All these years later, I still think about a man who became a friend of mine from graduate school, and then pretty much vanished from my life.
Ali came from the United Arab Emirate. He was paid to come over, study at IU, and return home to teach them about the American education system. He was in a class of mine--I can't even remember what the class was--and his English was a little bit fractured. We were put into a group for a project.
On the night we had to give our group presentation, Ali insisted on taking us all out for dinner to celebrate. One by one, the the members of our group came up with excuses not to go with Ali. Admittedly, I didn't really want to go either. But when I saw Ali's face with each excuse, I couldn't say no.
While we were sitting there at dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington, Ali said to me, "You are the only one who wanted to come." I told him that everyone was just having a busy week. He smiled politely, but didn't seem convinced. I think he had wanted to treat everyone because he was kind of lonely. He told me that night that he had a wife and baby back home in the UAE.
I remember I tried to pay at the end of the meal, and we waved it off. He pulled out a wallet packed with hundred dollar bills. Evidently, not only did their government compensate him well, but they also should have warned him not to carry all of that around with him. I did, just to make sure he would stay safe.
He told me he liked it when I would talk in class, because I spoke loudly and slowly enough that he could understand me. I took that as a compliment.
I saw Ali one time after that class was over. It was just before I was done in Bloomington, and we ran into each other in one of the libraries. Other than that one night, we never actually hung out. And honestly, I can't even remember his last name. But somehow, I still wonder what ever became of him all these years later.
Ali came from the United Arab Emirate. He was paid to come over, study at IU, and return home to teach them about the American education system. He was in a class of mine--I can't even remember what the class was--and his English was a little bit fractured. We were put into a group for a project.
On the night we had to give our group presentation, Ali insisted on taking us all out for dinner to celebrate. One by one, the the members of our group came up with excuses not to go with Ali. Admittedly, I didn't really want to go either. But when I saw Ali's face with each excuse, I couldn't say no.
While we were sitting there at dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington, Ali said to me, "You are the only one who wanted to come." I told him that everyone was just having a busy week. He smiled politely, but didn't seem convinced. I think he had wanted to treat everyone because he was kind of lonely. He told me that night that he had a wife and baby back home in the UAE.
I remember I tried to pay at the end of the meal, and we waved it off. He pulled out a wallet packed with hundred dollar bills. Evidently, not only did their government compensate him well, but they also should have warned him not to carry all of that around with him. I did, just to make sure he would stay safe.
He told me he liked it when I would talk in class, because I spoke loudly and slowly enough that he could understand me. I took that as a compliment.
I saw Ali one time after that class was over. It was just before I was done in Bloomington, and we ran into each other in one of the libraries. Other than that one night, we never actually hung out. And honestly, I can't even remember his last name. But somehow, I still wonder what ever became of him all these years later.
2 comments:
Hey, it’s Craig. Interestingly, I had a somewhat similar to experience a couple weeks ago at Newark airport. A young guy from UAE started chatting me up while I just wanted to sit and enjoy some dinner after an intense client presentation and before catching my flight home. Turns out we were on the same flight backto Indy and he was a UAE government sponsored engineering student at Purdue. More to th3 story, but will share next time we cach up.
That's crazy! It's interesting the way that country seems to work. It certainly seems to be paying off for them. Can't wait to compare our stories next time we see each other.
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