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.