The first day of service

I was thrilled to receive the email informing me that I got in the program. I have been imagining how  Chicago looks like and how the trip will be from then on.

Although it's the first time coming to Chicago, I fell in love with the city. Big cities are always attractive, but Chicago is more special because of the mission we are carrying and the awesome group that I'm traveling with. The volunteer group consists of 15 people, they are:

Advisers and Group leaders: Patrick, Peng, Alex and Ruiling

Dylan: a super funny guy, this trip becomes much more interesting because of him

Sara: who has a contagious smile that makes people comfortable

Mckaley: who can speaks my language make me feel amiable.

Kirsten: a thoughtful and sweet girl

Hillary: we made 38 sandwiches today, had a lot of fun with those bread and turkey.

Zack: the youngest one in the group who play clarinet in wind ensemble.

Shayla: a warmhearted and encouraging girl making me forget I'm from a different culture

Brittany: a cool girl with beautiful hair

Cathy: a Chinese girl with passion and enthusiasm 

Kat: my childhood friend

And myself 

We went to St.James church in the morning, the staff gave us a brief introduction. After got a general idea about food pantry, we started our first day of service.

It was a busy day, the work was a bit harder than I thought, but we did it very well. We organized the food and rearranged them, helped with the cleaning; made some lunch for homeless people and distributed them. 

"Teamwork, Get to know people, Consideration" were the three things that we have learned during tonight's "reflection", these are some things that I would never learn in the classroom. Then I realized what I really fell in love with is not the city but the place where we stay together, work together, laugh together like a family.

- Yi Wang