Dear Lindsay, Fiona, Cassie, Sophie, Sandra, Victoria, Milinda and Jessica:
After one week of sleeping on dusty floors, cooking lumpy mac and cheese, and working in muddy gardens, I can say that we bonded through an experience unlike any other. Who knew what adventures would unfold for us in the city of Baltimore?
I didn't know what to expect on our service trip, but after our first homemade dinner, any worries I had disappeared. We immediately got along, and we only became more comfortable with each other as the week went on. The bonding and memories are typically a given for ASB trips, but what I find especially comforting is that our week was unlike any other because we were the first ASB group to volunteer at the center. So I just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for being open to sleeping in a haunted school without showers, and for cooking the best college-style dinners, aka meatballs on a pan and macaroni with stringy mozzarella cheese. Our long talks after dinner gave me the chance to reflect on my day, and to make you laugh at all my jokes.
Thank you for the laughs while laboriously working in the gardens, and the jokes and songs we sang helped me forget about the mud and mulch on my shoes. And when it was time to switch from gardening to working with people in the inner-city, I understand how uncomfortable it felt to try and relate to people who live much differently from us, and I am proud of all of you for wholly opening yourselves to the kids, teenagers, and adults. Caring for someone you never met before is never easy, and the way you cared about each person really did make a difference in their lives.
Thank you for listening to the same song over and over again, and for putting up with my direction-giving in a foreign city. Somehow we made it safely to the ice cream shop, art museum, Bertha's Mussels, the aquarium, and swing dancing, and the commutes in between the destinations made experiencing the city even more fun.
Thank you for accepting me for who I am, and for where I come from. I tend to reflect a lot, and an ASB trip means that my tendencies to reflect become emphasized. I grew up in the inner-city, and there were points during the trip when I felt uneasy because unhappy memories from my childhood would reappear. You made me feel comfortable enough to share these thoughts with you, and your reflections in response to my thoughts helped me recognize parts of my identity that I have never realized before.
I will always remember the moments we shared, and though we will cross paths again on campus, the reality is that we won't experience this together again. It's just the truth of life: some of us will graduate soon, others will study abroad, and many of us will be too busy with schoolwork. The memories hold us together, and you can always hold my hand whenever you see me.
Thank you for the happy ending.
Love Always,
Anna Do
