The Treasure Hunter

Dear friends,

I don’t know exactly how long I have been confined in my apartment, but I think it’s about three weeks.  All of us living at The Watermark are in the same situation. We get too much food every day and help if we are not feeling well or having problems. Today I called down on my phone because I couldn’t turn on my television. About five howers later a young man came up and turned it on in a second.  I have decided not to turn it off tonight.  Instead  I will just turn down the sound when I go to sleep because I’m afraid that I won’t know how to turn it on tomorrow.

I won’t mention more of my problems except the major one: Now I can’t remember how to do the things I was doing regularly for many years, and there are so many of them. (The worst one is not being able to spell words anymore.} You don’t see that often because my machine puts a red line under a wrong word, and then I work hard to correct it. I think that all of this has happened  because I am so isolated, and I will become normal again once I get free. (Please don’t tell me that freedom will not happen.)

I am sorry about what I have written, but I thought you should be warned of the results of being isolated, which I hope will never happen to you.  I also hope that I will return to normal feelings and behavior. Whether I do or don’t,  I will try to never talk about this problem again.

I will send this message very soon, and in the future I will deny that I wrote it.

Joanne

What Children Can Do When There School is No Longer Open

Instead of moaning about the closing of schools right now, think about what you did last summer or when you and your children were living far away from home. Then make a plan that will work well.

Fifty years ago my husband, our four young children, and I lived in Belgium for a year. You may wonder how we managed, but in fact our experience was not only pleasant, it was also beneficial. All our children — except for the two year-old — learned some new skills and they were successful when they returned to American schools.

No, they didn’t learn a new language or much of the curriculum that was taught. But they did learn how to live well in a knew country, gain new friends, gain some foreign language, and how to spend there time well.  Back then we traveled on every school holiday, so in addition to visiting other cities in Belgium, they got to see parts of Italy, Germany and Switzerland. We also took them to Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and London.  They learned to ski on a school ski trip to Switzerland with their classmates and teachers.

In Belgium we had a townhouse with bedrooms for all of us a kitchen, a living room, and a backyard where we kept a bunny. Our children went to an international school where their classes were in French, German and Dutch (Flemish).  They picked up parts of those languages, but did not become fluent in any of them.  Fortunately, most of their classmates spoke some English and they were eager to practice with our children.  On weekends we would drive across the border to Eindhoven in The Netherlands, where we were able to buy English books, some foods we missed and electronics, and have lunch at our favorite Indonesian restaurant.  Thanks to those books, our children were able to read regularly. We also got the International Herald Tribune and listened to Armed Forces Radio, so they could keep up with the news. Very little on television was in English, so they didn’t watch much of it.

When we got back to Wisconsin our children were able to advance to the next grade.  Our oldest had to take the biology and drivers education classes he had missed while overseas. Although they had missed a year of classwork, our children were able to resume school with their classmates, but without any problems.

Dear frends,

I have written nothing in the past few days because I have done nothing but sleep, eat, and watch television.  I also spent a lot of time trying to correct misspelled words. I don’t know why I have forgotten how to spell, but my desk makes me aware of all the many misspelled words, and I may be able to fix a few of them (It took me only ten minutes to correct misspelled words with the right words)

I really want to post knew words and songs, but I think I have already posted all I remember. If you have time and are also bored, please send me any songs you remember. I would be happy to receive even misspelled or nasty words.

(I was amazed  that I was able to correct the misspelled  words I wrote here.  It only took about  20 minutes!)

Joanne Yatvin

(At least I was able to spell my words correctly the third  time I wrote  them.  I guess I will be promoted to the third grade next year.)

I have been looking for a new song to post here and having a lot of trouble finding one.  Only one song on my desk seems new to me, but my memory isn’t reliable.  Anyway, I still like this song, so I will post it again.  (It dosen’t hurt to sing a good song twice, dose it? ) If you aren’t pleased with this song, blame Nancy Belkove  who sent it to me before and send me a new one for tomorrow.

Incidentally, I would like to hear your opinions about all the people who are going back to work because Trump says that it is okay to do so. I realize that menny of them have no more money and are taking a chance. But  here in Philadelphia that is not happening. ( I don’t know the answer, but I’m still wairing a mask on my face when I leave my room to walk down the hall in this building.)

At this place food always come’s first.  There is also too much and my cat is getting fat! After the food I received several kind messages that I will save forever and some lovely gifts. It will take me all day today to go through all messages and gifts. I Will respond to those all those who wrote  or sent gifts, but that will take some time.

Right know I will just say thank you to everyone

Joanne the happy Laidy