|
I was nervous heading into this trip, to tell you the
truth. The task at hand was thinking about how I was going to communicate
with these students that are hearing impaired. My stress lifted after the
first hour of meeting these kids and their teachers, Amanda and Michelle,
and family member, DJ. Interactions were simple as Amanda and Michelle
were amazing interpreters (why I was even worried I don't know). Thank you
both for being so incredible at what you do. You worked so hard every day
to make sure everyone was a part of every conversation. I really
appreciate that and I know that Lela does too.
One of my favorite parts of the Panterra student trips is being able to
watch the kids play and interact with everyone on the ship. The best day
that I remember was the day that I saw Ray and Andrew running on the bow
of the boat followed a minute later by Guillermo, one of the pangeros
(crew). Apparently Sergio and Guillermo started a water fight with the
boys. Do you know how hard it was to tell them that they had to stop
running on the boat? We have never seen our pangeros (Sergio and
Guillermo) interact with the students like that and it was a joy to see. I
don't think the fooling around between the Spanish boys and the Canadian
boys stopped through the whole trip. I recall hearing stories about Ray
being in the panga as we approached the Narval. He was pretending to shoot
a machine gun. When Brian looked at where he was aiming, it was at Sergio
who was pretending to shoot a bazooka. Boys will be boys no matter what
age, no matter where you are from, no matter what language you speak.
As with all student trips, the kids have to do a form of the workbook. In
this case, Andrew, Ray and Vanessa were working on a logbook. What I never
really thought about, that hit me like a tail slap from a big fat tuna when
I was working with them was, and I apologize for my ignorance... not only
do these kids have to learn three different sign languages (and perhaps
more throughout their lives) but then have to try to build their
vocabulary based on never hearing how words are pronounced, only seeing
how they are spelled out. I think it equates to something like this; these
kids have to do four times the amount of work than I do to understand and
use the English language. WOW! Not only that, they have to figure out ways
to communicate with people who do not understand their language, even
though they both may speak English, and deal with the trials and
tribulations of being different in a junior high school setting. These
kids have opened my eyes and my mind up to these things and have made me
think a little differently.
Hands down, the best moment of the trip for me had to be when we were all
on the cliff getting ready to jump. I had Ray, Vanessa and Andrew all
without their hearing devices and I had to go over the ground rules for
safe jumping. Keep in mind, I had relied a lot on using Amanda and
Michelle for relaying messages and they were both in the Pangas waiting to
take pictures. I never really thought much of it, to be honest, until
after the jump. Vanessa, bless her soul, is an amazing lip reader, and
with her help I was able to get the instructions off to them perfectly. I
was so proud of her for translating for me when I desperately needed her
in such a challenging circumstance, she could barely hear me, if at all. I
was so proud of her and the boys jumping off the cliff and getting back
into the Pangas.... TWICE.
The cliff is always an amazing display of teamwork and therefore it is
always my favorite thing to do. We cheer each other on, we give each other
praise for gathering the courage to take the leap of faith. The cliff
isn't that high, but when you get up there and can't see where you will
land after you jump, it makes your feet tingle. I will always cherish this
moment on this trip, caught on still frame. We were able to communicate
perfectly, the thing that I was most worried about before the trip began.
You three amazed me every day, you taught me lessons that I will carry
through my life, you made me laugh during the trip and you made me cry when you left.
Until I see you again, I will think of you fondly, my newfound friends,
every time I jump the cliffs in Mexico.
Stasia
|
