Conversation partner meeting 2

Conversation Partner Meeting 2 – 9/30/11

                This meeting with my conversation partner was really interesting. Before meeting, I thought about some things I wanted to talk to Khedir about. Just in general, I wanted to learn about what Saudi Arabia is like and how the United States is viewed by both the Saudi government and everyday people in his country.

                First we caught up on things that happened since the last time we had met. He was still working toward taking the GMAT test to get in to a business school. I asked how he was studying for it and he said he had a tutor and bought a few test preparation books. I asked him what the hardest part of it was for him and he said the English portion. Nevertheless he was optimistic that he would be able to get a good score.

                A little ways into our conversation in Rickel, another student sat down with his laptop and some coffee next to us but spilled his coffee. Khedir and I got some paper towels from the bathroom and helped him mop it up. We all got to talking and it turned out, Marcus, the guy with the coffee was actually from Germany and was here to go to school also. Suddenly there were three different cultures represented in our conversation. Khedir seemed pretty interested in Germany and Marcus liked to hear about Colorado. We talked about how different all three places are from Texas. Khedir said he liked Texas because it was hot like he was used to back home. Marcus and I both agreed the heat was unbearable this year and that we both preferred the snow. I don’t think Khedir had ever seen snow before.

                I tried to move the conversation to understanding Saudi Arabia more and their opinions on the U.S. Khedir said we are viewed with a lot of respect both from the government and from the people of his country because we are a powerful nation and a valuable trade ally. I brought up the subject of oil and Khedir said he didn’t think we were that dependent on Saudi Arabia’s oil but rather, we imported more from our neighbors closer to home. Then we started talking a little bit about social issues. It is so different here than from Saudi Arabia because in our country we get to vote on issues and usually have the freedom to choose from a variety of options in the social sector. In Saudi Arabia, a single party state at best, the government picks for you and people don’t have nearly as much of a voice. We used the example of healthcare. Khedir said in the U.S. we have good healthcare, lots of doctors, and the best equipment. That is not the case in many places in Saudi Arabia, except in the big cities. We talked about how healthcare was a big national debate right now and that some people really want more government control over healthcare. Khedir thought this was weird because we have the best healthcare in the world. Marcus also said that government run healthcare is what he had back in Germany and the system was increasingly bankrupt and it was hard to find good doctors. I thought this was all really interesting as a pre-med student and a minor in political science. The social side of medicine is not one I really get to think about a lot in my classes so it was neat to hear some other perspectives.

                Eventually, Marcus had to get to class and Khedir said he had to get going too so we said goodbye. I wished him luck on the GMAT prep and he was off. It was about an hour and a half conversation but it felt like twenty minutes. It was great having Marcus there too.