Hi My Friend

When I texted my conversation partner, Meshari, last week asking if he wanted to meet up and chat for a bit, he began his response with "hi my friend." I know this wasn't meant to be some grand gesture or anything that should provoke a lot of thought, but I couldn't help but feel really special about this. I guess it is just something that we don't usually hear ourselves addressed as, and it made me smile. Mama, I've got friends!¹ It was also nice to hear that he did not see me as just some ignorant American (in reference to my first post) that he was obligated to entertain every once in a while, but as a buddy. Granted, that was followed by him saying that he couldn't meet that week, for which he obviously had a legitimate reason and was by no chance just avoiding hanging out with me. We're compadres now, it's official.² 

We continued to chat, beginning with the two tests he had the next day (See? I told you he had an honest reason for skipping out on me). He had a grammar and a writing test which he thinks are the two most difficult aspects of English. Being impressively monolingual and all, I have to agree.³ I am well aware that I still struggle with writing and grammar almost to the level of incompetence at times, even after 19 years’ worth of practice. We all constantly see and read grammar and spelling mistakes, along with the all-around butchering of the English language, regardless of the age or education of the person making the flub.⁴ I have so much respect for those that can fluently speak multiple languages. I can’t even imagine being able to learn and implement a completely new language, let alone at the rate that these IEP students do, considering that I can hardly speak this one. Meshari later informed me that he thought he did well on both of his tests, which I was exceptionally excited to hear! I asked him if college students in Saudi Arabia took the same general types of classes that we do, because I find it slightly difficult to imagine them taking, say, a Disasters and Failures class.⁵ I just can’t help but thinking that we generally overanalyze and/or categorize things enough to devote full semesters to some seemingly specific topics. And I am not saying that they don’t do this, I just think maybe not to the level of insignificance that I think we do sometimes. Again, this is among the plethora of things that my small, ignorant American brain tends to have a tough time fathoming. Meshari answered that they take the same things that we do, with the differences in classes being that they are in Arabic, he thinks they are easier, and that we take more classes than they do. At our first meeting he said that he found the classes here more difficult than those back at home, even the ones he was always pretty good at, like math. I would assume that some of this difficulty could be attributed to the cultural differences in the approaches to these subjects, both in teaching and in practice. But then again, this could be my inept mind speaking.

I definitely found it quite interesting to hear his comparisons between schools in America and in Saudi Arabia. Not only is he learning how to live in another country, but also having to learn a new and different way of learning. I find it all so fascinating and hope that over time my horizons can be broadened in at least understanding, if not experience. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to get to know Meshari, who seems to enjoy discussing all this with me, and has been more than accommodating. This poor kid has been such a sport by enthusiastically answering my abundance of questions and curiosities.6 I guess that’s just what friends do, right?(: ⁷

¹No, my mother doesn't frequent my blog. But if she did, hi mom, grades are good, bed is made (......), and no, I'm not having the kind of fun you pretend not to have had in college.

²No take-backs

³With a dip of Spanish speaking skills enough to introduce myself and to say that the lettuce is interesting

⁴Refer to Anguished English by Richard Lederer for further testimony

⁵Actually, I can picture this if it were named something along the lines of Epic Fails by Americans.

⁶With only a minimal amount of “silly American” head shakes and chuckles.

⁷A special thanks to Dave Barry for the inspiration for the footnotes. Much appreciated homie.