Mohammed: Meeting #2

As Mohammed approached me in the library Friday afternoon with a warm smile, I was immediately reassured that our conversation would be as easy and free flowing as our first meeting’s conversation had been.  After inquiring about how each other were doing, we transitioned into talking about our past weeks.  I asked Mohammed about his trip to visit friends in Norman, Oklahoma; Mohammed asked me about my tests and projects from the previous weeks.  As we conversed, Mohamed and I were honest with each other, boldly expressing our feelings of both triumph and frustration.  For some reason, there were no walls between me and Mohammed; we never lied about our emotional states or experiences, we never tried to impress with exaggerated antidotes or falsified stories.  We have refused to paint unrealistic pictures of our lives; and as a result, Mohammed and I have established a relationship founded on principles of trust and honesty, a relationship that allows us to talk about our feelings and experiences without the risk of judgment or embarrassment.  By exposing our flaws and troubles, we have discovered that we share similar frustrations and emotions despite our obvious cultural differences.

One of our main topics of conversation stemmed from our shared frustration of not having a car or other form of personal transportation.  We discussed all the difficulties attributed to a lack of transportation.  We enthusiastically shared personal antidotes about missing events or being left out of activities, laughing as we shared similar stories of confusion and frustration.  Mohammed revealed to me his plans of buying a car from Saudi Arabia during the summer.  He told me that he plans to buy a sports car from a friend of his father, costing $5,000.00-$10,000.00 less than similar sports cars sold in America.  After he described his idealized sports car to me, he sighed and looked down at his hands, muttering that he would prefer to buy a motorcycle.  When I asked him why he didn’t simply buy a motorcycle if he wanted one, he explained to me that pressure from his father often dictates his life decisions.  According to his father, a motorcycle would present a negative image to Mohammed’s future customers, propagating an image of rebellion and deceit that would accompany Mohammed for the rest of his professional life.  Mohammed, bound by cultural expectations and stereotypes, will be forced to purchase a vehicle against his preference in order to appease his father and his potential customers.  Mohammed’s dilemma made me realized how much freedom I have in America; the simple ability to purchase a vehicle without the overwhelming pressure of social expectation is a freedom I have never acknowledged before and take for granted on a daily basis. 

The rest of our conversation revolved around family.  Mohammed explained that he had missed our scheduled meeting last week because he was skyping his family in Saudi Arabia.  He told me that his father, owner of his own company, traveled for 3-5 days at a time; as a result, his whole family is only at home together approximately one day per week.  I immediately sympathized with Mohammed since my family also lives far away and rarely has a chance to skype me due to conflicting schedules.  We discussed how wonderful video chatting is and described our families for one another.  Mohammed animatedly talked about his large family, comprised of his father, mother, brother, and six sisters.  He reminisced about his favorite memories concerning his siblings and lamented that he was missing his youngest sister, one year old, growing up.  He inquired about my family and eagerly listened as I told him about my mom, dad, older brother, and two younger brothers.  We jokingly suggested that we switch families with one another, giving me the opportunity to live with all his sisters and him the opportunity to live with all my brothers. 

Our conversation was so effortless and engaging that we did not realize how fast time had elapsed.  Before we knew it, our hour of conversation was over.  Since we both had plans following the meeting, we quickly said goodbye and promised to meet again the following week.  He wished me luck on my exams and I wished him good luck on his ESL presentation due the following week.  Walking back to my dorm, I could not help but smile, knowing that Mohammed and I were becoming friends who could share our common interests, feelings, and experiences with one another despite our starkly different cultures and upbringings.