We had a question at a presentation the other day: "How do you guys talk to each other?" And Zuly had a great answer: "We try to communicate with each other in English and we do have one language that we all share, and that is music".
It's always the little things in life. The little things make us the most happy - and it can also be the tiniest things that cause the greatest upsets. Some misunderstandings make us laugh, and others really make us think and learn to respect one another despite our differences.
Exhibit A: During a presentation Steve was explaining how he got to the US and he said he took 10 planes. Zuly was trying to help the audience understand by saying "He took 10 airplanes, you know?". Steve understood this to be Zuly correcting him during a presentation, when really she was repeating the word to the audience and not to Steve. This was a small misunderstanding that caused some hurt feelings and had to be diffused afterward. This is just an example of the small things that require careful attention to ensure that our team works well together.
Exhibit B: Misunderstandings and language barriers can also create quite the comical situation! Zuly and I were at the same host home for a couple nights last week. Peas, the little green vegetables of course have a different name in Spanish as do most things, right?! Yes, well at our host home some peas were spilled on the kitchen floor, and Richard, our host dad said "There are peas all over the kitchen floor and in my shoe!". I received the funniest looking facial expression from Zuly and later before bed she said "Jackie...what was on the kitchen floor?" and I said "peas", and again I got the funny face. So I explained "You know, the little green things we ate at dinner...?" She burst into laughter and I knew immediately, the whole time she had been thinking he said something else (Pee!) and I think everyone could understand how this could easily be mistaken! We laughed long and hard about this one.
We actually also had a long discussion about lingual and cultural barriers with our host family before the peas incident, and I used a cliche statement that describes SOUL prefectly: "NEVER a dull moment"....which should not be mistaken as anything less than spectacular! That is what I love about this job...even I, a person just about as open-minded as you can be, am learning new things every day about understanding and embracing the differences in others and appreciating them for the cultural richness they bring to new situations.
Exhibit C: Even with cultural and lingual barriers, some things know no boundaries! We were wlecomed at a pot-luck dinner in Clinton, MI by all of our host families and one of the children (there was a set of twins), either Ryan or Reece (8 years old I think, maybe 9), told a joke that everyone understood and loved!
"How do you make a tissue dance?!"
"Ya put a little boogie in it!"
*Outburst of laughter*
It just never ceases to amaze me, like I said, the small things that bring us the greatest enjoyment. :)
We are now here in Clinton for the week - right near Adrian, MI. The singers are looking forward to each spending a week with their own choir here (Zuly 6th grade, Steve 7th grade, Makly 8th grade, Teele High School). They will be teaching the kids songs from their home countries to perform at a community concert on Thursday night! And there will also be a professional photographer there to take photos of us all for the website, so that should be exciting!
I know, I knowwww, I need to add pictures here soon - I have been having memory card issues, but they will come soon enough!
Cheers and Peace! xoxo Jackie
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