One little act of kindness can go a long, long
way. Two little acts of kindness can brighten
anyone's day. Three little acts of kindness can
make a beautiful sound. Hi, and welcome back
to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast that features
people from all walks of life telling us an interesting
story from their childhood that has impacted
who they are today. I'm your host, Jay Rehak,
and like you, I've had my share of childhood
experiences that have impacted who I am today.
Some of them painful, some of them not so painful,
but I like to think all of them have helped to
make me who I am today. Tell Me What Happened
is sponsored by Sidelining Publishing, publishers
of quality books, including Susan Salador's classic,
I've Got Peace in My Fingers. Tell Me What Happened
is also sponsored by LaughSaver .com. Visit LaughSaver
.com and record your laughter. We'll keep it
for you, now and forever. It's free, and your
children, and your grandchildren, and your great
-grandchildren will appreciate it. All right,
so let's get on with the show. I have as my guest
a friend of mine, a man who's been helping me
actually recover from some physical injuries.
He's my physical therapist aid. His name is Sayah
Odish. Sayah... I met about a month ago and discovered
that his name actually means light. Saiya, welcome
to the show. Thank you for having me. I appreciate
it. Well, I'm honored that you would come on
the show, Saiya. Are you ready to tell your story?
Yeah, yeah, I'm ready to tell my story. I'm honored
to be on here. Fantástico. Well, here's what's
going to happen. I'm going to get out of the
way. And at the end, I'll ask you how it's impacted
who you are today. But right now, I'm getting
out of the way. Saia, it's all yours. Thank you
so much. I mean, I was born in Baghdad, Iraq.
Lived my whole childhood life as a kid, growing
up in that country, all the way up until I was
five years old. Went to school there. And then
after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, I ended up migrating
to Syria and living about four more years in
Syria as a refugee there. and then eventually
ended up coming as a refugee to the United States.
And like my story, that's a bit of a background
of where I'm going to start off with my story.
But my story is when I first landed in the U
.S., it was that culture shock that I ended up
getting of, oh my God, I'm not in like it. Arabic
country anymore. All those values that they had,
all those things that they liked there, completely
changed coming to this new country. A new language,
a new culture, new personalities, new people
to interact with, new laws, values. Everything
was different. And my story is going to be about
me going first day to school at this new school
that I've never been to. and seeing how different
life is here compared to where I was before.
And I ended up, I went to Wildwood school. It
was an IB school when I first went there. I don't
know what it is now. It's been a long time since
I've actually looked that school up. It's predominantly
white, about 85%, 90 % white. And I remember
going there and the only person that spoke my
language was a teacher. Her name was Ms. Badal.
And then I had one friend there. He was in my
grade. His name was Anthony Sorrow. Ended up
finding out he's like close family somehow, which
is hilarious. That's the best part about it.
But that first day, I remember walking in. I
went on a school bus for the first time that
day. So it started off, I had to walk to this
school that was close to my house. It was called
the Clinton Academy. And I would get on this
bus. This was the first time. I've never been
on a bus or anything like that. flipped my whole
life like walking around everywhere. So I went
on this bus all these kids they're speaking English
and everything and it was just me and my sister
sitting in the back not knowing like what they're
saying what they're doing at all. It was completely
like wild because I don't know what to do I don't
know how to communicate. So we just sat there
like all quiet and people would try to talk to
us and we would just give them like blank stares
and like shake our heads and everything like
that. It was It was pretty cool like thinking
about it now, but like back then it was super
scary. And I remember the bus going to my school
and then stopping and the doors opening and the
school had this like old school vibe. It was
very small, felt like a small community. And
then I remember going in and they were so inviting.
They were extremely inviting. They like brought
me in. They showed me the teachers that were
gonna help me. They were trying to communicate
with me. And then luckily I told them I spoke
as Syrian and Arabic and there was a teacher
there. She ended up helping me out a lot throughout
my like life in middle school. And she, that
day, that first day she took me in. She showed
me how life was in the U .S. and then. She was
telling me about how she's not going to try helping
me out that much because I have to learn English.
This is the new language that I'm going to learn.
So she's like, she's going to try speaking to
me in English as much as possible, but like translate
in Assyrian whenever she could. And then I went
to my first class and I met this kid named Anthony.
I found out he was Assyrian too, but we had two
different lives. He was born here, lived his
whole life in the U .S. and I was that immigrant
kid that came here, but we spoke the same language.
Luckily, the odds of that happening are so small.
But I felt like it was meant to be that day that
we were going to meet and live our whole lives
together now, knowing each other. But we met
that day and he would help me out in class. Every
time the teacher asked me a question, he would
turn to me and then translate. I would try to
learn what he was saying and not keep trying
to tell him what to talk to me. After that, it
was just back and forth. And then we went out
for recess that day. And they told me to play
football. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I love football.
They gave me the ball and I kicked the ball.
And I'm like, first I looked at the ball and
I'm like, it doesn't look like a football. At
least the football I knew was wrong soccer ball.
At least they called it soccer here. And like,
that's what we like did all the time. We just
played soccer. And then I thought it was called
football and I started kicking the football around
and I was like, this is how you play it. They're
like, no, you like pass the ball with your hands
and then catch it. And I'm like, what are you,
what are you talking about? How is this football?
It makes no sense. And I kicked the ball really
far too. They're like surprised. I'm like, this
is all we did like back then. After that, that
was like a huge culture moment. Oh my God. Like
even certain things are called different things
than like other countries. I'm like, how am I
going to like, ever get through it or like ever
like get out of this rut or like that the rut
I thought I was in but in reality so I ended
up kicking the ball and then they ended up explaining
to me that football in the United States is called
soccer and that football is this game that you
play with your hand and you throw around and
then you catch and I'm like I would never like
this game ever and then And then I ended up now,
I'm a huge football fan, like huge NFL watcher
and everything like that. I love American sports,
but like that first interaction, I'm like, oh
my God, why are they changing this? Like, this
is like so negative. But that whole time while
I was at school and everything, I had this like
passive tone to me or like trying to like kind
of stay back and like stay quiet most of the
time. I didn't know how to feel at that moment.
What type of emotion I'm supposed to feel. I
was numb of everything that's been going on for
the past nine years since I was born. I was like,
okay, this is a fresh start, but it's a huge
fresh start. And at the end of the day, I was
just so drained by the time I got home. Do I
really have to do this every day and every day
and every day? But that's the end of my story.
And as you can see at the end of it, I'm here
talking to you guys now. Yeah. So tell me. How
long did it take for you to feel comfortable
going to school and then even feeling like, okay,
I got this language, I've got this culture down
or whatever. How long did that take? It's been
13 years now. Man, it took like the shift. I
had to be fast. I had to be really fast. I couldn't
just speak Arabic and Assyrian. I ended up learning
pretty good English in three years. So by the
time I was like in sixth, seventh grade. seventh
grade, eighth grade around there, I started getting
like a really good grip of the English language,
but the culture was still like a huge part of
it. And that I didn't get until like junior,
senior year of high school, fully like, I understand
the culture, I understand the language, I understand
how Americans act compared to like how other
people act during situations. Cause like when
I meet somebody, I go up to them, I shake their
hand and I kiss them on the cheek. In the US,
you don't do that. You just shake someone's hands.
And especially now after COVID, we definitely
don't do that. Yeah. But that was until like
senior year. My accent is until like junior year
of high school. I had it. Now you have no accent
other than I would say, like everybody in this
town, you have a Midwestern accent. You sound
like you're from Chicago. So how do you think
that First experience impacted your life today.
How do you feel like what you experienced back
then has impacted who you are today? Looking
back at it now, if I didn't go, I would not wish
that upon anybody's child to go anywhere brand
new like that. Being a culture shock and having
to adapt literally on your feet within days and
trying to come this new person that was not there
for the nine years you've been alive. But it's
taught me how to be extremely resilient, never
give up. Always be happy for new beginnings because
anything can happen. I've been very appreciative
of everything I have in my life, but mostly it's
the resiliency part. I've gone through school,
I've graduated. I am where I am here because
of that experience I had back then. And without
that experience, I don't think I would be the
man I am today sitting here talking to you. Well,
you seem like a great guy. How did it work out
for your sister? Did she wind up okay, too? I
mean, was that your younger sister or older sister?
It's a younger sister. She's 19 years old. I'm
very proud of her. She works with me right now
at Apple. We work together there. She's going
to community college right now, because I told
her to do the smart thing, because she didn't
know what to do. And I'm like, just go to community
college, save yourself some money, and then go
to like university after you're done. She's about
to go through her second year of community college,
but I'm trying to get her to graduate to, you
know, first generation for my family. Well, thank
you for telling us your story, Sia. I appreciate
it. I appreciate all the work you've been doing
with me relative to the physical therapy. I got
to tell you, truthfully, I only met you about
a month ago in the physical therapy thing, but
you seem like this very... calm, nice guy. I
can't explain it, but you have a peaceful presence
to you, if it makes sense. I don't know if you're
stressed or you're not, but you come across like
you're not stressed. You think that your childhood
experiences have made you maybe not at peace
with things, but just somehow not stressed out
on every moment. This culture can be brutal,
I think, where you're always worried about something,
money or health or this or that. You seem to
be relatively at peace. Do you think that's true
or do you think that that's just a facade? I
feel like what's happened to me made me realize
that everybody goes through tough times. So I
try to be, even if I am going through a tough
time in my life, I'm outside. I'm like, I have
nothing against anybody. I'm extremely peaceful.
I don't want to like start anything. And I'm
like, I'm here to help you. And I'm like, I've
been through a lot in my life. And a lot of people
have been there to help me like seriously. Learning
English wasn't easy. And I definitely didn't
do it by myself. And a lot of people were there
to help me. And that's like pushed onto me and
wanting to help like other individuals, even
if they get mad, even if something happens, I'm
like still. It's okay. Like you probably had
a rough day. Something probably happened and
I'm like I can be that peaceful presence and
I hope at least that impacts somebody down the
line. That's brilliant, man. I don't know how
you do that at 22 because I was a pretty angry
22 year old. I had nothing to be angry about.
I was aggravated anyway. That was just me. I
mean, I'm at peace now. I'm 65 and things are
better, but you know, but at 22. I was not, I
did not have, I was not at peace with the world.
Well, thank you very much, Syah, for coming on
the show. I really appreciate it. I appreciate
you being willing to tell your story. Thank you
so much, Jay. I appreciate you having me on.
I can't wait to see you again, you know? You
coming to your appointment? You're not going
to call off? Yeah, I'll see you on Monday, man.
I still got a bad leg. Monday? In the morning?
No. I think so. Man, I think so. All right, brother.
All right. Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate
it. All right. Well, that's our show. I'd like
to thank Saia Odish for coming on to our show.
I'd also like to thank our sponsor, Sidelighting
Publishing, publishers of quality books, including
Susan Saladar's I've Got Peace in My Fingers.
I'd also like to thank our sponsor, LaughSaver
.com. Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter.
It's free. We'll keep it for you now and forever.
Your family, your children, your great -grandchildren,
your great -great -grandchildren will appreciate
it. That's laughsaver .com. Now, I'm going to
end this show, as I almost always do, with Susan
Salador's classic one little act of kindness.
Until next time, this is Jay Rehack asking you
all to stay safe out there and try not to hurt
anybody. of kindness can go a long, long way.
Two little acts of kindness can brighten anyone's
day. Three little acts of kindness can make a
beautiful sound. Many acts of kindness help the
world go round. One little Three little loving
words can go a long, long way. Two little loving
words can brighten anyone's day. Three little
loving words can make a beautiful sound. Many
loving words help the world go round. can go
a long, long way. Two little seeds own can brighten
anyone's day. Three little seeds own can make
a beautiful sound. Many seeds own help the world
go around. One little child Can brighten anyone's
day Three little children's laughter Can make
a beautiful sound Many children laughing Help
the world go round And many see its own Help
the world go round Many loving words go around
and many acts of kindness help the world go around.