Karley Writing
Today was a very busy day, at least for me! I woke up this
morning at 6 o’clock this morning to get ready to go to the Regina Assumption College
school. I was going to follow around two girls to see what an average school
day would be like for a 16 or 17 year old girl in Haiti. I was very nervous
about today, and felt that I was out of my comfort zone because it would be my
first day on my own, in a school full of girls that did not speak any English.
We had one of the Sisters from the Stella Maris drive us, and we got there
exactly at 7, which is when school starts. The two girls, Ellen and Diane, met
me at the office and walked me to their classroom. From there we went through
the following subjects: Math, Haitian Literature, Algebra, English, Chemistry,
and homework. Thankfully, Ellen spoke very good English and translated many of
the teachers and students’ questions for me. In math, the teacher spoke some
English, so we chatted for a while. The class asked me about school life in
Canada, and I tried to speak slowly and in small words so that they could get
an idea about what I was saying. It was a rough start, but by the end of the
first period, Ellen and I had gotten the hang of talking together. They also
sang me a song which I recognized, My Bonnie. Here are the lyrics if you’re not
familiar with the song:
My Bonnie lies over the ocean,
My Bonnie is over the sea,
My Bonnie is over the ocean,
Oh bring back my Bonnie to me.
Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my Bonnie to me, to me!
Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my Bonnie to me!
I thought this was very sweet (they even changed the name “Bonnie”
to “Karley”) until they wanted me to sing the song all by myself. That was
extremely out of my comfort zone because I don’t sing and am extremely self-conscious
about my singing, but I did it anyways because I didn’t want them to feel like
I was being rude. I don’t know if my singing has improved, or if they were just
being polite but I got a standing ovation at the end. We had Haitian Literature
next, which I didn’t understand at all since it was all being spoken in French,
but Ellen told me that they were learning about Haitian artists.
I also had a
conversation with some of the girls about Justin Bieber. They asked me if he
was my favourite singer and I said yes, for conversation sake (let it be clear
that I do not like Justin Bieber’s music, whatsoever). I told them the story
about how he came to one of my soccer games once, and how my town is basically
right beside his, and they were all pretty impressed. After Haitian literature,
Ellen and Diane took me down to the cafeteria, where I was swarmed with many
little girls who were excited to pet my hair and stroke my skin. The group of
girls shared their food with me since I hadn’t brought a snack (it was only 9 o’clock
in the morning). After snack time, we went back to the class to learn Algebra.
They were learning about the formula for the sides of triangles, which I
found easy to follow along (it’s ironic because math is one of my worst
subjects back home).
At this point the girls had gotten very comfortable with
me and started to send me notes in English. One girl asked if I loved her, so I
responded with a ‘yes!’ because I was not sure what else to put. Other girls
asked me some more basic questions, such as my favourite sports and what I liked
about school. Some girls complimented me on my smile, and asked if they could
comb my hair for me, which was an interesting combination but I agreed
nonetheless. Some topics that came up quite frequently were if I was married or
if I had a boyfriend. When I responded negatively, they cried out with outrage.
When they asked me why I didn’t, I didn’t quite know how to respond. I ended up
saying that I liked being single because it was fun. The group didn’t quite
believe that; most of the girls had boyfriends or really wanted one (one girl
stated that she had two, and I’m still not quite sure if she was joking or
not). After Algebra, English came fourth which was the easiest out of all the
subjects so far (obviously). The teacher had me to participate in some of the
activities, which were pretty easy (thank goodness, how embarrassing would it
be if I couldn’t complete proper grammar in my first language?). They were
learning about the differences between using “will” and “going to” and when it
was appropriate to use them. After English came Chemistry and then a homework
period. Those went by quietly and when my Laurier group came to pick me up, I
gave some gifts to Ellen and Diane to thank them for helping translate English
to French.
I ended up giving Ellen my email, and I hope we stay in touch!
Pictures posted tomorrow!!
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