Much to my surprise the focus of this week was not smoking at all but rather HIV/AIDS. I had the opportunity not only to work on my tobacco project but also to assist in a 2 day workshop for women 50+ about substance use and HIV/AIDS. Many people, like myself assume that people of a certain age don’t need talks like this because they already know. I quickly learned that often that is not the case and no matter how old you are there is always stuff to learn.
Although there were awkward moments like watching older women learn to use contraceptive methods, there were also many humbling moments. I realized how privileged I am to be getting a college education because I worked with women some this week that had no more than an elementary school background. We often times take for granted the things that we are learning and the fact that we are wolverines, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
As you all know my goal last week was to use more Spanish in the office and I have been doing just that! The entire workshop was in Spanish so I was exposed to a good 6 hours of listening practice and I got to speak a little too. It’s funny how people are surprised I speak Spanish just because I am not Latina. And this whole time I thought it was normal X).
