Cultural experiences and end of semester celebrations

Last night in my class with my favorite group of students we had an end of semester party. I had consulted my colleague in a nearby office for suggestions for places to order food and she had pulled out a huge stack of menus and she shared her own enthusiastic descriptions of the food at some of her favorite places. She is such an endless repository of local information.

I decided I wanted something ethnic and the menu from Sahara looked like just the thing. I called to ask about delivery for a group of 14 people and the owner, Sam, invited me to come to talk to him in person about my options. This sounded like an adventure so I walked from our building down the streets of New Brunswick, NJ lined with run down houses to some entirely new and undiscovered territory. Surrounded by the desolation of urban decay was a brand new building that looked like an oasis of sorts. I entered the cavernous interior space and Sam arrived to chat with me. It struck me that this was a cultural experience I was having here. In the middle of central Jersey I was being treated to a Middle Eastern experience of building relationships and business at the same time. "Would you like to try some of our baklava?" Sam asked and also brought a glass cup of tea for me. It was some of the best baklava ever. After a little small talk we started to discuss the order.

He gave me such a good deal and the food when it was delivered was just superb. Everyone seemed to feel so. Chicken kebab and various other assorted meats, falafel, cucumber and yogurt, salad, rice, and all kinds of appetizers. I wish I had thought to take my own pictures.


For our party entertainment we played YouTube videos projected onto the screen from popular singers in Ukraine...

India (Om Shanti Om theme song--a big Bollywood blockbuster apparently)....


China, Japan and even a few from US popular culture ending with some socially conscious gospel and smooth Jazz.