Dhugal Gardner CP 8

A couple nights ago I met Hamad and some of the other Arab CIES guys at Milano's Pizzeria, where a pretty decent local flamenco band was playing. It was nice to see all of them out (plus a couple of familiar TEFL faces) in a lively social setting. These are the real world situations where they must put their English skills to the test. They had arrived before us, so we sat separately, but I wandered over to their table a couple of times to shoot the breeze; we talked about Euro 2012 soccer and joked about my mosque experience (which happened earlier that day). They got a big laugh when I told them the word I had heard the most was 'haram', which is something prohibited by Islamic law. "Everything is haram!" I said, "This beer is haram, these beautiful women are haram, what isn't haram?" Talal offered me a piece of cheese bread, and I refused. He kept insisting, and I thought about the strange custom of systematic refusal I think Zack told us about. After the second refusal, he said "Please, for me". How could I say no? When I got my appetizer, I had to return the favor.

I brought Hamad over to our table for a little to introduce him to my roommate's girlfriend, who has just recently graduated from the FSU Film School, which Hamad aspires to attend in the future. Hopefully she could give him some advice.

Good music, food and friends.