Tutee: Wafa
Wafa brought bousbousa today as she had promised during the last session. It is a beautiful wet cake dessert that is topped with almonds and is a very common food in her country. I think of the kind gesture and wonder how I can reciprocate. She also made a tea and I was confused at first (I’m not a tea person) when I heard that it was a collection of soaked herbs that included onions. I was mistakenly hesitant- it was a delicious and refreshing drink that is meant to help with stomach cramps and she had brewed it to share with people today at CIES. I can tell that she is happy to be here today, as she is energetic to speak with me and has the phone ready to find translations of words that she does not know. She talks about how she will work in the bank when she returns home and that though she went to cosmetology school in Saudi, she hopes to pursue her masters in business administration here while her husband finishes up his PhD. She really likes to check herself while she speaks and I think it is impressive how closely she monitors herself- and when she is stuck I try my best to work through it together. We work mainly on speaking with past perfect and past present while she explains life back home. She, like Amirah, is interested in my relationship with my boyfriend and discusses how things are very different between us. I say yes, but she asks if it is good for me and I say yes. I feel comforted to know that she does try to see my position as hard as I sometimes try to see hers. Wafa and I will continue to meet into the next session and I am excited to get to know her more and see her progress with the language.
No comments:
Post a Comment