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Dec 17, 2008
Walking to El Centro for the final time, I thought back to my first trip there. I was nervous and excited. I did not know what to expect and hoped the experience would at least be positive. Entering the door the last day with a smile on my face as I saw Ricardo, I realized how much fun I had had over the first semester at El Centro with Ricardo and his friends.
The last day at El Centro was split. A half hour of work and a half hour of group games with prizes. After finishing our math homework quickly, we eagerly awaited to go upstairs.
Once everybody went upstairs, Ricardo and I sat with his friend Abby and we played Bingo. Ricardo won once and grabbed a bag of gummies to enjoy. After 30 minutes of that, we went back to the ground floor for more games, coloring, popcorn, and cake. All in all, the final day was a great way to wrap up a great semester spent with Ricardo. I hope I can go back next semester and later on in my career at Gettysburg. Posted at 11:29 pm by lagnro
The second to last week was an exciting day. When I go there, Ricardo and Edgar were sitting at their usual seats in the first room. I walked in and immediately started laughing and joking with them. Edgar had just bought a new Pokemon book and was extremely excited. After listing off a few characters and showing off some of the pages in the book, his tutor showed up and they began to work. Ricardo and I followed by doing more math homework which had become a ritual. Again, it was a day for the states and we found fun facts about the west coast: Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Montana, and Utah. This session, we had time at the end to play a game. We played Zeus on the Loose, a game where you play till one player gets 100 points. It was a fun game with all the gods having special powers that could help your side and make the opponent crumble. It was a game played in good fun and Ricardo won just before we ran out of time. Next week would be our last.
Posted at 10:45 pm by lagnro
This week Ricardo had some work, but we finished early so I decided to have Ricardo read the book Night. He had it in his backpack and when I saw it I asked, "Do you have to read that book." He responded, "Yea, I have to read it for class, I started it already." This prompted me to ask if we could read it. I compromised with him and we decided to switch off pages. It was great to read with Ricardo and seeing his progression from the earlier weeks. I compromised with Ricardo because when I was being tutored as I child, I did not enjoy reading, especially school reading. So my tutor would have me read one page and she would read the other. I felt this was effective because it gave me a break and would allow me to be fresher to read the next page after the break. I could tell this helped Ricardo as he read vibrantly. With a few understandable hitches, I helped Ricardo, and when the difficult word re-appeared, he remembered it and said it clearly. I was quite impressed. I also was happy to read this book because I have already read it, and knowing it to be a good book, I felt encouraging Ricardo to read it would be helpful. After reading we had time to play a 50 states game with different questions to answer which was also fun.
Posted at 09:49 pm by lagnro
This week at El Centro Ricardo had alot of work. We started off with decimals and then some adding and subtracting. He was tired today so it was another slow moving day. He was explaining to me how he was watching wrestling the night before and had to stay awake for the final fight at 11 PM. After math, Ricardo told me he had more states to look at. This time he had central states: Kentucky, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska. This exercise was different because we had to list the states around the 5 major states he had. I was trying to test Ricardo and keep him from looking at the map, but he ususally peeked at the huge map on the wall to grab the answers. But once, for example, the northern and the western states were filled in, Ricardo could piece together the bordering southern and the eastern states. We did not get to finish all five of the states and their borders, but it was another productive day with Ricardo, however slow it may have been.
Posted at 09:20 pm by lagnro
Today I arrived at El Centro and sat with him and Edgar while they ate fruit rollups and granolla bars. They were talking about how Ricardo could go over to Edgar's house and play video games on Saturday. It was nice to see Ricardo and Edgar having fun and looking forward to the weekend. Even though Edgar likes to threaten me and say he can beat me up, I enjoy seeing him each week and talking with him around game time. That is another reason why I enjoy El Centro because it has allowed me to grow in my relationship with Ricardo each week, but has also opened me to meeting new students.
This week, Ricardo and I did not do much as he talked alot to the kids around him. We did get some math and writing done, but when I asked about the states he said that they did not get any new ones this week. He said next week there would be more and I looked forward to helping him. Posted at 08:03 pm by lagnro
When I returned to El Centro, I felt alot closer to Ricardo after spending the last week with him at Servo for his birthday. This week started a string of weeks where we would review the states. Today, we looked at the east coast: New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine. We used the internet to find interesting facts about the states, like the state bird and the state song.
After looking up the states, we did some math problems with decimals and then played Connect Four for ten minutes until our time ended. I felt my connection with Ricardo grew this week as we had fun while doing work and not just when we played. Posted at 07:45 pm by lagnro
Dec 15, 2008
Homeless Shelter- Week 13
This week was our last week at the shelter. We had a little party at the shelter. We brought a bunch of food and cookies and brownies and we played Bingo while eating. This week was fun because we were all hanging out together. It wasn’t like most weeks when we are with the kids separated from the adults. This week we were all together. I was really disappointed because Cee Cee and Javen were not at the shelter again this week. Cee Cee works Thursday nights, so we haven’t seen her in a while. I love Javen and I was upset that I wasn’t able to say good bye to him. We learned that Sue, one of the adults at the shelter had died. That was really sad. She had been sick for a while, but we had just seen her the week before, so that was weird.
Overall I really enjoyed my experiences at the homeless shelter this semester. I was lucky to be placed there because I feel that it is the placement that relates to our class the most. I learned so much from the people that I met at the shelter and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time there. Posted at 03:20 pm by Liz DeMetro
Dec 14, 2008
It's been a while since DC, and I can't remember whether or not I have wrote a blog for it. If I did, great. If I didn't, here we go.
The first two days started off slow. I really enjoyed volunteering in DC Central Kitchen, but the lectures were a little bit much. It's not that I didn't like the lectures, it was just tiring to listen to one person speak after another. I was hoping to be outdoors and see homelessness with my own eyes. That is why I liked the last two days so much. Hearing stories from people who had been homeless was amazing. Few people can say they have had such an experience. I also loved going to the park and handing out clothes...I didn't love the fact that there were homeless people...I loved the fact that we were directly helping these people out. It was heart breaking, especially seeing the single mother with her three children, but it was also an eye opener.
Posted at 09:04 pm by maniha01
Soup Kitchen-Tuesday (Don't Know)
this is the day we were away for our DC trip.
Posted at 09:03 pm by maniha01
Dec 11, 2008
This week it was pouring rain walking to the shelter, so I was not very happy, but as soon as we got there, everyone was in good spirits, and even I got in a better mood! Since it was the last day we would be doing life skills this semester we had a little party and brought cookies and brownies and drinks for everyone and played bingo with prizes. Since I couldn't go last week, this was the first week I got to see Rosa's baby, and he was so cute! Rosa's mood has definitely improved and she was really funny with the bingo saying that "Latin women go crazy for this." Her little girls were really cute this week and they have kind of grown attatched to us, as we have to them. Gary had a little breakdown when he didn't win bingo and someone else took the prize he wanted, so he had to go to bed, but he just ended up coming back a few minutes later. I got lots of compliments on my rainboots and my pants and everyone joked that they would be the prizes for winning bingo, so I got kind of nervous that I would be walking back to campus in only a raincoat! We did hear some sad news which was that Sue, who was a client at the shelter, had passed away the previous week. She had been sick and had had surgery a few months earlier but recently got sick again and then had kidney failure. Although this was upsetting, everyone still seemed to be in good spirits. At the end, everyone wished us a Merry Christmas and it was kind of sad to think that this would be the last time I would see some of these great people. Tonight was definitely one of my favorite nights at the shelter, and I definitely plan on going back next semester and selfishly hoping to see some of the same faces, although I obviously wish the best for all of them and hope they all can secure a job and make a better life for themselves! Posted at 08:55 pm by pompcl01
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