During my year here in Boston, I thought that I'd do some volunteer work since I am not allowed to work on a 'spouse of student' visa. I am generally not one to 'give back' - 'Self extension' as my husband calls it - I am typically a 'Self preservation' kind of person :) Back home, with work I don't have much time to 'give back' to society. Athol is an extremely self extending person (sometimes too generous I think!), in contrast to me, so he has inspired me to try be more like him in that sense :)
This year I have the opportunity to do something meaningful and make a difference ins someone's life. I came across BCNC which is a great NGO who help Chinese immigrants here in Boston. They offer English (as a second language) lessons, amongst other services to try make life a bit easier for them since there are so many chinese immigrants who cannot speak English. I started volunteering to tutor English to chinese immigrants since November. We had 12 hours of training in October, learning how to tutor, how to manage a tutee and how to prepare a lesson plan. Tutors have to commit to two hours a week for six months. So every Wednesday I head off to Chinatown (using the same route as my Mandarin lessons) and tutor English from 12:30 to 14:30. So on Wednesday mornings I spend time preparing for my lesson. My tutee, Tina, has been here in Boston for a year now and would like to get a job in banking one day. So I am helping her with new Banking/Finance/Accounting vocabulary. It really is a great feeling, to teach someone so that they will be more confident in society.
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