On Saturday, July 23rd, I began my Silent Weekend Project. The project ended on Monday, July 25th, at 10:00 am. For the full experience, I remained silent for forty-eight hours straight. As it was the weekend I had to find ways to communicate with others and order meals when my family and I went out. Luckily, my mother is somewhat familiar with sign language. My father, however is not. Much of the communication between my father and I was conducted through vague hand gestures and finger spelling.
On the first day of my project, my father and I were awake long before my mother. I had shown my father a few of the signs I would be using the night before, which made it a bit easier for us to communicate. I could tell him that I needed the bathroom, that I was going to go take a shower, that I was hungry, etc. Holding a conversation with him was much harder. We soon resorted to using the whiteboard in the kitchen for discussions about shows or complex questions.
When my mother finally awoke, it was late afternoon. Not long after this we went out to eat at Waffle House. My family and I are regulars at several of the restaurants in town and Waffle House is no exception. I took a pad of paper with me so I could write down what I wanted and my mother was …show more content…
At this point I was able to sign stories and joke around with my parents. I had to compromise at times when I didn’t know the sign for “bad” or “healthy”, so I signed “not good” for the majority of the time. There were many times when I did not know the sign I was looking for and wrote it down on my pad of paper. Communicating in general was much easier on the second day. As we walked through the store, I relied mainly on sign language. We passed the occasional fruit that I wished to try and I would point it out. I remember asking my father if he liked dried bananas and a small conversation following that about my
On the first day of my project, my father and I were awake long before my mother. I had shown my father a few of the signs I would be using the night before, which made it a bit easier for us to communicate. I could tell him that I needed the bathroom, that I was going to go take a shower, that I was hungry, etc. Holding a conversation with him was much harder. We soon resorted to using the whiteboard in the kitchen for discussions about shows or complex questions.
When my mother finally awoke, it was late afternoon. Not long after this we went out to eat at Waffle House. My family and I are regulars at several of the restaurants in town and Waffle House is no exception. I took a pad of paper with me so I could write down what I wanted and my mother was …show more content…
At this point I was able to sign stories and joke around with my parents. I had to compromise at times when I didn’t know the sign for “bad” or “healthy”, so I signed “not good” for the majority of the time. There were many times when I did not know the sign I was looking for and wrote it down on my pad of paper. Communicating in general was much easier on the second day. As we walked through the store, I relied mainly on sign language. We passed the occasional fruit that I wished to try and I would point it out. I remember asking my father if he liked dried bananas and a small conversation following that about my