You asked me if I have made any American friends since I have been here. To tell you truth ,I do not know . amaricans seem to have an idea about friendship different from ours. First,everyone is very friendly . people smile and even sometime say hello to me in the street-people I do not even know
Both boy and girls and at the dorm everyone seems kind, friendly ,smilling too.they say thing like we will have to get together some time ,or stop by some time . but they never have time just then to chat a little longer.they are always in the hurry ,on their way somewhere . another thing is they will ask about Egypt but they do not really seem to care about the answer , besides just noticing that over customs are different .and they really know nothing about Egypt or much of the rest of the world .
I thing of you and karima and the long discussins we had about our lives and about the world . that is what friendship means to me. I thing of the many times I neeed yo help and even if you had your own problems you always helped me. Ihave not found that even after one year of living here . I do not mean to complain , but you did ask . I guss I can say it is very easy here to make acquaintances but I am not sure what friendship means in amarican terms
Polite social relations appear to be on one hand quite important in amarican society and on the other hand somewhat superficial . the cordiality may be seen in the typical amarican is behavior toword stranger on the street . a preson will quite readly nod , smile or even say hello to a stranger passing in the street , amaricans smile easily and extend invitation to people the hardly know . on the other hand , there is certain superficiality to this friendliness since amaricans also tend value the individual over the community. They drive to work in separate cars, each encased in his or her own private box. When they arrive at a crowded beach , they will head for solitude ,isolation ,a spot on the beach away from other people .
Furthermore , although friendship everywhere are necessarily based on a certain amount of trust. That trust is apparently conditional in amarican society . thus , for example,an amarican would not find it strange to be asked to sing an iou if he or she borrowed money from a friend .for and outsider, therefore , it is often difficult to see at what point an amarican considers another to be a friend and exactly what being a friend entails.