Conversation Partner Meeting #6

My final conversation with Sari took place during the IEP end of semester party. There, I touched base with Sari about how his semester had been since we last met, his progress on the GMAT, and met one of his friends. Sari's friend, whose name I did not catch, is from England and also preparing for the GMAT exam. I briefly asked him how he was preparing for the exam and he had a similar method to Sari, the use of prep books and practice exams. They both mentioned nearing completion of their preparation and were planning on taking the exam by the end of May. I asked about the length of time you have to wait to get your scores, which was an annoyance of mine with AP and other standardized testing. I was shocked to hear that they receive their results immediately because the test is done via the computer.

Growing up in the NYC metro area, I am comfortable eating a wide range of foods from various cultures. One of my favorite foods from home is baklava, a dessert made with filo (phyllo) dough and honey, which is essentially nonexistent in Texas due to the lack of a substantial Greek population. Other Mediterranean cultures also have their own version of baklava with slight modifications, but I'm partial to the Greek variety. To my excitement, there was baklava at the IEP party. I told Sari and his friend how much I loved baklava and how difficult it was to find in Texas and they both became intrigued. I led them to the container that was almost empty, due to its popularity at the party. Sari quickly said "Ah, baklava. We have this in Saudi Arabia". Apparently we pronounce baklava differently, which was why he did not recognize the dessert upon name only. I pronounce it bak-la-va, with 3 syllables, and he pronounces it as bak-lava, with 2.

So, our IEP conversations began with food at Union Grounds and came full circle to end with enjoyment of baklava. The conversation partner experience has been positive for me as I was able to learn a great deal about a country and part of the world I've never experienced in an innovative and unique learning environment.