The AFS panel discussion Mrs. Zhou so kindly offered to host was a big success. It was so nice to be able to meet the other two AFS students. They were all incredibly nice and had such interesting stories to share. All three of them were so nervous before the event started, but once we got going they couldn't stop talking. They answered each question thoughtfully. They also spoke very good English. I would not have known they were not native speakers if each of them did not have an accent from their home country. What surprised me most was the fact that they were willing to answer each question despite it maybe showing a bad light on their country. For example, quite early on, I stated the question of how gay marriage and race relations were viewed in their community. Maya took a second and I could see that she didn't particularly want to answer the question because it reflected badly on her country, but nonetheless, she did. She told everyone that the beliefs of the people in her country did not necessarily make them racist or homophobic, but they were simply a community that was not exposed to many different forms of relationships or people. She understood that the beliefs of Bulgarians and Americans differed but I thought she did a very good job of answering that question.
Comments
Post a Comment