Meeting with Khalifa #5

       I think this will probably be my favorite meeting with Khalifa. We were trying to go to a baseball game, but scheduling conflicts arose and we had to settle for the first floor of the BLUU once again. We started talking about sports and I asked about the most popular sports in Saudi Arabia. He clarified that sporting events were nothing like American athletics. He was partial to basketball, despite this sport rarely being televised, in addition to cricket and soccer. He seemed flustered by the amount of sports that Americans play and how their fans keep up with it all. He communicated that he was always extremely frustrated with most televised American sports. Evidently, he and his friends have a bad habit of falling asleep during games due to boredom. I asked why, and he told me he didn’t understand the rules. He had mentioned that his favorite sport was basketball, so I asked him if he understood the rules. Khalifa replied yes, and went on about how “you can only take three steps and then you had to pass the ball or it was a penalty”…

       At first I thought he was joking. As it turns out, he and his friends have come up with a completely wrong, but unique form of basketball which they gleaned from watching the NBA on television. I never had the time to watch or play with them, but it is an experience that I wish I had taken advantage of. Next, I asked about baseball. He shook his head at me and set it on the table with an exasperated look. Khalifa and some of his friends had gone to a TCU baseball game the week before, and apparently had never been more lost or confused in their lives. I began to explain the basic rules to him, but we soon decided it was a lost cause and moved on. I was surprised at how difficult it was to explain the basic rules of sports that most Americans consider to be common knowledge. I think it would be easier to demonstrate the rules, rather than solely trying to describe them. Regardless, it was clear that these concepts were startlingly complex to him.

        Khalifa was also confused by the culture surrounding our athletic events. He could not understand why Americans would go to a baseball game not to watch, but to socialize. In his country, sports fans treated games like religious events and their teams like demi-gods. He felt that since there were so many different sports, the fans could not be as loyal to only one team. In some ways he might be right. I think there are other underlying factors, but it’s an interesting perspective.

        I still find it odd how such a simple concept for people of this country can be so abstract for people like Khalifa. I grew up playing every sport I could and participated in most of them throughout high school. It was an odd feeling to realize that there are people living in America who would not be able to understand a significant portion of my past and consequently who I am as a person. In addition, the recognition of how incredibly ignorant I am of other cultures was not an encouraging thought. It’s so easy to get caught up in everyday life and forget how limited our perception of the world really is.