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.