Monday, June 22, 2009

It's official...

I'm crazy. I signed up for a second year of JVC.

This has been a terribly long process, starting back in FEBRUARY and just finding out on FRIDAY! So I've had plenty of time to discern/process/change my mind, and I'm still going ahead with it, so I must be crazy. The reason it took so long is that the agency I wanted to work for just got the funding to come through for a JV a few weeks ago.

So come August I'm off to Missoula, Montana to work at the Salcido center. (www.thepoverellocenter.org). It's a drop in center for people who cannot use the regular homeless shelter due to being under the influence. They also provide services that are less case-management and housing based than the main shelter's service. Like GED classes or exercise.

So I'm going to go from working with cute babies and changing diapers to drunk yoga.

I'm excited, St. Anne's has had its ups and downs, but I am definitely ready for something different.

The chillins are waking up from nap...time to go.

Monday, June 1, 2009

So its been a million years.

So I almost forgot I even had a blog. Life has been crazy at work. Catholic Charities, the umbrella organization all of the JVs in Spokane work for, has been in a huge financial crisis. Which has made life rough of many of us. I'm working a lot of overtime now (which yes, everyone does. But I don't get paid...so I have to take care of myself in other ways, such as making sure I get a lunch break!). The homeless shelter is laying off people, we're on a hiring freeze, etc... Our projects, such as the garden and the literacy program, have had to be put on hold so I can cover more time in the classrooms. Which is not fun; as much as I love kids, 8 hours a day with 8 or more of them is enough for me!

In other news, spring is beautiful in Spokane. May was a month of Sundays for me in some ways. Mid may, the family came to visit and we did the grand Washington tour. They saw dry, dry, dry, eastern Washington in the wet season. And Seattle in its wetter season. It was much fun and a good vacation.

The next weekend was Memorial day weekend so the center was closed. We went on a 15 mile hike at Upper Priest Lake in Idaho. Idaho, as it turns out, is a very beautiful state with less potatoes than you would think. We were just going to go on a 10 mile hike, but the road to that was snowed out. (Yes, snow. It will never end). Then a 6 mile hike turned in to a 12 mile hike, then a couple of back tracks turned it into a 15 mile hike. (in my new chacos!)

For memorial day we went on a 25 mile bike ride which was a lot of fun. Spokane is pretty nice in the spring. It's finally staying in the 70s here.

The next weekend, we had our retreat in McCall, Idaho. Usually JVC retreats are a bit of hippy-dippy nonsense to say the least. (I'm all for the hippy dippy, but our Social Justice retreate included a lady talking about how she spent the last 5 years in a cabin by herself on a mountain. Then she broke out her auroa rods). But this one was led be a former Jesuit (so enough against the norm to satisfy JVC) and mainly included canoeing, sitting on the porch, frisbee and a lot of reflection time.

The funny thing about the retreat was that for the JVs teaching on reservations, their year is over. And I have two more months left. (Here anyway). So lots of good byes, and then coming back to work.

So back to work...