Volunteer’s Blog – November 7: Flu flu go away

I hate the flu. Every year around this time I usually have a few flu-induced vacation days filled with noodle soup, hibernation, and the company of a certain fuzzy purple bunny. There was almost a comfort in the predictability of these r & r days; they were like the annual visits of a very distant (and equally as crazy) aunt, who’d, without fail, barge in uninvited and unannounced.

This year, however, I was convinced there would be a break from the routine. I had escaped the Michigan cold, graduated from midterm-induced stress, heck, I even changed my address! Surely, I reasoned, there was no way this pestering stalker could find me in the middle of rice paddies and cows!

Think again.

I suppose it was horribly naive to have assumed that the absence of winter would somehow translate to the absence of the flu season too. My heart sunk when I heard the sniffles and coughs of my kids in class. With fifty kids running around and climbing all over me, the odds were not good . . . that night I went home and made a white flag.

So I am sorry to say that I was coughing pathetically in bed for the majority of the week.  However, I did manage to get my voice back and return to my kids on Thursday and Friday. We had worked on self-portraits last week to evaluate each student’s art background and style.  This week, after a brief lesson on angles and sketching techniques, we began animal sketches. I refrained from offering too much help (aside from minor pointers) because while it is necessary to master art techniques, I personally believe that it is even more important to foster creative freedom in the process. The last thing I would want is for the kids to lose their unique perspectives.

The last thing I would want is for the kids to lose their unique perspectives.”

Here are some of the kids’ art works from Friday (still works in progress). Some of the SCC staff even started their own drawing books! I’ll be sure to share their creations in future entries.