Despedida

Posted by katemode

on Monday, July 12, 2010

This, by far, has been the most exciting picnic in the SUSI program. It was at Karen, Dr. Barb Brown's sister's house. His son Jacob rode around their huge corn field about 4 times taking us on tours on their tractor.

I talked to the other host parents there, and they were refreshingly full of energy. One was the old bachelor joker who would NOT stop it with the jokes/insults/sarcastic remarks. He was quite the comedian. I don't know how Arvin and Faisal put up with him overnight though. His jokes drove me crazy. Oh and get this, he calls Faisal and Arvin "Chip" and "Dip" respectively 'cause he can't remember their names. Craaaazy!

Then, I talked to Luana and Judge Flynn (couple) about musicals, plays, Celine Dion and Chicago. I also asked about death threats, which apparently they get often. Thankfully, no one acts on the threats. Luana was so sweet and sincere. Judge Flynn was funny and light. I thought at first he was an intimidating man, given his profession. His Celine Dion fascination proved me wrong. They were such a sweet couple I loved talking to.

There's also this one mother, Joyce, who backed me up when Drew (graduate peer mentor) and Gene were picking on me (jokingly).

All in all, that was the first time I REALLY enjoyed talking to adults. Everyone was nice, warm and funny. Our farewell picnic had the happiest ambiance, which sadly was the prelude to some teary and hug-filled goodbye's.

Sabina and I didn't get our sad goodbye's because Farida and Lee had to leave as soon as they dropped us off. They had a 4pm wedding to attend even if our picnic call time was also 4pm. Farida and Lee had already sacrificed about an hour to take us to the picnic. More reason to feel closer to them even as they left us early.

July 10th was a winner for me(just look at me here -->): Good food, good playing, good people, good conversations, good jokes and emotional goodbyes.
(Candid Photo on taken by Mudrikan)