My 2nd Meeting with Mohammed

My second meeting with Mohammed. As I showed up to the University Bookstore (with a 1 liter Nalgene water bottle to forgo paying for coffee), I ran into none other than Dr. Williams himself. Shortly after, at about 5:25, Mohammed showed up and bought a lemonade from the Starbucks. And now we were ready to begin.

We chatted at first about how are weekends were. On Saturday afternoon he played soccer at the intramural fields. Then, that night, he went bowling with a group of friends. He also had to take care of his cousin who had terrible tooth pains over the weekend. Eventually, on Monday, Mohammed took him to a dentist and had the tooth removed. Mohammed mentioned that he had braces for a year, and found it strange that I had mine for a full 3 years (which I feel is fairly normal here). Later, we discussed how Sundays are lazy, relaxing days that should be dedicated to doing nothing. What struck me as odd about this is the fact that he has the same viewpoint of this day despite coming from an entirely different culture, where Saturday serves as the day of rest in their work week. On his Sunday, he just relaxed and watched TV most of the day, and studied some at the library. As we talked about our studies, and how I’m a Spanish major, Mohammed told me about his journeys to other countries aside from the US. He has been all over the Middle East, visiting Lebanon, Jordan, Syria (before the recent political strife) and several other places. He also mentioned how he wants to visit South America one day because of how beautiful his friends tell him it is. Mohammed described to me the job he hopes to get after college when he returns to his home in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. You get a salary, but the company also pays for your car, your gas, your home, your cellphone, and many other things. He made it seem like an average job at an accounting firm there.

When Mohammed mentioned that he’d forgotten to email Zhenya back, he asked me if I’d had a partner before him. I mentioned Abdulaziz, who just so happens to be his cousin whose tooth was removed. I was paired with Mohammed after Abdulaziz because Abdulaziz doesn’t know as much English as Mohammed. However, I invited Mohammed to bring his cousin to our next meeting so I could get to meet him and so they could both practice their English.