Wow, it's crazy how time flies by. It feels like just yesterday I was walking into class and finding out who my conversation partner is. Now the semester is only a week from being over for me and I had my final meeting with Bandar. We had our usual greeting, catching up on our stress levels and class work. Apparently as of today Bandar is completely done for this semester. I told him how jealous I was and he told me the only thing left is a party on Friday. However, he isn't going because he would rather sleep.
Then we talked about our latest plans for the break. Some close friends of Bandar's invited him to join them in New York. If he goes he will stay close to 2 weeks, which he plans on doing. He told me that he likes the city and the night life of New York, but that he prefers Seattle. This is because he prefers the vibe and weather of the city. He also mentioned that the people of Seattle are much nicer and less fast paced than New York, which I agree with. He asked when I thought the weather would finally cool down here. I told him January and February would probably be most cold. "How about Christmas?" he asked me. I told him it would start cooling down again next week.
He then asked me what I do with my personal life. I didn't understand what he meant but then I figured out he was asking about my hobbies and free time outside of school. I told him that I do photography and draw things. Despite my emphasis on the photographs he was more interested in the drawing, asking if I drew by hand or on the computer. When I told him by hand he said good and asked to see one of my drawings, so I showed him the picture above. When I asked him the same he told me about a game on the computer he plays called Kaiser. Apparently he has put a lot of time and money into this game, and he does not like loosing. "If I were to loose I would be like a samurai and commit suicide," he joked with me. Apparently this game started in America but it was translated and now it is a big deal in Saudi Arabia, with millions of players of all ages. He was very excited to talk about it and we had some good laughs..
The meeting was a bit bittersweet, this semester has treated me well. At the end of our hour, Bandar and I talked about possibly meeting up again next year just as friends to catch up and talk to each other. When I first heard about our conversation partners I was so nervous about how I could possibly fill an hour of time with a complete stranger. I have found that the experience was quite enjoyable though and I am so glad that I got to be a part of the program.
I met with Bandar for the 7th time this Friday. The last few times I had talked to him he was sick but he was feeling better this time. Last time he told me one of the first things he was going to do once he was better was shave, which he did. He laughingly told me it was a long process and that he was happy to be well again. We talked about how when you are sick all you want to do is sleep all day and all your other priorities become insignificant. I asked Bandar if his sickness affected his studies. He told me that he had missed many classes but that he wasn't missing anything except more practice with the language.
We both talked about how classes had been going and he told me about a writing final they had earlier in the week. The prompt was to write about an influential person from their country. He wrote about their king. The essay had to be written in 30 minutes and Bandar was mad that he only was able to write the first sentence of his concluding paragraph. I was surprised by the time restraints and specific organization they had to follow for their essay. Bandar said the teachers told them not to worry to much since they would take the time pressures into consideration, but I was still amazed by this. I remember not being able to write an essay in an hour my Sophomore year of high school so these demands were higher than I expected.
I asked what else he had coming up and he told me about a speaking exam he would have this coming week. I empathized because just that morning I had to do an oral exam in Spanish class. He told me that the exam was divided into parts that involved repetition, comprehension, and grammar. Then we had a good laugh when he told me about his favorite portion. Apparently the test is on a computer and this section in particular asks very basic questions. He told me how silly they were, something along the lines of you go to school to? ... fight? study? or dance? Apparently he has failed this section before because he has laughed through the time given to answer the question. When his teachers confronted him about it saying the section is easy and asking why he was laughing he asked them if they had been listening to the questions. When they said no, he told them to listen to the questions so then they could understand why he was laughing. I was cracking up for the whole story imagining this scene. I thought it was great that his laughter showed his comprehension but also caused him to fail. This will probably be one of my favorite stories from this whole experience.
