THE BILINGUAL JOB FAIR BLOG

Mr. Brown: My First Friend in the US, Part 2

September 15, 2009

After attending college for several months and taking the English course, it was time to spread my wings. The faculty at the college felt like our group had learned enough English and was ready for the real world in the United States. One of the things I realized was that I had to say good bye to many new friends. I was headed to Syracuse University and most of my new friends were staying near New York City, and continuing with their plans there. I also realized that my bus ride was coming to an end, because I was headed to upstate New York.

Saying good bye to Mr. Brown that morning was not going to be easy. It was the last day of my English course. He knew today was the last day I would be on his bus. So did I. We had discussed it a few times in the last several weeks.

Mr. Brown got to the bus stop a little earlier than usual this morning. Only two of us were waiting for him. I had already explained to the other passenger that today was my last day in school. I had seen her before and Mr. Brown had ‘made me’ talk to her, as well as to other bus passengers. I explained to the lady that this morning, I had to say good bye to my friend, Mr. Brown.

As he reached the bus stop, he opened the door and smiled at me and said, “Good morning, Mylene”. He was not quite himself this morning, I thought, because he didn’t quite give me his warm smile. I said, “Good morning” back to him, and entered the bus. We had to wait a few minutes for other passengers, since he was a little early. We started to talk about the last few months. He sounded kind of depressed and didn’t want to talk that much this morning. I tried to cheer him up by getting my camera out. Of course, I wanted a picture of ‘my first friend in the USA’!

Mr. Brown was so nice to me for all of these months. He didn’t really want me to take his picture but I did it anyway. About four other people entered the bus and we drove off. I said to myself: “My last ride with Mr. Brown has just begun”. I sat near the front, as I recall, but neither one of us said much. The only person that knew what was going on was the other lady, whom I had told before. The rest of the people didn’t know why Mr. Brown and I were so quiet this morning. We reached the college. As I walked by him, when I was leaving the bus, I gave him a hug and thanked him for being so nice to me. He said to me then, “You are going to be somebody, Mylene, because of your enthusiasm and your desire to succeed. You will see. One day you will be. Mark my words”. That’s how much Mr. Brown believed in me.

At this point, I thanked him again and we hugged each other. When I got out of the bus, I had a lump in my throat. I watched the bus ‘leave me’. “Adiós, Mr. Brown. And thanks for being a good friend.”

Our lives in America were about to go on. A ‘chapter’ of our lives was ending and a new chapter was about to begin.

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(Part 1 of this story is here.)

Filed under: mylene

Tags: bilingual, languages