In an apartment in Tokyo, (just before coming to the United States) I saw Chinese students on TV struggling for democracy in Tian'anmen Square. Students like me were courageously fighting for democracy. The scene impressed me. Soon after I came to the United States, the Berlin wall was demolished, and the veil hanging over the Eastern bloc countries was lifted. However, what was happening in these countries still appeared to be far away from me. This changed when I attended a Coffee Hour at Cosmopolitan Club for the first time. A person from Yugoslavia said hello to me. Although I wanted to ask her about her native country in detail, I could not because of my poor English. I thought if I study English more from now on and go to Cosmopolitan Club frequently, some day I would be able to communicate better with people from other countries.
Not long after my first contact with the Cosmopolitan Club, I became a graduate student at the University of Illinois. Because I became busy with my academic life, I forgot about Cosmopolitan Club for a while. Then, one fall, I learned that one of my new officemates from India was living in Cosmopolitan House. She was telling me almost every day how fun living in Cosmopolitan House was, and she introduced me to the international dinner program.
My first international dinner at Cosmopolitan Club was Swedish, where a smorgasbord was served. I went there with my boyfriend (now, he is my husband). In Japanese, a smorgasbord is called a bai-kin-gu ("viking"), and the word is used basically for any types of buffet-style meal regardless of the type of food. So, when I visited the Sunday dinner at Cosmopolitan Club, I felt lucky because I was able to experience a real smorgasbord. Both my boyfriend and I really enjoyed not just their delicious meal but also the atmosphere. Since then, we have been coming back to the Sunday dinners.
The Sunday dinners at Cosmopolitan Club are a bargain. Besides having a delicious meal from the featured country, I can learn more about a part of the world which I knew little or nothing. If I had studied the countries all over the world this way when I was a middle or high school student, my geography and history classes would have been more enjoyable! About fifteen years ago, when I was deciding whether or not I should go to the United States to study English, some people, particularly those who were much older than me, told me that I should go because my view to the world would expand. I think this is true and attending the events at Cosmopolitan Club has helped make it more so.
My son is only one-year old now. I hope in the future he will look at a globe, point out a country to me, and say, "Mom, remember when we learned about this country at the Cosmopolitan Club last Sunday?" I am looking forward to that.
