My time at APEX seems to have gone by so fast. I am almost done with the required hours and although my experience there has gotten better, I still sometimes feel useless. Rarely have there been instances where there were enough kids to pair up one on one with the volunteers so I am still often left sitting in a chair listening to the loud video games that the boys are obsessed with or listening to the music that the girls are into (most of which I’ve never even heard of). Maybe a handful of times have I interacted with the kids. In class the other day I described the experience that has been the best at APEX.
The Story:
My roommate and I started to do Bikram Yoga on Oak Street last month. It is essentially just regular yoga but in a room where the turn the temperature up to 105 degrees for and hour and a half. We generally like to go to the evening classes and so one Thursday I decided to just wear my yoga clothes under sweatpants to APEX and I would just leave there for Yoga at 6:30. Generally I try not to wear sweatpants out of the house but I didn’t want to run around APEX in yoga shorts and a tank top so I just decided to go with it.
When I arrived to volunteer there were about five kids there. A huge group of volunteers from Colorado was also there, visiting on their Spring Break. I sat down and half listened to them talking and half watching video games. Then I heard “Hey Coach” multiple times. Finally I came back to reality and realized a kid was talking to me. When I made eye contact and gave him a look that proved I was not in fact a zombie he said, “Hey Coach, do you want to play ping pong?” Thrilled at the idea of actually interacting with someone while there I got up and we played a few games.
I was terrible. We then moved on to pool where he said he would teach me how to play because he was a master. I beat him. While we were playing, our conversation didn’t get far past me asking him what his name was, him telling me it was DJ and then continuing to tell me he was fantastic and awesome and a master at pool and ping pong and he was going to teach me how to play. I laughed it all off and had a good time. DJ never asked me my name. Finally we parted and he went outside to play basketball and I sat down again watching the group from Colorado play air hockey. At six I left, tripping in the tennis shoes I hadn’t worn in months, and made my way to yoga.
After thinking about this experience, I found myself a little disappointed that I haven’t interacted with the kids more. I wanted to play games with them and help them study and all of that but there always seemed to be a barrier. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was wearing sweatpants and looked more approachable, or if he was just an outgoing kid, but it was one of the best times that I have had at APEX thus far. Unfortunately I found that I live in a bubble. It is almost as if I never left my flowered gate and entered the APEX gate scattered with the hand written signs, I was just looking through the petals and black iron. Or maybe I just respond better to the name of “Coach.” I don’t know yet. I am hoping that my last few visits to APEX are as gratifying as that one though. I started to see more of that community in that 13 year old than I had ever before.
I really like this story about DJ and the sweat pants, and I appreciate that the uniqueness of that encounter in your service learning experience has prompted you to ask some tough questions about what barriers prevent you from interacting more with the kids.
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