Journal #13 August 25, 2009 : 10:30pm

Today, the second day of work, a little more comfortable but kind of like wearing a wool sweater without anything on underneath, its still uncomfortable. I knew how to do a few things but I still felt a bit lost and at times useless when things got moving, and boy did they get moving today. My boss Chloe said that today was the busiest day they have ever seen, they turned more people away than they could remember from recent memory. The day flew by, I saw over 10 patients today, taking vitals and getting a preliminary patient history. Of the notable things which happened today (short posting today so I’m being brief), I was able to run on my new shoes today for the first time! Well, kind of for the first time. Ya see, I had bought these shoes called the Nike Free 3.0’s down at Stanford, all these people had been raving about the shoe so I had to get in on the action. However when I took them out for their first run the insole in the R shoe kept coming out, so I returned the shoes once I got back to Seattle, however I couldn’t do an exchange because the seattle niketown of all places had no shoes I wanted to get in my size, so they mailed the shoes I wanted (free 3.0) in my size from another store to my friends Claire and Megan who were already living in DC. They arrived yesterday and I was so ecstatic to try them out! The run went well and I look forward to future runs. Until next time.

Journal #12 August 24, 2009 11:17pm

I’m going to keep this journal short and sweet. While I might have had the energy on other days to journal for a few pages, today is not one of those days. I’m exhausted after an interesting first day of work at my placement. It was overwhelming to come to work this morning and already have things to do. The learning curve was steep and doesn’t seem like it will level out anytime soon, I will most definitely need a week or two before that happens. I met all the people I will be working with today and they all seem easy going and fun to be around. The doctor, Dr. Wright, is an all-around amazing guy who grew up in Jamaica and came here to practice medicine, I have yet to hear his entire story but I have a feeling it is pretty inspirational. He apparently almost died as a child from Dengue fever, not the most fun illness to have as a child, he remembered it vividly even though he was 4 at the time he got sick. Today I got right on doing EKG’s myself and taking vitals for patients. I think what really surprised me was just how comfortable I got doing what I was doing, asking patients to reveal themselves to me in a way I had never experienced before. One fellow even kept calling me ‘doc.’ I saw more boobage today than I had seen in a while, and while that is an immature way of putting it, you have no idea how nervous I was after my first 2 male EKG patients when I thought about how it must be to put EKG leads on a woman, where the pads need to go directly on the skin underneath the breast. I frantically searched the forums (after googling EKG lead placement female) for advice and found a few words which resonated with me, just act normal. If I make it a big deal, it becomes a big deal. So with that I went off to take an EKG on my first female patient alone. It went very well, I just kept talking to the patient while I was doing my thing and getting everything set up. Before I knew it the procedure was over and she was out the door thanking me for my help. I really can’t wait to see what will happen tomorrow, I just got my running shoes in the mail so I’m excited to start my day off with my first run in DC!!!

Journal #11 August 23, 2009

Due to my excessive tiredness yesterday, I did not write a journal specifically for the events of the preceeding day, as I tell about it, you will understand why I just passed out at around 11pm while everyone else was still awake. I awoke that morning, after going to bed at around 4:30am, at 8:30. Somehow the heat combined with the brightness of my room just kick started my day and I was up. I went downstairs to the mess which was in the kitchen from the evening before and began to clean up a bit. It wasn’t really a big deal, I knew that it had been left because we had departed immediately after dinner so there wasn’t any time. Still, a mess made me annoyed so I began to clean. Soon the rest of the house (who had gone to bed around 11 or 12) began to wake up. We all hung out in the kitchen telling stories and eating, while cleaning too. Ah, yes, it was the day that we made the trek out to the library to get our library cards. We left and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect in terms of the walk but damn, it was suuuuper far! However, once we got there it was all worth it (well, mostly worth it) as the portable library (the new one is under construction) was air-conditioned. It felt like we had stepped out of hell and into heaven. It just felt sooooo amazing that I almost collapsed in a heap of joy. But, work was at hand. I was there to get a new library card, to check out my first book, and use the internet for reason which did not help my applications come along. I read blogs and checked email, suuuuuper productive. We walked back and I timed the walk from the metro station to our house, 17 minutes if taken at a semi-fast walk. This information will prove itself useful I’m sure. We got back just in time to eat a wonderfully prepared meal (Grilled Cheeses by Emily), and head off once again for our DC tour. The FJV (former Jesuit Volunteers) from the DC area had offered to give us a basic DC tour so we went to meet them at the Smithsonian Metro Entrance. We began our tour with a walk toward the monument, took a left and walked behind it to the Jefferson Memorial where we did not just see a statue of TJ, or read the inscriptions on the wall, noooo, prithe we did not just do that. We were fortunate enough to be caught in a rain storm and even more fortunate to have a bored Park Ranger nearby who used the rain as a way to get people to go on his tour. It wasn’t a tour so much as a lecture into TJ and all his acquaintances lives. Thomas Jefferson, as presented, did not just win an election, he “will win one of the most disputed elections in history.” Everything presented was in the future tense which became funny after the first mentioning of this man who would become one of the most well known presidents of the United States. After the Thomas Jefferson, as presented, did not just win an election, he “will win one of the most disputed elections in history.” Everything presented was in the future tense which became funny after the first mentioning of this man who would become one of the most well known presidents of the United States. The rain did not stop, for 30 minutes we sat/stood in a cramped room while we learned more about TJ than some might learn in a lifetime of study. With the rain continuing to fall we trudged through the storm to the shelter of the American History Museum, and walked through the Pop Culture section before getting bored and heading back. It was a fun expedition but I was super tired after, hence why I just passed out after we got back. It needed to happen.
The next day (well yesterday as my clock is now telling me) was a lot of fun, I woke up and everyone had already left for church, I had plans to meet my friend Carl at Adam Morgan for Lunch so with my backpack and necessities for the day in tow I left as well. It was my first “alone” experience on the metro and I wouldn’t have made it without my handy pocket map of the metro system. At first I couldn’t understand how the whole thing worked but now I’m starting to get the hang of it. After transferring and arriving at my destination right on time, I had lunch with my good ol friend and caught up on many things, how the high school friend group was doing, how we were doing, we griped about our lives and commiserated in our state of psudo poverty, the hot weather, etc. After this I headed to the National Zoo and walked around a few exhibits before I played soccer at the Marine Barracks for a scrimmage for a team in the area. I had such a great time today being independent and spending most of the day alone, it was reassuring to know that I can find my way around this city and that I am not completely helpless when it comes to urban living. Sooooo tired right now, time for bed!

Journal #10 OMFG August 22, 2009 (Actually about August 21) @ 4:06am

Journal #10 OMFG August 22, 2009 (Actually about August 21) @ 4:06am
Today was a productive day, in my mind. As I move myself into a more comfortable position to type this journal, lightning is flashing all around me, as it has all evening. I will see in my peripheral vision sparks ignite the sky aflame, but only for a brief second before going dark again. Soft thunder echoes in the distance. I sound like I’m trying to start some novel or something but it really is just me observing what I am. We don’t usually get lightning storms like this, I mean, the west coast. Shortly before I got here, the lightning would have been eerie, but now it is just a glimpse of chaos in the distance, here in my room, my house, I feel safe.
I woke up this morning, once again, to the bright sunlight streaming through three sides of brightness. I once again must mention, my room has a lot of window space. I have almost no use for lamps or artificial light. The sun is my alarm clock. I wake up, and just try to hit the snooze button but just manage to stuff my face under a pillow. Breakfast was uninspiring, I ate eggs. Such is the simple life. Boom. The thunder just got closer. Everyone in the house was up and ready to take on the day. We had a number of things planned to do, including target, value village, and biking. I on the other hand had a few things on my mind besides target. I had committed myself to taking care of a number of errands which allowed me to stay home for most of the day. I went to target, which was quite the outing, as I bought a helmet and some other essentials before I began my vow of poverty and life on an 85 dollar a month stipend. We also went to Best Buy to get an antenna for our TV, yes, I know, not the most simple thing but we’ve got to stay connected somehow right? Overall I think that it is good that we as a community have to think about all the things we are buying, to consider why we are buying them, to what ends they will be used, and how we as consumers and participants in this global wold. BOOM. The rain has just begun to patter outside on the cement, the asphalt, the trees, the brick, the wood, all over. The storm has arrived. Storm might be too strong a word for it but, BOOOOOOM. Oh shit, it just thundered like woah. I thought I was being overly dramatic but dang, yeah, its really getting a bit scary here.
My latter part of the day I really enjoyed. After everyone had left to either go bike riding or shopping at Value Village, I stayed home and made the conscious decision to get stuff done. First I called the Washington Post to get a subscription for the house, I say $39 for half a year isn’t too bad for a subscription, with 7 days a week service. Next I considered what to do next, I was in charge of planning our ‘community’ day for the week, the idea being that we host our neighbors over to dessert and coffee and just get to know each other, being that we are living next door to them. I was a little terrified at first of going up to the neighbors and ‘cold calling’ it as you might say, but the conversations I had were amazing. I learned so much about our neighborhood and about the people I talked with that after, I felt that staying home had been the best decision I could have made. Next door we have 4 girls/women who are attending Howard University as well as a family of a Gulf War Vet, Mom, and Grandma who live together in a house they have owned for over 50 years. There is so much to get to know about these people that I’m really looking forward to meeting them in a few days. I also learned through these conversations and these seedlings of relationships that garbage is taken on Wednesday and that there is some sketchy business that is happening two doors down that we don’t need to be a part of.
I don’t want to make any of my readers concerned about my well-being, I’m sure that I’m safe in this neighborhood because of the relationships I’ve made today as well as the ones that I have inside my house.
After everyone came back we got ready for our night at the Wonderland, a bar which all the Former JV’s (Jesuit Volunteers) were going to, and the best part was that we didn’t have to buy any of the drinks! It was a great way to meet people and make some connections in the area. I capped the night off with hanging out with the guy who I’d met the night before, Dave and met some of his friends’ We were at an Irish Pub for a bit hanging out and met two lovely ladies, Melissa and Emily who were just starting law school at American University. They were awesome to talk to and I loved the candid conversation we were able to have, about so many things. The night went a lot longer than I had planned but I enjoyed every moment of it. One of dave’s friends owns a large mansion in the DC area which used to belong to a Supreme Court Justice, its right across from the Masonic Temple. The place is Creeeeeeepy, and looks straight out of a Dracula film. I left the place around 3:30 and just got back, but today has really been a lot like the weather is now. Full of energy being released and unpredictable. I could never have guessed in a million years that today would have taken the course that it did. Life is awesome.

Journal #9 August 21, 2009 (August 20th, 2009 @ 12:46am)

Today was a whirlwind of movement. After the crazyness last night I woke up this morning, feeling a bit hung over but not too bad, after getting only 4 hours of sleep. Not the best way to start the day but hey, it was totally worth it! I had a great time with friends and networking with people in DC which was priceless. We got up, ate some cereal, commiserated in our collective crappy demeanors, and left to head to the bus stop. I think when I was contemplating my life in DC, I expected public transit to be a lot closer, not that its that far away, but we walked a good 10 minutes to the right bus stop before taking the H8 to our first placement. I’d really like to get into talking about each individual placement but its late already and it wouldn’t be that great of a use of my journaling time to go into excruciating detail about each one. What I will say is that I’m excited for each one of us and the experiences we will have at our placements. Each one is different and inspiring. Our jobs range from Legal Council, to Medical Clinic Intern, to Social Worker, to Support Intern for Battered Women and Children. We are all in programs which I believe we will be immersed in and changed in unexpected ways. I didn’t get to see much of the clinic at SOME but I will get a much better idea of the program on Monday when we start work.
Today we also had our house discussion about all the basics, the cleaning, the community time schedule, etc. I felt like it went really well and it seems like we are all very much present to each other and want to be here in community. Personally, I’m a huge fan of our house and all the people in it, we each have such interesting things to bring to the table. After our full day of traveling and seeing the placements, I’m so tired so it is now time for me to get some of that stuff people call sleep. Until next time.

Journal #8 August 20, 2009 (Written August 19, 2009) @ 2:34am

What can I say about today. The first full day of my JVC placement, I woke up to the sunlight streaming through all three sides of my room at around 7am, but with my better judgment decided I should rather stay in bed until 8:30am, soaking in those precious minutes of sleep. I was supposed to go with a few other members of my house to return the rental car we had used yesterday to get from our orientation to our placement but plans changed and I was gifted with the precious reward of sleep. I got up in a daze, thinking I had been left behind by my housemates. I vaguely remembered their voices chattering around me while I dreamt dreams of adventure and discovery but somehow I managed to filter them out, convincing myself that I needed as much sleep as I could get. Ironic that now I type this at 2:38am while I must rouse myself at 7:30am for our orientation tomorrow! However, I have committed myself to the journal and I must continue to record ever moment I deem worthy of memory. I stumbled somewhat confused around my house, wondering where everyone had gone. I thought I saw Kirsten in the garage area while I was in the kitchen but thought it more of an apparition than reality. I was so dazed at this point that I resigned myself to cereal and technology. Waiting for more human company to arrive I checked my email and facebook, downloading new software for my phone and just perusing the “interweb” as Tricia calls it, before everyone returned and we planned out what would happen today. We knew that two things were necessary for today. 1: to open a bank account. 2: to get smart cards to use on either metro or bus routes. Those things were accomplished successfully this afternoon. I spent around an hour in a Wachovia banking center getting our individual co-op bank account approved by one of the nicest bankers I have met. We learned a lot about this individual, Hilary (I know that was his first name), something something. His father was a prestigious banker who attended Harvard while his grandfather was a member of some very important global organization. The H. was very active in entrepreneurship and was looking to start his own business in genetics (with degrees in business and biology). He was incredibly helpful and got us on a great start with our bank, a relationship we are looking forward to utilizing this year. After that was taken care of we walked back past Howard University (an area which I am still looking forward to exploring for a grand piano or any piano…in the music building) to our house, which was still sweltering in the heat and humidity. I hung out with our fellow housemates and chatted until we decided dinner time was upon us. We ate this delicious tuna, wheat pasta, onion, and something or other pasta salad and it was great, a good combo of the essential proteins, starches, and vitamins. We did such a good job coming together to make this meal, and I hope it is symbolic of the team unity we will have later in the year. Overall our house is looking better as we spent a good amount of time cleaning up and tiding the place. My room is still incredibly exciting to me and I look forward to making it my own. It will be tough at the end of the year to give it up. This evening we headed over to the other JVC house for a few drinks along with appitizers. We didn’t eat too many of the appitizers before heading out to a pub in Capitol Heights and getting a 3.50 beer.
I just got back and need to sleep but until next time, its been real.

Journal # 7 August 19, 2009 (but actually the 18th) at 12:35am

Journal # 7
August 19, 2009 (but actually the 18th) at 12:35am
This day has been super overwhelming at times, super exciting, nerve-racking, and joyful. Today we left from Blue Ridge in PA to begin our local orientations at our placement sites. We drove out this morning after saying our good byes to our new house, the excitement permeated the car as we got closer and closer to the place we would be spending our time over the next year. We had seen pictures of the house on Google, but we did not have any idea of what would be inside. We rolled up after some ridiculous traffic and a taste of the sticky humidity which clung onto the skin like syran wrap. We had arrived. We pulled up all our things into the house and immediately went on a tour of the place. The first floor is the living space, with a couch (2) kitchen which was well stocked, and a dining room. The second floor was the bedroom space with what we thought was 3 bedrooms at first with another bedroom in the attic. At first we thought that Lucas and I would share the bedroom in the attic but we later discovered that there were actually 4 rooms on the second floor not 3. My room which we decided on later was the room which I had been wanting ever since we stepped into the hosue. It is covered on 3 sides by windows and lets in a lot of light, it kind of feels like a greenhouse without the glass panals on the roof. The other house was also able to come over later and we had some former JV’s come and talk to us about maintaining safety in the city, don’t be stupid. We ended with a good talk about how to have fun in DC without spending a lot and how to make a successful community. Overall I’m super tired right now which is why I am typing so crappily. I also had this weird thing happen today where my whole body was in pain and it was difficult for me to move around, I didn’t know what was happening but I just kind of rode it out, hoping for it to go away. It did after an hour or so, I shaved for the first time in 5 days which felt amazing. Right now I’m about to pass out. Tomorrow (until).

Journal #6 Tuesday August 18, 2009 (This journal is about August 17th)

Today was in short, awesome. Astounding. Better than I could have ever imagined. So much happened today that I can’t even begin to describe, but, I will attempt at getting in as much as I can, with my limited time and memory. The day began like the others, I awoke feeling sweaty and gross in the basement of our conference house, and promptly went back to sleep until I could wait no longer and breakfast was being served. Breakfast was pretty meager this morning, muffins were the main course with a banana, cereal, OJ, and something else which wasn’t too appetizing. Shortly after breakfast we were ushered into our morning session on Simple Living, given by our chef Katie, Monica, as well as Sarah. Simple living, in short, is how we are supposed to be living this year. We must be attentive to those in our community and work hard in order to successfully complete this year as we should. Overall I enjoyed the presentation and found a number of things which I could take from it, which I won’t get into now.
We ended 1 hour early, and thus had some free time to work on our performance which we had yet to prepare for. We were thinking about doing some sort of choreographed dance, and since no one else had experience in instructing dance I stepped up and started choreographing some moves to Disturbia, with the initial intention of me playing the French horn at some parts (which ended up not happening). We worked pretty hard, sweated a ton, and made it happen. It was a great experience to work together as a community doing something fun and silly. At the same time it demonstrated how well we were working together to achieve a common goal. The dance routine goes something like this. Hip left, Hip Right, get low, circle hips. Thust, Thrust, R leg up and out, L leg up and out. Pony R, Step L Clap, Pony R, Pony L, Pony R, Pony L. Cross arms, X Arms, turn the key. Shimmy Front, Shimmy Back, Shimmy Front, Rainbow to R thigh. Arms to adjacent, R L up and out, L leg up and out, Grab head w. hands. Head down up L, Head down up R, Head around. Down, Arms up, Summersault, Up. Spirit Fingers walk back, Bunny hop back L, R, L, R. Chorus: Crawl 8, kick 8. Solos. It was quite awesome we were able to do this in a couple hours and have it basically ready to go at 8:45 for the talent show. After this rehearsal we went to lunch of leftovers, then had the afternoon session which discussed spirituality nights, after which we had a conversation with our communities about our own faith backgrounds and a lot of my community members were surprised to hear about my story and my own history with Christianity, and that I was not a Catholic, they felt kind of sorry for me that I had to go through their services when I had no idea what was going on. That was some condolence. After that we had a little time to work on our performance again, then we went immediately into the afternoon Olympics. All in all it was a great afternoon with a lot of competition. The first three events went poorly for the South, we lost every one of them. From the water balloon toss, to Bump, to the food eating competition, we lost each one. It wasn’t until the relay race that we began to win. At the end of the day we came out beating the North by one point, via a tie-breaker. The tie-breaker was the orange transfer game, a very intimate game if you will. An orange is passed from team member to team member using only their body and not their mouth or hands. The neck is the preferred method of transfer and it gets quite hot. There is a video of this which I’m not sure if it will be posted, I highly doubt it due to the explicit nature of the video. Anyhoo, we had our afternoon mass and yes, it was sufficiently awkward for me, and we did receive medallions, which I have lost and need to recover tomorrow. After mass we had dinner, which was amazing, BBQ themed. We didn’t have much more time to practice until the evening liturgy so we ran through it one more time. It didn’t seem like we could practice it enough. The liturgy came and went and it was time for the talent show, which I have to say was the best talent show I’ve ever been at, period. Tricia and Ryan (?) were the MC’s and they did such an amazing job. Plus every act was phenomenal. Ours went ok, we forgot the middle section where we go down and do the sommersault but it all worked out.
So now its almost time for bed, it has been a great weekend and I feel as ready as I will be for my job to start. I’m nervous, excited, terrified, and hopeful for what this upcoming year will bring for me. Well, its late and I need to rest, good night journal.

Journal #5 8-16-09

Today is a day which I know I should journal about, but at this moment, I am lacking a lot of motivation to do the task ahead of me. I wrote a letter today so my journal will be incredibly brief. Today was a huge day for the level that our community was at, I became vulnerable with them and I feel like we have connected at such a more profound and deep level. I’m pretty tired so if anything comes to mind tomorrow to write in the journal I will. Until then, ara voir.

Journal #4 8-15-09

Today….it was quite crazy…actually it wasn’t that crazy. Much less eventful than the last day. Woke up at a more reasonable hour, like 8:30 ish, and went to breakfast. Its weird that I already feel like I’m settling into a rhythm, a bit less energetic than I was yesterday. I haven’t even showered today, so I think after I’m done with this, I’ll take care of that missing piece of my day. I’ve been feeling so disgusting, and after all the bowling we did, I’m going to need more than just the normal shower time to get rid of all this guck on my skin. Ungh. So anyhoo, breakfast consisted of pancakes, a bagel, and coffee and juice, and some light conversation on the side. After breakfast we congregated for our morning talk, given by a woman named Tony, and I’m going to give my overall impression of the talk. It was about Ignatian Spirituality, but I felt defensive the entire session. She made it seem like if you didn’t believe in God, you were crazy. That if you questioned your beliefs, you are crazy. I felt like she was talking down to us, not engaging in a conversation with us. If you didn’t consider yourself spiritual, than you were “different.”I didn’t resonate with her beliefs and it made me feel quite uncomfortable to be in the same room where I didn’t feel welcome. My own spirituality is complicated.

After her talk we had an amazing lunch of pita bread, hummas, salad, TURKEY (the first meat I’ve had here since we arrived!), and egg salad sandwiches. Lunch ended and we began our afternoon session talking about Jesuit Volunteer expectations. Most of these we were already familiar with, however we also watched a movie on racism in America. This movie truly opened my eyes to a number of facts which I had not previously thought about. It brought to my sight the reason why white suburbia existed, why when ethic people moved into a place, the property value decreased, why whites would move out for economic reasons, why racism today is economic and still remains from years past. The reason why I am well off today has a lot to do with opportunities which were given to my ancestors, half of whom were white. The money they received from the GI bill went towards a house that they otherwise would have not been able to purchase. A similar family of a different race would not have been able to own a home in that neighborhood that they lived in. It made me think about all the areas I have lived in. Edmonds, primarily white. Woodinville, extremely white. Santa clara, kinda white (private school with a fairly high price tag). However, my story isn’t completely that simple, my dad is Hispanic which makes me wonder somewhat about his family history. A number of his family made it to college, and on to high paying professions. His family also seems more ‘white’ than the typical Mexican household. Its an interesting thought, to wonder how race relations and racism has impacted where I am today, now able to enjoy the priviledge of having graduated relatively debt-free from Santa Clara University, and to have the opportunity to participate in a year long volunteering program, where I don’t have to work for a year and still be well-off. I could go on longer about this but it is already 1am, and I don’t think I can stay out here much longer, its starting to get really chilly.
Anyhoo, after that I helped out in the kitchen making food for dinner plus a Mediterranean Salad for tomorrow, I tasted it and it is going to be delicious!!! After that we had dinner, mass (still awkward), and then left for bowling. We discovered a number of things about our group at this event. We all like to dance, Lucas has an uncanny ability to dance and make people laugh, we also found that we seem to get along pretty well as a group and we have a pretty high level of energy, which I think will be important in making this upcoming year a good one. I just had a great conversation with pat. Who are going to be living in the other DC house, I’m glad we have another place that we can go to if we ever need to go to it, and to have the support and comradery of another community that is only 1 mile away. Andrew also seems like a great guy who has a brother who went to Santa Clara and graduated in 2008. We’re all looking forward to what is going to come with this year and I’m glad I’ve been keeping up with journaling, it has been nice to be able to reflect at the end of each day, even if I am starving and sweaty at the moment. It still is a valuable thing and I’ll try to keep it up. Until next time.

Journal #3 August 14, 2009 11:55pm

Today was the first full day of JVC Orientation, and woah, it was quite a full day. I woke up after sleeping quite poorly at 6:00am to go shower, take care of business, and to journal. I would have gone running FOR SURE, but I smartly forgot to bring my running shoes, so I saved my run until the afternoon. Let me describe my dorm situation, or shall I say, my barracks situation. WE are in the basement of the conference building with about 14 cots, all of which have the worst and most uncomfortable mattresses known to mankind. On top of that, with the large number of smelly men sleeping there it gets quite dank, but its all good, it’s a place to sleep. I just feel the need to complain just a little, its something to talk about and a memory I need to record. After seeing the sunrise, journaling quite extensively (4 pages I believe), I went back downstairs to take a little nap before breakfast.
So back to the day, breakfast was pretty good, I had Cherrios and a wheat bagel, and sat by Rob, Nick, Matt, and someone else, who is failing to come to me right now. Discussion was kinda modest, kinda awk, kinda first-day-at-camp-and-i-don’t-feel-comfortable-in-my-own-skin kinda awk.
After breakfast we went to our morning talk/lecture thing, who was it? Oh yeah, it was that head lady’s dad who is a worker for Catholic Relief Services who works abroad and in the US. He was talking about solidarity and social justice. I guess I really haven’t defined those terms for myself recently. Solidarity, the practice of living with in harmony and walking in stride with someone or some-people. IT is experiencing some of the same things, to live in respect of the other, to reflect on one’s own upbringing and understand that at the core of it all, we share a common humanity no matter how different people may be at times. It is living in collaboration, it is a partnership, it is one person allowing another person to enter their home. It is working to begin to understand another person’s life story, or a people’s shared experiences. Much like in el Salvador where we learned of the atrocities of the civil war, it brought our thinking to a different plane, we became aware of a situation we would have never known existed. It allows us to take off the blinders which we routinely wear, which only expose us to our own experience while blinding out all others. Hmm, not a bad definition. Social Justice, is the work which people do in order to give equal opportunity to all, to allow all persons to be given the same opportunities but also the free will to make their own decisions, to be allowed to make mistakes or successes. It works to right wrongs which favor certain groups in the population, it works to understand what is needed, what is desired. Social Justice is work to understand WHY things are the way they are, why certain people are not given opportunities, why hunger exists, why education is not yet universal, why certain things in the world are not just or the way they should be (in an ideal world). From studying the WHY, we learn how we are able to make a difference, to learn from those we are serving, to walk with those we are serving. One good point which was brought up today is that these people that we are serving would be fine without us, they don’t REALLLY need us, they would continue to live, but they wouldn’t know us. We have so much more to offer and to take than just the service we provide. Anyhoo that was the just of the lecture we got today. Lunch was great, we had a community lunch with grilled cheese sandwiches and it was just great to sit down with our community and chat it up. Kiersten is going to be (and already is) such a good resource for our house. She’s been there and she knows all the ins and outs of the organization. She knows how we need to budget, she knows where to go, how to have fun, and will be a great asset to our house. Already I’m excited. Its been so good today, I went running and got to see a bit of the Appalacian Trails, which are absolutely beautiful. I think I should have been using the singular in the previous sentence but I’m just typing so fast that I just missed it. There is just one trail, it is quite rocky, and I think that next time that I run to it I’m going to climb up it as far as I can go, because I’m pretty sure that it is a loop that will take me back to the site. This afternoon after the run I showered, had dinner with some great peeps, Nick included, and talked it up. I realized that there are so many connections I have, I met the cousin of Caitlin Gambee who goes to USD, I believe her name is Katie??? Probably wrong. But anyways, I’m learning of all these people I know who know JVs. Pat knows Kristin Williams too. Crazy. After Lunch we had (sorry this is our of order) we had a Jesuit priest who works at National Geographic speak to us about the Jesuit Order, which was semi-interesting, but confirmed a lot of what I already knew about Jesuits, they do a lot of different stuff and are sometimes controversial. But anyhoo, after dinner we had a small Jesuit Ceremony (very short) and then went to meet with our Area Coordinator, who seems very nice. We went over the basics or JVC, the Who, Why,How, and then we celebrated a girls birthday with cupcakes and icecream (with oreos) and then just talked about just how much fun our houses are going to have together. Parties are already planned!!!!! Awesome!!!!! I love JVC already and know that I made the right decision!

Journal #2 hahaha 3:32AM Pacific Time, 6:32AM Eastern Time 8/14/2009

(hahah, because I'm journaling at 3:32am my time)

I’m sitting here looking at quite the magnificent view of forest, grass, and sky. The sun is just about to peak over the eastern horizon, the clouds already reflecting a part of their view of the sun back down, hinting at the luminescence that will come in only a few minutes. Part of me is a little surprised at just how awake I am for it being 3:35am my time, and only 6:35am Eastern time, one would think that I would be content to just sleep until I feel ready for the day to start. Not today. Today is the first full day of my JVC experience and I don’t want to miss a beat, my unconscious already knows this. Its hard to describe just how beautiful this moment is that I’m experiencing, the air feels fresh like a clean t-shirt, with one breath I am given hints of what aromatic plants are in the surrounding forest, as well as a hint of the humidity that will soon stick to every part of my body and make me wish that it was 6:39Am again. I hear the constant drone of summer (as they call it here, locus as one person said) mixed in with the sparse calls of birds. It seems just so peaceful right now, even in the distance I can hear the quiet roar of a highway, maybe a mile away.
Yesterday was a day of movement, new faces, new awkward moments, and the foundation of new relationships that I will have over the next year. I can’t begin to start with just how many people I met, and how many people I have yet to meet. All the people in my house are super cool, all of my impressions of them are positive and I can’t wait to move into a house with them and start the next part of our journey. I’ll start off my journaling with a brief overview of how yesterday went, which actually starts the day before because I left on a red-eye flight from Seattle at 12am. I was in the car, with my mom brother and sister, and I’ll never forget the moment when we had to say good-bye. I hugged my brother and sister, then my mother (twice) after they helped me figure out that my bag was 4 pounds overweight. Just next to the car there was an unused scale and my brother had the bright idea to end this guessing game of mine and just set the bag on top of it. Sure enough, the scale read “54.5” pounds. Shit. I moved a few things around, transferred even more baggage onto my backpack and then said my last good-byes and stepped inside the terminal. The AirTran check-in was for the most part, empty. I stood in line with the e-check-in sign and waited patiently for my turn to come. I ended up waiting probably over 50 minutes to an hour even though I had been the second in line. Shannigans. There was a flight to Atlanta which was about to board and they had to see those passengers first, then their computer systems were down, then it was the assistant in front of me left, then finally it was my turn. I handed over my boarding pass which I had already printed. Over the counter went my 49.5 pound bag, my horn went to the odd-size baggage check in. I then headed over to the dehumanizing line of TSA. I passed through without a hitch, and made it to my gate. At this point I was pretty tired, I responded to a few messages, called my sister to tell her everything was ok, that I was just about to get on my flight and leave my home state of Washington. It was starting to hit me that this was it, I was leaving for a year. I had done what I never thought I would actually do, I had graduated college and the dream (which had been quite real) was over and I was on to a New Chapter in my life.
The flight departed, my arm hurt the entire flight due to the tetanus shot I had gotten the day before, and I began the miserable flight. I got little sleep and felt extremely uncomfortable, despite the fact that I was sitting next to the nicest mom ever, who made a point of introducing herself and making me feel right at home. After what seemed like days, our flight arrived and I groggly got off the plane, feeling every part of my skin which was lightly coated in sweat. I lugged my life along with me to the southwest terminal (no one told me that it would be in the next state…) and sat down with the hopes of falling asleep on a wooden bench. Soon enough I was awaken to the voice of someone asking me “you’re a JV right….”and that was how it started with Bethy, a legacy JV from WA who had just been working for a year in Alaska. We talked quite a bit about ourselves and finally we joined up with the group who had been standing a ways away, easily identifyable as the JV group (a group of 20 somthings with an optimistic look about them with a significant amount of baggage). I immediately met a few people who were in my house in DC, Kristina, Emily, Lucas.
We finally boarded our bus, without Matthew Williams (who I would later discover was late due his flight being delayed and had to go through hell to make it to the orientation.) I sat down next to this guy named Matt, a recent graduate of Wisconsin- Madison, majored in recovery psychology and would be attending Harvard university for medical school the following year. Needless to say I was impressed, what a BALLER. I could only dream of being where he was, accepted into one of the most prestigious medical schools and on his way to an amazing experience where he could just take it all in and not have to worry about plans for the upcoming year. What foresight! We talked about the usual, about health care reform, about many things and 2.5 hours later we arrived at the orientation site. As I have already described, it is beautiful and a great place to spend this next few days. We did a few ice-breakers, we met up with our houses, made some great connections, had dinner, liturgy (awkward btw, I feel like I’m one of the only non-catholics here, so more on that later), and broke more ice with a lively game of catch phrase.
After a full day I still felt rather awake but resigned myself to sleep, ready for the next day. We’ll see what today brings, its been so long since I’ve been consistently journaling so this will be good to look back on later in life and see what the heck I was doing on August 14, 2009 at 7:12AM…BALLIN.

Journal 1 : 11:11pm, Seattle, WA – SEATAC – Terminal A, Gate A 14

In front of me is a plane, resting for the moment but full of potential to go places. Here I sit, embarking on my own journey which will be drastically different than anything I have ever done before. One year lies ahead, and only God knows what it will hold for me. Who knows what I will be thinking just one year in the future, what my next year plans will be, and what new friendships I have forged, and which ones have gone to the wayside. I hope that this year I can find the time to journal as much as possible, every day or every other day.

My time in back up in my home town has been nothing but pleasant, seeing faces which I hadn’t seen in quite some time. In the time I was back I was able to see Strode, the Davids, Maddie, Tara, Gillian, Jordan, as well as other friends and family. I had a great time seeing my grandparents and spending time with them, they are so supportive and helpful with my future goals. In the time I was back I went clubbing, shopping for new outfits, shared many meals with good company, and did pretty much everything I wanted to do while I was here.

Its hard to describe my mood right now, part of me yearns to know what is going to happen in these next few days, part of me excited for the newness I will be experiencing, part of me is frightened to be in a completely new area, with so much activity going on, a place I could get lost in. I’d definitely say that I feel more excited than anything else, though part of this while experience hasn’t really hit me, and I don’t think it really will until I land in Baltimore and get whisked off to the retreat, where many faces await who I will soon be putting names and stories to.