Fifty Forward: Day 3

Today we went to two sites that we have already been to. First everyone went to the Bordeaux site. Originally, we were scheduled to be split up in the morning, half of us going to Knowles and half to Bordeaux. However, after we had talked to the others yesterday about the Bordeaux site, we all wanted to go visit it this morning. At Bordeaux, where we were doing the least work, it felt like we were doing the most. At Knowles, where we were probably doing the most work by cleaning windows and sorting yarn, it felt like were were doing the least. Getting to talk to and getting to know the members at the Bordeaux site was such a great experience that all of us really enjoyed.

So, at the beginning of the day, after waiting on the boys yet again, we headed off to the Bordeaux site. Upon arriving we just hung out until the members started arriving. The day before, Jean had showed us a storage closet that was in their office area. She had mentioned that her goal for the next two months was to go through the closet, with the help of her right-hand man Tennessee, and organize everything, getting rid of stuff left by the church that used the building before them. For a few minutes, we helped Jean unpack the closet. I though we might help her reorganize it too but I think cleaning in out was already more than enough help for her.

After everyone else arrived, we started to converse with them. Everyone split up and started talking to new people. I said hello to Margaret and spent some time talking to Milton Brown, who is almost completely blind. He told some very interesting stories from his past, all of which had a very rugged and violent quality, which I have never experienced before. It is crazy to think how different our lives are. For me growing up, I was extremely sheltered, living in a predominantly white community and going to private Catholic schools. For him, though, he had to deal with a lot more cruelty from others, as well as poverty.

The "card" table at the Bordeaux site.

After talking to Milton for a while, participating in an chair exercise class led by a member from AmeriCorps, and playing another game of Wii bowling, the ‘card’ table shouted out if anyone wanted to play some cards. The day before, Yasser had tried sitting in on a game, just to interact with the people at that table, but they hardly even talked to him. However, when they asked today, I jumped at the opportunity, although I warned them that I had never played Spades before.  I sat in on a couple of games, though, and one of the members briefly explained to me the generic rules of the game. At this point, I started to realize that we were finally being welcomed by all of these people, which was incredible. As we were about to leave, someone even said, “I was just starting to get used to you.” Working with these people showed me that the elderly love their daily routines. They don’t like to be swayed from that. But, in such a short amount of time, we had become a part of their daily routine.

After the Bordeaux site, we headed back over to the Knowles site for our last time. Once again, we just did busywork. We put labels on bags, filled the bags with paper and candy, and measured fabric. Although it was easy, it was not very much fun. It has been a lot of fun to hang with the other members of the trip and getting to know them. We have already had some good times, and I have already had such a great experience.

-Julie