Thursday, December 6, 2007

not meeting my little this week

this week we had a party for the parents and the teachers. Last week my little told me that him and his family were going to Chicago so they wouldn't be able to come. As sad as this was to not have seen my little this week, I did use that time wisely. It was a nice break in my normal routine to get to do a little extra work for finals. Britta and I did make taco dip for all the bigs, their littles and the littles families and teachers. I hope everyone enjoyed it and it was an awesome party. I'm going to miss my little over break but hopefully this time away will build stories to tell each other when we meet again. Growing closer with my little is great and I enjoy talking to him and lets hope we can continue down that path next semester too.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

another field trip to Winona

My buddy was pretty excited this time coming to Winona because he was going to get to see a bit more of the school. Last time he was here he only got to talk to an adviser really. We got ice cream and my buddy got . I think that he liked that. Then we went to the library which he was excited to see. He didn't get to see it last time and although he didn't find as much joy in it as some of the littler littles he did see to like it and be amazed with its size. Then we moved into Stark hall which I was excited for my buddy to see since he wants to be a doctor. He wanted to pet the iguanas and see the snake just as badly as the little ones did. Hopefully this visit gets him excited to go to college. I believe Jamie talked to him a little about scholarships which I'm sure he qualifies for. That would be fantastic. Hopefully one day I will get to see him here. Thats when I know that bringing him here was all worth it.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

chillin with the buddy

Martin brought his homework today. That was a first. I wish I could have helped him with it. I never got that far in math. He's really smart. after that we went to the computer lab so I could show him some of my photos online since I didn't have any hard copies. He seemed pretty interested but not all that much. He thinks he's going to be able to come to Winona to visit again but he's not too sure with working if he's going to be able to or not. He seems to be more shy around me now than he was. Thats sad. Maybe it just wasn't a great day.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Halloween

This week there were a lot of activities. We painted pumpkins and made skull bracelets to finish up the visit. I feel like ever since the time he came here, I have been more connected to my buddy. He talks to me more willingly to me now. I don't feel like I have to probe him to talk to me anymore. This is a huge step for me and it make me so happy! I'm becoming closer and he feels like he can confide in me now. It feels fantastic. I look more forward to our visits each time. I can't wait til next week.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

interview

I'm planning on interviewing a health teacher from Winona Senior High

Friday, October 19, 2007

another week with my buddy

This week was similar to others. My buddy never has homework. He says he does it all during study hall. While we were playing games this week he was talking to me a little bit about what he plans on doing after high school. I guess I must have misunderstood him on our first meeting when he said he didn't know if he wanted to go to college. He actually wants to be a doctor and what I thought was him not wanting to go to college was mixed up with him not knowing what college he wanted to go to. He seems excited to talk to people in Winona next week to find out if he could go here for his premed. Which would be great for him. I'm excited to for him to have a great experience for him to help decide where he needs to get and what will be the best place for him to go after high school. During our visit we played some card games and checkers which he kicked my butt at. But during our games, well the card games, we got to talking which was really nice. I'm so glad he is becoming more comfortable with me. Thats really great news for me!

Friday, October 5, 2007

the break through

This time was truly a break through. I brought my pop culture game and we played, my buddy, Britta, her little, Sara and her little. It was a blast. We laughed so hard I cried. It started with Sara having to act out Darth Vader and after that it was just down hill. It funniest part of the entire game was my buddy having to act out Shrek and him getting on the ground to act out the donkey! wow was that ever funny! This was the first time that we were together that he seemed comfortable and to be having fun with me. That was an excellent ice breaker, I'm so glad that I brought it! I hope next time goes equally as well

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Week 3

Hanging out with my buddy was a little more relaxed this time. We only sat around playing jacks. He really didn't want to do anything else and after the playground incident last week I thought this was the safer bet. He was better than me at it too. We played Jacks with Britta and her little and later Sarah and her little. It was fun but I would have liked to do something else a little later, but my buddy was just fine doing that. At the end of the day when he left, he promised to bring homework and talk to me more the next time we hung out. It seems like he might be opening up to me a little more which is great news!

Community based project
  • My community based project is going to be knowledge Latinos have about contraceptives since it cant be taught in public schools.
  • This study is significant because contraceptives and birth control can be used to prevent unwanted pregnancy and STDs. Latinos as well as everyone else should have this knowledge to make and educated decision on what the best choice is for them
  • I plan on going about this study by interviewing an even number of male and female Lations that are in high school, asking them what they know about contraceptives and how they learned what they know. Hopefully this wont be too uncomfortable for anyone.

Friday, September 21, 2007

second meeting with my buddy

This time in St. Charles everyone excepts Sara's little showed up. That includes mine. This time I didn't want to play basketball. I just wanted to hang out and get to know a little more about my buddy. He's still a little shy around me, I'm beginning to wonder if it's just me or if he tends to be quiet in general. We, Britta, her little, my buddy and I, headed outside with the chalk to find something to do out there. We started drawing with the chalk while we were talking. My buddy told me that he does intend on going to college after high school but he hasn't started looking at any schools yet. That's great because the first time that I met him he said he didn't know if he was going to college or not. Well we continued to talk a little while we were drawing. Hobbies and things we like to do in our free time came up. After a little bit we saw these little girls jumping on this like teeter toter type thing with tires underneath. Obviously, I wanted to try it out. My buddy didn't want to go on it with me but Britta's did. I should have known this was going to be a bad idea. He's a trickster. So we got on this thing and started bouncing, it was pretty fun until he wound up and jumped, skyrocketing me into the air. My buddy thought that was the funnies thing in the whole world. He wanted me to go back and do it again. It was NOT fun for me though, it scared me. well after I got off that dangerous toy we sat back down and continued to talk some more. I learned that me and my little listen to the same genre of music, Hip Hop. That is just awesome. Now I have something to talk to him about a little bit. He didn't bring his homework so I couldn't help him with that. After we got a little bored of sitting around doing nothing but talking, we moved inside and played Jenga until it was time for them to go.

I kind of hope that he brings his homework next time because I know that helping him with that is part of my job, but if he doesn't bring it I can't help him do it. I'm glad I got to know my buddy a little more. I can't wait until next week!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

the first meeting with my big little

We first got to St. Charles and had to wait for our "littles" to show up. Some didn't show and I was worried that this would be the same story with my "little". Fortunately this was not the case. Knowing that my little was the oldest, when I saw a tall boy walk in I knew my little had arrived. I was really nervous because he was an older match. I know that sometimes I hit rough spots with my 16 year old brother, I was worried that this would happen. That was not the case. He was pretty shy at first but he was more than happy to make fun of me and my pin ball skills. After playing pin ball soccer we moved outside with his brother and Britta to play a little basketball. When we got out there the game changed from horse to boy vs. girls. I hadn't played since 7th grade so I was a little rusty, but we still whooped the boys! It was a good time. My big little, lets just call him my buddy instead, stepped on my foot and there was a little bleeding going on but thats okay nothing life threatening. I really enjoyed my time with my buddy, hopefully next time we will be more comfortable with each other and will be able to talk a little more. He seems like a very interesting person and I'm excited to get to know him better. Maybe next time we can work on home work. He's good at math and science and those are the only things that I'm not good at so we are really going to be able to help each other. I can't wait