Day 33 #100TerrifyingDay

Today I went to a Toastmasters meeting for stutterers where everyone at the meeting spoke Hebrew. It was lovely, I was given the opportunity to give a speech of course in English, I made it short and sweet, but one of the members turned around and said "you dont understand anything here do you?" I later wrote him a note that said "Stuttering is one language" I cant take full credit for that quote, it was actually said to me by Eytan, you guys will meet him soon, hes and amazing stutterer in the Israeli community. After the meeting I had the opportunity to have coffee with a few of the attendees, some stutter talk some not. I was really embraced by this community and I hope to make a trip back very soon.

Day 32 #100TerrifyingDays

So today I traversed the streets of Yafo, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem...I had the best time ever! The day started out with me leaving my hostel, taking a twenty minute walk to the bus station...on my way I met a fellow named Emannuele, this was perfect timing because i was beginning to doubt that i was on the right path, after walking for 20 minutes by yourself in a foreign country, with signs that you cant read, and streets spelled differently than whats written on the map, you begin to really question yourself. Emanuelle is a Nigerian that plays on the Tel Aviv basketball team, and kindly walked me to my bus, insisted that he paid my way...and that we hang out tonight...we will see about that.

I took the bus to Jerusalem where I met Eytan, a stutterer who lives in Tel Aviv and is all about the self acceptance movement. We hung out in the Old City, it was cool, I got to see a lot of the streets and actual buildings and walls that I read about in the Bible as a child, as well as walking through all of the markets. I then got together with Uri Schneider, the speech pathologist who was apart of planning this whole trip to Israel, we did a challenge where walked up to some Israeli soldiers, while they were charging their phone and they taught me how to say their name, and i taught them how to say mines. I have all this on camera, I will post it on a vlog in the future.

And the big finale to this day was the Q and A that Uri and Hannon...both stutterers in Israel put together, where I spoke to a group speech pathologist and stutterers about my Stuttergirl videos, we created a real dialogue about acceptance and the psychological aspect of stuttering, overcoming doubt and bringing about change, it was life changing. To be in a room all of these people with the same outlook, or trying to understand my outlook...it was more than I ever could have asked for and far more than I ever would have imagined, when I first began these videos a few months ago. I hope to continue this dialogue around the world, ive met some inspiring people and they encourage me to be better. Thats all for now, im going to rest, i have another speaking engagement tomorrow...and I cant wait.

Day 31 #100TerrifyingDays

On my way  out of Paris. I have to be honest, I am a bit happy to be leaving Paris for a while, aside from not speaking the language, I have come into contact with many incredibly short tempered people, and without the right words to tell them that I stutter I found it incredibly difficult to even want to speak. However I did hang out with Parisian friend, who spoke very little english, this gave me the time to really slow down and talk to her, making communication a bit easier for the both of us. I am most likely going to make up these days with challenges in the states, however this was my experience and I own every second of it. I fly to Israel soon, I am very excited about this portion of the trip.

Day 30 #100TerrifyingDays

Still dealing with a bit of difficulty with language barrier, but yesterday I hung out with a friend that i had met this summer in the states. She speaks a little english so we had the challenge of understanding each other the entire day. It forced me to go much slower than I normally would, which was of much help. We are hanging out again today, Im going to continue my slow pace and work more on eye contact today, as it was very difficult yesterday. I tried to maintain it a few times yesterday, but working on that coupled with comprehension is a lot. ok bye y'all

Day 29 #100TerrifyingDays

Paris...Paris is lovely, but boy is it difficult to get the people designated to help you, to actually help you. So I went to lunch today to meet Burt and Jeanne two Parisian friends who stutter as well, to eat, chat, and do a little sight seeing, but of course I had to take the train to get there. Being a New Yorker, I pretty much understand subways, Once I see the map and know where Im going, I get the hang of it pretty quickly, however today, i could not find the Metro sign to get me to the station. So I'm knocking on this information window where this lady is sitting, I say "excusez-moi" deliberately trying not to piss her off by approaching her with english, she looks at me and waves me off. I say it again, she then point to the sign which was in french and turned back around.

Then this lady (we'll call her 'Ms. Wonderful')walks up, she spoke a little english as she was walking up, I thought, lets see how this goes. Then she taps the window and speaks full on french, the lady ignores her again and Ms. Wonderful raises her voice, yells at this woman in french and demands an answer. The woman behind the window walks over and directs us across the walkway to another window. Ms. Wonderful grabs my arm and says come on, she gets both of our questions answered, and turns out we end up taking the same train. While on the train she tells me she from Illinois, but moved to Europe 45 years ago, I talk a bit about stuttering. We later get separated by train doors, but her last words to me were that she'll be looking for my TED talk and God Bless. I don't know if Ill ever do a Ted Talk, they scare me, but Ms. Wonderful and I were placed in the train station just for that moment and Im thankful for it.

Day 28 #100TerrifyingDays

Right now it feels like just opening my mouth to speak is a terrifying experience. Ok maybe not terrifying, but pretty scary. So, I arrived in Paris this morning, bought my train ticket, took the train then took the bus to the location I will be staying while in Paris (i talked to people asking directions for all of these actions). I can say these were all challenges, but these were all things that had to be done. However I did decided to challenge myself. While in the supermarket, picking up a few things to have in the apt while I'm here, I heard two women speaking english (american accent english), I happy to hear someone speak english walked over and introduced myself, very openly stuttering, they introduced themselves, they're from the south. It was quick, but it was done. Im finding it difficult to voluntarily stutter while having such language barriers placed against me right now, but I'm going to figure out how to get these challenges done. Have a lovely night y'all.

Day 27 #100TerrifyingDays

I've become comfortable (speaking wise) in New York, and this trip was the perfect thing to help me realize that. I still have my difficult moments, but I can control them much easier. I had a sudden nearly uncontrollable stutter on the plane today, while talking over two other people to the flight attendant saying I'd like coffee. It was a feeling I haven't felt in a minute. I'm excited to make the world my comfort zone now.