Christmas is coming...

Christmas is coming, and ironically its the warmest and least snowiest weather I've been in all week. Meaning, of course, that I'm home in Virginia. Meanwhile, Spokane is buried under some 2 feet of snow.  The snow storm pretty much shut down the city. No work for the two days before I left for home - hurrah! Granted, I did have to walk home 2 miles in 5-6 inches (and rapidly still falling) of snow on Wednesday night. Sure, the buses were still "running" at that point, but it was more akin to a crawl around a stopped pace.  I figured I could spend an hour walking at get home, or an hour waiting for the bus and have the bus driver chip my frozen body off of the sidewalk.

But Christmas is coming nonetheless. My presents are knit and under the tree. Hurrah for avoiding all malls! Now time to start working on some toboggans for myself...too bad I left my needles in Spokane, though.

Do something to change the world: Make cookies for your neighbor. Or adopt a grandparent at a nursing home. Everyone deserves to have a Christmas.

Seattle and Snow

So far, the Spokane winter hasn't been any worse than growing up in Giles. We've only had a few inches of snow total. Tonight however, it will be a chilly zero degrees. Negative temperatures are approaching!

Despite the snowfall this weekend, our house took a trip to Seattle. Eastern Washington is dry, flat and fairly boring, but when it was covered in a dusting of snow, it was really quite beautiful. The Snoqualmie pass through the Cascades was also gorgeous in the snow. It was too cloudy on the way there to see the mountains, but on the way back it was clear and we had great views. Washington, the parts you expect and the parts you don't, is a pretty state.

Seattle is a much, much more exciting city than Spokane. We only went there for a night to go to a party at a JV house there, but it was still fun to see. I met up with Hannah, a friend from Work Crew whom I hadn't seen in 4 years. We had a blast. I saw the space needle, Pike Place, first Starbucks. I didn't actually have a cup of coffee all weekend...oh well, there is good stuff in Spokane!

The bus company which takes kids from the special needs school to our day care called and said the employees wanted to sponsor families for Christmas. It's the first year they've done it, and I thought it was pretty exciting that this year, despite all the economic crisis, they decide to spend their Christmas gifts (I think they are donating mainly the gift cards they are given from families) on someone else. So now it's my job to call the families and ask what they want for Christmas. It's kind of awkward, to be honest.

It's funny listening to all of the kids talk about what Santa is going to bring them. I know their Santas. Moms, dads, of course. Some Santas will be anonymous donors. Other kids' Santas will be their bus driver. Some will be the grandmother who doesn't get to see her grandkids anymore after her son's divorce. It's encouraging how communities make this effort to see to it that kids have a Santa.

I go home on Saturday...excited!

Do something to change the world: Buy an angel tree gift.

Montana Madness

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I am in currently in Great Falls, Montana the home of housemate, and in the interest of full disclosure, boyfriend, John. So all of the lectures about not dating your housemates that we got at orientation apparently weren't too effective. But its been a couple of months now, and things are going great. We still aren't sure if living together in the Casa de Romero qualifies as "living in sin," but we'll take our chances.

It's nice to have a break from work for a few days and get of Spokane. Besides the retreat, a day trip to Couer D'Alene and the overnight in Yakima, I haven't left the city at all. With a bike being my main form of transportation, my life has been pretty confined to the 2.5 miles between our house and downtown. Spokane is nice and all, but I was definitely ready for a change in pace.

Great Falls is a nice town, about twice the size of Blacksburg. I think there are about as many casinos as people here. I've never seen so many casinos. Granted, growing up in Virginia, I've never really seen any. I played Keno at a bar last night. (They have gambling machines right in the bar - this place is ridiculous). I lost a dollar, and probably embarrassed John seeing as how Great Falls natives are too cool for that kind of behavior.

The Northwest is a different place, I'll tell you that. But I still got to watch the Tech/UVA game today. Go Hokies!

Jackie

Do something to change the world: Invite strangers over for dinner. Ask Mom and Dad about that one.

Spomak

Last weekend we entertained the lively JV crew from Omak, WA. Omak is on the Colville Reservation and four JVs live there who teach in the elementary school. It was interesting to see how people can have a completely different JVC experience than we are. We had a fun weekend. Jon's parents were also in town and they took us out to dinner. Pretty exciting times! Another big splurge for the weekend - the new James Bond movie. I definitely enjoyed it.

Its funny how living on a stipend of $80 makes you think so much more about you purchases. For instance, a movie was $10, so it was definitely a treat. Not that $10 was a ridiculous amount to spend, but it makes me realize that its not something I can do very often, so I should definitely enjoy it when I can. Or going out for a cup of coffee. I probably do that about once a week, but it reminds me what a big luxury coffee really is. It comes from thousands of miles away. Think of how many people, farmers, merchants, coffee shops have to work for you to have one cup of coffee. (And think of how many people are working below a living wage for it). I'm trying to switch to only drinking fair trade coffee. It's something I'd recommend looking in to. And another east/west difference: regular coffee is always referred to as drip coffee, and its always about the 5th thing down on the menu. Espresso rules the roost out here.

The point is - enjoy what you do.

Jackie

Do something to change the world: Forego to-go cups. Bring along your travel mug or ask for a house  cup next time you are getting coffee.

Social Justice Soup

So work.

I work at St. Anne's Child and Family Center, which is basically a day care. Because what the government alots for a working family to pay for daycare doesn't actually cover daycare costs, St. Anne's is a mixed income model. By enrolling 70% private pay families and 30% state pay, low income families can participate in high quality daycare.

Granted, this means for my year of working for social justice, 70% of my time is spent hanging out with kids whose designer overalls cost more than I make in a week. Which needless to say, can be a little frustrating.

So Kelly and I are looking for ways to incorporate social justice into our jobs. On Wednesday we hosted a preschool family cooking night. We made pumpkin soup from local pumpkins and provided families with information on the importance of eating locally and how to cook with kids. It brought some new families in that hadn't participated in school events before, which was exciting. The kids had a good time, but I think the parents had a harder time following directions than their 3 and 4 year olds did!

Why eat local? Here's two easy reasons:
1. You aren't paying the high gas prices it costs to ship your food across the country. Food is also more nutritious because it there is less lost time from garden to plate.
2. Money stays in your community instead of going to a CEOs pocket.

Do something to change the world:
Go to your local farmer's market. Or look for local products in your grocery store.

Right Relationships

So one of the four JVC values is community. So here is a bit about mine:

There are eight of us who live in the house: five girls, three guys. Two of the girls and one of the guys work at St. Margaret's Women's Shelter, two of the guys work out the House of Charity (homeless shelter), one girl works at St. Anne's Child and Family Center with me, and another works at Bernadette's Place, a home for developmentally disabled women. We have people from Montana, Idaho, Massachusetts, Washington, and California. I have to admit, during orientation I had a moment of "oh my goodness, these are the people I'm going to live with all year." 

How we build community:

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon playing wiffle ball in the park. 

We eat dinner together every night we're home.

Once a week we have a community night (anything from watching Will Ferrell to discussing politics).

Once a month we turn off our electricity and slow down life a bit. 

We share all of our food. 

Mainly the difference in living in community and living with roommates is being intentional. Intentionally spending time together, asking how each other ids doing, brainstorming ways to grow closer. 

Like the Sunday we all stayed in our pajamas until around till mid-afternoon.

Or the night we played charades, when the category was people who live in this house. 

My personal favorite however, was this past weekend. We went on a retreat concerning right relationships. It was beautiful. We went to Flathead Lake in Montana and spent the weekend discussing relationships with each other, our co-workers, the earth. We meditated, did yoga (gotta love the NW!). But my favorite part was when all 8 of us crowded on to the 15ft wide balcony of our cabin with about 10 blankets and watched the stars. I had a great night; I don't think I've laughed that loud in months. 

Not to mention we saw about a dozen shooting stars. 

So funny story.

On the way to write this blog, I flew over the handle bars of my bike and smacked my face into the ground.

Owie.

A slightly more fun biking story:

This weekend, Brian (housemate) and went on a 60 mile bike ride from Cle Elum to Yakima. Cle Elum sits at the foothills of the Cascades and Yakima is in some pretty significant desert land. The bike ride was to raise money for a town in El Salvador whose water pump broke. We stayed at the JV house in Yakima and had a great time. About 30 people were on the ride and it took most of the day on Saturday. It ended with a fiesta and an early night. (After leaving at 6am, I was BEAT). The scenery was great though. Eastern Wash is like nothing I've seen. Dry, dry, dry! Rolling hills without any trees or signs of life. It's starting to grow on me.

In other news:

I got my background check back. So now I can be left alone with the kiddies. Which means my days are now filled with running around filling in classrooms when teachers are gone. We are also working on a gardening grant and a dinner night with the families. So things are looking up at St. Anne's.

I'm off to a poetry slam. Never been to one, but there is a first for everything!

Other West/East coast differences:

Grid cities
Espresso stands everywhere.

Computer access

I do update this. I just don't get to computers often.

So going from the South to the Northwest, I expected a few things. For instance, there would be no sweet tea. Here is a few things I didn't expect:

* Sticks of butter are a different shape.
* Huckleberries. More than just a Mark Twain character, they are delicious. And can only be grown in the wild.
* Local (or regional) beers are always the beer of choice.
* Traffic is virtually non-existent.
* Basketball takes precedence over football. Gonzaga doesn't even have a football team.
* Minorities are practically non-existent in Spokane.
* Fall starts late August. I'm scared to think about when winter starts.
* People are really laid back.
* Eastern Washington is definitely not the hippie/enviro-friendly Seattle. There's a big divide in the state between the regions. It's definitely more conservative here.
* People who think its conservative here have never been to the Bible belt.
* The world revolves around Eastern Standard Time.
* People say "back east."
* Hardly anyone drinks ginger ale.
* And it'd be called pop.

There are more, but they will be coming later!

Spokes in Spokane

More biking adventures.

Sunday was the first annual Spokefest, a bike ride geared (pun!) towards non-bike enthusiasts. The participation fee $7.50 (!) included a pancake breakfast, the ride, aid, all the fig newtons you could eat, and a t-shirt. I think the cup of coffee alone was worth $7.50 at 7:00am, but getting a free bike tune-up was priceless. Okay, so maybe the mechanic said my bike needed about $60 worth of work. Pssh.

The ride went along the river to Riverside State Park. It was really a beautiful day. Low 70s, sun shining (not that it doesn't ever shine in Spokane; I think I've yet to see an overcast day). The course wasn't too hilly, but a decent 21 mile workout. Kelly, John, and I came in with the stragglers after spending a good half hour listening to a bluegrass band at one of the last aid stations, while looking out over the Spokane River. Twas wonderful!

Work, admittedly, is less than exciting, but that is balanced by the wonderful community I've found in Spokane. My house is incredibly supportive, which makes it all worthwhile.

So the other night, Alyssa lead spirituality night and asked us to reflect on "what is love?" This was my answer, which I shared with the house and they seemed to like it:

One hundred hands hugs given, thirty-seven hands held. Wiping noses - is this love? Love is patient, love is kind -- I am not. I know what love does: it rewrites the social order, sees as God sees, heals wounds, gives hope. I do not know what love is, but I know that it is that which makes life worthwhile. Love is free, and love is good. Love is holy and pure and true. God is love, and he lets us love. And we love imprefectly and impurely and we screw it up. But we are not asked to stop, we are only asked to love again.

On finding Jesus and losing your lunch

Thank God for a sense of humor.

When we first moved into Casa de Romero, we quickly realized the place had accumulated years of former JVs former treasures and our current junk. After deciding to keep certain things, such as the forty pound statue of St. Michael the Archangel (renamed Cletus) and getting rid of others (such as 10 out of the 16 decks of playing cards), we came upon the problem religious knickknacks. Goodwill really only wants so many plastic rosaries and pocket crosses and Catholic guilt forbids from ever throwing these away, so what is a house to do?

And then Brian came up with an ingeneous use for one of the two-inch brass crosses - hide it. Then, when a JV is to find the cross, he/she must yell (preferrably at the top of their lungs and with the intention of waking up sleeping housemates):

"I FOUND JESUS!"

So far I've found Jesus twice, once in the linen closet and once propped up on a picture frame. As it turns out, however, Jesus can be harder to find Spokane than in the Casa de Romero. I've seen him a few times, waiting in line for a meal at the House of Charity homeless shelter, struggling to go down for a nap at St. Anne's Child center, spending another night away from home at St. Margaret's Women's Shelter. And I've seen him in my housemates. Leaving loved ones behind in Massachusettes, Illinois, Idaho to build a new kingdom. I've seen him in the face of those who need help. I've seen him in the face of those who have little to give but their time, their presence, and their hearts. Day by day, we're finding Jesus and we're losing our hearts.


Something else I lost, as some of you might have heard:

my lunch. And dinner. And breakfast.

After battling a "tummy ache" (my vocabularly is shrinking the more I work with the chillins) all weekend, my stomach decided it wanted fight back, and to win on Sunday night. And thus after a night camped out on the bathroom floor, my roommate took me to the ER to get some fluids in me. Apparently the stomach flu is making its way around the baby room at St. Anne's, where I chose to spend my Friday afternoon. All is good, however the doc banned me from work until Thursday. My housemates were great and quite helpful.

They also apparently realized its not a good idea to wake one another up with "Jackie's in the hospital" and maybe "By the way, Jackie got sick last night so she went to get an IV at the hospital" would be a little less dramatic.

Another culture shock: Ginger ale is not popular on the west coast.

Oh and contact information for those who are curious:

1010 E Mission Ave
Spokane, WA 99202


(and Meredith - I am still knitting! I just taught one of my housemates, too!)

Babies galore!

So apparently the JVC isn't just about having fun, traveling the country and meeting new people. Work began on Wednesday. I am working at St. Anne's Family and Child Center as an "operations specialist." (If anyone knows what that is, feel free to tell me). St. Anne's is a daycare/preschool for kids from 4 weeks old to 6 years old. They accept a high number of low income children, children who have special needs, and several who have been kicked out of other preschools. The program is young so its still growing, and thus has a much higher number of high income families than low income. It can be hard to see the social justice in it sometimes, but I think it'll be an interesting place to work. One of the reasons that it isn't just a day care for low-income families is that Catholic Charities Spokane wants to work to a classless society, to expose children and families of different economic backgrounds to each other, and to help erase the stigma of poverty.

 I'll be in training for the next few weeks, which basically entails going around to each classroom and spending a day in them with the teachers and kids. The past two days I've been in the infant rooms. Cute, darling, yes, but truthfully, kids aren't that much fun until they can walk. Or talk. Or do something besides projectile vomit on you. After we've gotten settled in at St. Anne's, Kelly and I can decide on a project that we want to work on. Also we are going to 'adopt' a family and work specifically with them. We might also have the chance to work as one on ones with kids who need more attention in the classroom, which is something I'd be interested in doing. 

In other news there is: 

The Full Moon Fiasco. 

The Full Moon Fiasco is a biking event run by the FBC of Spokane. Every full moon, everyone who is anyone hops on a bike and does a bar tour of Spokane. The riding was great, the bars were nothing compared to the Delis, and I felt like I was at Ragbrai again! It was funny to hear everyone talk about how many people there were. There were probably about 50, which is quite large for a night bike ride, quite small for an Iowan adventure. (And yes mom, we all wore helmets and road on well-lit streets). One of the strengths I've heard of Spokane that I've heard over and over again is the community. I think its true. I can't wait till I can run again (ankle injury blah) and can join the Flying Irish Running Club. But more on that when that actually happens.

Sunday some of us went to St. Ann's Church instead of the one at Gonzaga. Gonzaga's church is beautiful, but I think I might become a regular at St. Ann's. I want to go to a church with immigrants, with the homeless, with middle class people, with the L'arche community, where a nun gives a reflection after the homily. It seems like my kind of place.

It's about 96 in Spokane. Its actually warmer than in Williamsburg. Crazy!

Washington to Washington!

I left, on a jet plane. I'm not quite sure when I'll be back again.

The grand northwestern adventure officially commenced bright and early on August 4th. Actually, it was well before "bright," the sun didn't rise until about two hours after I had been at the airport. But after a relatively hassle free journey I arrived, quite sleep deprive, quite jet lagged and quite ready to be in:

Oregon.

All of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps had orientation at Camp Adams, in Molalla, Oregon (about 45 minutes outside of Portland). The area was gorgeous. The forest was so dense with pine trees that you could smell them as you walked around camp. We didn't get any famous Portland rain, but the mornings and evenings were quite misty and cool. The late afternoons were sunny and warm; however, for me at least, the cool was a welcome respite from Williamsburg summers. The cabins were adequate, but the best night's sleep was in the meadow. The Spokane house decided to camp out under the stars and watch the meteor shower. (Which hits its peak August 11-13th so go out and watch it!)

Orientation focused on the four main values of the JVC: community, spirituality, simplicity, and social justice. We heard many speakers, did many group activities, etc. It felt a lot like summer camp at times. But on the bright side, we ate locally grown blueberries every day! Sustainable, yet delicious. Mmmm. In addition to catching up with Caitlyn, a JV in Portland whom I know before, I saw Laura, a friend from William and Mary. Neither of us had realized the other was doing JVC, but now we'll both be in Washington. She is in Tacoma, and I (in case you didn't already know) am in Spokane. Orientation ended with a missioning liturgy. We had a beautiful mass, and were given Jerusalem crosses, and were sent out in to the world.

The next monring the final leg of the journey began. The Spokane community took a variety of ways to get there. Two by bus, and the rest of us carpooled. The drive from Portland to Spokane was fascinating. As we were leaving the lush Oregon coast, we stopped at the Multnomah Falls and went on a mini-hike. Next we drove through The Dalles, where grass became more sparse and the trees fewer and fewer between.

Then we hit the desert.

Yes, the desert. I wasn't even sure if I believed that there really was a gigantic desert in the Northwest, but let me tell you, there is. It was yellow grass, dust swirls, and tiny shrubs for hours and hours. Until we suddenly hit the oasis - Spokane.

We arrived at the Spokane house, Casa de Romero, to one of our support people cooking us dinner. The house, built in 1904, is darling. Its greeen and yellow on the outside (go tribe!) and the inside is full of pictures of former JVs, candles, quotes painted on the walls, plenty of bedrooms, and sadly - one shower. For 8 of us. Its definitely a year to get cozy. Spokane itself (the little I've seen) is a nice city. The Spokane River runs through the middle of the city, and the Spokane Falls are absolutely gorgeous. They seem to just spill down haphazardly along the side of the city.

The past few days have just been spen settling. The former JVs left us plenty of food, which is great since our first paycheck doesn't come in until the 15th! Work starts tomorrow, so look forward to hearing about the chillins in a few days!

Jackie