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.