The Importance of Flexibility by Kana Miyakawa

What should we do when we face adversity? …  I learned one of the ways to handle adversity through this program. The first time I went to ActivCare, it was totally different than I expected. I thought I could communicate with the elderly residents at ActivCare and we could understand each other. I thought I could gain something special from elderly people because they have lived longer than I have. One of the workers introduced a woman who can only speak Japanese to us. So we started to talk to her, and after about 3 hours, I realized the symptoms of their disease. I understood what disease they had before I went, but I saw it in practice. We talked about the same thing again and again and again. We repeated the same conversation several times. In addition, she spoke a random mix of Japanese and English. We were confused by such a thing and that day; I was exhausted from volunteering. A few days later, I rethought about that volunteering. I don’t want to quit anything halfway, including this situation. I thought that I should overcome such problems that I faced one by one.  People cannot do 3 different things at the same time, so I decided to try one thing per day. It is a better solution than to trying to solve all the problems in one breath. One day, I tried to talk to at least 3 elderly people. Another day, I tried to find a new thing. Another day, I went to ActivCare and I was glad to talk to a woman who was smiling while sitting in her wheelchair. My heart was moved by such a small thing. Really, with just a smile I could change my mind not to think about what I have to do or I hate, but to think about what I can do or I love. So, going back to the question, I learned that I should be flexible in the face of adversity.

Secondly, have you ever wondered if your work is really needed? You might have thought about this question when you did some monotonous task.  For KFG, the jobs are not hard. We just did things like cutting and peeling vegetables, packing and sealing 3 or 4 kinds of meals in a box, and finally cleaning up the kitchen. Sometimes, it was a little difficult for me to cut hard vegetables like carrots and melons. Once, I came up with the question “do they need me?” I thought hard about this question. I think most people have an experience of thinking about this question. Even if the tasks are simple and small, they need volunteers to help them. They need manpower. “Many hands make light work”. In other words, small things could become big one if they are gathered together. I realized this when I watched one of the videos in this class about how to start a movement. I was so impressed by this video. The main point of the video might be different from my topic, but I realized that this mindset is also the message of the video. It could connect with many other things in society. The work of each person might be small, but seen from a broad view, every part is important.

Finally, I realized two important things for me through this program. The first thing is to be flexible. You should be adaptable to do anything, but not completely changing. There are two type of things in this world, what you can change and what you cannot change. Everyone has their own priorities that must not change whatever happens… so you have to judge what is best for you. The second thing is that small things could add up to make a big difference. The power of one person might not be strong, but the power of 100 people who are doing the same action can make an impact.

The Valuable Things I Have Gotten Through Volunteering by Hyun Ock Kim

A long time ago, a person looked up unintentionally at the stars in the sky. He was gazing at the stars, and then he began connecting the stars. This is a story from which the constellations such as Orion and The Big Dipper were born. When I heard this story, I thought that people have always been desiring to connect things and to create something from nothing. Now I’m looking back at the past and doing the same thing with my life.

Actually I had no idea about volunteering before I really did it. I just wanted a new experience and to meet people, so AESL seemed like a good choice for me. I thought that the advantage of AESL would be doing activities outside class and helping other people. At the same time, I needed a new way to learn English. However, I was wrong. What I got from the program was much more than that.

First, I had a chance to meet a lot of good people. For example, when I went to Kitchens For Good, which distributes meals to feed at-risk youth and the elderly, I got to meet the staff and other volunteers. All the people at KFG were so nice and kind. Even though they have to prepare meals for hundreds of people every day, they never looked tired. When I went there we did things like cutting carrots, peeling potatoes and washing grapes. While we were working together, I could feel fellowship with the other volunteers. I remember an American lady I met. She told me things about Korean culture that I didn’t know, so I was surprised because she made me discover my own country.

Second, it reminded me about the importance of time and memories in life. My other community partner is Activcare, which is an organization that cares for elderly people with memory loss. I met with seniors once a week. Whenever I went there, I couldn’t help thinking about the course of their whole life and their pursuit of truth and meaning. The seniors and I played games and talked about things. I can’t speak English very well, but I was continuously reminded that they need to be stimulated by someone. Everybody is growing old in this moment. To get older is to need help. We often forget that fact. We don’t know who will lose their memory, but everyone knows that we will get old. I was reminded again that we should always do our best to live in the moment.

Lastly, I changed my impression of volunteering. I thought that volunteering could only be done by special people who have a lot of time, talents and money. Now I realize that anyone can do volunteering if you want to. Also, in addition to giving something to others, volunteers can take something from the experience as well. Through volunteering I could feel welcome and useful in the community.

I know now that people can’t live alone. Even though I don’t need help from anyone at the moment, that situation could change. Now I know that life is better with other people.

This will not be the end for me. I hope it will just be the beginning.

It is like stars being given another name from the millions of stars in the sky, by connecting them to each other with a line.

Make a Move by Moeka Sumi

I had many good experiences through AASL. Actually, I couldn’t make up my mind which class to take before I chose this class, because I didn’t have confidence in my English. However, I thought that if I went through some difficulties, I could improve my English skills and get good experiences. That was true. The class and volunteering were not easy for me, but I learned a lot of valuable things. One of them is the importance of making a move by myself.

This is one of my experiences when I volunteered. My work was just watching children playing. Actually I didn’t have to do anything special and I hesitated to speak to anyone at first, but I realized that was not good volunteering. So I tried to speak to children and praise their drawings. Then, the children smiled and responded to me, and one of them gave me a picture she drew. She said “for you.” It made me really happy. At that time I learned that making a move by myself brings me good results. 

To be honest, this program was tough for me, but I felt a sense of accomplishment in my mind after I coped with difficulties, and I could become more mature than before. In addition, I have built up a little confidence in my English. From now on I will try to act more purposefully, and I believe good things will come back to me.

A Valuable Experience by Wanseop Kim

Taking the AASL program was a valuable memory for me. Before taking this program I just wanted to have new experiences in San Diego through volunteering. While volunteering, however, I could get a great sense of achievement from the fact that I could please someone with my small acts.

For example, I volunteered for Kitchens for Good. I helped to make lunch boxes for children every Monday. It was not that hard. I cut some vegetables, peeled fruit, and made fruit salads. Although it was easy, when I saw a picture of a kid laughing while eating the lunch box, I was really happy. I knew this is the reason why volunteering is important for our society.

Moreover, not only volunteering, but also watching videos, discussing questions, and reading articles in class was really helpful for me. Especially the video about leaders and followers was impressive. After watching the video, I could understand the crucial role of the first follower in order to make a lone leader into a real leader.

In conclusion, because of the AASL program I could feel a great sense of fulfilment this session, so if you want to make unforgettable memories you should take this program.

3 Reasons You Should Take AASL by Deokhee Lee

I have been San Diego for 8 months and I have taken 3 quarters in UCSD Extension. Even though I was taking another program, I wondered about the AASL program because I wanted to improve my English skills through volunteering and communicating with native speakers.

Now, after 8 weeks of taking to the program, I realized that AASL program is not only for learning English. The AASL program is the most fantastic program in UCSD Extension for 3 reasons.

First of all, you can learn how to feel happiness from volunteering. Actually, I was not into volunteering, so I did volunteer in Korea (except for school grades). However, this is changed. When I realized an ordinary person like me could help others, I found the reason why people do voluntary work. The reason is happiness. It is very hard to explain, but if you see the other people happy through your volunteering, you will know what I’m talking about now.

Secondly, you can get opportunities to improve your English skills. If you go to a volunteer location, usually you can volunteer with Americans. As you know, communicating with native speakers is the best way to learn English. In my case, I can speak English much better than before because of this reason. I endeavored to communicate with them. If you put in an effort, you can be successful like me.

Last of all, you can make friends who are nice and kind. I heard that “Bad people don’t volunteer” from Dr. Lindsay, one of our AASL guest speakers. I don’t know what others will think of this sentence, but I agree entirely. Everyone I met during my volunteer work was all kind and nice. For instance, my classmates. I think my service learning family are the nicest people in our school. For these reasons, if you take the AASL program in the future, you can get great opportunities, and have meaningful time with volunteering.

The Real Meaning of Volunteering by Emerson Ferrandini

I was mistaken about the meaning of volunteerism. At first, I started volunteering expecting that I would help either people or communities by donating my skills and my knowledge; however, at the end of the 40 hours of getting new experiences in different areas, I realized that I learned not only much more than I was expecting but also I could understand the real meaning of volunteering.

For 8 weeks, I had different experiences such as doing food distribution to poor families, beach cleaning, and getting together with seniors with memory loss and Alzheimer’s. Every activity taught me at least one valuable lesson. People can always amaze us, especially if we are able to break the habit of stereotyping others before we really know them.

One of the main lessons I have learned from volunteering is that the most valuable benefit we can donate is not our skills or our knowledge, but it is our time. Therefore, at the end of this unique experience, I have learned that by donating our time to the others we can understand that the real meaning of volunteering is to learn and understand more about ourselves as humans.

What I Want to Tell Future Students by Hiromasa Aramaki

Through AASL volunteering, I could experience a lot of things. I think the experiences are going to become assets. I engaged in volunteering which is focused on tutoring refugee children in math, grammar or science. 

When I went to class for the first time, I absolutely remember that I was so upset and nervous because I did not have confidence to teach something in English. But a little bit later I recognized that it did not matter. Almost all of the kids were so talkative, positive, and tried to listen to me carefully. I was so impressed by their motivation, attitude and curiosity. I can again recognize the importance of attitude, positive thinking, curiosity, and challenge through this volunteer experience.

Fortunately, some kids remembered me after my first time there, and they began to talk to me more freely. I could make good relationships with kids and talk about many things with them. It was a good experience for me!

In AASL we can get information about prickly topics and learn a lot. For instance, I learned about race in class. Actually in Japan I did not think about race. So it was so stimulating. In addition to this, I could learn about stereotypes. Through this class, I could break my lens and avoid stereotyping.

Finally what I want to tell future AASL students is that if you take AASL, you can experience wonderful things and break a lot of negative things through volunteering and classes. I think the experience greatly serves our future.