On being a JV

So the end of the year has posed much time for reflection and conversation over the past 12 months. Especially since I'm bound for another year of $80 a month, I've been thinking a lot about what has it meant to live simply. So here are a few thoughts.

* Living simply has nothing to do with living in solidarity with the poor. Being poor is not simply financial poverty, but a poverty of resources. I have family, education, etc. I will likely never be "poor." The "poor" would also think you are ridiculous living in solidarity with them, because they don't want to be poor.

* I can never really complain about money. For one, I chose to make $80. If you include my community stipend, it's a little less than $400 a month for all my living expenses. And there has hardly been a time that I've really lacked anything. Your money goes where you chose to spend it.
Granted, my money goes to the bars a good bit, which is why I've been sharing contact solution the last month and John brought me home a tube of toothpaste from the homeless shelter. (Sorry to let you know the truth, Mom and Dad.) Really, I'm just waiting on my bonus ($250!) at the end of the year to restock necessities. I just don't want to spend my last two weeks in Spokane sitting around. Especially not while Harry Potter is in town.

* I've forgotten what luxuries really are. It's a luxury to go out for coffee, not a necessity to 'meet up with someone.' Going out to dinner, or to a movie is a luxury. And when you do it once a month instead of once a week, it tastes a lot better.

* I haven't missed what I can't afford, because I have 7 housemates. I don't run to Starbucks on the way to work, I make a pot of coffee every morning for whomever wants it. We don't go shopping, we try on each others clothes. We hardly go to the movies where you have to sit in silence in a room full of people, we rent movies and play "chick-flick bingo." (10 points for shopping with the best friend, 15 points for the break-up-you-know-won't-last, etc). Friends are free, and having friends who are poor makes hanging out cheap.

* People are usually more generous to JVs than to people who are actually poor. I don't know why. I think more than a few people spent the $40 we got for Christmas on beer.

* I have very few needs, and many wants.

* Bike commuting is great, but when you don't have a back-up such as a car, waking up to a flat tire is not enjoyable. Also, bike commuters can be snobby. Once, Kelly and I went to a Bike-to-Work week pancake breakfast, in our work clothes like we normally do. Everyone else there was wearing their spandex and jerseys. We felt really out of place, especially since we probably bike to work on average way more than everyone else there! (December, January, and February were the only months I didn't bike to work at all.) Heck, I even biked in two inches of snow mid-April.

* Churches that have free donuts after mass is where JVs will end up going.

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.

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...

Bikes and basketball

So I won the NCAA Tournament Bracket pool we did. $55. Not too shabby, eh? GO TARHEELS!

And with my winnings I bought a bike!

A $25 beater. Actually, it's not that bad. It needs new tires, tape on the handlebars, some oil and a little love but its in pretty good shape. It's a women's Schwinn World. Probably at least 15 years old. So I'm planning on spending the weekend fixing up the bike, because luckily (and suddenly) the weather has turned...

into Spring! So maybe we got a couple of inches of snow last week. I must thank Spokane for giving me a true taste of an Inland Northwest winter. I would've hated to spend a year on the other side of the country and miss the snowiest winter on record. There is still a pile of snow in our playground.

I'm turning into a Spokanite. In winter, Spokanites complain about the winter and in spring, summer, and fall they talk about about bad the winter was. So moving on...spring so far seems lovely. Time to start planting our preschool garden! More on that when we've gotten in started.

Jackie

Do something to change the world: Enjoy spring and take a bike ride!

Spokane: It's Not Quite Alaska

It's been a balmy 40 some degrees outside all week, and stays light well into the evening now. Hallelujah!

News from the house:

Everyone has been in and out of the house lately. Going home, going for job interviews, going to Seattle. I've been holding down the fort pretty steadily. Must say I'm ready for a break, however.
John got an unexpected vacation when he badly sprained his ankle. Poor guy.

News from work:

We are planning our Family Reading Night for Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed people actually come, I'm a little worried about the attendance. It'd be a good opportunity, if people take advantage of it!

News from life:

I applied for a second year of JVC, and was accepted. However, I'm waiting to see if they open a house in Missoula or not. If so, I am considering doing a second year. Maybe I'm crazy, but it's true. Missoula is a neat town in Montana. It's in the mountains and is a sort of hippie enclave. Could be interesting.

Other than that, life is life. Fairly monotonous right now. Definitely ready for a vacation of any sort.

Do something to change the world:
Buy someone coffee. The other day, I went to Starbucks because I (thought) I had a gift card there. Turns out, left it at home. I was pretty disappointed seeing as how I had no money, but the lady behind me bought my drink and croissant. Pretty much made my day. Her response "Oh, I have a daughter in college, I know how it is." (My thought: I have even less money than a college student...so thank you twice as much!)

Car accident

I can't really type with a baby sleeping on my arm but this just happened outside of work:
Pileup

Crazy!

Winter, Lent, Life

The biggest news from Spokane...

You can see our yard! No snow! Well, except in the berms and in shadows. This has been a long winter and has made me reflect a lot on what winter really is.

It is a time of dying. A time of stagnation, a time of slowing down.

TIme for snow and snow angels and hot chocolate.

Early nights and late mornings.

Clouds and cold.

A time of doing without - no fresh vegetables, little sun.

This winter, more than any other, has seeped in. I have had cabin fever like none other. I can't wait for sun and warmth, not just so I can get out of the house, but so my housemates can get out of the house as well! Sometimes it feels that if we all weren't at the same place at the same time all the time, we would get along much better.

And its interesting because this is the time of year lent occurs. Where winter melts into spring. Where we take the time to recognize how dark precedes light. How the green of the earth must die in order to live again. 

So it has been a long winter in Spokane. We've hit our 6 month mark, and trudged past. And now we'll march on through to spring. (cheesy pun there, eh?) 

Jackie

Do something to change the world: Give up meat on Fridays, maybe all year long. If all Americans gave up meat one day a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 8 million cars off the road.