Volunteer Explorer

Sub-zero temps and no conversation class again last night. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm not really a Northeast Ohioan at heart. Or maybe I'm just getting older. I used to scoff at older folks who wanted to move south to escape the cold and snow, but I kind of get it now.  Because I once again do not have an amusing or interesting anecdote about my ESOL class, I thought I'd entertain my vast blog audience with a little fiction. Long ago, before I fell deeply in love with creative nonfiction, I tried my hand at fiction with moderate success. Every tiny centimeter of that moderate success I attribute to the guidance of Robert Pope, my first college-level writing professor, and the main reason I pursued an advanced degree in writing. I met Bob, as he likes to be called, while working at a coffee shop in West Akron during my undergraduate years. We spent many an hour after my shift was completed sipping cappuccinos and chatting about books, storytelling, and life in g...

We didn’t have class again last night, and it was again due to the frigid weather. So in lieu of an amusing post about our attempts at cross-cultural conversation, I have put together a list of reasons I am grateful, despite the aforementioned weather. My list is not exhaustive and is in no particular order. 1. Brilliant sunshine pours through my windows this morning, making the snow and icicles sparkle like diamonds. 2. I got all my shopping done at Marc’s today in less than one hour. 3. My car started with no trouble today, and I was able to drive my husband to his job so that he wouldn’t have to walk very far in the ridiculous cold. 4. I have an electric blanket to keep me toasty while I read or watch television, without having to crank the heat up too high. 5. I have heat in my home that can be cranked up high, if desired. 6. I got to spend all of Tuesday afternoon with my mom. 7. I have a pretty easy job with a great boss who cares about my well-being and treats ...

“I learned a new word group ‘mother nature’ by your email. If let me guess what’s that mean without help of context and dictionary, I would say mother nature is the selfless love from mother to her baby...” This was Yuwei’s response to my email about canceling our class this week due to freezing weather conditions. My email was worded this way: “I know I emailed you all about going to the museum tonight, but it seems Mother Nature has other plans for us.” I can completely understand how Yuwei formulated his guess about the meaning of “mother nature.” It makes perfect sense to think this pair of words is referring to the characteristic of a mother loving her child--the ‘nature’ of a new mother. His attempt follows closely last week’s discussion of the quarantiña and post-delivery baby care.   Most of all, I am delighted that he took a stab at guessing the meaning of a phrase that was new to him.  Yuwei’s errant guess highlights the difficulty new language lea...

Groundhog Day. Post-pregnancy care. Roller skating. Snowmen. These are some of the topics our conversation touched on in this week’s ESOL class. I had suggested they all look something up about Groundhog Day, a folk tradition dear to my heart. My mom grew up in Punxsutwaney, Pennsylvania, and I spent part of every summer there throughout my childhood years. I’ve been to the Groundhog Day Festival--the biggest, most important day on the Punxsutawney social and fiscal calendar every year--twice, so I can attest to the way it transforms a sleepy, rural, former coal and railway hub into a bustling winter vacation destination for one day a year.   I know we began there, with Groundhog Day, but how did we get to roller skating? Even when I follow the thread backward, I come to a gap eventually. I brought up other cultural and religious traditions observed by some on February 2nd, Candlemas and Imbolc, so we talked about those for a bit. This naturally led to the idea of...