Bingo Fun With Seniors At Sheridan Leland Apartments

Location: Sheridan/Leland Apartments

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2013; 6:45 -8:00 pm

The opportunity description on Chicago Cares website said, “Volunteers visit with senior residents and help build English language skills through a rousing game of bingo!”  In terms of helping build the English skills, they may have overestimated our capabilities. 

Bingo!

I had taken the Red line CTA uptown and after a short walk, found myself in the facility and being directed towards the activities room.  I met up with our Volunteer leader Cheryl, who told me that this was exclusively a Korean speaking community and none of them spoke or even understood English.  She said that our job was to help them if they did not understand a particular number that was being called and if they did not converse with us, it was not because they were rude, but due to the language barrier.  I must admit that I was a bit disappointed, partly because the charm of this entire exercise for me has been getting to know people and learning more about them.  That was not going to happen this evening, and all I could do was help them participate and watch the proceedings.

Cupcakes to keep the resident's 'calm'

I looked at the prizes Cheryl had on display and they were mostly hand soap or detergent.  She did have some Valentine’s Day cupcakes and the story she told as to why she did have them made me realize that there could be some excitement after all.  It seems that the game was known to get rowdy every now and then and a couple of ladies have already been banned, not only from Bingo, but other activities as well.  Apparently there were reports of them using their walking strollers as bumper cars.  Now, last evening notwithstanding, I have seen some competitive games of Bingo, but this was taking it to another level.  Cheryl had realized that having food there calmed them down, and hence the cupcakes.  Cheryl also showed me some posters she had made to explain the rules and said that everyone was allowed to win only one prize, until the final ‘Coverall' game.  She warned me to be on the lookout since they could spot a new visitor and try to take advantage by claiming multiple prizes.  This was a crash course in being a ‘street smart volunteer’!

Cheryl's Bingo 101 posters

One very enthusiastic lady came and started waving her arms about, in what appeared to be a friendly gesture.  She went and sat across a gentleman, who promptly started yelling at her.  I had no idea what was going on, but other residents did not find this strange and another volunteer Neal, who was probably used to such behavior just shrugged his shoulders and went sat next to her.  Cheryl asked me to go and help one lady and when I went and sat across from her, it put me right next to the gentleman with the bad mood.  My intention was to stay under the radar and just focus on helping the lady.

One of the things which caught my attention was that none of the residents were using the chips that I have seen at Bingo games, but had their own tiny and quite trendy looking coins.  As Cheryl started calling the numbers, I noticed that most of them, not least the gentleman next to me, would repeat in Korean.  The lady across from me would look at me for confirmation each time the number was called and based on me either shaking my head or pointing towards the card, would put her coin in the right place.  Slowly but surely, some of the numbers being called again and again, began sounding familiar when repeated in Korean.  In fact, I had also taken to repeating them phonetically.  “Thirteen”, said Cheryl.  “Sipsam”, said everyone.  “Sipsam”, I repeated. 

As people started winning, they would get up and walk over to the head table and Cheryl would point towards the prizes.  They would select one and the game would continue.  “Thirty”, said Cheryl.  “Samsip”, said everyone.  “Samsip”, said I.  The lady in front of me won and I repeated her numbers back to Cheryl to confirm.  She walked over and picked up a detergent.  After some time the gentleman next to me won and I gave him a thumbs-up.  He nodded in appreciation and went to get his prize.  People were winning all over the room and Cheryl true to her word did not let them get a second prize.  The lady in front won again and looked expectantly at me.  I used hand gestures to try and explain that she could not win another prize, at which point she thanked me by bowing and decided to leave.  I frantically tried to get her to stay for the ‘Coverall' game where she could win again, but to no avail.  She had made up her mind and departed in a hurry.  "Nineteen”, said Cheryl. “Sipgu, said everyone.  “Sipgu”, said I.

English speaking or not,
everyone can do with Valentine's Day decorations

Soon it was time for the final game and Cheryl walked around the room pointing towards her poster showing the concept of ‘Coverall Bingo”.  Everyone nodded in agreement and we began.  The gentleman next to me and I had bonded by now and we were both looking at his board intently as Cheryl called the numbers.  He was doing quite well and soon had only one number to go.  He got so nervous that he stood up and started playing with the coins in his hand.  But he was not to be denied and ended up winning the game.  I clapped as he collected his prize, though the game continued as we were going to have multiple winners.  There was another winner on my other side and that gentleman asked me to go choose a prize for him.  I selected hand soap and gestured by rubbing my hands together, trying explain its function.  I do hope that he got it and does not treat it like a lotion! 

Soon all the prizes were given out and the residents collected their coins, put them in the cases and picked up cupcakes before departing.  The gentleman with whom I had bonded sought me out and shook my hand.  An hour ago, having seen him yell at the poor woman, I had been apprehensive.  Now, I was leaving having enjoyed myself.  As I looked at some of the Valentine’s Day decorations on the wall, I realized that even though it had been a very different experience, with us not talking with the residents, it had definitely not stopped us from communicating - for those are two very different things.