Suzanne-CP 2

I'm about to write a blog that I'm assured will look remarkably similar to a few other students'...

There is a group of Kuwaiti and Saudi students who all know one another and are friends within the program. By chance, there are a group of perfectly matched TEFL students who also know one another and are friends within THEIR program. What does this equation equal? A smash of people in the ever-outgoing Hassan's apartment to eat, drink tea, smoke cigarettes (inside? the things these people teach us...) and talk. This is Conversation Partnering to the Extreme.

Saturday night, some of the TEFL students, myself included, ended up at a dinner put on by Hassan and his friends, all of whom hail from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. In total, there were probably 15 of us, crammed into this apartment together. At first, things were quiet, almost awkward, but as soon as we all started to feel more comfortable, the conversation didn't cease. I met a few CIES students I hadn't met yet - Mohammad, who showed us pictures of his daughter and talked about his family, Rashed, who told me about the different things he misses about home, and finally, Albraa, my personal conversation partner and until now total International Man of Mystery. Talking to him proved the most interesting for me. He seems a little hesitant to buy into the program as a whole - he spoke English the least out of his friends, though his comprehension and fluency was quite good, and it took a long time for him to open up to the Americans. But once he did, I found his company pretty entertaining. We talked the most about dating and marriage in Saudi Arabia. Imagine it - a group of liberally-minded girls and somewhat traditional Saudi/Kuwaiti guys, sitting in a circle on the ground, comparing dating in America to dating in the Middle East. I knew that, at least in Saudi Arabia, the process was complicated, but until Albraa and his friends explained it fully, I really had no idea. That conversation was the most enlightening - we kept asking them questions, over and over, which they seemed more than willing to answer. It felt like the truest form of cultural exchange. It's hard for me to accept the way that women are treated in Saudi Arabia, but listening to these guys made it seem somehow more familiar, in a way. I think it's wrong, they don't, and who's to say, really? These are the questions I think we, as future English teachers, should be well-equipped to handle.

Dinner itself was quite the event as well. The boys laid out a plastic tarp on the ground, set spots with plates and forks, and served us, insisting that we sit and let them do so. Hassan, the magnanimous host, waited until everyone else had finished to eat - and he ate rice with his hands! (This is turning a bit "ooh, ahh, look at the foreigners," but really, the entire night was beautiful). They cooked some spicy rice and chicken dish, pasta, and french fries, perhaps in an attempt to make us feel a little more at home. Conversation continued over dinner and well past it. Camille and her roommate sang for the group. Phone numbers and Facebook names were exchanged. Pictures were taken. At one point, I turned to Francis and said, "This feels exactly like what it should feel like." And it did. All in all, one of my favorite nights of the summer so far.