Tuesday's Torch Story

It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.

~ Paul Strand

Well, I had my first "Mission #6" meal with one of my ESL students. We had a really nice time! She called in the reservation ahead of time and checked in with the hostess when we got to the restaurant. She ordered in English and most of our lunch conversation was in English. (I embedded a link to the restaurant in the photo.)

As a small surprise, I've been making photo albums for each student. I found these small binders that hold (among other things) photo inserts. Each photo insert can hold 12 pictures. There were 6 missions, so it worked out perfectly. On one side of each page I have a 4x6 piece of cardstock with a printed mission description and on the other side of the page I put a photo of the student holding his/her evidence of mission success.

I added a title page with a saying along the lines of, "When facing challenges in the future, let memories of your past successes give you confidence."

I gave the first one to this student at our luncheon and she was very touched and really liked it. I took the picture you see above at our luncheon and we added it to the album together after lunch - the last picture, completing the album. :)

Because I'm doing one student at a time, and can only do it on weekends, these meals are going to drag on into mid-July (even though our last class is next week). But I like it this way - I get to spend some "quality" time with each person.

After lunch, I took her home (this particular student doesn't drive) and she made me the best cup of coffee I have ever had! It was real Cuban coffee. (She is Cuban.)

Of course, I raved over it, and told her that the only downside is that, if she ever comes to my house, I couldn't possibly serve her my coffee... ;)