Ory part 3: Mini Pumpkins and the Dead Sea

For the third meeting, Ory and I decided to mix it up a little. Well, I decided to mix it up. By chance, we met on a day when TCU was having two October Halloween events. We chose to go to the event in my dorm for pumpkin decorating and pie.

I was a little apprehensive that this meeting would be awkward since decorating mini pumpkins probably isn’t very high on a boy’s agenda, but Ory seemed to have enjoyed it. He concentrated harder on painting green stripes on his pumpkin than I did to paint a face on mine.

After accidentally covering our hands in paint and glitter, Ory and I finally completed the pumpkins. The creativity of the activity invoked some creative conversation. Somehow we landed on the topic of cool spots in Israel. Ory told me that he loves the Dead Sea. Of course, I have heard about the Dead Sea in various geography and other courses throughout my education, but it was different to talk to someone who had actually been there. Ory said he loves to float on top of the water and that it is a really cool experience. However, this conversation caused me to have the song “Dead Sea” by The Lumineers stuck in my head while at work later that night.

Next, Ory and I discussed food, naturally.  He asked me for the weirdest foods I’ve ever tried. When I couldn’t think of an answer, he casually threw in that he’s eaten snake and dog. I honestly didn’t even know that people ate snake. He didn’t like it. But to defend him against eating dog meat, he didn’t know at the time that he was eating dog and was told only after he had eaten it. He seemed really distraught about it. After that, I was embarrassed to admit that the craziest thing I’ve ever tried is probably lamb, and I felt really sad about it afterward.

My lack of food culture is probably due to the fact that I haven’t traveled much, which Ory doesn’t hesitate to remind me. He doesn’t do it on purpose, but he’s been to so many amazing places. He shares his experiences with me and makes me yearn for Europe. He tells me over and over each time we meet that I really need to travel and that I need to go to Europe and see the world. I remind him each time that I would like to, but it’s not easy to drop everything and travel around Europe on money I unfortunately don’t have.

Each time I meet with Ory, I learn something new about the world. I feel like I help him discover new meanings and words in English, but he helps me discover new things about cultures I’ve never experienced.