In today’s conversation with Mohammed, we talked about a number of things including cooking, marriage in Saudi Arabia, traditions, the climate in Tallahassee and Riyadh, and Mecca. I really think Mohammed has made some progress from the first time I met with him. He still gets a little nervous, but he seems to be able to express himself with more ease. There were only a couple times when he was at a complete loss as to how to form a sentence.
We spoke for a while about marriage in Saudi Arabia. It came up when he was talking about his apartment and he said that next year he hopes to marry. He seemed pretty sure of marrying even though he doesn’t have a girlfriend right now. I asked him a number of questions, being careful not to sound judgmental or disrespectful. He answered all my questions and asked me how I knew about marriage traditions in Saudi Arabia. I explained to him that I study international affairs, so I know about some of their traditions. I really enjoyed our discussion and it was interesting to hear his perspective on marriage, as well as his family’s tradition of arranged marriages. It really puts in perspective for you, how important cultural norms are. What might be old-fashioned to me, is completely normal for him, and simply a way of life for his family and many other families in Saudi Arabia.
I feel like I’m also getting better at teaching him vocabulary words. If we are talking about something, I am able to find a way to incorporate new words. For example, I explained to him ‘directions’ and ‘ingredients’ when talking about cooking. Each time I teach him a new word, I write it down for him in his notebook and maybe draw a picture of it, or give some synonyms and antonyms.
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