Wrapping Up May: What a great way to end the month.

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are enjoying your break and Memorial Day. We celebrate the first official day of the summer season this weekend. Parades, picnics and pool openings! 

Memorial Day honors the Americans who gave their lives protecting and defending the United States. The tradition began after the Civil War. Graves of these heros are marked with American flags. Enjoy the National Concert on PBS.

In Indianapolis we end the month of May with the Indy 500 race the Sunday befor. Find out more and watch the race live. This year, the race will not be blacked out in Indianapolis.

Cicadas are in the news. These particular cicadas emerge only every 17 years. What a great opportunity to see and experience something unusual!

Free Fishing Dates: Fish without an Indiana Fishing License June 5 & 6

Summer International Friends 

Watch for local meet ups in parks. If you are not local, join us on Zoom for summer meetings and classes. 

Register for our Zoom summer meetings and get the links:

• Grammar Workshop: To Be Announced 
• American Sign Language (open to all ages): Monday, 5:30-6:30 PM EST/ GMT-4, June 7-August 16, 2021
• Kids’ Conversation (open to school-aged Friends): Thursday, 4:00-4:39 PM EST/GMT-4, June 3-August 19, 2021

COVID-19 and Domestic Travel

We are all ready to get out and travel. The vaccinations are proving to be very effective for people 12 and older. Meanwhile, here is a link with the latest advice for Domestic Travel from the CDC for Domestic Travel.

blacked out: an event is not broadcast in a particular area

Summer Schedule and COVID-19 News

 Hello Friends,

We are on break until the first week in June. Per your feedback, we are going to meet socially in person and on Zoom. We will announce the events starting in June.

We are welcoming new members to most of our summer events. 

Email Carolyn for more information. 

You do not have to live in Indiana to participate in our Zoom events!

American Sign Language will resume June 7, 5:30-6:30: we welcome new signers. If you have a student that would like to learn with us, they are welcome to join! Please email your name for the Zoom link.

Kids' Conversation will resume June 3, 4:00-4:30: we welcome new conversationalists. Please email your name, children's name and age to register and for the Zoom link.

Grammar Workshop, sessions To Be Announced: we are offering a grammar workshop. Please email to register and to be sent the Zoom link.

American Accent Training will resume in June with the current class. Look for e-mail announcements.

Summer Socials in the Park and On Zoom To Be Announced: watch for more throughout the summer.

COVID-19

Breakthrough COVID-19 cases are cases where people test positive for COVID 19 after being fully vaccinated.  Less than .01 percent of the vaccinated have contracted COVID. Of those people, studies are showing the people who are vaccinated have milder symptoms or no symptoms that if they were not vaccinated. Additionally, studies show that vaccinated people do not appear to have enough "viral load" to pass the disease along. 

Masks Off: Are You Confused? Do you need a table?

Fully vaccinated people are free to go mask-less indoors and outdoors, for the most part. Many stores and businesses are taking mask signs off of their doors. If they ask you to wear a mask, please be respectful. Otherwise, if you are fully vaccinated you can comfortably enjoy smiling at others again with your whole face! Walmart, Costco, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, Target and CVS all have announced that masks are optional for people who are fully vaccinated (and no, you don't have to show your card!).

Thank you for a great 2020-2021 year on Zoom

Dear Friends,

Thank you for a great 2020-2021 year with International Friends! We made it!

Here we are at the end of our school year. When we began Zooming in the fall, we were not sure what the future would bring! While we don't have pizzas to celebrate, we have so many Zoom memories. We are reaching the end of the pandemic here in the United States. I know this because so many of you are ready to put a pause on our regular meetings and get out, travel and enjoy the summer and live the life!

COVID -19

We are wrapping up the school year with great news from the United States Federal Government and the CDC: people who are fully vaccinated can meet indoors, outdoors and up close without masks. Will masks become a thing of the past? Probably not in all situations and that is likely for the better! We are ready to put this pandemic behind us!

Stories and More

We wrapped up the year with a meet up in the park. 

Old McDonald Had a Farm is a family classic as well as road trip song. How fun to sing this with our friends and family. We laughed as we shared how dogs, cows, chickens and other animals talk in English, Japanese, Korean and Spanish! When you play this game at home take turns calling out animals and the sound. Usual animals are cows, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, cats, dogs. Old McDonald might have a tractor, kids, a mom. At our house Old McDonald had a T-Rex, spiders, bunnies (who are pretty quiet and wiggle their noses), fish.

Look for Meetups on Mondays.

International Bible Study

We wrapped this year of Bible study with two stories of faith. When we look to God for help, we can expect him to save us. But do we trust and look to him? Wisely: "This is a vertical problem. We keep our minds and eyes on the earth when we should be looking up to the heavens!"

Luke 8:22-25 Jesus is asleep in a boat. A storm kicks up and waves swamp the boat threatening the lives of the disciples. Jesus calls to the storm and the raging wind and waves subsides. Jesus asks the disciples, "Where is your faith?"

Numbers 21: 4-9 The Israelites are in the desert and complain of their circumstances. God sends poisonous snakes and many are bitten and die. The Israelites apologize and ask Moses their leader to talk to God. God has Moses fashion a brass stick on the top of a snake. Anyone bitten can look at the snake on the pole and live.

As we come out of the pandemic, will we stay indoors and in fear or will we trust and live? 

Our Bible Study is breaking for the summer! Look for announcements in the fall.

International Friends

We talked about food and cheese: Shanklish is delicious and very popular in Brazil! The cheese has it's origins in Lebanon. This is very much like the fresh cheeses we made earlier this year. Try this recipe! 

We are breaking for the summer...but we plan to meet face-to-face in a park every so often. See you soon!

Reading with Friends

We wrapped up our reading with chapters 14 and 15. In chapter 14 a shepherd is buried. We shared traditions and thoughts on cemeteries and the changing or not so changing ways that we honor and remember people who have passed. We observed the roles of the different characters as observers and as friends. 

In chapter 15 a beautiful woman defends herself. We all expressed some surprise over this and wondered whether about women's rights and voice. We laughed that Don Quixote chose to continued to chase this woman.

The chapter ends with Don Quixote and Sancho Panzo getting in a brawl and ending up at an inn that Don Quixote thinks is a castle. Oh no! Here we go again!

We are breaking for the summer, but we will meet for a "glass of wine" on June 16. Watch for a specific time and a Zoom link.

Afternoon Conversation

We are looking forward to spending our afternoons in the sunshine! We touched on most of our topics: COVID, vaccinations, music (and performing), and wrapped up with food.

English Classes

We wrapped up the year with Bill's Tips Jam Packed and Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth. You may hear these. We expanded on the pronunciation of "t" or not. Now that masks can become the thing of the past we can see "t" being said when we don't get to hear it.

Our formal classes are breaking, but we are offering shortened American Accent and a Grammar Workshop. Look for announcements.

Kids' Conversation

We finished up with our identifying animals beginning with the letters V-Z. 

We are taking a break for two weeks and meeting again on Zoom on June 3 at 4:00-4:30. Email to get the Zoom Link if you don't already have it!

When we meet again we will share the results of our sugar crystal growing experiment! Here is a great link to try growing sugar crystals.

End of the Week Conversation

We closed the week talking about summer plans. Everyone is ready to travel. Staying domestically is our best option, but there isn't anything wrong with that. One place to visit is Mackinac Island in Michigan. You have to take a ferry over. There are no cars, only bicycles and carriages. Mackinac is pronounced mac-in-naw. 

We talked about wearing and not wearing masks, whether there is enough evidence that the vaccines are efficacious against all the COVID-19 variations (so far they are holding well). We talked about outcomes from the pandemic that we hoped we would continue as a culture into the future: pick up from stores, people giving other people a little more personal space, people wearing masks in doctors' offices (because you are sick when you go in!), Zooming with friends and family far and near. We are ready to appreciate getting together for summer concerts outdoors (since there is little to no transmission outdoors). 

We are breaking for the year, but plan to meet in the park or on Zoom over the summer.

every so often: once in a while

look to: depend on someone or something

touched on: talked about briefly

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, Friends!

In the United States we celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May. People often give cards, gifts, flowers, candy, go out for brunch or celebrate with meals in the home. This year families may be Zooming and many are even traveling to see mom.

Best wishes to all of you moms and to your moms!

Wrapping Up the Spring Semester

Thank you to everyone who hung in there this year! We made it through the entire year on Zoom. When we met in person, we met three days a week with:

• International Bible Study
• International Friends
• Afternoon Conversation
• English Classes: Four Levels, American Accent Training and Preschool

And thanks to Zoom, this year we increased our meetings to include all of the above AND five to six days a week across many time zones. 

• International Preschool Stories and More
• American Sign Language
• Reading with Friends Book Club
• Kids' Conversation and More
• End of the Week Conversation

Look for our Summer Schedule and registration as well as our Fall Kick Off. If you don't live locally (in the Indianapolis area) we plan to continue many of our meetings and classes on Zoom in the Fall.

COVID-19

Vaccination and Variant News

• According to the most recent data, the approved vaccinations are holding up against the variants! This is great news. If you want to learn more about how these vaccinations seem to be faring with boots on the ground research, check out this NPR article or this Forbes article. Overall, the vaccines help people from having severe reactions to COVID-19 even if the disease is contracted.
• Clotting risk is always a factor. With the vaccines the clotting risk is four to five people in one million whereas the clotting risk is 39 in a million when getting COVID-19. Prevent Blood Clots from the CDC has advice for everyone regarding risks and avoiding blood clots.
• U.S. Vaccinations Are Slowing. What's To Blame? This New York Times article has some lovely charts comparing states and the various rollouts. Rationale for the slow down include that we are starting to run out of people to vaccinate. Regardless, most people weigh the risk vs. the reward of vaccination and decide whether to be vaccinated: Some people are waiting for more data to feel comfortable, some people are being advised by their physicians to wait on more data given their personal health considerations and some people just generally do not get vaccinations. 

Masks or No Masks

As herd immunity is becoming the norm, things to keep in mind:

• Mask sign posted: please wear your mask. Currently in Indiana, all official government buildings still require a mask as do medical offices.
• Camps and such: some children's programs may drop the mask requirements. Be sure to check to be prepared with a mask as necessary.

International Stories and More

We met for our last time on Saturday/Sunday and closed this exciting opportunity to learn English American Style. We are ended with the classic nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty! Thank you to all the parents and children who helped us with this pilot adventure. We loved meeting with you and look forward to continuing International Stories and More in the Fall!

Stories and More: Monday, 10:30-11:00 A.M.

We had a fun time with Humpty Dumpty!

May 10: Party in the Park! The weather looks to be a little chilly, but let's meet to party in the park and learn Old McDonald Had a Farm! 10:30 at Carey Grove Park: 140001 North Carey Road.

American Sign Language: Monday, 5:30-6:30 P.M.

We met to practice our conversation skills in this dynamic language. We are becoming more confident with our signing. Whether this because we have a vocabulary or because we are comfortable remains to be seen! 

May 10: Join us and dip your toe in the water.

International Bible Study: Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 A.M.

We talked about Luke 8:16-18 where Jesus uses the image light to explain how behavior. He says, "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a clay jar or hides it under a bed." Anything we say or do is out there for everyone to see. We noticed that this is for the good or for the bad. Jesus advises that we need to listen carefully.

We also talked about Luke 8:19-21 where Jesus refers to the crowd around him as his family. We could all relate to this. We can find love and compassion in the people around us when we are separated from our blood relatives!

May 11: Join us as we talk about Luke 8: 22-25 where Jesus calms the storm. This hopeful story shows us how God is able to bring us peace in all circumstances.

International Friends: Tuesday, 10:30 A.M.-12:00 P.M.

We talked about many things including the origin of Cinco de Mayo and the value of having Friends to care for us and help us not to be lonely.

May 11: Join us for our last official Zoom meeting of the year!

Reading With Friends: Wednesday, 10:00-11:00 A.M.

We had a great discussion about a lot of stuff including Don Quixote and Chapters 12 and 13. Did our young man commit suicide? What happens to the beautiful woman? Our two chapter a week pace is slow and steady. Let's not pick it up.

May 11: Chapters 14 and 15 are up! There is a nice long poem here. What is the response of the beautiful woman? How does Don Quixote respond to all this unrequited love? Let's see!

Afternoon Conversation: Wednesday, 4:30-6:00 P.M.

Days are getting longer. Our last meeting is May 11 for this year. Meet and bring your cocktail to Zoom.

English Classes: Thursday, 9:30 A.M.-12:00 P.M.

We all joined together under one Zoom. As Friends joined the group, we had a nice "get to know you" before breaking into our smaller classes. Sharing this time together is great because we get to see each other's faces and find out what we all have in common this year.

May 12: We are wrapping up the year! It is nice to be under one Zoom roof and end as we started the year. Come for this last official class of our 2020-2021 year.

Kid' Conversation and More: Thursday, 4:00-4:30

It was nice to meet and share something with each other. We found out we had a lot in common including playing the game chess. We played a fun naming game: call out animal names by alphabet.

We talked about some favorite books: Through the Looking Glass by Louis Carroll (which features chess and nursery rhyme characters) and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (which isn't really a book?) and click through this unusual site.

May 12: Join us as we continue our animal game beginning with the letter V. Be prepared for these last letters. They aren't easy, except for Zebra!

End of the Week Conversation: Friday 10:30-12:00

Thanks to everyone who joined in to help us reflect on International Friends as a whole and how we grew this year. Thanks to everyone who had suggestions for the Summer and suggestions for continuing next year. Almost everyone wants to meet in person one way or another. Almost everyone wants to meet and learn on Zoom. We are excited and looking forward to planning a program that encompasses everything we learned from Zooming and technology and are looking forward to this new chapter in International Friends.

May 13: Join us on Zoom to wrap up the week and to wrap up our 2020-2021 official calendar year! Cheers!

and such: etcetera; other things like this
becoming the norm: become common
dip your toe in the water: try something out without a risk
faring: performing in a situation
holding up: maintaining (not robbing)
hung in there: stuck with it
pick it up: increase speed
pilot: test
rationale: reasons
slow and steady: consistent
unrequited love: love that is one sided