Conversation Partners #6

     On our last meeting, Deo brought one of his friends, Ivonne, who is also from Rwanda.  We gave our introductions and the first question that Ivonne asked me was how many languages I spoke.  Just as I had to tell Deo when he asked me this, I told her that I was the typical American that only speaks English.  We had a good laugh, and this idea drove the rest of our conversation.

     Deo asked Ivonne how work was last night.  I quickly asked her what she did, and she told me that she was a desk assistant at the GrandMarc who worked the night shift.  She told Deo that she doesn't understand American college students because she lost count of the number of "drunk girls wearing barefoot" that were coming into the GrandMarc on a Wednesday.  She said that they do not know how lucky they are to have the opportunity to be getting an education here and then they go and do irresponsible things all of the time.  I told her that I agree but then explained to her that it was probably because it was the start of dead days.

     Our conversation then switched to how differently children are raised in America compared to Rwanda.  Deo and Ivonne said that they have noticed that upper and middle class families are typically stricter in the raising of their kids in America while the poorer families are typically stricter in Rwanda.  Deo said that in Rwanda, this is true because the richer families are so busy with work, so they just let their children fend for themselves.  I told him that the same thing could be said for the poorer families in America; the parents could be working so many jobs to try to pay the bills that they do not have much time for their children.  We thought it was interesting that these things are switched in each country.

     As we were finishing this thought, the small, elderly lady that works at the BLUU (Sorry, her name escapes me) came up and started to talk to Ivonne.  Apparently they are really good friends.  When the conversation ended, Ivonne immediately said, "That's another thing that's wrong here!  That sweet woman should not have to be working at the age of 82!"  She told me that in Rwanda, once you hit the age of 65 (it even used to be 55 a few years ago) you cannot be hired anywhere even if you want to work.  I thought that this was interesting but told her that as wrong as it is for elderly people to be working to try to make ends meet, that Rwandan idea would probably never float in America.

    We carried on talking about topics similar to this for a while; it was definitely our longest conversation yet.  Eventually I had to leave to go to a job interview, so Deo and I said our goodbyes.  We promised that we would get lunch together a couple times over the summer since I will be living here, so I am looking forward to that.  I am very fortunately to have had this opportunity to make a new friend.