Changing

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”  ~Nelson Mandela

Changing is a process. After our last misunderstanding with our family, we were determined to make this last visit the best of all. We were definitely approaching the situation differently due to the circumstance in which we were learning to more effectively communicate on their level. When we arrived they welcomed us in, this time the whole family was there. They greeted us for the last time with smiles and much hospitality. Raul Lian Hmun was sleeping on the floor while we interacted with the parents. We started with vocabulary. This time it was learning opposites so in order for them to understand we learned to act out each thing such as sitting and standing, as well as walking and running. We reviewed the old vocabulary, but then we got into conversations we had never been able to before. Our family doesn't speak much English so this makes it hard for us to not only ask them questions, but to get answer, and then being able to understand those answers. We asked them where they were from and they told us Malaysia. They told us a little bit about the weather there as we used the opposites we were teaching them to ask. We found out that Raul Lin Hmun's favorite food is pasta. We were all smiling and engaging in the little conversations that we could. We could tell the difference between the last time and this time. This time they were prepared for us to be there. We proceeded to play our favorite games such as Uno and Go fish. This time Taun Sang went to his refrigerator and brought out soda for us to have as we were talking about it during our game. Myself and the other girls with me thought this a kind gesture. We had brought cookies before to share and now they wanted to share with us. We do not know how much they have, yet they still showed that in spite of little they have much to share. Although I'd like to think because of the similar things we did each week were the same, each time we went there, there was a difference, not in the circumstance, but the people in the circumstance.