Keeping Busy

We had a super packed weekend. E is now regretting it because he has loads and loads of homework to do. I’m now regretting it because I am so tired I can hardly function and barely pulled myself out of bed this morning (late, late this morning).

On Friday, E organized a football match with a bunch of other students from school. I took him to the park to play and met his new friends—from Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. I was also pleased to meet Halit, a new student from Saudi Arabia. Apparently, four more students will be coming from Saudi Arabia in the next month. E was the first Muslim student ever at his school and apparently started a trend. Halit went with us to mosque later in the afternoon, and I am so happy to see E develop a network of his own friends.

E is incredibly shy around my family and friends. He hardly says a word and feels so self-conscious about his English. I loved watching him on Friday with his international friends. The only way they can communicate is in English, but E has no shyness around other non-native speakers. He was talking and laughing and really enjoying himself. His English is really nice—he’s at the top of his class—but he has yet to gain enough confidence around native speakers.

I worked late on Friday, and on Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the Harvest Fest at Thanksgiving Point. Unfortunately, the Harvest Fest ended up being really lame. Fortunately, we were able to meet up with three of my siblings there—and their kids and dogs—so I was happy for the excursion.


Afterwards, E and I drove to Salt Lake City for our date night. Our first stop was a Middle Eastern restaurant. We ate dolma (stuffed grape leaves), bulgur, yogurt, and doner (what most Westerners think of as kebab). We ate to our fill, and E declared that it was “like Turkish food.” I guess that’s as close as we’re going to get to satisfying his Turkish food cravings. Unfortunately, I don’t know when we’ll make it up there again.

Our next stop was a Real Salt Lake soccer/football match. It was my first professional game, and we actually sat close to the field. I was a bit put off by some of the fans (particularly the man behind us who was so offended that they made announcements in English AND Spanish, and then later bought a churro to eat), but I think E enjoyed himself. Clearly, the team wasn’t up to the caliber he’s used to in Europe, but he still got into the game. During halftime, he watched a fight (the police were called in), and he yelled a few times, so I’m pretty sure he felt a bit at home. We’ve been here for a month, and I worry so much about him being homesick, so I just wanted one night of Turkish food and football to help him feel a bit more at home.