WEEK 6

OUR LAST WEEK IN THE OLD OFFICE

GETTING READY TO DO AN "OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW"

NEW OFFICE FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM HOME

WAS A PROBLEM, COZ WE WERE CRAMPED UP IN THE LITTLE SPACE
AVAILABLE FOR US TO USE

HAD TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

WEEK 5

CLASSES STARTED

GREAT TURN OUT

SO MANY KIDS, ENDED UP MAKING A CLASS FOR YOUNG SINGLE ADULTS

IT WAS FUN FOR ME

WEEK 4

INFORMATIONAL MEETING

TURN OUT

GETTING THINGS TOGETHER

READY TO ROLL WITH CLASSES

WEEK 3

Nothing Much was really happening this week. However, Tuesday the 29th of June, 2010 I had the privilege to be part of Distributing Food to the Tongans amongst the county of LA hosted by the Tongan Community Center. The package per family was a one box of Oatmeal (2 bags inside), One Box of Tomatoes Dices (12 cans inside) and One Large Peanut Butter (either cruchy or creamy). The turn out was BIG and I really enjoyed the feeling of being able to be of any use to serve your own kind of people away from home. Us workers started at 6:30am but the distribution was at 7:00am til 9:00am just outside of our Gardena office parking lot. We also launched out very first TCSC "FONO FAKAKOLO" newsletter and I had the opportunity to invite parents for an informational meeting regarding the times they will be available to bring their kids in for my Tongan Language Class. On this day also, Vanessa Tui'one our Outreach Coordinator left to Washington D.C for a work meeting and also for a one week vacation in New York with her sister. So for the remainder of the week it was pretty quiet with just me, Lupe and Brian in the office.

Week 2

So week 2, I received news from everyone in the office that we are moving office (relocating our office closer to the community.) It didn't really matter much to me because I was just starting to get comfortable and settling down in this building. So we will be moving from Gardena to Hawthorne. Everyone's kind of excited because in this office we're all the way in the back with no windows and we don't get to see a lot of the people from the community coming in. So bring on the new office already. haha

Anyways, I worked on my project a bit this week with the help of my MOM and everyone here in TCSC I was able to submit my curriculum and scheme of work for the 8weeks total that I will be teaching Tongan to the kids in between the ages 5 - 8. There were minor changes done to it after getting reviewed by Vanessa. I'm so grateful that I get the help that I am getting from my co-workers. This week ended perfectly as we attended Hawthorne High School's Polynesian Night to watch Sina Fifita (TCSC's High School intern and also Lupe's sister) a Senior who works a few hours in the office with us and also to drop off our Newsletter (FONO FAKAKOLO) for the community to take as they enter the theater for the show.

The Show was amazing and as the Seniors are preparing to end another chapter of life and begin a new one after next week, I was sooo ready to begin my new week too.

Fresh Start - 8 Jun 2010

Started today at 11:30am, I walked in the main entrance to the office at 11:28am coz we were kind of lost trying to get here. I received a warm welcome from Brian Hui, the Center's Project Coordinator who introduced me to Lupe Fifita who is the Patient Navigator. These two individuals were just too nice that right there and then I felt like I was at home. Had a little one-on-one chat with Brian just trying to get acquainted and see what I will be interested in doing. However, because Vanessa who is the Outreach Coordinator for the Center was still in a meeting, we waited till she gets back for the remaining of getting to know each other. I was led into the opposite office off Brian's office where Lupe and Vanessa and I will be working most of the time. Had a nice chat with Lupe and love the fact that speaks Tongan fluently so that when I have trouble trying to explain something she will be able to help me along on the side.

Vanessa came in a bit later after her meeting and just meeting her for the first time made me realize that this was really REAL. The office was kind of what I expected it to be, small with a lot of files, books and papers around. We had a quick meeting, just introducing myself and letting them know what I am interested in doing, what I have been doing in school and classes that I've taken. For one of our projects for SIFE and for English I had to read to the elementary kids for a semester and so the idea of my project came up to try teach TONGAN to elementary level kids throughout the summer and ofcourse alongside help with whatever's there that I can do to help with everyone else is working on.

Our little meeting ended up in a Vietnamese Restaurant with just me and Nessa and Lupe because Brian had to run to a meeting. It was a good start and a very nice kick off for an exciting and yes! hopefully a successful summer. So far, I'm already loving life as an intern.