PLAN B

For many different reasons switching to Gujarati  Medium is not  going to work because even in Gujarati medium I would not be completely immersed in the language because people can still speak a little English. I decided go somewhere where no one can speak to me in ANY language. From now on I am going to an experimental school for the deaf so that I can learn sign language! I am not a student I am going there to observe and interact with the students. The students are so amazing because even though they cannot speak they are incredibly intelligent and capable. They are probably more intelligent than most “normal” people are because they have had to work so much harder to get to the same place. They are able to do everything that a “normal” person can. I went to a Key Club convention last year and there was a motivational speaker who spoke about what it means to be handicapped. He was born without legs and everyone’s obvious reaction to that was “OMG I feel so sorry for you. That is horrible, I could not imagine growing up that way, your life must be so difficult.” He said that there is no reason to feel bad for anyone with a handicap. A handicap is anything that makes you different.  We are all handicapped in some way. He said there are thousands of “normal” people walking around on legs that are more handicapped than he was. I feel the same way about the students at this school. There are all going to be perfectly fine and live normal lives. I do not want people to think that I am a saint or anything like that for going to a school for the deaf in my free time. I also do not want anyone to think that the deaf students are my charity case because they are my friends. In the end I am sure they will teach me more than I can ever teach them. I will still do my best to learn Hindi but it is going to have to be from the books….unfortunately. There is little hope of me even becoming semi-fluent in Hindi because I have less than one year here and because I am never going to be immersed in it, but I can promise that I will give it my absolute best! It will not be the end of the world if I do not learn Hindi or Gujarati perfectly because learning a language is not the ONLY point of exchange. There are so many things to experience. However, learning languages is one of my passions. I did not expect to come to India to learn sign language while speaking English, but it works!