After Service

     Across my experiences with service learning at Kahl Home I noticed the themes of listening, culture, nonverbal communication, and emotions. In order to interact with the residents, truly get to know them, and show them I was interested I had to actively listen to what they were saying. I also had to really pay attention to their nonverbal cues to see what kind of emotion they were feeling. If I could tell through their nonverbal cues that they were getting annoyed or wanted to be left alone, then I would make sure I did that so I did not upset them any further. Another thing I noticed were many cultural differences between the residents and myself due to our age difference, and I really had to watch what I said and how I acted at times because of this. I also had to try to understand what they were saying when they made somewhat of “ruder” remarks towards my generation. Several of them made the complaint that my generation is disinterested in their history and are therefore ignorant. Several of them also made technology complaints, saying that my generation is addicted to technology and does not care about anything else.

     My experiences with the residents at Kahl Home will shape my future interpersonal interactions, because I have a better understanding of all the components that make up interpersonal communication and which components are most important. I have learned that listening is a very important part of the communication process. If you are having a conversation with someone, they can usually tell when you are disinterested and it almost always ends up hurting their feelings when you seem disinterested, which causes them to not really care for you. So when having a conversation with someone, it is important to always attentively listen, provide feedback, and not just be the one constantly talking. I learned that all of the parts of interpersonal communication really go together. The process does not work well without all of the pieces. For example, with listening, how I mentioned that if I seem disinterested in someone’s conversation it hurts that person’s feelings. This is tied to emotions, and emotions can lead to nonverbal cues such as a smile for happiness, a disgusted look for annoyance or anger, and a frown or tears for sadness. I need to keep in mind what I have learned and always try to give every person I interact with the same respect.

Final Service Learning Experience

           On Sunday, March 24^th, my partner and I finished our final hours of service learning at Kahl Home. Because it was the Sunday before Easter Sunday, Kahl Home was having a small pre-Easter celebration. This Sunday, like every other Sunday, we served the residents snacks and drinks while interacting with them.

           Since it was a pre-Easter celebration many of the residents asked what my plans for Easter were. I told them I would be spending my Easter with my family and asked what their plans were. Many of them said their family was coming to visit them and some said that they would be celebrating Easter with other residents because their family lived out of state or was unable to come for some other reason. With the topic of Easter and family brought up, many of the residents really found a lot to talk about this visit. Almost everyone told me a lot about their family, Easter traditions, and their life before Kahl Home. This was all fascinating for me to hear because I love hearing old stories. With this particular visit to Kahl Home, I really found myself applying the interpersonal communication’s concept of listening. I was definitely mindfully listening to each persons stories and what they had to say, because I was interested in what they were saying. I found myself listening to each of their stories to understand what they were saying, what they experienced, and simply to get to know them better.

           I think this visit to Kahl Home was a perfect way to end service learning. I could see myself going back in the future just to visit with some of the residents in my free time. What I learned from this visit about listening can be applied to any future interaction with any person. I found that when the residents could tell that I was mindfully listening and responding to what they were saying it really pleased them. It also made them want to continue to tell me more since I did not seem bored or disinterested. I think with any future interaction with someone who is telling me something I should always keep an open mind and try to be as interested as possible, even if what they are saying does not particularly interest me, because it makes them feel good while showing that I am a good listener.