Also on this day, 1 out of the 3 Volunteer work at the not-for-profit organizations had to be done. The group I'm with got assigned to the Senior Citizens Center.
Not much to say because I myself was mentally struggling for conversation topics. There are personal steps of doom imho to interacting w/ senior citizens:
1. Think of a question/topic.
2. Think of how to phrase it. Make it gender, race, chronological jargon and just generally appropriate.
3. Say it slowly and loudly.
4. Ninety percent of the time, I had to repeat myself at least twice. They either ask me to repeat or give me a totally irrelevant answer -- which would mean they heard me wrong.
5. Wait for an answer.
It was so difficult, I tell you. I remember in my Speech100 class, Dr. Patricio Lazaro opened up this emerging field of Speech Communication, Geriatrics Communication. I could've used some Geriatric Comm 101 pointers.
Well, apart from conversational gray areas for me, I did have fun from middle towards the end of that trip. I had Junior and Clyde listen to my iPod. I had some Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles in there thankfully. I had The Beatles too, but they're not Beatles enthusiasts.
Let me show you some photos
Junior loved to dance, and to every song I played he was tapping his feet, snapping his fingers and playing aerial imaginary drums. He called it his "boogy woogie". Adorable right? Then, I read a fable to Clarence, talked to Josie about food and asked everyone else about their family in Carbondale.
I'm happy I didn't hear some heartbreaking circumstance where the elderly aren't being helped by their kids anymore. That's especially sad for me because in Filipino culture, you will almost never hear anyone sending their parents/grandparents to retirement homes or senior citizens centers. Always, a family member stays at home with the related elderly.
0 comments:
Post a Comment