Home is relative and cumulative

Home is where you lay your head or where your heart is. Some times those are one and the same and sometimes sadly they are very far from the same thing. And sometimes it just takes time to adjust to your surroundings to feel sufficiently at home somewhere.

I now feel truly at home in Ilkiloret and it’s not just because my bowel can now move freely on a more regular basis. It’s because when you are finally truly accepted somewhere and your outsider status melts away…things begin to happen that you hoped and prayed for but were continually frustrated by their lack of appearance.

Since Janet and I lectured the learners about attendance and taking class seriously for a six-month period. We have had increased attendance from the more advanced students (those who just last week were able to say their first sentence) and the beginners (those who are still learning the alphabet) and more new learners come every week. I don’t know what changed exactly. But for some reason there is a renewed interest in learning.

Rebecca and Eunice are attending regularly in my advanced class. They are doing great!

Sofia is in my beginning class. Her daughter Abby is about 14 months old and VERY busy!

Janet teaching the beginners. At last count on Thursday I had 14 learners and 7 babies. Talk about a loud class!

A picture is worth a thousand words. Even though they are adults I find that drawing pictures is a good way to remember the vocabulary of the lesson.

While I’m excited about the increase in learners, it is also a challenge to keep them engaged with so few resources available. We have no electricity so that prevents us from doing anything with computers or letter/word sound programs. I mostly rely on worksheets and flashcards that I make myself, books that are available locally and games like hangman (which has been quite a hit). I want to try bingo but that requires a lot of work for a few minutes of play so I have to figure out how to make multi-purpose cards.

We often refer to young children as sponges because their brains can absorb information so quickly. I’m trying to figure out how to describe the brain of an adult…maybe like that of a dried out wet-wipe. It can absorb, but it does not retain the information as well.

I think that describes me pretty well - a dried out wet wipe. I was of course one of those fancy aromatherapy wet wipes in my day… but I guess that part is relative…and the dried up part is cumulative.

Home is after all a place where you are accepted just the way you are: relative and cumulative.

Home is also not home until you’ve hung your curtain walls!