Second Video

ASL!!!!!! FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh goodness I completely LOVE sign language!!! it is sooo beautiful and wow I just love it! I love interacting with Deaf people and trying to understand and be understood. Although its a challenge and sometimes is frusterating I love it soo much! Now if I can just get the hang of NMS I'll be ready to go.... haha

EEK!!!!!!!!!!

ok so today was a test in NMS (non-manual signs) the things in sign language that don't use the hands (body language, facial expression, roll shifting Etc..) I REALLY don't think i did very well... I like went to Ruby's office 3 times to check the ASL filing cabinet to see if she had filed the test yet (we just go into this outer part and there is a filing cabinet that we can go pick up our assignments at any time) so anyway it still isn't there! grr hopefully tomorrow! Because although I don't want to know my score... I Need to know my score!!!! man! grrness.... oh well

Fun Day!

Today we had a game day! :) It was so much fun. A group of 9 of us played Apples to Apples. I love this game (my family doesn't) so I was happy to be able to play again! We weren't allowed to use our voices which was a challenge at times and we frequently had to be reminded to "turn off our voices" Because we're not native users, when you get caught up in the moment you sometimes forget that your using sign language and you just use your voice.... (oh and btw I won) WOOT! haha

I'm am SOOOO nervous about my test in NMS tomorrow! This class is kinda hard for me to grasp, but it is SOOO important!!! I want to be the best signer I can be and this is a very crucial part of signing. The facial expressions are just so foreign to me that I often feel lost. But I'm excited for the test as well because I'll be able to see just how bad I am :)

So anyway I really can't think of anything else to say. I had a whole slew of things I wanted to say but now that I finally made it to my computer at 11:30 I can't remember them! :) oh well.

Why I decided to major in American Sign Language

I can't say it's a complicated story.... I've known the alphabet from the time I was very little... I had a poster that hung in my room that showed the alphabet and I would stand in front of the poster and practice for hours. Communicating with people who speak differently than I do has always facinated me. Whether it be learning Spanish or sign language. The cultures, the language, and the people really truly are amazing and I love to be able to communicate with them in their native language. So as I was thinking about what I wanted to do with my life I started thinking about sign language again but I didn't know anyone that knew sign language and I had no idea on how to get started. One day I was at the libary and saw a pamphlet that said "we sing 2"... well that's what i thought it said anyway. I picked it up and started reading it because I was always looking for something new to do with singing. As I started to read I got really confused because there was nothing in the pamphlet about singing, I looked at the the front and realized it said "We Sign 2" and it talked about private lessons. I was stoked! I took the pamphlet home and got on the website and e-mailed the instructor. She e-mailed back and after we talked for a while she offered to come to my mom's bakery to teach lessons. I was sooo excited! So we began lessons. Everything went well for a time but then I hit a mind block and although Janelle tried everything, nothing seems to penetrate and stay.... It wasn't her fault it was totally mine and I got soo frustrated! i enrolled in FSU after I graduated and got involved in sign language classes. So far I haven't hit one of those mind blocks again :) and I really hope it stays that way! Another difference I think, is a perfect way to learn the language is to have to depend on it to communicate. Janelle was hearing and if I wasn't getting something then she would just tell me evetually. Ruby is Deaf so she may type it eventually but I feel bad every time she has to do that so I'm learning and retaining more because I'm depending on the language. Anyway I said all of that to say that for me Sign Language is another language available for me to learn so that I can communicate with more people and I'm not limited to those who speak English! I've never really had much contact with Deaf people. But as I'm meeting more, I'm falling more in love with the beauty of the language and the people that speak it, or sign it in this case....

Awesome Story!!!!

So today in class we played a game... Pretty much like charades... Anyway we were spit into 2 teams and one person would go up and fingerspell a word. Then the people on the opposite team would try to guess what the word had been. Trick... They only spelled it once. There was no "repeat" So if you happened to look away and they started a word... tough luck. Well anyway my team was losing so I decided that my word had to be good. I decided to use my absolute favorite word in the English language.... "Crestfallen" meaning: dejected, dispirited, discouraged. I think this is the most amazing word ever created. anyway I go up and I spell my lovely word. And no one can guess it. So Ruby tells me to spell it again.. Which kinda surprised me because she hadn't said that to anyone so far... So I spell it again. Still no one gets it. So she tells me.. Use you voice and tell them. So I say my word was "crestfallen" and they all simultaniously go "WHAT?" It was soooo great! So i said (in sign language of course) that it was SAD. which is dilluting the meaning quite a bit but i didn't know how to say a stronger word for sad. So I go to sit in my seat and my friend Sarah goes "Well homeschooler, pulling out the big words" It was the hi-light of my day! We had just had a conversation over lunch about a piece of flair that a friend of ours had seen on facebook that said "Yes, I am homeschooled. I'll try to use smaller words" so it made the moment all the funnier! Hah it was great fun!

New Experience

Tonight I went to a bowling alley in Fairmont where there was a Deaf Bowling League meeting. Ruby wants us to socialize with the Deaf (Well more than just her) :) So that we can practice talking with Deaf people and all that jazz. So I went with 2 of the other girls from my class. I felt a little awkward because I didn't feel like I knew enough of the language to really communicate with the people around me. My 2 friends and I spent the evening with Ruby's father, He was hilarious! He was patient with us and didn't make us feel ridiculous when we messed up (although he did joke about it). I'm sure the fact that he had the full attention of 3 teenage girls helped our cases :) haha, anyway he told mistakes and helped us when we were stuck with a sign. As the night wore on I became more comfortable with trying to talk and although I had to fingerspell a lot of the words, I learned new signs and really had a lot of fun. I hope that I can go again next weekend! I REALLY think that it is beneficial to socialize with speakers of the language in order to learn it! :) I had such a great evening! :)

oh goodness

Today Ruby cancelled our 2nd sign language class of the day because she was sick. In our first class I felt so bad for her because nothing was working right! NMS (non- manual signs) is a difficult class for me. Its confusing to remember which NMS goes with which word. I hope that I can catch on too it because it is a VERY important part of American Sign Language! I thought I would kinda introduce myself in this post since I didn't do that the first time lol. My name is Lauren I'm 18 and I have 2 brothers. I live at home with my mom, dad, and 2 brothers. I'm the oldest by a 1 1/2 years. I LOVE GOD!!! He is sooo amazing! Music is my second passion followed closely by books and movies :)
Music is a pretty much universal language. I used to think that music was THE universal language but, learning more about the Deaf culture I'm thinking more about how they react to things and such and I realized that music is NOT the universal language because although the Deaf can feel the vibrations, I'm not sure if they feel the emotion of it. I'll have to ask Ruby. It's SO interesting to learn about this culture and this life! I'm so excited to learn more!

My very first entry

Today is my first ever blog entry! I'm pretty excited but a little iffy too :) anyway,
Hi I'm Lauren. I'm in my first year of college this year and I am learning American Sign Language. It is a BEAUTIFUL language and I'm so excited to be learning it! Today I had to submit my first video of me signing. I was really nervous and had a hard time finding things to say! At one point I said "family" instead of "group" but hey can't be perfect my first day! haha
It was more difficult to just think of things to say to a camera than coming up with things to say like in a conversation. It's been very interesting to learn about the Deaf culture and the Deaf language. Sometimes it can be frusterating because I know so little of the language and so my vocabulary is limited. The other day in class we watched a video on User Syndrome. I had never heard of this syndrome and I found it fascinating how the people just took things in stride and adapted to life with slowly failing sight. I haven't figured out a way yet to cut out all sound so that I have to rely on other senses to function. I'm weird in that I like to try to experience things in the shoes of other people. I once walked around my mom's bakery with my eyes squeezed shut and a stick stuck out in front of me so that I could experience what it felt like to not be able to see. I almost broke my neck cause I ran into some stuff scattered on the floor and refused to open my eyes to find a way around because the blind don't have the option. I recently got a movie that has narration for the visually impared and I can't wait to watch it with my eyes closed to see if I can picture the movie in my head. Sadly I watched the movie before I discovered this feature so now I have to find another movie that I haven't seen and watch it first with eyes closed and then watch with eyes opened to see if I was correct :) Anyway I used to try to figure out a way to cut out sound to see what it would be like to live in a life completely void of sound. I haven't figured it out yet but as soon as I do I'll blog about it! :)
Well I can't really think of anything else to write so I think I'll sign off for now :)
Lauren