K: (in order to break the opening awkward silence and in a New Zealand accent) "So, who's your favorite teacher?"
(smiles and small laughs all around)
K: C'mon, you can say.
E: (pointing in my direction with a smile) Monique!
M: Good answer!
Thanks to Kel's initiative to pull students from the Neumann dorm to join this afternoon's tanked Alpha Express session, we were able to have cold beet soup and boiled potatoes with about ten students, two of which were my students (Vaida and Emilija). We went around the table, answering 'silly' icebreaker questions of "If you were to be a kitchen item, what would you be and why?" and "If you were to be an animal, what would you be and why." I thought the one girl's answer was simple, yet insightful -- "I'd be a fridge, because usually the fridge has good things inside of it. I am that way, too. I am good inside."
On the third go of our round robin answering, Kel asked "If you were God, what would be the first thing that you would do when you woke up tomorrow?" A girl that I had pegged as an apathetic and somewhat self-centered individual (she got up at the beginning of soup to answer her cell phone, but didn't leave the room -- hovering by the window was good enough for her; she wanted to be a sloth so that she could sleep all day and do nothing), said that she would make sure that if she were God, that those who did not have parents or a family that loved them would get a loving family. She surprised me even more when she stayed afterwards to ask Sandy a million questions about Peter, Andrew and Sandy's adopted son that the received through an adoption program that works specifically with placing African American infants with families (Sandy and Andrew are both white). In her conversation with Sandy, it was revealed that this girl is 21 and that her father just remarried. Her new stepmother is 24, her father is nearly 48. When I heard this, my hand literally stopped mid air as I was collecting the empty tea mugs. I had a better understanding of her interest in ensuring loving families for everyone.
As I continue to open my heart and mind to the students of SLI and the community members of Klaipeda, I find myself appreciating the good life that I've had in my 26-year span on this good earth. With all the blessings that I've experienced and had, why is it that I am still reluctant to recognize and share what God has done for me? How much more will I take for granted the life that I have?
No comments:
Post a Comment