Home Sweet Home

One week down...

and to be quite honest, I don't even know where to start.

All of a sudden I have these 6 new people in my life who are intricately involved in my existence, a new job, and a new city at my fingertips. At times, its overwhelming.

I suppose I will start at the beginning:

This is the oddest/ most awesome living situation I ever expect to have. Over the last week I have realized that there are no words to describe it, so for the purpose of your understanding, visual aids will be utilized...

The seven of us are living in what used to be a convent above an operating high school. We each have our own rooms and there are even guest rooms for our visitors. All of our rooms are off of
one long hall and at the end of that hall is a living room and a breakfast nook.





<-- MY ROOM















THE HALLWAY --->











<-- THE LIVING ROOM









The other direction in the hallway, away from our rooms, takes you to our MASSIVE dining/ play room. Massive might actually be an understatement.









<-- THE DINING/ PLAY SPACE







And then off of the dining room is the kitchen, a huge industrial kitchen. Now that Hannah and I have cleaned and I have begun to learn my way around the kitchen, it is becoming one of my favorite places here...






THE KITCHEN -->








To make the whole living situation even more interesting in my commute to work in the morning...it goes something like this: Walk down the hall towards the kitchen, turn left, walk 50 paces, turn right into my office. Yes, my work is right down the hall from my home.

So lets sum it up: I live above a high school, in what used to be a convent and live down the hall from work.....odd, but really, we have more than we will ever need here and the good news is, I never have to worry about the weather outside before my morning commute...

It's a Wild World

Now that I've lost everything to you
You say you wanna start something new
And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'
Baby, I'm grievin'
But if you wanna leave, take good care
Hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
and I'll always remember you like a child, girl

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do
And it's breakin' my heart in two
Because I never wanna see you sad, girl
Don't be a bad girl
But if you wanna leave, take good care
Hope you make a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

-Cat Stevens

________________________________________

So here I am, finally in the big NYC.
I spent my first week in Nyack, NY at orientation and though it was a good week, I was very ready for the transition into my new home.

Even so, training was wonderful. Immediately (or immediately after I got over my initial social awkwardness) I was put at ease by the fact that the people I am surrounded by are extremely genuine, good people. They are not the over the top RA type, just good, wonderful, passionate people who are here to do good. There were 16 of us at training, 7 of us who are serving in NYC, 3 in New Jersey, 2 in Los Angeles, 1 in Cusco, Peru and 3 other from an organization called Cabrini Mission Corps. GSVolunteers 2008-2009


We spent the week talking about many things, but much of our time was spent on the four tenets of Good Shepherd Volunteers: social justice, spirituality, community and simplicity.

When it comes to social justice, I think this is a no brainer. This is everyday. This is going to be life here. I will be working with Handcrafting Justice and living this...for me, this is the most simple of the four tenets.

Spirituality: Well, this is a Catholic organization, and the good news is that they certainly have their shit together. The handful of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd that I have met are some of the most wonderful, open minded passionate people I have ever met. This order is dedicated to serving internationally to women and children who are marginalized. They are in 70 some nations and they just seem to "get it." As for our daily life, committing to this tenet means exploring not only our faith, but others and learning and sharing that with each other.

Community: 7 people, 6 of them women...this may be interesting. The good news is that we have plenty of room here....Part of the commitment we made was to live in intentional community. This means that these are not just people who I say "hey" to when I see them in the kitchen in the morning, but people who I share my life with and who I support and who support me. It may be interesting, but when else will I have 6 people who have to deal with me, regardless of how nutso I go?

Simplicity: This may be the most challenging of the four tenets. $100/month for food. $100 a month for personal use. That breaks down to $6 a day....In New York City. Interesting though it may be, I am excited for the challenge and the opportunity to live in solidarity with those who struggle to make ends meet, because in my own fortunate circumstances, I have never had to worry about such things.

So, those are the four tenets for this year...for those of you on the outside looking into this experience, I ask that you support me in these because it may be a challenge. This may mean listening to me complain about the difficulties of community life or buying something from the Handcrafting Justice website. It may mean buying fair trade coffee and if you are one of the few who will make the trip to the big city, it will mean keeping in mind that I will not be able to afford many things you may want to do around the city, and maybe treating me to dinner ;).

So here I am, at the beginning of another adventure, and if there is one thing that I am sure of, it's that it is a wild world, and though a lot of things are bad, I am going to get by on a
smile....and a whole lot of love.















City Buildings from Bryant Park







Hannah and I in Central Park

243 Days

In 243 days the ways in which my life has changed are innumerable.

On one of those 243 days I graduated from college. And though this is a great achievement, it is not my greatest achievement of these 243 days.

In the beginning of these 243 days I struggled. I fought to keep my head above water more than once. I adjusted to a world that had continued without me.

Somewhere around day 59 I was somewhere near heartbreak. This was the most valuable of my 243 days, for it gave me an opportunity to open my eyes.

Day 67 I made a choice.

Day 68 I played.

Three of the 35 Sundays (and more days uncounted) were spent devoted to pages and pages of applications, autobiographies and mission statements opening doors to the next years of my life.

Not enough of those days were spent on doing my job well.

One of those 243 days I went to trivia instead of finishing a 1500 word paper.
The next morning I wrote 900 words in an hour and a half.

Around day 82 I changed my attitude.

Day 94 I didn’t clean my room.

On days 14, 23, 24, 36, 42, 60, 61, 62, 74, 78, 85 and many, many more, I sat on campus doing a crossword, drinking beer, and sharing every unimportant detail of my life with that person. And on every single one of those days, she listened diligently.

On one of those 243 days I looked around myself to find myself surrounded not by the people I thought I would be at the end of my college experience, but with the people who I chose to be surrounded by. Some of them were new to me, some of them were old friends, but all of them loved me.

Several of those days, I knew I could do better than I had been.

All of those days, I tried to be better.

Some of those days I succeeded.

On days 1-243 I knew what she would do for me, even when thousands of miles away. I knew she was my best friend.

On days 125, 147, 173, 217 and several before that, I partook in debauchery, enjoying every last drop of my college experience.

On day 110 I took a chance and from that chance I found what I was looking for.

On day 243 I am going to leave what it was I found, but not a single day have I wanted to take it back.

On many of those days I was scared.

On one of those 243 days I sat across from a young woman who I was proud to call my friend as she told me of the changes she made in her life away from pain she had suffered for so long.

On few of those days, I cried.

On most of those days, I laughed.

Not enough of those days were spent with those I love the most, my family. Yet those days that were spent together were some of the most precious and the most entertaining.

On many of those days I made new friends, and on a few of them, I left old ones behind.

On day 173 I played in the Atlantic Ocean.

And somewhere in those 243 days, I reinhabited my body. I became the person I have been searching for since I was 15 years old when she was lost in the clutter of a hectic life.
I once again became proud of the person I am and of all I have accomplished.

One of those 243 days I found joy, and everyday since then, I hang on to it as the most precious possession I have been granted.

And on day 243 I will board a plane, just like the one I got off of 243 days before that and I will begin a new adventure. It is an adventure that will hold things larger than I can imagine both in challenges and rewards. It is an adventure in which I know not what to expect. It is an adventure far from home and far from so many of those whom I love, yet it is an adventure I believe in and that I believe I must attend to…

Day 244.... is only day 1.