We landed in the, I always call it that, the mighty state of Arkansas. Of course the girls and I were expecting someone to come pick us up from the airport. And she was there my wonderful liaison, Mrs. Barre, also a Spanish language teacher at Catholic High my host school. Kay Barre was a blonde and always had a very characteristic scent that I still have in my nose till now, that when she would pass by anywhere at school I would know Miss Barre was here, a very attractive scent. She greeted us and we went to get our bags, one of mine was a bit late. She drove us to the hotel where we were supposed to have our arrivsl orientation. In the car I was looking out the window watching how beautiful my host state was, so green everywhere. It definitely earns its name, The Natural State. We reached the hotel, and there I saw the AFS people that I was going to deal with throughout the whole year They greeted us with "welcome to America" and all that other jazz. I went to my room, rested, changed my clothes, swam a little with Miss Barre's son, Michael, and then went back to my room.
That night I roomed with three other boys, Mark Guill from the Philippines, Toby and Max from Germany. Three wonderful gentlemen that I was very honoured to have met. Toby and Max totally destroyed my stereotype about Germans being dull and serious, because they were one of the most lively, funny and friendly people I ever met. Mark, the phillipino, was this amazing dark-skinned kid, and we became friends right at the second we said hi. The room that the four of us shared only had two beds. Thing is, in Egypt, boys can sleep next to each other on the same bed pondering nothing of homophobia, basically because the concept doesn't exist in our heads much. But I had always thought that just the idea of sharing a bed with a guy was horrific to Americans or Europeans. But I was stunned at how okay the idea was to the Germans, apparently I had been mistaken.
Jane, my future host mother for the first month and a half of my stay, ran the orientation. Earlier, I had my first encounter with Jane. Kay introduced us to each other, and then it happened. Jane gave me a hug!. In, Islam it was forbidden for a grown man to have physical contact with a woman that was neither his wife nor his kin. That's why I was so taken aback by her action, and I couldn't hug her back from the surprise. That moment was to be a landmark in my relationship with Jane Martin. Jane, this sweet caring loving woman that took me in her house to live with her wonderful family for the next month and a half, and later another two months, and then later took me in her heart as her Egyptian son for as long as we both will live. Jane is my first American mother, and an eternal resident of the chambers of my heart.
The orientation was almost boring though, which had nothing to do with Jane Martin, but because, the whole content of the orientation was covered a thousand times in our orientations in Egypt. And I was very proud of AFS Egypt because of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment