"You almost needed to be some sort of a super genius to pass the entrance exams in Iran to go to the Universities there." my Dad commented when I asked him about the reasons he wanted to come to America. He and his friends wanted an education. He was accepted into the University of Jacksonville, Florida but decided to come to California at the last minute when he heard his two friends would be here. He changed his plane ticket from Florida to Los Angeles and when he arrived, the lady at customs welcomed him in. Iranians were well respected here at the time.
On the American soil he planted himself on that day, my Dad stands in the kitchen, squeezing lemons into lemonade while he continues telling me his story. Mak walks in the kitchen looking for lined paper and my thoughts run away, down lines of our genealogy. Domi sits in the dining room, studying for her English Language School on the computer and asks me if I will review a paper for her later. I think about her trip from Italy and am able to catch short glimpses of the lifestyle my Dad had in the stories he was telling.
"English is a very difficult language to learn." I say to my students as they are learning multiple meanings for the same word in class. I look around at each one of their small faces and am grateful for them for the opportunities they have been blessed with and don't even know it yet. I open the book for "Open Court" reading where each student takes turns reading aloud. We read about the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. I start sweating with excitement and finally take off the huge coat I'd been wearing all day while I got up to explain what we read after every few paragraphs.
What is liberty?
Suzie
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Mis Connections
Well I finally finished the book, "The Bungalow" and it was so good. I typically do not read all that much fiction but I have to admit, this book got me into it on some level. Its a love story with deep emotions and wild imaginations connected with real things the reader can understand from the perspective in which its written. I enjoyed it very much. It made me think about my Grandma and Grandpa and what they went through in their lifetime. My Grandma served as a nurse for the army, navy?? (I will have to look into that) Thank You Mel for the reference and Thank You Sarah Jio for the nice read.
Now I'm ready for the next book, "The Fault in our Stars" by John Green. I like what my sister had to say about it.
I hope everyone is having a nice Saturday morning if you are in the Southern California time zone, and if you are anywhere else, I hope you are having a good time. :)
Suzie
Now I'm ready for the next book, "The Fault in our Stars" by John Green. I like what my sister had to say about it.
I hope everyone is having a nice Saturday morning if you are in the Southern California time zone, and if you are anywhere else, I hope you are having a good time. :)
Suzie
Monday, February 13, 2012
Love Revolution
Five of the Men I grew up closest to met in the service when they got out of High School. Iran was having a white revolution at the time and whomever graduated High School had to enter the Military. They entered 18 months of mandatory service and were sent off into different branches to train.
On the Military bases they taught tactical stuff (my Dad is so cute with his accent still he called it "taxical" stuff and I had to correct the word as it showed it was misspelled here) and in the villages they taught people about agriculture, education... If people had graduated from the Universities there, they worked in conjunction with High School graduates to teach civilians and so on.
The five of them were placed as sergeants after the first 4 months of training, not only because of how effectively they passed their exams, but their level of education placed them higher in the ranks.They met on the first night after their 11:30pm arrival because they were up all night making noise and messing with everyone. They found the biggest trouble makers there and decided they'd become a team the next day while they lined up to get reprimanded.
Twelve of them got together and they lined up from tallest to shortest and chose jobs. There were twelve teams of twelve people who were dispersed into different jobs and my Dad along with the other twelve fellas chose to work in the kitchen, knowing it was a job they could easily accomplish while getting the best pick of food out of 144 soldiers.
"Needless to say, my friends always got the best." - My Dad in terms of serving food to fellow soldiers.
After that first 4 months of basic training, they then were deployed to different areas (cities) for 2 months of special training which included things such as learning weapons, operations, strategies and so on. The rest of the time consisted mostly of doing what they knew best and then training other soldiers, civilians, villagers to learn all they needed to know.
After the service all of the five men who met on the first night decided... they were going to come to America!
Xx Suzie
On the Military bases they taught tactical stuff (my Dad is so cute with his accent still he called it "taxical" stuff and I had to correct the word as it showed it was misspelled here) and in the villages they taught people about agriculture, education... If people had graduated from the Universities there, they worked in conjunction with High School graduates to teach civilians and so on.
The five of them were placed as sergeants after the first 4 months of training, not only because of how effectively they passed their exams, but their level of education placed them higher in the ranks.They met on the first night after their 11:30pm arrival because they were up all night making noise and messing with everyone. They found the biggest trouble makers there and decided they'd become a team the next day while they lined up to get reprimanded.
Twelve of them got together and they lined up from tallest to shortest and chose jobs. There were twelve teams of twelve people who were dispersed into different jobs and my Dad along with the other twelve fellas chose to work in the kitchen, knowing it was a job they could easily accomplish while getting the best pick of food out of 144 soldiers.
"Needless to say, my friends always got the best." - My Dad in terms of serving food to fellow soldiers.
After that first 4 months of basic training, they then were deployed to different areas (cities) for 2 months of special training which included things such as learning weapons, operations, strategies and so on. The rest of the time consisted mostly of doing what they knew best and then training other soldiers, civilians, villagers to learn all they needed to know.
After the service all of the five men who met on the first night decided... they were going to come to America!
Xx Suzie
Friday, February 10, 2012
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