Entry 3: First Day with Cuban family

The first day with my refugee family was very interesting.  The day started allowing 15 minutes of extra time to get to their apartment, which apparently was not enough.  Luke and I (Luke is my partner), circled around the area of the apartments location for about 40 minutes.  Unfortunately, there were some communication barriers with the address that was given to us.  Also, once we got to the family, the other volunteer apparently had left, so we had a very interesting experience figuring out the best way to work with the family.  Luckily the fact that I know English definitely helped in this situation as our family has only been in the States for 3 weeks thus far, arriving around January 27th. They speak about 97% Spanish, with the other 3% English in which they have been practicing with the other volunteers.

The family luckily was not offended by the fact we got lost.  It wasn't a big deal.  They were honestly just happy for us to meet with them.  We were a little confused as there were two little boys, instead of a little boy and girl in which we were told.  It is not a problem, however, the first night we had to call Kelly to verify that they were both boys (as one boy had long hair and could have been a girl potentially).  The next time Luke and I work with the family I plan on having a little more structure in relation to what we are teaching them.  I would like to take turns with each family member allowing one on one attention and for every one to learn at their own pace and ability level.  The father seems to know the most English, whereas the little boy, Mychal, did not speak a word to us the entire time.  My goal is to have Mychal warm up to us and be comfortable speaking and beginning to speak English words.

I assumed the family had been in the States for a few months.  I was shocked to find this out.  The first meeting was a time for Luke and I to understand the individual family members English levels and knowledge of simple things around the apartment.  Next time we will be better prepared and will be able to better respond to the needs of the family.  This service experience related to class in relation to communication barriers, and interpersonal communication between those from other cultures.  It is great to be able to connect cultural communication techniques and ideas to the service learning experience!