Afternoon at the BLUU: Conversation #4

Thursday afternoon I stopped by the BLUU to grab some food before my afternoon classes. As I looked around the BLUU for a place to sit I noticed my conversation partner Tiffany sitting at one of the tables, and decided to see what she had been up to. We started off with a brief discussion about the food in the BLUU that day and in general. We were each getting tired of food in the BLUU and were looking forward to home cooked meals in a few months. Tiffany said she is still adjusting to American food and the fact that we have to put cheese on almost everything. I couldn’t help but agree as I finished eating my cheese quesadilla.

I asked Tiffany is there was anything else she was still adjusting to or if she was used to Texas now. Tiffany said she was still confused about Texas weather especially after the last week. I laughed and told her the recent weather was strange to me and I have lived here my whole life. I noticed Tiffany had a set of notecards with her at the table to study for something and asked what class it was for. She explained that she had a Psychology test at the end of the week and was trying to learn all of the vocabulary words.  She said learning the vocabulary was the most challenging part of the class and jokingly admitted the class would be difficult even if it was in Chinese. Tiffany said she also had a presentation coming up in one of her classes she was especially nervous about because it was her first public speaking assignment. I reassured her that public speaking just gets easier the more you do it.

After that our conversation turned to what our plans were for the upcoming summer. Tiffany couldn’t wait to get back to China and catch up with her family and friends. She said she talks to her parents around three times a week on Skype but was still excited to see them in person.  I realized then that I hadn’t called my parents in over a week and should probably get around to that. I told Tiffany I was looking forward to summer as well even though I would be taking classes for a majority of the time. Tiffany said she was going to try to take classes over the summer too but was still waiting to see if the courses would transfer.  At that point I realized I needed to leave for class so I told Tiffany good luck on her test and presentation and that we would pick the conversation back up next time we met.

Thoughts on Juha 1-41

I wasn’t sure what to expect when diving into this book but I found it to be a pleasant surprise.  The book started off with some background about the main character Juha which helped the following stories make a more sense. It was good to know that Juha could take on any number of roles or attitudes and should not be restricted to a single character.  If you didn’t know this some of the stories could confuse you. For instance in one story Juha has his donkey stolen and only a few stories later Juha is the one who is stealing donkeys.

I understood most of the stories and found them to be amusing. Each of them ended with some sort of cognitive shift as Juha acted in a way or said something that is contrary to what you would typically say or do. For instance, to keep his clothes from getting stolen he decides to swim in the river wearing all his clothes. Most of the stories also presented a certain principle or moral. The one that stood out to me was the story where Juha’s donkey was stolen and his neighbors blamed him for it. Juha responds that he will not blame himself and that it is the thief’s fault that his donkey was stolen. The message of this story is that there are some things that are out of our control so you cannot always blame yourself for what happens.

Several of the short stories in this chapter are similar to ones I have heard before except involving different characters and details, particularly the one about interpreting the same signs differently. This is a reminder of how humor is often universal and many of the same stories appear in different cultures but with slight variations.

One of my favorite parts about this series of stories was how many of them involved donkeys. Obviously, donkeys are not a common part of people’s lives today so I found them to be very amusing in the stories. Even though it might be a stereotype, I couldn’t help but think of a small dusty Arab town where everyone had a donkey tied up outside their house and everyone in town was constantly trying to steal other people’s donkeys. I’m interested to see how the book will progress.

Blind Man

Most of us have that one person in our life that can almost always make us laugh. For me that person is my older brother Steve.  Over Easter break, I had to take Steve to the eye doctor so I could drive after he had his eyes dilated. After the appointment he had to wear dark sunglasses to protect his eyes.  After coming back into the waiting room he jokingly looked around in the waiting room like he couldn't see me or anything. This wasn't laugh out loud funny but Steve was just getting started.

 For the rest of the day everywhere he went he pretended to blind when other people were nearby. Several times he brushed against a pole or kicked a trashcan as he walked and other people were walking by. He had the most fun when we went out to lunch. He never looked in the direction of the waitress when he was talking to her and constantly pushed things on the table around while reaching for his fork. When it came time to order he simply pointed at me and said “I’ll have what he’s having” still staring straight ahead across the table.

The funniest part of the entire experience was the confusion on the waitress’s face. At first she really seemed to believe that Steve was blind but as time went on she looked more and more confused about what was really going on. The waitress lack of knowledge that Steve had perfectly functioning eyes is what made the situation funny but I don’t believe this is an example of the superiority theory. We didn't feel sorry for her or think we were better than her; she was just out of the loop on this one. I believe the humor in the situation was the incongruity between what was actually going on and what the waitress perceived.