YMCA Experience

I went to YMCA with Xinyuan and Zili this Tuesday, and we had a wonderful memory in YMCA.  The art class asked all of the children to draw pictures of Savannah, and they could draw it, make paper cutting, or make a necklace.  I was working with a boy called Noah, and he is very shy.  He used oil pastels to draw tree trunks and cut green paper to leaves’ shape.  Xinyuan taught another boy make airplane, and the airplane is very good except it hurts one of my eyes.  The girl whom Zili worked with was really like Zili.  She drew many pictures of Zili.  Even though none of them did the right topic, they still have really good ability with art.  If I get another chance, I would like to work with them again.

Another visit to the YMCA, this day it was really fun but we missed Ms. Nelly she was sick and I hope she gets better. Although she was missing today I had so much fun, I really enjoy the day at the YMCA, I was time to make the quilts.

                First we started to draw things on a paper about what we talk the last time we went to the YMCA, so we started drawing and I did a big hearth on the paper and Megan did a pizza that look amazing   and the little kids did amazing stuff, so I was going great, but the fun part came when we had to cut fabric(what I love doing) so I was really fun to create with fabrics the things we did with drawings, I really love what we did today, because it represented family and for me it’s the most important thing in the world J.

 So I cant wait to go back en finish my quilt because I love doing this kind of stuff because it’s the best way I can express what I feel!! Thank you have a great weekendJ .

3rd Time at the YMCA!

Last Wednesday was out third time at the YMCA and as always it was really exciting. I sat with Kenya,Ms. Nelly (who sat with me and kenya last time), and two girls.This time Kenya and I met two girls that we havent talked with before. We talked about movies, tv shows, and food. Ms. Nelly used to watch I love Lucy, which I know. The girls and I have many movies that we like in common. We all agreed Nemo is one of our favorites, and we all have watched Star Wars.

Another thing we all had in common is that we LOVE FOOD!. We all love fried chicken, ice cream, fruits and pizza.

Me and Alexis

It is very interesting how many interests people can share in common no matter their age, or where we come from.

I really enjoyed talking to everybody and hearing their interests.

Megan Klamroth

Getting to know the community

Our first visit to YMCA =) Ana and I had a chance to get to know this beautiful girl, Savanna. She shared a lot of information of her life style with us. Her favorite places to visit in Savannah,
 as well as her best friend in school. Also we got to know the school system and it turned out that they make some school trips to SCAD. Savanna is a very sweet loving girl that want to have 3 jobs when grow up. She loves Mcdonalds and want to work there, but at night will be working in the hospital. She is my stimulation for going to YMCA every week :) lol

Third Time

Dear blog,
apologies for keeping you waiting this week. Last week's visit was very interesting. Two worlds have collided, our group got bigger. Miao and Karla joined our lovely group. As usual we had lovely Mrs.Williams in our group. This time we also got two adorable kids; Tymese and Ishmel. They were so much fun. This time when I visited the YMCA I was starving, so we discussed food and types food in each our different countries. We also discussed customs and holidays.

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying reading my blogs as I am enjoying reading yours. This is becoming 'our story stitched together'. We make our blogs about what happens in YMCA, we share some similar stories and some very unique ones. This is making this Blog very interesting. I think that our professor Emily has done a great job by integrating us in this Beloved Community. 

As always so far, at the entrance of YMCA we see many little kids playing outside, and some other accompanied by their parents or the teachers.

Prof. Emily Gung, Kenya, Megan and I

 

As soon as we went to the room of YMCA, Olya and I were told that Ms. Brown was not able to come to the meeting because she was not feeling good. We felt sorry she could not come, and we hope she gets better, so she can come back next Wednesday. However, my team was not left alone. As Ms. Tina was telling the news about Ms. Brown, I asked her if she would like to be part of our team this time. Being the  very lovely person she is, she said, "Sure," without any hesitation. Olya, Savanna and I loved having Tina being part of our team!

Tina, Savanna, Olya and I   

           

 

 

 

 

This day was full of fun. Savanna made us laugh so much when she was trying to explain a unique game that she and her friends play. It is a play that they do while they are swinging and it's called 'Cut the cheese'. It looks something like the picture below :

Again, Olya and I are better listeners than talkers.  We did share some experiences though. Olya and I have similar experiences including roller coasters and swings. 

Tina explaining the way she played with her friends.

Tina shared with us her experiences of swinging with her sister. She told us her mum was very worried for them. "It was all fun for us", Tina said with a smile, "but I guess we didn't think about any risk at that time."  She says that now she thinks different, and when she sees even other kids swinging hard she gets worried.

All in all, spending time at YMCA convinces me that people are people, no matter where they come from, or what their beliefs are. If we act humanly we are humane and kind to each other.At the very end of the class, Savanna read in front of everyone else the letter she has written about what we all talked about during the entire class, and so did the other groups.

Until next Wednesday I wish you all the best,

   Ana

 

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 Enjoying YMCA

Going to YMCA every Wednesday is becoming a 'Can't wait' day. I feel enthusiastic with the new  projects of the day.  The second time Olya and I met Ms.Brown, the elderly woman that lives in Savannah. We combined her thoughts and Savanna's thoughts about Savannah, the city. It was amazing listening to Ms. Brown describing Savannah completely different what is now. On the other hand, Savanna, the girl, tells us about Savannah just the way it is right now.

 

 

 

Ms. Brown (on the right) and I

Ms. Brown, Olya, Savanna and I made a great team. We also had to choose something that brings memories to us. I chose the hair curler (old fashion one) because I remembered the High School Days when I really wanted to have curly hair. I always had straight naturally hair, so i many times decided to make changes in hair. Ms Brown chose handkerchief because she liked the flower in it. She also said that she loves going to church, and every time she goes she carries handkerchief. Since she said she is a flower person, she even told us some experiences with flowers. She used to have many flowers. 'Sometimes when it did get cold and I had forgotten flowers out, I had to get up and put them inside as soon as I realized i did that', said Ms. Brown with so much love in her eyes for flowers. Every time she told us anything about her life, you could tell the was still feeling the same way. Her lovely voice made me more interested and curious about her life. While Olya she was recording the conversations, I could tell that she wanted to ask more questions. I guess she was interested and curious as well. Savannah with her head in her hands was listening intently.
We also had visitors today. Unfortunately I don't remember their name, but the sure were very nice. You can see in the first picture showed below.

After we were done with the scheduled time with elderly people, we (scad students of ESL Department) enjoyed taking picture all together. Of course in front of the mirror, so we would see how we looked like. I enjoy being part of this group of students that we go to YMCA. We all belong to different countries, have different cultures and we can speak other languages, but we all can speak English, too. Everyone is kind and lovely.