Chan CP#1

            I met with Mohamed at the FSU student union.  I learned he is from Kuwait and has been studying English for seven months.  He understands a considerable amount of words for only have seven months of exposure to English.  He is in CIES to learn English, in order to study Civil Engineering at FSU in the fall.

            Some of my friends were playing pool at the student union, so I decided it would be fun to watch their game and discuss what we saw. We didn’t watch much of their game, as we had plenty to discuss and learn about each other before needing a distraction such as a pool game to facilitate conversation.  He was born during the Gulf War, yet did not show any psychological side effects from being born into a war-torn region.

            He wanted to learn more about the American culture. It was fun to fill him in about Independence Day and compare our countries’ histories.  However, the language barrier prevented me from learning too much about how Kuwait was formed.  He seemed to communicate that in the 1700’s Kuwait was part of Iraq.  Also, we talked about the different kinds of “dress” that our cultures experience.  He stated that in his culture, some form of law or tradition dictates the type of “dress”.  Additionally, I was surprised how easy-going he was about not being to able to consume alcohol, as the Islamic religion dictates.  It appears that he is convinced of the negative side effects that come from drinking alcohol, and has no desire to spend money on something that is bad for him. 

            In conclusion, meeting a young man from Kuwait is an opportunity to learn about the Middle East from a person who actually lives there, rather than from the corporate mass media machine.  Additionally, I am interested in showing Mohamed a diverse and perhaps, “out of the box”, sub-culture that lives in the U.S., of which he may not be aware: a culture of gardeners, musicians, and actors.