Anecdotes of a Week

I hope anecdotes is the right word...probably not.

I had alot of things in the last week that I wanted to blog about but I think I've forgotten most of them...but expect this to be alot of randomness anyways.

One day this week I was on the bus to work in the morning as usual and it was a pretty crowded bus. Randomly I overheard a conversation start a few rows back between an old white guy and some younger black people. One of the young guys was telling this woman (I think he knew her) that she needed to smile more and he was like "See this guy's got it right" b/c the old guy just had this huge smile on his face. It was great b/c a whole bunch of random people got into a 2 minute conversation about being happy and starting your day off with a smile no matter what b/c it makes you feel better. And it was awesome and made me smile b/c I love when strangers bond like that. It makes me happy with the world.

Even though the teens are still somewhat rude/demanding/etc. I really enjoyed program on Thurs night. I've gotten into the habit of letting my boys go up to the gym to play soccer at 7:30-8:15ish and I have to be up there watching b/c they can't be alone on a certain floor of the building. Usually this isn't my idea of fun especially since as of late I've just been sitting outside the plexi-glass doors to the gym and watching by myself. I mean, I usually get into it and end up enjoying myself b/c it's nice to watch them just have fun with each other doing something they love and it's also pretty hilarious to watch them try to play soccer in a gym with 6 columns in the middle and their powerful kicks (much better for a wide open soccer field) which cause the ball to wildly ricochet off the ceiling/walls/columns making them duck for cover (this always causes me to laugh out loud b/c it's just so humorous haha). But this particular night I saw that one of the girls was making patterns with the Battleship boards by herself while the other girls played foosball or watched a movie. I told her that I'd love to play with her but I had to be upstairs so if she wanted to bring the game up there and sit in the dark hallway outside the gym I'd play. So she brought up Connect Four and it was awesome to just sit there and play for a half hour. Most of the time we were silent b/c she had her headphones in, but I would ask her questions occasionally b/c I love the chance to learn about someone one-on-one, especially my kids, and so she took out one earphone and I got to learn alot about her in between the silences. She came here from Liberia in 2004 and I asked about her family, her English, and her school. When one of her friends came up and asked if she wanted to play foosball or stay, she said "No I'm gonna stay here for awhile." Even though I think she just didn't want to play foosball, it meant alot to me. I loved having the one-on-one time that I can never get with the teens b/c there's just too many of them. We laughed every time one of us won the game to the other's surprise and just enjoyed each other's company even though it was silent alot of the time. It was just nice.

This weekend was awesome. Erin from last year's group came up for the weekend. Friday night we went to our local neighborhood bar, Weber's, b/c it re-opened after being shut down Monday for not paying taxes. It was fun to go back again and we met some people from Mary and Matt's worksites. Saturday I got a library card....haha. I'm including that in my significant events of the weekend b/c reading more was one of my "goals" for this year since I was so excited I'd have so much more free time than I did at school. I haven't read a book yet and we're like 2.5 months in. So I'm glad to finally have all these books at the tips of my fingers and I started one of them tonight. Saturday afternoon me, Matt, Mary and Erin went on a wine tour (Ash was sick and John and AJ were gone for the weekend). I didn't expect to enjoy myself as much as I did. We discovered that wine tours are a CHEAP way to hang out and have fun and get out of the house and I'm so excited to do it again! I was the DD so I only drank at the first out of 5 stops but I found out that there are actually wines I kind of enjoy so I'm psyched to do it again some time! Afterwards we went to Nate from last year's house for dinner (he lives right by the wineries). His family was awesome and fed us great food and we enjoyed 3 hours of really great conversation before heading home exhausted and drunk (minus me). This morning Bro Jim took us out to brunch and it was great to finally catch up with him after all the recruiting he's been doing. The rest of the day was phone calls, playing a game, reading, shopping, making dinner, and going to mass. Definitely a good weekend.

I felt like I was falling into a routine last week at work where I didn't want to plan anything anymore b/c the kids hardly ever appreciate what I have planned. Tonight John led prayer and he talked about the Jesuit phrase "Go set the world aflame!" and asked us each to talk about how we felt we could do that at our worksites this week. It got me excited for work again and now I feel ready to go there and try new ideas and make a difference in these kids' lives and come up with some really great stuff for them to do. I'm ready to live up to the challenge again. I hope it'll be a great week!

Kids at the CYO

Hi all,
I've decided to finally take some pics at work and I'm going to put some up here. They're from all of our Halloween events, which were quite fun. I was hoping to take a whole lot on the actual day of Halloween so I could get all the kids' costumes but for some reason since it was a half day of school and program was at regular time only 12 kids showed up (usually we have at least 40), all Burundian refugees, only one of whom wore a costume. I was a bit bummed because Sarah (JV) and I had planned some cool activities and bought these cute Halloween cups to put candy in, but oh well, at least we had already had our actual Halloween party earlier in the week.



Quick fun story about that - Sarah got this place to donate 60 pumpkins for our party so each kid could paint one and then take them home. We were super excited about this b/c we figured most of these kids have never had their own pumpkin before. The day of the party (last Wed. 10/29) was the day it snowed in all of the surrounding areas and flurried here in Syracuse. Sarah and I started the 25 or so minute drive out to the pumpkin farm that morning (keep in mind we're in our huge 16 passenger Catholic Charities van and Sarah is from TX aka never driven in snow before). We start marveling how as we get farther outside Syracuse there is more and more snow on the ground b/c there was no accumulation in Syracuse. We finally make it to the farm and the parking lot is covered in an inch or so of snow and there is clearly no one around. Sarah freaks out for a sec b/c she's never driven on snow, but we pull in and park. Definitely deserted. We get really bummed and start trying everything - calling the place over and over praying someone will pick up, walking around in the snow to peer in every window and door of each building to make sure no one was around (my sneakers soaked through and my jeans were caked with snow b/c I had not prepared to be walking in snow when I woke up that morning) and even walking over to the house adjacent to the farm hoping someone there would know how to contact the pumpkin people, but no one was home. Meanwhile the pumpkins are all right there in front of us (covered in snow, but nonetheless there are lots and lots of pumpkins sitting right there). We start to think maybe we should just take them and leave a note b/c they told us we could have them, but we worry they might have had specific pumpkins saved for us. We finally give up and get back in the van and as we're pulling away I make one last desperate phone call...and the owner picks up the phone! She tells us we can take any pumpkins we want...so we proceed to dig 50 pumpkins (we knew we wouldn't have 60 kids) out of the snow with our BARE HANDS (so freakin painful...had to shove them deep in my pockets after every other pumpkin to get the feeling back in them). We shouted out loud to each other as we stuffed them in the van to keep ourselves motivated...and actually got it done. I can't imagine how sketchy we looked to anyone driving by - probably looked like we were stealing. The whole time we grumbled about how this was the most selfless thing we'd ever done and how the kids better appreciate this gesture hardcore...and they didn't really - I mean, they weren't super excited but I guess they were happy. But regardless, it was worth it even though I may have killed off some nerve endings in my hands...but I got a free pumpkin out of it, which Mary carved on Halloween night while they weather was randomly back to gorgeous and we sat out on our porch to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. So it all worked out. Hope that was as amusing as it was for Sarah and I at the time. Sorry it wasn't actually quick at all.

The kids at my site, especially the teens, are starting to bother me with their attitude of entitlement. They act as though they have a right to do whatever they want at the CYO b/c they've been going there for at least a year. A few examples - during the Halloween party for both the teens and the elementary school kids, a few kids made comments like "This is a party???" Like okay, maybe the stuff we did didn't fit the definition of a party, but we worked our butts off (especially for the little kid party) to make it a fun time for them and it was like some of them didn't even care. Then Thursday we took the kids to go "trick or treating" at SU. It's called Greek or Treat and it's sponsored by the sororities and frats who have "activities" set up at their houses. B/c we could only use 2 vans for 4 vanloads worth of kids the group was split in 2 and each group only got about 45 mins there and b/c of the large number of kids walking around and the time spent at each house, each group only got to go to 2 houses, therefore only getting 2-3 pieces of candy each. My co-workers Brandi and Sarah spent 2 hours driving back and forth and even though the kids had fun while they were there, as soon as it was time to go they were like "what?! we didn't even get candy!!" Some of them complained all the way home leading to a few suspensions and a week-long suspension for one of my kids who just wouldn't leave it alone. Finally, the teen boys (which are the majority of my group - they seem to be multiplying lately - now about 20-25 of the 30 kids who I've had each night) have been getting more and more demanding about having gym time to play soccer. It got to the point where they were telling kids to stop doing their homework so I wouldn't have to help those kids anymore and I could take them up to the gym (they can't go alone). I got so pissed and gave them a lecture about how it's not a right, it's a privilege based on their behavior, but I don't think they really got it. They are so happy when they play soccer and I like to let them play but it's getting ridiculous how they trash the place, I let them in the gym for like an hour straight, and then I have to clean up their mess after they go home. So last night we told all of our groups they had to clean up before we'd let them leave. About 5 of my 30 kids helped while the rest stood and watched and said it wasn't their mess and asked when they could leave. I was so upset. I used to think they were such good kids but they have such attitudes. I think the core group of boys is pretty good but now that all their friends have started coming, they're too cool to be nice most of the time it seems. I miss having the small group of boys I could just hang out and chat with. I don't know what to do anymore though...I kinda feel like all of the kids are just taking advantage of the center while we slave away to keep it open for them. It's like they don't appreciate anything and you would think they would b/c they don't have much. I'll have to brainstorm more on what to do about this...

Last thing - we're going on retreat this weekend (we leave tomorrow night) and I'm so excited b/c I think it will be a good opportunity to reflect and relax but I also really hope it will draw our community closer together and remind us all why we're really here. I'll update on that next week hopefully. Enjoy your weekends! And congrats to Obama!! YAY!

Thoughts for a Monday evening...

I love Monday evenings. They're my only evening that I have a good amount of free time for myself since I work until 9 Tuesdays and Thursdays and then Wednesdays are community nights. Especially since I went away for the weekend, it's nice to have time to catch up. I realized if I update this more often my posts might not turn into hour long summaries of my life and I'll be able to write more detailed and thoughtful entries that will hopefully be more interesting.

Sunset was gorgeous today. It was like God was sending me a personalized gift to enjoy. I was rushing out of work and I glanced to my left between the brick buildings that line the street as I was walking down the block. I did this because I wanted to see how far the sun had gone down to keep track of what time it gets dark nowadays. Behind these buildings there is always a good view of sunset because the land on that side of the street slopes gradually downward. The sight that I saw was absolutely breath-taking. The sun was right below the horizon, casting a warm yellow glow which then changed to orange farther out and highlighted the dark blue clouds which were surrounded by bright pink and purple sky. It was like the entire sky had been painted. But I didn't have time to stop so I continued up the one block to my bus stop. When I stopped to turn around and look at it, it had already gotten significantly darker b/c the sun had sunk that much lower. It was as though God had timed it perfectly so that the one second when I had time to glance in the right direction, it was at its most beautiful point. I almost missed the bus and had to flag down the bus to wait while I crossed the street. As I sat through the 10 minute ride home, I kept sneaking glances in the direction of the sunset and even though my view was blocked by trees, I enjoyed the slight changes in the color of the clouds I could see. It made my ride home strangely peaceful and I silently thanked God for this gift.

In less happy news, I am greatly saddened by the divide that continues to exist between my kids at work. We continue to hear about various fights that break out in the neighborhood from both the American kids and the Burundian refugees. It's like nothing had changed at all and we are completely baffled about how to fix the problem. I think it's going to have be a change that occurs on an individual basis, but we don't have time to sit down with each kid and explain to them the situation of the kids on the other side. But this is what they need - understanding, so they'll no longer be ignorant which leads to their anger and hatred towards other human beings who are kids just like them. I wish I could blindfold them all for a day and disguise their voices so they'd realize that they're all just kids. I'm trying to come up with activities that will build teamwork between the two groups without them realizing it. But they never want to play games or do anything that I plan for that matter. It needs to be something super fun that will keep their interest and that they won't think is lame. And the mingling has to be forced but they can't realize that they have to mingle. That's how focused they'll have to be on the task at hand. They're never that focused. I think I'm asking for the impossible. Anyone have any creative ideas? I'm open to any suggestions.

I've also been thinking alot about my kids' need to fight and be violent with each other, even if they're only playing and also their tendency to steal anything they can get away with even if it's something that has no use to them. I've talked about it with alot of my housemates and my co-workers. I think for the refugee kids it might be a refugee camp mentality. I can't even imagine what life must be like in refugee camps but I am guessing that there's this need to do whatever you can to survive. If something comes into your possession, even if it's by stealing, you keep it because you never know when you'll come across that thing again (whether it's food, clothes, electronics, toys, anything). Same with the fighting. You have to be tough in order to survive. And I can't even imagine how much violence they may have seen in their short lifetimes. And these two behaviors stretch from the littlest kids all the way to the teens, though the older teens don't tend to steal much and for them it's mostly snacks. I don't know how to curb either of these behaviors b/c they all already know it's wrong, but they continue to do it anyways. It's like they can't get it out of their systems. The stealing just worries me b/c it could get them into serious trouble in the future if they try it outside the CYO or with more valuable goods. But the fighting just saddens me. They are so violent in their everyday lives and they see it as completely normal. They're just kids. I want them to be happy and enjoy their childhoods and see goodness in all people. I guess the best I can do for now is to try to love them the best I can to show them these things through my actions.

Final thought...
I think I want to be an elementary school teacher...officially...for now. It's always been my fallback response to what I want to do and it's also always been my answer to that question "If you knew you could do anything without failing, what would you do?" I love kids and I love teaching kids and I think I'm good at it. And I've decided that there's nothing wrong with doing something ordinary. If you love it then that's all that matters. Now I just have to look into how to go about doing that. Though I still want to look into careers working with refugees b/c that's become so interesting to me. So yeah, we'll see.

That's all for now. Have a nice day/night!

Life...

Hi all -
again i apologize for the large gap between posts. here's why:

3 weeks ago, i was busy getting ready for the FC reunion which then took up most of our weekend. it went off with only 1 minor hitch (matt's computer died 1 hr before we were leaving for the event and it had the playlist i had compiled from alums and that he had worked on for 24 hrs all saved on there - but we used my computer and people enjoyed themselves just fine). it was great getting to meet a whole bunch of alums, and of course a bit overwhelming as well. unsurprisingly, i think i made the best connection w/the young children of the FC 2 people - most notably my new buddy sean who is 4....so cute. we also had a whole bunch of recent alums staying over our house all weekend and it was a blast to bond with them, especially last yr's group (minus ed who was greatly missed!). they plan to come back later in the year for a wine tasting bonding event! woohoo!

the following week, i worked probably 50 hrs or so b/c i volunteered to help at the refugee academy at my worksite. it's for kids who got here recently and haven't started school yet, mostly to teach them what american school will be like and a bit of esl too. i got put with the high school group (their ages range from like 15-18 but they all have to start as freshmen until they can determine if they should be placed in higher grades), which i was nervous about but they were awesome! they ended up rearranging the groups a bit so i only had the bhutanese teens who all speak pretty good english and 1 iraqi teen who kinda spoke english. even though i got moved around a bit and only ended up teaching my group for 2 or 3 days i really enjoyed myself. it was challenging coming up with things to teach them for 4 hrs straight each day when they were so eager to learn and i had just been thrown into the position with no curriculum, but i think they got alot out of it and now when i see them around the cyo we always say hi and most should be starting school very soon! it was a really long week though with all the extra hours i put in, but well worth it. there was also a bhutanese festival that thursday night which i got to attend briefly even though i was working with my teen group downstairs. got to try bhutanese food (similar to indian cuisine i've been told) and see some dancing and get a blessing by the eldest woman in their community (rice grains in red dye pressed against my forehead...so cool!).

then last weekend my bf mike came to visit which was awesome. it was the perfect fall weekend with uncharacteristically warm weather. on sat we spent the day w/eric and ashlee. we went to cayuga lake, stopped at a cute winery gift shop where we bought homemade fudge (yum!), and had buffalo wild wings for dinner. sunday we went to the apple festival in lafayette (cute but you couldn't do much if you didn't want to spend money), and then found clark reservation state park (beautiful, want to go back to hike there), then hung out at onondaga park back in syracuse (watched a wedding party take pics in the gazebo), then dinner downtown. monday we went to stella's diner for a midday brunch then spent the whole day at onondaga lake (not the same as onondaga park, and i'm glad i finally got to see this huge lake which i always see on the map and looks like it's practically in my backyard) and then came back for dinner with the house. it was a great weekend...sooo glad i got to see him finally and that it was the perfect fall weekend in syracuse.

this past week i hardly worked at all to balance out all the extra hrs from last week, which was awesome. so i guess i really have no excuse there for not updating. this weekend was amazingly relaxing, especially after the busy-ness of the previous 3. it was the first time in a long time that i felt like i could just do whatever i wanted for 2 days straight. only me, john, and ashlee were here so it was very quiet. i felt so productive b/c i got to watch a movie, help at a cyo coat drive (and talk to some of my bhutanese students and learn alot more about the process of coming to the us as a refugee...so cool!), go for 3 walks including one in downtown syracuse scoping out armory square and clinton square, go out to 2 bars at su which were cool, go to mass at holy trinity which was really nice and simple, make banana muffins, read up briefly on coming as a refugee to the u.s. and the specific situations of bhutanese, burundian, and burmese refugees, and write in my journal about my recent dream of starting a non-profit haha. sooo it was awesome pretty much.

oh and last thing, me, ashlee, and mary went to st. lucy's 2 weekends ago and it's this crazy progressive catholic church. it was awesome. the mass was so lively and interactive and non-traditional....basically nothing you'd expect from a catholic mass haha. i definitely want to go back. my favorite part was the feeling of acceptance and community. there were all different kinds of people from all different races there and they have a large deaf population and physically and mentally disabled population. and they all knew each other and loved each other. it was great.

so yeah, sorry for boring you with the last 3 weeks of my life. to summarize everything else very quickly: community is great, though not without its challenges. i'm loving the fact that i've been able to keep in touch with alot of people from fairfield so far b/c i miss and love you all! work is good, still challenging, but i think it's getting a little better...sometimes. and i'm still clueless as to what i'm supposed to be doing with the teen program and i feel like i have no direction but whatever, i'll figure something out. more meaningful and interesting entries to come, i promise. thanks for reading! have a great day!

Growth

Wow, didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted...my apologies to anyone who cares :)

I was responding to an email from Elyse when my email somehow turned into a pretty nice blog entry so I'm gonna just paste that in here for now... she asked me to tell her one thing i learned about myself this past week and this is how it turned out:

I learned that i am not automatically good with kids...b/c some kids just don't care about what i have to say and won't listen. i've never worked with kids who challenge me this much or (most of whom) who aren't super excited to see me everyday (or at least don't show it). at the same time, while this was a little disheartening to realize, it made me work harder and be more creative in how i do my job. b/c of this, i also learned that i can rise to a challenge. i think i am getting better already at controlling the kids and i think i've had maybe a few successful ideas that they've liked. pretty much, i realized i don't have a choice b/c i'm here all year so i better make it work haha.

this is just a side note, but i'm sitting in my office at work right now (or i was when i was writing this email) and i'm right off of the main room/entrance to the cyo (it used to be a warehouse of some sort so its a big huge room w/3 tables and chairs, a couple foosball tables, air hockey, and ping pong - all of which are pretty beat up and/or broken). every morning when i come in there are refugees sitting on the benches and standing around the room waiting to talk to anyone who can help them. this morning for some reason there was a huge crowd of them and the room was pretty much full of people a few mins ago. the greatest part is that they're all speaking different languages and i hear "caseworkers" speaking loud and slow to them and asking if they speak english. i love this part of the day b/c the cyo offers so much to the refugees even if they don't have alot of resources to work with. when they don't have a translator, they make it work. my boss always says this is one of about 3 "safe" places for refugees in the whole city. they don't have to worry about being attacked or made fun of or not receiving help b/c people here will do everything in their power to get things done for them. i have never worked with refugees or known much about them, but this year is already making me want to learn so much more. donations of clothes, furniture, etc. come in everyday...people just leave them in the front entryway and today when i came in it was all over the room. it makes me so happy that somehow this stuff just keeps coming and it's always gone by the end of the day to homes where it can be put to good use. my housemate john just stopped in my office b/c he works upstairs and we were just agreeing that this place is amazing but you can't really get the full effect without being here. so basically, despite its challenges i love my workplace and i will continue to face its challenges head on.

i'd like to add a bit more to make this nice and lengthy to make up for lack of posts. i was talking to my housemate matt briefly about this whole thing with the kids not always being excited to see me like most kids i've worked with. he noted that that just gives me a glimpse of what their life has been/is like. they haven't grown up trusting people b/c people haven't given them a reason to trust in humanity. so when i tell them to do stuff, they have to gradually come to trust that i'm doing it b/c i care and b/c it's for their own good and that i'm not lying to them. he pointed out that the reason suburban kids (like those i typically work with) have most of the time grown up around caring adults and so they have no reason not to trust me and love me and be excited to see me. i think this is an interesting point and maybe holds a bit of truth, if not in every situation. i do think the kids are getting better and i'm making more of a connection with some of them rather than just being seen as the disciplinarian, which makes me happy.

just to fill you in on a few more things, this weekend i went to philly to surprise my sister for parents weekend (she thought only my parents and bro were going, not me, my other sister and my grandma) so that was fun and it was nice to be "pampered" for a weekend (meaning having my parents pay for things and not have to worry about it)...not that i usually do worry, it was just nice. it was also good to have a bit of time all together. finally, this weekend is the 10th reunion for franciscorps. since FC is 10 years old bro jim invited all the alumni back (along w/spouses and kids) for a huge reunion/celebration which i'm super excited for but which also means a lot of work for us to get done to prepare this week.

i'll try to be better about updating more often, but no guarantees. feel free to fill me in on your lives as well, especially if i haven't been doing as a good a job as i should with keeping in touch!

A Day of Ups and Downs

Today definitely had its highs and lows and so I felt it was worthy of an update. First off, I got to work at 10am (actually 9:45 or so b/c the bus gets me there early) and I was wondering why my JVC co-worker Sarah wasn't there, but figured there must be a reason. At 11:30 my boss came in and told me that he forgot to tell me about a Catholic Charities orientation that I was supposed to attend and that my co-workers Sarah and Brandi were both there all morning b/c they each found out about it through other people who work for Catholic Charities. He said it was no big deal b/c I could just go to the next one but I was just a little annoyed b/c I know I'll have no way to get there b/c it's on the other side of town and I usually take the bus to work. I know I need to be flexible, especially working with a nonprofit b/c they tend to be disorganized in general, but I often feel like I'm uninformed in my position b/c I got there a week after my JV co-worker to start with and I never got the full introduction that she did. I got over it relatively quickly though and my day got better during the afterschool program b/c the kids were relatively good and enjoyed the cooking project I had planned. I also love when the group of Burundian refugee girls I have start doing one of the songs/dances from their culture b/c they just start singing in their native language and doing all the same movements and today they even did one that was a call and response type thing. I really hope I get to learn more about their culture from them b/c I feel that this is a pretty unique experience, being able to work with kids from a country I didn't know existed a few weeks ago.

I had another low after work when my boss and one of my co-workers told us they wanted to walk with the kids home (they all live in that neighborhood and walk home as a group) b/c there was word that a fight might break out. They later explained to us that something had started between one Burundian kid and one American kid on Friday and it had escalated quickly with each group of kids backing up their side and threatening to fight each other on the way home today. I had never really noticed much tension between the Burundian and American kids in my group, but I guess it is true that they never really associate with each other. We found out that relations between the Burundian refugees and the Americans have been strained since they started arriving 2 years ago and for some reason this group is having more difficulty integrating than groups in the past. The sad part was that when they were discussing what to do about the situation, they said that if they called the American kids' parents, the parents would most likely be proud of the fact that their kids were defending themselves against the refugee kids b/c this is most likely where they learn their prejudices. This all made me really sad that kids can learn to be so cruel to others just b/c they look different. It also makes me want to figure out a way to get our kids to learn more about each other's cultures b/c knowledge replaces ignorance and hopefully overturns these prejudices. But I'll have to get creative b/c they don't care about listening to anything that I have to say as it is and if they're already close-minded about this subject, I'm going to have quite a time convincing them to be more open about it.

So I was pretty down when I left work and I'm waiting for the bus and thinking about how this neighborhood is so unfriendly and divided and all and I get on a super crowded bus where there is literally one place left to stand in the very front. So I'm all set to do some bus-surfing as the bus pulls away from the corner and an African-American teenager sitting in the first seat jumps up and says here sit down. I'm shocked b/c I am not some old woman who needs a seat and also b/c I tend to think teenagers are disrespectful especially in this somewhat tough area of town and I just thought it was such a surprisingly kind gesture. At that moment after being so down, it lifted my spirits incredibly and gave me a renewed faith in humanity and hope for the future. Then as the bus emptied as we went farther down the route, there were probably only 12 people left and we stopped to let a woman off in front of a middle school close to my house. A teenager called out to his friend in the back of the bus "Hey, what school is this?" and a couple people answered that it was Grant middle school and all of a sudden a good portion of the bus was having a brief conversation about how long the school had been around and who's mother had gone there and whatnot. I just thought it was a cool moment shared between a very random mix of strangers of very different ages and racial backgrounds b/c you don't often see anyone interacting whatsoever on public transportation. It was just nice to see a little glimpse of humanity on a city bus which is normally one of those places in this world that completely lacks any trace of human interaction.

So that was my day. Some other good stuff at the end of the day included our first time seeing Brother Jim since he got back from Costa Rica last night, celebrating AJ's birthday with some sweet ice cream cake, and sharing our nightly prayer (which I led) with the Costa Rica volunteers through Skype, which was a really awesome experience. I really think being able to keep in touch with Skype will enable us to stay close with them throughout the year. Technology is really sweet sometimes.

Sorry this post got a bit lengthy and also if any of my sentences didn't make sense. People have been chatting around me while I type and usually I'm not so good at focusing my attention and sometimes start typing what I hear instead of what I'm thinking...hah. I'm looking forward to my 2nd trip to the park with the kids tomorrow and my 2nd night with the teens. Hopefully the ups and downs will continue to balance themselves out :)

I'm officially an afterschool program leader now.

So today was my first day with the kids there. This is how things went down...

i was totally unprepared for the elementary school program. we had no idea how many kids would show up for the first day or how many would speak any english so i didn't know what i'd be able to do with them. the first half hr was chaos with kids running everywhere in the main room and getting themselves into trouble while we waited to see who else would show up. we finally decided to sit them down for snack and that took like 10 minutes even though there was probably only 30-35 kids total. they were just out of control. after that we split up and i brought my kids to the gym. at this point i only had like 8 or 9 but it took me like 5 mins just to get them to sit on the floor and tell me their names...only 2 of which are names i've heard before. since they had too much energy, i decided to just let them run around a bit, thinking i'd get a game together later....bad idea. the only thing they wanted to do the entire time was run around with what used to be a soccer net and drag each other around on it like a sled until it completely fell apart and there were clumps of dust all over the floor which they had swept up. but they were having fun and getting out their energy so i let them go crazy. then we had reading time and i had no idea what reading levels any of them were at so i decided to just let them grab books off the shelf and look through them. i forgot to mention that they all like to speak their native language to each other...which is completely foreign to me...burundi maybe? or burmese? i get confused. so they're just chatting and being relatively good at first but halfway through a bunch of girls decide they want to watch a movie and i tell them we don't have time and that its reading day and they could care less what i say and continue to pull all the movies off the shelf. afterwards, when it was time to clean up, a former jesuit volunteer who now works there had come in and we both tried to get them to clean up the books that were all over the room and they completely ignored us and refused to put anything away. one girl finally put all of them away so that we could leave the room. i felt completely helpless b/c not even this girl who had worked here before could control them.

after that madness, the teen program was a super huge piece of cake. i found out i don't really ever have to plan anything b/c their program pretty much just involves coming and hanging out and me making sure they don't do anything crazy. and only 5 of them showed up b/c it was the first night. i played ping pong for a half hr then helped a girl with a huge review sheet of everything she had learned in algebra the previous yr and then got to leave a half hr early b/c they all went home. i think that whole program is gonna be pretty chill except when i freak out about having to teach those APPS classes. but i don't have to worry about that yet so whatever. so basically even though the little kids were insane it was a relatively unstressful day b/c they all were pretty cute and i expected them to be crazy anyways. my goal is just to come up with some type of "punishment" system where they lose privileges and to actually go over rules and stuff with them if i can ever get them to sit still for more than 2 minutes. other than that, i'm psyched for work to continue.

that's all for now folks...

So I've Decided to Create a Blog...

yeah, its just easier to keep in touch this way b/c i'm getting overwhelmed with all the people i want to tell about my year. so i'll try to update this relatively often, but no promises. feel free to share the link with anyone else!

so i started here in syracuse, ny with franciscorps 2 weeks ago. our first week we went to a retreat center nearby for 2 days then we went to the jersey shore for 5 days to talk about important topics like social justice, simple living, and living in community and also just hang out on the boardwalk and at the beach. we also visited the poor clares monastery in chesterfield, nj and they were so cool! the whole week was awesome. for the past 2 weeks, the FC volunteers going to costa rica did everything with us and were living in our home. it was great getting the chance to get to know them but they left yesterday and its strange not having them here anymore. it's as though we just got to know them and then they left for the year. i'll miss them but i'm looking forward to hearing about their year and keeping them in touch with ours.

in syracuse, i'm living with 5 other people: Ashlee, Mary, Matt, John, and AJ. they are all awesome and we're really getting along well so far. i can't wait to get to know them more as the year goes on. our house is awesome - its a 2 family house in a pretty nice area. each floor has 4 bedrooms so we each have our own with 2 extras for guests. the house is huge and has a special area for prayer upstairs. we also have porches on both floors which i love!

on wed we started work at our sites. i'm at the northside cyo. i do the elementary afterschool program everyday - i have 2nd & 3rd graders which i'm psyched about. we have 2 activities each day on a 4 day rotation - reading & gym, arts&crafts & table games, cooking & computers, and field trip/special activity. i plan whatever i want in that activity for each day. i work with a jesuit volunteer, sarah, who will have the K & 1st graders and we are still waiting to get an Americorps volunteer for the 4th-6th graders. i will also be in charge of a teen group 2 nights a week. they will mostly be middle schoolers but i'm nervous about what the heck i'm supposed to do with them. i have the neighborhood group which means they'll mostly be american but in the afterschool program we primarily serve refugees from places like burundi and bhutan and some may not speak any english if they just got here. its going to be interesting to try to remember/learn their names and to come up with activities for them. but they're young and i'm sure they will catch on quickly. for the teen group i've also been put in charge of a program called APPS which was new last year and which they have a grant for. not sure what exactly it stands for but it has to do with teaching abstinence-only as far as i can tell which is going to be interesting b/c elyse and i did our group project for social work on how that really doesn't work. additionally, i have NO IDEA how to teach this - but i guess there will be lesson plans. its also about good decision making and drugs and stuff and i think i only need to do it once a month and i don't start for a couple weeks. thats definitely what i'm most worried about though. so far we've just cleaned and planned but monday the kids start which i'm excited and nervous about.

gotta get some groceries for dinner so i'll update more soon. feel free to email, call, write, or visit! i look forward to being good at keeping in touch this year!!