Month: January 2010

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International Affairs

Today concluded our second full day of service. We were able to connect even more with the youth we were serving, and began to feel more accustomed to our surroundings at the school and boys and girls club. However, I wanted to focus on another interesting experience that fell upon me last evening (but expect more service posts in the future, once I have collected my thoughts).

We are staying in Hostel International Chicago, which, following its namesake, houses many travelers from all over the world. After a long day of service, a few of us ventured downstairs to lounge in one of the hostel’s more social areas. I had to ability to talk to an elderly man who claimed that Winston Churchill was the sole cause of World War 2, and that amplified sound is the “devil.” It was one of the many eye-opening experiences on this trip.

Shortly thereafter, I was able to connect with three travelers who had met earlier that day, one from northern Spain, another from Bogota, Colombia, and a third from Mexico City. They had all ventured alone to the States in hopes of becoming more proficient in English. I felt as if I was holding an endless bin of candy, surrounding by sweet-toothed travelers. There were all so eager to chat, just to have the opportunity to practice. I even got to break out the good ole Espanol for a decent portion of the conversation. We chatted about the lingual differences amongst the countries they came from, the difficulties in processing multiple tongues, and our travel motives and experiences. They were eager to hear about our ASB mission and the volunteering we were doing in the city, as well as the other groups and their agendas. I few even considered bringing those ideas back to their own countries and implementing service into their lives.

Anyways, I just found it interesting that something we all take for granted (English proficiency) is pricelessly valuable to others. I was also overjoyed to share our ASB outlook and to have such positive feedback from them. It was grand to connect with those from far away, and it was really an experience I did not foresee happening in Chicago. Wooo ASB!

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The Central Park Hostel

Although we were unsure of what to expect, our accomodations are great (other than the four flights of stairs!). We have a private room with 5 bunk beds, and two shared bathrooms on the floor. The lounge is in the basement, and we have access to kitchen facilities. Everything is very clean as well. We’re just a half block from our subway stop, which makes our commute to God’s Love very convenient!

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First Day of School

Today was our first day actually volunteering in the school. From 8-1 we were at the Holy Family Ministries School. I worked with the preschoolers the classroom I was with are “the voyagers” they are the 4 year old they are on a voyage to kindergarten. They were intelligent friendly children. I read the whole class a book then they had timeto read individually but being as they are only four years old they are not the best readers, so they all bombarded me asking me to help them read their books so I ended up reading at least 5 more books to them. This week they are learning about where they live which is Chicago. There were three tables set up in the room Math, Writing, and Art. For their Art project they made the Chicago Skyline with construction paper, which I helped them with. At the writing station they wrote the word “Chicago” some students needed assistance which I readily provided. They also did other activities but I don’t want to go on and on. Next we went to the boys and girls club from 2-6 most student get there around 3 and work on home until 4 then are free to play and travel aroud. I worked with the 10-12 year old. This was a huge contrast from the delightful 4 year old they were roudy, and inactive they neither wanted help with homework or to play but prefererd congregating in groups and talking. I much prefered the preschoolers, they were much more apprecitive and I felt like my time there actually made a difference. One thing that was differnt was that the classroom both at the school and boys and girls club was comprised entirely of African American students. I enjoyed the school and look forward to returning tomorrow and hopefully will have a more successful day at the boys and girls club tomorrow.

-Alicia Bartley

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First Day of Service!

Today we woke up bright and early for our first day of service! We started our day off at the Holy Family Lutheran School where each of us were assigned to a specific class to work with.  We each helped out our teachers by completing different tasks such as tutoring, making copies, and grading assignments.  It was really great to work with all of the kids.  They were all so energetic, funny, and excited to meet and talk with us.  After lunch, we headed over to the Boys and Girls Club for the afternoon.  After getting a tour of the building, we each chose what age group we wanted to work with.  We helped them with their homework, and played games and other activities with the kids.  I was able to work with the teen group, and one of the highlights of my day was helping them to organize and hand out flyers for a drive for the victims in Haiti.  Overall, it was a great day, and I can’t wait to continue getting to know all of the kids.

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Onions and Carrots and Beef, OH MY!

What an exhausting and exhilarating day!! Maybe that sounds like a contradictive description, but hopefully I can help you to understand with this entry!

Once again, ASB New York boarded the subway, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for an exciting day! Not too long after, we arrived at the door step of God’s Love We Deliver.

We were given an amazingly welcoming introduction to the facility and the daily runnings of the organization. Before we boarded the elevator down to the kitchens, we donned lovely lunch lady-esk hair nets. After a very short look around, we were instructed to pull up our sleeves, sanitize up to our elbows and put on an apron to top off the outfit. It was hard not to be immediately infected by the amazing energy pulsing through the kitchen, and we were all ready and excited!

Right away we were thrown in to the pack of the “regular” Tuesday group helping in the mass production of a warm and healthy beef stew. Some of us were instructed to spread the beef out on massive cooking sheets, while others started off peeling and chopping 150 pounds of carrots!! Needless to say, we got our hands dirty quick!

The kitchen staff did an amazing job of mobilizing the huge task force that was both our group and those that were normal attendees. As soon as one job was done, we were already being briefed and moved to our next one. At one point, almost the whole kitchen was dedicated to chopping up onions. Soon enough all the airspace was filled with the relentless juice of onions, making all of us tear up for quite some time. But of course! ASB NYC made it through to lunch!

We were provided lunch by God’s Love, so we got the chance to experience the meals that get delivered to the terminally ill every day. Each meal is specifically catered to the illness of each client, and we were all incredibly surprised at how tasty they were! It was great to know that we were huge contributors to this amazing project!

After lunch, we started shift two with a new set of volunteers and a new kitchen staff. Our first monumental task was wrapping over 1600 rolls! That is when we were able to get a real feel for exactly how many people we were impacting with our service. We also took part in a kitchen wide mushroom and potato chop, as well as mixing salads, unloading the huge cookers of beef, and draining industrial sized cans of olives! Never for a moment were we tired or bored, because there was never a moment of stillness!!
Now hopefully you understand what I mean by exhausting and exhilarating. :)

With only a few blisters and a minor cut to the finger, we left God’s Love full of joy!! We are excited to return tomorrow, when half of us will go to deliver the 3000!!!! meals, and the rest will continue with our adventures in the kitchen!

Peace Be.
ASB NYC

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Our first day at God’s Love!

Today we experienced our first day at God’s Love We Deliver, and what a productive day it was! After a brief introduction to the organization and the kitchen rules, we got right to work. Armed with cutting boards and 12″ chef knives (yikes!), we peeled 150 lbs of carrots, chopped 150 lbs of potatoes, and got teary-eyed over too many onions to count!

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MLK Day

Greetings!

This morning everyone was so eager to volunteer. Once we got to the church and we realized that the day of service was not what we planed, no one’s enthusiasm diminished. It was incredible just to watch the other volunteers work. They were so efficient and worked very well together. I can’t wait till we are able to be do service and work with one another in a similar fashion. We then went downstairs and saw the boxes of food. It was incredible to see all the cans of tomato paste and other items packed in such a small area. It was interesting to see all the aspects of the operation; the food stock, the people who were using the church’s services, the volunteers, and the volunteer coordinator.
Later that day we went on a walking tour of Seneca Village, which used to be where central park is located. We learned a lot of history on the tour but more importantly we were reminded of a lot of facts. The tour guide reminded us about the discrimination the African Americans faced in regards to owning a home and voting. This discrimination accounts for some of the poverty people face today. It was interesting to see how certain laws could affect so many people and in such a way for such a long time.
I can’t wait to actually volunteer tomorrow. It will be great to put a face on the operation we have spent so long talking about. As we did reflection tonight everyone seemed so excited and pumped for tomorrow.

Many Blessings,
Bridget

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Piers & Pizzas..

Our second day of sight-seeing is over, and I am exhausted! It feels like we have been here a week (we’ve been grocery shopping twice already), but we haven’t even started our service work yet – that starts at 8am tomorrow! I am looking forward to it. I enjoyed seeing the city before starting at the site – we were able to get an understanding of the city.

Today, we went to Navy Pier, which houses many stores and restaurants on Lake Michigan. It even has a small amusement park out on the pier, which is closed in the winter. I would love to come back here in the summer and see the city from the top of the Ferris Wheel! We also went to the Chicago History Museum, which was very interesting, and then we went to get some REAL Chicago-style deepdish pizza at “Gino’s East”.  We were starving by the time we got there, and stuffed by the time we left. The pizza did not disappoint.  The restaurant was also great – the walls were decorated with graffiti left by the patrons. It seemed like every surface was covered, but ASB Chicago found a space to leave their mark!  

We then made our second grocery-stop to stock up for the rest of the week and now it is time to rest up for our first day of service tomorrow!

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Sunday Night Reflection and A Surprising MLK Day

(1-17) Last night, before we settled down, Tracy, our reflections leader, took us through an exercise to identify our expectations and goals for the week. After our discussion, this was my synopsis of the themes and goals for our service:
We tend to live our lives looking ahead to the next step, rather than enjoying the step that we are on now. Starting on this trip and carrying on, we hope to apply a different mindset in our lives. IMMERSE: soak up the sights, stories and experiences. UNDERSTAND: have the conversation and make the connections. REMEMBER: keep the memories with you, and relive them frequently. CHANGE: apply the morals that you learn to your everyday life. BE WHOLE: take your whole self with you on every journey.

(1-18) Bright and early, we donned our jackets and boots to head out for Day 1 of our service project. After a short trip to the Lower East Side, ASB New York got to practice our Gumby-esk flexibility when we arrived at our first day of service only to find our hands were not needed. Due to miscommunication and the eagerness of citizens to get out and serve on MLK Day we were met by a bustling kitchen far too full of gloved and hair netted volunteers.
Feeling a bit out of place and stranded, we retreated to a near by coffee shop for some research and quick thinking. We discussed the possibility of calling around to see if we could lend our hands elsewhere, but came to the conclusion that this was not a good practice of service considering the size of our group and the incredibly short notice.
Instead we made our way towards Union Square Park where we thought we could surely find something interesting and productive to do with our time. After scoping out a few local newsletters and books, we decided to tour a few more parks. As we came up on Washington Square Park, the weather cleared up quite nicely and we were able to soak up the sun in the fountain that usually spurts water when the season permits.
With the knowledge of a tour around Central Park, we took the subway back up town and met up with a group touring what once was Seneca Village. In light of MLK Day, we learned of the origins of the Village and the importance it had on the rights of blacks in the community.
Luckily, we were graced with yet another beautiful day to be out of work and we now regroup before moving on.

Peace Be.
ASB New York

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Always an adventure!

Today we arrived bright and early at Trinity Soup Kitchen, only to learn that they had an excess amount of volunteers due to MLK Day. The woman in charge “gave us a day off!”

We just ate lunch at Lenny’s, and we’re enjoying the sunshine in Washington Square Park. We’ll head to Central Park for an MLK Day walking tour this afternoon.