Meeting Mohammed and Alia (ESL Blog #5)

If you’ve ever been to Disney World, you would probably agree that it fulfills their motto of being “the happiest place on earth.” From the amazing rides, to the colorful shows, right down to the Mickey Mouse ears you can wear to emulate the famous mouse. Now think about how true that would be if you had never heard of or seen a place like this, and happened to visit on a whim. Well, that is how my ESL couple landed at the happiest place on earth for their spring break vacation, and their retelling of the experience made me feel happy even though I didn’t get to go myself.

As I walked into our normal meeting place in 1873, Mohammed and Alia both lit up and hurriedly waved me over to their table. “Taylor! We just had the best vacation of our lives! Please let us tell you about it.” They began describing their trip by saying that their family friends told them to go visit Orlando for the beaches that they had never seen. But upon driving around the city, they discovered this fancy park that looked fun, so they took their 2 kids and went up to the gate. “We had arrived at this magical place called ‘Disney World’, have you heard of it?” I chuckled a little bit as I told them that this was a very popular tourist attraction where many families decide to vacation with their children. They then began to describe how their children squealed in delight at each new site that they saw, and how they couldn’t imagine a better trip.

While listening to them recount their trip in great detail, I realized that they were not having as much trouble finding English words as they usually do. I eagerly sat up and was again riveted by the fast-paced learning they had accomplished since moving to the United States in January. When they began to wind down their story, I asked them how their learning program was coming along. Alia smirked as she said that both of them had moved up to the highest level verbally! This made me so proud since they came in at the lowest level. She then began to explain her other problem: writing.

She described that they could easily catch on to English, but they had terrible struggles when it came to learning to write it. “See, in Arabic, the letters make sense to me. When you put them together, I can see a whole word. But when I get to English, I cannot understand the symbols and they look like a mash of lines and dots.” I guess I had never thought of that before, but it makes sense. In order to learn to speak another language, you mostly have to listen and repeat back what you hear. But in order to write it, you have to adopt a new way of seeing symbols, and having them make full words and sentences. This isn’t even including the weird grammar and spelling rules that may confuse someone more. I guess I never thought about how complicated learning English really was!

As we said good-bye for that meeting, I realized I am very impressed by that couple. They have made such progress in their learning, and the effort they are putting in is incredible. While I may not be able to learn another language like they can (I swear that part of my brain has been turned off), I can try my best to appreciate the efforts they are putting into learning our language. It’s the best way I can make them feel like where they have come is the happiest place on earth. 

Home? (The House on Mango Street Blog)

I’ve always loved reading. Losing myself in a good book is something I can do for hours on end without even noticing the time passing. So, sitting on a bench across from my house on a beautiful spring day (since I was home for Easter), I begin to read The House on Mango Street expecting to get lost in its pages. But, I’ll admit it; I was more interested by the floating butterflies than on the book that I’m about to read. Despite my surrounding distractions, I slowly make my way through the first few pages of the book. Being only 110 pages, it should have only taken me a few hours to complete. But with my distracted mood, it took me the whole day. Even so, I think that made the experience of reading the story even better for me.

I think the reason I liked this story was for how I found a strange connection to Esperanza. On the surface, we seem to be polar opposites. But through reading the vignettes, I realize we are both so affected by our various homes and how we interacted with them. Esperanza has to deal with the fact that she does not consider her house to be her home, and similarly I have found it terribly difficult to find a home for myself. Esperanza moved from Paulina to Keeler to Loomis to the house on Mango. I myself moved from Hove to Leon to Firestone to Preston to Pistoia to Weymouth to my semi-home at TCU. I guess I never considered how significant it was that I moved so many times, and how I had never felt myself to be in a home. But that is the case.

            When I lived on Leon, I made all of my friends, like Angela. Just so, Esperanza made her friends like Lucy and Rachel. When I lived on Firestone, I mostly think of fighting and some sad family times, which is similar to how Esperanza had to cope with her Aunt Lupe’s death. But this place of sadness is a place of great growth for me personally, because that is when I learned what I wanted in life. Esperanza learned through watching others that she did not want the suburban boring life that many women have there. And these affects are just a few examples.

            This may seem like a lot to think about while reading this small book, but after each small story I found myself looking up at my surroundings, thinking of how the small things that happen in her life parallel things that have happened in mine. Maybe not in an exact way, but to the point where it made me continuously stop and contemplate.

            As the sun began to set around me, I realized I had been outside for a much longer time than I had expected. But, I ended up contemplating things that I didn’t realize I would ever think about. Just like Esperanza, I realized that even though I have moved onto a new home in Fort Worth, my home will always be with the people that have been with me throughout my life. 

A Bonfire of Epic Proportions (Sketch #6)

My bleary eyes peeled open as I tried to focus them on the wooden ceiling above me. This was certainly not enough sleep for anyone to function, especially not when in this kind of situation. I attempted to move my stiff limbs from the bed, which was much more work than I would have thought. My feet shuffled across the floor as I felt something under my foot. I looked down nonchalantly, only to see a giant grasshopper. “Holy *^%&$@!” Without thought, a very not-nice word flew out in a scream from my mouth as I hopped around the room in a frantic dance that must have looked like I was on fire. Thus began the second day of the best week of my life.

            This whole process began when my school asked for applications for leaders for a 6^th grade trip to our local camp, called Sky Ranch. Having been to camp every summer since I was 8, I knew I could easily handle the outdoors aspect of the trip. I am also the oldest in my entire family, so I have gotten very used to taking care of younger kids. After a couple of months, I found out that I had been chosen! I was ecstatic.

            After packing up my shorts, t-shirts, and old tennis shoes, I was ready. Loading the bus with the 5 6^th graders, I had no idea what kind of week I was in for. The heat on the bus was nearly suffocating, but singing a bunch of songs helped us pass the time until we reached Van, Texas. In our matching green shirts, we all stepped into the camp with a confidence that only comes with the naïve nature of young children.

            The first day I bubbled with joy at this opportunity to influence these girls, but this slowly dwindled throughout the week, especially with plenty of episodes like the one where I inadvertently exposed my campers to a word most of them had never heard. I had even put non-SPF lotion on one of my girls, causing her to get massive sunburn on her back. After all of these events, I knew there was no way to redeem the week, especially by this point it was the last night. As my mind swirled with disappointment, we made our way to the final event, the bonfire.

            The heat of the day still seemed to stick to my skin as we walked closer to the glowing ebb that was the bonfire. We sat on a blanket, but that didn’t stop the wet grass from soaking through my shorts. The smell of the smoke filled my nostrils as a sense of change washed over me. The entire group of 6^th grades was eerily silent, and I knew this night would be different. It was silent for nearly 10 minutes, and I thought this would be a bust of a night. But, a brave little girl stood up and began to talk about the amazing week she had, and how she had learned that she could be a successful person just like her counselor. Another boy stood up and said that he had learned that he should be confident in himself despite his learning differences. The stories continued for a couple hours, until one of my girls stood up. She began talking about how she had learned to love her body instead of trying to hurt herself because I had shown her that she was beautiful.

            Tears began flowing down my face as I realized that she was actually talking about me. I had taught a little girl something that huge?? There was just no way. I could not comprehend something of that depth. It was so incredible to me that I could influence anyone to that extent; especially with the mistakes I had made all week. As she sat down, I could do nothing but hug all of those girls and thank them. Despite me being the ‘teacher’ that week, they had taught me so much more: that I can be a light to someone without even knowing it.

            Now I left that trip not without some major bug bites and bruises from the slides, but I know now that yes, we all make mistakes, but if we are doing everything whole-heartedly with the best of intentions, it can turn out for the best.

Courage (To Kill a Mockingbird Blog)

            Sitting in my cozy chair by my window, I watched as the predicted storm blew in from the west. It was going to be a doozey they said, so I figured this would be the perfect day of my spring break to dive into To Kill a Mockingbird for a second time. I had read this novel before (like I’m sure many of you had), but I was really excited to get a new perspective on it as a 19-year old college student as opposed to a 13-year old middle schooler.  

            With the storm now in full-force with thunder blaring, I came to a part that truly made an impact on me at that moment. Atticus says to Jem, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” In this quote, Atticus refers to Mrs. Dubose’s insistence to beat her morphine addiction before she died, just so she could die a free woman.

            After reading that part of the book, I couldn’t help but pause and think about what that really means. This old lady had a choice between dying pain-free but attached to a drug or wracked with pain but attached to nothing at all. She chose the hardest route possible. Just the same, Atticus chose the absolute hardest route in defending Tom. Yes, he was required to do so, but the extent to which he tried to win the case was the bravest part of all. He endured ridicule and even the ridicule of his children and did it with a wholeheartedly.

            In the beginning of the book, Scout doesn’t understand why they can’t just lie to their friends about why their dad is defending Tom. She has no concept of courage and doing the right thing just for the sake of doing the right thing. But by the end of the novel, I think Scout truly understands that courage is something that she must have in order to become a ‘grown-up’. I think when she led Boo back to the Radley house, she showed that she had earned her ‘badge of courage’ per say.

            I know this blog isn’t necessarily supposed to analyze the characters, but I just found the growing of Scout’s courage to be something so interesting that I couldn’t help but talk about it. The whole time I was reading the novel I couldn’t help but grow so fond of Scout’s benevolence toward things that no one else cared for, and how she could come to defend them. By the time I finished the book, I seriously wished that there were a sequel that could show how she turned out in her later years from having Atticus as a father through all of her childhood experiences.

            I guess I had never thought of courage as something we all have to learn during our growing up. We have to have it in order to not be afraid of the monsters under the bed, and so that we can do what’s right even if we don’t want to. Although she may just be a little girl, I think the story she ‘tells’ can inspire others to have just a tiny bit of courage too. 

Fear is Overcome (Sketch #5)

As I sat in anticipation, I could feel the cold sweat beading up on the back of my neck. The sweet-smelling hairspray I had used this morning now gave me a nauseous feeling in my stomach. I was suddenly aware of an intense twitching in my right foot, and my mouth seemed to be as dry as the Sahara. “You can do this” was the mantra I had been continually telling myself for the past couple of weeks, but now it seemed to be a futile cliché. As if in a faraway place, I caught the ending of the announcer saying “… and now I present to you, our Valedictorian of 2011, Taylor Holstrom!”

            As I slowly walked up the stairs for what seemed like ages, I couldn’t help but recall how much I feared public speaking. It was just one of those things that I told myself I would never do in my lifetime. I’m just not the best person for it. Even when I get called on in class my face turns a bright red out of fear of saying something wrong. So when my vice principal told me that I would be speaking at graduation because I was the valedictorian, I was more horrified than honored. I pictured me tripping up the stairs, not remembering anything I was going to say, then just running off of the stage in tears. The speech that was now on sweaty note cards had been gone over hundreds of times, but it still didn’t seem to calm the nerves that I was feeling. At this point of my mental turmoil, I had made it to the podium.

            I began to get situated as my heart rate climbed. Seeing those couple thousand people certainly didn’t help. The lights were bright, but I was able to focus on one person in the crowd: my mom. I could see her bright smile and proud glow from a mile away. After a few deep breaths, I began to speak. “If I have learned anything from my past 13 years at Trinity…” I shakily began. But, with each passing sentence, I grew more confident. I was doing it! I was giving a speech to all of these people and not failing miserably.

            As I began to near the end of my speech, I think I had one of those outer body experiences. Well, maybe not to that extent, but I began to really notice the implications of what I was trying to impart to my fellow graduates. “…and I hope you will not let your fear of failure keep you from attempting to achieve something greater than you could imagine.” At that moment, I realized I had done just that. I had seriously thought that my speech would be a huge disaster and that I would ruin graduation for everyone. But because I was somehow able to overcome that fear (I’m pretty sure it was mostly because my mom encouraged me through my multiple panic attacks), I achieved something I never thought I would be able to do.

            By the time the audience’s applause hit my ears, I knew that this would be a moment that I would forever keep in my memory bank. Not because I graduated, or because I had the privilege to speak as the valedictorian, but because I was able to do something I never thought possible. And as cliché as you may think it sounds, I know that it is a moment that has made me the much more confident person I am today. 

Meeting Mohammed and Alia (ESL Blog #4)

I don’t know anything about baseball. I know plenty about football, basketball, and even soccer. But definitely not baseball. So when on our fourth meeting Mohammed asked me to explain baseball to him, I was definitely in a rough spot. I mean, every American understands baseball right? As we sat in 1873, the TCU baseball game was playing in the background. I quickly pulled out my iPhone and looked up any basic rules I could possibly find. Luckily, I’m a fast learner and was able to get a vague grasp on the sport in a few minutes.

            I’m positive the words that came out of my mouth were something like “Well, the guy with the bat tries to hit it, and if he doesn’t, he gets a thingy, and then there’s the people in the, uh, outside…” Pretty awkward right? Well after about 5 minutes of fumbling, I sighed and admitted my ‘failure’ as an American. Luckily, Mohammed and Alia just laughed and admitted that they don’t know anything about soccer, which is what everyone in the Eastern world understands.

            Luckily, we moved past this funny moment, and then began to talk about their weekend during which they went to Fossil Rim. They explained that this place is a drive-through zoo where they have zebras, giraffes, and even ostriches! The crazy animals were the most interesting part for me, but the couple was most interested in the fact that they could see farmland. “Living in the desert like we did in Saudi, you only get to see dry ground and maybe some small weeds in the city, but here we saw wheat growing and bright green trees everywhere! What a blessing.”

            I guess I had always considered seeing greenery, like trees and flowers, to be a common feature of everyone’s life. But like many things in my life, like thinking I am familiar with American pastimes, I guess I took it for granted. One thing I know I take for granted is that I grew up learning English. It is amazing to me how many people want to come to America just so they can learn our language. I know that it is one of the most popular languages in the world, but many people speak Chinese, Arabic, or Spanish to name a few. Yet, many Americans would never attempt to learn another language because they don’t feel that it is necessary. It’s hard to tell if this is a symptom of our language or one of our culture. This ESL experience has helped to open my eyes to another culture, and to the fact that I have never once attempted to seriously learn another language. I hope that throughout my next 3 years of college I can attempt to do just that. 

Learning Humility (Sketch #4)

When you think of a mission trip, what comes to mind? Maybe you picture a group of missionaries who dedicated their lives to build wells in desolate parts of Africa. Or maybe you think of a group of good Samaritans who head to Haiti for a month to rebuild the entire island. I know for a fact these are the types of things my 15-year old mind pictured when I decided to go on my church’s New Orleans mission trip for the first time. I think I secretly envisioned myself as this big hero who came in just at the right time to help some desperate people. You might be thinking that I had an abnormally large ego for going on a trip to help others, but trust me that is something I realized very quickly as we entered New Orleans after our 12-hour drive.

When we arrived into the city, I began to notice how devastated it truly was. Even in 2007 (2 years after Hurricane Katrina), there was still so much re-building that needed to be done. I couldn’t wait to start painting, tiling, and sheet rocking in order to leave my mark on the city forever. Despite these high hopes, I was crushed when I realized that I was assigned to the non-construction team that would just be serving food to the homeless shelter all day. And all day meant from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m. My high hopes began to sink as my bad attitude began to rise.

The first morning, my bleary eyes tried to stay open as I continuously stirred the giant pot. I looked at my watch: 4:30 a.m., and I had already been awake for 45 minutes. In my head, I kept thinking that this was all-too miserable of a job to be assigned, especially when I could be out there building and making a direct impact. I couldn’t help but keep a giant scowl on my face to match my crummy attitude. When I look to my right side however, I see Loretta. Her smiling face glows as she serves meal after meal onto the trays, talking to everyone in a cheery voice with the pep of the Energizer Bunny. Witnessing her vigor for such a seemingly menial job made me very curious. I decided I would find out her story so maybe I could share in some of her joy.

Loretta began to explain that as a native to New Orleans, her home was completely destroyed by Katrina. Having nowhere to go, she stumbled upon the Union Gospel Mission homeless shelter. “I just felt at home with these people, so I couldn’t just leave ‘em here for some meaningless ole’ job and an empty house,” she said with a humble smile on her face. So, she decided to stay at the shelter as the on-staff cook as opposed to moving to a new place to live. On a normal day at the shelter, she begins by cooking breakfast at 4 a.m. and doesn’t end her day until she finishes cleaning up at 9 p.m. For all of this hard work, she gets free living and food, but no pay. She is essentially still homeless and working more than 100 hours per week, Sunday to Sunday.

Upon hearing this, my mouth began to get very dry as tears began to well up in my eyes. How could I even begin to compare my selfish ‘mission’ to Loretta’s service-filled life? My mind was blurry as it was at that early hour, but I still couldn’t begin to comprehend it.

This small moment is just one out of countless moments in that trip and the 3 subsequent ones I have been a part of that has changed my life forever. My appreciation for my life has grown exponentially as my humility has matured as I compare myself to amazing people like Loretta. I have realized how the homeless are many time just normal people, with normal educations like me, but have experienced some extreme hardship, like Katrina. Another amazing blessing from these trips has come from the incredible relationship I have made with one of the most humble guys I know, coincidentally also named Taylor (but that’s a whole other story).

This picture I attached was one of the little girls that was at the shelter that I became quickly attached to upon meeting her. She is just one of the many examples of an innocent little child that had a normal life before the devastating hurricane.