Reflection #1

My first time at the senior center was pretty wonderful. It made me miss my great-grandpa and great-grandma a lot. It also made me miss my Grandma Sandra and Grandma Norma as well as Norma’s 5 other sisters.  They are the most wonderful people and I felt right at home at the senior center. That may be because I dress like an old woman almost every day. I am so excited to go back. I found it so easy to talk to the women at my table about the book and short story as well as share how they reminded me of my own life. I am always grateful when I see seniors living life to the fullest. I loved that the women I talked to didn’t see themselves as “old”. I was very nervous at first when going to the senior center, the idea of taking the bus to a place I had never been too and then meeting an unknown number of new people was terrifying. I knew one thing for sure and that was that I really enjoyed the book we read. I found it relatable and fully and truthful. I wish we were able to go to the senior center more than once a month, I think it’s so great. I can already tell this class is going to be such a good experience and will create more of a sense of home and community here in Oakland. All four years of high school I was the student representative for my areas Town Council in San Diego, it gave me such a great opportunity to work with people of all ages and being at the senior center has made me realize I miss it. Not the meetings that lasted way too long, not lack of organization but I miss talking to people from outside my inner circle. I think being out in the community of Oakland someone will be very beneficial for me. Somehow our first visit made me more homesick and less homesick at the same time. I really appreciated that it was so easy to get to from school and so easy to get back. It has already been such a good experience and I am so excited for the rest of the semester, I am excited to read more, I am excited to meet new people in this class, I am ready to learn from people who are different than me. I feel so lucky to have the chance to take this class knowing that other schools don’t have this as an option, we are so lucky to have this experience.