This blog, like the last one, is well-timed; those of the year 11s doing statistics finished today! So I can safely say, factoring in half-term, that it's been roughly 6 weeks since the last blog.
As the title indicates, there was another weekend away; it was last week, 7-9th of June. It was not, however, a Youth Weekend Away. It was a weekend away for deaf children, organised by the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS), for the purpose of teaching valuable life skills.
As the title indicates, there was another weekend away; it was last week, 7-9th of June. It was not, however, a Youth Weekend Away. It was a weekend away for deaf children, organised by the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS), for the purpose of teaching valuable life skills.
The NDCS weekend away was fun; there were fewer activities than the Youth Weekend Away, but it was still quite enjoyable. There was a spaniel there, called Luca. He's a hearing dog for one of the leaders, and is one of the best-behaved spaniels I've ever met. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, given that he was at work, but he looks a lot like my great-aunt's spaniel, who I've posted pictures of before.
The weekend away was in Devon, around half an hour away from where Granny lives, so we had to leave at 4 in the afternoon on Friday. The rest of my family (including Pippin) went to stay with Granny the same weekend, because it would take such a long time to drive there and back to where we live that they would be driving home in the dark, considering we got there at 8:45. Also, just to warn you, as I have no pictures (as I wasn't allowed my phone on activities), there will probably be stock photos.
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| Luca looks like this, except smaller and with curly hair on the top |
On Friday, we introduced ourselves and established ground rules for the weekend. Stuff like no bullying, respecting people's opinions, no murdering each other... (I'm not being silly with that last one, someone really did feel the need to point out that we shouldn't kill each other!) We wrote the ground rules on post-it notes, then one of the volunteers gathered the post-it notes and stuck them on a piece of paper. Amusingly, regarding the 'no murdering' rule, a boy who I'd never met before, or seen before, assumed randomly that I had come up with it. I didn't.
There were three other boys in the room I slept in. Two were non-verbal (they signed and did not say words. Though it's still relatively easy to get the gist of what they're talking about, if you know some sign language.) The third, like me, is verbal, and also like me does not know much sign language.
Breakfast on Saturday was at 7; it was delicious! There was cereal, and there was a box of pain au chocolats and croissants, and cooked breakfast, involving bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, tomatoes and hash browns. I did not have all of that, just bacon, a sausage and a hash brown. I ate a lot of pastries. The activity for Saturday was learning how to drive a car, at Exeter Racecourse. Learning how to drive was quite fun! I had a one hour slot. According to the instructor, I was quite good at remembering to stop, though I struggled to turn properly.
There were two deaf children per car, either doing a half-hour slot or a full-hour slot. The boy who went in the same car as me was actually quite good; apparently, he lives on a farm and has been driving tractors since the age of 10. We also took photos...after the driving.
In the afternoon, we looked at the theory of driving, in the sense that we looked up the Highway Code, information about driving tests and quizzes on the driving theory. There were also two online games we could play. One involved driving a car while texting and trying to avoid crashing. Me and two others did the theory quiz; we failed.
Supper was at around 6; we had burgers and chips with salad. For pudding, there was a variety of desserts; I had a lemon tart. The burger was delicious, though I thought the pudding was a bit tangy.
After supper, we watched The Greatest Showman; I enjoyed it, but began nodding off quite early on (as per usual when watching a movie in the evening) so went to bed early.
On Sunday, breakfast was an hour later ( at 8), though it still comprised of the basic ingredients of the day before; pastries, cereal, cooked breakfast. I ate a lot of breakfast. The last time I was as full after breakfast was on a history trip to Berlin in year 11, where I deliberately stuffed myself with rolls and chocolate milk to prevent myself from going hungry. On that particular day, we were visiting a concentration camp.
The lunch for Sunday was muffins, flatbreads, and pizza. Not necessarily in that order. The activity for Sunday was making lunch! So I had experience in cooking. Surprisingly, most of the other deaf young people also had experience in cooking. Lunch was pretty good, though the flatbreads tasted exactly like the bread my family used to cook over bonfires back in Africa. Nice trip down memory lane. The muffins were also tasty, as was the pizza. It must be said, there was a key difference between the NDCS weekend away and the Youth Weekend Away: no service on Sunday morning, as it wasn't a Christian camp.
At around 2, my parents, Granny and my sister came to pick me up. They also had Tessa and Pippin in tow, as they had been walking on Dartmoor.
Also, great-aunt Sally and Pippa turned up for a late lunch of roast lamb, once we got to Granny's.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the weekend. However, I don't really feel like I belong in the Deaf community. I mean, I acknowledge that I'm deaf. But all the same, I feel like I'm more part of the Hearing world. The distinction being, deaf (no capital D) is what I am. Deaf, with a capital D, referring to the Deaf community, is what I am not. The Deaf community is made up of deaf people who take pride in having their own language and culture, in being separate from the Hearing community. Which is my point basically; I feel closer to the Hearing culture.
Random stats:
Book read over the weekend: Crown and Country by David Starkey (it's really very good!)
Days until end of term: 28 (unless you're in year 11 or year 13...)
Hours spent driving a car: 1
Hours spent cooking: Around 3
Days until year 12 Mocks: 13 days
There were three other boys in the room I slept in. Two were non-verbal (they signed and did not say words. Though it's still relatively easy to get the gist of what they're talking about, if you know some sign language.) The third, like me, is verbal, and also like me does not know much sign language.
Breakfast on Saturday was at 7; it was delicious! There was cereal, and there was a box of pain au chocolats and croissants, and cooked breakfast, involving bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, tomatoes and hash browns. I did not have all of that, just bacon, a sausage and a hash brown. I ate a lot of pastries. The activity for Saturday was learning how to drive a car, at Exeter Racecourse. Learning how to drive was quite fun! I had a one hour slot. According to the instructor, I was quite good at remembering to stop, though I struggled to turn properly.
There were two deaf children per car, either doing a half-hour slot or a full-hour slot. The boy who went in the same car as me was actually quite good; apparently, he lives on a farm and has been driving tractors since the age of 10. We also took photos...after the driving.
 |
| Me, leaning against a car. My photo is the only one here, as I only got permission from myself. |
In the afternoon, we looked at the theory of driving, in the sense that we looked up the Highway Code, information about driving tests and quizzes on the driving theory. There were also two online games we could play. One involved driving a car while texting and trying to avoid crashing. Me and two others did the theory quiz; we failed.
Supper was at around 6; we had burgers and chips with salad. For pudding, there was a variety of desserts; I had a lemon tart. The burger was delicious, though I thought the pudding was a bit tangy.
After supper, we watched The Greatest Showman; I enjoyed it, but began nodding off quite early on (as per usual when watching a movie in the evening) so went to bed early.
On Sunday, breakfast was an hour later ( at 8), though it still comprised of the basic ingredients of the day before; pastries, cereal, cooked breakfast. I ate a lot of breakfast. The last time I was as full after breakfast was on a history trip to Berlin in year 11, where I deliberately stuffed myself with rolls and chocolate milk to prevent myself from going hungry. On that particular day, we were visiting a concentration camp.
The lunch for Sunday was muffins, flatbreads, and pizza. Not necessarily in that order. The activity for Sunday was making lunch! So I had experience in cooking. Surprisingly, most of the other deaf young people also had experience in cooking. Lunch was pretty good, though the flatbreads tasted exactly like the bread my family used to cook over bonfires back in Africa. Nice trip down memory lane. The muffins were also tasty, as was the pizza. It must be said, there was a key difference between the NDCS weekend away and the Youth Weekend Away: no service on Sunday morning, as it wasn't a Christian camp.
At around 2, my parents, Granny and my sister came to pick me up. They also had Tessa and Pippin in tow, as they had been walking on Dartmoor.
Also, great-aunt Sally and Pippa turned up for a late lunch of roast lamb, once we got to Granny's.
Overall, I quite enjoyed the weekend. However, I don't really feel like I belong in the Deaf community. I mean, I acknowledge that I'm deaf. But all the same, I feel like I'm more part of the Hearing world. The distinction being, deaf (no capital D) is what I am. Deaf, with a capital D, referring to the Deaf community, is what I am not. The Deaf community is made up of deaf people who take pride in having their own language and culture, in being separate from the Hearing community. Which is my point basically; I feel closer to the Hearing culture.
Random stats:
Book read over the weekend: Crown and Country by David Starkey (it's really very good!)
Days until end of term: 28 (unless you're in year 11 or year 13...)
Hours spent driving a car: 1
Hours spent cooking: Around 3
Days until year 12 Mocks: 13 days
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