Lisa Lu: Volunteering at Demachi Salon

 At Demachi Salon, I led activities (Chinese, English, Ink painting, etc.) for a group of elders that come to this elderly care center. Throughout the 2 hour session, we would start with a casual chat while they do their daily health check ins, then I lead the activity of the day, we go on a virtual trip to places in Japan, daily exercise, and games at the end. I really had a lot of fun talking to the obaachans,and they were incredibly nice and warm to young people. The experience really made me appreciate the multigenerational connection. If you like interacting with or want to help elders, I think this would be the perfect place to practice your Japanese! But one advice would be to be aware that a lot of the elders speak Kansai dialect, which can make it hard to understand them at first.