Zachary-TP 0 (The epic TP fake out)

5/17/12 CIES Break Room

Now this is a story all about how my day got flipped, turned upside down. I had decided to take refuge in the CIES break room in between my first class of the day and TEFL since the prospect of biking home and then back again in the midday Tallahassee heat was wholly unappealing. I had texted my new tutoring partner Talal  earlier that day and we had scheduled a meeting in the room earlier that day so I figured I could go over the chapter on reading once more before class and wait for him to join.

About twenty minutes in I received a text from Talal telling me that he was on his way and asked what I was wear to help him find me. I figured it wouldn't be long and tried to finish up the chapter before he got there. Not long after I got the text a young, gaunt Arab kid wearing a baseball cap and about my age entered the room walked in and straight towards me. I sat up from my longing position and asked "Ismak Talal?" which is was asking if his name was Talal. He popped a curious eyebrow at me and answered "You speak Arabic?" I said "a little bit" in Arabic. He cracked a huge smile and sat down next to me, pulled out a notepad of paper and pencil. I'm thinking, damn this kid is all business. He looks at me and in slightly broken English asks me if I can give him directions to a restaurant.

Great! I think. This is has got to be a test or something he is working on for class and needs help with. I knew I had enough of the language to help him find his way there but a little smart phone Google search for the address didn't hurt either (anybody else know there's and Osaka on Raymond Dheal rd?). After a few language gaps we had to overcome, like trying to describe what an overpass is, he was pretty confident he could find it. I asked him if i could practice some more Arabic with him. He agreed and we had a quick talk about classes and where were from, both breaking Arabic to speak in English when I didn't understand something. But overall he said my accent wasn't to bad but I needed to work on article agreements. yes he said article agreements, kid was kind of a pro.

As he got up to leave I stood with him and extended my hand saying "Tshraffna Talal" Nice to meet you Talal. Thinking that I am now officially Arabic style smooth. He laughs, takes my hand and walks off. I sit back down to my chapter and begin to read again.

10 minutes later a younger, athletic looking guy in a Soccer jersey enters the room, walks over to me and sticks out his hand. "Are you zach? I'm Talal." huh...interesting.

To Be continued in Zachary-TP 1...