Xiuwen in USA: Training in NY 在紐約受訓開始

((Throwback Post))

So we had a very intense training at Columbia University in New York City

I arrived late on the first day which evening was scheduled to attend welcome dinner. By the time, I arrived, the dinner was almost finished so I looked around to see if there was any food left. Not too much food left and it was all COLD. Well, I still had a little and two interesting things happened that night.

I was holding some cold food and talking to a couple of foreigners (I don't remember which countries they are from) but I had hard time to understand them even though they spoke English. I was talking to myself that I probably got used to the American's ascent and blame the ETAs who told me that I can survive with my English. I came to the realization that I will have lots of opportunities to hear English with various accents and I am not sure how much time I can get used to different accents.

"Can I survive?"

This question appears when I saw the program that we would have three meals together for 5 days (except one dinner we could eat ourselves) with all the participating FLTAs and that meant I have to talk while eating. That also further meant I have to get used to the accents as soon as possible so I could have conversation with them and blend in. However, it is really hard especially there are a lot of different accents from people who speak Spanish, German, Hindi, Arabic, etc. I also needed to get used to the food they provided here.

A fun story about food. When I saw this fruit plate, I was very excited that they had different melons and mangos, I did not think too much and took a lot on my plate. I had my first bite and found they are ALL CHEESE! I had a big doubt that how come they just eat cheese like we eat fruit. XD

The first night I was full of mixed feelings like excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loneliness and nervousness while laying in the bed.(It was actually during the whole training I then realized it there.)

An interesting story. When I was still getting used to different accents, I saw someone with Asian face and I was so happy. I did not think through and anticipated I can find someone who also speaks Mandarin, so I approached to her and ask are you from China or Taiwan.

Guess what. She is from a country near Russia and China. I felt so embarrassed to ask her if she knows Mandarin or not.

Then, I realized later that she is from Kyrgyz Respublikasy and she is my roommate. Isn't it cool? I am able to meet different people from different countries. Although I didn't get to spend lots of time with her because we were just roommates for a day. I was thrilled to meet more people from different countries during this orientation.