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!