Keira CP #5

Keira CP #5

Date/Time: June 27, 2017 - 3:10 pm
Location: Hecht House (Student Lounge) 

Today was the first time Seongeun and I have been able to meet since her trip to New York. She told me that because of some miscommunications between the airport and the group she was traveling with, they missed their flight back to Florida and she had to stay a few extra days in New York. 

We had no activities left to do, but I did have a question to ask her from one of the last weeks of my class: I asked her to describe any critical incidents she may have had since coming to America or perhaps in another country. She took a long while to think it over, and told me once again that she did not think Korean culture and American culture are actually all that different, so she had not had many moments where this kind of issue had occurred. Finally, she remembered not knowing much about tipping when she first came to America. In South Korea, they do not tip at restaurants the way it is expected that patrons will here. She described being at a restaurant and not knowing the correct way to tip, or how much to leave. I asked who had taught her, and she said the staff of the restaurant had been the ones to explain the procedure. Seongeun asked me if waiters and waitresses here made very little money, and I told her that they do, and they really rely on the tips people leave them in order to make the money they need. She could not think of a moment she's really had a true "critical incident," but I suppose I can only be happy for her if that the case, since they can be embarrassing and difficult to navigate.