Light

It's been a bit.

I cannot believe how beautiful it is outside today. I'm sitting in Cafe D with Amanda and Daniel and it is incredibly clear. Mt. Hood is completely covered in snow. The hills surrounding Gresham are dusted with snow. Things have been pretty lovely. I feel like I've been quite busy but in reality I think it is just that I've been back and forth between Tacoma and Gresham quite a bit.

The first night at Palisades, the retreat center where I made a 5 Day Silent Retreat

The last morning at Palisades. So beautiful.

It was wonderful to go home and spend so much time with friends. Had a lot of fun. Often too much fun. I'm glad to be back in Gresham though...especially because I worked one day and then am off for New Years Eve! Fun will be had tonight. Hope you are all so well.

Wind and Waiting

I was going to try to write something beautiful about wind, but I'm feeling woefully uncreative so I will post a few songs that I've had on repeat lately:

1) Mindy Smith feat. Dolly Parton "Jolene"

2) Shelby Lynne "Dream Some"

3) Shawn Colvin "Shotgun Down the Avalanche"

4) Johnny Cash "It Ain't Me Babe"

5) (As much as it pains me) Feist "Honey, Honey"

Perfect

I woke up feeling heavy hearted
I'm going back to where I started
The morning rain
And you know I wish that you were here
But that same old road that brought me here
Is calling me home

Vacation

Let's see...what have I done on my vacation so far?

1. Used the internet like it's my job...I never get to just play around on the internet in Gresham...I'm only going on if I have something pressing that needs taking care of or these self-indulgent blog posts
2. Checked out a lot of music (this is what I've been using the internet for, primarily; my fix of new music)
3. Thoroughly stalked one miss Brandi Carlile. I have watched tons of YouTube videos, downloaded all her songs I didn't already own on iTunes..actually, putting that disclosure in this blog post makes me feel slightly better about my creepiness.
4. Oh yea, crossed off a major bucket list item which was seeing Brandi in concert.
5. Watched an embarrassingly high number of episodes of shows on Netflix.
6. Spent time with Haley and Sara just relaxing (before the storm came in). It was really lovely.
7. Been bitter about this cold spell making it impossible for me to visit people; however, also grateful for some divinely-enforced time to just sit around and be quiet.

Expounding upon number 7 in greater depth, I do not think (and I'm sure many JVs experience this) that I am ever quiet or still. I am always doing something, talking to someone, thinking about what needs to get done. There is this daily, lovely cacophony of preschoolers, thoughts, strategies, updates, music in the kitchen, silly conversations with housemates, and so on. It reminds me of Kathleen Norris's Amazing Grace in which she talks about trying to get elementary school students to define silence. Knowing this would be a difficult task, she asks them to, first, make as much noise as they can for 20 seconds or so and write about it. She then moves on to ask them to sit in silence for 20 seconds. They came up with these beautiful definitions of silence while few came up with anything particularly original about loudness. One boy came up with the image of being strong and silent like a tree. One student said "silence is me sleeping, waiting to wake up." They needed to really know what noise felt like to understand the gravity of silence.

My house is quiet. I never noticed how loud my life had become until these moments in my tiny, intensely cluttered and memory-filled house. The noise in my life is not unbearable nor is it unfavorable. It's almost like yelling over a crowd to say hello to a friend you've missed terribly. It is not a calling that is full of anger or hatred, but with urgency and excitement. However, we all know that yelling too much, even if it is in joy or delight, can make us hoarse. I didn't realize I was hoarse until I sat, snowed-in (more like iced-in) in the house I have lived in since birth. Although I am missing out on time I could be spending with friends, this quiet is delightful.

Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.


-- Jelaluddin Rumi,
translation by Coleman Barks

Fall: Our Gentle Assailant

Every year, fall assails me. But in the gentlest way possible. I always seem to suddenly notice that the air feels different, looks different, breathes different. The leaves are highlighter red with fire orange and gold and begin to gather on the road, whirling even more intently when a car interrupts. Little Northwest children are bundled in their mismatched sweaters and boots and seem to run with an intensity that is quite different than their summer gait. People seem to be settled into themselves in a different way.

I cannot stop noticing how change is exemplified in all forms of life. In some ways, change is the only thing in life that is constant. Though this can seem like stepping onto a slippery log, never touching solid ground because things are always moving and unstable, it must also be true that growth and movement are always taking place.

I continue to grow and move through this service year. My heart is changing and I do not notice or recall the process. All I know is that my heart is opening at all of its seams to let new people and experiences in. The Divine is continually being revealed to me in something as small as watching someone enjoying an ice cream cone and as significant as a crying child whom I am comforting.

Hope you are all well...really. I hope your changes find you well.

A Day In The Life of a Gresham JV

Just so all of you at home can get a taste of what it's like living the JV lifestyle and working with refugees:

8:15am: Woke up to the sound of the new 3M hook I installed (and I use that term loosely) to hold my curtains falling. A rude awakening. Slowly got out of bed and got ready for the day, having more time than usual because I was driving today for reasons that will be mentioned later.

9:20am: Left for work after almost leaving my lunch at home. Drove past Starbucks without stopping to buy a vanilla latte. Simplicity prevails.

10:00am: Start work.


10:01am: Client came in saying that one of the kids was swearing at her. Told her I would deal with it.


10:03am: Talked to one of our preschool teachers about ESL help for one of the families.

10:08am: Started to call the Welcome Center where children go who need to be screened for kindergarteen. I needed to cancel an appointment that I had made for a client but they showed up as I was calling. Took my 25 y.o. client with her 5 y.o. (cute) daughter to get screened for kindergarten. Had a good talk with this young Somali woman on the way. I really like her. Haven't gotten to know her well but she is very wise. Part of the conversation went like this, "I want a man who is not going to talk shit to me [clearly this is my favorite part of the conversation]. Who is kind at heart. You know, most women want a man who is handsome or hot or something, I just want him to have a good heart, I don't care what he look like. If he is kind in his words, that is all that matters. But it is hard to leave even if someone is bad, if you love each other."

11:20am: Arrive back at work. Called the local school to see if the little girl I took to get screened could attend school tomorrow. Also asked about a client whose child was charged for lunch when they are a part of the free lunch program.

11:23am: Client comes in needing help filling out SSI paperwork.
[time starts to run all together]: Help client fill out a job application. Make a doctors appointment for another client's wife. Tell other client I cannot help him fill out a job application today because I do not have time and there is an intern who does it. Have one client come in to ask about his community college paperwork that we had worked on together to see if it's done.


2:35pm: Get ready for homework club. Frantically print the roster for the week so I can keep track of attendance. Worry about not having enough volunteers but some showed up at the last minute. Have one of the kindergarteners wait outside, desperately wanting to go to homework club to work on his nonexistent homework. While he waits he draws little hearts on the window with his fingers. Get a piece of beautiful artwork from a 6th grader. Physically restrain a rag-tag group of preschool/kindergarteners who seem to feel that it is imperative that they break into homework club (though again, they do not have homework...I reiterate, 15% of my job is akin to being a bouncer at a club). Homework club ends (after throwing people out of my office of course). One of the younger kids needs help filling out a money order for their family to pay off their travel expenses from immigrating. Help her and then head out. Run into a 7 year old Nepali girl on my way out who grabs my hand and says I can't go home because I need to go to her house. I give her a hug goodbye and then make my way to my car. Call my grandma and haley in the car ride on the way home

There's a little taste of what life is like during the workday here. It can be hectic but it can also be really exciting.

I forgot to note in the last post about the other birthday festivities that went down.

On my actual birthday, my boss greeted me with a huge hug and later took me out to lunch. She NEVER leaves the office so it was a big deal. She took me to a very swanky little bakery called Little T Bakery.

They had all kinds of delicious looking things in their case like whole wheat croissants (which I've heard are the best in Portland), lemon curd drop biscuits, and macaroons in the shape of little pyramids. Much to my surprise they also had sandwiches. My boss ordered ahead of me and got "ham and cheese on pretzel bread." I glanced up at the chalkboard menu and saw that it was only $4.25 (so I wouldn't set her back much) and ordered the same thing. It was phenomenal. Few people are aware of my food philosophy but it is essentially that I love extraordinary quality ordinary things. This sandwich confirmed it. It was absolutely lovely.

I raced home after work because I knew I had the first session of St. Henry's Youth Group. It was a far bigger group of kids than I was expecting but they were all really kind and had a lot of good energy which I'm excited about. I'm helping with the 7th grade class. 7th graders have never looked so young! At youth group, Crunchy (support person extraordinaire) put a candle in an old-fasioned maple doughnut and everyone sang which was quite adorable. Afterwards, I went home to a fantastic meal of salad and chicken pot pie as well as a copy of a book I've been wanting to break into (Reading Lolita in Tehran) from Powells. Soon after dinner I headed over to 4th Street Brewery for birthday beers with Crunchy, Margaret (other support person extraordinaire/Crunch's wife/SU Alum), and Laurie (their friend and a helper with youth group). I got more than I bargained for. The bartender made me a great (read: big) birthday shot and Crunch and Margaret bought me a beer. After we got home, Crunchy went over to his house, made a huge margarita and brought it over too. Needless to say I was slightly (as my spiritual director has euphemistically said before) overserved on my birthday.

I ventured home this weekend to see my family and celebrate with them. It was great but also very strange. It was lovely to see all of them and to be caught up to speed on how everyone is doing and what they're up to. It was jarring, however, to return to a place where I have so many memories and difficulties. I felt so...different. I am realizing that my JVC experience is changing how I feel about people, relationships, my own hardships and, really, the world in general. Returning to a place where I usually spend a lot of money and shop felt bizarre. It is no longer an important part of my life. Even so, I was shell-shocked a bit by how much of my life was spent consuming. I also found it difficult to describe all the nuances of what I've been learning and feeling over the past few months. It's hard to talk to people about how much this is changing me. I suppose this might come with some careful reflection. In any event, it was good to go home just to kind of take my new self onto dry land. I don't realize that my way of life is so different than most because I live with 7 others who are living the same way.

Any how, a lot of rambling. I hope you are all well. Love, so much love to you!

Blessed Birthday

This year has undoubtedly been the best birthday yet. I have never been more aware of how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends, family, coworkers, clients, and roommates in my life.

The festivities started last Friday when my roommates and I decided to celebrate my birthday, as I would be out of town for the weekend after. I came home to a pumpkin cake with maple buttercream frosting from scratch.


We played some games and then ventured over to our local watering hole, 4th Street Brewery, where I received a free drink. We then headed home. However, roommates Daniel and Jill are just as festive as I am and were soon ready to try out a local dive bar called M&M Lounge. We sang karaoke and drank a tequila sunrise then came back and had a dance party in our dining room, miraculously not rousing the rest of our house at 3 am.

Now I am home and will be celebrating my birthday with my family who I miss a lot. It feels strange to have unlimited internet and not have to travel to a library or a coffee shop. I also don't really remember how to watch TV :)

The 7.

I really love my roommates. I still have a lot to learn about community and my own spirituality but I have an incredibly supportive group of 7 people who I'm sure will continue to challenge me and care for me (and, I hope, I for them).

My job is also wonderful. I received adorable birthday gifts from a lot of the kids in the homework club that I started running last week for 1st-12th graders. I'm shaking in my boots though because my boss is about to embark on a trip to Switzerland to bury her mother who passed away. I'm so glad she is taking time for herself but pretty terrified to be there by myself. I will need prayers for the coming two weeks!

I want to hear about how you are doing (few readers:) Send me a letter: 451 NW 1st St Gresham, OR 97030

Changes

My time here is certainly, unequivocally changing me. At the same time, things around me are changing. As my roommates and I settle in and get to know each other better, we are new people. Different idiosyncrasies, challenges, and treasures are discovered as we continue to grow together. I am uncovering the bits of myself, covered in damp earth, that I have long ignored but long to mend so that, thrown together, I can make one loving, whole person. My strong and wildly passionate boss lost her mother early Monday morning. Her world is changing and moving, becoming simultaneously more difficult and less painful in a strange, paradoxical dance. My heart has been with her for the past week. Relationships at home and with old friends are forming into new creations as I am away and don't stay in the same kind of contact. One of the girls at work has changed her mind about me. If you've been following this blog, you may have heard from her, the one who said a myriad of kind things such as "The new Bonnie's [Bonnie being the volunteer in the position before me] ugly" or the famous quote up on the quote wall in our house "The new Bonnie's boring." Now she loves me. She draws me pictures, she makes me tin foil flowers, and talks about how much she likes me. I'm not trusting this too much because I'm sure she'll change her mind any day now and then change her mind back. She's a 5th grader after all. I find parts of myself softening deeply. I care so deeply for the people I serve. They are wiggling their way into my heart, one by one. Even when they yell, complain, get frustrated, and are sassy and obnoxious (this title specially reserved for a scrappy squad of 4-5th grade girls) they somehow change me every day. I wish I had a stronger word than humbling.

Missing and loving all from afar. Be well.

Oh dear...and lists

This is from quite a few days ago (Sept 8th I think?)
Well yesterday was only a small disaster. Tons of kids being crazy and out of control. Babies screaming in my office. Little kids breaking things everywhere while I helped their parents set up phone lines, fill out school paperwork, and make doctors' appointments. I let four 4-5th grade girls do homework in the library and they trashed it and I really didn't have time to clean up after them (I worked 8.5 hours straight, no breaks, no food) so the preschool teacher came back to a pig sty in the morning.

But I survived. This job is making me realize that I am stronger than I think I am.

Also, I've been meaning for a while to make a list of things I like and don't like about Portland. Because I have lived in Seattle, many people insist on asking me which I like better. These are my feelings on Portland so far.

Like:
-public transportation
-Mt. Hood
-no sales tax
-my job
-roommates
-Winco
-the Northwest Weather
-POWELLS
-the 9 bus driver in the morning
-Stumptown
-4th Street brewery ($2-$3 beers)

Dislike:
-the weird speed limit signs
-the fact that every single highway has ungodly traffic during any time I am driving most hours
-there is no ocean in close proximity (it's about 1.5 hours away)
-the drivers...no really, most people in Oregon suck at driving.
-there are fewer places to get a good coffee

I'm sure I'll add and subtract form this list but for now...this is where it stands

Hope all are well!

Long delay

I just spent a good deal of time uploading photos on Facebook so do enjoy those!

Work is still awesome. There are some days that are really hard but in general I really love my job. I'll post a day in the life sometime so you all can see the craziness that is working here! (I also ask for prayers/good thoughts/warm energy/whatever you want that's good for a family I am case managing who has a very ill 1 year old. It's really hard on them as you could imagine)

Housemates are great. We are kooky and silly and fun together which is great. Our house seems to be a rather strange anomally...we all get along and we all hang out together. This is not always the case for every JV house. A lot of people have been asking me how we divide up meals. Not sure why this question comes up so often but people want to know. Monday through Thursday we have a pair assigned to cook. It's absolutely lovely because 3 out of those 4 nights I come home to a delicious meal made by my housemates. We also rotate dishes too. We sign up at the beginning of the week and everyone takes a day with a partner. The rest of the days we generally (and I use that term loosely, but hey, we are trying) just try to clean up after ourselves.

(Right now I can hear all of our cute preschoolers yelling the names of colors they're learning. It's adorable)

Lately, my outings have included:
-Trip to the Saturday market (kind of like a temporary Pike Place Market). I bought a really cool print of Mt. Hood (though Mt. Rainier is still better in my book, like most things Washingtonian)
-Trip to Canon Beach. It was beautiful.
-Trip to Tilamook Factory. The factory wasn't up and running because it was a Sunday (which was sad, I was ready to see some mass-produced dairy) but that did not mean that free and bountiful cheese samples were not available nor did it mean we couldn't get huge scoops of delicious ice cream.
-SEATTLE! The roommates and I (minus 1, Lindsay's boyfriend was visiting and he will soon be taking off for Peru so she opted to stay home to show him around her new digs) trekked up to Seattle for Labor Day weekend. I got to see some Seattle friends (Allison, Matt, Shea, Kat, Clara, Katie). Allison spoiled me with some Paseo which was the best meal I've eaten in a while and Shea spoiled me with some vitamin R (Rainier Beer). We also ventured over to Bainbridge where Daniel (aka The Boy, The Rooster) is from. It was quite a relaxing experience!

More later....I wish you could all be here with me. I miss you all terribly.

(It's taken me approximately five hours to complete this post because work has been crazy as usual today, except for today I am holding down the fort alone...God help us)

So many waterfalls

Updates...and it hasn't even been a week!

I had quite an eventful weekend. Friday most of our house went in Portland. We went to a couple places on 21st and then headed over to meet some of the Mac and Morris houses (two of the Portland JVC houses). We went to a bar called Bar Bar (one of my favorite bar names) that was really similar to Cap Hill's Oddfellows. I had a drink a wonderful drink at a pub called O'Brien's that was attached to a trendy bar called Wimpy's (owned by the same people). It was a basil lemonade made with Seattle's own Dry Fly Vodka. It was fantastic though admittedly probably a bit too spendy for my JVC stipend.

Cool window display in Portland

Housemate Jill with some pigs

A Portland biker-friendly sign


After getting home around 2am-ish from Portland the night before, I got my butt out of bed the next morning at 8am and I'm so glad I did. Jim and MaryAnn (our support people in Gresham) told us about these work parties that are held every third Saturday at an old Italian-style villa which now serves as a house for Franciscan nuns. They have goats, chickens, dogs, cats and absolutely beautiful grounds (complete with a private waterfall). Amanda, Jill and I attended with the Bucks and their friend Jim who hauled us out east-84 a little before Multnomah Falls. I can now say that I've 1) cleaned a goat barn 2) dissembled a tiny goat house and 3) fixed up a new goat house. It was totally awesome and I loved working outside. Needless to say, I'll be back every third Saturday that I can manage! Amanda, Jill and I also went on a walk through this forest that looks like it's out of a movie. There's a path with trees lining and hanging over it. We went on a short but steep walk up to the waterfall which was absolutely beautiful. Then the MaryAnn took us on the old (and scenic) highway home, stopping at Vista House which gives you a panoramic view of the Gorge and both Washington and Oregon. All in all a very aesthetically pleasing day!

The waterfall on the nuns' property

The Columbia River Gorge

Washington!


Sunday I also got up at 8am (which is so unlike me) and did a 14 mile hike (also unlike me) with all 7 of my housemates and a bunch of people from the other Portland area houses. It was incredibly beautiful. The hike takes you past about 4 waterfalls until you get to Tunnell Falls which is a huge waterfall that you actually hike under. It was so cool! After the hike we wobbled toward the car and went home. After showers and naps we headed out our back door to Crunchy and Margaret's (our support people/neighbors). We tie-dyed together and then had brats and beers. It was heavenly to not have to cook after a long day of hiking.

Tunnel Falls after about 7 miles. It was so huge.

The housemates stopping for lunch about 1/2 mile from Tunnel Falls


My house gets randomly and fiercely into painting. Here is some painting that Lindsay did in our kitchen. Each line is from a poem. I should have overseen the J.Alfred Prufrock reference considering the line is actually "Do I dare eat a peach?" But it's still cool. The tomato reference is from Neruda, the plum from William Carlos Williams and the peach from T.S. Eliot. We have quite the literary house.

The breakfast nook table we all have been working on


Beautiful Sky in Gresham

Oh Hey Week 2

As I write this, I am in downtown Gresham's Cafe Delirium (Cafe D). There's a Indian man singing a broken English version of "The Way You Look Tonight" and playing guitar very well. It's pretty rad.

Things have been busy around here lately. Still lots of humming energy all the time because everything is so new.

Saturday night was a little get together with Mac, Morris, and Hillsboro. It was quite eventful and I got to go up on the roof of the JVC office via a sketchy ladder.

Sunday a few of my roommates and I went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) which for you Washingtonians is very similar to Pacific Science Center. It was pretty cool but there were kids EVERYWHERE. It was a free day so everybody was out in full swing to enjoy the a/c because it was in the 90s. The 6 of us came back and passed out for a little while and then I painted a little bit which was fun. When my roommates saw that the paints were out we all decided to paint our breakfast nook table. It's awesome. Photos to come soon!

On Monday I played a lot at work with the kids and treated myself to a Burgerville lunch which was fantastic. The things I have started to appreciate are strange.

Tuesday was a very good and very different day. It was art class at work and my boss encouraged me to go visit the kids who were in there. They're just across the way from my office so I could tell they were being pretty rambunctious because of all the noise. I went in and introduced myself to one of the girls who was probably around 11. I told her I was the new JV and she screamed and said "The new Bonnie's ugly." Then this same girl was in my office later and she asked me if I had a mom and I said my mom had died. She laughed. It was very jarring. It gives you a feel of the rough kids I will be working with. Some of them are very sweet but some have no boundaries. It didn't phase me too much but it was a little discouraging.

Wednesday was quite an eventful day. First of all, I love riding the bus. I've said it before but I'll say it again. I am just struck with what people's life stories must be and their strength and beauty. It sounds kind of silly but it's amazing. I also love the bus because the bus driver at my stop in the morning makes me feel like a local. He says "There she is!" when I get on the bus and always tells me to have a wonderful day when I exit. Everyone is pretty friendly on the bus in Portland, passengers and driver. Everyone says thank you when they exit. Sara Dorsch (or Dorsch face), my confirmation sponsor/high-school Spanish teacher, stopped by to take me to lunch on Wednesday as well. We went to a swanky pub and I had an amazing burger. It was really good to see her even if it was a bit of a whirlwind trip for her. I also got attacked at my bus stop (don't worry) by my friend Brittney Harris who saw me as she was on the way to a rehearsal. It was incredible and so good to see her. Wednesday was also mine and Colleen's night to make dinner. She made chicken pot pie (AMAZING pictures to come) and I made roast broccoli (a la Kipp Gallagher) and Aaron and Erin Riggio salad! The roommates loved it. We have a house of good cooks!

Basically my heart is opening and breaking on a regular basis. The other day one of the little girls (she's probably 3) at work who is from Guatemala stuck her head in my office and said "You come afuera [outside in Spanish]?" The kids at my work are incredible and I love helping them cross the monkey bars (the most popular request they make of me) and spinning them till I'm incredibly dizzy. So far work fires me up! My heart breaks for what people have to go through everyday and the pain some of them are in. But I want to be there with a full heart and open hands and so far that's what I'm doing. I know the difficulty will escalate but hopefully I will grow and be ready.

I miss all of you a lot. I will post pictures next time I have internet. I have Monday off so I might get time. Love love love

Some sights

My bed

My dresser

A couple views of the office


View of Mount Hood from about 100 feet away from our house.

First big dinner made by our house. So good and comforting.

Washington Park Rose Garden

View of downtown Portland on the way down from the concert in the park.

Daniel and Jenna in the golf carts parked in our community garden. So random.

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

Here!

Moved in to our JVC mansion...no seriously, if you are in one side of our house and scream someone's name, you cannot hear it on the other side of the house (we have tested this). Our house is awesome though; cool paint job, breakfast nook, rose garden. Things have been pretty overwhelming (for some reason technology has been overwhelming me after a week of little to no use of it).

Things I've done so far:

-eaten Sitka bars made by our lovely support person Mary Ann Buck that were waiting on our dining room table when we got home (peanut butter brownie type things with chocolate on top)

-chosen a room. You'd think with 8 people it would be a little difficult to choose rooms; however, we chose numbers and picked in that order and even people who picked close to last (I was one of these) were happy with their choices. My room is in the bottom of the house (there are 3 rooms downstairs) and stays very cool and is painted a lovely aqua with a purple door. I love it. I've decorated it with various vases, paintings and candles we had in our house.

-watched Iron Man with the St. Henry's youth group. "Crunchie" (or Dave as he's known to his youth group) is the youth minister at St. Henry's and happens to be both our support person as well as our VERY immediate neighbor (we share a backyard!). We are headed to Crunchie's tonight for beer and tacos!

-gone to the Gresham farmer's market. There's a farmer's market literally around the corner from our house. Tons of fruits and veggies. We paid $10 for 2 huge zucchini, a huge cucumber, 2 fragrant peppers, 2 pints of berries, 3 bunches of spinach and a head of lettuce. We also learned a valuable lesson that only 3 or fewer people should be in charge of picking food otherwise it just gets confusing.

-attended mass at St. Henry's. It seems like a wonderful community and this nun with a beautifully young voice (though she was not very young) was singing. The priest who said Mass was delightfully funny and I feel like I will really enjoy the homilies there. I already feel myself wanting to offer to be part of liturgical music but I should probably wait to find out how busy I will be.

-drank champagne and martinellis (left by the former JVs of Gresham) with my housemates in our living room.

-learned some valuable lessons about simplicity. Many of us noted that at the farmers' market, we would have usually simply grabbed a cookie if we wanted or bought a $6 tub of goat cheese but we are living on very little. There is no such thing as an impulse purchase any more. It's a strange feeling.

More to come later. I have a fixed amount of time on the computers!

Love to all!

Gone in the morning

...or should I say later today.

Wow. This day is here. Leaving for Jesuit Volunteer Corps Orientation. Holy moley. I am excited and nervous.

Nervous.

But grateful for what has brought me here.

Anne Lamott's words are ringing in my ears right now "I only know two prayers: 'help me, help me, help me' and 'thank you, thank you, thank you.'"