The Christmas Season

Tonight we spent the evening with our support family and the Jesuits sharing tea and sweets (not very vegan friendly, so I had self-restraint) and great conversation. The one amazing thing about the Christmas season in the JV house is that since it cannot revolve around physical gifts of any sort, it revolves around the gift of spending time with one another.

Our JVC Yakima gift to one another is a Murder Mystery party that Sam is throwing this Friday night. We will all be given our prospective characters on Friday after work. It is a shoot-em-up Texas classic, so Sophie will be cooking dinner and we will be preparing our characters. I can't wait!

After we go to Seattle on Friday and say our Christmas greetings with our friends at the other houses, while our challenge this week was to cook with only what was in our fridge, we are returning home on Sunday for a week of beans and rice. We are limiting ourselves to only beans and rice for three meals a day... that is until I fly out Friday for NYC! I can't wait for the challenge, I'm sure my digestive system will not be too stoked about it, but I am excited to take it on. And, plus, it is not all that different from what I am eating on a poor-man's vegan diet anyhow!

Merry pre-Christmas!

Merry pre-Christmas! The holiday season has arrived full-speed ahead in Yakima! We spent this weekend in town and went out to a rural town on Saturday night for the world-famous LIGHTED FARM IMPLEMENT PARADE. Yes, that includes pitchforks, tractors, wine-pickers, plows, hay thrashers, etc! It was simply stunning.

-Work is still great, I love the clinic! I am in the middle of applications to schools next year for post-baccalaureate pre-medical programs so I can finish my requirements before applying to medical school (surprise! I want to be a doctor!)

-The community is still going well, a bit cold though. Our house is kind-of an ice box and our food stores are a bit unvaried, but overall life is good.

-I am now a vegan. I did Vegan 'Vember and have now moved onto Vegan December...or at least until I get home and my mom makes her chocolate cake...or until I see a delicious burger...yumm... Being vegan is tough on a tight budget, very very tough, but it has really given me a great perspective into how much we rely on meat, eggs, and dairy products, all of which contribute greatly to our greenhouse gas emissions and are extremely detrimental to the environment, never mind the inhumane treatment of these animals and the chemicals they are pumped with that runoff into our water supplies, etc.

-I am coming home on the 18th! Or at least I am coming to NYC, then coming home on the 20th. I can't wait! I miss New Hampshire and Boston and maple syrup.

-That was a cliffs notes version of my current life. Again, still no computer, I am holding out for Christmas!!!

FINALLY ON A WORKING COMPUTER!

HI!

It's been a while since I have had both internet and a working computer, so my updates are very few and far between. Fall in Yakima has been a lot of fun, full of wine tasting, corn mazes, foliage, RAIN (a little), arguments about heating, sealing windows, and settling into our jobs. My work hours are still pretty long, but we have all gotten into our work routines and begun sticking to sane sleep schedules, kind of like 75 year old women.

My spanish is improving slowly- I have to use it all the time and my patients are generally not shy about correcting me at every opportunit!ty

Next weekend we all head to Portland for a weekend of Halloween debauchery at the JV house over there- I can't speak for everyone in my house, but I am seriously looking forward to seeing other people my age who speak my language. There aren't too many people in Yakima who are our age and/or have a college education, so it will be nice to see some friendly faces in Portland. I am also really looking forward to going to the city and checking it out- it is supposed to be AWESOMEEE. I think Allison, Patrick, and I are leaving Thursday night and while Allison visits a homeless shelter for the day on Friday, Patrick and I are going to go to a few breweries in the city and check out the scene. SO EXCITED!

Chris' parents are coming into town this weekend (aka we get a dinner at a restaurant and wine tasting tomorrow!!!). It is always fun to finally meet the parents of our housemates, because I feel that at this point we are getting to know each other very well, and meeting parents just gives us a broader perspective of where they come from and who they are at home.

On Wednesday night for our community night this week we all sat around in darkness and read scary stories to each other, which was a blast - and then last night, we WATCHED 1.5 HOURS OF TELEVISION. It was insane. I went to bed feeling guilty for watching for that long- haha that's JVC for you.

Last update, Grace is currently at home with swine flu, and Allison is getting sicker by the hour- so keep your fingers crossed that living in an intentional community does not mean getting the flu together...

until next time!

Last week my housemates and I embarked on a five-week spiritual retreat in Ignatian spirituality called Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Living. The retreat runs every Saturday morning for 5 weeks and requires 20 minutes of intentional prayer every other day during the week. The retreat works to integrate the spiritual/religious aspects of our lives with the everyday mundane happenings of everyday life. It focuses on seeing God in everything, and having spiritual experiences outside of church. The program is really amazing already, and encourages candid conversation about our spirituality, where we have come from, and where we hope to go with it.

Through this past week, everyone in my house has spent a decent amount of time in private reflection and prayer, and I think we are all looking forward to tomorrow when we can start our second session.

Work this past week was busy and a bit overwhelming. This was the first time so far that I have had no choice but to work up spanish-only patients. At first I spoke very quietly and mumbled the little bit of spanish that I speak, but by the end of the week, I was more confident in my questions and ability to understand, and communicate on some level with my patients.

Last night I went out to an 80s night with a couple of my co-workers and my housemates. Besides my experience the other day of seeing my patient sleeping on the sidewalk when I was walking home from a late-night coffee run, this was the first time so far that I have looked across a room and seen many of my patients out in public. The 80s night was an eclectic mix of Yakima's best.

This afternoon one of the custodians from work is taking me to Costco because he wants to buy us some meat to eat- for no other reason than out of the goodness of his heart. I can't wait for our little road trip!!!

Lastly, the past two weeks I have spent a lot of time contemplating the idea of voluntary simplicity, and how refreshing of an idea it really is. It is truly amazing how little you need to be happy. Besides a few crucial outfits (for me: gym shorts and a t-shirt and my work scrubs), food, and a book, there is just not that much more that I need to live on. I can easily go a week without checking my email, days without my phone, over a month without turning on a television, over a month without meat or luxurious food, and over a month without taking a car to a destination within 2 miles from my house. These don't even feel like sacrifices as much as they feel like liberations. It is an amazing feeling to sit around on a porch and listen to music together and play cards together and debate exestential questions without having to be connected to the world outside. Granted, i do use my computer and phone to keep in contact- but the idea that I don't need either is an amazingly refreshing feeling.

hmmm cute guy at the coffee shop two weeks in a row. note to self: 10am on Friday mornings- start showering and putting on non-oversized clothing when getting coffee.

I'M A LOCAL!!!

Today I came to the local coffee shop I really like and I had forgotten my wallet, and the barista (is that masculine? I want it to be) gave me a free 'usual' aka small black coffee!!! it made my night. that, and the package my parents sent and the ab workout Jaime just put me through!!!

last weekend rivalled the one before - sorry I can't write much recently- my computer, Boo, is broken, so I'm writing on my itouch- but the blog is blocked on the work network so I can't even publish anything via work wireless. Moving on- Chris Cassidy, aka God, aka the international man of mystery, brought us white water rafting. UNREAL UNREAL. and that's just about the ride, not even including the men. soooo cute! soooo much fun. pics to come. Chris also cooked us a feast that night and bought us coffee that morning. he is Also the man who gives us free season lift passes all winter at white pass (the amazing ski mountain about 45 minutes away)...and he told me he knows a Dr. who specializes in ski-day related doctor's sick notes...

Either way, can't write too much until I get a computer again, but having a blast- hopefully going camping on the river this weekend (possibly toga party with the rafting instructors...?) for my birthday- but only with Grace, Jaime, and Sophie this time. Should be a blast to be in a smaller group. I can't wait!!!

www.myfootprint.org

check it out- more on this to come...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK!!!

The Catholics Are Here. The Lutherans Will Be Here At 9. The Mennonites Should Be Here Soon.

This past weekend we embarked on our first house visit to another city. This weekend the city of choice was Seattle. After relaxing all day on Friday, the five o’clock bell rang and the crew returned home from work. The house turned into complete chaos as the eight of us showered, packed, figured out food for the next three days, made mix CDs, and filled the car with our stuff. Trips in this van, not fit for 8 grown adults, have always proven adventurous. The people stuffed in the back seat are too cold, the person in front likes Dashboard Confessional, the people in the middle are hot and hate the music, and on and on and on. The growing tension in the car can only be relieved by two things: Werewolves of London and Tiny Dancer - our two go-to house songs. We arrived in Seattle around 7:30, throwing our hosts COMPLETELY off-guard. Nonetheless, the good sports that they are, they started the party right away. There are 8 of them as well in the Cherry Abbey House, so it was really fascinating to compare notes, gossip about house drama, and see all these vaguely familiar faces from orientation. After a long night of cheap beer, Carlo Rossi, Simon & Garfunkel, The Dead, and the Allman Brothers - we passed out. Very, very happily. After waking slowly the next morning we strolled around Seattle, detoxed, saw some of the sights, napped, ate falafel, bought Travels with Charlie for $3 (yep- I haggled it down from 3.50 by pulling out the v-card ...volunteer) and waited for the bigger party on Saturday night.

Saturday night rolled in and so did a four other JV houses from Seattle, Portland, and Gresham, as well as some Lutheran Volunteers (LVs), and a few Mennonite Volunteers. There was a delicious keg donated by some FJVs (former JVs) and a lot more catching up to be done. The night flew by. Needless to say, we didn’t end up leaving at 8:30am as we intended. We rolled out of Seattle around 11am in the pouring rain (MY FAVORITE WEATHER!!!!!) and headed towards Whedby Island, where our landlady, Patty, and her husband, Pat, were waiting for us. They immediately took us out for DELICIOUS pizza and wine tasting. We came home after the wine tasting and 6 of us crawled onto the queen-sized bed and passed out in a nice little Yakima-spoon. When we stirred once again it was time for charades, bottomless wine, an enormous feast, and more conversation until 2am. Sadly we went back up to the garage apartment only to find that my hiking pack was sitting on a scorching heater, had melted completely, and that some of my clothes inside the pack were burned through as well. RIP my favorite bag in the world.

Sunday morning we awoke to another gourmet feast, went on a gorgeous hike over the Puget Sound, followed by another delicious meal of fresh fish and guinness(!!!!!). By the time we began our 5 hour drive home the 8 of us were pretty much DEADDDD. Finally home, we all passed out around 10pm, stuffed with food, flooded with beer and wine, and with huge smiles on our faces.

It was an amazing weekend. Thanks to the Seattle JVs, Thanks to Pat and Patty, and Thanks to God we made it home in one piece!

ps- pictures to come!

The Good Life. Like college, but no homework.

I have uploaded photos from our hike near Mt. Ranier- as well as others from the past month- but here is a quick preview:

Allison, Patrick, Grace, Chris, Jaime, Sam, and Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier being gorgeous
Christmas card? ...probably
we do other things than just volunteer and hike mountains...we just don't take as many pictures of it... (note Rufus in Sam's cup- he's a bit wasted at this point in the night- giraffes have low tolerances I guess)

Another week successfully passed!

This week has been really really fantastic!

The whole novelty of communal living is still not worn off. We still routinely stay up way way too late, complain about being tired at work, then come home and stay up late once again. This week we all got our new memberships at the YMCA- I signed up to be a youth basketball coach this winter!!!! I am calling today for details, but I get a free Y membership and get to coach basketball- does it really get any better?!

Last weekend we were invited to the Reil's lake house on Rimrock lake. We got taken out waterskiing, boating on a gorgeous Cobalt, swimming in a freezing, crystal-clear lake, fed like kings, and supplied with bottomless beer. This is supposed to be the tough life? hmm....

Then later this week, Patrick's boss invited us over to her house for dinner and drinks- and we had such a blast!!! The people there were fantastic, the food was wonderful, the beer was delicious, and we just talked and laughed for hours.

Then, yesterday at work, I thought it was Wednesday, and it was not until mid-morning that I was informed that it was indeed Thursday, and the beginning of my 4-day weekend!!! ahh- wonderful! We went over to the Reils' sons apt. last night to watch football and hang out. It was literally the first time since coming to Yakima that I have watched a live television.

Then- this morning, my day off, I woke up to Chris knocking on my door with fresh coffee and salsa&scrambled eggs in bed. and...IT IS RAINING!!!!!!!

Wait- it gets even better- We are leaving for Seattle after work today- and spending tonight and tomorrow night with Seattle-Cherry Abby (another JV house) and.... I AM GOING TO SEE ALEXA TOMORROW!!

So, ya, life is great. Work is great. My bedroom is a mess. I don't know what I want to do next year. but- Life is really really great right this moment.

RED SOX?

Can someone please text me every once in a while to update me on the Sox? I can check their scores and stats about once a week, but I'm starting to get a bit stressed out about this whole situation- and I can't get a game within 9438 miles of YAKIMA, WA.!!???!!??

QUICK RECAP!

Last Saturday we spent the day hiking near Mt. Rainier- it was simply the most beautiful place I have EVER EVER EVER been. We were in awe for most of the hike. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music the entire time! That night we went to go see 300 Days of Summer. I LOVED IT!!! It made me laugh so loud, then cry, then whimper, then chuckle, then be silent. Yes, lots of emotions from the movie. Then on Sunday we spent the day eating pancakes, going to a street fruit and produce market, going to church, and staying up way way too late watching Pulp Fiction.

The week at work was nothing TOO remarkable. I have begun learning the ropes at the office, and finally feel like I am not a total outsider among the staff. Obviously being white and english-speaking makes me an outsider in an of itself among the MAs, but I am beginning to form relationships and jokes among the staff, which is great.

I am also becoming more comfortable with my procedures (the simple ones), giving me more of an opportunity to talk to my patients and connect with them on a little bit of a deeper level.

We went to a single-A baseball game last night, the Yakima Bears, and it was JV night, so the 8 of us got our own section complete with posters, fans, free beer, and a big photo on the jumbotron.

This week I got a care package from Tim, and I didn’t stop beaming all night. I was jumping up and down and showing everyone a photo of the two of us from Mt. Hope. **Tim- I haven’t had a chance to call you- but I am writing to you today!!! Thanks SOOO much** Then I also got a couple packages from my mom and dad full of amazing food and sweets and a puff (just in time for cold nights in Yakima). Lastly, I got a letter from Danielle today- again, made my day. I miss everyone from back home, so so much, and I apologize to anyone who is reading this who I have not been able to call or email in the past couple weeks. This time change is killing me- and the lack of internet- and limited phone use, etc.!!

xo

A couple camping photos!

Patrick, Chris, Jaime, me, Sophie, Allison, Sam, Grace!

La Casa Rutilio Grande!

and at the camp site

Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Tonight is Thursday night, our house just returned from an evening with our support parents. Our support parents are a local couple who agreed to meet with us once a month to check in and make sure we have food, beer, and a little bit of guidance. My day turned upwards exponentially once I returned from YNHS and headed out of the city for yet ANOTHER night of boca burgers, potato chips, and micro brews (third time this week already).

So...my day… For starters it is wicked hot here this week, I never know how hot it is until evening time, and even then, around 6pm, it is stiflingly hot and humid. So last night I tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time so I could get up for a 5:45 run, but around 1am while I was still sitting up in (actually on- because it was too hot for covers, obviously) bed wishing it was not hot (productive, yes, I know) I realized that getting up before 6am would be a bad idea before my 4th 10 hour day in a row. So instead I reset my alarm for 6:30...PM. I jumped out of bed at 7:35, 5 minutes after my shift started, and booked my butt to work, without contacts, a shower, proper breakfast, or any sort of decent hygiene. The day got a bit better when Chris (housemate) surprised me by hand-delivering a HUGE mug of strong, black coffee - I guess he had noticed that I left the house without my morning dose. Then it came crashing down again when I was informed I had to receive 2 shots and get a vial of blood drawn for testing. After LOSING it, crying, sweating, shivering with goose bumps, and demanding extensive literature on every single test and immunization they thought they were going to give me - I finally got the painless shots that hundreds of patients receive every single day...and these are the same shots and blood draws I am expected to perform as a part of my job… Next, I worked in OB for the afternoon and saw a lot of pregnant women, ranging basically from 16-22 (with a few older exceptions), and then I had to leave the room while the doctor was performing a routine pap because I almost passed out AGAIN. Then I asked my fat co-worker how many months pregnant she is. Ya...she isn’t pregnant at all. Oops.

That, in a nutshell, was my day at work.

Highlight: coffee and hearing baby heart-beats (note to self: suppress maternal instinct).

PS- after I wrote this post- one of my housemates got a phone call regarding a homeless recovering drug and alcohol abuser who had been asked to leave YNHS’s homeless respite apartment (middle ground between the hospital and the streets for recovery and rest) for violating the no alcohol policy. This man, who our housemates have developed some form of relationship with, came back to the apartments and broken into one and began stabbing walls and threatening the invalid who resides there with a used needle. This began a 5 hour discussion about whether it is morally ok, necessary, or inhumane to be able to separate your work from your home life. Tough day overall! - but hiking this weekend!

American Obesity

This may sound like a bit of a rant- but I am becoming very, very frustrated at work right now. This has been a conversation my house-mates have been hearing for the past 2 weeks, but it seems that everything hit a climax today when I had to stand in the room as the doctor performed a breast exam pap-smear on a 350 lb woman. I have worked every day this week weighing and taking the blood pressure, vitals, history, and complaints of these absurdly unhealthy patients. A huge number of them come in complaining about diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, trouble with their legs and back...etc. They then go on to talk to me about how it runs in their family, how a certain accident led to their pain, anything they can use to blame for their deteriorating condition other than their own personal habits. Then, the doctor, who at this point only has 10 minutes maximum to treat everything that ails this patient, walks out a few minutes later to tell me to call down a number of prescriptions for this patient to pick up. Instead of helping them become healthy, they give them drugs to suppress the actual problem- not that the patient would want to do anything that takes actual effort to help their well-being anyways, but still! Either way, I am having difficulty watching these patients walk in and walk out with a list of 15 prescriptions that they are on for every one of their ailments (prescriptions the taxpayers are paying for since most of these patients do not have insurance- but that is for another time).

Ok that is all. Off my chest- my housemates are sick of hearing about it, and I am sick of letting it consume me- but ugh- vive America.

Ruined for Life?

I already posted at work today about how my day was going, but basically I came to a startling realization that although the Connections clinic (YNHS’s homeless healthcare facility) does do great work to people who really need their help, often more of their patients are either only considered homeless through a technicality in the definition (did not have a permanent residence for at least 2 days and thus qualifies for 12 months of free medicine, dentistry, and prescriptions) or seeking narcotics by telling the medical assistants and doctors of false or exaggerated acute or chronic pain. I also came to realize that most of the doctors, dentists, and RNPs at the clinic are not there with altruistic motives, but are there for a couple years as part of a government school loan-repayment program, then plan to move away. This realization changed in a way how I view my superiors, and after talking with them on their views of Obama’s universal healthcare plan, I came to find that they are as opposed to the idea as I currently am.

My other housemates had difficult days today as well. Sophie and Chris visited the houses of a few heroine and/or meth-addicted prostitutes, Sophie went to a meeting of current heroine addicts where they learn how to use and sterilize their needles, some other housemates drove around delivering food and goods to the homeless or people in the area with HIV- and it turns out that most of the people they visited were on our street. We all learned yesterday that we are living in just about the worst part of town, not a safe place to walk at night, to run alone, to wear anything “blue” like bandanas or jerseys, or really to do much of anything. Needless to say, I just got a gym membership. Grace is working on or hearing about a custody case involving a 13 year old girl who has been raped by a number of her meth-addicted mother’s boyfriends. I guess when you are high on meth your libido skyrockets, but when coming off the high you lose all sex drive and all energy and can barely speak (I guess? I am going off what I have been told by Grace and Sophie via their supervisors). The mother has many boyfriends/male visitors, and when they are still high and she is coming down, she allows them to rape her daughter- over and over and over.

This is just a brief glimpse of our dinnertime discussion- but I think we are all realizing that we are not in Kansas anymore, and that the work we will be doing and the people we will be meeting are going to crush any innocence we came here with. I guess this is what they mean when they say “Ruined for Life”

Ps- we clearly opened up a handful of bottles of wine after this discussion and had a fantastic night of good food, wine, cards, and balderdash.

...and we are now heading camping by Mt. Ranier for the night! Can’t wait! I am off to buy some canned food and cheap beer!

THE CONFESSIONAL

Here is a peek inside my bedroom!

The Second Day of Work

Today, after a fascinating, albeit a bit overwhelming, second day of work, I decided to throw on my trainers and go for a run instead of taking the van home. While running away from Yakima Neighborhood Health Services (henceforth ‘YNHS’) towards the general direction of La Case Rodillo Grande (henceforth ‘my house’) I heard a number of hollers, whistles, and obscenities yelled my direction from passing cars or the cars that slowed down beside me. It only took a minute to realize that I am not from this world. Yakima may just be a small city in central Washington, but the city definitely is not home yet. Thankfully, although the city is not yet home, my house and community have quickly taken that role in my life. Over undercooked cookies, a couple bottles of wine, or budget grilled cheese dinners - we still constantly find ourselves exploring the souls of our housemates, finding out what makes each of us tick. We have not lived here for even a week, and already it feels as if our guards are locked in the closet and we are able to ask and tell each other anything. Unfortunately, I think I don’t have any idea how wrong I am going to prove myself in the upcoming months.

My work today at the clinic as a Medical Assistant (MA) consists of prepping and doing workup on patients for doctor or NP exams. Today I learned how to administer vision exams, audio exams, measure and weigh someone (difficult tasks, clearly), and the like. My patients will come from all walks of life, but since YNHS charges on a sliding fee scale, the majority of the patients are hispanic (many non-citizen farm workers) and very low-income. Tomorrow I will work down the road at the free clinic for homeless persons in Yakima. I worked in pediatrics today, and was once again shocked by these adorable children who come in held in the arms of their 15 and 16 year old mothers. It is interesting that in our society I feel that as a 22 year old, college educated, mentally and financially stable (thanks mom and dad), healthy young woman I am completely and utterly unfit to raise a child, yet these loving 13-19 year old mothers are in the clinic day in and out raising these children on their own or with limited assistance.

Last thought- this clinic and its services are largely funded by the US government through a variety of grants and programs, many of which I voted (or would have) against when back home in good old Laconia, NH. I am providing health care for people regardless of their citizenship status. Illegal aliens and US citizens are treated on the same level and receive the same services - funded by American tax dollars. Without explaining too much of my internal struggle at the moment - I am finding it difficult to reconcile my firm fiscal and capitalistic beliefs with the social justice work I am performing. When I am sitting in front of a beautiful little girl who happens to be the daughter of extraordinarily poor Mexican migrant workers there is no doubt in my mind that I should give her a full exam and that everyone in the clinic should do everything in their power to keep her happy and healthy, yet on paper, these costs are a bit more difficult to reconcile. Thanks Dad, you sure engrained these Republican beliefs in my being. How can I find middle ground between the poignant and elegant ideas of Ayn Rand and la niña Mariposa?

On my lunch break...

I am currently taking lunch at Connections, the homeless healthcare clinic run by Yakima Neighborhood Health. This clinic is pretty small, serves both medical and dental patients, with the only prerequisite being homelessness. Homelessness is not necessarily restricted to living on the streets, rather it includes couch-hopping, crashing at someone's pad for a while, living at a Mission, staying in a mental health facility, and of course, park benches and under bridges. Yakima has been presented with both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that they have the funding to open a clinic such as this one that serves free of charge to anyone without an income, but the curse is that it draws homeless people from all the surrounding areas because of the benefits it provides.

Today I have seen a number of patients (including a boy in high school), some seem perfectly normal. They are polite, claim to not use drugs or alcohol, have no past history of incarceration or mental illness, etc- yet...I can't help but wonder if they are so normal why they do not have a place to live. Others are clearly drug seekers whose symptoms and pains change with the minute. Lastly, there are others who I think actually go out of their way to make the female employees feel extraordinarily uncomfortable. I actually had to have another worker come into an office with me half-way through a visit because the man I was beginning to treat was so out of line and inappropriate. But...for every mysogenistic scumbag there are a number of good people who are being helped by the services we provide.

Life is great at home, we all went to an outdoor concert in the park, came back and had a bit of a dance party, played some cards, and ate an entire ball of cookie dough. On our way to bed I ended up stopping off in Sam's room (across the hall from my own) and sharing some moral and political dilemmas I am facing as a part of my job. Five minutes later Grace and Jaime came up and we ended up debating the American health care system, socialism, and US policies towards immigrants and deportation until well past midnight.

That is all- I wrote a post last night in bed after talking to Jaime, Sam, and Grace that I will probably post tonight that explains more about my job and the clinic itself!!!

Orientation

The Mandala we made to each symbolize and express ourselves (aww aren't we all so artistic... ha)

Sophie! Grace! Jamie! a Former JV (FJV) and his son! Chris! Pat! Sam! Me! Allison!

I will be posting more photos as I upload them onto my picasa album (there is a link on the blog)

The Introduction

This is a story of 8 strangers living in a house...

seriously.

I spent the last week at orientation camping a bit outside Portland and getting prepared to come to YAKIMA! There were 120 JVs (Jesuit Volunteers) there, mostly recent college grads from all over the country, but a few older married couples, or older single women (mostly) who just wanted to try something new.

At orientation we did a lot of talking in small groups and listening to speakers tell us how difficult our experience is going to be (great... haha). It may be the only time in my life that I will experience a twenty minute group meeting about individual milk preferences. We also explored ways to live simply, to rid our dependencies on things and people outside of our community so that when we are with our community and housemates we are fully present, and also that we will use less of the earth's resources in our every day activities. We explored problem solving techniques, methods of meditation, composting, stuff like that!

Then....we moved to Yakima! Oh wait- I should explain the WE first!! WE are 8 people living together in a converted convent in a bit of a seedy part of town. The 8 of us come from all over the country. Grace is from Omaha, Nebraska, Sophie is from Dallas, Patrick is from New Orleans, Chris is from Scottsdale, Arizona, Sam is from Portland, Allison is from San Diego, and Jamie is from Massachusetts! We are all working with the low-income population around here, who are mostly Mexican, but in different positions, housing services, health care, law, etc.

The people around Yakima have been extraordinarily generous already, bringing us freakishly large zucchinis, breads, burgers, BEER (Yakima produces 75% of the nation's hops!!!), Yakima Valley wine, etc. Hopefully this will continue, because once this drops off, we will be back to living on spaghetti and pb&j.

My time at the internet cafe has just about run out, but I will continue to update, post pictures and videos, etc. I start work tomorrow, so will have lots to say about that.

Until next time (hopefully more entertaining and less informative)!