The article I promised yesterday. I understand there is a great community on FB. I encourage my students to read a page every night before hitting the sack. The Fulbright Scholarship Beyond Classroom: Traveling through the USA After I met Dr. Laura Hart at the Bamako International Airport I couldn’t imagine that I would have a host family at Watsonville, California. The rest belongs to history. In San Jose, I attended my Fulbright academic training prior to going to the Minnesota State University for my graduate studies. During my stay in San Jose, Rich and Diane Hart, the parents of Laura visited me after they got my first email. We kept on exchanging emails and subsequent visits took place. One Saturday, my host family took me to the Santa Cruz beach. It was an enjoyable afternoon. Upon the completion of my studies at San Jose State University I left for Minnesota. My host family sent me an invitation last summer to visit them again before going back to Mali. Rich and Diane sent me a detailed program of activities that we would do once I got there. I booked a flight for Salt Lake City, Utah to stay with another Fulbrighter, Mr. Boncana. There, I met other Fulbrighters from Mali. I did spend some good moments visiting Salt Lake City. We have recreated a Malian environment through the friendly discussions about all sorts of subjects around our traditional Malian tea. It was really “diatiguiya” or Malian hospitality in Salt Lake City as I quickly became a family member, brother, a cousin and another member of the Fulbright Community. When my July scholarship came in my bank account, I bought a plane ticket for California. At the San Jose Airport, Cristin Boyd, my writing teacher during my pre-academic studies picked me at the airport. I stayed with Cristin in San Jose for a couple of days. As scheduled, Rich and Diane Hart came to pick me with a plan for a great adventure for me: A Visit to Pinecrest Lake. We drove back to Watsonville to get ready for Pinecrest where my host family inherited a cabin at this exciting resort located at only 15 miles from Yosemite National Park. I was amazed the way my Fulbright scholarship was taking me so far beyond the classroom. The name of Laura constantly comes to my mind because she has triggered and established this excellent relationship with her family. A fortuitous meeting in Bamako is helping me expose and invest myself in the target language. The drive to Pinecrest would take us 5 hours. We left in early morning on Wednesday, stopping at the Twain Harte Market to get food supplies for our two week stay at this natural resort, which is part of Stanislaus National Forest. There are cabins built all around Pinecrest Lake, which is about a mile long and half a mile wide. Most of them were built seventy or eighty years ago. The hart cabin is one of the twelve on the north shore, far beyond the end of the road, and you get there only by walking a mile, or taking their small motor boat. The lake attracts not only the cabin owners or people who are renting the cabins for their summer vacation but also people camping in the large campground at the lake. Some other visitors just come for an unforgettable afternoon at the lake with their family. Coming to the lake has been a tradition for many people for years. Pinecrest lake reunites families as parents, kids, grand kids, friends and in-laws come here to meet once a year with what I would call the “American extended family”. “Pinecrest is part of my childhood, “ said a retired colonel from the US Air Force. Colonel Tom Rankin from Tucson, Arizona, who is 85, has been coming to the lake since a very young age. After a great dinner one evening I interviewed him , and he told me that the only summers he did not come to Pinecrest was only during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars because he was busy as an Air Force pilot. He remembered a lot of things from the past. His father built a handmade skiff, the first skulling boat at the lake. I also interviewed Connie Barnard from Moraga, near San Francisco. Her father bought a cabin in 1956 at Pinecrest Lake. Her father was an immigrant from Austria who wanted to remember his days in Europe by purchasing a cabin and spending some time with his family. Connie was only 9 years old and she has been coming to the lake since then. The selling of her family cabin in 1971 did not affect her great love and passion for the lake. She confessed that she has been renting a cabin or the same cabin that belonged to her father for 26 years. “I enjoyed being here, meeting with old folks, bringing close friends to escape from the stress of life in the big cities”, she said in a frantic way. I won’t forget Connie’s friend, Judy Mortenson who accompanies her every summer. Every morning, I went for a walk in the mountains with Diane, Rich and Tom or altogether. Bob, Rich’s elder brother and his son Hutson who is about my age prefer taking the family boat for fishing. Life is not at all boring at this great resort. I had to part company with my host family after spending two weeks with them. I still remember the nice landscape of Monterey Bay, the exotic Santa Cruz beach, Yosemite, Twain Harte and Pinecrest. My host family graciously offered me a ticket to New York City where I was going to spend a month prior to going to Denver, Colorado where my cousins were waiting for me. By Youssouf Magassouba In San Jose, California
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 15:47:30 +0000
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