By Max Rechkemmer
If you were to enter social studies teacher Margo Massey’s room last Thursday during fifth block you would have found the room packed full of students. At the front of the room was exchange student Taubah Sumalee presenting to the World History classes.
Taubah Sumalee, better known around the school as Bah, is a foreign exchange student who traveled nearly 9,000 miles from Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, to spend the year here in Mount Vernon. Sumalee practices the religion of Islam which means “submission or surrender to the god” and is the reason that you will see her covering her hair with what is called a Hijab.
Along with wearing a Hijab as all women do in the Islamic culture, Sumalee prays five times a day. Before every prayer she washes her hands, feet, and face. This is one of the first changes Sumalee had to get used to. “The sinks here do not make it easy to wash my feet,” she said, so she simply splashes some water on them before her prayers instead.
In addition to the different style of bathrooms, Sumalee had to get used to moving to different classes whenever the bell rings. In Thailand the students stay in one room all day while the teachers move from room to room. When Sumalee was asked what was one thing she liked about the United States so far, she quickly replied “boys.” They are very different here and are much better looking, she said.
The class responded with a chuckle before moving on to the next question: “What scared you the most when you first came to the United States?” Sumalee’s response made the class laugh once again: “football game toilets” she responded, but surely everyone understood how scary those “football game toilets” can be. Speaking of football games Sumalee enjoys dressing up and cheering although she has no clue what is going on on the field.
Although there are certainly things that she misses about home, Sumalee is really liking the American lifestyle. She will continue to make people laugh and smile as she makes more friends and memories here in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
