The Start of the Next Step

Well, for the first time, I'm starting on a new journey purely for the purposes of language acquisition. Just after Christmas, I left the States and begin a very long journey to Brazil, where I hope to learn Portuguese. The journey didn't need to be this long, but it was! I booked my ticket with frequent flyer miles, and due to peak travel times, there was one flight to choose from to reach my destination during my preferred time. O.N.E. So, I booked it.

My dear sister and her clan drove me to the airport, with a few stops along the way. From DC, I flew to São Paulo. Once arriving, I needed to change airports, and travel to another city, about 75 kilometers away. My plan was to use Uber and relax with the ease of being transported door to door with my two suitcases. However, I am meant to have adventures in life. The wifi at the airport wasn't working, and without wifi, I couldn't request an Uber. So, I thanked God that I had researched my options, I found a bus that went to the next city, and I bought my bus ticket. Thankfully, I had a long layover, because I needed to wait about an hour for my bus. Also thankfully, I'm in the southern hemisphere in summertime, and my bags and I could wait outside in the warmth.

Long story short, the bus took me to the city of Campinas, which is where the second airport is. From the bus station (rodoviária), I dragged my two suitcases to the elevator and then to the taxi rank. From there, it was about a 15 minute drive to the airport. Once I arrived at the airport, I used my very basic Portuguese to figure out checking in with the help of the Azul staff. Apparently, people seldom book this route. (Hmmm...I wonder why???) Still, my tired brain was much appreciative of the fact that even though most of the airport staff didn't speak English, they were so very patient with me.

On my next flight, leaving at 11 p.m. local time, I'm pretty sure I was the only non-Brazilian. Although everyone was very curious about me, they were delightful and pleasant. I arrived in Salvador at 12:30 a.m. By this point, I wasn't sure how long I had been traveling, but it was more than 24 hours. I needed to contact my taxi driver, which had been prearranged by the family I'm staying with to transport me from the airport to their beach house in a small town further up the coast. Slight problem. The wifi might have been working, but for the life of me, I couldn't get my phone to connect to it, which meant I had no way to call my Brazilian family or to contact the taxi driver. So, I waited. Smiled. Tried to look like a person someone would want to talk to if they were indeed a taxi driver sent to pick up a gringa. After a little while, I saw a smartly dressed man in a turquoise button down (bless his heart, it was about 85 degrees F at 1 a.m.) holding a sign saying "MISS HOPE". Graças a Deus! After a brief introduction, we went to the parking garage, paid our parking, and put my heavy, heavy bags in the boot and off we went. I think I was awake for about 10 minutes. 

An hour later, we arrived in what I assumed was Itacimirim, but really, he could have driven anywhere and I wouldn't have known the difference. Thankfully, the taxi driver is a friend of the family, so I knew I could trust him. With the help of a few family members, we got my bags inside, and without further ado, I turned on my air conditioner, drank a glass of water, and fell into bed.

Nonverbal communication

Monday was President's Day, and a holiday for my class. Tuesday's class was cancelled because of winter weather. Somehow, after only two days of class, the week still feels exhausting. 

I went to get my students this morning, taking a snap of Moby and I as I waited for the massive vehicle to warm up at least a little bit. Yep, you can see four rows of seats, two car-seats, and just out of the picture is the most unhelpful ice-scraper ever made. The ice scraper might be more helpful if I 

could fully reach the windscreen when standing on the ground.

Most of the caseworkers don't like to drive Moby, so I typically get the pleasure of driving him. At first, I was afraid, I was petrified (...Did you start singing too???) but I've gotten used to it. It makes me chuckle when I turn the ignition only to have our solitary cassette tape start blaring Nepali music.

Most of our students/clients live in a housing complex not far from my teaching site. We've established a meeting point at an old gas station. Almost every morning, I pull up to the gas station and see two of my most faithful Bhutanese students, waiting stoically in the cold, occasionally smoking a cigarette. 

For the entire first month, their faces were always serious and almost dispassionate. They rarely came to class in December. Their caseworker called them finally, asking if they would come to class in January. The caseworker (who is from the same cultural background) told me, "They said they will come. But you have to remember, they might not come. Culturally, they will always say yes, but that doesn't really mean yes." 

That first day in January, I drove to the gas station, wondering if I would have any students at all. It always makes me smile to see my students standing in a line outside the gas station, patiently waiting for me in front of the "No Loitering" sign. The men dress in Western clothes, although sometimes they are wearing the traditional cloth hat called a topi. The older women are always awash in colors, wearing traditional cloth wrapped around their thin bodies in blues, reds, and yellows.  

Since that day in January, there have always been at least two men waiting for me at that stop. Sometime in January, despite the arctic temperatures, something thawed in our relationship. Now, Naina Singh and Sher Man return my smile and wave as they finish their smoking and climb into the van. As new students arrive, these two men shepherd them into the van, showing them how to buckle seat belts or open the door. They proudly say, "Good morning, teacher!" 

I should add that my conversations in the van are hilarious. By the end of my trip to collect students, there are normally at least two languages being spoken, and sometimes as many as five or six. Most of our students live in proximity to others who share their language. If absent students are part of the Nepali community, I'll normally ask Sher Man or Naina Singh if they know if they are coming. The response is a flurry of Nepali directed at me, which is completely incomprehensible to me, and then a much more helpful "Go" or a hand gesture to wait longer. 

There are several new students who live in a housing complex adjacent to the apartment block. One woman, Dil Maya (which is an incredibly common Nepali name judging by how many Dil Mayas are in our program), has been running late most days. As a result, I've begin to drive by her building on my return trip, hoping to hurry our departure a little bit. She wasn't at the gas station today, so I asked my regulars if she was coming. I got shrugs in response and gestures to drive past her house. I acquiesced and slowed down as I drove by her house. A man was standing on the stoop, smoking a cigarette, watching us with mild interest. Sher Man caught his eye, and through entirely non-verbal communication, managed to communicate that we were wondering if Dil Maya would join us today. The man went into the house, came back out, responded with a hand wave of his own, and Sher Man informed me, "She not come today." There was no need for a cell phone! 

I had to share this last picture. I keep reminding myself that I need to slow down. I have misread a number of things because I'm reading really quickly. I was substituting for another English teacher a few weeks ago. Her class is held in a local Baptist church. As I got on the elevator, I glanced at this sign:

At first glance, I thought it said, "Please do not pray on the elevator!" That seemed a trifle odd, particularly in a church! 

On cold days like today, I'm especially thankful for a roof over my head. (For those not in this area, today is a chilly -12 C.) I certainly will always have one with my family, but another roof has also been provided. At the end of January, I contacted an organization I used to work for, that has two apartments for international staff who routinely return to the USA. Since one apartment was empty for the next few months, they agreed to let it to me. So, on Feb 1, I moved into a "new" apartment. Ironically, it is the same apartment I moved into on February 1, 2012, when I moved back from the UK. (Could that have been three years ago?) This will be home for another two months. After that, we will see what doors open!

Classes are going well, as ever changing as always. My regulars are doing really well, truly making me proud of them. On Tuesday, I might have as many as eight new students, nearly doubling my roster. Several of my students have progressed to being able to hold simple conversations with me, which is a vast improvement from when I would get blank stares in response to anything I said.

I don't teach on Fridays. Instead, I supervise intakes and assessments for new students. It is nice to at least get to meet my students before they pitch up in class, and I think it reassures them to know it will be a familiar face. This past Friday, I wore a necklace from India, one with several strands of small blue beads. Two caseworkers, both originally from Nepal, commented on my necklace. The first man, Lol, looked at my necklace in shock and said, "Where did you get that?" I told him that I bought it from friends who live in Goa.  "Wow," he said. "In Nepal, a man would give that kind of necklace to his wife when they are married.  Usually, it's green, but it's like that."  He proceeded to introduce me to the two students I would be testing, who were both Nepali/Bhutanese. They looked confused by my name, until he said in Nepali, "Aasha."  Both faces lit up with smiles as they nodded approvingly at me.

After I began the assessment, a different caseworker popped his head into the conference room.  "Can I say something to them quickly?" he asked. Interruptions work both ways between our departments of Employment, Resettlement, and ESL, so I nodded. He had a quick conversation with my future students, and then did a double take when he saw my necklace.  "Can you wear that necklace?" he asked me teasingly. We rehashed essentially the same conversation, ending with Rohit telling me that my Nepali students would all think I was married.

As I've been writing, another friend has been messaging me on Facebook. He speaks Arabic and always calls me Amal. I love having a name that translates into other languages. Inevitably, my students' faces light up when they hear my name in their language. To my Spanish-speaking students, I can be Esperanza. To my Nepali speaking students, I can Aasha. To my Arabic-speaking students, I can be Amal. I haven't had any Somali students call me by my Somali name, but I believe it is Rayeyn. Some of my newest students speak Tigrinya (from Eritrea) and Kurdish, so perhaps I can learn how to say Hope in two more languages soon!

The New Class

As I wrote earlier, my new position included a new class. My currently class should come equipped with a revolving door. It is open enrollment (accepting students at any point in the year) and multilevel (from non-literate students to students who already have an intermediate level of English). To complicate it further, my students are newly arrived. When I began the class at the beginning of December, my students had all been in the country less than a month. 

Since my students are so recently arrived and do not have licenses or vehicles, our program provides transportation to the class. I got to be the lucky person to do so. So, each morning, I climb (literally) up into Moby, our older-than-me massive van, and drive to meet my students. 

I don't mind driving Moby anymore, although I was nervous the first time I tried to maneuver around the parking lot. I've gotten used to the beast that he is, and we've even ventured onto 83 today and reached speeds of up to 65 miles an hour without falling apart. We can even listen to NPR together, although I have to turn it off when my students climb in. The speakers only seem to work at the back, and I wouldn't want to deafen anyone! There seems to be an unspoken competition between my students to see who can sit in the passenger seat. I can't blame them...it reminds me of sitting on the upper deck of London buses! 

My new position unfortunately meant that I needed to surrender my old class, the one I have been teaching since July 2013. I stopped back to visit my class when I returned from the Middle East. It really brought so much joy to my heart to sneak into class and hear eruptions of excitement from my students. I got hugs and handshakes, compliments and a whispered "Teacher...do you have a boyfriend yet? No? Ok, I'll keep praying." 

I'm thankful that we've been able to keep in touch, even though I'm not their teacher anymore. I was showered with Christmas cards and Christmas presents. We're trying to find time for a "class reunion"! And last Friday, I met with one of my dear friends for coffee. Her English has improved so much. It really reflects her diligence and perseverance. She's now taking classes at a local community college, but she still comes to our English class a few days a week. She tells me that the other class is good, but our class is full of friends. Those words make me feel as though I've done my part. Life as an immigrant or a refugee can be very lonely and isolated. Everyone should have a place where they will be missed if they don't show up, someone to call if they need help, and someone to laugh with about mistakes and funny moments. I had a very unique combination of students in that class. While I don't think every class will have the same strongly developed sense of community, I hope they come close.

Recap :)

August through January has been a blur of milestones, because of travel and life changes. I will attempt to recap, but I'm already looking forward to another good year of more changes!

August involved a flurry of a new roommate in the apartment (my mother), new ESL classes, a new baby in the family (my cousin had a sweet little girl) and beginning to work on developing a proposal for my thesis project (a requirement for graduation). I blissfully reduced my employers to one!

September proved more memorable.  I clarified my thesis topic, deciding that I wanted to create an English program for teenagers that would teach peace and conflict resolution through English lessons. Another cousin (Havenbird!) got married in a beautiful ceremony on the family farm and a day later, I left for the Middle East to begin work on my thesis in an appropriate context.

October was spent in a little town called Beit Sahour, which is adjacent to Bethlehem, in the West Bank. I helped to run a coffeeshop, learned how to make a killer Caramel Latte, baked sweets for the coffeeshop and hungry friends, taught a lovely group of guys to play Dutch Blitz, enjoyed falafel for dinner on a regular basis, went to weddings, and danced and laughed until the days blurred together. The intersection of identity and language became a little clearer and a lot more complex through conversations with Palestinian youth. 

In the midst of it all, I interviewed (Skype) for jobs in China, Taiwan, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, and viewed countless other job offers. Completion of my project meant that graduation would become a reality in December, and my plans included a job in a nice warm climate. None of the jobs seemed quite right. The job in Taiwan was at a language institute and would include teaching a lot of young learners. The job in China was with a new program and they wanted me to assume the head teacher position, which would include massive amounts of program planning as well as teaching. The job in Turkey was unpredictable hours. The job in Saudi came with a number of perks meant to counteract the restrictions of the culture, but I was still unsure. 

In the quiet of a Bethlehem afternoon, I read a staff email from my teaching job in the USA, announcing a new position that would opened in November. This position offered more hours and would involve teaching an intensive English class for newly arrived refugees. After an email conversation that lasted about a week, I surprised myself and submitted my updated resume and letter of interest to my supervisor. 

Around the same time, my 3 1/2 year old niece announced during a 1 a.m. Skype call (1 a.m. for me!) that "Mommy and I are getting a new baby!" I squealed at a volume that rivaled the squeal of my apartment-mate in Beit Sahour when she found out earlier that evening that we had a mouse. (The mouse became known as LeRoy and he was relocated successfully to the garden after several weeks.) Th news that there would be another baby in the family filled me with excitement and added to my growing sense that maybe I shouldn't take a job overseas just yet. 

I left Palestine at the beginning of November. I'm not sure if I left part of my heart there or if I brought part of Palestine home in my heart, but regardless, the six weeks I spent there had an incredible impact on me. I flew via Frankfurt, Germany, and arrived later the same day in Rome. A friend had spent a month in Italy studying Italian and we had planned to spend the last few days of her time in Rome together. I arrived around midnight at a gorgeous apartment, a few hundred feet from the Spanish Steps. 

The next few days were spent revisiting Rome. I enjoyed a coffee at a coffeeshop founded in 1760 with a long history of famous patrons. I wandered with camera in hand to some of my favorite sites. Meredith and I window shopped and savored gelato and delicious meals at some of her favorite spots.  We talked as I struggled to begin to make sense of my last two months, trying to understand freedom, injustice, reconciliation, and peace. Our trip culminated in a fantastic morning vespa tour of the "hidden" history of Rome. Valerio and Ipazzio were excellent tour guides. 

On November 9th, I left Rome to fly back to D.C., flying again through Frankfurt. I sat an airport coffee bar, struck by the irony that as I left one place divided by a massive wall, I was watching news stories on the 25th anniversary of the collapse of another wall. Berlin's wall may be history, but the wall cutting through Palestine still stands. 

I arrived in the USA later that day, a Sunday, and my new position officially started on Monday. I burrowed under my blankets to keep warm as I tried to plan a multi-level ESL class for refugees who had been in the USA less than a month and simultaneously finish my project. Cold, gray November days blurred together as my eyes became strained from endless hours of looking at a computer screen and reading about teaching strategies.

December 8th was the first day of my new class. December 13th was the deadline for my capstone project and the deadline for proposal submissions for an ESL conference. December 21st was the due date for my comprehensive exam. In any spare minute, I searched for possible apartments to rent (My parents are now both back in the USA and living in their apartment, which I had been renting in their absence.) December was a month were every minute counted and if I wasn't editing my thesis or writing a lesson plan, I was thinking about what I still needed to do. 

Miraculously, I survived. My supervisor accepted my thesis, my comprehensive exam completed on time, my classes stopped being quite as overwhelming to plan, and the committee for the ESL conference accepted my proposal without revisions.

My diploma arrived in the mail in January. It's official! I will walk in our graduation ceremony in May but it was celebration enough to finally see that piece of paper announcing that I am FINISHED! And now, one week remains in January! Although it still seems surreal that I don't have to do homework, I already find myself thinking about other ways to continue academically. My advisor and her husband were traveling in January and offered me the chance to house-sit for them, since I have yet to find an apartment that fits my budget. As I look around, their tables are decorated with my Arabic flashcards, International Phonetic Alphabet flashcards, printouts relating to teaching pronunciation and developing literacy, and a stack of library books. 

As I think about what I've just written, I'm amazed. I am blessed. In 2014, I visited Tanzania, Brazil, Palestine, and Italy. I turned 30. I graduated with a M.Ed TESOL. I started a new job. I learned more about my strengths and grew in some of my weak areas. I stopped caring about some things and became more passionate about others. I've been encouraged and supported by friends and family around the globe (literally!). It has been an incredible year. 2015 holds a lot of promise as well!   

Birthday Surprise

My "sister", my one student and friend who is my age, decided to surprise me on my last day of class before leaving for a conference.  She knew I would be away on my birthday.  CL stopped at a store on her way to class to get a cake.

She also gave me a pair of handmade slippers!  Her aunt (who is still in China) made them.  I think they are awesome!!

The best moment of all was my students singing Happy Birthday to me.  It isn't a matter of language, because their language is advanced far above the level of Happy Birthday.  I might not be able to articulate it. I felt such love and kinship and I felt so blessed to be loved and cherished by these dear people.

Tales from the Classroom

I certainly enjoy teaching English.  I have wonderful students, and I'm learning a lot about teaching and the English language through the process of teaching it!

However, one thing I need to learn well is how to explain the concept of vegetarianism.  I have had multiple conversations with my students about this but it doesn't translate well into some cultures.  My Asian students understand it easily.  My Middle Eastern students…not so much.

My Egyptian students made me molokheyya,  a traditional Egyptian soup made from a green vegetable.  This is typically served with chicken.  Since I have been to Egypt, my students asked me if I had had that and I said yes.  They offered to make it for me but I told them that I don't eat chicken.  The husband looked at me with concern and asked, "You only eat it over rice?  It's better with chicken."

The next day, they brought me a container of rice and of molokheyya.  Ezzat, the husband, grinned proudly at me and said, "Since you don't eat chicken, we made it with duck."

The same couple brought me Egyptian macaroni béchamel.  Macaroni with hamburger.  I thanked them but said, "I don't eat meat."  Ezzat said reassuringly, "But it is small pieces."

New Session

Clearly September passed in a blur.  Honestly, I'm still thinking it is summer!  I was driving down the highway the other day and started to wonder why the leaves were changing so early this year, and then I realized!  It isn't early anymore!

I have made some changes to my schedule to try to keep it a little more balanced.  I still have the three jobs, but effective October, I'm only working 8 hours a month at the gym.  From July-September, I was teaching two ESL classes as well, and I've needed to drop my evening class.  Between my office job and grad school, I just couldn't keep teaching two classes as well.  9 a.m. to 9 p.m. days, plus homework and lesson planning time, were starting to take their toll on me.  I still teach one class in the morning, but thankfully another teacher could take my evening class!

New friends have been overwhelming me with kindness this summer and fall.  I have been blessed with so many dear people giving me fresh fruit and veggies.  I learned how to make a really yummy tomato pasta sauce, thanks to plentiful gifts of home grown tomatoes.  Just this past weekend, I also made my own applesauce!

Today was the first day of a new term for my ESL class, and once again, I am reminded of why I love teaching ESL.  I have some returning students and some new students, and all are special people.  I was also the recipient of some physical gifts from my students!

One of my returning students gave me veggies from her garden, including a Chinese cucumber, as well as some traditional soda crackers and rice treats. 

Two new students from Egypt also gave me a beautiful papyrus from Egypt.  It was wonderful to be able to chat with them.  I knew their neighborhood in Cairo!  

October promises to be another busy but fun month! 

ESL student humor

I love my students.  My morning class is a comfortable size now.  Five students are regular attenders.

This morning, I was teaching a grammar lesson on when we use "too" and when we use "enough" and where each word is placed in the sentence.  For example, "too" is placed before an adjective, but "enough" is placed after an adjective but before a noun.  I started my lesson by holding up the student book and saying, "Class, what would you say if I told you we need to read this entire book tonight?"  I was hoping to elicit responses such as, "It's too long" or "It's not enough time" to then show the students that they already use this construct.  However, my students once again surprised me.  In response to my question, one student raised her hand and said, "Teacher, I can't come to class tomorrow!"  I'm still chuckling!

English Language Moment!

In light of the busyness of the past weeks, I'm just going to take a second to share a little English trivia with you!

Bookkeeper is the only word in the English language that has three double letter spellings in a row!