Conversation Partner Meeting #6: Sweets, Saudi Arabian Coffee, Scares, and Spring-Break

Today was the first time that Essa and I had a chance to meet in a couple weeks due to Spring Break and hectic schedules… It was good to see him! We met at our usual time and place; except for today he brought something extra with him – Arabic coffee and sweets! When we were confirming that we would be meeting that day, he told me that he was going to bring Arabic coffee and sweets, which made me look forward to our conversation even more! I felt bad that I couldn’t really think of any good and “American” that I could bring him that he hadn’t already tried… I figured that a box of Mike and Ikes and coffee from Union Grounds wouldn’t really measure up to the Arabic coffee, date cakes, and dates that he brought. Personally, I don’t drink coffee and have never really liked it (based on the few times I have tried it), so I was a little hesitant to taste it. However, I was pleasantly surprised, it was actually good! It tasted kind of like something between coffee and tea. He said that it’s a lighter color because the coffee beans are not cooked as much as they are for American coffee. Also, different spices and things are added… but these ingredients are not always listed on the package. He said that he bought a package of coffee the other day, and it didn’t say what was exactly in it, that it was their “special recipe”. In addition to the coffee, he brought dates and date cakes. I had never eaten a date before… it was good, but different than expected. The date cakes looked kind of like mini donuts, about an inch and a half in diameter. On the exterior was a sort of cookie casing, and on the inside were dates that were compacted into the cookie. It sounds a little odd, but actually tasted really good! I commented on the cookies were, and he put one in a plastic bag and let me take it with me for later… how nice of him! Essa said that his wife had brought back two boxes from when she went back to Saudi Arabia, and these cookies were from the second box… he went through the first box in a week! I don’t blame him… these cookies were so good!

After our discussion and my curiosity about the food, Essa wanted to explain to me about why it took him awhile to reply to my text when I told him (last week) that I wouldn’t be able to meet with his last Thursday. Last week, it was about 1:00 in the morning and Essa was studying and doing homework, when his wife who had gone to bed several hours earlier, texted him that she wasn’t feeling well. She couldn’t feel her left shoulder and part of her arm, so she asked him to take her to the hospital. This was really scary for him, especially since these are possible signs of a stroke. They arrived at the hospital and put his wife in the MRI machine to make sure that everything was okay with her brain. After running several tests, the doctors could find nothing wrong and Essa’s wife had regained feeling in her shoulder. So, despite the scare, they were given the “okay” to return home because Essa’s wife was back to normal and there was nothing proven to be wrong. Essa said that they were thankful that everything was okay, but a little perplexed at how the doctors found nothing. Luckily, nothing like this has happened to Essa’s wife since they went to the hospital last week. 

When he was done telling about his adventure to the hospital, we caught up on how each other’s spring breaks had been and everything else that we had missed. He said that he didn’t do anything over spring break besides watch “How I Met Your Mother” – he got all the way to season 7! His favorite character is Marshall, who happens to be my favorite character, too (he’s from Minnesota, so a clear favorite for me). His wife got back home from Saudi Arabia and had to study for her finals for her class (which went well) and then he had finals the following week. He said his finals went well, so he can advance onto the next class that he wants to take! We also talked about his daughter, Dana, who is staying in Saudi Arabia with her grandma and aunt. He said that she likes spending time with her grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins who all live there. He even showed me some pictures and videos of Dana, who is absolutely adorable. One of of her sitting in a grocery cart at the supermarket, trying to put the food that she wanted into the cart and telling her aunt all about the food she wanted. Another of the videos was of her again in the grocery store, correcting one of her cousins on how to say “ice-cream”. She knows both English and Arabic.

It was great to catch up with Essa’s life today! He seems more noticeably confident with his English, which makes the conversations flow even more smoothly. I interpreted it as a good sign that he was comfortable enough to bring coffee and sweets from home, as well as show me pictures and videos of his daughter. It was just like what normal friends do – catch up on each other’s lives over (Arabic) coffee!

Uncontrollable Laughter #2: Because I’m Happy

It was another eventful, exciting, thrilling day of Spring Break 2014. There I was, sitting in my kitchen in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, eating lunch with my mom and dad. Pretty exciting stuff. We were just finishing up lunch and I was just about to bring my plate to the sink when my dad says, “Kally, I have a song to play for you”. Usually when I hear something like this from one of my parents, I usually think, “oh gosh, what is it this time” and then just go along with it. Before I could say anything, his plan was already set in motion. My dad excitedly found the highly anticipated song on his phone and connected it to our speaker system in the living room. Of course, it has to be loud. The song started playing and I immediately recognized it – “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. As soon as it started playing, my mom ran into the living room, too. And there my parents were, two grown adults, in the middle of our living room dancing around like little kids. That’s when the laughter started… and didn’t stop for a while. I wasn’t laughing to make fun of them or because I felt superior to them, but for several other reasons. I was laughing due to the fact that most people would probably think that this was a weird thing for adults to do, but I didn’t think it was weird at all. Us Nords try not to take ourselves too seriously. My parents are just goofy, fun-loving people who aren’t afraid to act like little kids every once in awhile. As they danced and danced (they refused to stop until the entire song was over), I sat there and thought, “This probably explains a lot about why I am the way that I am”. Then, I realized this definitely wasn’t the first time they had danced like this around our living room to this song. I though of my sweet, goofy parents doing this around the house every so often, merely because they can with all their kids gone in college. However, the biggest reason for my uncontrollable laugher was simply the joy that the dancing brought my parents and myself… it was contagious. The song, the giant smiles, the laughter, and the wacky moves filled my heart with such appreciation for my parents and the fact that they find so much joy in dancing like little kids around the living room. A year ago, if they had done something like this, I would not have gotten so much enjoyment out of it. However, being so far from home for most of the year, this instance reminded me of one of the reasons I love and miss my parents when I’m away from home… something changes in a person when they’re thousands of miles away from the people who raised them for 18 years. It was this combination of ridiculousness, goofiness, appreciation, love, and joy is what brought on my fit of uncontrollable laughter. To put it simply, or in the words of Pharrell Williams in his (danceable) song, I was laughing “because I’m happy”.

Learning Experiences #1: A Growing Population and a Growing Sense of Awareness

The first half of my second semester at TCU has proved to be a learning experience in itself. It has been a mix of taking and applying the things learned from first semester, in addition to learning academically and from new experiences. With a new grasp on what “time-management” means and new notebooks, I was ready to take on second semester of freshman year. I quickly found that the work I had this semester was more project-based, rather than the numerous papers I had written my first semester. Despite this change, classes were enjoyable and interesting… a lot of the information that I have learned so far has made me think, and not just in a classroom setting. For example, my Contemporary Issues in Environmentalism class has opened my eyes to the many environmental problems that our world faces. The world’s population is predicted to hit 9 billion by 2050… how crazy is that? The big question surrounds the challenge of feeding and sustaining the lives of 9 billion people. How will we produce enough food? Where will our energy come from? When will our sources of energy from coal and natural gas run out? How can we reduce pollution even with a growing population? These are just a few of the questions that propel the discussion and lectures in Environmentalism, and are directly applicable to the world that we live in today, to the here and now. One specifically eye-opening experience was our very first lab. In a simulation about carbon footprints, I found that it would take over 4 earths to sustain the world’s population if everyone lived the same lifestyle as I do.

Another class in which the information we are learning has affected my thinking outside of class has been this class, Literature and Civilizations II. First off, I never even knew that there were such things as theories of comedy… I just thought that people laughed because they viewed something as funny, plain and simple. However, after learning about these theories, I am more aware of the nature of the things myself and other people find funny. One aspect that has been really interesting to me were the “Greatest Comedy Film” presentations. I had seen almost all of the movies, minus a few, so the scenes presented were scenes that I was familiar with. Seeing these scenes was different this time, because they were presented and shown with different theories of comedy in mind. I found myself thinking, “Oh, that’s why people laugh at that”, or realizing that some movies relied on a certain type of comedy and others had a variety. Now, when I watch or see funny things, I try to match the situation with a theory of comedy.

Though I have learned many things so far this semester, these are just two of the things that have stuck out to me especially. My Environmentalism class and my English class have made me more aware in my life outside of the classroom, though in different ways. In my eyes, this is a sign of learning information that is actually valuable because it is applicable to life, not solely confined to a classroom.

Uncontrollable Laughter #1: Trips and Giggles

Tripping… it’s almost always funny, even when it’s you who’s doing the tripping. I might be the only one, but I think it’s even funnier when you are the one who trips.

It was last Monday night and I had just met up with my two friends, Tianna and Blair, in the hall to get dinner at the BLUU. We hadn’t seen each other all day – how did we survive the day? As we walked down the hallway towards the stairs, we chatted and caught up on how everyone’s day was. We waved to our friends in the hallway, and then opened the door to descend down the stairs with Blair in front of me, and Tianna behind me. After just a few steps down the stairs, I tripped and caught myself on the railing. Before the thought of “phew, that was a close one” could even cross my mind, I took one more step…. And tripped again. Luckily, I caught myself (again), but then collapsed onto the ground in a fit of laughter. I could hear Tianna and Blair cracking up because they knew I was okay. For anyone who has every spent a good chunk of time with me or with my friends, you will know that it is not uncommon for me to do something incredibly ungraceful (like tripping), nor is it uncommon for my friends and I to laugh uncontrollably. We just sat there for a minute or so, laughing and laughing as my friends made sure that I was okay. After I pulled myself together, I assured them that I have had much worse falls down many more stairs. We continued to laugh about tripping and falling as we walked to the BLUU, and I made sure to pay attention when I was going down the next flight of stairs. As we walked to the BLUU, we recalled funny instances of us tripping (mostly me, I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m not very graceful), which of course brought us even more laughter.

This situation caused us to break out in uncontrollable laughter for several reasons. Personally, I laugh when I fall because I’m clumsy, but I’m also relived that I’m not hurt… Blair and Tianna laughed because they know me, they saw me trip, and they knew that I was okay. Another reason is that this clumsy, ungraceful moment happened when I was with my friends. I don’t think I would have laughed nearly as much if I had been alone or just passing a random person in the stairs. Trust me, I still would have laughed to myself if I were alone and I definitely would have laughed if I were passing someone on the stairs when I tripped, but this laughter probably would have been more “this is awkward and slightly embarrassing” laughter rather than uncontrollable, laughing-with-friends laughter. Luckily, it was my friends, therefore we felt comfortable laughing with each other about this unfortunate situation. It was under these circumstances that this situation warranted uncontrollable laughter, which is always a nice thing to have on a Monday night. 

Conversation Partner Meeting #5: Family Trees, “Friends”, and Fancy Writing

 

As usual, Essa and I met in the afternoon at Union Grounds. However, today was a little different… he had just dropped his wife and daughter off at the airport, where they were flying back to Saudi Arabia. As I have mentioned before, his daughter Dana is staying there with her grandma, and his wife is returning in a week to finish taking classes at a school in Fort Worth. He said that it was kind of sad to have his daughter leave them, but at the same time it will make things easier. Plus, she likes staying with her grandma. Because Essa comes from a large family, Dana has cousins that she can play with that are around her own age. To show this, Essa took out his phone and opened an app that was a family tree. At the top were his parents, with a picture of each of them, and the rest of the family extended down throughout. There were pictures of his siblings, brother and sister-in-laws, and nieces and nephews. It was a really app! Something interesting about Essa’s phone is that the writing is in Arabic and not in English. Of course this makes sense, but it is just so different to see something other than the letters that I am so used to typing.

 

Upon noticing the Arabic writing on his phone, I was intrigued by Arabic writing. Once we got on to this subject, I was just so curious! He asked for a pen and paper so he could write our names. Here are three interesting facts I learned about Arabic writing in short period time: 1) It is written from right so left, instead of left to right like in English, 2) There are several different ways to write things, according to how much detail is put into each letter, and 3) Some letters are written differently depending on whether the letter is placed at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.  Essa was writing with a Sharpie marker, and said that it is easier to write with a pen or marker that has a flat or slanted tip, because when writing in Arabic there are certain parts of letters that are supposed to be thicker or thinner. Wow, that seems complicated and confusing… I exclaimed to Essa, “That must be SO hard to learn”. He responded that English is SO hard to learn…. Just think about it! He gave an example he had heard of someone trying to learn English… He asked me, “Do you say ‘Chick-ago’ or “Kih-cago’?” – I responded, “Chick-ago”. Then, “Okay, so do you pronounce it ‘Ch-ristmas’ or ‘Kristmas’?”… I was beginning to see his point. He gave several more examples, and I realized that English is one funky language where people make of rules for grammar, spelling, and punctuation, only to break these conventions frequently with many exceptions. Although I cannot even imagine trying to learn Arabic, learning English would be likely just as hard. With this in mind, his fluency in the English language is all the more impressive.

 

Because his wife is not going to be gone until next week, I was curious about what he was going to do all by himself… Watch movies? TV? Netflix? Sleep? I asked him what his favorite TV shows are. Apparently, he doesn’t watch that much TV but his favorite show is “Friends”… he has all of the seasons on DVD! Joey is his favorite character. His favorite movies are action movies, like “Fast and Furious” and “Transformers”… we definitely bonded over the fact that we both like transformers! Another interesting thing that I learned is that a lot of American movies are played in Saudi Arabia, and in different cities there are places to illegally buy current movies and TV shows. Various cities are known for having better or worse qualities, so it’s important to go to the right place. 

 

Later that afternoon after our conversation, Essa sent me a picture of the different ways to write my name in Arabic (attached)… how cool! I also viewed this as a positive sign in our partnership, which seems to be turning into a friendship more and more! This is promising, and each conversation feels like it takes less effort and just like two friends talking.