Meeting Mohammed and Alia (ESL Blog #4)

I don’t know anything about baseball. I know plenty about football, basketball, and even soccer. But definitely not baseball. So when on our fourth meeting Mohammed asked me to explain baseball to him, I was definitely in a rough spot. I mean, every American understands baseball right? As we sat in 1873, the TCU baseball game was playing in the background. I quickly pulled out my iPhone and looked up any basic rules I could possibly find. Luckily, I’m a fast learner and was able to get a vague grasp on the sport in a few minutes.

            I’m positive the words that came out of my mouth were something like “Well, the guy with the bat tries to hit it, and if he doesn’t, he gets a thingy, and then there’s the people in the, uh, outside…” Pretty awkward right? Well after about 5 minutes of fumbling, I sighed and admitted my ‘failure’ as an American. Luckily, Mohammed and Alia just laughed and admitted that they don’t know anything about soccer, which is what everyone in the Eastern world understands.

            Luckily, we moved past this funny moment, and then began to talk about their weekend during which they went to Fossil Rim. They explained that this place is a drive-through zoo where they have zebras, giraffes, and even ostriches! The crazy animals were the most interesting part for me, but the couple was most interested in the fact that they could see farmland. “Living in the desert like we did in Saudi, you only get to see dry ground and maybe some small weeds in the city, but here we saw wheat growing and bright green trees everywhere! What a blessing.”

            I guess I had always considered seeing greenery, like trees and flowers, to be a common feature of everyone’s life. But like many things in my life, like thinking I am familiar with American pastimes, I guess I took it for granted. One thing I know I take for granted is that I grew up learning English. It is amazing to me how many people want to come to America just so they can learn our language. I know that it is one of the most popular languages in the world, but many people speak Chinese, Arabic, or Spanish to name a few. Yet, many Americans would never attempt to learn another language because they don’t feel that it is necessary. It’s hard to tell if this is a symptom of our language or one of our culture. This ESL experience has helped to open my eyes to another culture, and to the fact that I have never once attempted to seriously learn another language. I hope that throughout my next 3 years of college I can attempt to do just that.