While I usually leave my visits with my refugee family in good spirits, I have to say that tonight’s visit made me sad. It is Halloween, and my partner and I went over to take some of the younger children trick-or-treating. They said they had already done their building earlier in the afternoon and gotten some candy, so we went to their old apartment building across the street. I found the experience depressing, to say the least. We went to a couple different floors and the kids knocked on all the apartment doors. Almost no one answered or we heard a mumbled no when the kids said trick-or-treat. A couple people answered but didn’t have anything. They ended up getting one dollar bill, one sucker, and one tootsie roll each. They seemed a little down that no one was answering.

Tonight made me think about how their trick-or-treating experience was light years away from the experiences I had growing up. I would go with my siblings, cousins, and parents and we would sprint from house to house in a nice suburb. Every house had friendly people who opened the door and had lots of candy. These kids went trick-or-treating in a dingy apartment building where almost no one answered or had candy.

My boyfriend has a car and I am kicking myself for not thinking ahead and taking them trick-or-treating in a suburb where they could have gotten more out of the experience. Tonight’s visit just made me think a lot about the disparity between kids who have a lot growing up and kids who don’t have as much. I have such good memories of the fun times I had trick-or-treating and I wish I could have provided a better trick-or-treating experience for these kids.

Yesterday, Nick and I attended the LRO Halloween Party and I had such a good experience! We hadn’t seen our family in a week so we invited them over text message. Durga, the oldest daughter is pretty much fluent in English, so we usually communicate through her and her phone. Yesterday, only the Dad attended the party. I’m not sure why his wife, sister, or the other 2 kids didn’t come, but we just found out that Durga got a job at the Village Discount- which is extremely good news as she was looking for a job! I was sad she was unable to make it but I’m more glad she has a job.

I had a such a fun time at the party, however. I was hoping to be able to have the opportunity to meet some of the Burmese families but Karlee actually told me that when they were telling the families at the ECAC about the party, only a Bhutanese translator was there so she think’s thats why most of the party were the Bhutanese families. Nonetheless, it was so great meeting everyone else, and all the children! It truly was an amazing experience seeing the children having such a fun time laughing and playing with all of us and each other. It was especially funny to try to explain the concept of BINGO to the adults…. not an easy thing to do. The kids LOVED the FREE candy and they were all going nuts seeing who could put the most candy in their homemade Trick-or-Treat bags. The adults were a little more quiet, naturally. But I could really see the difference in English levels between the different ages. The adults who were a little younger were much more comfortable speaking english as compared to our Dad and his friends who seemed to be a little older. I really hoped that he had a good time because I think it was good for him to get out of the house and be with other Bhutanese men his age. One thing I did notice though- the women all sat at one table and the men all sat at another. I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing, but it was very noticeable.

After a couple hours, we took everyone to Dumbach to go Trick-or-Treating, but when we got there, they told us they weren’t ready yet- so we decided to take everyone into the quad and play some games. We played Duck Duck Goose, Tag, Simon Says…..and it was such a heartwarming experience seeing the adults watch their kids with such amusement and happiness as everyone was laughing and the kids were learning about some of our cultural childhood games. It’s really evident to see how much easier for kids (probably under the age of 15) to adjust to life in America or their new homes. You can begin to see how they even play fun at their parents for not knowing something or not knowing what English word to use.

I think that after a while of being outside (it got VERY cold all of a sudden), everyone was getting kind of restless and a few of the families decided to go home before they even got to inside of Dumbach to go Trick-or Treating. Our Dad told Nick and I that he wasn’t feeling that well but then we realized he didn’t a CTA pass to get home, so we bought him a ticket to go back to Howard. A younger Dad and his 5 year old son (THE CUTEST LITTLE BOY EVER) knew where he lived and assured us that they would help him get home.

Seeing everyone yesterday together makes my desire to get involved with refugees even more than it already is. I’m so lucky to have the opportunity to meet all these wonderful people and I’m so lucky I am able to help them in their adjustment here. I hope that my Dad had fun and I’m looking forward to discussing it over with him when we visit him on Sunday. I also hope that I may see some of the families again!

I had a really nice time talking to the mother this visit. We were there helping the boys with hw, then the mother came into the living room to tell us that the younger boy has a D in geometry! We looked up his grade online, and he didn’t turn in a few hw assignments in the beginning of the semester. So the mother was on us to be on him, and we were. We went over every problem on an old test he didn’t so well on, and he was sooo not into it. Afterwards he asked if we could tutor him before his next test, so at least he seems a little more motivated now.

My partner Jose continued to help the boys with their hw while the mother sat down and handed me a letter from a doctor’s office. The note was from a family doctor, about her husband. It had the results of an MRI he had on his spine. The mother said he has terrible back pain and can’t work. The letter had a referral to a specialist for further evaluation. The mother said she needed a translator for the appointment because the specialist only speaks english. My partner and I told her we would ask if anyone in our class who speaks arabic could go to the appointment.

The mother then told me that their financial aid runs out in 3 months. I asked her if she will be looking for a job because her husband can’t work. She said she couldn’t because she has to take care of her 72 year old mother, the boys, the home, and now her sick husband. I forgot to mention the mother is a very smart woman. She showed me the last 4 tests she took in her english class, and they were literally all 100%. She also told me she has a degree in business administration from Iraq, and that all of her 8 siblings are university professors in the UK. I’m concerned about what the family is going to do in three months. It all depends on the doctor appointment. The husband cannot work with his back problems, and the pain medication he was prescribed is so strong it makes him too sleepy to do anything else. I asked if he tried ibuprofen and the mother said it wasn’t strong enough.  The mother, who is more than capable of getting a job, wants to take care of the home and her loved ones, and rightfully so. It’s a sticky situation. I just hope that the doctor can heal the husband and he can get a job soon so the family can continue to do well.

I was looking forward to seeing our family again. Last week we left off with helping the boys with math and english hw. As soon as we got in the door, the younger boy told us he got a 99% on his english test!! Yay! He is the boy that is NOT into school whatsoever, but is extremely smart. I hope he gets more focused because he can really succeed in anything he finds a passion for. I wonder why he holds back..

Again, this visit we just hung out with the two high school boys, did hw and talked for a few hours. This time we helped with their geography hw. It was interesting to see what they are learning in school. We asked what they do outside of school and they said they just go home. That concerned me, because I had already noticed how secluded the family was. They only have each other and associate with each other. I asked if they like to play sports and they just said they focus on school. The family is extremely well at working hard, but they are slower at assimilating. They don’t seem to have a need for a community, maybe because they are so strong together they feel it would only be a distraction. I don’t know, I just can’t wait to hear their story so I can better understand.

Today my partner and I took two out of the five children in our family to the LRO Halloween party: the third grade girl and the fifth grade boy. We told them we would be at their apartment to walk over with them at 1:30, and when we got there they were waiting downstairs, bouncing around with excitement. They chatted eagerly the entire walk there. Once we got there, we made Halloween necklaces and then it was time to go trick-or-treating. We got dressed up in the costumes that LRO had there- the girl insisted that I wear a white ghost dress, so I did. We played several games outside and then went trick-or-treating inside an academic building. I felt like it was a very good bonding experience. Normally our visit time is split among the five children, so it was fun to spend some more individual/focused time with just two of them. Both of them seemed to have a ton of fun playing the games (a Halloween version of duck, duck, goose and tag) and were very excited to go around and get candy. We are going back to their apartment tomorrow night to go trick-or-treating with them around their neighborhood. My partner and I promised to dress up.

I’m starting to realize how much our visits mean to the kids. They show such excitement when we come over and when we say when we are coming back. I asked the girl if she was going to wear her costume to school tomorrow and she said no because everyone would laugh at her. She then said that she would wear it tomorrow night though since she knew we wouldn’t laugh at her. Although I wish she felt more comfortable in school, it made me glad that she feels so comfortable with us. She also told us today that her birthday is coming up soon, but they aren’t going to do anything for it because it’s too much work. I’m not entirely sure why that is the case, but I am hoping my partner and I can help do something small for her for her birthday.

10/23/2011

Today was Penny’s 10^th Birthday party. Sarah and I arrived early and played games with all of the kids while the food was being prepared. Sarah gave her a coloring book, and we spent a good half-an hour meticulously coloring Hello Kitty while the little boys scribbled everywhere. It was a good time.

Guests started to arrive around 11, and the small apartment quickly filled up with family members, neighbors, and friends. We sang “happy birthday” to Penny and had cake, followed by an array of Nepali food (too much for me to handle, but delicious none-the-less!).

The warm generosity of Penny and her family will never cease to amaze me. Sitting in the midst of at least 30 people, all talking and laughing and enjoying each other, I was reminded of my own family – most of whom I haven’t seen in a long time. To my chagrin, I actually started to get emotional. Sarah and I haven’t had the chance to get to know the family very well yet, we haven’t even known them a full week, and yet we have been treated as if we belong right there with them.

I feel like I’m the one getting the most out of this arrangement. It’s like all of a sudden I’ve been adopted into this wonderful family, who are so happy to see me when I come through the door and so eager to share their lives with me.

10/18/2011

Today Sarah and I met with our new family for the first time. They are a Bhutanese family of five; two parents and three children, and they came to the U.S. from Nepal about 18 months ago. We met the mother and two of the children, Penny (9) and Peter (18), along with several members of their extended family who live nearby. The father and eldest brother both work evenings, so we have yet to meet them.

What struck me about our first visit was the hospitality that Penny, her mother and the rest of the family showed us. Though English wasn’t very strong among the older members of the family, they welcomed us with smiles and greetings of “Namaste”. It felt a bit odd at first, albeit a welcome change from what I am used to – Americans can be very wary of strangers. We’re taught from a young age not to talk to strangers, much less let them into our homes. The immediate comfort and kindness I felt was wonderful. We’ve already been invited to Penny’s 10^th Birthday party on Sunday.

We talked with Penny about school and her favorite subjects. She likes math, and asked if we would help her with her long division and multiplication. (I had to brush up on my elementary math skills when I got home later that night…) We ended up drawing pictures of animals for most of the night, and exchanging English and Nepali names for what we drew.

Another thing that struck me about Penny’s family was their strong ambition to succeed. I don’t know their whole story yet, and hope one day I will, but for now I can just admire how hard they are working and how thankful they are to be here. As I mentioned before, the father and oldest brother are working when we come to visit – but I found out from talking with Penny and her mother that they both also attend school. Penny’s father goes to classes from 9am-12pm, and then goes off to work from 2pm-9pm. Her mother also goes to classes during the week.

We had the chance to meet some neighbors too, since people were coming in and out of the apartment throughout our visit. One man, whom I will refer to as Ray, told us how lucky we were to be going to Loyola. I’ve always felt lucky to be going to Loyola, or to be going to college at all. I feel lucky to be in Chicago. I know how lucky I am to have been born in the United States. But to have someone else say that to you, someone who has likely experienced so much in his life and who feels lucky to be alive with his family…it strikes a chord. It makes me wish I could give them more, though in reality my time is really all I have to give to them. I hope that I can give them something worth-while – a teacher, a mentor, a friend, whatever they need.

Its been a couple of weeks since my last visit. Both the family and my partner have been busy. Everyone in the family have found jobs now and the kids are involved with school and sports. The weeks before we have been helping them with learning English and so we continued with our lessons which mostly just consist of us answering little question like difference between long/short vowels. The lessons often just become small talk and today we talked about favorite foods and all the different types of food here in Chicago.  The family has already tried alot of things like the deep dish pizza, but they still haven’t had a gyro. Maybe that is something we could try with them in one of our next visits. I am having alot of fun just getting to know new people in my neighborhood, I now see them around sometimes when grocery shopping and say. Im also  happy to be helping out in what little ways I can and look forward to visiting with them in the weeks to come.

This past Sunday, my mom wanted to visit the family with me. She got a bunch of clothes, some used and some new gathered for them. We took over four big bags of clothes, blankets, coats, and some essentials such as toilet paper, toothpaste, pasta, juices, and some decorative stuff like plants. My family is in dire need of the essentials. They receive food stamps, but no cash. They don’t even own a TV. The parents are getting bored at home when the daughters are in school. My mom said she will also buy them a TV. My mom is really connecting with them because she knows what it feels like to move to a country and start all over. We used to be in their shoes many years ago, but we still remember the struggles we went through. We moved to London as refugees from Iraq. We were given a house with no furniture or carpet. We used to lay down newspapers on the floor and eat. The money we got from the government was not enough to buy food, essentials and pay the bills. We were struggling and suffering for many years. My refugee family has no family here, and that is why my mom really wants to help them in any way she can. She also told their story to all my family. My aunt gave me money to give to them. She was very generous. She said she will keep helping them too and pitch in with my mom to buy them a TV. The family was extremely excited and thankful to receive the stuff. I saw that they felt more welcomed now, as they saw strangers willing to help them. To us, it is extra stuff we don’t use, but to them, they are essentials, that otherwise would not afford to buy on their own.

Our third visit:

The father wasn’t at the family’s home because he was at work and wouldn’t be back until later that night. So we spent time with the mother and two kids. We discussed a lot of things, among them jobs. She told us that she had recently gone to a “job fair”, but only one possible employer had shown up. There was another woman who was interested in the job position. The mother has often told us of her need to find a job soon. So I was surprised when she said that she had let the other woman take the job. She told us that the woman’s husband also doesn’t work, and since the mother’s husband does have a source of income, she felt that it was right to give her the opportunity. My admiration for her doubled upon hearing this. We also talked about visiting the family on Saturday, when the father would be home, so that we could all celebrate a Hindu holiday together. The mother told Alyssa and I that she would dress us in saris, and as I had never worn on before, I was excited.

We helped the daughter with her homework for a bit, and after she finished she taught (or rather, tried to teach) us how to dance to Nepalese music.  Alyssa and I gave up after a bit. But it’s nice to see that the daughter is becoming more comfortable when we are around.

The fourth visit:

We brought the kids coloring books and crayons, which they seemed to enjoy a lot. As we all ate, the parents talked about their unease of living in such a bad neighborhood. There have been several instances of people knocking on their back door during the day and late at night. Thankfully nothing has happened yet, but we urged them to call the police if it happened again. They cannot get out of their lease, however, for several more months.

After we finished eating, we put on the Saris. The material was beautiful and colorful, and there was so much fabric! Also, I don’t think I’ve ever had so much blush put on me in my life. Nevertheless,  that day was very special. I felt more connected with the family than ever and we spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures.

Last time we visited we asked our family if they wanted to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo that Sunday.  They seemed happy to be asked, and the children seemed excited.  We weren’t quite sure if they understood what we meant. The next time we went to visit though, they had many many questions about the zoo. I was happy that they had been able to formulate their questions and write them down.

The day of the zoo trip we went to their home, they were not ready yet, and started putting on their winter coats.  We told them to put on lighter coats because it was nice out.  We didn’t realize that they didn’t have lighter coats that fit them.  They tried digging lighter coats out of this box of winter clothes, some fit, some didn’t.  We were happy that in the end they all had both a lighter jacket and a winter jacket.

We were not sure if this was the first time going on the CTA, but the children seemed to enjoy it (except for the baby, she was too sleepy to enjoy the ride).  The first thing we saw at the zoo was the seals, the family seemed thrilled to see him swimming and coming up for air.  With every exhibit they would come up to Liz and I and ask about the animals.  The children seemed to really love the snakes, crocodiles, seal, and monkeys especially.  They loved the monkey house and gorilla house! It was great seeing them laughing and the children running around.  The children loosened up with Liz and I a lot during this visit. The two boys would grab our hands and led us around the zoo, sometimes pulling us along.  When we got to the goat petting zoo area, the older boy refused to go in to pet the goats.  We had to persuade him to go, and Liz had to go in with the boys.  Once they got in, they seemed to enjoy it!

Liz’s mom and dad came with us to the zoo and packed us all a lunch.  The family seemed a little wary of the food, but things like fruit and chips they enjoyed! The children tried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, the baby girl seemed to enjoy it, but not the elder two boys.   The father seemed a little aloof during the zoo trip and lunch.  He hang back behind a lot, and didn’t seem to enjoy the food much, but he was very willing to learn about the animals and he loved watching the gorillas.

All in all, this trip was a great learning experience, and the family seemed to love it! We also got many great photos of the family and plan to print them for them and frame them.

On a negative side note, Liz and I were waiting to get into the families apartment building (we had to sneak in when someone opened the door),  with an immigrant woman from Africa and her child, two white men opened the door and left the building.  The little girl sneaked in between the two men. One of the men flipped out saying “that these ******* foreigners are lucky we open the door for them! They don’t deserve this…etc.” This upset Liz and I to no end, and we hope the immigrants that entered the building in with us does not face this often.

My partner and I returned to our family on Sunday around 4:15. We rang the doorbell once, twice, three times and there was no response. We waited around for five minutes and were on the verge of leaving, but we saw the mother come downstairs with her children. The oldest child ran towards the gates and opened it for us and then we all went into the building together.

While upstairs, we asked the mother for the supplies we were working with last week and decided that this week we would work on word structure, such as explaining long and short a’s in words. Spelling out teeth, then breaking it apart by saying “Tuh” “EEEHHH” “THH” then putting it all together. We realized that this was really helping her develop her language, as well as understanding of the language.
After about an hour at the house, we had been working on parts of the body and spelling. Her children were running around and messing with the flash cards as we were trying to teach, so I pulled out pen and paper and encouraged the eldest child to draw. While drawing, I saw that she was looking at the letters. I picked up the dry erase board with letters on it, and started saying “A” “B” “C” and so on.. she started repeating them back to me! This was the first time I had actually communicated with the child, her voice was adorable and she did not have much of an influence of her parent’s language. The work I did revolved around the formation of the mouth to say “N” and “M” but she understood through watching me speak. This was an amazing experience, to be teaching a child how to speak English was awesome. I really felt the importance of the work that we are doing.
During this experience, we lost the dry erase marker that we had brought, and the child was looking for it. I asked where the marker was and we were all visibly confused, we went searching through the apartment for it and had a good time laughing watching her crawl under a rug trying to find it. I was glad to see that she is understanding my questions, if it’s not necessarily happening through semantics, but through body language.
We also found out that the mother was taking classes up at Howard four times a week and it showed that there was amazing progress.
My partner and I left the apartment smiling, each time we visit, we feel as though we’re making more and more progress in their lives and we both discuss ways to improve our visit next time. The ability to communicate with the child has allowed us to open up and explore different areas of education in the future.
That’s all I have for now.

This week’s visit was a little different than usual as Teressa and I did the cooking. Since she and I have now tried Nepalese food, we asked the family if they would like us to make them some American food. (They always call it “English” food, haha). We weren’t sure what to bring, since hamburgers and hot dogs are usually viewed as typical American food, but the oldest daughter does not eat pork. I myself don’t care for those foods, either.

After some brainstorming, Teressa ended up bringing ingredients to make homemade pizza, complete with many vegetables to add on top. She also brought potatoes to make mashed potatoes, since we knew that the family ate potatoes, but not in mashed form. I brought a pumpkin pie in the spirit of fall harvest and Halloween. The youngest children enjoyed the homemade pizza, the older children were slightly unsure, and the adults decided against trying it. Everyone seemed to like the mashed potatoes, though. Finally, everyone liked the pumpkin pie.

When I was trying to explain how to make pumpkin pie to one of the aunts, she asked me why she had seen pumpkins all over her neighbor’s porches at this time of year. I said that Halloween was approaching. When she asked what we were celebrating on Halloween, I found myself a little stumped. I attempted to explain that the “day of the dead” occurs on November 1st, so the night before is considered the night when all the “unrested spirits” are out, but I wasn’t sure how to explain the significance of pumpkins, costumes, or candy.

The best part of this visit was the excitement that the children seemed to have about Halloween. Since they have never been trick-or-treating, Teressa and I decided to make a plan to come on Halloween and take the children to a few of the neighbor’s houses for candy. We decided to go at 5:00, so it wouldn’t be dark when taking the children around. I think I may be just as excited as the kids are!

We spent Saturday and Sunday morning with our refugee family. On Saturday, we met them at their apartment at 10 am. Waiting there was their other cultural broker, who they call their brother. We will call him Steve. Steve volunteers with our family through a church group, he met them a few weeks after they arrived at O’Hare. He is a grad student and an painter who studies religous art. He also lives just a few blocks from our family.
We all at lunch together, this wonderful curry that the mother cooked, with this peanut rice she’s cooked for us a few times. This rice is so delicous, i will have to get the recipe from her. I brought our family the picture from last week, which they liked very much. In turn, the showed us older pictures from when their son was just an infant and their daughter was ver young. The father showed me pictures of his students when he was principal of the school and also said he was a lot “weaker” then, but i think he meant to say thinner. He then showed us music videos his students had made in Nepal. Then their neices came over. Sunday was going to be their one niece’s birthday party, she was turning 11. She asked us to come as well. Even if i wanted to, i dont think i could have said no.

Sunday we met at the neices birthday party, just about 5 blocks away from our family’s apartment. The whole family was there. The father has 3 brothers in Chicago, as well as his mother. All of them and their families where there, as well as another group from our class who was assigned to one of the brother’s family. There was cake, music, and lots of food! They made these cicular cookies for one of their Hindu holidays coming up next week. I took lots more family pictures for them and the mother asked me to print a couple for next weekend. It’s my pleasure. Their family is so diverse and happy. Even the father’s mother, who didn’t speak more than a few sentences of english, was so nice to us. The young girls were dressed up for the party and were wearing make up too. They were so pretty and happy. I was so happy to be invited to their family celebration.

Our visit with our family tonight was a lot of fun! I think we are all getting a lot more comfortable with each other. It has been two weeks instead of one week since our last visit due to scheduling conflicts: me being out of town one weekend, my partner the next, and the kids are very involved in after school activities and church so it is sometimes a challenge to find a time that works for everyone. We are just taking it week by week and we try to set the time for our next visit at the end of each visit.

We spent time working on the children’s homework as usual, checking math problems and working on English vocabulary. The youngest boy is three years old and up until tonight I had not heard him speak much English. Tonight he kept pointing to a ton of different items and saying, “What is name?” I would tell him- that’s a phone, that’s a picture of a dog, that is an ear. My partner and I also spent time learning some words in their native Karen language. It’s quite a challenge! It is such a different language and it made me really think about how difficult it must be for refugees trying to learn English.

Tonight, the kids were very much getting in the Halloween spirit and they were asking us if we were going to dress up and what we were planning to do for Halloween. One of the younger girls is going to be a cow and one of the younger boys hasn’t decided what he is going to be yet. They are planning on trick-or-treating just inside their building and when we offered to come and trick-or-treat with them, they seemed very excited about the idea. We are planning on going over there Monday night, on Halloween, to go around with them. We thought it would also be fun to do some outside Halloween activity with them this weekend, so we are going to see if they would like to come to the LRO trick-or-treating event on the Loyola campus Sunday afternoon. I’m excited!

After our first mishap of trying to get into the apartment building it was heartwarming to find two of the younger children waiting for us in the lobby upon our arrival. We gathered from their panting that they had been looking for us out the window and ran down once we were in sight. The small gesture was exceedingly thoughtful.I have spent some time abroad and being faced with a language barrier is nothing new, but small considerations such as waiting for us at the door go a long way in helping to bridge those gaps.

We reconstructed our homework circle and miraculously I remembered enough from my high school math classes to be of some help with the eldest student’s assignment. I don’t know which one of us was more excited each time she completed a question correctly. Between my enthusiasm and her eagerness to learn it became like a game.

Sensing that he was missing out on some sort of excitement, the youngest boy promptly snuggled into my lap to see what was going on. Perhaps high school math isn’t as entertaining to him as it was to us so its no surprise that my cell phone became the center of attention, yet again. One of my best friends in Seattle later informed me that he received an entertaining voicemail that evening.

Somewhere in between “right angles and obtuse triangles” we were presented with coffee and cookies! The older daughters blushed with embarrassment and said they tried to tell their mother that coffee was a breakfast drink. Washing away their embarrassment my partner and I assured them that for college students, coffee is acceptable at any time of the day!

While coffee in and of itself is always more than enough (I live on coffee), my partner and I were showered with gifts of cookies, pictures, and even two bracelets. These small tokens of appreciation meant the world to me. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to get to know these kids. Each one is so bright and beautiful in their own way. I am inspired by their motivation and I cherish these interactions. However as comforting to them as it might be to have us there as “cultural brokers” and “homework helpers” we are learning equally as much from each of them.

As my partner and I approached the apartment building for the first time we were filled with questions and anticipations regarding the roadblocks we would potentially face. Would our family be able to speak English? Would the kids like us? What were we going to do? How long had they been in the United States? What were they going to think of us?

One roadblock we hadn’t considered was the difficulty of getting into the physical building. Upon our arrival we realized that there was no doorbell system. So after scrolling through the directory 3 times – all to no avail, we humbly asked help from two woman taking a smoke break outside. Thankfully they kindly let us in.

There was a combination of giggling/whispering and shuffling behind the apartment door following our anticipatory “knock.” A wave of relief passed over me as I heard the English phrase, “one minute!” While the children looked wide eyed and excited to see us someone must have forgotten to notify the sleeping family member in the front room. After some enthusiastic hellos and introductions the 5 kids lined up with their homework assignments. My partner and I took a “divide and conquer” approach.

For the next two hours eight of us circled around a lamp on the floor –the signature furniture piece in their welcoming living room. By the time the homework was finished the youngest boy (3 and half years old) discovered our cell phones. He placed several important calls in a garbled dialect that (judging from the laughter of his older siblings) did not translate to anything recognizable. While he constructed his own language I asked his mother to tell me a little bit about her native language. We had to ask her daughter (in high school) to assist us with a bit of translating, but I was able to repeat a couple basic words by the end of it.

As we bid the family goodnight and left the lively room my partner and I couldn’t help but smiling as we shared our excitement for future visits.

In preparation for meeting our family for the first time my partner and I really didn’t know what to expect. In fact, we weren’t even sure where we were going and who we were meeting.
We were given a phone number which we called and surprisingly the person who picked up spoke fairly good English. She told us where to go but the address didn’t match the one Dr. Amick had given us. We were confused because we were standing outside of what we thought was the right address which had taken us about a half an hour to find. Either way we went to the address she told us and found out that the lady we had been talking to was a translator and not part of our refugee family. However, she knew them well and turned out to be very helpful since it was our first time meeting the family. On arrival we met the father of the family who took us upstairs to their apartment. We were told that it was a large family and that there would be a good number of children but on this occasion it was just the father and one of his older daughters in the house. With the help of the translator we discovered that the rest of the family was at another house nearby which happened to belong to another one of his daughters. For an hour we sat and talked about when we would meet each week, what we were planning on doing each week, and other things regarding the nature of our visits. One thing that was extremely evident was the father’s eagerness to learn English. It seemed like every other sentence the translator said was about how he wanted to learn the language. The fact that he was so ambitious was encouraging because it made me feel like all the things we were planning on teaching the family about the language wouldn’t be in vain because they wanted to learn so bad. After figuring out a schedule we talked a little about Burma and also a little bit about how different it was in comparison to Chicago. Once we ran out of small talk we said our goodbyes and left with a better understanding of what we were doing and what to expect.

On Sunday, Nikki, my boyfriend, and I took our family to Lincoln Park Zoo. All in all I think things went as smoothly as can be. There was a brief hitch in our plans at the beginning because the baby refused to put on shoes for a while, but then she quieted down and we were ready to take a ride on the Red Line. We had a few 1-day passes provided to us by Dr. Amick and showed them how to get on the train. After one bus transfer we were there!

The first animal we saw was a lone seal swimming in circles, which the mom got a huge kick out of! We met my parents there for a picnic lunch – my parents provided sandwiches, fruit salad, chips, and drinks. The sandwiches weren’t an easy concept and I don’t think our family liked them very much, but then again I don’t think they were very hungry to begin with. My parents tried to reach out to our family as much as they could, even learning how to say “good afternoon” in Karen beforehand, which I think was appreciated. Still, they were very shy, especially the father.

The boys especially had a great time – their favorites were the monkey house and the reptile/small mammal house. They kept wanting to hold our hands as we walked around the zoo – so cute! We took some great pictures which we are going to print out and frame for them. I think the zoo was a success!

This is my first blog and I am not completely sure why.  I think it was because I had kind of a slow start with my family and I wasn’t sure what to say.  Today was our third visit and I definitely felt more comfortable.  The first week we went was ok.  There was a pastor there at first who translated a bit for us and then we were on our own.  We ate and read a few books and helped with homework, but that was it.  The second time we went the family wasn’t home and on our third attempt we got a flat tire on the way.  Finally last week we managed to catch them at home and spend time with them.  This time however was very interesting.  There was another volunteer there and she had brought clothes and games so I kind of felt inadequate in aiding them.  Her presence there did ease some awkwardness though as she had been visiting them longer.  That experience was fun, but it was more interacting with the other volunteer than the refugees themselves.  Today was different though.  Today we helped with homework and played and read books.  In general I think everyone was just more relaxed.  I  think it will definitely be easier to go back next week.

I was very excited to go to see my family yesterday since I had not been able to see them for nearly two weeks because I had been out of town and then there were communication problems the last time I tried to visit. Today, when I arrived at my family’s apartment, even before entering, from the door, I heard a lot of laughing, talking, and some voices that did not belong to my family. When my family opened the door, I saw that they had two guests over: a friendly Nepali man, who turned out to be a friend from the ECAC, and a younger boy, who turned out to be a cousin. I didn’t know that my family had other relatives in Chicago and I was surprised that I had never even thought to ask! I had never seen my family so lively and talkative before. The mother was laughing and poking fun of her guests, the younger daughter who is normally quiet was joking with her cousin, and even the father who is very quiet was smiling and said a few words. I was very happy to see this side of my family and to know that they are starting to build a little network of friends and family in Chicago.

I had brought along a few CTA day passes for the family and hoped to take the family out on an outing yesterday. I suggested either the zoo or the library. The family friend, who has been in Chicago for a year, said the zoo would be more fun. The family friend really impressed me with how well he understood the CTA; he knew which buses and trains to get anywhere in Chicago and before I could whip out my iPhone to find directions to the zoo, he had told me. He told me that he used to buy a CTA day pass and just ride around on days he didn’t have work to better understand Chicago; his motivation and eagerness to learn were really good to see. And so, at his suggestion, my family bundled up to head to the zoo. The mother stayed home though because she wanted to keep entertaining the guests and because she gets motion sickness on buses and trains.

It wasn’t until we were half way to the zoo that I checked my iPhone and found out that the zoo was about to close. I felt terrible that I had gotten my family to come out and now had nowhere to take them. At the last minute, though, I saw that we were heading towards Lincoln Park anyways and remembered one of my favorite cupcake places. I asked my family if they had ever tried a cupcake before and they said no. And so, we kept riding the bus until we reached Molly’s cupcakes. There, the four of us split three cupcakes. The chocolate cupcake was too rich for them, but they really enjoyed the carrot cake cupcake. I tried to tell them that there are many different neighborhoods in Chicago and that we were now in Lincoln Park, an area that is pretty different from both Rogers Park and the other part of Chicago that they’d been to, Downtown. After eating, we grabbed one of the Scrabble games that is often lying around in Molly’s. We didn’t play by the rules (I don’t even play by the rules on my own haha!), and we just dumped the letters onto the board and raced to see who could make the most words. The eldest daughter loved the game and snatched up pieces to make words faster than all of us. The dad was a bit slower but he spelt his name and a few animal names. The younger daughter was also a good sport. The word that she chose to make right away was “family.”

After 3 rounds of fake Scrabble, we grabbed the bus to head home since the mom had called and said she was waiting for them to eat dinner. I hope my family had a good time on our outing even though it didn’t go as planned.