A Serious Matter

It’s been over two weeks since I last saw Nasser. Unfortunately I was too busy in the week leading up to spring break to meet with him, and both of us were out of town on spring break. Turns out he went to Orlando and Miami for spring break with his sister and brother-in-law. He said he had a good time but that it was very crowded and hot there. I told him that we went to a different part of Florida and we discussed the differences in our breaks.

Apparently somewhere Nasser saw the documentary Food Inc. and was immediately affected by its message. This was the starting point for much of today’s discussion. I have never seen the movie but I understand the point that it is trying to make. Nasser explained to me how the chickens were raised in inhumane conditions and all the growth hormones that they are given. Being a business major, and a conservative I generally disagree with most of the views that films like these try to convey. I’m sure everyone has had a semi-heated political discussion at some point, but it gets even more difficult when the other person has a different first language.  Our conversation took us from the food industry to government regulation, to the economy, socialism vs. capitalism, and other related topics. We both shared our viewpoints on each subject and most of the time we just agreed to disagree.

It was interesting though to get Nasser’s opinion on these various issues. He told me that in Saudi Arabia this kind of thinking was discouraged and that he had very different views from most of the people in his country.  There was even the possibility that he could get in trouble for such thinking. He jokingly said that some people have even called him a socialist, but I think it was more in jest than an actual insult. This is nothing really new as my understanding of Saudi culture is that there is a need for conformity and questioning of the government is generally discouraged. Which is a bit ironic in that Nasser was in favor of more government regulation and intervention of industry here in our discussion. Yet his own government is regulating his speech and thinking in a way. I doubt that it would be possible to make or even show movies like Food Inc. in Saudi Arabia, but luckily here in America we can.

After all of this serious political discussion we agreed that next week we would discuss something much lighter and try to do something more fun than just sit around and talk. Its great to get each other’s views on serious subjects once in awhile, but its important to just have fun too. We did learn a lot of new words through this discussion, I am getting better at understanding what he is trying to say and having the word that he is looking for. This generally makes things go much smoother and helps avoid confusion as he is trying to find the right word and I am trying to understand what he wants to say. I am still impressed at how good his English is, and I think that it takes a pretty good grasp on the English language to have such a serious conversation and effectively convey your meaning. As always I look forward to next weeks meeting, which hopefully won’t be quite a serious.

The Sea Change

The Sea Change was one of the more controversial works by Hemmingway that we read in class, although many of them were controversial in one way or another. In brief summation The Sea Change is the story of a young couple in Paris, France who are caught up in a peculiar argument. The woman has cheated on the man with another woman and he is trying to deal with his views on homosexuality. At first there is much anger and confusion from Phil, the man, which then transitions into some form of acceptance and curiosity. He finally gives her permission to revisit her lover and asks her to tell him about her experience.

There are certainly many different interpretations of this story and exactly how homosexuality plays into the story and how it affects the different characters. On the surface level it is obvious that the girl is open to bisexuality, as she has already told Phil that she has cheated on him with another woman. The real character in question though is Phil. We see a change in his attitude, the sea change for which the story is named, as he gives her permission to fulfill her wishes. It is generally agreed that throughout the course of their discussion his views on sexuality have changed and he becomes more open to her relationship. However, is there more to this change? I believe that there is some evidence that Phil is questioning his own sexuality, and gaining some experience though the girl. As I mentioned before he asks her to return to him and tell about her experience suggesting that he is indeed interested in the concept. In addition after the girl leaves the bar Phil approaches the bar and proclaims to the bartender that he is “a different man”. Now this could simply mean that the experience has changed his views on his relationship with the girl, but it could also mean something deeper. This only adds to the argument that something has changed within him regarding his own sexuality.

As is traditional Hemmingway we are left largely to our own interpretations of the work as he has intentionally used what is referred to as the iceberg technique, meaning most of the meaning is under the surface. There are many different ways to look at the young couple’s experience, and indeed it may mean something completely different to each reader.

Baseball

This week I decided to mix up my visit with Nasser a bit. When we met up at our usual time in union grounds I asked him how his day was going along with all the normal formalities. For some reason the music in Union Grounds was turned up so loud that I couldn’t hear myself think. That’s not relevant but I thought I would add it in there. Anyway, I asked him what he was doing that night and told him that we were going to watch TCU play Baylor in baseball. Nasser told me that he had never watched baseball but would be very interested to go and see what it was all about. I explained to him that this game was going to be a big game since Baylor is one of our big rivals.

I thought I would try and explain the rules of baseball to him so at least he would have an idea of what was going on when we got there. “It’s a pretty simple game” I told him, but as I started going over all the positions, strikes, balls, outs, innings, etc. and I realized how confusing it could be to someone who had never seen it before. I decided to draw it all out on paper, but I’m not sure how much that helped. Anyway Nasser got a quick rundown on the rules of baseball and we agreed to meet at 6:15 and walk over to the game.

So I met Nasser at 6:15 and he brought along his brother-in-law, Mohammad, and Brian’s partner, Khalifa, and their cousin. They also did not know anything about American baseball but were excited to go to a game. It was all of their first TCU sporting events since they had only been here for about two months. We got to the game just as the first pitch was being thrown and took our seats above the TCU dugout. Nasser named many of the positions that I explained to him that afternoon, and I was surprised that he had learned that much from my poor explanation. As the game went on I explained things as they happened to Nasser and Mohammad and they seemed to be understanding it as well as one can expect for the first time. They told me that they would be sure to go home and look up the rules so that next time the came they would be able to follow the game more closely.

The highlight of the game for Nasser was the Baylor team. They were chanting various things about the TCU team and cheering on their team. I’ll have to admit, even as much as I don’t like Baylor they were somewhat funny. Anyway, I had a lot of fun at the game and I think that even though he did not fully understand how it worked, Nasser had a good time as well. It was good to get outside of Union Grounds and allow Nasser to experience a new aspect of American culture. After all, baseball is America’s  pastime.

Nasser and the arts

I met with Nasser for the second time on Wednesday, and again it was a great experience. Since we met in Union Grounds the subject of coffee and tea naturally came up and I was reminded how uniquely southern iced tea is. Nasser told me that he liked drinking hot tea as is usual in the rest of the world, he told me how odd it was that we put ice in our tea and serve it cold. I admitted that this was indeed odd, but that’s how I’ve grown up and I quite enjoy iced tea. We finally agreed to disagree and he settled on hot tea and I my iced tea.

The theme of the day seemed to be the arts. First he asked me where the art museum was and I pointed him in the direction of the Kimbell down university. I admitted that I hadn’t been in a long time (five or six years) but from what I remember it was a great experience. Actually I prefer the performing arts so we transitioned into theatre and the symphony. Nasser said that on one of his trips downtown he had seen Bass Hall and really enjoyed the architecture of the building. I tried my best to suggest other notable buildings in the area that he might want to go visit, but I don’t think I did a very good job of it.

I also learned a little more about Nasser and his family. He has one younger brother and an older sister who is studying here at TCU with him. His family also grows dates back in Saudi Arabia. In fact his whole city is known for the dates they grow and date production is a major industry there. He said that next time he would have to bring me one next time we met because they way better than any we have here. Somehow we got on the subject of gas prices and he told me that gas is about $.40 in Saudi Arabia, which makes sense with all the oil they have. I told him I was going to have to move there so I could save money on gas.

I would say we did better than last time with our translation, as we didn’t have too much confusion about words and their pronunciation. We learned how to pronounce exaggeration and maybe a few other words. Having said that, his English is extremely good and it’s no trouble at all to talk to Nasser. I did try to explain “sneaky” to him but I couldn’t seem to find a word to define it for him so we had to let it go. Its always interesting to learn about him and his experiences both here in America and back home as well as see his reaction to my life. I look forward to visiting with him again next week.