Me! Pick ME!

If you have ever seen the movie Cider House Rules, you’ll remember how the children act when potential parents arrive to have a look at the orphanage’s wares. Welcome to SIT day six. You’ve never seen a group of college-educated twenty-somethings so nervous and fussy as the day they all get adopted. All day long we were at the villa, listening to speakers, holding discussions, asking new questions, but beneath it all our thoughts never strayed far from HOMESTAY…homestay…homestay… we were beginning our “Fears and Expectations” discussion at about three, an hour and a half before pick-ups would begin, when Jami was called away… three round women in abayas navigated the doorway and were ushered aside by our instructor Elizabeth. Once the door closed with Jami outside of it the room was a bustle – everyone talking, scheming, sweating, shifting, smiling, cringing, nervously laughing, thinking “iwishitwasmethankgoditsnotme!”, when the door opened again and Aisha peeked in, “And Sarah D.?”

I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it, but the short amount of time I’ve had has been packed to capacity and I think what I’ve decided is that it’s like when you ride a roller coaster (yeah, yeah, clique) and, like always, it’s the part where the track catches and you are being hoisted upwards on the first big hill before the ride starts.

It is at this point, more than any other, that you can’t think about turning back, you’re done for kiddo, and you don’t really have the resources or the nerve to think about what’s coming next.

So you disconnect.

You have to live without precedence or plan because that is truly the only way to deal. Or maybe it’s like standing at the foot of a ladder that goes to the top of Mt. Everest or something… what you are trying to accomplish is just too big to even fathom and you have so far to go that it hardly registers as a task. So you climb, but don’t even pretend to know what you’re doing sugarpie, you aren’t fooling anyone…My family is beyond anything I could have imagined. At dinner, "AJ" was instructed to set out a smattering of silverware next to my plate, but instead of employing my two knives and spoon, I followed the example set by my brother and parents and ate my rice, chicken, and salad with my hand. It’s strangely liberating to indulge like that, especially when surrounded by cool tile and heavy curtains. I’m getting rice all over my chin and there are two kitchens in this house. My mom, "Carmela" has older children from a previous marriage and speaks Swahili, French, Arabic and English. She is lovable and round and when I told her I could wait till the breaking of the fast to have something to eat, she insisted on bringing me mango juice and cupcakes. “We have to fast. Not you,” she reasoned. My brother "AJ" is 14ish I’m guessing and either because he is just learning English or he really isn’t digging me, has done his best to avoid any sort of direct interaction, lol, hopefully he will come around. Their eldest son, "Christopher", is attending college in Jordan but is coming home this weekend (?) for a vacation. (BTW, in Oman the weekend is Thursday-Friday for government employees, Friday-Saturday for businesses and banks) My sister "Meadow" is 12 and she is downright terrific. She came right into my room and both her and her cousin greeted me on both cheeks before racing off in their mismatched hijabs. My dad, however, takes the cake. After graciously greeting me, the first thing he asked was about my Arabic… good grief… I told him I definitely needed some help and he just went nuts, he is so pumped, “That is what I am here for!” he told me. “Hurry Sawrah! Break the fast with us!” He and "AJ" shoveled down some dates before heading off to Mosque while the Mrs. and I casually enjoyed our first course. After returning, he came into the room arms full of literature. “Here will tell you about Oman,” he said handing me a book along with newspapers in both Arabic and English… is this guy too good to be true or? He sat everyone down in the living room and asked me to tell about myself and “Everyone listen!” I did the best I could on the spot. Even though I was describing myself in English I still had trouble figuring out what to say haha. His childhood was in Zaire, but he has spent most of his time in Egypt and Oman as his father is Omani. He works for a government Ministry and his specialty has to do with traditional methods of recording Omani history/culture. He has been to America on numerous occasions, speaks terrific English, and thought that this was just the most terrific idea for his family when Farouk called him up about taking on a student a few weeks back.