Having the opportunity to meet and talk with Yuho over the past few months has been a delightful adventure. She enjoyed to take walks across campus, and to sit by the “Frog Baby” fountain. To her, one of the most wonderful things was sitting by that fountain. It was very sad to see her leave back to Japan mid-semester; but in hopes of continuing our friendship, I am writing this paper focusing on one BASIC communicational strength and weakness that I plan on improving as our intercultural friendship continues. I believe that my performance of the BASIC skill Relational Role Behavior was my strongest asset. This skill concerns efforts to build or maintain personal relationships with group members. Although I was not traveling to Japan, I watched
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Interaction Posture refers to the ability to respond to others in a way that is nonjudgmental and non-evaluative. Both Yuho and I loved to visit the library. On one chilly afternoon, I bought each of us some soup from the Bookmark Café. “Thank you,” she replied excitedly. “No problem,” I replied as I sat back down in my chair at the table. I dunked my spoon into my soup, about to eat it, when I heard a very loud slurping sound across from me. I glanced up to see Yuho holding the paper cup of soup to her mouth, inhaling the contents inside of the bowl. I can only imagine how offensive my reaction seemed. I grinned and snickered, as I asked, “What are you doing?” To my horror, she looked down at the bowl and then up at me with wide eyes. “What?” She looked around the room noticing, I was not the only one watching her action. Her face turned pale and she slowly set the bowl back on the table. She was mortified. After I realized what I had done, I squeezed my eyes shut and let out an embarrassed breath. I felt like a fool commenting on her eating habits as I had done. I opened my eyes and tried to reassure her in a calm voice that it really wasn’t a big deal to eat soup in that manner. It wasn’t until we began to walk back that she felt comfortable to talk to me again. She tried to explain why she ate the soup that way and I tried to explain with a look of affirmation on my face, that it was rude to have reacted the way I did. Reflecting back on my relationship with Yuho, I notice the need for improvement of both my strengths and weaknesses. I hope as our friendship continues, and I can continue to improve these
Interaction Posture refers to the ability to respond to others in a way that is nonjudgmental and non-evaluative. Both Yuho and I loved to visit the library. On one chilly afternoon, I bought each of us some soup from the Bookmark Café. “Thank you,” she replied excitedly. “No problem,” I replied as I sat back down in my chair at the table. I dunked my spoon into my soup, about to eat it, when I heard a very loud slurping sound across from me. I glanced up to see Yuho holding the paper cup of soup to her mouth, inhaling the contents inside of the bowl. I can only imagine how offensive my reaction seemed. I grinned and snickered, as I asked, “What are you doing?” To my horror, she looked down at the bowl and then up at me with wide eyes. “What?” She looked around the room noticing, I was not the only one watching her action. Her face turned pale and she slowly set the bowl back on the table. She was mortified. After I realized what I had done, I squeezed my eyes shut and let out an embarrassed breath. I felt like a fool commenting on her eating habits as I had done. I opened my eyes and tried to reassure her in a calm voice that it really wasn’t a big deal to eat soup in that manner. It wasn’t until we began to walk back that she felt comfortable to talk to me again. She tried to explain why she ate the soup that way and I tried to explain with a look of affirmation on my face, that it was rude to have reacted the way I did. Reflecting back on my relationship with Yuho, I notice the need for improvement of both my strengths and weaknesses. I hope as our friendship continues, and I can continue to improve these