My first observation activity took place at the new school cafeteria on a sunny Wednesday. The time of the observation was at about 12:30, when abundant sunlight shined into the dining area from windows all around.
I was sitting at the second round tables on the right when reached the open dining place, with my body facing to the left end of cafeteria. Before any note was taken, I first drew down a small sketch of what I saw at that exact moment.
The overall space was pretty widely opened, with two diagonal lines of high bar chairs placed on each side of the lower dining area, where a line of round tables – identical to the one I was at – was placed. My attention was then attracted to the human activities happened in the cafeteria. In total, there were 6 individuals that I could observe. All of them were female. Two were sitting on the furthest round table, talking. The female on my left hand side had darker skin tone and her black hair tied up in a pony tail, with her right side of body facing me, revealing only the profile. I could only see her black T-shirt on top but the rest of her outfit remained unseen behind the chairs. The other female, who was on my right hand side with her front body facing me, was constantly talking. I picked up words such as “learning center”, relating to her movement of marking something on the table with a writing device (not sure if it was a pencil or a pen), I took a guess that she might be a tutor. This lady had light gold curly hair and wore glasses; her facial appearance suggested an age in around the mid 30. After couple minutes, she stood up, revealing her outfit – white shirt with pink graphic and a pair of blue jeans. She left without taking any of her stuff on the table. One girl with long black hair and a navy hoodie was sitting at the far end on one of the bar chair. The other two sat along the side of bar chairs facing 14th street. They were both Asians, but as they were sitting far apart and not communicating, I was unsure about their exact nationalities. The Asian girl further away was wearing a pair of sweatpants in the color of Tiffany blue and busily texting on her phone. The sixth person was just about to left when I did my sketch. She was wearing a set of ocean blue sportswear, and was packing her belongings into a canvas tote bag. She turned to me and gave me a faint smile. After I had a close observation of what I could see, I paid attention to other sensory information.
As I was writing, I realized my fingers were feeling a little numb. I felt cold, so I looked up trying to find the AC, but I only found dimming orange lights and ventilation pipes. I felt dizzy because of the low temperature and my empty stomach. Then I realized a man sitting on where the sixth lady was sitting before she left. This man probably entered the cafeteria while I was looking up to the ceiling. He was eating something. I inhaled deeply, hoping to identify the food he was enjoying, but all I could smell is the cold AC air came out of the ventilation filter. Then I heard noises coming from the hallway. It was obviously a conversation between a male and a female, but they were speaking in Spanish or maybe Italian so I could not understand full sentences other than 1 or 2 Spanish words I caught.
As the time reached 12:40, I went back to the classroom and tried to connect my observation with the concept of systems. The first group of systems came into my mind were the the security, electrical, air-conditioning system that worked in the building to make it functional as a schoolhouse. There were security cameras guarding the safety of the building, electrical wires contributing to the operating of many electrical appliances such as the lighting system, and finally air-conditioning/ ventilating system that kept air in the building fresh but also made the place freezing. The second system was the school system that divided individuals into separate departments. For example the cleaning ladies who maintain the cleanliness of public space, students who came to study, and professors, tutors who supported students’ learning experience. The third type of system was the commercial system, which related to the purchase of food and beverages. Raw sources were processed into edible sandwiches or other main dishes that were later priced and bought by consumers such as the man who entered the cafeteria after the previous lady left. The fourth type was the language system. Different languages made information exchange practical between communities, but it also made communication difficult to conduct if the wrong system was used. For example, if a person were to use the Spanish system to communicate with me, it would be impossible for me to understand every word.
In conclusion, systems exist in every aspect of our society and they are can take either tactile form or remain as an intellectual or conceptual idea. It is also significant to notice that system itself may not have a right or wrong definition, but the ways to apply certain systems can cause totally different result and determine either the system fail or succeed.
