joan garry

Ben and Kit have begun to balk at the idea of my posting current photos of them on my blog without their permission.   While I grapple with the validity of their concern, I have chosen to use older photos and embarrass them that way.

Ben and Kit, 14 year olds extraordinaire, are in Costa Rica with their 14 classmates.  Through a program called Sustainable Horizon (my eldest daughter Scout says it sounds like the name of a rehab facility), they are experiencing life in a small village in Costa Rica.  They are spending the first five days of their ten day trip in  La Cima, a small village at the top of a mountain about three hours from San Jose.  They are living with host families and as I understand it, they are painting the community center there.

We’ve been getting updates from the program coordinator and that has been terrific.  But i have to say – I wonder what is REALLY going on.  I say this because while Ben and Kit are wonderful, diligent students, foreign language is not their strongest subject.

I think I can say this and get away with it.  They really suck at Spanish.

This point was made all so clear to me at 3:45am on Monday morning when Eileen and I drove them to the airport.  Kit was upset that she had forgotten to bring family photos to show her host family.  Not to worry Kitty, I told her.  Ben has them.  Just tell your host family that your brother has them.

There was silence.

Then “Ben, do you know how to say brother in Spanish?

And so it began.  The two of them, now fully awake and excited about their trip, fumbling through some kind of translation of this sentence.  Neither of them know the word “brother” in Spanish.  And it only went downhill from there.

I believe we may have wound up with “My son is in the movies.”

I plan to sell tickets to the dinner at my house the night they return.  Oh, the stories they will tell.  In English of course.