Learning Journal 17

Today I had good practice with meeting someone new and getting a lot of information out of him. I met him at Wasatch Elementary where we both mentor little kids. Our kids we mentor were put in the same group so I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk to someone new and see how much information I could find out about him. I asked him his name, where he was from, and what year he was in school. I thought they were simple enough questions that should be easy to answer and could run into conversation. He must have thought so too because all he did was give me one word answers. So I thought maybe he wouldn't be such a good candidate to practice getting information from since he didn't seem to keen on giving any. But then I thought to myself, "Well here is a challenge" and I kept asking him questions. He kept giving me one word answers. But then when we were both walking back to BYU he started talking to me. And talking and talking and talking.... I hardly got to get any word in except to practice probing which I'm pretty sure I'm getting really good at! We walked all the way back to the library and stopped in the atrium. I thought this would be where we would part but he had other ideas. He kept talking and talking. I mean I got a lot of information out of this guy and learned a lot about him but I had a ton of homework to do. So we talked for about another 45 minutes and I didn't know how to stop him. I wondered why he was so eager to keep talking to me. I thought it might be because he doesn't really have people to talk to so he latched on to me or maybe he just likes to talk. But then I realized something. I am a girl and he was a guy. Usually a guy doesn't want to keep talking to a girl if he wasn't interested in her and this guy kept talking with no signs of quitting. I thought, "Shoot how do I get away? I'm not interested in this guy and need to leave!" After another 20 minutes I finally saw someone I knew and asked him where he was going. He said he was going to the no shh zone to study and I said oh me too! So I said goodbye to my new found friend and walked away with the words "see ya next Friday at Wasatch!" ringing in my ears. So I suppose my practice of talking to someone new was a success because I certainly gained a lot of information from him but it cost me a lot of lost time. I really needed to leave and do some other important things but I didn't know how to get away. I guess there will be experiences in the field like this one. I will need to leave and my informant will just keep talking. I need to learn how to adequately and nicely say I need to leave and go. I guess it will just take more practice. Good thing I found someone who loves to talk to practice on ;) Till next Friday...