I had printed out president Sadat's speech from the Internet, and it was ten pages long. One, I can't memorize ten pages.Two, it would be more than 30 minutes to recite plus it would be insanely boring. So I just selected parts that I had heard from Ahmed Zaki's movie, Days of Sadat, that relayed Egypt's political strength at the time , the stance of president Sadat when it came to the right of Palestinians in their land that was usurped by Israeli occupation, and some verses of the Holy Quran that mentioned prophets Moses , Jesus, and Mohamed( Peace be upon them) and the universal islamic message of peace. I chose it because it was such an eloquent speech by such an avid Egyptian politician that represented my cultural makeup. I had never thought I can memorize even the little parts I had selected but " Practice and practice and practice", Mr.Wells tipped us. I remember practicing it in my room about 20 times, to Linda, and kris ( my host parents at the time) like 12 times at home or even while biking in Little Rock and North Little Rock. I kind of tried to make Sadat's impression to make sound real, but they couldn't make out the heavy Egyptian accent much. Linda actually came and listened to my speech. I had never seen a parent sitting in one of our classes at school but that was how awesome my unitarian universalist host mother was. I stood there on the podium, looking at my classmates, not fidgeting or feeling nervous, I had practiced over 40 times in front of people. I made the speech in 8 minutes non-stop, noticing Linda very focused and Mr.Wells with his eyes closed. Done. " I can't say much about the speech other than it was so sincere" Mr.Wells. He let my classmates grade me and I got a 105 out of 100. I acquired the bonus for surpassing the five-minutes limit. Valentino's speech was more than perfect, he acted out two people, one great and strong , the other poor., weak and imploring. He got an outstanding 112 out of 100. We, foreigners, and Charles Porterfield,101, were the only ones to get the bonus. It was a total coincidence but Valentino and I were so thrilled by Edgar Allan Poe's poem " The Raven" that we both chose it for our second speech. But again the Italian stallion beat me in acting out a man talking to a raven that he is only imagining. After my first speech, in study hall period, Andrew Toomer, a classmate, goes like " you are the Egyptian kid, Maauumoun ( he massacred my name like all the others) dude , Wells was bragging on you man. Later Mr. Wells in the middle of the school, gave me a big hug, something I had never see a teacher at Catholic do before. I still appreciate the gesture of passion to this day.
I had gained some weight in my first few months in America. I tried to work it off at the Athletic club that all my three host families had access to by running the track or the treadmill , lifting some weights( by God I hated lifting weights as much as I hated to be alone, which is a lot), but I couldn't keep doing it , too lazy. What kept me from being an excessively obese person was that I played on a basketball team in my hometown. So I truly wanted to make any team at Catholic. I tried out for the basketball team but I wasn't good enough compared to the boys there( Catholic won state championship that year), and besides, I was fasting for Ramadan on the day of the tryouts, which means I neither had a crumb for breakfast nor a drop of water to drink. I had heard of the Fitness team. I thought it was for those ripped boys who were already fit who wanted to be more fit and compete state and maybe national, to make boys like myself forget all about fitness and concentrate on studying and reading and play pick up basketball for fun to avoid frustration. But fortunately, it was exactly for boys like myself, who weren't much fit and wanted to be fit , or just wanted some exercise with a school team. " I want to join the fitness team" I told J.J Molinaro, my best friend in America. " Just go and ask Wells man" he replied. I pictured Mr. Wells with his perfectly circular glasses and his firm big belly coaching the fitness team and screaming at them to run faster and push up harder and set up more, and I giggled. I went to the man and he goes like" Yeaaaaa( his words were always loud, enunciated and a bit long, I imitated his tone for a while because I loved it), we practice outside in L2 and you are welcome to join us".
We had exactly a half our to change clothes into either Yellow shorts, or Purple shorts. Yellow was for people who got less than 200 on the fitness evaluation, purple for more. We'd head outside, find Mr.Wells outside. As soon as he sees us he goes " Run, run, Go Go!". we ran laps around the school, and the trail had its ups and downs, but I never stopped, it was the only exercise I did the whole day. We 'd also do push-ups and set-ups on those mats we put on grass. Mr.Wells would gather us in his room and ask us " Mr. Dickinson, beef or chicken? Yeah he sometimes bought all hundred something Fitness Team members burgers from my all-time burger fast food chain, Wendy's( I can't help my saliva from flowing after writing that name!!). Actually we got two burgers a piece, plus a Snickers or a Mars, or a Milky Way bar.
I loved the man, and I am pretty sure he loved me. I asked him if there was any place I could do my prayers in after school, because I couldn't catch the noon prayers because of classes. He nobly offered his room for me to pray in, and I appreciated it very much. He was a devout Catholic but he let a muslim teenager use his room for prayers. One of classmates, Luke, made this one speech in class during speech days. It was some sort of a sermon that glorified Jesus( Peace Be Upon Him) over all righteous men who ever tread ground, and he mentioned the prophets Muhammed and Moses ( Peace Be Upon Them). I thought it was understandable because the boy was a devout Catholic as well and I had understood Catholicism pretty well by then. Mr.Wells came to me right after class." I hope you weren't offended by Luke's speech Maamoun." he said. I almost teared up.
What came to my knowledge later was that Mr. Wells was very rich. "Loaded", using the word of my classmate. He had gone to the seminary to be a priest but he did not continue there. He had decided to swear to celibacy, a Catholic ritual that indicated that the man chose to be a bachelor for the rest of his life. I learned it was a way to be closer to the Lord. We talked on the phone 3 years after I had left America and I was very happy to hear his voice. I still long for the day to go back to Catholic and visit him and my other great teachers who really touched my life. Catholic changed my life.
I had gained some weight in my first few months in America. I tried to work it off at the Athletic club that all my three host families had access to by running the track or the treadmill , lifting some weights( by God I hated lifting weights as much as I hated to be alone, which is a lot), but I couldn't keep doing it , too lazy. What kept me from being an excessively obese person was that I played on a basketball team in my hometown. So I truly wanted to make any team at Catholic. I tried out for the basketball team but I wasn't good enough compared to the boys there( Catholic won state championship that year), and besides, I was fasting for Ramadan on the day of the tryouts, which means I neither had a crumb for breakfast nor a drop of water to drink. I had heard of the Fitness team. I thought it was for those ripped boys who were already fit who wanted to be more fit and compete state and maybe national, to make boys like myself forget all about fitness and concentrate on studying and reading and play pick up basketball for fun to avoid frustration. But fortunately, it was exactly for boys like myself, who weren't much fit and wanted to be fit , or just wanted some exercise with a school team. " I want to join the fitness team" I told J.J Molinaro, my best friend in America. " Just go and ask Wells man" he replied. I pictured Mr. Wells with his perfectly circular glasses and his firm big belly coaching the fitness team and screaming at them to run faster and push up harder and set up more, and I giggled. I went to the man and he goes like" Yeaaaaa( his words were always loud, enunciated and a bit long, I imitated his tone for a while because I loved it), we practice outside in L2 and you are welcome to join us".
We had exactly a half our to change clothes into either Yellow shorts, or Purple shorts. Yellow was for people who got less than 200 on the fitness evaluation, purple for more. We'd head outside, find Mr.Wells outside. As soon as he sees us he goes " Run, run, Go Go!". we ran laps around the school, and the trail had its ups and downs, but I never stopped, it was the only exercise I did the whole day. We 'd also do push-ups and set-ups on those mats we put on grass. Mr.Wells would gather us in his room and ask us " Mr. Dickinson, beef or chicken? Yeah he sometimes bought all hundred something Fitness Team members burgers from my all-time burger fast food chain, Wendy's( I can't help my saliva from flowing after writing that name!!). Actually we got two burgers a piece, plus a Snickers or a Mars, or a Milky Way bar.
I loved the man, and I am pretty sure he loved me. I asked him if there was any place I could do my prayers in after school, because I couldn't catch the noon prayers because of classes. He nobly offered his room for me to pray in, and I appreciated it very much. He was a devout Catholic but he let a muslim teenager use his room for prayers. One of classmates, Luke, made this one speech in class during speech days. It was some sort of a sermon that glorified Jesus( Peace Be Upon Him) over all righteous men who ever tread ground, and he mentioned the prophets Muhammed and Moses ( Peace Be Upon Them). I thought it was understandable because the boy was a devout Catholic as well and I had understood Catholicism pretty well by then. Mr.Wells came to me right after class." I hope you weren't offended by Luke's speech Maamoun." he said. I almost teared up.
What came to my knowledge later was that Mr. Wells was very rich. "Loaded", using the word of my classmate. He had gone to the seminary to be a priest but he did not continue there. He had decided to swear to celibacy, a Catholic ritual that indicated that the man chose to be a bachelor for the rest of his life. I learned it was a way to be closer to the Lord. We talked on the phone 3 years after I had left America and I was very happy to hear his voice. I still long for the day to go back to Catholic and visit him and my other great teachers who really touched my life. Catholic changed my life.
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