January 25, 2014

Yesterday was my day off of work, and it was pretty interesting. At the Saint Francis Soup Kitchen, there was a little drama because a thief came in. A girl's iPhone was stolen. He tried to be quick and quite, but he was lousy because a second story was that he went through someone's coat and everything was put in different pockets. I am uncertain if she had anything stolen. The girl that had her iPhone stolen was crying. Michael Angulo and I were lucky to come in late, for our stuff could have been stolen. I didn't have anything valuable. The head supervisor was miffed, and Michael said that he would be angry. I am a minimalist, and I don't like having heaps of stuff. My mom has almost filled our garage with stuff. I don't think that I would be mad. Serving lunch was almost canceled.
 I served in a bussing role in receiving all of the dishes. I liked this role because I was able to greet everyone, and serve them as they departed. A sister said to me that she did not feel appreciation for life, and I think that a cure for this is to serve people. I got to witness many people and their gratitude for life.
After Michael and I went to a party that the Thai girl invited me to. Like I said before she is the classmate of Nathalia, who my family is hosting. The matriarch of the household was Thai, so I was received very well. Four other of her classmates were at the party. It was interesting to get to know them. One was Taiwanese. Another was Chinese, and the last two were Saudi Arabians.
The Chinese guy was 16 years old, so he barely has experienced life; therefore, I don't have much to talk about him. I could not get to know one of the Saudi guys well, so I won't talk about him either.
The Taiwanese guy was interesting because he was an electrical engineer. He said that he was hired at HTC before it fell apart. I told him that I never heard of them until I went to China. I never realized that HTC was struggling so bad; although, Trevor already knew. They basically only have one good product right now, and it is called "One." Trevor said that they are coming out with a replacement product. The Taiwanese guy said that Samsung came and dominated the market because the South Korean subsidizes them. It makes sense. They have impressive and aggressive marketing campaigns and a lot of products. He furthermore told me that many people were resigning from HTC, and he was forced to work many hours of over time. He would head home from work, and he would be called back. For this reason did he quit too, planning to go into business school. The Saudi Arabian guy was interesting to.
I overheard that he was a father. I loved how the environment at the party because it was family centered, and it confirmed that it is the most important thing in life. He has two children. I asked how he met his wife, and he said that his marriage was arranged. Explaining the process, he said that his mother and sister would decide, who he had married. The boys and girls are separated in most institutions in Saudi Arabia, so dating is not the custom. Having a good relationship with your sister and mother is important, so they will know who you would like. One outrageous thing that he said is that his marriage required him to take a twenty thousand riyal loan, which values half a million dollars. He said that it would cost more if he did not married within his family, for trust and relationship needs to be established. He married his cousin. Marriage within family like this seems common. Sometimes I wish that my marriage would be arranged.
We just hung out at the party. My Thai date's host family was stush. That's Jamaican patwa for luxurious. They even had a pool and arcade games. They served us Thai food, and many Thai gifts were given to my mother. All of the English students drank wine, but I didn't. They served me Ice Tea, and I had to refuse that after a sip. I was surprised because Michael was served water, and I was served the drink. I thought that it was a smoothie. He didn't even warn me. My companion on my mission did that once. Someone served us jackfruit while we were fasting, and he refused, but I forgot that we were fasting, and I went ahead and ate it; no warning from my brothers. The people at the party respected my discipline. The Thai family was very welcoming, hoping to meet my family. It seems that the meeting needs to happen because I have a lot of her containers, which I borrowed to bring home the Thai gifts.