Mohammed: Meeting #6

As I packed Thursday afternoon, my mind was consumed with cardboard boxes, Clorox wipes, and laundry.  My mind has transformed into “summer mode” overnight.  This Friday, I would be anticipating the arrival of my dad and little brother (who also just happens to be my best friend) from Colorado.  My focus was on myself, my happiness, and my freedom from college for the next four months.  Needless to say, when I received a Facebook message from my conversation partner, I was not overjoyed to discover reminders of classes invading my thoughts of summer freedom.   Mohammed, as politely as ever, was simply inquiring about what time we should meet in the library, our every Friday afternoon ritual.  I sat paralyzed at my laptop.  I could easily decline the meeting, after all, he had missed countless meetings in the past and I did in fact have plans.  I typed a carefully worded message to him, informing him that I could not make the meeting, but that I enjoyed conversing with him over the semester and wished him well in his future endeavors.  Rereading the message, I was satisfied with my well-worded rejection; however, just as I moved the cursor over the “Send” button, I could not bring myself to forward the message.  As the cursor hovered over the button, I felt pangs of guilt.  In previous blogs I had been happy to write about my growing friendship with Mohammed; but now, because I deemed a meeting to be “incompatible” with my plans, I was selfishly going to manipulate the truth so I would not have to meet with him.  In my world, friends don’t lie to one another.  As soon as I hit that send button, I knew that my friendship with Mohammed would prove nothing more than a façade.  Sighing, I deleted the craftily worded message and wrote a new response, confirming that I would in fact meet Mohammed at the library on Friday, May 11, 2012 at 3:00 pm for our final Conversation Partner meeting.

Sadly, Mohammed didn’t show up to our final meeting; however, I took the time I spent waiting to reflect on my experience with Mohammed this semester.  Meeting with Mohammed pushed me to the limits of my comfort zone.  I enjoy meeting new people and am frankly notorious for forcing friendships out of chance encounters; however, something about the concept of meeting with another person as an assignment made me nervous.  To begin with, I was nervous about the language barrier.  I mumble.  The running joke in my family concerns my inability to talk clearly, resulting in countless impersonations of me talking in gibberish.  I was worried about what Mohammed would think of my English abilities, that we wouldn’t be able to converse between his limited English and my habit of mumbling.  While this proved difficult in our first meetings, many of our jokes and laughter stemmed from this ill-fated combination.  He would frankly tell me he could not understand my words, shaking his head and laughing as I attempted to speak more clearly.  Before meeting with Mohammed, I was also nervous about conversing with a person from Saudi Arabia.  Knowing the gender limitations of the Saudi Arabian culture, I was nervous that Mohammed would be embarrassed to meet with me, viewing me as his inferior.  However, once I met Mohammed I knew this misconception would not prove correct.  While he explained to me the cultural expectations and gender roles of Saudi Arabian culture, he never once treated me poorly or with disrespect.  Mohammed treated me with such equality and kindness despite his cultural upbringing, actions which earned my respect and gratitude. Ultimately, meeting with Mohammed proved to be a meaningful learning experience.  Despite my nervousness at the beginning, I not only learned a great deal about another culture, but I also had the opportunity to make a new friend, a wonderfully unexpected byproduct of this enriching assignment.