Living in a foreign country for the first time was one of the most challenging difficulties I’ve ever faced. When I first traveled to Haiti as a young teen, I didn’t understand the language and no one except for my mother didn’t understand English either, it was like camping in a forest without the basic knowledge or skills of camping. My mother was establishing a business in Haiti at the time, so she had to relocate from the United States to my uncle’s home in Haiti eventually taking me with her. My mother was frequently busy with the construction of her business and would leave me in the care of family members who did not speak the same language as I.Â
“Well, I guess it’s just me, myself, and I,” I used to tell myself that every time my mother left the house. Living in a house with people I couldn’t talk to for a week was a hardship I wasn’t apt for. I despised my mother abandoning me in the house with no one to talk to; I was as enraged as a bull that sees the color red. Getting what you want was like playing charades with deaf people.
Let The Games Begin!
In this game, my verbal communication is useless, thus I must rely on nonverbal communication. I had to twist my body like vapor in the wind to portray what I desired; it was art, it was beautiful. I made the sound of a vagabond while expressing full famine and mourning. My cousins caught on in the act and placed upon me a platter full of food. I quickly discovered that they were reiterating the same words that described every art I portrayed, so I examined the words they used, how they pronounced it, how they constructed the words into a sentence, and their facial expressions to determine what emotion they were in.Â
“VENI VIDI VICI” – Julius Cesar,
It was game over, within 2 months I’d mastered the art of the Haitian tongue.
I can’t imagine being around family members and not speaking the same language as them not only was that hard but I can imagine how uncomfortable that might have been. That’s great how you got to speak haitian within two months!
Very good! I like this very much.
Living in a foreign country for the first time was one of the most challenging difficulties I’ve ever faced. When I first traveled to Haiti as a young teen, I didn’t understand the language and no one except for my mother didn’t understand English either, it was like camping in a forest without the basic knowledge or skills of camping [excellent simile]. My mother was establishing a business in Haiti at the time, so she had to relocate from the United States to my uncle’s home in Haiti eventually taking me with her. My mother was frequently busy with the construction of her business and would leave me in the care of family members who did not speak the same language as I.
“Well, I guess it’s just me, myself, and I,” I used to tell myself that every time my mother left the house. Living in a house with people I couldn’t talk to for a week was a hardship I wasn’t apt [better word?] for. I despised my mother abandoning me in the house with no one to talk to; I was as enraged as a bull that sees the color red. Getting what you want was like playing charades with deaf people.
Let The Games Begin! {excellent]
In this game, my verbal communication is useless, thus I must rely on nonverbal communication. I had to twist my body like vapor in the wind to portray what I desired; it was art, it was beautiful. I made the sound of a vagabond while expressing full famine and mourning. My cousins caught on in the act and placed upon me a platter full of food. I quickly discovered that they were reiterating the same words that described every art I portrayed, so I examined the words they used, how they pronounced it, how they constructed the words into a sentence, and their facial expressions to determine what emotion they were in.
“VENI VIDI VICI” – Julius Cesar,
It was game over, within 2 months I’d mastered the art of the Haitian tongue.
OK – now can this be the beginning of a longer more developed essay on your resilience when you were living in Haiti and did not know the language, the culture, the way of living? Yes this is a learning experience? Then somewhere would you be able to apply it to some aspect of your school learning experience. Has it transferred to some thing you do in school now?
Soon we will read Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue, Esmeralda Santiago’s When I was PR, and Adichie’s Single Story. Maybe those will give you some ideas for going forward with this. Isee this as a Between Two WOrlds kind of story. What do you think? We will see this as a writing prompt soon, but if you want to get a look, look at the Assignments page.
You are a good writier, Ludovic! I enjoyed this and look forward to more good pieces from you!