This is a quick update for everybody who’s been following the progress of Diane101’s young friend Diva from Baghdad to the University of Kansas. What a trip!
You already know how kind and helpful ManEegee was to Diva when she and her fellow Fulbright scholars went there for a week of orientation. She thinks he is the greatest, which is no surprise to us.
You might say that Diane handed her off to ManEegee, who then handed her off to me when I picked her up at the Kansas City airport this past Saturday night. I drove her to Lawrence and got her installed in a dorm room provided for her until her own studio apartment is ready. The minute I saw her I liked her, as Diane and ManEe had told me I would. She is delightful. She speaks English like a native–okay, better than a lot of natives, and she’s also fluent in Italian. She’s vivacious, articulate, and beautiful, and so so grateful for all the help.
She fended for herself through Sunday and Monday, making friends and going through a lot of orientation. Today I drove back to Lawrence, this time taking with me a friend who used to live there and who knows the town and university much better than I do. My friend, Andie, was wonderful today! She directed us where we needed to go, nabbed the right people to ask the right questions, and just generally was helpful in ways I could never have been. We worked on getting Diva a cell phone, took her to see her apartment (it’s cute and she likes it) and to get the leasing paperwork finished, and we got info on bus passes, etc. We got a lot done, but there’s still a lot to do. We felt sorry for all the foreign students who didn’t have us!! Or, rather, I felt sorry for all of them who didn’t have Andie.
Her first few days have been tough–confusing, exhausting, HOT. She misses her mom. It’s just hard in so many ways, but she’s a fighter and an amazing person and she’s coping. As Andie said to her just before we left her today, “This week will probably be the hardest week you ever have in this country. After this week, everything will start to get easier.”
I’ll go up Thursday to get her moved into the apartment and we’ll go shopping for cool stuff. A friend of mine sent $100 to help with that, and another friend sent $25. Andie is giving her a small microwave and probably a tv.
Two amazing bits of synchronicity happened today that I just loved. We were standing in the cell phone shop in the student union when my son walked in! Totally unplanned. So they got to meet, which made me happy. And then guess what? It turns out Diva will live right across the street from him! Can you believe that? In this big campus, with so much different housing, the house he will be living in with his friends turns out to be across the street and just down a bit from Diva’s apartment. Six degrees. . .
SHE NEEDS A COMPUTER! Fulbright gives her a $500 stipend to buy one, but we all know that’s not enough. She needs a laptop that can do photoshop, because she’ll be studying photography along with American studies. We’ll work on getting her one from this end, but if any of you can help, please jump right in. You can email me at Nanpickard at kc.rr.com
So, that’s the news from sunny Kansas, where we all love Diva.
