Lucy Lim from Kuala Lumpur flew over to give us, deaf and hearing a course on gestures and communication. I had forgotten that it was taking place on Saturday till Catherine jogged my memory five minutes before it began! Rushed to the school from KK. When I arrived, I was using my lip pattern while signing away till Spancer signed 'Switch off the lip pattern, not allow to speak in this room.' Lucy taught us about nonverbal communication, which is behaviour. In other words, it includes facial expressions, body movements, and gestures. Lucy set us tasks to complete, and throughout the whole time, we all communicated without speaking a word. It was not easy for the deaf not to use sign language but body language. A lot of gestures were used as another form of communication, like facial expressions, hand signals, eye gazing, and body postures. It was very effective, and to my surprise maybe even more so than speech. Guess there is some truth in the old cliché, 'Actions speak louder than words'. Subsequently, Andy-Chung drove me to YMCA deaf club to lend a helping hand with the deaf club, making the place spotless for the important guests attending to the launch the following day. Tagged the Johal family along to the K.K deaf club launch, not only I brought them but a PC computer that Mum and Dad brought over here from the U.K!! Was bewildered at the airport to find a mega-massive box with them. They assumed that the deaf department are lacking in computers but only to realise that we have more than enough computers in the school and the P.C would be better off elsewhere. So instead, we donated the P.C to the deaf club. They treated my parents like royals as they held in reserve the front seats for them, got Dad to pick out the raffle tickets and so on. Pavun was circled by the kids from the deaf department , they were eager to chat with him but he was really embarrassed because he has never been surrounded by several deaf people and he doesn't know sign language. Now he is forever asking me to teach him signs. The kids were gob smacked at Pavun's height, as he was taller than most sixteen year olds as well as his shocking speech. I've lost count of how many times Mum has received predictable flattering remarks on her 'young' looks *rolls eyes*. Won a hand phone (mobile) but seeing that I don't need a brand new phone, out of the goodness of my heart :p, I donated it to another raffle prizewinner. He sure had a big smile across his face. They gave an interesting presentation on 'Understanding Deafness and Deaf culture'. The legend, Dad also brought out god knows how many books out donated by the local library for the English Corner in the deaf department. The books are aimed at primary level with many pictures, perfecto! Although I feel like a librarian at the moment, stamping in SMK DPM in all the books, I'm proud to say that the English corner is now complete. Will start the reading sessions after West Malaysia. Kirsty and I have to fork out a ludicrous amount of money on flights to Kelantan via Kuala Lumpur (not exactly compared to U.K standards but here, hell yeah). Accommodation, transport and food are covered and flights are paid for the students by the special education department. I'm not letting money stop me from doing things, besides and I'd be mad to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As mentioned, April's theme at the school is English month, so Kirsty and I are currently preparing a presentation to present to the whole school tomorrow *Argghhh!*! x