(Visiting the Sorrels and Sparks Families in Marlow, Oklahoma, USA)
Written by: Fitri Arfiani
During December 2012, I received an email informing me that my college research thesis was chosen for presentation at an international conference in New York City. Initially I thought it was just spam, but I decided to check on it more.I called my thesis advisor just wondering if it were possibly true and to my surprise it was him who sent my paper to the international organization that holds an annual conference.
I was so happy and excited. It had been one of my biggest dreams to be able to go to the USA. I felt so blessed. I immediately told my parents and of course they supported me. This was not an easy thing to accomplish. Jakarta, Indonesia is very distant from the USA. The first thing was the financial issue of traveling from such a faraway place, and the USA (particularly New York City) is much more expensive than Jakarta. In order to prepare for the presentation and make the trip I resigned from my job. I didn’t give up, so I prayed to God. If it was His will, then I would be able to go no matter how it seemed at the time.
I did the process to join that conference with all my effort and people around me helped me. I applied for USA visa and I was turned down (it is very hard to get a USA Visa for an Indonesian citizen). Well, I cried and felt so bad about it.
My thesis advisor called me and let me know that one of the lecturers from the university would also go to the same conference. We both applied for USA visas at the same time. This time worked! Oh yes, America here I come!
At the end of May 2013 I flew to New York. I spent a week there for the conference, where I was recognized as one of the top presentations given during the conference. I then became a tourist spending 4 days in the Washington D.C. area and 4 days in Las Vegas visiting a friend before I traveled to Marlow, Oklahoma.
I had no idea of what Marlow looked like. I arrived in the Oklahoma City Airport, where I was welcomed by Roger and Nancy Sparks. We had never met before which made locating each other interesting. They happened to see a young lady wearing a Las Vegas t-shirt and shorts carrying two huge bags, but they just passed me looking for someone more “Indonesian” looking. Yes I was that girl!
After making connection with each other at the airport, we went to their car. I could not wait to find out what was outside the airport. I had been missing the food back in Indonesia and Roger and Nancy took me to a Chinese restaurant in Oklahoma City, where I finally has some of those foods I missed the most (or at least similar). After that, we went to a Chinatown market where we bought vegetables, sea food, rice, noodles, and some spices– especially chilies to make real Indonesian foods when we got to Marlow!
I didn’t know that Roger really likes spicy, I mean spicy hot, foods. This was great news as most Indonesian foods are quite spicy. We even have a special word to describe spicy hot food, “pedas” and a word for hot temperature “panas”. He requested me to cook him a spicy sauce (in Indonesia we call it Sambal). I cooked some Indonesian dishes like Mie Goreng (fried noodles), Nasi Goreng (fried rice), and some other stir fried vegetables and sea food. It was so good to have some “pedas” dishes that reminded me of home.
Almost every day we had company visit at either lunch or dinner. I love the breakfast American style: Biscuits, Beans, and Bacon – oh yes those three Bs are still on my tongue! Back to the point, guests were coming. Most of them were family and relatives. They all were very nice people. It had never occurred to me that people in Oklahoma could be so warm just like in Indonesia. I thought all people in the USA are very self centered – but I was wrong.
I found a family in Marlow!!! The Sparks have a very big farm and those unbelievable big cows, fluffy goats, chickens, and grasshoppers (lol). I am afraid of the grasshoppers, but in Marlow, I learned how to deal with them.
Roger taught me how to take care animals which I had never experienced in Indonesia. I live in a big city, Jakarta, which has about 28 million people in the greater Jakarta area and many buildings and skyscrapers. When I was in New York City and Washington, D.C. I saw buildings around me – but not in Marlow. Most of the places I saw around me were the pastures and farm fields. One thing that I was afraid to meet in Oklahoma was the snake! I had heard there could be snakes even close to houses and buildings. I did see a snake crossing the road while we were driving to visit one of the Sparks’ relatives.
One afternoon, the Sparks took me out for a tour. We went to the Chisholm Trail museum in Duncan, Mount Scott, and the Meers Store. It was very windy on top of Mount Scott but it was a very pretty view. Unlucky me, I didn’t have a chance to go to one of the rivers where I wanted to catch a really big cat fish by my hands.
Some of the other experiences that I had while visiting Marlow were a chance to ride on a big motorcycle and ride a horse.Nancy’s older brother, Donald Sorrels took me for a spin on his big Kawasaki cruiser. In Indonesia we have millions and millions of small motorbikes/scooters but nearly all are only 125 cc and very small and light, not big and powerful cruisers. It was so different than bouncing along on a small motorbike in the congested streets of Jakarta. At the Sorrels place I got to ride on a moody horse called Hershey. She was a little rough and didn’t seem to want ot carry me. She ran under some branches and a gate which scratched my back and almost knocked me off while I was riding her. Bad luck this time.
One day, we had a big dinner with many of the Sparks extended family at the Sparks home. I met five cute girls and a boy. I greeted them and they were interested to know where I came from. I said that I am from Indonesia and flew almost 30 hours to arrive in the USA. They were surprised and interested to hear the Indonesian language. So I spoke to them in Bahasa Indonesia and of course they did not know the meaning of the words I said!
We shared stories and yes, girls old and young, everywhere have the same interest – pretty nails! I brought out all the nail polish I bought in New York and Washington, D.C. They made a line starting from the youngest to the oldest. I did their nails one by one – I could see that they were undecided on what colors they wanted to have. They even reminded me for the top nail coat! After they got their nails done, they tried my cooking and they said it was spicy (hahaha…).
That night was a warm night when the Sparks family sat down together and I started telling stories about my family back home. Suddenly, I shed tears and couldn’t hold it – until some of them were crying too. I felt happy and was loved by a complete family which I never had it in my life. I found love in Marlow.
The next day, they came for a lunch then after that we played in the field with the cats and goats. It was a great day to be able to play around with the kids. Running here and there to catch the cats and goats and stepping on the grasshoppers!
My trip to Marlow, Oklahoma was short, but it was the emotional part of my trip where I found happiness in family that fulfilled my feelings of togetherness. They didn’t know me and I didn’t know them either, but God’s love brings all of us together.
Thank you Sparks and Sorrels families. Thank you Marlow, Oklahoma and thank you America for helping to make one of my dreams come true.
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