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Show THE DAILY CHRONICLE UTAH JFE r .ni.nn mi i hi ii in i i i p mm- - ISOLATMM: Adjusting to a Foreign Home Is Difficult for Some her. BOBBI PARRY Chronicle feature Writer rectangle on a piece of it into sections and divides She carefully paper. thein. to shade begins " This is my apartment building. I live on the second floor," she says. Her apartment has only run windows, unh trees glowing in front ol toth oi them, she continues. ven in the davtime. sir- has to turn on the lights to be able to '.i e. And vet she still spends the majority of her lime iheic. Ilusdal's husband is an international student, obtaining his doctorate in Geography Inlo! m.ition Systems at the V. As his wife, her v is. st.n us does nut pel nut her to hold a paying job. Her financial situation does not allow her to attend classes. Consequently, she finds herself stranded in her small, poorly lit apartment d.iy aJtel day. "1 vs. ike up, stay at home, there's nothing good to say," she said. "It's very depressing to hve like this." Spouses of international students often face such problems. In a foreign country where they may or may not speak the language and cannot work, the spouses often retreat to their lionii s. "Everything lfor these spouses has to be dependent on your husband. You are really in this kind helpless. You become uf system." llusdal said. With her L2 visa, she is not given a social security number; she cannot een open a bank account that yields interest. She can attend up toy: hours of school, but she cannot afford the international tuition. Husdal has a degree in architectural engineering and has studied in both Norway and Illinois. Her inactivity here has been hard on Alex Husdal draws a 1 - i non-existe- n ri nt ; ' ' $ A JENNIFER MITCHELL anti-tortur- to this day. About 150 countries around the world are known to practice torture. "The torturers know they can do this because of the silence of the victims and the families. If more people know, they have no place to hide," she said. As a part of her campaign, last year, Husdal manned a table in the Union Building, handing out information about such activities. She also involved herself in the International an Women's Association, organization for spouses in her situadesigned specifically tion. The IWA helps women adjust to their new lives in the United States. Husdal, who recently quit the organization, founded its vocabulary club. Last year, the association had about 90 women on its mailing list, though knowing the exact number of international spouses is difficult. The club provides a haven for women intimidated by life in the United States. "You have someone willing to help you... I helped a new student to go around the city, to call the cable company," said Melita Djurisic, an international spouse from Yugoslavia and member of the association. The IWA offers activities for its members, such as the book club or the coffee club, as well as moral support A V Hi Chronicle Feature Columnist ho events of February didn't leave me with much to bitch about. 1 didn't mind working 10 hours a day scrubbing Starbucks' toilet, or even riding in the heat-lesairless "death" shuttle to get there. Luckily, however, as I often rely on the irritating to write a column, 1 worked right next to a Roots store, or. should 1 say, behind the line to t fit- Roots store. Eureka a spectacle o! human behavior that was almost to behold. Everyday I walked past a line of people that spread down half of Park City's Main Street. Amidst great and warm restaurants, galleries, entertainment stages and. for God sakes, Bud World, these people chose to freeze their asses off for a s, - awe-inspiri- 4 Chronicle of the Roots Line beret. At around 4 a.m. each day, a line to the store began to form, a Roots manager told me. Alright, maybe 4 a.m. for concert tickets, but for a t ! n self-estee- International spouses must make the best of their situations, said Leda Miranda, the association's president. "Most of us knew exactly the conditionsthat we're not going to be able to work here. But when I came, I knew that I would be able to do other things." Spouses should take the opportunity to enjoy everything they can about the country while they are here, she said. But for Husdal, it's not that easy. "There's not much to do. It's difficult, especially if you are a person who really likes to study. It's not healthy," she said. Husdal's husband will graduate in 2003, at which time they will decide whether to go back to his native Norway or remain in the United States. Because of her activism, she cannot return to her native country. "The people who did these terrible things are still very powerful in that country. I hope justice will be done in my lifetime," she said. bpa rry (chronicle, utah. edu anti-tortu- aO ' In Hi "If you don't use your mind to think, it becomes duller," she said. She has considered campaigning the Immigration and Naturalization Services to let spouses of international students work a maximum of five hours a week. Even these few hours would help, not only with finances but "If with mental health and the spouse wants to buy skin-car- e products, they can do that with the money," she said. She also feels the U should allow spouses to audit classes or to attend at a reduced rate. Currently, her only option is volunteer work. Hut even that is limited by the cost of transportation. Riding the bus becomes too expensive. "I'd have to pay s.2.50. That's $60 per month," she said. She gets by with activities close to home, in e her work as an activist, both online and around campus. "The main aim of the campaign is to inform people that these things still go on," said Husdal, whose activism is rooted deep in personal experience. Not only has she seen torture happen in her native country (which she asked not be named), but she also has a friend who spent two years enduring water torture and solitary confinement at the hands of his government. He remains under scrutiny fleece hat?! Amazingly, almost a month after the Games began, people are still waiting in line for fleece hats. The line has gone down quite a bit from its Olympic length, but the fact it even still exists boggles the mind. One man I talked to drove from Las Vegas to visit the store. Another woman was back a second time after waiting in the long she line; just Olympic apparently couldn't get enough. Somehow, these people don't seem to mind the wait as long as they get their hands on some quality Canadian poods with a U.S.A. logo. They chat with fellow Roots enthusiasts, sip on hot chocolate or perhaps an apple cider, and some even do a little pin trading. Not everyone has such patience, though, and those folks made the scene downright ugly at times. The 50-mi- le stories of how desperate some of them really were range from bad to worse. I have a few friends who work in the Park City and Gateway Roots stores, and it is too bad Jay Leno never caught wind of the stories they told me. Here are a seen and heard, from my close encounter with the Roots madness. few-storie- Fleece Black Market of mine had a few berets of his own, which people must have seen him bring in to Starbucks where 1 work. Within minutes, some kind of underground beret deal was going on at the corner of the espresso bar. People would creep over to my coworker and say, "So, uh (clears throat), I hear you have the beret." I am not kidding. A er Coffee, Tea or Me Roots employee at Gateway said that she was offered everything from money to sexual favors in an attempt to purchase more A warm up. Not buying the whole Tiny Tim ploy, the manger told the woman that she couldn't allow her to enter the store, but she would send the item the woman wanted to her home in California. The woman agreed, selected her items, and wrote down her Logan, Utah, address. J than the limited amount of berets. One middle-age- d man, according to the employee, winked at her suggestively at the register. After quickly informing him that such behavior would not score him an extra beret, he said, "Well, I'm married, so I can't make you my best offer, but that could be arranged." Insert "Pyscho" theme music here. The Crowd Gets Ugly Surfirv U.S.A. The same employee also told me a story that is almost too pathetic for words. One woman showed up with her young children, all of whom were wearing tank and well after the store shorts, tops had closed. Standing, and surely freezing, outside, she motioned for an employee to open the door. The manager went out to talk to the woman, who claimed that she and her children were on their way to the airport to go back home to California. The children were politely whining, "Oh please miss, let us in. We are so cold and we just want to ts, CHRONICLE FEATURE EDITOR WYNNE PARRY WPARRYdXHRONICLE.UTAH.EDU 581-704- re 1 Never a dull moment passed at the Gateway store, where one day a full brawl (or should I say a riot so Utah looks "cool") ensued. Apparently a few in the crowd became violent after U.S. Olympic hockey players and their families were allowed to bypass the "great wall of idiots" line. The store's bouncers (bouncers!) broke things up. Who's Your Daddy? Park City employee told rne of one instance where a woman broke into tears at the cash register because she didn't know if she wanted to buy a bomber jacket. Her wrinkly, sugar daddy boyfriend insisted that she just buy the damn $400 dollar jacket and get on with it Their bill ended up around $900 A dollars boo boo. Jennifer welcomes feedback at: jmitchellchronicle. uuh.edu. |
