Bandar Meet #6

     I met up with Bandar at 1873 again today.  He is still feeling sick and so our conversations were mostly circular.  Something that I forgot to mention from the last time we talked was that we discussed Daylight Savings Time.  Because Bandar didn't know about the time change, he was very confused when his watch and clocks said one thing, while most of his electronics said another.  He asked me why we did the time change and I tried to explain that it was meant to help save electricity and adapt to the light but he thought that this was pointless for the most part.  I laughed and said that I didn't really see the point of it most of the time either.

     Today we talked about the upcoming breaks and our plans.  He asked how school was going and if my family was all right.  Then he asked if I was going home to California for the break.  I asked him about his plans and he said that he might be going to California too, in order to visit his brother there but that he most likely would stay in Texas.  He also mentioned that his parents may possibly be coming down to visit for Christmas and that they would all meet up in San Francisco. If this didn't happen he said he might travel back home but that he didn't really want to.  He told me there isn't much entertainment back home so other than seeing his family he would be bored and would have to spend time checking on his company which is not his main focus right now.  

    I asked him how his family is doing and he said his father is very busy traveling for work. He mentioned that his father was a bit crazy.  Apparently his father has some ties to the coal business and has been to Iraq during war time.  He even mentioned that one of his father's friends had been killed once going there but that his father still insists of going back.  Bandar's father once suggested Bandar go help him with business but Bandar has no desire to go to such a dangerous area and is concentrating on being a student right now.  Next year Bandar is planning on getting his Bachelors degree at a near by college and explained to me that when he went to visit he discovered that many of the students there have been in jail and are criminals and that this worries him.  I will make friends with them, he told me, "better to be on their good side."

    Then he mentioned a time at his apartment when a homeless man knocked on his door but then left when Bandar could not understand what he was saying.  He asked me if African American people were hard to understand.  I mentioned Hokum and explained that even for a native English speaker, sometimes the slang and lack of annunciation makes the culture hard for anyone to understand.  He continued on to talk about a black woman at the 7-eleven near his house who he also has a hard time understanding.  Apparently she has offered to help him with his English though to which he declined.  "I can not understand her," he told me and then mumbled some nonsense to further prove his point.  I laughed and said I knew what he meant.  Overall this was most of our conversation though we revisited the topic of the breaks and travel several times more.