Family Portraits

One of the things we've been blessed with is the opportunity to put on an 'English Corner' for our neighborhood; it gives students a chance to practice english in a non-competitive, informal environment. I think it's really fun because it gives a break from learning language (even though there's a lot of translation going on) and it gives me an excuse to do anything, as long as it is in english! This is awesome because my english is pretty good.

We just had our final English Corner yesterday. We did a fashion show and it was pretty hilarious. Last month we had the kids practice introducing their family. We drew family portraits together. Here's a gallery of some of the entries:

Xacto said that my brother (guess which family portrait is mine…) looks like a hippy Homer Simpson. Haha.

I'm always telling the Boss that there's a great deal of hesitation in inviting a whole bunch of kids over. I always feel unenthused when I think about how none of them take off their shoes and where those shoes have been. I feel cranky sometimes trying to come up with fun things to do. But every time it's all over I feel pleasantly betrayed: I always come away thankful for the opportunity and I always feel like it was a really fun and joyful time. It's easy to live in a foreign bubble here; it challenges your mind and your heart to move out of your comfort zone to build relationships, and even then, there's no guarantee that there's someone on the other side wanting to build that relationship with you. That is what makes English Corner so awesome. For one night, I can tell that these kids really love hanging out here with us and speaking English, even if it's super poor, and it makes me feel honored to be a part of their lives.