On the way back from breakfast this morning, I heard one of the girls singing “Baby, baby, baby” by Justin Bieber. I said, “Oh, Justin Bieber!!” She smiled and we both laughed. I ended up seeing her later that day and she asked me if I knew Justin Bieber personally and knew any of his other songs. Then she asked if I knew Hannah Montana songs. I told her I knew how to do her famous “Hoedown Throwdown” dance and would love to teach them sometime.
This morning was my first day in the clinic and we saw a number of school children with maladies ranging from earaches to sore throats and a sprained ankle. I wasn’t able to understand most of the conversation between the nurse and the patient, but I could get the general gist of what was wrong with the person and saw the medication the nurse gave to them for relief.
We closed up shop at 11:30. I decided to go to Ulla’s house to see if she was playing with any kids. When I opened her door, I was greeted by screams of excitement from 5 4 year old girls! They all eagerly grabbed me and hurried to find Ulla to show them who had come to play. They all talked so fast and loudly, and I had a very hard time understanding what they were saying. I was so glad Ulla was there to help translate. I also learned a lot of handy phrases from her. We all sat on the floor and played “Memory” together. When it is your turn you say, “Hau fila.” 2 of the girls were fighting for spots on my lap, while another wanted to play with my hair and still another wanted me to read to her. The book she picked was actually one of Ulla’s journals with lots of Tetun words with English translations. It was so fun teaching this little girl English words like, “Yes, No, Maybe, Hello….etc” She was very interested and worked really hard to pronounce the words correctly.
Before I knew it, it was lunchtime and we bid farewell to the kids. One of the girls lost a flip flop and we couldn’t find it anywhere. I don’t know if she ever found it or not. On our way to lunch, Ulla spotted one of the orphan girls by herself crying. She had an earache, so Ulla took her to the sister in charge of the orphanage. This girl happened to be a twin, and I was later told the elderly sister couldn’t tell the 2 girls apart! ON our way to lunch, every single kid we passed greeted us with a “Bondia mana!” People here are so friendly!
At 3 p.m., Ulla tutors the 4 year olds. I don’t know if she tutors different aged kids every day, but that is who she was with the whole time today. She asked if I would like to shadow her, and I thought it would be a great way to meet the kids and break the ice. I immediately sat down with a group of girls who looked to be about 11 years old. They were very friendly and excited I was there with them. They couldn’t believe how much Tetun I knew (believe me, it wasn’t much at all. I only asked their names and their favorite subjects and said I don’t know how to speak Tetum well in Tetum). This seemed like enough to win them over. They were more than happy to explain words to me I didn’t understand and help me to learn new words. Soon they were hard at work doing their math lesson (I told them I did not like math and it was difficult for me, I preferred science) and I got up to join Ulla with the 4 year olds.
Ulla found new workbooks for them to use, and soon they were copying cursive vowels in their workbooks. The girl beside me (Inasensia?) had a blank piece of paper she was much more interested in writing on than her work book. She wrote the alphabet several times and together we recited the letters (but she said them all in Portuguese, NOT Tetun). I asked her to write my name, and then I showed her how to spell my name. She wrote my name several times, and told Ulla she loved writing my name! I tried to keep the girls on task, but to no avail. They flipped eagerly through their workbooks, coloring a picture here and reading a sentence or 2 there. They never actually completed any of the pages, they just liked looking through them. One of the girls kept asking me to “Pinta aifuna” which means, draw a flower. I drew as many different types of flowers as I could (rose, tulip, standard). I also played some hand games with some of the girls. The girls even found some baby dolls and we pretended to put them to bed. It was a fun, but exhausting hour and a half of tutoring!
I was able to pick up some more handy words and phrases from listening to Ulla interact with the kids. A common and useful phrase is “Ida ne saida? Which means, what is this? To which the kid should reply in Tetun. To ask what something is called you can simply say, “Naran Tetun-Tetun name?”
After the lesson it was “merinda”, or snack time. I asked what the snack for the day was-talas. I had no idea what that was. Each girl received a talas in a cup. It looked a lot like a pear, so I figured it must be some sort of fruit. All of the girls (about 100 of them) would say to me Sirvada mana! I had NO idea what this meant or how to respond. I finally started smiling and saying, “Obrigada!” I later asked Ulla the meaning, and she couldn’t think of a good English equivalent. The best she could come up with was, “Would you like to share?” This is a polite expression for little kids to say, but of course they expect you to answer NO. They don’t really want to share their precious snack with you. In the future I was told to respond “Hau diak, obrigada (I’m fine, thank you).
After meeting a few dozen more students, I decided to head back to my room. I was exhausted (but exhilarated) from all of my interactions today. And I felt like I had learned so many great Tetun words! The best way to learn a language is to definitely immerse yourself in it-I say preferably with kids. They are very patient, kind and understanding. They love teaching YOU something that you don’t know and are so excited that you are willing to learn from them and spend time with them. Just being around kids fills your heart with joy and gladness. I am always reminded of what a special blessing they are, even though they can be exhausting.
Because I spent a lot of time on the internet the last 2 nights, I decided that tonight I would not get on it. Instead I would go to the dance that the girls have every night. Turns out they dance every night but Tuesdays and Fridays. On those evenings they watch the Portuguese and Tetum news. As I was standing outside trying to decide what to do next, a big group of girls approached me and started talking to me in English. I was surprised by how well they spoke it and we talked to each other about a lot of different things. I asked them how old they were, their favorite subjects in school and how many brothers and sisters they had. As you would expect, some were better at English than others, but all of them seem fascinated by me and just wanted to be around me. It is such a weird feeling being the center of attention. I am used to quite comfortably slipping under the radar. Then you travel to a foreign country and suddenly you are a superstar. I don’t care much about being famous, I just want to be a good role model to these girls. I would love to form some good friendships and let them know that I am here for them if ever they need a listening ear or shoulder to cry on.
I watched the news with girls, but of course didn’t understand any of it. It kept cutting out because there was a bad signal and the heavy rains interfered. It was supposed to be an hour long, but it cut off at 40 minutes. The girls talked to me some more and asked me some questions about America-how many people lived there, what the weather was like in Texas (wherever that is; they had only heard of California. I remarked on one girls sweatshirt that said Los Angeles), how much it costs to go to school, etc. A girl said that at a school in Dili it was $3,000 a semester, but at another university it only caused $30 a semester! She had asked me how much a semester cost in the U.S. I told her it depended on what school you went to, but my school was about $20,000 a year. They asked me, “Aren’t you cold?” but truthfully the weather here in the evenings is nice and cool. A sweater would probably be nice, but I was more than comfortable with my ¾ length sleeves and blue jean capris I was wearing.
Today before and during the rosary I was really struggling with the thought of the duration of my stay here in East Timor. Yes, I am enjoying myself and have gotten involved (and will continue to get more involved), but how am I ever going to last 8 months here? TODAY was good, but what’s to say tomorrow will be? I loved playing with the kids, but it was exhausting, and I’m not sure I can handle doing that every day for the next 8 months. What happens when the novelty of my presence here wears off? When the girls become less interested in me and use up all of the English they know? What happens when we get past the basics like how many siblings you have, what your home is like, your favorite subject,etc? What will we talk about?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. I DO know that I need to take each day at a time. As one of the quotes I brought with me says, “Don’t count your days. Make your days count.” Ulla has been here 5 months and the orphans aren’t sick of her presence. They are overjoyed to have someone to play with and that cares about them. So I think it will be for me. There is always work I can do and help I can offer. If God wants me here for that long, he will keep me busy and keep my job fulfilled. I could stay here and play games with children and teach them their alphabet, how to read, write, do arithmetic, speak English, etc. I can make 100’s of new friends and bring joy to kids just by being present and with them. By smiling at them and saying Hello. By praying the rosary with them. By praying for them. By dancing and laughing and talking and watching the news with them. There isn’t any better work I could be doing right now. Will I go out of style? Not if I keep my work focused on God. If I keep God first, I can attract others to me just by being a source of His light.
Remember, TRUST in the Lord and DO GOOD. I can do both of these things here. This is my chance to serve God in the most basic, but beautiful way possible. I am not going to let it slip by. Where there’s a Will (God’s), there’s a way. God will provide me with the strength I need.
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