Allyce-CP3

                I met with Metib Wednesday evening and expected to have a tutoring session, filled with reading, vocabulary and writing however, the session really just turned into a two hour conversation about culture. Metib said he was too tired to do homework and really only needed help with math (I don't agree but that's okay, speaking practice is just as good!) Anyways, after pretending to study for the GRE for about 15 minutes we gave up and decided to talk about the differences between culture here in the U.S. and culture in Saudi Arabia. The whole discussion turned out to be riveting and really gave me some new insight and perspective on relationships in his country.

                First, Metib was curious about what a boyfriend was, he didn't understand that there was a difference between a boyfriend and a husband. I told him that when one has a boyfriend or girlfriend it simply means you are dating...well, then he asked what dating was. I told him it's kind of a way to get to know someone and spend time with them , mainly to decide whether or not you are compatible before marriage.  He still didn't get it. "So you can have more than on boyfriend, this is normal?" I tried to explain that some people feel that way but that the majority of people view relationships as monogamous and if you felt that your significant other was not for you then you simply broke up. It was like a light bulb went off "Oh! Like a divorce! We have that in Saudi Arabia too." Okay kind of like that but less messy and a lot less expensive. He seemed to be catching on, "My dad has had 14 wives and divorced many of them, the one before my mother was ugly so he sent her to the country, can you all do that here?" He seemed so serious about the question, "That isn't exactly an option on the paperwork," I said, "but I suppose some people might get divorced for that reason although I hope they thought about that before they got married." He really thought that was bizarre and wanted to know what all the paperwork was about and what the reasons could be (I'm not a divorce expert but I think I had a pretty good handle on the situation).

                The conversation progressed and Metib asked me how many wives a man could have here in the U.S. "Well just one" I said.  He looked genuinely shocked and started to laugh "You can only have one?! I only want one but I could have more if I wanted." It was interesting to look at things from his perspective, and how weird it seemed to him that we could only have one here.  I followed up my answer "Well some people want more than one I guess, I mean there is the show Sister Wives on TLC with the Morman man but that isn't really even typical for the larger Morman church, and I don't think you can actually be legally married to more than one person." He understood but still thought it was bizarre. 

 

                We ended up being at Starbucks from 8:00 to 10:00 just talking about the differences between relationships in our two countries and honestly learned a lot. The whole thing was very eye-opening for both of us and I can't wait to have another cultural discussion!