Cake Galore! (Conversation #5)

This was my absolute favorite conversation yet! You can guess it… it revolved around my two favorite things: family and food. I knew that Essa’s family was close knit particularly due to their living situation. Essa has 5 brothers and 2 sisters. All of the siblings are married except for 2 of them (one of the brothers and one of the sisters). Therefore, all of the siblings are beginning to expand the family as they begin to develop individual families of their own. 7 siblings seemed like quite a bit to Kally and me, but Essa thought nothing of it. He did mention, however, that they are often busy with their families, so he mainly gets to spend time with the siblings that are not yet married. What is amazing is that all of them live together. Essa’s father’s house that we previously discussed was an expanded house that his father built on in order to give his children somewhere to live after they graduate. What I didn’t realize until this conversation was that he meant all of the children and their families! This wasn’t just a temporary apartment until they marry. This was a home for all of the siblings and their children to live in… together! Talk about quality family time. The way that Essa spoke about it made it seem as though this is a customary practice in Saudi Arabia. This is quite different here in America, but it truly serves as a reflection of how much family is valued in Saudi Arabia. Next, he started to talk to us more about one of his sisters who loves to bake. Essa mentioned that he helps his sister mix colors for decorating her pastries. At this point, I thought Essa was just being a good brother and assisting his sister in one of her hobbies. What I didn’t know was that this sister is the Einstein of baking. He began to show us some of her cakes that she has made, and Kally and I were absolutely lost for words. They were the most intricate, beautiful cakes I had ever seen. Apparently, his father constructed a room for her in their home strictly for her baking. Essentially, it is a baking studio for all of her client requests stocked with all of the baking essentials that a girl could ever dream of. One cake was designed like a Kit Kat bar and honestly looked that I was looking at a real oversized Kit Kat. This girl runs a baking mecca. I attached a link to her cakes, because you will have to see them to understand how incredible these cakes are. http://instagram.com/nona_albinali This link is to her Instagram page, which has thousands of followers. Awestruck, Kally and I assumed that she makes all of the cakes and sweets for their family occasions, but Essa says she typically just bakes for business and for her Instagram fans. Apparently, in Saudi Arabia, engagement cakes are a huge deal, which I found extremely interesting. He says that she does more engagement cakes than wedding cakes. He let us in on a little business secret: she buys her cupcakes from another store, because it is more profitable than making them herself. He called one cake the “sexy body” cake. It was shaped like a woman’s body for a baby shower. Kally and I were cracking up hearing him explain the cake. Essa says his favorite of her treats are the chocolate balls and that his sister makes them for him fairly often. She took a class in Dubai to learn how to create the straight lines of the cake. He said that it took a while to get the cake perfectly straight on the top, so in the class they even put a leveler on the top of the cake to indicate how straight across it was. The starting price on her cakes is $140 and increases with each tier and other variables of the cake. Essa also went on to mention that he tried to buy her some baking equipment here in the states. He made a great point that the companies that sold this equipment were not manufacturers in Saudi Arabia, so he refrained from buying her the equipment out of fear that they would break with no one to be able to fix them. I got a kick out the fact that Essa mentioned that all of her friends are beginning to attempt to copy her cakes. Well… once you see these cakes, you will realize that not just anyone cake create these masterpiece. This girl has truly developed an art. 

Nicknames and Speeding Tickets (Conversation #4)

Today, Kally and I met again with Essa. We discussed upcoming tests and presentations that we were nervous about. It seems like all of the test come in rounds, so we figured we would meet at union grounds and get some studying in. Essa had a presentation this week that was apparently quite a crazy experience. Originally his group had 3 members, but one of them backed out. After they started the presentation, the other group member played an unexpectedly video that lasted way longer than expected. With a 5-7 minute time limit, Essa had to speed through his portion of the presentation. Apparently, the teacher asks a question and then the students have to feed off of that question and develop justifiable, quality answers. Essa’s question was: What was your first problem you had here in the states? Essa said his legs began to shake, which we can all relate to. He then answered with a story that just fascinated Kally and me. Apparently, the police came to his apartment door at 5 am. They then informed Essa that his balcony was on fire. His neighbors told the police that they had seen Essa smoking the night before. He admitted that he had, but that he had not thrown the cigarette. This led to his presentation topic of fire prevention at home. Because Essa was formerly a fire fighter, he was well informed and knowledgeable on this topic. He explained that in the classroom there are no fire exit signs and that the escape plan should be listed throughout the room and not just near elevators. The doors open inward, which is apparently a hazard. Overall, Essa had a great presentation. Another interesting thing he mentioned was his semester is 8 weeks shorter than ours. He mentioned that this week is when his family goes back to Saudi Arabi. His wife and daughter would no longer be with him; however, he did not seem concerned about it in the slightest. I know that sounds odd, but when we would ask him if he was worried about being apart he would say no and act very indifferently about it. He mentioned that if he passes his classes, he would have to stay here to take a writing course. His take on it was that if he has to take the courses than he will do so implying that academics come first at this point in his life. He is definitely looking at the future with serendipity, which in some ways is pretty cool and admirable. He knows that getting through his current courses is going to be difficult, and I think he is acting unconcerned about his family as a way of coping with the nerves. Sometimes ignoring the problem or telling yourself you aren’t worried is the best coping mechanism there is. Apparently, when he went home over Christmas break, he insisted that his wife stay with her mom over the break and that he stay with his mom. I don’t know if they were in need of some alone time or if he felt that they should spend quality time with their individual families since they were only there for a short time. Overall, he just didn’t seem anxious to get home. He plans to stay here for spring break and wait to see his family until the summer or upon completion of his required courses. We then discussed the driving test he had to take when he got to the states. They told him that he wouldn’t have to get on the highway, which he did. This frustrated him quite a bit, and he said he almost failed the test due to the fact that he did not yield when making a left turn. Essa is apparently a wild man on the road. We asked him if he had gotten any speeding tickets since he had been in the states. Well, he sure has! He got one ticket for going between 100-110 MPH. The speed limit was 70. He attempted to justify it to us by saying that he was on the highway so it was ok. He mentioned that he was going downhill and was on the phone. This sounded like a recipe for disaster to me. The ticket cost him $220. He did say, however, that the driving rules are about the same here. One of Essa’s talents is giving visual descriptions that really help us imagine what it is he is explaining. For example, one time, he was going so quickly that the dashes on the street that separate the lines of traffic appeared as one line because he was speeding by them. He claimed to have had a speeding problem back home as well. He says the drivers are way crazier at home and that accidents often occur because no one stops at stop signs. An accident actually occurred right outside his house for that exact reason. Essa has a fascination with the meanings behind names. He had looked up Kally’s name and my name this week and shared with me that my name means priest or a rhythm of music. He could not find the meaning of Kally’s name. His name means Jesus, which is why his family calls him “J”. He said he has so many nicknames back home and that he named his daughter Dana because it means “big pearl”. His father picked the name. His wife was into the hip, modern names, but he agreed on Dana so she would choose a more classic name. Overall, we had a great time today talking with Essa and hearing all about his wild road adventures. Everyone, lookout! Essa is on the road!

Laughter Described (#1): Game Day Hydroplane

When I first think about situations involving fits of laughter, somehow I have come to realize that am always the source being laughed at. While it may seem sad, I am happy to know that my friends will always be offered an endless supply of laughter at my expense. Due to the excessive amount of tripping, slipping, wiping out, falling, and collapsing in my day-to-day life, one must only wait a matter of minutes around me if they are seeking a good laugh. I would love to say that my clumsiness is a family thing that I just so happen to have attained the gene for; however, this is not the case. Everyone in my family seems to be extremely graceful actually. My dad is quite the wake boarder, water skier, and surfer, so his sense of balance makes me believe that I may actually be adopted. Well, I’m not, so I might as well embrace it and provide comic relief for all of those around me. During finals week, I wiped out every time I went outside. This week even after a slight chill that provided slick grounds I proceed to slide down the steps of Milton Daniel. Falling up the stairs? Yes, that has happened too. Slipping on water in the BLUU with a tray of food in my hands…yep me as well! Well all of this talk about my inevitable gracefulness leads me to the epitome of my falling career that seemed to leave everyone smiling for hours… well months… to come. So, being the proud horned frog I am, I got all ready for game day this football season. Anyone frog football fan can tell you that this football season has been a wet one. Seemingly every home football game provided some sort of storm, torrential rain, or even light mist. Well with water comes slippery grounds. Happily as ever, I tied my bow in my hair, laced up my cheer shoes, and put on my freshly dry cleaned cheerleading uniform. To preface, each quarter of the football game, the cheerleaders rotate to different corners of the football field. We will start in one area and gradually (or not so gradually) make our way to the other side. This part of the game seems to always be a bit hectic. Either we are running into the tunnel for half time, running out of the tunnel for pre game routines, or simply moving from one end zone to another. All the while, we are making sure we have all of our water bottles in hand and haven’t left someone behind. We are far more focused on making sure we go to the correct part of the field that the media team so specifically explains each game. So, as with any ordinary day, the first quarter ends, and the rain begins. “Lovely,” I think to myself. Here comes the curly hair, running make up, and humid air. Little did I know, the last thing I needed to be worrying about was my hair. This quarter change, we had to move from the recruit section to the alumni section. This requires that we pass behind the player’s bench and run with haste to get there before the media breaks. Behind the players bench is a large crevice that seems to accumulate everything that a football game has to offer: rain, dirt, food, gum, you name it! That is precisely the area we were told to run through. Now without the rain this would have been no problem. But peppy as ever, I pick up my water bottle, begin to run toward the alumni section and then it happens… Just as I really get going, my feet suddenly come out from under me, and before I know it I am sliding on my stomach passed the entire bench. The players aren’t paying attention so they aren’t the concern. The fans, however, have the perfect view of me as I surf past them on my stomach through the water, dirt, and food in my uniform. I wish that I could better explain this visually, but just picture me starting from one end of the player’s bench and sliding on my stomach unable to stop myself all the way to the other side of the bench. That’s a long way! Just when I am thinking that no one saw, I look behind me to see my teammates, the ones that love me most, literally rolling on the ground out of laughter. This situation epitomizes the superiority theory. They felt so proud of themselves that they made it through the slush without wiping out only to see me hydroplaning. Not only was this superiority theory, but it was also relief theory. They initially laughed to cover up the awkward situation, but more importantly they thought I was seriously hurt for quite some time until I myself laughed to keep from crying. Once they knew I was ok and more importantly that I hadn’t been wearing one of their uniforms, they began to hysterically break out into laughter. For the rest of the game, I was soaking wet (not because of the actual rain), but because I simply could not make it through the game without one of my infamous wipeouts. I would love to say that this instance provided some simple instantaneous laughter; however, it is still providing laughter today… Some things people just don’t forget. Every time I wear that white bow, I see the mud that has still not come out. I am just thankful it is not on You Tube yet! Oh the life of a rookie… 

Learning Experience #3: Perseverance

Perseverance: the word that seemingly makes it into every aspect of my college life. Without it, the days would be tough, stressful, and overall hard to overcome; however, thanks to perseverance, we can look at life with positivity, triumph, and victory. Starting this summer, I moved into college several weeks early for cheerleading boot camp/work week. This week is one that the vets had warned us about since the day we tried out. Now how bad could it possibly be, right? Well, pretty bad. When I pictured cheerleading, I imagined the football games, rowdy crowds, excited players, and immense school spirit. What I forgot to think through was all of the pressure, hard work, and sweat that would go into making those dreams a reality. Starting day one of work week, we entered the indoor football stadium, just us rookies, and listened to our coach call out the different tricks she was wanting to see us perform. Well… just moments before that, my roommate and I (who is also a cheerleader) went outside to warm up in front of Einstein’s Bagels before having to perform in front of our coach. Upon my trying my first trick, I wiped out so hard it was almost as though I forgot how to do a flip. Traumatized by this experience we entered the practice gym and patiently awaited the instructions of our coach. Hoping that what I had done outside was just a fluke, I mustered up all my courage and began performing the skills she was asking of. After about 6 turf burns, 10 wipe outs, 3 pulled muscles and a whole lot of tears, I had persevered through day one. Surrounded by my fellow rookies all laced with fear and pain, we began icing our bodies and preparing for the campus run in 105 degree weather. Here at TCU, the cheerleaders have to compete for their spots on the field each week. We were overwhelmed by the beautiful, talented veterans making each skill look absolutely effortless. It was a week I will never forget. With exhausted bodies, 9-hour cheerleading workouts, and routines we struggled to remember, we had embarked on the week that would make the whole season worth it. Today, we laugh about the wipeouts, the tears, and the excessive confusion, but during that week we had no idea what was possibly going to get us through or whether we would even be on the team after the week was over. It was perseverance. As if this week wasn’t hard enough to handle as is, it was the first week we were meeting our new teammates, living with our roommates, operating the campus, and it was also rush week for sororities. We would wake up at 5 am., go through sorority recruitment, and have 9 hours of cheerleading on top of it all for an entire week straight. Immune systems began to shut down, muscles gave out, and injuries and past surgeries became fully re-aggravated. It was not out of the ordinary for someone to burst into tears out of pure sleep deprivation. Two summers ago, I began suffering extreme shooting pains in my left food. I had waited months to have it looked at, as I was weeks away from competing for Team USA in the cheerleading world championships. Upon my arrival back to Texas after the Worlds, I decided I would have my foot checked out. They had diagnosed me with a tumor, but mom asked that the doctors tell me it was a bone spur as to not scare me. They did just that, but the surgeons had instructed that I not tumble before the surgery to prevent inflaming the tendons. I decided otherwise. Just three days before the surgery, I was tumbling and snapped a ligament in my other ankle. Therefore, I ended up having surgery on both of my ankles on the same day. During the surgery, the doctor found 3 additional ligaments that had snapped, and my ankle joint had actually fallen open during the procedure. As my mom sat outside frantically wondering why I had been in surgery four hours longer than expected, she began to realize that this process was not going to be a quick fix. This had me wheelchair bound for quite some time. I had just transferred to a new school, and the timing was just a mess. I had wondered why the surgery had to be so urgent, but it all made when they informed me of my tumor. It was not until after the tumor was removed that I had been told the truth. As scary as it was to find out, I think it was one of the most incredible parenting decisions my mom has ever made to wait until after the tumor was gone to explain it to me. I am so thankful for that. Without removing the tumor, the doctors could not detect it for cancer. After being told about the tumor and remaining bed bound for what seemed like eons, I was told that I would not be able to try out for college cheer. This had been my dream for as long as I can remember, but thankfully my physical therapist saw the light that my surgeons seemingly did not. After hours of exercises, ultrasound therapy and prayers, I was ready for tryouts. Looking back on all of this today, I realize how vital it is to persevere. Without perseverance, I would not have been motivated to keep pushing when the pain was excruciating, I would not have been able to tryout, and I would not have made it through work week and the football season that followed. When work-week had concluded and it was time to announce the first field team of the 2013 football season, I awaited patiently as my coach read the names from the list: Canon Charanza. I had officially done it. Despite all of the people that said it wouldn’t be possible, I had made field for my first college football game at Cowboys Stadium. Go frogs, and persevere on.  

What Makes People Laugh? Why Do People Laugh?

Blogger would not accept the video: Here is the written version as well as the typed out version of the video:

Why do people laugh?
-mood of a room
-to bring happiness
-to make a bad situation seem better
-to keep from crying
-to hide embarrassment
-they are having fun
-because things are funny
-jokes
-because they are uncomfortable
-because being say funny things
-to let out an emotion

What makes people laugh?
-awkward settings
-being told not to laugh
-reactive senses
-jokes
-odd humor
-comedians
-seeing other defying norms of society
-movies
-memories
-being uncomfortable
-sarcasm
-being tickled

Health and Hungry College Kids (Conversation #3)

...And the food talk continues! Much to my surprise, Essa knows so much about cooking and different variations of cuisine. After we had the customary snacks of his culture last, he began to ask me about my experience with food and cooking. To my surprise, Essa said, “Do you cook?” This was music to my ears. For the first time since being on campus, someone finally mentioned food in a sense that was not referring to some complaint about the BLUU. I explained that that my tiny dorm room does not have a kitchen, so I frequently go home to see my mom and cook with her. He explained that there is no way he would live on campus seeing as there is not a kitchen in the dorms; however, I had to explain that living on campus is mandatory for my freshman self. I began to tell him all about my mom and how much she cares to instill in me the art of cooking. Before I left home, my mom said, “If there is one thing you better know before you move out of this house it is how to navigate a kitchen.” Now of course many moms want their daughters to be able cook for their families; however, when my mom says “learn to cook” she means being about to prepare family recipes without looking at a recipe sheets or needing to measure out exact ingredients. To my mom, cooking truly does come from your heart and taste buds, not instructions on a piece of paper. What fascinated me was that Essa took a similar view to my mom. Apparently, his wife is not a good cook at all. He apparently takes the reigns when it comes to preparing meals for their family. What was amazing was that Essa knew so much about cuisine from not only his own country but other countries as well. He would describe a dish to me and then explain how different cultures supplement different ingredients to prepare a similar dish. He would make variations of pasta and prepare it differently based on recipes from other cultures or various family preferences. Apparently, I should look into Egyptian food, because Essa claims it is the best cuisine around. In Saudi Arabia, they utilize sweet and sour sauce in many different forms. In a sense, sweet and sour in Saudi Arabia is the equivalent to ketchup in America. Furthermore, white rice is used on many occasions and with all types of dishes. For example, Essa explained to me how his family loves soup. When the soup has a thick consistency they poor it over rice almost as a sauce; however, when it is of a more liquid-based, they prepare it as normal. Essa mentioned his love of pastas and how he frequently cooks spaghetti for his wife and alfredo for his daughter. I got a kick out of how particular he is about certain ingredients. For example, when it comes to soup Essa prefers lentils over any other ingredient. He also lectured me for about 10 minutes on the fact that white potatoes are far better than golden potatoes. His favorite food is falafels. He claims they are “most delicious” and explained to me that they are fried and contain beans; however, in the Middle East they make it with hummus. I also caught on to the fact that he uses “kilometers” instead of miles when explaining driving distances. When he found out I was a cheerleader, he explained to me how Saudi Arabia does not have cheerleaders. I wasn’t surprised by this, because it seems as though most foreign places do not. He asked if I cheered at basketball games, because his wife has been encouraging him to attend the games. He is interested in the sports here at TCU, and said that he would like to get acclimated to the school spirit and game day atmosphere. He wasn’t sure exactly where the events took place and which types of fields were for each sport. From there I pointed out the different locations of the football stadium, the basketball coliseum, and the practice arenas. He seemed pretty interested in this, and I was excited to introduce him to the Horned Frog pride for the first time. From here our conversation turned into a nutrition lesson. I offered him some gum and he explained how gum makes him hungry and that when he chews it makes his body think that it will be getting something to eat. He told me he had a theory, so I heard him out: Health is the edge of hunger. One should not be full all the time or hungry all the time. He believes in having 2 meals a day plus snacks to keep the body thinking it is satisfied. From there, he explained fasting to me. Apparently, last year’s Ramadan was the hardest one for him. I didn’t know much about fasting, so he explained how they do not eat from sunrise to sunset. Because of last years sunset timing, it was extremely difficult as there was a longer period of time without eating. Fasting is supposed to be a time to be thankful and to sympathize with the poor. Not only does fasting consist of food withdrawal, but it is also a reflection of good behavior, tasteful music, and lifestyles of purity and obedience. Overall, our conversations always manage to revert back to food. Like momma says: people that love to eat are always the best people.