Week 1: Speed-friending

Welcome back! We hope everyone had a pleasant winter break!

This week's meeting was today, Tuesday, instead of the usual Wednesday, so many of our regular members couldn't make it. But we did see a lot of new faces!

We started off by going around the room briefly introducing ourselves, and then we lined up desks and did speed-friending in roughly 5-minute intervals.

Our meetings for the rest of the quarter may or may not be moved to Wednesday nights. Please let us know the best days and times for you to come out via the Doodle link on Facebook.

Also, if anyone is interested in purchasing an LXP t-shirt, we still have a couple left! :]

Week 10: Music and Food

Tonight's event was supposed to be karaoke, but we weren't able to get a room at the Student Center, nor did we get microphones... So we just played music videos (and some people sang along)! :]
We had pizza and apple drinks and just talked among ourselves~

It was nice seeing some people for the first time in a while!
Thanks to everyone who came out this quarter! Good luck on finals, and see you next year!

Week 9: Randomness

Originally today's event was supposed to be telling stories with wacky, random pictures, but we decided to let it go... Hahaha!

Instead, we spent some time making a list of simple, useful/slangy phrases in various languages: Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, German, and Italian!

The rest of the time was kind of an open conversation, but most of us were gathered around one member who was learning the Korean alphabet.

We also talked about some cultural differences in going out and paying. Like, when a group of friends go out to dinner for someone's birthday, who pays the bill? Do the friends pay for the birthday person's meal? Or does the birthday person treat all his/her friends? Or does everyone just pay for his/her own share? Of course, this also led to the question about who pays when a couple goes on a date.
We learned that for weddings in China, the groom's parents generally pay for everything!

Week 7: Early Turkey Feast

...without the turkey. But we did have a lot of other yummy food at the potluck tonight! Homemade pumpkin pie, pad thai, mashed potatoes, fruit, "healthful" cookies, etc.~

We ate and talked, talked, and ate some more. Although there were probably enough seats for everybody to sit (despite having to use several as tables for the food), everyone mostly stood in groups and chatted.

We had a guest from the International Peer Group program come check us out tonight, so maybe we'll see more international students at our future meetings!

Thanks for coming out tonight!
There will be no meeting next week due to the Thanksgiving break. See you week 9!

Week 6: Game Night

After we all gathered around and doted on Michael's cute kitten, people started breaking into their own conversation groups. One by one, the groups broke out the games. We had a table in the corner for bright pink mahjong. Jenga moved from one group to another, and the other main game being played was Uno!

Hope everyone had fun tonight! Maybe you learned something new too?

Week 5: Half and Half

Happy Halloween!
We forgot to send out an email for this week, sorry!

Because of midterms, today's meeting was basically just an open conversation night again. We had movies playing in the background if anyone wanted to watch, but it seemed like most people were simply catching up with each other or meeting new people.

Towards the end though, everyone stopped conversing and started watching The Man from Nowhere together. Gotta go back and watch the beginning some time!

Week 4: Open Convo

Most people are probably having upcoming midterms, so tonight was just an open conversation night. After a short reminder about Queen Mary, everyone pretty much just talked among themselves and enjoyed the snacks (maple cookies!). Conversation night certainly may be the simplest activity LXP can set up, but it's also probably the best way to get to know the people you've met so far and learn about languages and/or cultural differences.

Thanks to those who stopped by! Good luck on all your midterms~

Week 3: Enter the Hero!

This week we combined our usual pizza night with a movie! After browsing through Netflix for a while, we finally decided on the Japanese movie Ping Pong. Hope everyone enjoyed it! It's the kind of movie that you understand a little more each time you watch it.

There wasn't really any time to talk this week, but you'll get the chance next week, so please come back for conversation night!
Also, if you're interested in going to Queen Mary's Dark Harbor, please let us know by next Wednesday.

Week 2: Strings of Things

Today we played a language concentration game! We split into two groups, and within each group we went around saying words/phrases in different languages according to the given topics (food, useful phrases, clothing). Of course, it wasn't that simple... We also had to remember and repeat what the people before us said, so in the end we had these long strings of words.

Eventually, our game just turned into various conversations, and we spent the rest of the time talking, snacking, and watching funny videos.

Hopefully you'll remember some of the new words you learned today!
See you next week for pizza and movie night!

Week 1: Breaking That Ice

It's been quite some time since this blog was last updated, but hopefully we'll revive it this year!

We had our first meeting of the quarter (and school year) tonight. It was exciting to see new and old faces! After some general information about the club, we went around the room and gave brief introductions. Then we formed a large circle, and each person told 2 truths and 1 lie about themselves. Even more people joined us in the middle, which was a pleasant surprise! 

Towards the end, everybody just mingled and talked among themselves while munching on delicious snacks. We've got such a lively group this year; you could hear the buzz of conversation from the hallway!

Well, we hope to see you again next week~

Week 1: Speed Friending

The first meeting of the quarter!! There were so many new people to meet. We started with a traditional ice breaker of telling 2 truths and 1 lie to get started, but what’s a better way to get to know all of you than a little bit of “Speed Friending”? ;]

Afterwards, we all just got into groups and spent the rest of our meeting in conversation night. There wasn’t enough time to meet with everyone, but I hope you all found people you would like to get to know more of or practice a language with. Can’t wait to talk to more of you!

Week 9: Story Telling

Last week, the event of the day was to tell a story about the topic we were given in the language we want to learn. If the person telling the story came to a word they didn’t know, they could ask for the word, and then continue on until they had nothing else to say. Another person would tell their story after them.

I think this event really helped us practice our languages. In my group, I learned new vocabulary and grammar for my target language. I hope everyone was able to learn as much as I did, or help out someone who wants to learn the language you’re familiar with.

Sadly, this was the last meeting for the quarter, but not to worry! We’ll be back next quarter, and I hope to see you all again!

Have a nice spring break! :)

~Shirley

Week 8: Game Night

Although some people probably had papers to write or midterms to study for, we had fun playing games with everyone that came!

There was Scrabble, Mah Jong, card games like Mao and 13, and Go (which many wanted to play but didn’t know the instructions entirely). The game was just sitting there at first, until two people who knew how to play finally discovered it.

I had fun enjoying everyone’s company while playing games. It was a nice break away from all the school work and studying! I can’t wait to see you all next week.

:)

~Shirley

Week 7: Story Line

Hey everyone, it has been over a year, but the blog is ALIVE! So make sure to check back often and check out what we are up to at the Language Exchange Program at UC Irvine!

~Kyle

Last week was week 7, and we played a game where we split into two groups to tell a story by connecting random pictures that were given. Some pictures included a man riding a unicycle, someone walking a dog in their car, and a man hugging a giant fish!



Our groups shared the wacky stories to each other and then combined to do a group story. We each got a photo and “popcorned” around the circle to tell a new story using the picture we had.

After a story about an alien cat, heroic dog, and crazy truck driver, we split up into small conversation groups. It was nice to interact with everyone in a group activity, instead of going into separate groups like usual. I hope to get to know all of you more!

:)

~Shirley

Have a great summer~

Sorry I wasn't able to update everyone on the last 2 weeks.  Hopefully everyone is taking care of their finals well.

Week 9, we had the Duan Wu Jie where we ate Zong Zi and learned new vocabulary to make our own story.  It was a depressing and funny story, but a story nonetheless.

Week 10, we went over to Steelhead's Brewery for $5 pizzas.  It was surprising, but we ate it all.

I just want to take the time to thank everyone who came out to our meetings, making new friends, and learning new things.  I would also like to thank the staff members of LXP for sticking around and making an awesome year for the club, for the members, and for me.  It's been an honor being the Web manager and historian of LXP.  Have a great summer everyone and see you around campus next year.

-Trenton

Conversation Night - Technology

Hey everyone, thanks for coming out last night and joining us in our discussion of modern day social networks.  I've heard a lot about twitter in the past, but last night was the first time I actually saw what it actually looked like.

We looked at other social networks both chinese and english.  Afterwards we got a bit into watching videos off of Youtube and reading posts off of Engrish.com and the Fail site.

Next week, we'll be changing our room.  Most likely back to HH 224, so be sure to look out for e-mail and facebook to see where it will be at.  Not sure what we're doing exactly, but I heard something about eating and dragon boat.  Hope to see you all back next week.

-Trenton

Game Night

Thank you for those who came to the meeting, it was really fun and we actually used Mandarin today!!!  We had 2 tables playing Mah Jong, and there were both people that were new to it and people who already knew how to play teach.

The 3rd table played various card games such as Poker, Black Jack, Mafia, and BS.  We tried our best telling the stories while playing Mafia in Mandarin as well as counting in Chinese for BS.

Don't forget that tommorrow from 11AM-2PM we will be in front of HIB selling Jamba Juice.  Also, be sure to join us for next weeks meeting for Conversation Night: Technology and Internet lingo in English and Chinese.  Hope to see you all there!

-Trenton

Cinco de Mayo

Hey Everyone, sorry for the last post again.  Hopefully everyone was on top of their mid-terms and school work the past week (or at least did a better job of taking care of them compared to me).  Last week, we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with the rest of the club and got some fish tacos from Rubio's!

We learned some new words for English, Chinese, and Spanish, got a little carried away and started learning about other languages too.  It's good to see so many people joining our meetings now, it makes it a lot more lively.

Tonight is game night, and from what I heard, we have 4 sets of Mah Jong.  This is one of our most popular events we have each quarter.  Even though people don't know how to play, they're still interested in learning, which makes it a fun experience for everyone!  Gonna go check it out now and then report back on the meeting soon after.

-Trenton

Drinking Games

Hey Everyone, I'm very sorry for the late post.  I hope everyone else is taking care of mid-terms and school work a lot better than I am right now.  Last week, we got together and played some drinking games but had V8 as our drink.  Yeaaaaaaah, a lot of people don't like the salty taste, so it was funny to watch you guys squint and stutter from drinking it!

Tonight, we're going to be celebrating Cinco de Mayo and learn about the culture behind it.  We will be eating Rubio's from what I hear.  So we'll have Tacos, Chips, Salsa, and soda to accompany our discussions and games for tonight.  Hope to see you all there!

-Trenton

Conversation Night - "What's in a Name?"

Hey everyone, thanks for coming out last week for conversation night.  It was good to see some new faces, I hope we keep getting more new members.

Last week, we played "2 truths and a lie" where everyone guesses which one is the lie.  We get to learn interesting facts about each other.  The main event of the night was to learn about what our Chinese (or other native language) name means.  We had a lot of help as many people knew what their Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese name is.

This week, we will be having drinking games in the same room as last week. (sorry, no alcohol).

-Trenton