Trans.Lingual

But the best part of my August language journey was getting to meet (and her lovely daughter) on my birthday!

I met Suzanne online in 2020. We had followed each other for some months, or maybe a couple years, but during the pandemic started this group of women language learners that would get on Zoom almost every day, check in on each other, and study our separate languages in parallel. While all the women I met in that group are all amazing and badass in their own way, Suzanne and I really clicked, having a lot in common in our personal lives and in some of our languages of interest. Even as people’s lives went back to “normal” and our little pandemic study group petered off, Suzanne and I kept texting and meeting to study and supporting each other through various stages of our lives, multiple moves, a marriage and divorce on my part, and more. Since 2020, we’ve gone from living on opposite sides of the country to both living in the middle, ~6 hours from each other; so, we finally got to meet in person!

We spent the day talking language (and boring Suzanne’s taught, I’m study) while exploring the Tibetan, Chinese, gemstone, and Egypt exhibits at , some of which made me nostalgic for different parts of my past (studying Chinese in high school and college and wanting so desperately to visit there; practicing Tibetan Buddhism and studying Tibetan). Then we finished the night with some delicious Korean friend chicken (양념 치킨), tteokboki (떡볶이), and vegetarian kimchi fried rice (김치볶음밥) for Suzanne.

Last weekend was the best birthday I’ve had in a very long time, and getting to spend the day with Suzanne made it even better! Thank you for years of friendship, and here’s to many more!