I met with Sultan Friday after classes for conversation. He was not feeling well, but really wanted to stay and talk. He had his computer and we looked at his Facebook page and he showed me pictures of all the places he has visited.
He also feels that Tallahassee is "boring" compared to Istanbul. He feels it is small and does not offer much opportunity for diverse activities.
He had many questions about cities in the US. He wanted to know about Vegas and Hollywood. He was under the impression that Hollywood was more of an attraction than an actual city. He was not totally incorrect, but he did not realize that was an actual functioning city. I explained about the movie studios and there were many famous people in Hollywood, although most of them owned homes in other places.
We spent the rest of the time talking about the barbecue that he wants to have. It took me a few minutes to realize what he was talking about because he kept saying that he wanted felt like "throwing up a barbecue". So, I explained that usually you "throw a party" or "have a barbecue". I further explained the meaning of his statement about "throwing up a barbecue". We also talked about the different foods that are present in a typical American barbecue
I've had the same issue with my tutoring partner and her nieces, they are younger and don't think that Tallahassee has much to offer, especially since they don't really get the fascination we have with football, so I've been trying to let them know about different local events like "First Friday" which includes the different art galleries in town each first Friday of every month.
ReplyDeleteYou all may be feeling some of the same cultural blues soon as well. The key is to connect with events, organizations, groups and stay busy. Assisting with this can help a lot, but it is essentially up to them to make it happen.
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