Gahee and her friend Aileen flew to New York City Saturday morning. She called late afternoon on Saturday to say they arrived safely and were at their hotel.
This is her first trip to NYC, so George and I reminded her frequently not to: talk to strangers, give anybody on the streets any money, walk alone at night--the normal stuff "parents" would be concerned about. She promised.
I'm sure they were all smiles as they landed in the Big Apple. I think they hired someone to plan their trip and I know they were scheduled to see "Chicago" yesterday.
Gahee told me that Aileen was bringing an extra suitcase because she planned to do a lot of shopping. I can just imagine.
I hope they can enjoy some of the Thanksgiving/holiday festivities New York has to offer. No doubt they'll enjoy lots of good Korean food.
Meanwhile...George and Ali will stay in Columbia and I'll head up to Grayslake, Illinois to visit my folks for a long Thanksgiving weekend. I'm taking Amtrak and expect to have time to relax on the train.
Columbia feels like a ghost town with so many students gone for Thanksgiving break. Roads are safer; that's for sure. By next Monday, the students will all be back and everyone will gear up for end-of-semester exams, papers, parties, and graduation ceremonies.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Alas...Alas...Ali Experiences Root Canals, a Debilitating Fever, and the United States Selective Service
As the summer semester ended, Meshari prepared for a month long visit home in Saudi Arabia and a transition back to sharing an apartment with his former roommate. That's when we met Ali and his cousin.....Ali. They share the same family name as well, so I hope the Saudi government has other identifying information in case it's ever needed.
I met the Ali's one time for a preview visit, and then George joined me for the second visit. Cousin Ali was very expressive and outgoing. Our Ali....not so much. We learned that when he came to the U.S. in January of 2010 he knew "yes" and "no." So he was intensely focused on learning English and he studied diligently. I thought of my four years of high school French, so when I met Ali during his seventh month of studies in the MU Intensive English Program, I was impressed.
When Meshari moved out, Ali moved in and joined our family. He will turn 21 December 15 and is working his way through the various levels of proficiency instruction in the Intensive English Program. That's not what he wants to be doing. He wants to get on with his studies in electrical engineering, but he has to obtain a passing score on the TOEFL first.
During the few months he has lived with, Ali experienced some trying times, like when he jumped into the swimming pool with his cell phone and lost one, maybe two house keys...so far. I forget. None of that, however, compares to his adventures in dentistry.
Ali had been experiencing some discomfort for a while, but didn't say too much. Then one day he announced that he had a fever, so I gave him some Ibuprofen. For the next day or so he seemed sullen and unhappy. Finally, one evening when I was at the dining room table grading papers, he said, "Jenny....do you have something I can use to pull a tooth?"
"What?" I said, looking at him as if he had just arrived on this planet.
"I have pain. I need to pull some teeth."
"Some teeth?!"
"Yes. I just pull it. It will be okay."
So that's when it dawned on me that if he's in that much pain, he may be in need of a root canal....or two....or three. I've been through that pain and I remember it well. I explained to him that even if I had something he could pull his teeth with, I would not give it to him because we need to be careful about infections.
Thanks to the good care of Dr. Robert Dye, my husband's dentist, Ali experienced his first root canal --- three, in fact, I think. He braved it well and can now speak with authority on the subject if any of his friends find themselves in similar circumstances. Fortunately, his government provides scholarship students with great dental plans. Soon he will receive his permanent crowns.
A week or so after his first dental treatment, Ali was upstairs in his room and I was downstairs ready to consume a small bowl of chocolate ice cream when the phone rang.
"Jenny. This is Ali. I can't move." He had called the house phone from his cell phone.
"What? Where are you?"
"I'm upstairs. I have fever."
"You can't move? Just a sec. I'll be right up."
So I headed upstairs thinking, "Oh, my God. I have a paralyzed Saudi with a fever."
When I entered his room he was sprawled across his bed as if he had just endured a 48-hour helicopter flight. I felt his forehead. It was quite warm. Turns out his fever was a bit over 102, so I gave him some Ibuprofen and water, and thought maybe he had come down with a bug that was going around. But he couldn't move??
"Are you sure you can't move?" I asked. Actually he could, but he was so miserable that he probably felt as if he couldn't move. Most of us have been there at one time or another.
Ali spent the evening on the couch resting with some apple juice. By morning his temperature was down a bit, but we decided he should not go to class with any kind of fever. When I got home, his fever was up to 102, so off we went to MU's Student Health Center where they squeezed him in and sent him home with packets of Ibuprofen. "You'll feel better in a day or two," they told him. And he did.
So everything was looking up for a couple of days when the mail carrier brought Ali a notification from the U.S. Selective Service.
"What is this?" he asked.
"It's from the United States Selective Service Department," I replied with a bit of a grin on my face.
"What this mean?"
"Oh, they just want to remind you that young men need to register with the Selective Service in case we get into an emergency situation and they have to draft people to fight in the military."
"I have to fight?"
Then I laughed and explained in more detail what the notification was. "You just need to complete the form and send it back," I said. "They don't know that you're an international student."
"What if I don't?" he asked with a smile.
"They could fine you or put you in jail. You want to fill it out. I don't want the government at my doorstep. Just take it to Susan in the IEP office and she will make sure you check the correct status. You have a U.S. address....so that's probably why you received the notification." Honestly, I don't know why he received it, but that sounded plausible.
It's been an eventful semester for Ali, but the good news is that his TOEFL score is improving. We don't know if he'll reach 500 by the end of this semester or if he will have to enroll in IEP again, but Ali has truly been an example of calm suffering and acceptance....at least at home here. I don't know if he has ranted and raved about the root canals, fever, and Selective Service notification to his friends, but with us he seems to embrace an "It is what it is" attitude and has never complained. Never!
In a few weeks, Ali will head home for a visit where the family, friends, and food he loves and misses will greet him. Even some of our local restaurants that have Halal cuisine don't quite cut it for him. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful visit.
Ali and George at an MU football game - before root canal adventure.
I met the Ali's one time for a preview visit, and then George joined me for the second visit. Cousin Ali was very expressive and outgoing. Our Ali....not so much. We learned that when he came to the U.S. in January of 2010 he knew "yes" and "no." So he was intensely focused on learning English and he studied diligently. I thought of my four years of high school French, so when I met Ali during his seventh month of studies in the MU Intensive English Program, I was impressed.
When Meshari moved out, Ali moved in and joined our family. He will turn 21 December 15 and is working his way through the various levels of proficiency instruction in the Intensive English Program. That's not what he wants to be doing. He wants to get on with his studies in electrical engineering, but he has to obtain a passing score on the TOEFL first.
During the few months he has lived with, Ali experienced some trying times, like when he jumped into the swimming pool with his cell phone and lost one, maybe two house keys...so far. I forget. None of that, however, compares to his adventures in dentistry.
Ali had been experiencing some discomfort for a while, but didn't say too much. Then one day he announced that he had a fever, so I gave him some Ibuprofen. For the next day or so he seemed sullen and unhappy. Finally, one evening when I was at the dining room table grading papers, he said, "Jenny....do you have something I can use to pull a tooth?"
"What?" I said, looking at him as if he had just arrived on this planet.
"I have pain. I need to pull some teeth."
"Some teeth?!"
"Yes. I just pull it. It will be okay."
So that's when it dawned on me that if he's in that much pain, he may be in need of a root canal....or two....or three. I've been through that pain and I remember it well. I explained to him that even if I had something he could pull his teeth with, I would not give it to him because we need to be careful about infections.
Thanks to the good care of Dr. Robert Dye, my husband's dentist, Ali experienced his first root canal --- three, in fact, I think. He braved it well and can now speak with authority on the subject if any of his friends find themselves in similar circumstances. Fortunately, his government provides scholarship students with great dental plans. Soon he will receive his permanent crowns.
A week or so after his first dental treatment, Ali was upstairs in his room and I was downstairs ready to consume a small bowl of chocolate ice cream when the phone rang.
"Jenny. This is Ali. I can't move." He had called the house phone from his cell phone.
"What? Where are you?"
"I'm upstairs. I have fever."
"You can't move? Just a sec. I'll be right up."
So I headed upstairs thinking, "Oh, my God. I have a paralyzed Saudi with a fever."
When I entered his room he was sprawled across his bed as if he had just endured a 48-hour helicopter flight. I felt his forehead. It was quite warm. Turns out his fever was a bit over 102, so I gave him some Ibuprofen and water, and thought maybe he had come down with a bug that was going around. But he couldn't move??
"Are you sure you can't move?" I asked. Actually he could, but he was so miserable that he probably felt as if he couldn't move. Most of us have been there at one time or another.
Ali spent the evening on the couch resting with some apple juice. By morning his temperature was down a bit, but we decided he should not go to class with any kind of fever. When I got home, his fever was up to 102, so off we went to MU's Student Health Center where they squeezed him in and sent him home with packets of Ibuprofen. "You'll feel better in a day or two," they told him. And he did.
So everything was looking up for a couple of days when the mail carrier brought Ali a notification from the U.S. Selective Service.
"What is this?" he asked.
"It's from the United States Selective Service Department," I replied with a bit of a grin on my face.
"What this mean?"
"Oh, they just want to remind you that young men need to register with the Selective Service in case we get into an emergency situation and they have to draft people to fight in the military."
"I have to fight?"
Then I laughed and explained in more detail what the notification was. "You just need to complete the form and send it back," I said. "They don't know that you're an international student."
"What if I don't?" he asked with a smile.
"They could fine you or put you in jail. You want to fill it out. I don't want the government at my doorstep. Just take it to Susan in the IEP office and she will make sure you check the correct status. You have a U.S. address....so that's probably why you received the notification." Honestly, I don't know why he received it, but that sounded plausible.
It's been an eventful semester for Ali, but the good news is that his TOEFL score is improving. We don't know if he'll reach 500 by the end of this semester or if he will have to enroll in IEP again, but Ali has truly been an example of calm suffering and acceptance....at least at home here. I don't know if he has ranted and raved about the root canals, fever, and Selective Service notification to his friends, but with us he seems to embrace an "It is what it is" attitude and has never complained. Never!
In a few weeks, Ali will head home for a visit where the family, friends, and food he loves and misses will greet him. Even some of our local restaurants that have Halal cuisine don't quite cut it for him. I'm sure he'll have a wonderful visit.
Ali and George at an MU football game - before root canal adventure.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)