Updates (long overdue)

First week of JVC and first three days of work. It has been quite the whirlwind.

My job is pretty wonderful so far. I am a "Family Case Manager" for three housing developments in Southeast Portland that are made up of low-income people, a lot of whom are refugees. Essentially though, I basically deal with what walks in the door. So far I've done things like read through high school paperwork for Somali refugee kids, make phone calls for appointments, fax things, print things. I work basically with one other woman and her name is Elisabeth. She is Swiss-German and just about as fiery as they come. She's a powerhouse. And everyone at Kateri Park and Esperanza LOVE her. And she loves them intensely. These people are met everyday with disrespect and challenge and she is always there with kind words, patience, advice, and solutions.

Other highlights include:

-beer and tacos at Crunchy's house. So yummy. Not only did he provide us with INCREDIBLY tasty beer, but also sent us home with taco leftovers.
-went to Washington Park in Portland for outdoor concert and picnic (Ty Curtis Band - bluesy rock. So wonderful). Interesting car rides. Please see "Things I've learned"
-met the staff of St. Henry's (the church next door whose house we live in). They are very lovely.
-saw the giant dino at Mac House (another JVC house in Portland) that the Gresham house has to steal.
-went to Costco!
-Ate really good pho on the first day of work. It wasn't as good as Than Bros. but it was comforting on the first day.
-Got to visit with Grub. Paul Grub is a former Juneau, Alaska Jesuit Volunteer who is now a Jesuit (he teaches at Jesuit High School in Portland). He did a talk at Orientation and was hilarious. We were on our way out the door when we ran into him in our backyard with 5 eggs from chickens near Mt. Hood where he lives in a yurt with the Lakota tribe. He is rad. We're going to do a sweat with him sometime soon.
-Eating lunch in Powell Park. I do this because almost all the residents at the place where I work are Muslim (primarily Somali), and so they are fasting for Ramadan. This means from sun up to sun down they do not eat, drink, or even swallow their saliva. It's very strict. In order to spare them having to watch me munch on wheat thins and hummus, I walk to a nearby park and sit underneath a beautifully huge tree and eat my lunch.
-driving out to the middle of nowhere with all 8 roommates to watch the Perseoid meteor shower last night. We left at about 11 am and arrived at a random field of hay and put down our blankets to gear up for star-gazing. It was awesome.

Things I've learned:
-traveling with 8 people is challenging. Getting out the door is the hardest part :)
-always keep your eye on a car when it's following you. That's a mistake you only make once, especially when half of your roommates end up in Washington they get so lost.
-8 people mean you are always doing dishes...it feels like you just did all the dishes you could do and then there are more in the sink 2 minutes later and someone else is doing them.
-my roommates are rad
-I love riding the bus. I see the most beautiful and real things. This makes up for the hour commute to work in the morning.
-I am learning how incredibly difficult it is to be a refugee in this country. I've only been at work for 3 days and my heart has been broken over and over again. Medical calls, bills, forms, money...everything is difficult and in another language. Luckily that's were Elisabeth (and I hopefully) come in. We help people navigate through these tasks that seem so easy if English is our first language. However, it's still difficult because we don't speak Somali or MaiMai so we have to rely on other people in the community to translate.

Love to all...pictures to follow hopefully