The Power of Words

"Tu es tout petit
Mon Meilleur ami
Je t'emmène avec moi
Partout où je suis
Je te parle comme à un homme doux et sensible
La seule chose qui m'agace c'est de changer les piles"


I often volunteer my time with a local organization called ChicagoCares. The cool thing about the organization is that there are dozens of things you can volunteer for each week and you can choose whatever interests you.

For a while, I was volunteering at Bingo night at one of the nursing homes around here. It was so much fun. But if I want to have a shot at Peace Corps, there are other things I have to focus on. So I chose to sign up for ESL Coaching. I had fun. A lot of fun. Basically, I helped the adult students practice English, just by sitting down and having a conversation with them.

I never realized how important a conversation could be. I was assigned to a classroom with 4 students who were slightly more advanced than the others...although their English was still quite broken. There were 3 other volunteers in the room, and we each did rounds to each student. I'm convinced that I learned more than the students. I went in expecting to just coach people with their English, but I ended up engaging in the most thoughtful conversations I've had in a while.

The media will have you believing that immigrants are only coming from Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. They completely ignore the floods of easternEuropean immigrants, immigrants from Asia, middle eastern people, and people from other parts of central and South America. Normally, I'm an open minded, intelligent individual. But for some reason, I fell victim to that ignorant belief when I saw that I would be going to Logan Square - a largely Mexican neighborhood. So when these men started telling me about Machu Picchu and drawing maps of where their hometowns are in relation to Belize, Brazil and Argentina...I was instantly interested. 3 out of the 4 men in my classroom were from Peru.

"J'aime beaucoup la vie
Pas du tout l'ennui
J'apprécie la galanterie, que tu m'offres au lit
Le plaisir infini partout où je suis
La seule chose qui m'agace c'est de changer les piles"

I spoke with a man named Walter who has lived here for 20 years.

20 years?

Yes. 20 years. And can barely speak English. He says he never gets to practice it. His family speaks Spanish at home. His co-workers speak Spanish at work. He lives in a neighborhood of the city where there are Spanish speaking businesses. Just like everyone else, he enjoyed and appreciated the chance to practice his English skills. What surprised me is how EAGER he was. As soon as I sat down with him, his eyes lit up, and we chatted away. This man was in his 50s, and was talking non-stop like some 4 year old.

You know how 4 year olds dont shut up, because they just grasped the language and they want to talk ALL OF THE TIME? Yeah, like that.

But he wasnt as annoying. I mean, he wasnt annoying at all.

Moving on...

I met this guy named John (Juan), who is from Lima, Peru, and used to teach finance at the University there. Now he fixes furniture for a living. I met Humberto, who is also from Peru, who used to live in Japan working for manufacturing companies, before he moved here to be with family.

Such interesting lives and such interesting people. I really enjoyed my time with them. I got a recipe for a Peruvian drink called Pisto Sour. It's kinda like a homemade whiskey sour, but not with whiskey. I had some great laughs too (Juan asked me if I was married. I told him no, I was single. He threw up the "Single Ladies" hand on me)

"A chaque fois que mon cerveau me demande
Je glisse la main dans mon sac automatique aux commandes
Je cherche un coin tranquille
et en passant je demande
Un nouveau jeu de piles pour ma télécommande"


I have no idea where I was going with this. But I do find it interesting that people have so much potential, are so intelligent and personable, and the only thing that separates them from reaching a higher status in society is language. Language barriers are more powerful than I first thought. Socially liberal people in this country are opposed to mandatory English language proficiency for immigrants (its discriminatory) , but I kind of agree with those "They need ta learn ta speak A'MERKIN" people. I think it would be way more beneficial for those coming to this country to be proficient in the language. It is an extremely difficult barrier to get over once you're here, and unless these people can master the language, they will never be able to flourish as American citizens. Others can continue to cast off these intelligent, highly capable people as "immigrants", and not see them as citizens.

But maybe....just maybe...that's the whole point.

I've been known to look into a conspiracy theory or two. But maybe "the man" doesnt want people to be required to learn the language, because they can then easily "take over." Society can't function if everyone is educated. If everyone is educated, then who will do the "lower class" jobs...we'll all be too smart. Society functions when there are classes of people, distinct lines and dichotomies between intelligence levels, social status, classes, etc. If everyone gets an education and has the same opportunities, who will work for the privileged? Gotta weed out people somehow...It's all a part of the plan.

This just turned into a completely different post.

"Mes copines t'apprécient
Mes copains . Aussi
Tu es le bienvenue
Dans chaque surprise party" "Mon Meilleur Ami"-Yelle

**I chose this song because I've spent the past year and a half singing it all of the time. I love this song. It's cutesy electro-pop. I know maybe 3 words of French, but I can sing this song backwards and forward. Last week, I learned that it was a song about a vibrator.