Dear Family,
About half of this letter was written on May 30th. I hope you will forgive the fact that it is written in two parts, the first speaking as though it is still May, the other written the first few days of June. So as you begin to read the letter, do not fret; you did not imagine June’s arrival. It did indeed come and you are currently living in its aftermath.
I finally feel like I can write my letter on this, the penultimate day of May, because today I started my first day of (likely not very many days) work. I am officially a substitute teacher for Montgomery County and plan to make the most of that position before I leave for Latvia on June 28th.
Luckily, the school system didn’t seem to take any issue with hiring a new employee with only two weeks left in the school year, likely because the demand for substitutes is so high every day. I seem to have no shortage of options for classes to watch over for the next few weeks, so hopefully I’ll stay busy that way.
I enjoyed my first day quite a bit! I woke up this morning feeling somewhat confident that I would be subbing today, though I wasn’t entirely sure since I had gone to bed still unable to figure out the online portal provided to list the many job openings available to substitutes. So at 6:31 this morning, I called the substitute teacher office (one whole minute after they open) to annoy the same poor lady who has been subject to my phone calls and emails since I finished school in April right as she walked into her office. She politely informed me that if I gave her a second to sign into her computer, she would be happy to help me figure out what was up with my portal.
The problem was resolved at around 8:20 this morning, at which point I immediately logged in and found the first available job at my alma mater, Northwood High School. I was little scared at the idea of substituting at a high school since I don’t yet feel very far removed from them, but my confidence increased when I walked into the main office and no one was surprised that I did not proclaim myself to be a high school student.
I probably shouldn’t have been worried about being mistaken for a high school student in my best imitation of what my BYU professors consider to be appropriate teacher apparel and my approximately 22-year-old face, but the concern was there nonetheless.
I was nervous meeting the other English teachers, nervous navigating the school, nervous introducing myself to the class, but now at the end of the day, I realize there really wasn’t much to be nervous about.
Hopefully I still feel that way tomorrow.
Welcome to the section written in June.
I subbed at a middle school on my second day and did not feel like anyone mistook me for a student. However, the students here were much louder in their refusal to do their assigned work and liked touching each other a lot more than the students in the high school yesterday.
They also drew on the wall when I wasn’t looking.
Now, onto my confession: the rest of May was not nearly as productive as the last two days of it appear to be, as you could likely imagine when I told you that my first day of work was the same day I was writing the monthly recap.
I’ll try to speak candidly about the rest of my month, though it is a little embarrassing how little I accomplished while waiting for my work to start.
The first project I remember aspiring to this month was English tutoring for a small family who moved here a few months ago from Afghanistan. I learned about the opportunity through a woman Luke’s mother put me in contact with at an organization called New Neighbors Interfaith Association, which apparently helps refugees settle into the area by providing certain household materials and the occasional English tutor.
While this is something I would consider worthwhile and productive, I’m still a little embarrassed about it. I recently spent an entire semester in a BYU class for aspiring TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teachers in which my professor frequently complained about our inclination as English speakers to consider ourselves qualified to teach English simply because we’ve been speaking the language all our lives.
Now, I have become one of the presuming, under-qualified English teachers he always shook his head at during our classes.
I understand his position. Speaking English doesn’t mean I can teach English to someone who is learning it as a new language. However, I do think I’m a better resource to this family than nothing at all. So I don’t feel too bad, just a little under-qualified.
This family has been such a joy to get to know. The mother is my main student, and her daughter and son are both usually at the lessons as well. I have never come to their house without them feeding me or trying a few times to get me to stay with them for several hours. Apparently it’s rude in their culture to refuse such an offer (at least according to another friend who was once there for a meal at the same time as me), but my days as a missionary taught me well how to politely refuse invitations to several hours of social engagement, however inclined I might be to spend time with the inviting party.
When I wasn’t teaching English, I was usually, cleaning, running an errand for some member of my family, spending time with Luke, or sitting at home doing nothing.
Well, I suppose playing boardgames with Ari, watching TV shows with Grace, and reading books aren’t technically nothing, but it doesn’t seem like much to write about.
But the record should probably honestly record that I was in fact doing those things for a large portion of my Maryland May.
In case you’re confused, the shark is me.
Grace and I spent a lot of time playing Bananagrams, cooking Instagram-inspired meals with varying degrees of success, and trying to be productive by organizing and cleaning various rooms in our house. We visited libraries, went grocery shopping, and watched TV. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how we filled all of our time, but we did it, and it was pretty fun.
Ari has also been a helpful friend in filling up extra time, as together we embarked on a quest to clean the entire house as a mother’s day gift. Success in this kind of vague goal is relative, so I’m going to say we were somewhat successful, though we didn’t quite achieve all of our dreams. We also played a few games and solved a few riddles.
I’ve missed living with those two.
Some more exciting things that took up a less notable amount of time include: going to an Oriole’s game with Luke and his parents (very Maryland, very fun), volunteering for a Kids on the Run race (adorable), going to the temple with Luke almost every week (wonderful), and learning how to play games with Luke’s family (educational).
There is a lot of Luke in my free time, despite the fact that he stays much busier than I do with the job he’s been keeping since the day he got home. As my mom says, “He’s a very enterprising young man.”
I don’t think my mom would ever say that about me. But she says plenty of other nice things about me instead, so I don’t mind.
Spending time with Luke’s family has been really nice this month. They seem happy to get to know me and I have learned a lot about them, as well as a lot about a few other things. For example, I’ve learned how to play Farkle, Dominion, Splendor, Five Crowns, and probably a several other games that I’m forgetting right now.
The family loves their games, and they’re all quite good at them.
First being in Provo and now spending time with Luke’s family has made me wonder what’s wrong with my family for not enjoying games. Ari seems to be the only one among us with any passion for them, as they routinely order some beautiful and intricate-looking board game once every few months.
I remember playing games as a family in my younger years, usually on Monday nights as a part of our obligatory family-bonding-through-wholesome-recreational-activities time (a practice which I fully sustain, no matter how bitter that hyphenated adjective might come off).
Most of those games ended in tears. None of the little Willises liked to lose, but inevitably one or all of us would, so there would be a fuss and frustration, which would irritate our parents and result in our quitting the game and eating our family dessert to heal all wounded feelings.
I’m not sure whether there is a significant correlation between board game proficiency and ovverall intelligence, but I’m starting to consider every member of Luke’s family as intimidatingly learned and impressive because of the number of times they have humbled me in just about every game.
On the other hand, I did officially win my first game of Bananagrams yesterday. So my opinion of my own capabilities slowly increases. I credit Grace, since she is my number one Bananagrams opponent almost every day.
Since it is now technically June, I will breach the protocol of this letter to give a short report on one of the best stake conferences (larger-area church meeting) that I have ever attended on June 1st and 2nd. Reflecting on it reminds me of a time when I was back in Utah and trying to figure out an important life decision. It was odd, since I was praying, pondering, and reading my scriptures, trying to find an answer to this question I had.
While I was studying, a completely different thought entered my head, not obviously related to what I had been wondering about, but nonetheless relevant to my current circumstances and pervasive in my thoughts. The thought was that I should go home to Maryland for the summer.
There have been a few times over the past month when I worried that my decision to return home put me at a disadvantage. It took the county longer than I expected to hire me; I’ve placed myself in this area that I’ll only be in for about two months, limiting the number of relationships I can make and strengthen in Provo, where I am more permanently residing for the next few years; my flight plans to Latvia are more complicated and expensive than they would have been coming from Utah. All of these factors make me a little insecure about my decision-making.
This stake conference, however, felt like it could have been one of several reasons I believe the Spirit directed me to come home. I felt inspired by every talk to make some specific change in some of my attitudes and behaviors, and I am suddenly feeling extremely grateful for my circumstances and the many blessings I have here, including my ward, my family, and Luke’s family.
I intend on seeing and being involved in a few more miracles before I leave home again at the end of June.
I hope you get to be a part of some as well.
Love,
Sophie
Senior Contributor to The Famlet Monthly