Language Exchange and American Influence

It can be daunting and intimidating to actually try to put your language learning to use and speak with people, but I know it is one of the best ways to actually improve. Now that I have been here more than two months and gotten used to things, I felt it was time to really try to put myself out there and work on speaking. There is a local coffee shop/community center here with a language exchange meet up, called Bla Bla, that meets twice a week. I have gone twice now, and the owner had asked me after the first session if I would moderate the portion for people learning English. In addition to English, there are other languages. I know they do Spanish, and people are interested in German, but they have been having trouble finding native speakers. Last night was interesting because I started talking to a brother and sister wanting to practice their English. The brother was only 15, so the sister was probably a little older, but they brought up the topic of the US elections and asked what our opinions were on the candidate. After only two sessions, these meetups have already provided interesting insight into the culture. The previous section we talked about clothing and personal style which brought up conversations about whether men and women should dress according to the gender roles, with most seemingly feeling that the gendered clothing should be upheld, which wasn't really surprising. Although there were a few women who disagreed slightly. But back to the brother and sister. They were of Armenian descent and Christian, and they were very enthusaistic about wanting Trump to win. Some of their reasons were that a. he's a businessman, and they like businessmen, b. they thought he would be the only one to stop Isreal's violence against Gaza and c. that basically he would be against LGBTQ and trans people. All of these points I disagree with strongly, but I had to calmly explain why I didn't believe these reasons were true. I don't know that I changed their thoughts at all, but it was interesting to hear how foreigners think about American politics. And as Americans, I think we are clueless as to how much our politics, our elections effect the rest of the world. The two brought up their concerns about the Jordanian economy; the Jordanian Dinar is tied to the dollar, so our economies are linked. Within the bigger group discussion and from talking to other people from here, it seems that finding a job is difficult, even if you are educated. One of the young men at our table studied electrical engineering, specializing in like computer chips, I believe. He has only been able to find a part time job in his field. Another young man had been working at McDonald's for seven years even though he had a degree, in what I can't remember. And I have heard that many people do Uber, even if they have an education, because it pays more. We had brought up the homeless population in the US, and they asked how can their be so many without houses. I gave them examples of rent prices in Washington DC, and then explained how much a person making minimum wage would make per month. They were shocked when they realized that the wages would barely cover rent. In addition to Bla Bla, I also found a website where people can post looking for language partners. You can do searches by what language they speak, what they want to learn, and where they are located. So I have contacted a handful of people now. So far I have only met with two. On the way to meet with the second one, I actually gathered my courage and spoke with the Uber drive in Arabic. We talked for most of the ride, and then when I met with Hesham we actually spoke in Arabic for most of the several hours we met. He is a professor in sociology here and is working to apply for a grant to go to the US for a few months as an exchange. He explained that his six year old son is learning English but he doesn't like to practice with him, because the son gives him shit for not knowing enough!