I discovered yesterday and today that talking to international students is way more difficult than talking to American students. Alison and I had a fun time trying to explain to a Turkish girl what a "barn dance" is when I invited her to one. "A bar dance?" she asked, waving her arms in the air. "No, no!" we both said at once. Alison: "You know, a barn, where they keep animals." Asli: "An animal dance?" We both gave up at this point. How do you explain what a barn dance is to someone who doesn't even understand what a barn is? The only solution I came up with was to link arms with Alison and promenade around the dorm room. Decided against that.

Today talked with a girl from China and one from Taiwan. Both had a small grasp of English. I wish that I could just tutor everyone so that their lives would be so much easier in classes and daily life. I'm discovering just exactly what I signed up for when I joined Bridges.