School Life

Welcome back to CICS, where school is back to normal once again. After a year of having so many disruptions, what a blessing to just be able to do “normal things” like have students at school during the school year.

Our week starts with me heading out at 5 AM on Monday morning to pick up Miguel and Deris, the two boys who board here during the week. After dropping them off at school in time for 7 AM breakfast, I head back out the bumpy lane to pick up the four remaining students who live close enough to go home every day. The goal is to be back at school by 8 AM so classes can start right on time.

From 8 AM to 12 Noon, the children study faithfully. Their studies include ASL (sign language), Spanish (although they communicate and think in ASL, it is important that they learn to read and write Spanish to communicate with people who don’t know ASL), Math and some Social Studies and Science.

Of course, there is time for recess but before they can play, they first collect all the mangos that dropped overnight from the gigantic tree in front of the schoolhouse. Everyone eats as many as they want and even take bags of them home and still there is often a wheelbarrow full that simply need to be dumped away because they spoil before they can be eaten.

At lunchtime, Mel and I join the students and staff for lunch. No packed lunches at CICS, everyone gets a delicious hot meal, often some combination of rice, beans, chicken or pork, fresh avocados or guacamole, and always, always tortillas, made fresh and delivered daily. Desert is sometimes “postre” but the fruit here is so good, some combination of pineapples, watermelon, cantaloupe or papaya is often more than sufficient.

Perhaps you imagine meal times at a deaf school to be silent affairs, with everyone eating diligently and no free hands for signing. You would be wrong. Even though the children cannot hear, their ability to make noise is not hampered in the least. They yell when someone bothers them, shriek with laughter when someone tells a funny story and pound the table for no reason at all. Hands are flying as everyone discusses what happened that day at school and what funny things their classmates did.

After lunch there is much clatter and commotion as everyone helps clear the tables, wash the dishes and put the kitchen in order. Those who finish first gather on the back porch and play Uno or Connect Four or Spot-It until everyone is finished and it is time to gather in the chapel for devotions.

Telling bible stories in sign language can be challenging, especially when the older children have heard the same stories many times and the younger children may not know all the signs, causing them to miss part of the story. However, simple visual aids such as wearing a hat or coat for different characters as well as much expression and dramatic gestures makes the stories more memorable. Offering small prizes for the students who can remember and recite the story the next day is a new idea that we hope will improve wandering attention spans and sleepiness.(Full stomachs and afternoon heat do not contribute to attentiveness.)

In an effort to strengthen staff/student relationships and improve everyone’s sign language skills, after devotions we spend about 15 minutes playing a game that requires some communication. Sometimes it’s simple games like Swat or Upset the Fruit Basket. You really have to pay attention when names or fruits are signed rather than called out.

“Tell it Down the Lane” is lots of fun. We divide into 2 teams, who stand in a line. Everyone turns their back except for the 2 people at the end of the line. The gamemaster gives them each a simple phrase, they turn around, tap the next person in line and sign the phrase to them and so on down the line. The goal is to get the completed, correct phrase to the end of your line and signed back to the gamemaster before the other team. This leads to lots of funny, mixed-up phrases such as “the banana gave birth”. To be fair, the sign for an elephant and giving birth are somewhat similar.

Finally, the day is done and the students are ready to head home, usually around 2 PM. Friday afternoon all the students load into the van and after taking the regular students home, we head into the hills to take Deris and Miguel home for the weekend.

In our family, a new member has been added. Meesh is a gangly, orange and white boy-cat who believes himself to be a full-fledged member of the Yoder family. I consider him still on proving and he’s really on some shaky ground, perhaps even headed down that “slippery slope”. His good points are many. He’s friendly, funny, fluffy and quite patient with being manhandled by Liam and Amy, who adore him.

On the other side of the ledger, there is one glaring fault. He loves coming into the house, which is where I live. He cannot be down in the yard because we have 2 dogs who are quite fond of cats in the same way I’m fond of chocolate-covered strawberries. However, we have two large beautiful covered porches where we spend much of our time. This is just not good enough for Meesh. He insists on dashing inside every time a door is left open and if there are no open doors, no problem, he pops right through one of the many open windows. (And no we can’t keep them closed, we would suffocate from the heat.)

Now even this could possibly be tolerated, as we live in a house with all tile floors and Meesh is quite good about only using the restroom in approved locations. It could be tolerated, IF Meesh would remember his place as the lowest member of the household and stay on the floor where a good cat belongs. But oh no, the floor is not sufficient for His Highness. He has to lay on the couch, on a kitchen chair, Amy’s bed, and the ultimate transgression, my bed. (Don’t even ask about the time he came in our bedroom window and landed on our bed at 3 AM, let’s just say Blackie and Moki very nearly got a midnight snack.) And does he lay there humbly and a bit nervously, acknowledging that he has overstepped his position and pleading for mercy? Not in the least. There is a certain aristocratic smugness about him, as if he was born royalty and everyone else only peasants. He stretches out to sleep with possessiveness as if he personally purchased this place and we exist only to serve him.

Time will tell if Meesh is here to stay, but already I suspect I may have a mutiny on my hands if I attempt to revoke his Yoder family membership. 2 year olds may look harmless but they are tough negotiators. Big brown eyes and trembly lips give them an unfair advantage.

Oh, about the name, apparently Spanish cats don’t know to come when you call, “kitty, kitty, kitty”, they only respond to “meesh, meesh, meesh.” So of course we called him Meesh. Not that it matters, because His Highness doesn’t come no matter what or how we call, we’re expected to go to him if we need something.

For whosover exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:11

Does God’s word apply to cats? I don’t know, but even cats surely have lessons they can teach us.