We had a great weekend with our new friend, Wael. He is a Saudi student, here on a scholarship at the English institute at the University. We agreed to host him for a weekend stay after being contacted by one of his teachers who is a friend from church. The request came to us while we were in Germany being impressed by the generosity and kindness of Chris’ host families. How could we say no?
We’re glad we said yes! Wael is a math genius, set to go to MIT in the fall. He enjoys street car racing and does amazing card tricks. Yes, he said he can do the card counting thing that the students in the movie “21″ can do.
For activities, we gave him a tour of the farm, at lunch at a small town cafe, drove through the former air force base, attended a Kentucky Derby Party and a Jazz Fest. Thomas and he played cards and attended church together. It was great to have him here.
Two things I really appreciated that he shared. The first was personal. When asked what activities we should provided for another student visiting us here in the summer, he replied, “If she has a time like this then I think she will be very happy.” The second was national. He said, “If my friends from my country could actually visit the United States, they would think it was the best country of all.”
