The Sibling Goes for Abroad
It turned out that our little sister would be getting married abroad and she invited all of us to attend her wedding. We had to face visa interview and since our brother was still not talking to us, this came as an opportunity to communicate with him initially via paper notes and then actually verbally.
It looked like he was interested in going abroad even for a visit. So far so good…
We faced the visa interview and got the visa by the will of God. And then we were departing for abroad for the visit. Upon reaching our destination, our sisters greeted us happily at the airport. My younger sister’s husband came with a van type car so that we would all fit in along with our luggage.
Now that our entire family was united, this gave the opportunity for our brother to talk out his heart. Our sisters asked if he was willing to study abroad. They cited a university where he could still study Electrical and Electronics Engineering as major (by credit transfer from his home university) and music (his deep passion) as minor. He agreed. And we felt blessed because that answered our prayers. While mom and myself came back home to attend our duties, our brother stayed back behind to give standardized tests and apply to different universities near about where one of our sisters lived.
Having done that and enjoying touring a little bit with our sisters around the city, he came back home with little gifts for us. I was happy and moved at the same time to get such little gifts as token of love from our little brother.
Now it was time for our brother to wait for the news about what the outcome of his applications abroad would be. And yes, he got exactly the university he wanted where he could have music as minor.
Soon it was time to face visa interview for my brother and he did get the visa and soon got the ticket for flying; in around two weeks he would be leaving. Mom and son were busy shopping the necessary items. The day to depart finally approached, and I felt a pang of agony as he came to say goodbye to me in my room. I stayed strong and wished him well with a good journey ahead.
He did have a pleasant journey all the way to overseas. My sister took great care of him and dropped him at the university so that he could attend the orientation and carry out all formalities needed. Yet he wanted my sister to be around and even asked her to take leave from her office to help him out.
My sister laughed and said that if he couldn’t manage all that by himself, it would be better if he went back home sweet home.
So a guy who lacked confidence and was full of self-doubt needed to transform to a man with self-esteem and courage in his heart to meet up with the challenges that were going to be thrown at him in a foreign land.
Fortunately, he survived; not only that he also thrived.
He told us how challenging he found to buy food from a different shop other than the usual one. And slowly he got over it and could buy stuffs from anywhere he wanted. More importantly, he attended classes regularly, listened to the lectures of professors and appeared in all quizzes and exams after working diligently. Whatever he couldn’t get from professors’ lectures he looked up for those stuffs in YouTube in the internet and his concepts around those areas became crystal clear. His grades were not at all bad; rather they were at a good standing position. For this reason, he earned scholarships and earned the hearts of professors. He had friends, only a few of them now unlike at home here where he had a crowd of friends in different categories. The few friends he had now physically abroad always helped him in times of need and he also learned to return their favors of help. Definitely these were his real friends. Currently, he has one more last semester to go through and he is done. He will be a graduate. And that makes me feel great. Whether that tiny little length of a bundle, when he was born, would ever grow up was my Dad’s doubt. Yet, here he was now all mature and grown up.