"Hey! Psstt...ladies! Wake up! You guys wanted to shower, remember??"
Seventeen minutes later, we were showered, dressed, and ready to go. Phew! We joined the guys and piled into the car to drive to Faith in Christ Ministries, where we would help prepare breakfast for 40-50 people and sack lunches for another 150. Pastor Joe and his wife, Gwen, were our hosts and they immediately put us to work making coffee, frying potatoes, making turkey gravy and slicing onions for...breakfast...
It actually turned out to be really good. We set up tables all along the side of the church's community center and brought a plate out to each one, sitting down to eat with them and getting to know some of the people who visit Faith in Christ ministries every Saturday morning.
After cleaning up and helping out with a few more things at the church, we said goodbye to the Pastor and his wife and headed over to Grandview Retirement Hotel, a local nursing home, for the second part of our morning.
The folks at Grandview enjoy younger people coming to visit them once in awhile, and one of their favorite games is usually Bingo. We brought some little prizes for them, (candy, soap, picture frames, perfume/cologne, chapstick, etc.), and got started calling the numbers! Or, I should say, Gatra got started calling the numbers. Amy sorted the numbers, and Jasmine, Justin, and I spread out to play with them at different tables.
Gatra began to lose his voice, and I was too impatient to wait long enough to win, so we switched places and I tried my hand at number-calling. It was fun to see how excited they got when calling out Bingo! I got a Bingo!!
 |
| Left to Right: Jasmine Pagaduan, our host Sarah, Amy Rudra, Gatra Suhari, and Justin Tuot. |
By the time we were done, we were super hungry and just HAD to stop by McDonald's for hot fudge sundaes...of course. We did get healthy food when we got back to CSM, though, along with about an hour of chill time before our next assignment. We spent it singing silly songs and reflecting on what we'd done throughout the morning.
Wyvernwood Garden Apartments is on the nicer side of the complexes we've seen around here, and it's mostly full of hispanic families with kids running around everywhere. For the next two hours, we played soccer and freeze tag with them, trying to hide the huffing and puffing of college students who've forgotten how intense a playground obstacle course can be...
When we all stopped for a water break, one of the four-year-olds, Diego, decided to teach us how to "shuffle". It was the cutest thing ever! We told them we had to go, but that we'd be back several more times throughout the week to continue our games together.
On our way to dinner, we made a quick detour to Griffith Park Observatory, which some of us had never seen before. It was gorgeous! We got there just as the sun was setting over the L.A. skyline and all of the city lights started flickering on. The group may or may not have had to tear me away from the view in the interest of food...
Dinner was at "Zankou Chicken", an Armenian spot on the way home. The meat on a spit and salty yogurt drinks reminded Justin and I of our food experiences while visiting Turkey with the Honors Program. We all had a satisfying meal full of pita, falafels, hummus and garlic paste, (and the rest of our conversations tonight were held at a healthy distance away).
The rest of the evening has been spent in the general living room area, relaxing, writing, and singing with Gatra's guitar and Justin's ukelele. Hopefully, we'll get to sleep a little earlier tonight, so that we won't have to begin tomorrow the way we began today...
No comments:
Post a Comment