Last Wednesday, we made our 2nd visit to Bayside Community Center since the first time we did Zumba there in winter quarter. This time we engaged in our first Learning Exchange Groups (LEGs) with the seniors at Bayside, where we shared stories of our lives at 20 within small groups. It was really nice to see some of the seniors from our Zumba visit stay and talk more with us. I got the opportunity to talk with Tammy, a lovely Filipino woman. She immediately had a story ready to tell once our small group gathered around her. When Tammy was in her 20’s, she had a very unexpected visit from the First Lady of the Philippines at the time, Imelda Marcos, at the antique shop where she was working. Tammy told us about the complete disbelief and surrealness of the moment, because it was just another ordinary day at work for her. Then all of a sudden, the First Lady walks in and starts shopping for antiques! Tammy shared that this was one of the highlights of her 20’s because she absolutely adored and respected the First Lady as a leader and a woman. We also learned that while working at the antique shop, her boss sent her to travel all over Europe to visit museums and galleries looking at antiques and art. Through out our conversation with Tammy, I was really impressed by her detailed storytelling. She was able to remember the smallest details like the weather and day of the week. It also made my day seeing how interested she was about learning about each of our lives too. She listened intently to what each of us had to share about our 20 journey, asked questions, and was very encouraging and affirming. Afterwards she even asked us to write down our names so she can remember us, and we also took a group photo. The entire exchange was very heartwarming and wholesome. Conversations like that remind me that the older generation has so much to share having lived their full lives, having experienced more than we can imagine and we have so much to learn from them.
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Sabrina LawWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
June 2019
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