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!
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
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