NASST AYS 2012 --- Hello from Chicago!

What up from Chicago?! The Asian Youth Services team arrived in the windy city yesterday afternoon excited and ready to go, although a little tired. We stopped by the AYS center and had a one-on-group meeting with Shari, the director, and planned out our agenda for the week. All of us are super excited to be working with the kids next week.  Tomorrow will be our first official day with them!


Today was our day off, so we took a train down to the city to walk the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Avenue) and visit the Millennium Park. To the right is the Chicago Bean!

Before we left the city, we stopped by at the Cheesecake Factory and bought the most amazingly delicious cheesecake in the world! (For a hefty price of course.) We would all definitely recommend it to anyone who ventures to the city!

Back at the hotel, avoiding the incoming rain, we're having our very first Education & Training session with our E&T person, Christina! Afterwards, we're going to enjoy a movie night --- Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is on the queue.

Also... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNIE!

In our E&T session, since we weren't all able to make it to the NASST picnic, we talked about what we hoped to gain from the trip, what we were nervous about, and what we were excited about.  Here's some of our thoughts:

• I hope to gain an understanding of the people in the area and being able to see myself make a difference in the community. I'm excited to work with the kids and being able to make them happy! :) I'm nervous about being awkward or doing something wrong.
• During the trip, I hope to gain an experience of more responsibility and independence in helping others through this trip, and hopefully pursue more trips like this in the future. I'm really excited to work with the kids because they seem adorable. :) I'm nervous for potentially running into issues and not wanting to disappoint anyone.
• I hope to gain more experience with working with children from different backgrounds. I'm nervous about interacting with the children and the amount of space we are given to interact with them. I'm excited to get to know my NASST members and share this experience with them. I love volunteering!!!
• I hope to gain a better understanding of a different type of Asians than the stereotypical smart, wealthy Asians I am familiar with. I am looking forward to all the joy the children can bring me and I am nervous that I am not very good with kids.
• From this volunteering trip, I hope to gain experience with service learning and volunteering in an entirely different community.  I am nervous that I might say the wrong thing. I am really excited to finally to see all the work that we put in in action!