It's early December. Christmas music is everywhere, people greet each other with the question,"what's your plan for Christmas holiday?" I just hope I won't get disgusting after the whole month of Chrismas music.
The weather at Buffalo this year is much more normal than last year. It snows a lot and pretty windy, but not that cold.
I started my Internship in the Red Cross Greater Buffalo Chapter. It surprised me that Red Cross here is not as small as I imagined. They did a lot of things to the commmunity, making use of the networking and database a lot. Besides, You will find many volunteers working inside just like employees.
Haha, I am on my way~
PS1: This mansion is where I'm working. How awesome, right?
PS2: Actually, I love to intern here. Not mentioning the solid and comfortable building (oh yes, my department is located in the penthouse of the building), my boss let me participate all the meetings and several projects. It feels good that she trusts me in everything, and only asks for finishing my job in time without asking me to go to work or get off the work on time. I felt good about it.
PS3: I started to think of putting on the lipstick and wearing the skirt in working environment. Well, for me, this is the first time I though of this automatically and seriously. How long will it last? I don't know yet ...
PS4: The article below is one of my first jobs in my internship. It's about my experiences as a volunteer, and will be put on their newsletter. Check it out!!
Experiences of a Volunteer
Why do you want to be a volunteer? How do you know this information? What does the volunteer look like? What’s the feeling as a volunteer? Those are the questions confronted when people knew I am a volunteer in LIFE Project at Red Cross, especially with an identity as an international student in University at Buffalo.
I was a volunteer when I was in Taiwan, but I never thought of that I could do this in America. This opportunity was open to me when I was having a BBQ with friends. One of my friends was dressed in a Red Cross tee shirt and said she just came from the volunteer services of Red Cross. What a good opportunity for me! I could do something good to help people, have the experiences in American life and opportunity to speak English.
I was so eager to be a volunteer at the Red Cross. I called the LIFE Project immediately and hoped to work as soon as possible. Before getting on board, I needed to have a training class first. The class did benefit me. The instructor warned the volunteers to protect themselves by not violating some rules, such as not providing home phone numbers to the elderly we served (we called them our clients), nor helping where money is concerned. Finally, I started my visits of my clients.
I had four clients my first month. Not all of them were smooth, but I learned some lessons and gained the experience. My first client was a nice couple; both of them are suffering back pains, which keeps them from doing some housekeeping. I helped them with cleaning all the shelves in the kitchen. Obviously, they had their own way how to arrange things because they re-arranged the shelves when I was done. But I learned their ways quickly. That pleased them, they even asked me to have tea after the visit and they gave me several rosaries as a blessing. I didn’t have the best luck with my second client. I was an hour late because I got lost.
My third and fourth clients were all men living independently. It’s really amazing that they took such a good care of themselves. They actually did not need housekeeping help. As one of them said, “Well, you’re not professional cleaners, we couldn’t ask you to do that.” The only thing I could say was, “Then you can give me suggestions to do your housekeeping better.” I found what they really do need is having people talk to them, care for them, and listen to them.
My friends said that it’s good of me to do such a thing to help people and to make them happy. However, I am finding that I am the one who gets the most benefit. The advice and wisdom I receive from them by talking and spending time with them I can use for the rest of my life while they only have my help one afternoon a month.
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