David-tp10

6/22/2012

Right now our house is a mess.  Moving, working, kids, and classes can sure take a total on your house.  At one point I wasn't sure that a crew from the show hoarders wasn't about to show up to film their next episode.  On top of this my wife is incredibly sensitive on having guests over when the house is in this state and for a good reason.  Well there is no motivation for cleaning like having a guest over and tonight Majdi was coming over for dinner and a tutoring session.  I showed up at his house at about 6:15pm  and his roommates where all asking where we were going and I think they knew and were jealous.  

Meanwhile my wife was cleaning the house like a mad woman and was getting ready to cook an all American dinner for Majdi.  We did a brainstorm on what foods are really American.  Much of Kati's family lives in the south with a  majority in Mississippi and Louisiana.  Because of this we decided there is not much more American that cajan cooking so Kati whipped up her famous vegan étouffée.  On the way to my house Majdi wanted to stop at the mall because he said it was a custom that the guest bring the host a gift.  He asked if she likes perfume and she does but I was a little uncomfortable with him buying her that or clothes.  Luckily he asked me what she likes and I pointed candles out to him which allowed him to learn some new vocabulary.  While we were there I treated him to an Auntie Anne's because soft pretzels are very American and a delicious treat.   I warned Majdi that we had a dog before we got there but made sure to tell him that she was very friendly.  When we arrived at my house the dog greeted us at the front door and I walked in.  He just stood there, so I told him to come on in and that she would leave him alone.  He would not budge and actually refused to come in while the dog was out of its cage.   I don't seek to offend my guests but I didn't like having to put her away to get him to come in.  Oh well......  When entered he gave his gift to my wife which was a hit as I knew it would be.  While she cooked (she hadn't yet started) we walked over to my big map of the United States and began talking about the different states and pronouncing the names of them.  He is very good at sounding them out without having heard them first.  He started to asked questions like which is the biggest state? What states have you been to?  We stayed at the map for about 45 minutes and practiced various names and questions.  Much of our question discussion talked about the difference between asking questions in the past, present, and future because like many language learners he asks questions only in the present even when he means the future/past and thus was the topic of our tutoring.  He generously provided arabic coffee, dates, and cookies for an appetizer.  We ate our dinner after that and sipped some tea in lounge chairs after that.  Then I went to drop him off.  This was a great session because we both got a ton out of it.  We went over geography, pronunciation, and questions how to form different tenses plus a fair amount of hanging out.  But the night was not yet over........ Read David-tp11 for the next section.