A lesson in culture

This week I started my volunteer work at an after school program in North Philly.  I am co-running the program with another girl and between the two of us we are excited to learn and plan for the 8 middle school girls attending.

I have worked in inner city schools before, but nothing quite like this one.  Most of the girls in the class are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Dominican descent.  I've worked with recent immigrants from some of these places, but never with descendants who live in the oftentimes homogeneous and culturally rich neighborhoods of North Philly. 

Besides the accents and mannerisms that I'm not quite used to there are a few Philly words thrown in that I never heard up in New York.  My favorite is "jawn", which is a placeholder word for a person, place or thing. 

Examples:
"That jawn be hurtin'"
The classic t-shirt:

http://www.cheesesteaktees.com/Store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=2149&IdCategory=0

Or my favorite, "What do you call it?  You know, that ma-jawn-jawn?"

I laughed at the last one, and the girl cried defensively, "What?  It's a word!"

I tried out my new slang at home, "Yo, pass me that jawn, Em-dawg" and was promptly told that it didn't work for me.

I've decided that learning Spanish might be helpful as I continue my work here, so I've been attempting that through reading the local paper, Al Dia, with the help of Google Translate.  I also realized quickly that I need to learn Teenage Girlese as well, because I found out that "going to the park to play" roughly translates to "standing by the equipment as we text".

The girls are honestly really exciting to be around.  They enjoy each other's company, they come up with excuses for why they shouldn't have to do their homework, and they love telling funny stories about their lives.

They also want to graduate with honors, become engineers for NASA, and write books.  They are smart, talented girls, and I hope that our efforts combined with theirs will give them a shot at their dreams.