More thoughts

     I wanted to write a little more about Tuesday night and what happened. It's not that I didn't write about everything that happened. I wrote about it yesterday but that was more facts than perceptions. I just wanted to add some personal thoughts. 

      It was a lot more relaxed/unscripted than I thought. From what I was told prior, I was expecting to only be there to fill an extra seat. But as things changed (gotta be flexible) I had to adjust. I ended up being the only native-English speaker. Yuri asked me to explain one of the games. It's interesting explaining, in English, an easy game to a group of people whose primary language isn't English. I think it went well. After a practice round, the game went smoothly. One thing I realized last year but am constantly remembering is this. They may speak in stilted, halting English but that does not mean they are unintelligent. One person was a programmer. Another an aircraft designer. They just need practice. I have been seeing (again) why it's important to have native speakers here.

      I know being here won't easy, but it's encouraging to have an easy first outing. It took me until now to better understand how last night went.  There is obviously going to be some awkwardness initially as I find my stride but it went well. I have to keep remembering, these students are often just as nervous and uncertain talking in English as I am just talking to them. That's probably the introvert part of me coming out.

     The upside is that they started asking questions almost organically. Yuri asked if there was anything they wanted to know and the first 10 (or so) questions were about me. Later, they asked about English grammar. But, I think the way I answered some of the questions led them to asking about me and church and I didn't have to feel awkward about just bringing it up as a topic. It helps, too, that they aren't averse to hearing about me growing up in the church or being a Christian.