Highlights from Week 1!

     (I'm sorry, no pictures yet.) This past week was incredible. I already feel so at home here and in love with so many new people and experiences. It is hard to sum up the five very different days I had at work this past week and tell you all about my home/community life so here are the highlights:

1. Finding 50 pennies on the ground (Monday)
     First I found one, then another, then 48 more! I do feel sorry for the person who clearly had a piggy bank malfunction while walking down a sidewalk but I am so grateful that now I have 50 pennies!
2. Free, delicious coffee! (Monday, Wednesday)
     There are lots of coffee places very close to work so sometimes my co-worker and I just take walks and end up with delicious coffee before returning to work.
3. Food bank deliveries to Sam Center (Tuesday, Wednesday)
     Okay this one needs to be thoroughly explained....to start there are 6 employees of Sam Center and we all pitch in to help when we know a Food Bank delivery has just come in. Sam Center is currently in the basement of a church which was built many years ago and we do not have air conditioning or an elevator. So when the delivery comes in we set up a simple yet quite efficient system. Imagine a looong wooden board that reaches top to bottom of about 12 steps, put some carts at the bottom of the stairs, now put people at the top, middle, and bottom. Finally, take the boxes of food off the pallets they come in on, slide them down the board, and then place them on a cart to wheel them to the kitchen and pantry areas. Some of the boxes are extremely heavy but with everyone so willing to help it really doesn't seem that bad. It was great to see everyone working together to get the food inside for us to then serve hundreds of people.
4. Free lunch with drinks (Monday, Wednesday)
     Syracuse has great local bars and brew houses!
5. Dinners with my community (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!)
     We got very lucky this week to all be home for dinner each night. We know this will not always be the case so we took full advantage of it and made delicious meals and had intentional conversations about our days at work and how we were doing. Meals included: eggplant parmesan, pancakes, homemade mac and cheese, Italian sausage with potatoes, "asian ramen", baked ziti, and grilled cheese.
6. Running with my housemates. (lots of days)
     I am taking advantage of the new city and getting to know my new surroundings by running all over. There are wonderful parks (some with swings!!!) and trails around the area for us to run or walk.
7. Staff meeting at work. (Wednesday)
     I felt like part of the team, I gave input and also got advice on how to improve some of my tasks this year to make the center better.
8. Going to the Zoning Board! (Thursday)
     I need to keep this on the DL for now, but really cool things are happening for work in the next year!!!!!
9. Talking with guests at Sam Center. (everyday!)
     Each person that walks in the door is accepted without questions. We feed everyone and we treat everyone with dignity. Already I have heard some inspirational and heartbreaking stories from guests who so willingly open their hearts to mine. I have been welcomed so graciously to this community and yet even though I am serving them I feel grateful beyond measure.
10. Laughing! (everyday!)
     I cannot remember the last time I laughed so hard I was in tears and my belly hurt! And this not only happened once but too many times to count. Whether my community is just hanging out listening to music, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, taking a walk, at a bar, or at the farmer's market we are constantly overtaken with giggles and smiles at each other's quirks and talents.
   
     Although the week was an overall joyful success I did face some challenges and I know that some weeks the challenges will outweigh the joys. However I am excited to see where this next week takes me, what stories I hear, what jokes are told, what food I eat, how community evolves, etc. and I will attempt to gracefully accept the challenges as I relish in the abundant joys.
     Closing thought: this song, "Gone, Gone, Gone" by Phillip Phillips has been played over and over in my house and blasted from the car radio multiple times this week. I am truly able to see the beauty of Christ in each of my community members and I feel so blessed to have this new family.

Safe and Sound in Syracuse

     Pictures will be coming soon (and by soon I mean hopefully in the next month.) Today is the first day I have been online in over a week and I have to say I'm not complaining. I am sitting in Dunkin' Donuts with two of my lovely housemates, checking email, Facebook, blogs, and whatever else I missed online this week. I also checked Syracuse weather for the coming week and it looks like we get to enjoy summer a little bit longer; fingers crossed that it lasts into September. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I will try to catch you up on things (and hopefully my long-winded self can keep it brief) since I left home two Thursdays ago.
     To begin, I almost missed my first flight but made it in the nick of time. After transferring in Atlanta and making it to Baltimore-Washington airport I found the group of people that looked to be about my age and talking about service. I enjoyed saying hello to some fellow SLU grads and catching up with them while at the same time I began to meet my new community members and fellow east coast volunteers. The bus ride allowed me to snooze for just a bit which was necessary since I had been up for  almost 8 hours by noon and hadn't slept well on top of that. At Orientation we: listened to talks about the four JVC values, experienced what eating like a JV will be like...aka lots of vegetarian meals with homegrown veggies since meat is expensive, had two masses outside to celebrate the Eucharist together, enjoyed an afternoon of silence, hiked on the Appalachian trail, and much more! We were able to meet everyone who is serving in the eastern region of the country this year and also get to know our individual communities better. Orientation lasted from Thursday to Tuesday morning and then each community got into a bus or car to travel to their homes. My community drove two cars north to Syracuse.
     We were greeted at our house by our two community-support people (former Jesuit Volunteers) who brought over pizza and locally brewed beer to celebrate our arrival. We choose rooms, unpacked boxes and the next day began Local Orientation. Local O consisted of all of us visiting each other's work sites (and seeing them for the first time ourselves), checking out cool spots in town, getting to know the area, setting up our bank account, and having a delicious dinner at an FJV's house. In our "free time" we were spending time as a community, listening to music, talking, cooking, eating, cleaning, and getting ice cream at a super good local spot! (and yes, "getting ice cream" is different that "eating" because as one of my community members commented "Ice cream is gonna be a big thing with us isn't it?" YES!)
    Yesterday some of us went and picked blueberries at a local farm. We are part of a CSA (Community Sustained Agriculture) and were giving some of our time to the same farm we get produce from each week. This morning we all went to mass together and will be enjoying the evening together (perhaps getting ice cream again?...it is a great way to spend our monthly stipends!) and then getting to bed relatively early before work in the morning.
    I left out many details of the past week and a half but so much of this experience is hard to put into words. It is hard to show you the smile on my face and the warmth in my heart because of the gratitude I feel for being here and beginning to live with intentionality in so many ways. Hopefully my next update will include aspects of my new job! And hopefully next time I write a post my housemate won't be sitting next to me chuckling at my corny 5-year old self. (I wasn't able to hold back my many quirks as long as I had hoped.) For better or worse (and I KNOW it is for the best) I am part of the "Berrigan Bunch" this year!

Tomorrow

     I don't have much to say. I am all packed: a carry on plus a backpack for the plane and orientation while a big suitcase and two boxes are being shipped to Syracuse. I am at orientation for 5 days and will then be traveling to Syracuse and beginning work on the 19th. I need to shower, I need to sleep, I need to take a tylenol and calm down. As one friend reminded me, I have wanted this for so long! I have been dreaming of this life for a few years now and I am well prepared as I begin this journey! (I am currently saying that on repeat in my head.)

     This IS wonderful! And although my stomach is in knots due to the anxiousness and worry, I know this is what I am meant to be doing and that is all I need. Remarkably so I have been relatively calm throughout the summer as I have counted down the days until August 8th arrived. I am excited to meet my community members and to live with them this year. I am excited to tell everyone from home (side note: the "home" clump has come to include both my family and friends from Dayton, Cincinnati, Kansas City, and St. Louis (and all those who ventured away from those places) because otherwise I would have to explain the difference between all of the places that are in my heart and calling them all "home" feels right anyway) about my life and what I am going through. I am exited to meet the people at Samaritan Center and being working. So here I go with butterflies in my tummy and a smile on my face, ready to greet the morning with bright eyes and an open mind. To Syracuse I go!