We have been so spoiled the past two days! With temps near 50 yesterday and today, it would be a shame not to be outside! Yesterday morning after breakfast i made my way over to Hyde Park where i spent the majority of the morning just taking random trails and seeing where they led! This is one very large park. When i decided to head back, I noticed the group of guards on horses coming down the road and followed them back to Buckingham Palace where I watched a little bit of changing of the guards again. It’s interesting listening to the tourists talk about what’s happening knowing that i said some of the very same things! :)
The rest of the day was spent on reading for class and working on my Events Industry presentation stuff. Erica and i decided to head back outside for a bit to run a few errands. The the most annoying thing happened when we came back to Vandon. We were ready to finalize our Dublin trip and see what other trips we could plan for the semester. We were all into it and making progress when the only thing we needed to make the reservations stopped working. Yep, that’s right, our internet was down for the rest of the night! Talk about frustrating! It’s kinda hard to book a trip online when you can’t get online or even do research on key impacts and ethical concerns on charity events :) I guess we found out how dependent we are on our technology. Then to top it all off, the Vandon Cooking Club was not able to cook their traditional Monday Family dinner because the stoves decided to stop working. No tamales for us :( However, there is a good side to every story! the upside to this one is Erica and I figured out our tv and watched tv in our room for the first time. 10 things i hate about you was on! Yay heath!
Today, also a fantastic day! Not only was the weather amazing but i had seriously amazingly fun day at my internship! We finally got to interview the ESOL (English as a 2nd language) class today! It is a class strictly for women from all over the world who are looking to learn english to improve their lives and work their way to getting a job to help support their families. Most of the women were from Turkey, some from France, India and few other countries. They all have different backgrounds and joined the class at different times so they are all at different levels. This is a very crucial time for them as they will be taking an exam next week to test what they have learned throughout the course: Reading, writing, listening and speaking English. They also learn about health, how to fill out different forms (i.e. employment) and how to make an appointment. Many of the women we talked to said the class was more than just learning english, it was about making friendships. They said that by not knowing english, they couldn’t communicate with other so they didn’t have many, if any friends, so they felt very alone in London aside from their families. I met so many amazing women today! One really touched my heart. She was the first one i saw today when i came into the office where she greeted me with her loving smile. She came here from India 27 years ago and has since then raised 3 children who are now grown. She is a child of 9 and in India, girls don't to school because it’s too expensive. When people asked her why she didn’t take the class before, she said that she didn’t want anyone else to raise her kids; her kids are her life! She said when someone asks about who she is she responds with “I have two eyes – my sons, a heart- my daughter and my husband is my body.” It was so sweet! Throughout the whole interview she was smiling and asking me questions about myself and my family. She wants to get a job in a nursery school so she can work with kids – so full of love! (Mom, she reminded me of you!)
Doing these interviews was such an eye opener. The women were so determined to learn english because it opened up so many new opportunities for them. Most of the women knew more than one language and yet they still were disappointed when they were not perfect with english. I couldn’t help but feel out of it when the only language i know is English and a little spanish! They were so happy to be able to communicate with us and so excited to talk to us! The interviews were a great for us to do but also very good practice for the women before their exam next week. I was very impressed with their progress and I hope they all do well next week!
Karina had a conference to go to in Manchester today so we got to leave early, which meant more time in the sun and more time to cover the other half of Hyde Park! Since the stupid internet was down (STILL!!) i couldn’t work on any homework so it worked our great! After a long, beautiful stroll through the park, I headed back to Vandon where I was very productive on catching up on journaling (which does not need the internet:)). Then it was time for our rescheduled Vandon Cooking Club family dinner of our make-shift tamales! Yes, we are very creative with our dishes. From shredding the beef and chicken to making the polenta, we did it all! Although the presentation struggled a little tonight, the flavors were fantastic! The texture was a little like grits i was told…but like i said. They were still fantastic! and we have plenty leftovers! We wrapped up the night watching Slumdog Millionaire. If you haven’t seen this film, definitely go see it! It was so good! and an excellent way to spend the night without internet!
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