blog post 6

Ughhhhh.  This community service stuff is taking forever.  I’m the kind of person that likes immediate results.  I know that when the time comes for me to turn my hours in at the end of the semester; I will have enough to fill the class requirement.  However if I could just get them all done in a weekend I would gladly take that option.  I don’t like deadlines hanging over my head.  I especially want to get this part of class over with because I just picked up a job at Five guys last weekend and I’m getting a new job at the knight spot today.  So needless to say I won’t be getting a lot of rest and I won’t have as much time to do my community service, my homework, and whatever else I need to get done.

The other day I got an email from someone asking me if I wanted to help out with the international food Bazar during the month of April.  I told them I would be available to help out for a total of four hours and I guess I will be loading trucks with food to take over to the Union (or wherever they are having the event).  I hope I get a chance to at least look at all they have to offer if not sample the food.  From my understanding the event is a chance for each of the foreign student associations to showcase everything their country has to offer in a tiny little booth.

The interesting part about all this volunteering is that the more I help out the less I think I will stop doing it by the time I reach my 30 hours.  I must say that I’m enjoying my time at each activity and they have had a positive impact on my life.  These activities keeps me busy and focused because on days that I volunteer I have to give my best to whomever I’m helping out and to myself.  And in order to do that I need to take care of myself and get my work done which means going to bed at a decent time and doing homework ahead of time.  Had I chosen to be in English 106 this semester I would probably slack of a lot more during the week than what I already do.  In short, I’m grateful for the chance to volunteer.

blog post 5

This week I wasn’t feeling too well so when I met with my conversation partner we didn’t do much of anything.  We ended up sitting on a bench in front of PMU and we talked and enjoyed the weather.  I truly feel like I am gaining a friend that I will stay in touch with even after the semester ends.  It’s pretty interesting to me because going into this I had the mindset that I would meet once a week to get my hours and “get in and get out.”  But it hasn’t turned out that way at all.  In summary I am definitely pleased with my decision to volunteer to have a conversation partner and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes to volunteer and who also is a people person.

At the international center the Colombian student association came to present this week and boy did people have a great time.  There was a great turnout, which was not surprising, and lots of questions were asked.  They emphasized heavily on the fact that Colombia is very diverse in terms of not only people but also biologically and in the terrain of the country.  The people in that region are a mix of the white Spaniards that colonized the area, the Africans that were brought over as slaves and the indigenous people that lived in that region.  And as far as nature goes, the country is home to thousands of species of plants and a plethora of bird species.  Colombia is also one of the world’s top producers of flowers.  At the end of the presentation they served everyone “Colombian” food.  They prepared fried plantain and guacamole and cheese a papaya, both of which were delicious.  And afterwards they gave us a taste of their version of the salsa.

blog post 4

Last week was pretty uneventful in terms of volunteering.  I met with my conversation partner, Jinmin, but this week I unfortunately did not go to global café at the international center.  I made the mistake of thinking there would be no global café since spring break was starting on Monday.  And boy did I miss out.  Apparently every year someone different comes to present on Taras Shevchenko who was a Ukrainian poet.  I was extremely disappointed with myself that I did not get to watch this presentation because I enjoy learning about history a lot.  Later in the week when I checked my email I saw a letter sent to me by the global café coordinator that said there was indeed going to be an event that Friday.  In any event, I enjoyed my time with Jinmin.  We talked about our lives as usual and went to go play pool.  This week however she did something she had never done before.  I let my guard down and she beat me.  I was in shock when it occurred because, over the past few weeks, I had basically taught her everything she knew about how to play.  And she beat me!  Of course, after that game I destroyed her and then we left the pool hall to go for a walk since it was nice outside. 

On an unrelated note, during this week I went to go interview someone from the humane shelter for our group research project.  I however missed the bus that would take me there on time and then I got on the right bus; unfortunately it was going in the wrong direction.  So I essentially missed two busses.  By the time I finally got to the humane center I was an hour and a half late.  They told me my interviewee had left but was coming back.  However, he never came.  So, I left after about fifty minutes of waiting.  Needless to say I was not a happy camper.

blog post 3

Last week was pretty quiet.  I did not get the chance to meet with my conversation partner because she was off studying for her exams.  I did however, return once more to the international center to help out with global café.  This past week students from the Kazakhstan student association came to present about the arts of their country.  For those of you who don’t know where Kazakhstan is…look at a map!  I admittedly learned a great deal about their country and the people that live there.  Immediately I noticed that a few of the students looked, to me at least, as though they, if not their parents, could have been from China or Japan or one of those countries.  Looking back if you had asked me to predict what they looked like I would probably have said like Russians or simply I don’t know.  From the images they showed us I was fascinated by the landscape of the steppes and mountains which were contrasted by cities and modern buildings.  I thought to myself, it looks like someone put a city in the middle of nowhere.  Aside from the beautiful landscape their country has many horses that roam its terrain although supposedly none of them are wild.  They are all owned by someone.  Another interesting fact they told us that blew my mind was that their government gives scholarships to about 3,000 students each year to go and study abroad.  All expenses are paid for and the only catch is that you must come back home and work for 5 years.  I instantly thought this was amazing.  Out of the 62 students at Purdue from Kazakhstan 60 of them are on scholarships.  For a country with a population just over that of New York City, this seems like a great way to promote education and growth.  Hearing this almost made me wish I was from Kazakhstan.  After the presentation the very talented students whipped out their cool two stringed guitars, called Dombyras, and played us a few songs which I can honestly say I enjoyed.  In any event global café is a wonderful event.  Some weeks are better than others, but if you are interested in coming its every Friday at 5:30 (it usually starts later like around six I think) at the international center which is right next to Delta Chi on Russell street.