Blog #2 Situations Encountered

My refugee family is a very sweet family with 4 kids, from Burma. They do not speak English very well but they are picking up on it quickly. When we first came to their apartment complex I was a little nervous because the part of town it was in but I soon got over that. The house kind of has a different smell, but I was expecting that as they are from a different culture and eat different foods than we do. On the first visit alone without Kelly we didn't come as prepared as we thought we were going to be. The first situation that made it a little hard to do our activity was one of the young neighbor boys came over and knew English a lot better than our family and was being very loud and saying things like: "that's so easy I know that word!" "Oh my gosh, how don't you know this word it's so easy" and "ooh ooh this is easy let me do it" which made it a little hard to try and teach our family new words while he was sitting there saying these things. We couldn't just tell him to leave or be quiet because it wasn't our home and the mom had let him in as he was the son's friend. The next situation we encountered was we were coloring with the kids and helping the mom fill out a job application when the 1.5 year old little girl started crying so the mom started breast-feeding right there in front of us, it was a little uncomfortable just because we aren't used to that happening in America in the open like that, but I understood that she is from a different culture and they do things differently plus it was her house. I think our family is learning a lot faster and they are very interested in new topics and things. It is also very exciting to know that us helping them with their English is going to make a big difference in their new life here in America.

I am beginning to get excited for my service learning project because just a few days ago my group was assigned with our family! I'm very excited to be working with a family that has lots of kids and I hope that they are excited to meet us as well. I hope to help the family as much as I can and to help them get accustomed to all of the new things they are seeing in America. I think we will have lots of activities for them to do and try to teach not only the kids the basic way of life in our country and the different things we do in America, but also help the parents to get used to all of the changes as it is a huge change for them and will take some getting used to. I hope that this service learning project will help me to learn the customs of other cultures and try to be more understanding of those who have different backgrounds than I do. I am hoping to maybe learn a little bit of their language and the things that they do in their country and also that will help me to learn about how life would be in another country with maybe not as much freedom or opportunities.

I know that our family lives in an apartment in Rock Island, IL. I assume that it will have lots of children items and tight space for such a large family, they may not have all of the things they need but have basic things. I imagine them to have quite a bit of stuff because they are a larger family and also they may not have some things that I would assume they would so I need to be aware of that. I know that our family is A "GYI" family and from what i have researched that is used in Burma and India. I can assume that the population they serve is mostly Indian or Middle Eastern. I know a little bit about India but not so much Burma so I am excited to learn more about where the family is from. I am really excited for all of the learning experiences this project holds and also to see how far we get in teaching our family!

Service: in relation to learning

Service isn't always necessarily grouped into the same category as learning, but in many instances an act of service can help you learn something new. If you are doing a service for someone or something you will be learning not only about the service itself but the people you are helping and their lives in general. Service is defined as "the action of helping or doing work for someone." Learning is defined as "the acquisition of knowledge or skills through the experience, study, or by being taught." By doing a service you will be acquiring knowledge and skills throughout the experience and even in some instances be taught new things that you didn't know before.

The service that we are going to be doing will consist of spending time with refugees from all over the world who aren't familiar with the customs or languages of America. I plan on being with a family who has kids of all ages and parents who are adjusting to a whole new country, I believe that I will learn: some of their customs, their language, how they lived and just how life in another country is. I think that with me doing this service it will open my mind up to other cultures and see how other people live their lives, therefore I will be learning all about the family's home country. Also, it will allow me to see the struggles that other countries go through and how much easier I have it here. I think that I will learn a lot about myself and how to be mindful of other peoples situations but also that I truly can make a difference in someones life. In the end, I hope to learn new skills and experiences by fulfilling the service I will be doing.