Meeting with Meshal: Goodbye at Fuzzy's

     For our seventh and final meeting, Meshal and I met for lunch at a different place last week to commemorate/make special the last meeting. We went to Fuzzy's, which was a big deal because he admitted he does not like seafood the first meeting we ever had. But I convinced him on the grounds that A) if he was going to be a TCU student he had to at least try one of their fish tacos B) their queso is one of the most amazing foods near this campus and C) I was going to pay for it. Reluctantly, he agreed. We arrived and I proceeded to order my customary tempura fish sandwich (which is a curveball, but everyone needs to try it once it is an incredible sandwich) and chips + queso. He ordered a fish taco and a breakfast burrito, then we sat down for the last time (until next year, perhaps) and waited for our food to be ready. 

    

     Per usual, our discussion began with soccer. Mostly that my intramural team went farther than his in the playoffs last week than his team even though we lost to them in the regular season! He was quite unhappy that I brought this fact up, so we changed subjects to discussing American football instead. He said he literally knows nothing about the sport except that it is huge in the U.S. and somehow is more popular than soccer. So I explained to him the basic premises of football and some of the rules, how kids in Texas grow up worshiping football and the players, how I played throughout my middle school and high school years. I then told him how the process of getting recruited works (though I definitely had no personal experience with it) and college football. Then, I told him my opinions of how college football is WAY better than the NFL.

     "What's the NFL?"

     Yikes.

     We grabbed our food and proceeded to gauge his interest in the seafood before him. I watched as he took a bit and...success! He actually enjoyed it and bought another fish taco! Fuzzy's truly is an amazing place if it can do that. Lastly, we talked about our summer plans. I told him how I'll be studying for the MCAT all summer and doing lab research. He laughed at me.

     "That sounds awful, I'll be playing video games and sleeping...have fun being busy!" he retorted.

     He will be heading home for about a month though, so he is definitely excited to see his family back in Saudi Arabia. He hasn't been home since he moved here at the beginning of the semester and seems tired of living with his two brothers already, which is understandable seeing that he's the youngest of the three living together. He's also excited to get with his old soccer teammates and hang out and relax, but he's afraid that not using english on a 24hr basis will take away from what he's learned this semester. I told him he will always be able to call or email me if he needs to!

     Meeting with Meshal has been a very fun experience this year, as well as an eye-opening one. He is the first person from the Middle-East that I have truly gotten to know or speak to, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to become his friend. 

All Night Long, a Humorous Dancing Story

    Last week was a weekend full of red formals. Alpha Chi Omega’s formal, Red Carnation, was on Friday while Sigma Phi Epsilon’s formal, Red Garter, was on Saturday. It was a whirlwind of rushing to obtain tuxedos fitted, planning with multiple groups of people at multiple different restaurants, rushing up to Frog Fountain to take pictures while keeping hair up and dresses down in the gusts of wind, and dancing the night away. First was Red Carnation on Friday, and it was during this night that perhaps the most fun moment of the weekend occurred.

           

    After a delicious dinner with a good group of gals and their dates we arrived at the bus loading right on time for our age group to head to the venue. We waited. No bus. We kept waiting. Still no bus. Bus! We missed it. After waiting for a whole hour AFTER we were supposed to leave, the bus came and went with a bunch of line-cutters that left us stragglers extremely frustrated and angry. At the last second, before we threw in the towel on the evening, another bus showed up and gave us the means to get to the venue…not all was lost! And for good reason too, because the fun was just beginning.

           

    We got to the venue tired after the bus ride and honestly not too eager to deal with a sweaty mob of drunk, grinding people. So we did what we do and sat down at the table nearest to the buffet line. A group of us sat and chatted while the music boomed around us, then a girl approached us with a plate in one hand and a fork in the other.

           

    “You guys have GOT to try the macaroni & cheese at this place…they have SHELL NOODLES.”

         

    Everyone at the table leapt to their feet and rushed to the buffet table where a massive heated plate contained mounds of white-cheese covered shell noodles, one of the best kind of macaroni noodles in my humble opinion. I got two plates.

        

    The food did wonders for our weary souls, and we were reinvigorated to have a good time and hit up the dance floor. As our group made its way to the party a bus showed up to go back to campus. All of us were getting into the groove as seemingly half the people simultaneously left. This did not phase us even a little bit. We were all over the floor, pulling out all sorts of wacky dance moves out that should never be used in a public setting – the kind a dorky dad embarrasses his teen daughter with. And it was a blast. The fourteen of us or so shut down the place as we kept the DJ going strong until the venue kicked us out, long after the brunt of the party had left the place. Lots of laughs were shared and many pictures were taken, it was only the beginning of an amazing weekend but it got off to an auspicious start.

Food and Drink (Humor Post #3)

   Seeking refuge from the hectic college studying setting last night, Elle and I went to Railhead BBQ in Willow Park, Tx – my family’s restaurant – for dinner. Good for my family (and my college career) the place was very crowded with families and parties boisterous with laughter. The bar area in Railhead, in particular, always seems to be brimming with laughter whether during a thinner lunch/afternoon crowd or a packed, elbow-rubbing mob. Come to think of it, a bar (if full) usually is a place seen filled with laughter and friendships both old and new. People are comfortable with their friends, telling old jokes and remembering stupid memories. Or people are very uncomfortable and trying to branch out, resulting in stupid conversations and self-embarrassment, resulting in awkward laughter (either at oneself or at others). Alcohol gave rise to civilization (it was safer to drink than the water, hence the daily consumption of wine/beer in Rome, etc.) so it has had a very long history of helping people bond and live and, simply, have fun with one another. As the fizzy carbonation bubbles up out of the bottle or glass so does laughter bubble out of the people drinking it, releasing stress after a long day at the office – its own type of Relief Theory. Just an interesting thought, thinking about the effects of alcohol on laughter when it is already a predominately social phenomenon.

        

    Anyway, as we sat down at our table, we were much too excited about food (something common for us) and filled with giddy energy at the mere thought of our Railhead fish tacos that would inevitably end up in front of us. And by giddy energy I mean I was acting like a five year old in a restaurant, and I found it hilarious at least. I was shooting the straw wrapper off my straw at Elle, I was dumping out the sugar packets and stacking them into towers, I was drawing pictures on paper towels with the squirty ketchup bottle. Finally, our appetizers came to ameliorate some of the wild energy and open arteries, and we jumped right into the healthy assortment of fries, beer-battered onion rings, and buffalo chicken tenders. We tore into the food like we hadn’t eaten in days (when it comes to appetite, hours might as well be days to me) and annihilated the platter.

          

   “So, what’s new with you?” she asked rhetorically.

            

   “Did you hear about that Reese actress getting stabbed?! Ahh what’s her last name…” I replied.

           

   “Witherspoon?!” she exclaimed.

          

   “No, with a knife,” I responded matter-of-factly. She busted out laughing at the randomness of my corny word pun and could not stop for quite a while; needless to say I caught her extremely off guard. Her laughing eventually got so hard that, even though I had said the joke, I couldn’t help but laugh along with her, and from there it only became a crescendo of laughter. 

The Soccer Meeting

          Last week Meshal and I had our sixth meeting already, crazy to think about! It was another meeting at the intramural fields since we both play on an intramural soccer team. We jogged around the fields for warm-up and caught up on the week… I tried not to lose my breath, as I am still relatively out of shape (but working on it!). He told me that his brother’s car had broken down that day, leaving him in an interesting spot. He does not own a car yet and relies on his brother (also in the IEP) to transport him to and from home some ten to fifteen minutes away, so he said he will basically always be either here at school or at home and not much in between. He said that was one thing he missed about home – his family owns multiple cars and his dad owns a car-repair garage as well. Had his brother’s car broken down back in Riyadh they could have just fixed it in the garage downstairs for free with their dad! Meshal remains hopeful, now that he also has his own room in the brothers’ new house, that he will also be getting his own vehicle in the next few months.

            As we jogged our second lap around we began actually talking about soccer and how long we have played the sport. I told him I began when (I think) I was about four on a team called the Rugrats. After a couple seasons I moved to a completely new team called the Knights, but the majority of my soccer career I played on a team called the Thunderbirds. I think I joined this team when I was seven or eight years old and still have several friends from the team. I played left defender almost exclusively during those years and onward, and our team was perennially dominant. Once I got onto the team we kept a core group of players, probably about eight of us, that remained year to year with a few add-ons and drops each season. Therefore, we all were pretty close to each other back in those days. One of my best friends from high school, Alex, was on the team, so when he moved to Aledo in sixth grade a few years after me we became much closer than just friends from the same soccer team. Funny enough, I was on the team with Hans (I still have a hard time not calling him Harry, since that was what he went by back then)…he was one of the original players on the team I believe! I quit soccer, unfortunately, before my sophomore year of high school to play football, but I have had a blast playing it in intramurals this year.

            Meshal told me that soccer is huge in Saudi Arabia, and he has always loved and played the game. All of his friends at home in Riyadh were fans of soccer, so it really has shaped who he is and who he’s associated himself with. We talked about his playing practically every position on the field at one point or another…he told me, “Just get me on the field, and I can play!” He is very confident in his ability as a player. We then began to discuss our favorite teams as far as international teams and club teams go. My family is from Germany on my mother’s side of the family, so I have always been partial to the German side when it comes to national competition (when the U.S. isn’t concerned, of course). Due to this I am also a fan of the club Bayern Munich, though my first club interest was/is Inter Milan for a relatively silly reason: my team, the Thunderbirds, used their jersey designs and crest as our own! Meshal told me his favorite club, but it had a very complicated name, and I have never heard of it so I honestly can’t remember what he told me, but he is a die-hard fan of the team!

Twain Reflections

I’ve always been a lover of quotes and bits of wisdom. I enjoy remembering them and passing them on, pretending I know a lot more that I do about many subjects. Much like brevity is the key to wit, I enjoy succinct quotes that are easy to remember yet packed with sagacity. Reading over all these quotes makes me wish that I had gotten a chance to meet Samuel Clemens or at least attend one of his lectures… he seems to have a great number of opinions on a great number of subjects, so it makes me wonder what he would be able to say to me in his witty southern drawl. I feel like much of what is in this book is relatively obvious, yet it makes me jealous that someone could say it in such a better way than I ever could.

            Among my favorite quotes in this book was this little gem about Joy…

                       

                        “Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have

somebody to divide it with.”

            This quote resonated with me, and for a while I couldn’t really decide why. I think when I read this I had one of those internal “A-ha!” moments that you get when you finally understand something you never realized was there in the first place. Grief can be very singular and very lonely, in fact I believe it is mostly so. Most people don’t want to be seen crying in front of others if they can do it alone in their bed away from it all. Depressed people (I assume?) don’t want to go hang out with friends in a noisy, bustling place with action and fun. They stay alone and do nothing and find it hard to escape. But humans are a social creature, and we have only gotten more social as technology has erupted and produced such wonders as the phone, the computer, the internet, and social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Because we are social, we feel joy most amplified when we are with others whom we love or enjoy company with. Doing something that elicits self-pride like acing a test or winning a race is cool in itself, but nothing feels sweeter than when others gratify your success and affirm your happiness. Similarly, causing others to be happy is one of the primary causes of one’s own happiness.

            On a quite different note, one of my favorite parts of this book is Twain’s relentless criticisms of the vices of humanity in comparison to other creatures, namely when it comes to stupidity and opinions. The section on Religion struck me as one of the funniest because of his obvious distaste for hypocrites. One of my favorite quotes from this section:

                       

                        “Man—he is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself, and cuts his

throat if his theology isn’t straight.”

            I can’t disagree with this quote even a little bit, and it also irks me to see so much hypocrisy from highly religious people. People who use religion as an excuse to do something that is, in fact, against their own religion is, to me, something that I have a very hard time reconciling when I evaluate a person. It really is ridiculous to me that humans possess the mental capacity to ponder religion and other-worldly phenomena, yet blatantly dishonor whatever it is they believe in at the same time by shooting up people who believe something else.

                        

Twain Assignment - Man

       While Twain is quoted saying, "Nothing is more tragic than a young pessimist" I sometimes believe I fit into this unfortunate category when I reflect on our race. There is much good in the world, I cannot deny that. But  neither can I deny the terrible, horrid evils that persist and thrive as well, especially after this last week in the U.S. alone. Therefore, perhaps my favorite quote from The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain is on the subject of "Man." It goes - "Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to."

       Humans, at our most basic level, are animals. We are filled with that primeval id which, if we are not careful or if we find ourselves in a bad situation, can come rushing out and reduce us to beasts. While our minds are (as far as we know) the most developed and the most capable of containing knowledge on the Earth, we are the only animal to embarrass ourselves in the eyes of Mother Nature and in front of each other with the stupidity of our actions or with the evil of our actions. While a mouse cannot write or read or balance complex mathematical equations it also cannot do something outside of its nature to cause itself embarrassment in front of other mice. Mice, like other animals, do what they need to do to survive as easily as possible and the feeling of embarrassment is lost upon them. Humans want to accomplish more; we have more to gain but much more to lose, and therefore feel the sting of embarrassment when we fail. And then we blush.

Meeting with Meshal: Technical Problems and Video Games

Last Tuesday Meshal and I met once again in the Union Grounds sandwich area and grabbed lunch together. This time, however, he was a bit stressed. “My computer is broken, so I can’t play my online games… it’s terrible,” he said dejectedly as he sat down and threw his bag beside the table. As I have previously mentioned, Meshal is quite the avid gamer from FIFA to first-person shooters. Mostly, however, he is a fan of online PC games and role-playing games (RPGs) such as World of Warcraft. He claims he used to be addicted to WoW before he made himself quit, but he has recently gotten into different, smaller based games of a similar nature. His laptop had fried somehow and he couldn’t get it fixed so he has been reduced to playing games on handheld devices like his phone and Samsung tablet. This was where the problem was stemming.

“TCU wireless is stupid,” he complained, “It’s impossible to set up on this tablet!”

“I can try to set it up,” I replied, but I was not so sure of my capabilities as an IT consultant. I agree with him, stu-wireless is stupid. It’s a pain in the @#$% to set up and it logs out constantly. CONSTANTLY. But, due to the fact that (1) I’ve had to set it up on two phones and a computer over the last two years (as well as deal with updating everything again when I change my my.tcu.edu password) and (2) he did not even know what a my.tcu.edu profile was or that he even had one, I figured I could at least help him. So the next half hour turned into a struggle of getting off SETUP-stu-wireless and onto stu-wireless, signing into his my.tcu.edu account and changing his mobile devices settings, and guessing and checking with all the random number/letter passwords and usernames on a list he obtained from the student help desk.

Finally, we were successful. So he then proceeded to ignore me for the last fifteen minutes as he excitedly and intensely signed into a game that he needed to catch up on in a conquest to destroy some opposing army.

I know what it is like to be sucked into a game that takes precedence over all else at the time and makes you a hermit. During the summer and winter breaks, when I actually have time to do things that actually are not productive, I go on massive video game binges for hours at a time during the day. Sometimes it’s a very old game that I play and try to beat again for the sake of old memories and nostalgia. Sometimes it’s an RPG that can take hours and hours and hours of gameplay to even barely scratch the surface of what lies in the game.

While I have extensive gaming experiences from before I came to college, my best friend wants to enter a career in making video games and, therefore, knows what true gaming is all about. He goes to Baylor (boo I know) and is in their Film, TV, and Digital Media (FTDM) program which, apparently, is considered a “lone wolf” major within the school, not hindered by the overly religious policies of the University; as a program, it is considered one of the best in the nation in Video Game Production and many professors actually have strong connections in the field of video games, film, television, and hardware designing. For example, one of the professors there was the guy who came up with and developed HD television! Talking with him and Meshal always reminds me of my broken XBOX at home (probably for the best) of how much I’ve changed in that aspect of my life when it comes to free time, which I’m not even sure exists anymore. Alas, summer is approaching, at least!

The Final Day of Juha

          Alas, the third section of Tales of Juha more resembled the first section as opposed to the second. That means that this section was not very funny in my humble opinion. I felt that there were also fewer lessons or “truths” to be gained from this section of the reading. For example, while in the Juha the Butt did not entertain me in the least bit, there was a single anecdote that at least elicited a feeble chuckle as I sat in the study room in our fraternity house. The subject of the story was Juha entering a village full of misers, wanting to test the claim that they were as people described them. Upon entering this village he was given a bowl of milk, and Juha was under the impression that the people had been judged wrongly. However, the man only gave Juha the bowl of milk because a mouse had fallen into it. At the very end, when Juha throws the bowl down in anger, the “chuckle moment” arises when the man yells at him “Careful! Don’t break that bowl! It’s the one my daughter uses to piddle in!”

          I found this funny because not only was there a cognitive shift (for the reader as well as Juha) upon discovering WHY the man gave Juha a bowl of milk in a very un-miserly manner, but the reason for giving him the bowl was quite disgusting. But the real kicker was the man’s reaction to the bowl being tossed in anger and disgust. “Hey, my daughter piddles in that bowl!” was the last thing I expected to read. And, while perhaps immature, I find the word “piddle” hilarious, especially when combined with the shock of realizing Juha just drank out of toilet. The fact that this man is so miserly as to use a bowl as a cup and as a toilet is quite off-putting. While this anecdote is relatively funny, however, I fail to see a concrete purpose or lesson to be learned from it. I suppose all I can deduce is that those who are miserly offend people, so refrain from being a miserly person?

            

          One of my favorite types of myth or story is when justice is served. Superheroes always win, the bad guy loses, and hope is not lost completely. Call it cliché, but I like it when the good guy wins. Justice is one of those things that I think everyone wants to believe in and hopes for, but in real life justice is not always given out to those who deserve it: innocent people die, bad things happen to good people, and tragedies always seem to fall hardest on those least able to bear the burden. Because of this we look to stories that, when we control them, end up in a way that we wish our own lives would go. We want to be the hero. We want a healthy portion of lex talionis. So, after that introductory spiel, without further ado I reveal that the Justice and Generosity section of our assignment was probably my favorite section.

          

          The second story (the one about the cook demanding repayment for the use of steam coming off his food) was one of my favorites of this section because of Juha’s succinct, sharp come-back. He made a bag of coins jingle, and said, “You can take the jingling of coins as the price for the flavorsome steam of your cooking.” The next story had a similar purpose and punch-line, as well as the next one after. This last one was probably my favorite of all the passages I read in this assignment. The trickery employed by Juha to teach the claimant’s nonsensical dispute I found hilarious. This story, about the man claiming that he was to be paid for his “nothing,” was brilliantly ended. What was found under the book the claimant lifted?

          “Nothing.”

            

          “Very well. Now, take it and be off with you.”

           

          This clever play on words and mode of revealing justice to someone just making trouble to make trouble made me laugh aloud in triumph.

Juha-Inspired, Childhood Reminiscence

            As a child learning to read I was always drawn to fables, myths, and legends: Aesop’s Fables, Greek mythology, Nordic mythology, the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. These stories always taught lessons and imparted general knowledge that perhaps other kids didn’t absorb by just going through the day to day life, and these lessons were always something I was seeking. Sometimes they were obvious to interpret: don’t steal, don’t ask stupid questions, respect your elders, etc. Others were more challenging to divulge and more complicated to understand, but I was always one to enjoy a logical puzzle or mind game. These stories fueled my desire to read, and as a child I really was a voracious reader. For example the most trouble I was ever involved in in middle school was getting caught reading during class lectures (ironically it was in my English class), and all the way up until high school I would read at least two books a week and be in the library every day scouring for new options.

But I digress a bit. In short, myths and stories with a lesson involved have played a pivotal role in my reading career. So, Tales of Juha seemed very interesting looking it over since it appeared to fit this bill. Also, I’m not very familiar with Middle-Eastern/Arab folklore at all which added an incentive to delve into this book. 

As a book with many short tales of wit and wisdom I find it at least semi-interesting. I enjoyed the story (one of the longer ones) of Juha outwitting the two thieves by playing on their strong greed. I feel like this is a common tale showing the fallibility of the “deadly sin,” as well as the stupidity of many criminals. Similarly, the next tale was about Juha hearing a thief on the roof and purposefully giving him false information in order to outwit the thief showing that wisdom often (and always should) outdoes the stupid.

While some paragraphs have an intentional moral of the story or lesson to teach, some are just plain goofy or contain clever wordplay, for example, the story about age. Someone asks Juha how old he is and he replies forty. Ten years later he asks him how old he is and he replies forty. When the guy calls Juha out on this Juha replies, “I’m not the kind of man who changes his word, or takes it back. Isn’t that the way a proper man should behave?” This is just a trick on words, because yes a proper man should stick to his word, but the joke is obviously that things change and this can’t be taken literally. The story is amusing but not much of an axiom. Which brings me to my next observation…

Not many of these stories are funny. At least, in my humble opinion, they are not funny in the laugh out loud way that some of our readings have been.  I do believe I chuckled at one short tale between pages one and forty-one. And it was about facial hair. Maybe this is because it was late and I was tired, but I really just don’t think many of these translate well into humor when there’s a legitimate lesson to learn, or perhaps I just don’t have a good grasp on Arab humor (which I admit could definitely be the case). Hopefully the next part of the reading assignment will have a few more laughable moments!

Just Joking > Morreall

First, I must say FINALLY. Just Joking was everything I thought Morreall’s snore-inducing explanations of humor and humor theories was going to be and should have been. I found this article very entertaining to read, because the authors themselves actually used their senses of humor in order to write through the lens of humor. This tone and input of funny blurbs was enough to keep at least a half-interest in what was being said. It’s as if they read Morreall and went “yikes…poor bloke. We should probably avoid that,” and used it as a springboard to actually BE funny in book about humor! Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the reading were the jokes and one-liners at the bottom of each page, just motivating you to finish reading the page so you could look down and receive a chuckle as a reward. My favorites included:

            “Imagine if there were no hypothetical situations?”

            “People often say to me, ‘What are you doing in my garden?’”

            “I ordered a wake-up call the other day. The phone rang and a woman’s voice said,

“What the hell are you doing with your life?

I am a fan of witty, clever one-liners that either set you up for one thing and then completely and instantly turn you around, as well as short one-liners that take a second to think about. But that’s just me. Now back to the actual reading assignment.

I think one of the best things the authors did was to give such a strong introduction about how what they were about to do could often make jokes not funny and then linking it to the “dissecting a frog” metaphor. They made this intro amusing and conversational, as well as faux-apologetic, making sure we understood that even after all the fun and games we might not get any more fun text to read. But all this does is prepare us to expect nothing so that when they do write entertaining explanations and examples of the Superiority, Incongruity, Ambivalence, and Release Theories of humor we still think, “Oh, well that’s still WAY better than how Morreall put it!”

Notably, my favorite section of this assignment versus the way Morreal put it was the Relief Theory. The authors’ use of Freud was much more interesting and permeated the theory more, showing how scientists really used to mix the mental and physical aspects of humor in completely unproven ways and ideas. The belief that everything humorous stems from a sexual desire or fetish is a very interesting concept, but come on…really? At least we could laugh at Freud in the context of this paper!

Lurk Left, Lurk Right...

Walking down the hall in the fraternity house I heard shouts and raucous laughter from behind a closed door. While I always have the innate urge to either pop in and see what the hubbub is about or stand with my face pressed up to the door, I finally had the excuse to do so! I slowly put my ear up to the door to determine what was transpiring across the wood.

"You ******* cheater! That was CLEARLY a tackle in the box, that's a RED CARD!" Voice 1 yelled.

Uncontrollable laughter from Voice 2 was interrupted with an "Ow, don't hit me, man!"

Clearly, a heated game of of FIFA was in its final minutes with a close score. I stood with my ear to the door to continue to listen when one of my other brothers walked past me giving me a very quizzical look and shaking his head.

"What are you doing?"

"Class project..." I replied. He walked on without another word. At that moment there was another scream of frustration followed by a maniacal laugh, though the voices were switched it seemed.

"Ahhhhh I can't believe it!" Voice 2 exclaimed in disbelief.

"IT'S ALL TIED UP NOW! GOLDEN GOAL! Muahahahaha" Voice 1 yelled triumphantly and rather nefariously.

I've been in the position of both Voice 1 and 2. FIFA is a very intense and adrenaline/testosterone-packed video game that makes the players sweat and act in ridiculously childish ways. Many times it leads to brutal taunting and humorous situations, though I have yet to lose a friend because of it. While listening in on this game, however, I did not get the opportunity to hear who won and who lost, because the game was paused and the door opened, quickly peeling away from my face and leaving me in a pretty awkward position. Yeah... The inevitable happened. A look of confusion and betrayal was upon the face of Voice 2 as he saw me stumble forward and nearly into his chest. Guess that's the end of my spying days.

Meeting with Meshal: Med School and Futbol

My last meeting with Meshal proved that not only was I interested in what he had to say, but also that he is interested in learning about me as well. The majority of our conversations have been about him and his transition from living in Saudi Arabia, but our last meeting focused mainly on me and what I do here at TCU. I was stressing pretty hardcore about an upcoming organic chemistry test, so that launched us into talking about my classes and how I am a pre-med. We chatted about how I want to be a doctor one day – hopefully working in pediatrics somewhere, maybe specializing or maybe not. He wanted to know what kind of classes I have to take, so I told him about all my biology classes and chemistry classes, how my schedule next year will consist of genetics and biochemistry, and how hard it is to get into medical school. Then he wondered, “how long is medical school?”

 I then let him know that in addition to my four years at TCU I will be attending medical school for another four years. After that will come my residency, which is about two years long and is essentially like a paid internship that provides specific training in your chosen field, whether it be pediatrics or orthopedics or oncology or family medicine, etc. And THEN, if the goal is some sort of specialization (for example: choosing to be a pediatric neurologist or pediatric cardiologist as opposed to a pediatrician) there will be another several years of training involved for that.

        

    “That sounds terrible,” he replied. “As soon as school is over, *boop* no more for me, I’m outta there! I want to do something and get working as soon as possible.”

          

     Ahhhh to be a non-science major…

           

In addition to our meeting, we also were jointly surprised to discover that we would be playing on opposite teams in an intramural soccer game last Wednesday. Jogging around the field to warm up it was impossible for me to not spot him and his giant ‘fro. We said best of luck to one another and began the game. Turns out he is very good at soccer and very fast… I played defense for twelve or so years of my life (though I stopped playing four years ago), and he was on offense for most of the game. He was very hard to cover, and I definitely got burned a few times, clearly out of shape and out of practice in comparison. My team ended up losing 4-2, but they also had five substitute players while we had zero…and one of our players had food poisoning that day and still played. However, it was still fun to play against Meshal and see him in his element on the soccer field. No doubt we will definitely be talking about it in our next meeting, and I’m sure he will be joking about how out of shape I was! 

Meshal: Soccer & Brazilian Models

This week’s meeting found Meshal a little quieter than usual, for he took his writing test on last Friday to determine if he was ready to leave the IEP. He needed a 5.5 but only obtained a 3.5, which was very frustrating to him. He speaks English well and is proficient at typing, but handwriting our language just stumps him and frustrates him greatly. He is trying hard to accelerate his process through the program in order to get into TCU as soon as possible, which he stated today is his “main and most important dream.” However, Meshal is an extremely fun-loving and easygoing person, so he isn’t too down about the situation. If anything, he has more fire with which to accomplish his goal!

           

After this initial downer conversation we found our way to the topic of soccer. Today is the match between Real Madrid, led by the fast and furious Cristiano Ronaldo, and Manchester United and their anger-prone front-man Wayne Rooney. Meshal was very excited about this game, as both his brothers are huge Real Madrid fans and he wanted Manchester United to win in order to spite them. He himself is a dedicated A.C. Milan fan, so really his only stake in today’s game is to see his brothers crestfallen and angry at the end of the day. We discussed soccer and how we both played: me for my entire childhood up through freshman year and him up to this day when he can. I was informed that soccer was the biggest sport in Saudi Arabia, which I guess makes sense since America is probably the only country in the WORLD who doesn’t obsess over the “real” football, unfortunately. Everyone there plays soccer or at least watches soccer, so it seems weird to him that so few people care about it (it seems, at least) and how limited the soccer channels are.

Last Friday he and his brothers moved into their new house and out of their small apartment, so Meshal now has his own room! He no longer has to be woken up by his brother coming in and sitting on the couch (where Meshal slept) early in the morning, playing Xbox, and smoking… Needless to say, he is extremely thankful for the move. It is a little farther from TCU unfortunately, but Meshal’s next goal is to get a car so that he won’t have to rely on his year older brother who is also in the TCU IEP for transportation.

On another high note, Meshal worked up the courage to ask the girl of his affections on a date! She is in the IEP with him, and apparently all the guys in the program “are in love” with her and “see her as a queen.” She is a model from Brazil wanting to attend TCU, and according to Meshal she is even famous in her country and her face is all over TCU! All the guys who wanted to take her on dates were just too afraid, I suppose, so Meshal just called her up and suggested they get lunch, which they did this past Sunday; he said it was a lot of fun and they definitely plan on going out again after spring break is over since she leaves tomorrow for her vacation. Funnily enough, they ate seafood which I found out during our last meeting Meshal does not enjoy at all! I asked why they got seafood then, and he replied, “She said ‘let’s get seafood!’ so it’s not like I could say no! She’s too pretty to say no to.” Hopefully things work out between the two of them!

Meeting with Meshal: Gambling and Wives

Same place, same time – Meshal and I began talking like we were old friends, it seemed like! Going off our last conversation about smoking hookah, we transitioned into another family-friendly topic: discussing the joys and sorrows of gambling. Gambling is illegal in Saudi Arabia, apparently, and it is considered a vice. The reason gambling came up was that he told me he was heading to Lubbock during spring break to see his cousin because he wasn’t able to go to Las Vegas (seems like a fair trade, right?). Never having been to Vegas (though he’d heard wonderful tales from his brother on the city) he wondered if I had ever gambled, and so I shared with him my experiences with good ol’ Winstar World Casino and Resort, one of my favorite night-out destinations. I described to him the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of shining, blinking, chiming slot machines stretching a mile across with poker tables and black-jack tables and roulette wheels interspersed, how the place unfortunately reeks of smoke (which Meshal is used to since his brothers smoke), and how much fun it is to win $8 from a $0.40 spin on the Cash Wizard machine, one of my personal favorites.

           

Meshal and his brothers started the moving process, going from a cramped apartment to an actual house today, about which he was very excited since it means he will have his own room and won’t have to sleep on the couch in the living room. When I asked him if he was helping he said, “No way, we have a moving company… we Saudis: we are all lazy!”

            Laughing, I asked him if he really thought that, to which he replied, “Oh, I know it. Easier is better.” This launched us into a conversation about free time and college life. I didn’t remember what free time was, but he convinced me it was very real and not a figment of my imagination, since he let me know he had plenty of it to spare. He goes to class from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and after that he has nothing to do, really, unless he needs to prepare for a class the next day. He was curious as to why I had no free time, and I told him about the bustling life of a college student, about joining organizations and clubs, and about the work it takes to go through school. He was told to enjoy the free time while he has it in the IEP, and he plans on doing so before he starts school here!

            Toward the tail end of our meeting we saw Ashlyn and Kristin walk in with their partners, both of whom Meshal knew from his classes. He was explaining to me that Ashlyn’s partner, the woman, was accompanied by her husband – both from Saudi Arabia. He then went into why the husband was there – apparently in Saudi Arabia, wives are thought of as “queens” i.e. they must be driven around by the husband/a male relative, they are not to be left alone by the husband. I found this very interesting since my overall view of the Arab world was that it was a vastly male-predominating society in which women have little to no rights – not even the right to show their faces in public! But from what Meshal told me, there must be a great deal of trust between a Saudi husband and wife and a certain amount of doting upon from the husband. After this explanation he exclaimed that he didn’t want to get married – he would much rather be a bachelor and continue with free time, not worrying about having to follow a woman around everywhere she goes since it is part of the job of a husband! 

Meeting Meshal

So, two weeks ago I was told that my conversation partner Meshal had received my information at the beginning of the semester and was just procrastinating on contacting me. My initial thought was, “Well that’s rude.” But thinking more on it, I could see how a foreign student might be apprehensive about contacting and initiating a meeting with a student whom he or she had had never met, and I was nervous about the meeting as well. Last week I got a fragmented email from Meshal, in which he gave me his phone number for quicker communication. In short, a meeting was arranged for yesterday (Tuesday, February 19^th) to meet for lunch at 1 once he was dismissed from class; we met by the bronze statue of Super Frog…

…and woah, he had huge hair. Literally the biggest ‘fro I’ve ever seen!

We walked to Union Grounds to grab sandwiches, exchanging slightly awkward small talk as we grabbed drinks, and I instructed him on how to fill out the sandwich sheet by circling what he wanted. “What is ‘moonster’ cheese?” he asked. “Oh, Muenster cheese? It’s that one, there, in the glass!” I replied, pointing to the cheese behind the protective glass. “Yeah…I just want normal yellow cheese.” Laughing, I grabbed a water as he grabbed a Coca-Cola.

He graciously paid for my meal, which I was not expecting but was a very nice gesture. We then sat down and began our real conversation.

Meshal hails from the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. He lives right in the city in a house, where he says he can’t sleep from the noise of cars (which he says everybody has in the city…his family has six). Meshal came to TCU because two of his brothers (he has five) came here before him: one who is ten years older and now goes to Texas Wesleyan and one who is a year older and still in the TCU Intensive English Program (IEP). It has been Meshal’s dream to come to America for six long years in which he tried to grasp the basics of the English language and writing and American culture, culminating in his arrival only three or four weeks ago. And as to why he had this dream of coming to America?

“Friends,” he said. “You know, Rachel, Chandler, Ross – the television show? I’m a huge fan! I saw Friends for the first time six years ago and now have seen every episode. I knew from watching Friends that I had to come to America, I had to!”

This launched us into a conversation about Friends and culture and family (since my sister has also seen every episode of that show). After realizing from Friends he wanted to come to America, he said he knew he needed to start contacting English-speaking people to practice his speaking, so he picked up online video games and Skype in which he could communicate via headset and camera, respectively. World of Warcraft was his favorite game, admitting he was pretty close to being addicted at one point even! However, this communication with Americans and other English-speakers helped him to practice his foreign language and allowed him to have  a decent sense of the language. Moving on to family I learned that in addition to his having five brothers (he is the second youngest) he has a sister who is the oldest of all the siblings. I learned little about his parents except that his father is a retired military general of some sort who now owns multiple businesses from a car repair garage to a hookah lounge that Meshal said is as large as TCU’s football stadium! Smoking hookah is apparently a big deal in Riyadh/Saudi Arabia, and much cheaper there than here in America, he made sure to tell me. He lives with his two older brothers in the Texas Wesleyan brother’s apartment, but he is planning on getting an apartment and car of his own soon once he takes a test to graduate the IEP program and actually start school. This would be possible because Saudi students have all of their college paid for on their country’s dime, plus receiving a stipend! No matter what school he attends, his country will pay for all of it through a scholarship, which he is planning to receive once he finishes the IEP. I don’t think it will take him too long to accomplish this, however, because he speaks English pretty well already (although he maintains that writing it is much more difficult for him).

Overall, our first meeting was funny and definitely thought provoking; I don’t think I’ve ever really sat down with someone from his culture like that and heard about Middle-Eastern culture from a primary source. He did make a funny play on words when referencing himself and his brothers coming to TCU, saying “we are invading America!” He realized how that would have sounded out of context, and we both started laughing as he assured me it was a joke and that a large number of people in Saudi Arabia truly wish they could come here and have a respect for our culture, including many in his family. I’m looking forward to our next meeting to see what all I can learn next!

Boo!

As a college fraternity is wont to do, my fraternity (Sigma Phi Epsilon) co-hosted with two other Greek organizations a giant mixer with a big artist last night. There were over a thousand students in the grimy, strip-club by day/rent-out party facility by night venue, generating a feeling of being in a mostly dark steam room surrounded by all your favorite people you've never met before. It was quite the experience, really. Lights and fog and bass and music and sweat and bass and bass and a whole lot of bass. Seriously, I had trouble hearing last night from the ringing in my ears from the excessive bass. 

This blog post is not about the concert.

Bass-induced hearing loss isn't funny, and this blog is supposed to be centered around a funny experience. My amusing experience is at least relevant to the mixer which occurred late into the night, however, so the introduction is warranted in my opinion... 

But I digress!

Before this massive blast of a party, I had the privilege of spending the hours beforehand at my fraternity big's house with him, his housemates and their dates, other assorted people that I've never met nor seen at his house before, and my girlfriend. This is pretty much a tradition before all of our mixers at this point in my TCU career, and it is oftentimes even more entertaining than being thrown up on by someone belligerently drunk or getting touched in close proximity by ridiculously sweaty hands/arms, which are both common occurrences at large Greek events, unfortunately. We were all in the dining room and living room in the center of the house, most people having assorted beverages like apple juice and Coca-Cola, etc., listening to music and talking; girls were taking pictures of themselves with other girls, and themselves with guys, and other girls, and girls with guys, so on and so forth. The theme of the mixer was American themed, so there were two girls dressed up as elephants (I suppose in reference to the Republican Party?), lots of red, white, and blue combo shirts and pants, a muscular guy wearing jorts with the american flag painted on his entire front torso (which definitely elicited a laugh), and people wearing camouflage, oddly enough. I guess only Americans hunt or something. In short, everyone was having a jolly time with their apple juice and friends all around, getting ready for the Yung Joc concert.

NOW the scene has been set that leads to a scene that caused me to belly-laugh.

Amidst the enjoyable, social chaos I realized I had misplaced my phone, so the search began. Luckily, it didn't take long to find – it was in Nathan’s (my big) room where we were chatting earlier. Being a pretty private guy, his door is usually locked, but keys were in the knob so I was able to waltz in. Courteously, I shut the door behind me and promptly found my phone directly in front of the door on some boxes. The way his room is set up the door opens and a few feet away from the door sill is a wall, so the majority of his room is just to the left of the entry. I mention this because as I stood with my back to the door, the door swung open.

Nathan pushed the door open and rushed into the room, not even realizing that I was behind the door. Oh, yes, he had no clue. His floors are hardwood and I was wearing boots, but so was he, so as I walked toward him (he later claimed he thought my footsteps were his own) he was facing away from me, struggling to open a new bag of cups for apple juice. I placed my hand on his shoulder and muttered, “Hiya there, fella!” and in a cinema-esque move, he screamed an expletive and the bag exploded, all twenty of the cups flying about the room. Oh, he was livid, soon screaming, “You know heart problems run in my family, you could’ve killed me!”

I was laughing hysterically at this point, amazed that he truly had no clue whatsoever I was in the room. Childish? Yes. Worth it? Definitely yes.