Meetup.com

A friend told me about a social group website called Meetup.com. There you can find a vast array of monthly social gatherings on tons of subjects right in your own area. I did a search on ASL and found a few different groups. One in Sacramento, but they meet for breakfast and that is too far to drive. There is another ASL Meetup in the San Francisco area, but again that is a bit far.

I registered on the site and asked to me notified if any new ASL groups were started in my area. Apparently there were about 35 other people that wanted an ASL Meetup in my area also. A few months went by, with all of us waiting for someone to start a group. I thought it would be a great tool to connect with other ASL students and kept hoping there would be enough interest to start a group.

I got tired of waiting, so I started it myself. (See link in my "Distractions" section)

Now I host a monthly ASL Meetup group at our local Starbucks. There is a nice group of "regulars" that tend to come, with some new folks sprinkled in from time to time. It also helps that Ed will give his ASL 1 students credit for showing up to fulfill their deaf event requirement.

At most of the gatherings, we sit and chat (in ASL) about what classes we are taking, talk about instructors, and answer questions from the new signers. Last month we all played an ASL card game loosely based on the game UNO. The two hours flew by while we socialized and learned more about handshapes and signs with this game.

I can't believe it was March of 2006 that the group started - time has passed so quickly. I am very thankful to have this group, as it gives me not only a place to practice, but an opportunity to meet some amazing people...