I
can’t believe it but it’s already been six months into my exchange experience and between all that has happened to me and is happening
(including the Spring Musical - due to which my life is 100x more busy), it’s hard to put into words all that I’ve experienced so
far! Especially the fact that I’m done with more than 100 hours of
community service is just too much to handle!
I remember the first time that I went to Temple Sholom for my first ever community service experience; I was nervous but really enthusiastic about doing all I could in order to fulfill my duties at the Monday Meal. It was a great experience to say the least! I felt compassion like never before and from then on I knew that I had to do more of community service to quench my thirst for community service (and again the 100 mark was something that every quintessential exchange student should achieve). So from Temple Sholom, I moved onto Chicago Urban Lights Farm, then onto Chicago Lights Tutoring, then a few one time events like the Chicago Marathon Fitness Expo, going to Janesville, WI to canvass for Obama and also doing a call center gig for Obama Campaign. By this time, I was really comfortable with going to random places for community service and just not caring what happened but always being ready for some kind of adventure and a mixture of compassion and a strange sort of satisfaction that community service always brought me!
I then realized that community service had just become a really essential part of my experience. Through community service I met tons of new people, made new friends and enjoyed different kinds of activities that not only further enriched my experience but taught me something new every time. Helping out with all of my community service adventures was ofcourse Parker’s Community Connections teacher Ms. Havens who helped me decide what I should do and got me in touch with CAIR (Council of American and Islamic Relations); I even went for an interview, we were going to decide what I was going to do there, I sent them an email...but never got a reply back from them. And then Spring Musical happened. Although I couldn’t be in the Musical because of the fact that I am going to San Diego for the Better World for Better Understanding conference during performance week (which SUCKS!), I decided to get involved anyway and gain as much theatrical experience as I could. As it turned out, I was chosen to be an aidee or more professionally an “Assistant Director” and I had to (and still am) stay at school at an average of 9:30 pm. That is when I called my AFS coordinator and asked her the question that knew would make my life MUCH easier: Can I use my hours of Spring Musical Rehearsals as AFS Community Service hours? And guess what? She said YES!
That is when I knew that this was just perfect! I was getting community service hours for spending more than 6 hours each day during the rehearsals and what could be better? Well, to say the least it’s been really tough to keep myself mentally sane during the past few weeks. What with getting bankrupt (i didn’t get my AFS money for the past month) and starving for almost a week, this wasn’t entirely the most enjoyable experience at times. But I can say this: IT HAS BEEN AWESOME!!!
As my exchange experience comes to an end, I’m still really excited about further volunteer opportunities. I have already attended an orientation to volunteer with Misericordia and have signed up for Bank Of America’s 4K Marathon Event, AVON Breast Cancer Walk, (maybe CAIR) and good old Monday Meal!
I am finally beginning to understand the community service is not just about spending a few hours at a soup kitchen or just taking notes during Musical rehearsals; it’s about everything and anything that stirs your heart towards good and makes you want to do good for the community. It’s about the connections that you make when you see a homeless person on the sidewalk and you say to yourself: “Maybe I can’t help you right now, but I’m doing all I can to make it better”. I never would’ve been possible to make these connections had it not been for the Parker Community Connections Program and I can’t thank them enough for it!
I remember the first time that I went to Temple Sholom for my first ever community service experience; I was nervous but really enthusiastic about doing all I could in order to fulfill my duties at the Monday Meal. It was a great experience to say the least! I felt compassion like never before and from then on I knew that I had to do more of community service to quench my thirst for community service (and again the 100 mark was something that every quintessential exchange student should achieve). So from Temple Sholom, I moved onto Chicago Urban Lights Farm, then onto Chicago Lights Tutoring, then a few one time events like the Chicago Marathon Fitness Expo, going to Janesville, WI to canvass for Obama and also doing a call center gig for Obama Campaign. By this time, I was really comfortable with going to random places for community service and just not caring what happened but always being ready for some kind of adventure and a mixture of compassion and a strange sort of satisfaction that community service always brought me!
I then realized that community service had just become a really essential part of my experience. Through community service I met tons of new people, made new friends and enjoyed different kinds of activities that not only further enriched my experience but taught me something new every time. Helping out with all of my community service adventures was ofcourse Parker’s Community Connections teacher Ms. Havens who helped me decide what I should do and got me in touch with CAIR (Council of American and Islamic Relations); I even went for an interview, we were going to decide what I was going to do there, I sent them an email...but never got a reply back from them. And then Spring Musical happened. Although I couldn’t be in the Musical because of the fact that I am going to San Diego for the Better World for Better Understanding conference during performance week (which SUCKS!), I decided to get involved anyway and gain as much theatrical experience as I could. As it turned out, I was chosen to be an aidee or more professionally an “Assistant Director” and I had to (and still am) stay at school at an average of 9:30 pm. That is when I called my AFS coordinator and asked her the question that knew would make my life MUCH easier: Can I use my hours of Spring Musical Rehearsals as AFS Community Service hours? And guess what? She said YES!
That is when I knew that this was just perfect! I was getting community service hours for spending more than 6 hours each day during the rehearsals and what could be better? Well, to say the least it’s been really tough to keep myself mentally sane during the past few weeks. What with getting bankrupt (i didn’t get my AFS money for the past month) and starving for almost a week, this wasn’t entirely the most enjoyable experience at times. But I can say this: IT HAS BEEN AWESOME!!!
As my exchange experience comes to an end, I’m still really excited about further volunteer opportunities. I have already attended an orientation to volunteer with Misericordia and have signed up for Bank Of America’s 4K Marathon Event, AVON Breast Cancer Walk, (maybe CAIR) and good old Monday Meal!
I am finally beginning to understand the community service is not just about spending a few hours at a soup kitchen or just taking notes during Musical rehearsals; it’s about everything and anything that stirs your heart towards good and makes you want to do good for the community. It’s about the connections that you make when you see a homeless person on the sidewalk and you say to yourself: “Maybe I can’t help you right now, but I’m doing all I can to make it better”. I never would’ve been possible to make these connections had it not been for the Parker Community Connections Program and I can’t thank them enough for it!
