A brand NEW chapter of your lives, taking classes of your interests, translated…
I’d gotten involved in the various seminars, courses of the community college, and I’d found, that most of my classmates were, women, especially women who are in their late adulthood years, no matter what the classes, they’re always full of energy, even the quiet reading and art classes, are made to come to life by these women.
They loved sharing, someone would always bring snacks, and, as they’d returned from the trips abroad, they would surely, bring the rest of their classmates the treats; and so, our English class became afternoon tea and, our sign language class became a sign up to order the items as a group, it was quite difficult, to relate and to adjust to this method of interacting, with my goal at the start as learning something, I’d rarely snacked, plus, I’d already, brushed my teeth after the meals, not wanting to touch any food until the next meal, but, all of my reasons, can’t beat out how passionate they are, in treating me to the goodies.
here’s tai-chi…not my photo…
As they’d squeezed out a sugar-filled prune in front of me, and I don’t normally savor the sweets, and I can only, shove it, into my mouth quickly; the baked goods that my classmates made, was so aromatic, and she was, so very inviting toward me to try some, and, it’d, easily, beaten out my setting up my mind, to NEVER touch the sweets again; the cookies and candies, I’d saved them inside my bag, to take home to my dad, but, if they’d found out, they would surely, give me double the portions, for me to take more home to dad to savor, filling up his sweet tooth completely.
What’s interesting was, there were, a couple of students who aren’t there for the sake of learning, they would not get bogged down by the homework assignments. Man-Hua who’s nearing seventy, a senior classmate of my calligraphy course, she’d dressed up pretty and wrote beautifully in calligraphy, it’s just that it’s, a total shame, that we still hadn’t gotten a look over at her work; when she’d not shown up for class, every one of us became concerned, because the matter of copying off of her pages, borrowing the text, without her careful tallies, everything would become, a total mess.
here’s the art courses…
Pearl, who came all the way from Zhongli for the Chinese calligraphy art class, is excellent at it, after her hand had troubles, she’d stopped drawing, and, only came to class, to catch up with the rest of the classmates, without her, there’s this silence that took over us all, that’s really, hard to cope with. Grandma Chih-Mei from Tai-Chi, would always come late but never missed a class she’d done the moves a couple of times, then, just sat herself down to rest, and, as we’d paired up to train, and became stuck on a move, she’d reminded us which move it was that we are supposed to be doing; the teacher loved calling out to her for the roll, because Grandma Chih-Mei would reply with her laughter and her humble words.
There was also Auntie Ying who’d come from Shijr for the signed language course, we’d found, that she often dozed off in class, and asked her if she was so tired, then, why doesn’t she stay at home to rest? Her answer was a surprise to us all, that so long as the courses are free, she’d not turned any down, that whenever she showed up, she’d gained something extra.
some block aerobics too!
The elderly women loved their classes, and although, they have different motives, but, their ways of living life happy, and their motivations to learn constantly was awing, and, if they can keep up contact with the world like this, it would be, an alternative kind of results for taking the courses.
So, many of these people are there for the classes, not to learn something, but to stay connected with the rest of the world, because as you age, you are prone, to become, more isolated, and, getting out there, starting to take the courses will help you stay active, which is why this group of women are involved in the many courses that they’re taking.
Life, the Obstacle Course 