Learning Without Walls

It really is amazing how advanced technology is these days. I am currently thousands of miles away, with internet on a USB drive, and I am still able to communicate with people through Skype! Today I was able to Skype with my kinder class from student teaching back home AND my brother's kindergarten class. With both of these classes I gave them a little tour around the school, and then we had a chance to do some question/answer time. Talk about learning without boundaries. These children are able to follow my blog, my journey, my experiences...and communicate with me! They are able to compare and contrast their school, culture, and life to people around the world. At the end of the day today I had the biggest smile on my face because: A) I got to see my former students who I love and miss SO much and B) It was absolutely a beautiful experience to hear and answer the questions from very curious 5-6 year olds. Some of their questions were:

- Do they get anything for Christmas? 

- What do they have to eat for dinner?

- Why does your school have a kitchen?

- What is the weather like?

- How do you fit 24 students in that small tuk tuk?

- What is the school made out of?

- Do they have homework?

And the best thing to hear, "We love you Miss Talcott, and we miss you so much!" I miss them so much too, but I am so grateful, SO grateful that not only family and friends are following my journey, but my students are as well. 

On another note, I want to update you about my friendship with Jackelyn. Over the past two days we have shared something special. Last night, I shed a few tears and I was having a difficult time, and she supported me through the whole thing. She is still basically a stranger to me, and she acted like my best friend. She is such a genuine person that stranger or family, she treated me the same. She knew exactly how to help me, and exactly what I needed to hear. And the best part, I understood her too! Then tonight, I am sitting in bed about to go to sleep, and she came into my room crying. She was upset about a few things, and I comforted her. Now this, was a definite challenge. Try comforting someone you barely know, using a language you barely speak! Haha. But I did it! In the end, we ended up realizing that we both have fears, we both have goals, and they are more similar than we ever expected. I ended the conversation with this, "Jackelyn we need to be fighters, we need to be strong, and we can get through this together because this is an opportunity and experience that is going to change us as people for the better." And as simple as that, we are going to keep working through the language barrier, we are going to grow as independent women, and we are going to love and support each other each and every day. Because there is a reason we came into each others lives, and we are both ready to embrace it.