I finally met with Mohammed last Thursday. He is my attempt at getting tutoring experience before I leave for the Peace Corps (30hrs are required, though I plan to do much more).

Mohammed is from Saudi Arabia. He’s 26 and he is here learning English so he can attend an American graduate program. He majored in special education in his undergraduate studies in Saudi Arabia and plans to continue pursuing his degree so he can help people.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect before I met with Mohammed. All I was told is that he was looking for a ‘speaking partner’. I did not know how well he spoke English, or if he spoke it at all.

As it turns out, he speaks quite well for having started with it four months ago. We had a conversation that lasted over two hours. While I only had one cup of cocoa, it certainly wasn’t enough.

We share similar interests, mostly American movies. He watches them for both the stories and for understanding American conversation conventions. I watch mostly for the stories. But he is also very interested in bowling. He picked up the sport when he came here and he says that he is gradually progressing into a decent player. When I expressed my own casual interest in the sport, he invited me to come along with him and his friends.

I didn’t realize that he would be able to teach me things until after I had met with him. He’s in the same position right now that I will be in once I leave for the Peace Corps. He doesn’t speak the language and knows very little of the social politics here. His advice to me was to learn the language, practice it and to go out and interact with people. It’s the best way to learn quickly.

I’ll keep you posted on any updates I have about Mohammed.

On a related note, I found out today that the woman that I share an office with was in the Peace Corps fifteen years ago. She served in Panama forestry. She had plenty of advice to offer to me about what to expect, and even more complaints about the system.

While she claims to have enjoyed her time in the Peace Corps, she criticized every thing about it and apparently tried to discourage me. Don’t worry, she didn’t succeed in persuading me from joining (partially because I find her opinions about most things to be to one extreme or another).

I just found it odd that someone would try to talk me out of joining the Peace Corps for a reason other than they’ll miss me. You’ll miss me, right?