an education

Thanks to all that responded to my last post. A lot of people asked to hear more about what I am learning and it just so happens that I will be writing specifically about that, with a little bit of every day life mixed in :)  

I really appreciated what my sister-in-law said, “I really think you should write what you want to write. It should be a reflection of you, whatever you are going through, feeling, enjoying.” 

It made me realize that as I looked back over my previous posts they were a reminder of the things that papa has been doing in and around me on my journey here. It is also a great way to process what is happening and how I am feeling while allowing me to share life with those of you who are so far away.

Right now I realize that papa is giving me some amazing gifts that I never expected. I am learning so many things that I never even imagined would be a part of my life. 

A couple things...

The first unbelievable thing that I am learning is the art of verbal translation. I would have never imagined just a year ago that I would be in this position. But right now there are not many native english speakers on our team who can translate from Russian to English in our team meetings, so I have started to do this. 

It is a disconcerting experience because when I hear Russian the first thing that comes to my mind is Russian. 

The first time I translated it was so difficult to get the english words out of my mouth. I knew this before, but at that point I truly understood that my brain switches to Russian when I hear and understand it. It is quite the stretch to get it to hear Russian words and then quickly translate into English what the person is saying and make it sound halfway decent because if you translate directly it will sound strange.

A few weeks ago I was translating for our feeding the homeless event. They were giving directions on how to divide the food and the word for divide in russian sounds like ‘delete,’ so I said “we are going to delete the food.’ It was funny, we all laughed, and I realized how sharp I must stay when I am translating, it’s definitely not second nature yet. Language is a crazy thing. 

The second thing that I am really excited to be learning is story writing. I took a couple screen writing classes in film school and I really enjoyed them, but aside from that I haven’t studied the art of story telling. 

One of the main things I am part of right now with our organization is the communications team. We have a newsletter that goes out quarterly and we would like to push that up to once a month eventually. In the newsletter we always share a story about people who have been blessed by goods given by our organization. 

The man who usually writes these stories is a really great writer, but he will be leaving in a few months and won’t be returning. Right now he is teaching me to develop into a better writer through writing stories and trying out different methods, writing from different view points etc. 

It may sound boring to some, but to me it is quite exciting and has really stirred up a passion inside of me for the lives that are being effected through what we do. 

I am so excited about what Papa has had me involved in lately. I am learning such a wide variety of skills here, managing a cafe, baking and developing recipes, writing, translating and so many more life skills.

I could write for days about what I am learning and I will continue to try to share more of it since that is what encourages me and apparently others as well :)