#33 - Tutor

This is an extension of Volunteer for a Cause. I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to tutor with 826 Chicago, but I managed to squeeze it in my schedule. I'm now doing every other Thursday 3:00pm - 5:30pm. That either means I squeeze those work hours onto another day or come back to work on those days. I'm hoping it'll be doable and I can continue tutoring because 826Chi wants a commitment of at least every other week on the same day for all of their tutors.

I did my first day last week. I had 2 3rd graders, Paola and Emma to work with. They were quite chatty but fun. I guess it was a crazy first week. Usually they have 20-30 tutors and 30 some kids. Last Thursday they had 67 kids. It didn't really phase me to work with 2 girls doing their homework since I have taught 10+ kids in a learn-to-swim class with criers and drowners.

The funniest part of the day was when all the tutors met after tutoring to pick a team name for the Thursday group. We all introduced ourselves, said how long we've been tutoring, and shared something "interesting" about ourselves. The first guy told us he had found out within the last year he had 3 kidneys. He didn't learn until one of them went bad and he was sick and then had to get it removed. And by went bad, he described it as being mush. Weird. So then some other people go and share some not as interesting things. Then another guy says it was weird the 1st guy shared something about a 3rd kidney because one of his kidneys,

in fact, was rotated 180 degrees, so backwards. He only learned when he had a scan for something completely unrelated. Apparently it's no big deal. So then some other people went. One guy shared how earlier that day he helped his son cut off his 8-year dreadlocks. They were still in his car. His son planned to make a wig of them. So then a couple more people go by and this girl shares that she, in fact, has one kidney that is twice the size it should be. Super kidney. How bizarre is it that about 25% of our group had some bizarre kidney condition, but all had working kidneys? So we decided our Thursday tutor name should involve kidneys in someway: The Kidneys are Alright. The New Kidneys on the Block. Hilarious.

I'm pretty excited to continue. It's just 2.5 hours every other week where I get to interact directly with kids. I love hearing kids tell stories. They're hilarious. And after tutoring, the tutors go to the Teacher's Lounge. Which is actually just the bar down the street. Delightful.

Thanks to Rachel Felson for introducing me to 826 Valencia, which led me to 826 Chi, and to Hassan Ali for encouraging me to join him in volunteering there even if I still haven't seen him since I started :)