We finally met! Well, at least, I met half the family. The parents and one of the sons were at a DHS meeting (which I'm assuming is a Department of Human services thing, although Homeland Security would be exciting, too), so I haven't met them yet. It turns out it's a family of six, with four sons between the ages of 14 and 21. For confidentiality reasons, I can't give their names (which is fine, anyway, because in all honesty I can't remember them yet), but I'm sure I'll be coming up with fitting pseudonyms once I've spent a bit more time with them.
This particular meeting felt somewhat like a kids-meeting-the-babysitter thing (not meant at all patronizingly): the caseworker and volunteer coordinator put us altogether and then watched expectantly to see how we would interact. As if such interactions could ever be natural. The volunteer coordinator seemed a bit concerned that I was so "quiet", like he thought I was going to run screaming or something (my favorite part of the meeting was when he turned to me and said "So, Marybeth, what do you have that you'd like to say?" Uhh...). But I was quiet because it was weird; I think that next time I go, I'll be more relaxed, and they'll be more relaxed, and we'll find something to laugh about, and we'll have something "to do" together, and it will all be more comfortable. Even though none of them speak really any English. The language barrier isn't nearly as intimidating to me as being stared at by the two supervisor people.
The three sons I met today are all in public school right now (grades 8, 10 and 12), and it looks like my main job--particularly at first--will be to help them with their homework. How they're able to do any of it now, I don't know. Maybe they can't. So, homework help, and practice with conversational English. Then, once we "get to know each other," we might be able to go on "outings" (to the library or grocery store or wherever).
Anyway, it should be fun. I didn't even end up getting nervous. (Weird, it's like people were praying or something.) I'll be sure to let you know how it goes next week...
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"He gave me no assurance. No fixed land. Always one must throw oneself into the wave."
"Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? ... Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Prison Poems")
"He gave me no assurance. No fixed land. Always one must throw oneself into the wave."
"Who am I? This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? ... Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Prison Poems")
This week I give God a cheer for:
parchment paper, chalkboard paint, free museum weekends, public transportation, online cultural resources, free apps to help you learn non-roman scripts, science experiments, cast iron dutch ovens, cast iron dutch oven lids which double as a skillets, power drills, gallery walls, taco nights with friends, vegetarian cookbooks, apples on sale, the way flowers brighten a room, new curtains, globes, Friday night outings, engineering paper, movie-makers not destroying my favorite book, movie-makers creating something beautiful based on my favorite book, theater pubs, Gutenberg, sunny-yet-freezing weather, new dishtowels, hand-thrown pottery, the golden ratio, secondhand stores, stained glass, and the word "kerfuffle," among other things.
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