The Homestretch

Have you ever heard of "the homestretch"? It's an expression that describes the last stage of a project. We are getting to the homestretch of our semester. This is the point when I get a little sad about leaving you and some of you will get a little sad about leaving each other.

It is sometimes tempting to work less hard at the end of the semester, but please don't. There is still time to improve all of your English skills. Please let me know how I can help you the most in the last 3 weeks of school. Specifically, if there is something you want to work on in lab this week or next week, let me know. Let's make the end of the semester the best three weeks of all! I'm looking forward to seeing all of you again tomorrow and hearing about your vacations (even if they were boring like mine!)!

Passover

Tomorrow night is the beginning of an important Jewish holiday called Passover. I've been spending the weekend, and I'll spend the next two days, cleaning the house and cooking for the holiday. It lasts 8 days, but the first two nights are the most important. Those are the nights we get together with friends and relatives and have a huge meal that lasts for many hours. We eat, but we also read a book that has the story from the Bible about the Jews' escape from Egypt 3,000-4,000 years ago. Although I have to do so much work to prepare for the holiday, I love it. I get to see my close relatives and friends, eat good food, and think about how lucky we are to be free and how we hope all people will be free some day.

Impulsive Trip

I am definitely not an impulsive person. I am a planner. Yesterday, though, I suggested that my husband, daughters and I take a trip to Philadelphia. My daughter had just decided to go there for graduate school in September. I knew she would enjoy walking around the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, which she will be attending. She got home from work at 2 p.m., and we all hopped in the car. It took around 2 hours to get there. We walked all over the campus and the surrounding streets. We were all impressed by what we saw and had a wonderful time being outside in the beautiful weather. There are more trees in bloom down there. I guess the slightly more southern location makes the flowers bloom earlier. The whole experience made me think I should be more impulsive more often. I wonder where I'll go next week. Any suggestions?

Autism

Have you ever heard of autism? It's a disorder that affects the social and communication parts of the brain. There's a new documentary about two autistic men who learned to communicate for the first time by using a typing device. I "listened" to these two men and the director of the movie at a lecture last week. It was fascinating to hear their stories and to learn how relieved the men are that they can finally communicate. They only started typing in middle age, so until then they could never say what they were thinking. Can you imagine being locked in your own mind like that? Their stories give hope to all the parents of children who have autistic children. Maybe their children will be able to communicate someday, too. If you want to see a trailer for the movie or find out more, you can go to http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/