time laughing in fellowship.

Looking back at tonight, I think a few contributors caused our laughter.  One factor is the fact that all the girls in my room were good friends who were comfortable with each other.  Personally, I would not have laughed as hard or said some of the stuff I said in a group of strangers.  That is the funny thing about creating and sharing humor; most times it is much easier to really let yourself laugh when you are comfortable.  This leads me to my next observation.  We were all in play mode at the time.  If just one girl wasn’t in the mood to laugh or be a little bit goofy, this night would not have gone the same way.  Because we were in play mode, we let ourselves freely laugh and be a little bit goofy.  In addition, tonight was a “you had to have been there” moment.  If any one else saw our video, they probably wouldn’t have laughed at the same intensity as we did.  Since we created the humor, we found it a hilarious and bonding moment.  This bond that we created could not be transferred to anyone else, thus they will not laugh the same way we did at the video.

In all, I had a great night that I will fondly look back to.  Good thing I have embarrassing evidence to help me relive the moments. 

Sense of Life

This past spring break, I went to El Salvador.  As a common curtesy, I got friends all sorts of gifts as keepsakes from my trip.  One such gift was a bookmark.  This simple, and cheap gift can relate to the meaning of life in some way.  Some people may try to relate the meaning of life the amount of knowledge that they have. They strive after education as if it were the answer to life.  This philosophy goes as follows: The more you know, the more successful you will be, and ultimately the happier you will be. This version of life is related to bookmarks in the fact that books are a way to gain knowledge about various topics.

Be sure to check out Mackie and Katie's blog to see the rest of our groups project!