Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Here goes: I will be supportive of Lulu. I will not give her a hard time. Not because her school note-taking sucks (it occasionally does), or because she’s not writing things down in logical order. This isn’t because she’s refusing to try, or because she’s trying to rebel against everything that’s good for her. It’s hard for her to concentrate right now.

She was on the phone to her friends all day yesterday. On and off – according to the WiFi signal and whose phone needed to charge. Back and forth to her ‘office’, the boatyard’s seating area and home again to skulk into her cabin. All Sunday the hatch to Quest went open and close.

We woke up this Monday morning for school. Lulu struggled to focus. Urghh. I wanted to jump right in. Had to sit on my hands to stop myself. Welcome to sofa school. Stop, Hannah! Don’t give her a hard time. I need to be positive about the things Lulu’s getting right. I have to promote her strengths.

If she can enjoy her subjects, then this itself will be amazing. I have to forget about exam results. She’ll be fine whatever she does. I have to remember that taking her on this boat is not compromising her life chances. The only challenge she faces is being more self-motivated to learn. It will be a huge skill. Surely as much as sitting in a classroom and being information spoon-fed.

Hold on… what’s that in her hand? Her phone?! Let me just stop and yell at her. Ok, that’s better. No way we’re going to multi-task that way – sending her streaks during Geography. Time for me to calm down. 

She’s doing English poetry anthology now. They’re working on a poem about a woman who misses using her mother tongue. The poet has to ‘spit’ it out of her mouth. 

Lulu pauses her class, rolls her eyes and puts her highlighter down. ‘It’s hard for me to have sympathy for this poet.’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘Because she obviously lives in a multicultural society. If she wants to chat in her mother tongue, she should go and find people who speak it.’ 

‘But you could say the same for you. Imagine your mother tongue as your friends back home. You could just find some new ones and leave the old friends behind. The idea hurts too, no? 

Lu shrugs casually. ‘Yeah, I guess.’ 

Who knew that Quest would give us immigrant insight. Work hard, love to learn, miss your old life. Carry on.