Tea with James (Part 1)

Today I met Tao Peng (James,) my conversation partner, for the first time.

When I first received James’ introductory email, I was ecstatic to learn that he was from China.  Several of my close friends are from China and I know missionaries in China from my church, so I’ve heard a fair amount already about living in the Eastern Asia.  I couldn’t wait to hear about his life, his family, and his perceptions of life in the States.

Early on in our first conversation it became clear that we have a lot in common.  We are firstly both Christians.  His testimony was enthralling.  He told me about how he received a Bible from a friend and, reading it for himself, realized the validity of the Christian faith over other beliefs he observed in China.  He explained about how he studied a variety of spiritual pursuits and found Christianity to be the only belief that stuck with his heart, despite a lack of family support and an absence of a strong Christian presence around him.  His story somewhat reminded me of a life-changing novel I read early in middle school called Life of Pi, in which a boy relates his spiritual journey, a testimony told from the confines of his lifeboat after a shipwreck.  I was excited to hear that James had read the novel and enjoyed it as well.  James and I also both want to enter Neeley and study business.  James would like to major in Accounting because he likes math so much.  This is great because I’m currently taking Accounting and a couple of other math classes and he said he would love to help me since he works at TCU as a tutor.  It’s surprising that James and I found so many commonalities in our interests and passions since we grew up in such different environments.

I feel like I drilled James to get to know about his life in China.  I was curious to know about his school, his family, and how he found the transition to America.  Students like James who leave behind their homes and travel across the world in the name of education inspire me.  He said one thing he really missed about China was the food; I guess Market Square is not a spicy as his tastes are used to in China. 

Overall, I felt that my conversation with James went really well.  The fact that he is just now learning English wasn’t overly apparent in our conversation; he spoke eloquently and his grammar seemed normal.  We got along great and I’m really looking forward to getting to know him on a deeper level throughout the semester.  We’re meeting for lunch tomorrow.