My name is Jay Duran, 21, I live in Los Angeles(kinda) and am hearing. I’m taking classes at Cerritos College, in Norwalk, CA, and I am really enjoying my sign class. I’m probably, with unbiased truth, the best in the class, only because I have had the most experience with signing throughout most of my life. But I am far from being fluent, but I fully intend to be. ASL, has given a lot to me, and as hard as it is to explain, i will do my best.
It all started in elementary school; I can’t tell you what grade. I came across this book that taught me some sign. Simple things, like ‘water’, ‘dog’, ‘car’, etc. After that, I picked up more and more. I knew all my finger spelling, and basic numbers. I’m middle school; I took my first sign class. I can’t spell the teachers name, but I remember how nice she was to me. There were deaf students that were there, and I noticed that no one ever outside of their group tried to talk to them, and that bothered me.
So I took it upon myself to meet them. Hya, Lydia, Maxie, and others. It was a SLOW process, but I learned enough to get to know them. And so I somehow got connected with the Starkey Hearing foundation, and wanted to raise money for them. I began organizing a car wash and all the money would go to the foundation.
I needed a place to actually hold the car wash, and I found this place around the corner from my house. A church, named Downey Ave. Foursquare. I started to go there because I wanted to use their parking lot, but didn’t want to seem ungrateful. Although the car wash never happened, I quickly became a member there, and I loved it.
Flash forward a year or so, and I meet my first girlfriend Jozy. Skipping a couple of chapters, after Jozy and I broke up, I became friends with her best friend, Mary. We became very good friends. And she had brought a friend of hers to church one night, his name was Oscar.
Skipping a couple more chapters, Oscar and I became amazing friends, brothers. And to this day I can’t imagine my life without him. As much as we get annoyed with each other, and even though I am a handful, we are still very incredibly close.
It all started with a book. Just a little picture book and it brought me to a place in my life that I am incredibly thankful for. Sign language will always be something to remind me about the journey I went on to become the person I am today, and it will always remind me of the people it brought into my life.
Im looking forward to learning more, as much as I can as quickly as I can. And I joined this site because I want to get connected, because what is the use of learning if I dont do anything with it?
It all started in elementary school; I can’t tell you what grade. I came across this book that taught me some sign. Simple things, like ‘water’, ‘dog’, ‘car’, etc. After that, I picked up more and more. I knew all my finger spelling, and basic numbers. I’m middle school; I took my first sign class. I can’t spell the teachers name, but I remember how nice she was to me. There were deaf students that were there, and I noticed that no one ever outside of their group tried to talk to them, and that bothered me.
So I took it upon myself to meet them. Hya, Lydia, Maxie, and others. It was a SLOW process, but I learned enough to get to know them. And so I somehow got connected with the Starkey Hearing foundation, and wanted to raise money for them. I began organizing a car wash and all the money would go to the foundation.
I needed a place to actually hold the car wash, and I found this place around the corner from my house. A church, named Downey Ave. Foursquare. I started to go there because I wanted to use their parking lot, but didn’t want to seem ungrateful. Although the car wash never happened, I quickly became a member there, and I loved it.
Flash forward a year or so, and I meet my first girlfriend Jozy. Skipping a couple of chapters, after Jozy and I broke up, I became friends with her best friend, Mary. We became very good friends. And she had brought a friend of hers to church one night, his name was Oscar.
Skipping a couple more chapters, Oscar and I became amazing friends, brothers. And to this day I can’t imagine my life without him. As much as we get annoyed with each other, and even though I am a handful, we are still very incredibly close.
It all started with a book. Just a little picture book and it brought me to a place in my life that I am incredibly thankful for. Sign language will always be something to remind me about the journey I went on to become the person I am today, and it will always remind me of the people it brought into my life.
Im looking forward to learning more, as much as I can as quickly as I can. And I joined this site because I want to get connected, because what is the use of learning if I dont do anything with it?
