Title: I'm kind of scared to plan things?/Yay Holidays!
My group members who attend are not punctual beings and every week I sit in East Quad Café and think, this will be the week that I write the blog post entitled "One is the Loneliest Number." It still hasn't happened but it runs through my head every week when the clock strikes 5:11 and still no one has showed up.
I know it's not good to dwell on what ifs but the volatility of participants each week can be a little disconcerting and makes me scared to plan things. I've got this whole thing planned for next week where we are going to watch a movie and eat food and it's like this special thing and I sent an email out asking them to tell me if they're coming so I can prepare and only one girl has responded. I'm pretty sure I can count on two more, but it makes me nervous? And makes me less likely to plan things because I just get so worried about them falling through. And it's not just a chat café issue, but how do you get college students to do anything??!! For a group of people who are supposed to be young and impassioned and whatever we're an apathetic bunch, especially when people try to plan nice things for us. Makes me truly sorry for RAs. Sorry, this got a bit off topic...
Back to chat café stuff! I had a really lovely meeting last week talking about different holiday customs with two of my group members. We talked about dividing time between family and traditional foods, what traditional gifts were and so on. Talks like these remind me just how glad I am to be doing chat cafés because I learn so much (and I hope my group members do too)! While I had heard of the moon cakes before traditionally eaten at the Autumn Fest I didn't even know that there was a Spring Festival, or that it was significantly more important than Autumn festival. It was so cool too to see the similarities between our traditions. I explained how now since my sister is married she and her husband have to divide their holidays up between their families. They said that their families did that too and they would spend either Autumn or Spring Festivals with their mom's family one year and dad's family the next and vice versa.
Yes Yes! I feel the same way! I'm scared to plan elaborate things with groups that have shaky attendance. I usually dont get home till after circle so if I have to bring props or something, I usually carry it around all day. I also feel bad for RA's, but I feel like that is different. We didn't really sign up to go to their events, and a lot of them we seriously can't make. I think college students just over commit themselves and end up dropping things later. I'm an America Reads tutor too and my team started with 4 members and one of them quit and one of them has been absent for a past month. I find this crazy because America Reads is a job and we made a commitment to help the children, but I guess sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Ever since I started cafe chat facilitating, I've been more aware of how long it takes those nice events people plan for us.
ReplyDeleteYes Yes! I feel the same way! I'm scared to plan elaborate things with groups that have shaky attendance. I usually dont get home till after circle so if I have to bring props or something, I usually carry it around all day. I also feel bad for RA's, but I feel like that is different. We didn't really sign up to go to their events, and a lot of them we seriously can't make. I think college students just over commit themselves and end up dropping things later. I'm an America Reads tutor too and my team started with 4 members and one of them quit and one of them has been absent for a past month. I find this crazy because America Reads is a job and we made a commitment to help the children, but I guess sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Ever since I started cafe chat facilitating, I've been more aware of how long it takes those nice events people plan for us.
ReplyDeleteI have actually learned that the best way to motivate basically anyone is "free food". Free food can get me to any event, but only awesome free food. (It's not reasonable for you to always provide goodies-- that is not what I am suggesting). I'm sorry about the sucky attendance rate you have, but I love how you enjoy the cultural exchange as well. Sometimes, I think I'm getting more cultural knowledge from them then they are getting from me about the US! Literally, there is so much that they are willing to share with me about their home and national cultures, and I love it. Glad it's happening to you, too!
ReplyDelete