Simon Says, Read This
January 8th, 2008
So, another day of painting at St. Joseph’s today. I have to say, it feels like something out of a movie. I’m squating on the floor, painting a set of double doors that open to a small prayer room, all the while the sisters and young girls dressed in saris shuffling by, smiling and nodding shyly. We try our best to communicate…but I’m telling you, with that head nod thing, it’s sort of comical sometimes.
Today, as I was painting the doors, Ravi and Gree come on over and take a close look. They start chatting back and forth in Tamil. And in my mind, this is the conversation.
Ravi: “Man, will you look at this paint job?”
Gree: “Yeah, should we make her stop?”
Ravi: “Nah. Let her feel good about it, then we’ll do a nice once-over when she leaves.”
Joann: “Ok? Good?”
Ravi and Gree: Head nod.
They’re a lot of fun to work with, and it’s great as we try to get to know each other through broken English, Tamil and hand gestures — where we’re from, what our families are like, what movies we enjoy watching. (For the record, Gree really digs “Judgment Day.”)
I’m hoping to post more pictures at some point, when time allows. Actually, I haven’t taken many from the work sites yet, as we’re asked to wait a few days before bringing our cameras.
Now, I’m off to wash up before our evening session at a local orphanage, SEAM. Our first time was last night. The children range from about 8 to 18, and I’d guess there’s about 30 or 40 or so. When we came up to the gate yesterday, they rushed up to greet us with shouts of “Hi! Hi! Hi!” and questions of our names and where we are from. They sang us a few songs, we sang to them, and then we broke out into groups, each volunteer getting 2 to 3 children to play with and read to.
I grouped up with Hari, 14; Sukanya, a 14-year-old girl; and Tamilvanan, a boy of about 8. We started going over the English words for head, eyes, mouth, etc, with them teaching me the equivalent in Tamil. I had them read from a picture book to me, and by the third page, I was losing them. As one of the volunteers raced by, with his trio of kids holding tight behind him to make a choo-choo train, they looked at me, then at each other sorta like, “How’d we get stuck with this bump on a log?” And that’s when I busted out Simon Says. Those kids, though, play a mean game of Simon Says. There’s no stumping them. Then we wrapped up with a little Hokey Pokey, we turned ourselves around…and before I knew it the hour was up. But our group is heading there better prepared today.
It’s clear most of them aren’t in the mood for reading lessons after a day of schooling. They just want someone to play with, new people to interact with. So, we’re thinking relay races, jump roping and the like. I’m pulling out all the stops I picked up from Mr. Sandvikck, our gym teacher at Livingston Park Elementary School.
