Our motto at camp was always "Stay Flexible!", but we never knew the true meaning of that until we moved to our new city and started interacting with the Deaf. If you know me and N, we are both very "by the book" and like to have a plan for everything. Well, living here is really stretching us to become more "suibian" -- "whatever". Monday during my class, I asked my teacher to come for dinner the next night and for her to invite 1-2 Deaf friends so we could practice our language. She agreed so I started planning for dinner the next night. Well, N had class with his teacher Tuesday morning who just happened to invite himself and 2 friends (high schoolers who are both hearing: one can speak a little English but can't sign, the other is the daughter of a N's teacher's best friend who can sign but can't speak English). Confusing, huh?! Anyways, so the number jumps quickly to 7 minimum. N's teacher and friends arrive about 5:30 and my teacher says she will arrive with her friends between 6-7. Well, at 7, she texts and says she is bringing 3 friends. (Ok, by this time I'm telling myself to stay flexible!). They finally arrive at 7:15. I'm still trying to figure out how to make meals for guests and have no idea when they will actually arrive. So, we have an American meal of spaghetti, garlic bread, and fruit salad, as well as a plum cake. Everyone really seemed to like it. Then, we taught them the game of "UNO", in which N and his teacher cheated the whole time...but never won ;) Everyone ended up leaving at 10:00, so we were pretty exhausted after trying to use sign language, English, and the little Chinese we have to communicate to everyone there. But, again, being flexible is a fantastic trait to have here, one we don't completely have yet, but slowly we are losing our need of a strict schedule. However, we still have to remind ourselves almost daily "TINA -- This Is Not America!"
Great post! Made me laugh. TINA - gotta remember that one!
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