August 16th

Today is school registration!  After a few hiccups with the Highland, including making 5 (FIVE) phone calls to the school and the SL District in order to make an appointment for registration, I was slightly if not overly skeptical of how this is going to go.  But, after 2 1/2 hours she was registered for school and all the fees are paid.  Explaining a Yearbook took some time, but we came home and I pulled mine out so she could see what was up with this.

We went to a Cafe Med for dinner which is fully Halal and she enjoyed a lamb burger after her first day of fasting for Ramadan in America.

On the way home, she asked about Joe and Alex and if they were brothers.  Well, no, they are partners.  Not business partners, but LIFE partners.  Hence, we entered the first moment of culture shock and had the gay/lesbian discussion.  She knew about people being gay from movies, but thought that gay would only be found in big cities like California and New York.  Yeah - NO.  There are gay people everywhere, although in Pakistan, they would be killed.  So Joe and Alex were her first intro to people that love someone of the same gender. 

When she asked if this was acceptable here, I wasn't sure the answer as for me, my family and friends, the answer is YES.  But, as we all know, there are people that are not as accepting, we will call them "those people."

At the end of the evening, Seema was going to write in her journal and I questioned what she was going to write about and she said, Freedom and Choice in America and how great that is.   Bring the tears...

And here she is with her Uncles Joe & Alex - of course, working!  With Joe she is helping prepare for school and with Alex gathering eggs from their chickens!!!  This is FOLLOWING jam and marinara making!!!!