I can't believe it has been 3 months already!

Well, I am beginning to see and feel the difference between the Midwest and the Northwest.  It has just turned into fall weather with all the leaves changing, but still remaining 60 degrees and I have only heard cold things about the Midwest.  I will just have to see how the rest of the winter plays out, but right now I am loving it! Not to mention I fell in love with Washington this past weekend.  JVC Northwest held the first of three retreats in Monroe, Wa.  The camp is located on over hundred acres of forest because it was meant to feel as though you were “living” in nature.  The A-frame common area building looks out on to a small lake surrounded by pine trees and rolling clouds.  In my mind, this was a perfect setting for a retreat, to get away from the city chaos and draw nearer to the purpose of the retreat: community and right relationships.

            I came into this year feeling as though the value of community would be pretty easy.  I mean I have been a part of many communities in the past and I thrived.  However, putting eight strangers in a house (real world?), sharing money, living simply, and serving at various placements, it causes challenges that you never thought would occur in a community or with roommates.  At retreat, we were able to dive into our visions for the house as well as have some one-on-one time with the other community members to discuss our strengths and barriers in that relationship.  I was blown away by the community of JVC (the 55 Cascade region JVs) coming together, not really knowing each other and feeling as though we are somehow all related and experiencing similar daily lives because of JVC being our base.  The last night we all came together to perform skits indicating what a day in the life of our house looked like.  Of course, they were all quite humorous, but we could relate to everyone’s skit in someway.  After this night, I realized that this was the organization, community, ecosystem that I was meant to be a part of. 

            Now at my placement there are definitely days where I want to pull my hair out or fall over in exhaustion.  Talk about jumping into your first full time job with a bang!  Our numbers for breakfast have doubled and I am sure I look like I have no emotion or patience for anyone.  Of course one youth has let me know how stern I have become since beginning there and it really made me think about how I am becoming numb to their situations and not even thinking about their needs.  Granted I still run around caring for them, answering their questions, grabbing them a toothbrush, making coffee but I don’t take a breath to realize that I am serving homeless youth who have experienced a wide range of challenges including abuse, neglect, addictions, jail time and so much more.  I have been in Portland for almost 3 months now, and I have already become numb! Every time I stop and take in what I am doing I become so disappointed because I have stopped becoming an advocate for the youth and started becoming another disciplinary that they want to push away.  There are youth that I have to tip toe around to not trigger their mental illness or aggravate them if they are on drugs.  Some youth I can joke around with and be myself and others I avoid because I do not know how to approach them or I am scared to approach them, which is pretty minimal at this point in time. 

            Nevertheless, the relationships that I have built with some of the youth have completely changed my view on those experiencing homelessness and those who are trying to redeem their life.  Some days I get to have conversations and others I am just there to listen.  They need someone to support them, give them a little lift to pave their pathway to a more substantial life. Some youth have so much fight in them to make their life right again, but others are not willing to forgive their guardians or fix the mess that they created.  Every youth who walks in our door has difference experiences creating such a diverse environment.  After just 3 months of serving, I am proud to say that I am a part of this diverse, chaotic ecosystem that provides support to a community of youth who deserve a chance to make it!

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have updated everyone on my Portland adventures.  I do not know even where to begin.  All in this past month my community and I have hiked in the Cascade region, backpacked by Mt. Hood, my Norbs friend Erica visited, and so much more!  Portland and Oregon in general as so much to offer, from a great eclectic city scene to extreme outdoor activities.  Hiking by the Columbia Gorge with our support team (former Jesuit volunteers) was a great experience.  Not only was the scenery beautiful and filled with waterfalls and rock climbers, but also the conversations within the community and with our support team are just genuine.  It has been great developing relationships with these two phenomenal women.  Looking back at the great impact of Norbs Phenomenal Women’s Conference, I could honestly say that every women who I had somewhat of a conversation with in Portland could be the speaker at the conference and have everyone in tears and laughter.  The depth of their internal process’ and their eloquent speech is just breathtaking.  From my area director to my supervisor to our support people, these women have already had such an impact on my life!

Another adventure was backpacking through the woods of Mt. Hood by Ramona Falls.  Yes, for the first time I actually went camping, and TRUE camping.  We walked a few miles up the creeks and around the cliffs.  The trail we walked on was actually a part of the Pacific Coast Trail, where people can hike from Canada to Mexico or vice versa.  Which we met a man who had come from Mexico all by himself to hike the trail.  It is so fascinating to hear of people completing that goal and it was honestly something that I had never heard of before.  But whether people are hiking the PCT, Appalachian Trail, across the U.S. or all the way to Bethlehem (aka Jack Morris and friends) it is such an inspiration and a true test of yourself.  I would love to take on the task of completing at least a part of the trail.  Anyways, the trip was great; although cold we all tackled some “firsts” and enjoyed our time out in the abundance of Mother Nature.

Justin and I also ran in the Color Run 

As time has flown by here, I have also been able to tackle some challenges that I set for myself. For instance, I realized I had gotten into a schedule of work, dinner, and sleep so I did not feel fulfilled from day to day.  In time I discovered that I needed a hobby that I could finish projects to see an end result.  So my first project was creating a makeshift closet in my room then I created frame art on my one wall.  Next project to tackle…sewing chair covers for our kitchen chairs that are ever so lovely and stained. 

Not only is it a challenge to create hobbies, but I also want to focus on my intentions around social and ecological justice.  Recently our area director, Julia, stayed with us for a week and we were able to have one-on-one time with her.  Within that time we focused on the four values of JVC Northwest and how I was living out those challenges.  So currently I am trying to find many resources to live out those challenges such as where is my food coming from, is the store I shop at supportive of the community and country, or how can I live in solidarity of my clients?  All of these questions and many more are important for this year in JVC as well as for the future.  But to being these challenges I am constantly searching for resources, so any of you reading please send some my way!

This past month I have realized that many of us like to push the easy button.  In today’s culture it is even easier when technology is wired.  For instance, having the Internet in your home or at school is a luxury.  Currently I have to take advantage of that after my working hours at New Avenues or taking time on the weekends for a local coffee shop.  But many don’t realize how easy it is to push that button until it is gone.  From my observations lately, we all have our own easy buttons.  Some start their car, others turn on a cell phone, many will press start on the microwave, or some will turn on the washing machine.  It is unbelievable how easy our culture has made daily tasks.  Although many of the youth that I serve may have cell phones or can wash their clothes at our facility, many of outstanding debt with cell phone companies or they can’t go to the library for Internet because they have either lost or stolen books.  We push the easy button everyday, but the question that I leave you with is what easy buttons are you pushing and could you not push it?  

What a surprise! We got bikes donated to the community and cash! Now everyone can have a bike to either commute to work or just run around Portland with. There is just so much support for JVs here in Portland, it is truly amazing to be a part of that support. So now that I can have a bike for commuting, I have officially begun the Bike Challenge of September.  Each day I make a 2.5 mile trip to work; I know that doesn't seem like a lot at all but hey it is great exercise and on the way back it is all up hill (that is a challenge in itself).  My coworker who is the head of the challenge baked us bicycle vegan cookies! It is so great to be a part of this annual event, especially with my coworkers and they are veteran cyclists.
On top of commuting to work, my community and I have been able to explore more of Portland, downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods.  We made trip up to Mt. Tabor on the east side.  This "lil" mountain gives you a great sight of Portland on one side and Mt. Hood on the other.  People "climb" (5 min hike up) Mt. Tabor just for an afternoon picnic, or train for marathons or just take a nice afternoon nap out of the city loudness.  We have big plans to visit other mountains and natural beauties.  But Portland is full of plenty activities to tie us over, such as the Saturday/Sunday markets, the infamous food carts, Last Thursday on Alberta, and many other free activities.  Last Thursday on Alberta is near our home and it contains every type of Portlandian you could meet.  From hipsters, to hippies, to business people, to JVs, they all exist on one street in one night.
Our schedule has still been packed tight with so many events.  We went back to the Loyola Jesuit Center for a dinner with the Jesuits, which was quite wonderful.  They all have such interesting stories, and one even knew about St. Norbert! Anyways, we are hoping to have a few of them over for dinner to return the favor and even have them contribute in a spirituality night.  Many of us have also grown a liking to their contemplative mass on Sundays at 7:30pm.  This peaceful, dark mass throws away the commotion of city life and creates a peaceful, harmonious mass among the community. Words cannot even explain, it just feels so wonderful.
On top of all that, a few housemates and I have taken on a few house projects lately.  We have been painting rooms, building "closets", and writing lists of other things we can create in Mac House.  The list will keep growing but we are excited to leave our mark on the house.

Anyways, on to my placement.  It has been getting very busy!  I am hardly even tutoring in the mornings anymore, but I am trying to enroll as many youth under 21 without a degree in the Portland Public Schools and getting them to take some tests and then rewarding them with a monthly bus pass.  Plus every Tuesday I am "teaching" also known as arts and crafts.  Last week I gave a presentation on my travels abroad which was really awesome and a lot of the youth responded positively.  Today we actually wrote horoscopes and tomorrow we are painting Mandalas. Busy busy busy!  I have had a my shares of incidents as well (fyi nothing like RA world, which I thought was scary in itself).  Surprisingly I am not too phased by these, because the day just moves on and the youth do as well.  On the plus side of things, I won a VIP pass to the MFNW (Music Fest Northwest) which was super exciting, but I ended up giving it to a coworker who I knew would appreciate more, but it was still exciting to win.  Since it will be a month since I started at New Avenues, I actually feel like a staff member but I am constantly still learning new things everyday.
Lastly, this past Sunday Tom (Marquette graduate who lives in the other Portland house) and I headed to a local bar for some Packer time! Who would have thought, but there are plenty of Packer fans out here and they are hardcore fans at that.  Unfortunately, it was a sad loss but Tom and I got to talk about good ole Wisconsin.  Of course this made me homesick and miss St. Norbert terribly, but hey its only a year away right?

Well here is to the start of new week of new adventures and lessons.  Crazy Portland is a challenge, but I am learning and exploring every moment possible.

Alright ya'll so I know a lot of you have been asking for pictures, so finally here they are....

 Here are all my roommates: Nick, Cara, Justin, Me, Jackie, Sarah, Kara, and Steph!

There is another house of JVs just down a few blocks from us and there are 8 of them as well and same ratio of girls to guys :)

 Portlandia being filmed right outside my window!

Nice nature walk in Forest Park, just West of the city

Here are some pictures of our flat aka home.  We living directly above the JVC Northwest office:

 All of the bedrooms are nice and colorful thanks to the former JVs

Community kitchen and dining room

 Family room with a piano and confessional (Real World style)

So the first full week of my placement complete! The youth are beginning to actually remember be as a staff member not just an on-call or breakfast volunteer. Although they still usually don't remember my name a few that I have connected with always say hi.  I also began to actual tutor some youth, which  is probably a disaster on their end, but hey re-learning math without a calculator is not my strong point.  As long as I get a few laughs out of them while tutoring, that is completion on my part (which is a terrible philosophy, but it works for now).  During drop-in hours I finally engaged some youth in a game of Jenga and some card games.  I hoping to come up with some other activities for the youth especially when the whether gets worse.  My supervisor even asked if I could come up with some activities for the education classroom, so I will just continue to take on different hats.  Many have told me that that is just the life of a JV at their placements, float around and do what you can to make a difference at the organization.  I am ready for the challenge!

This weekend a few of my housemates and I traveled across the city (yes, by bike...welcome to Portland life) and headed up to Forest Park (pictures above).  I wouldn't say that is going to be the best bluff type of park I will be at this year, but it was a great quick getaway from the city for an afternoon. Then today, we traveled by bike (common theme?) to the Loyola Jesuit Center for an afternoon outdoor mass and a scrumptious reception following. The Jesuits even gave out individual blessings to those at the mass.  Apparently the Jesuit who gave us a group blessing is very well-known and phenomenal, he has written a couple books including "Radical Compassion" which is about Old Town Portland and the severity of poverty in the city.  Overall, a wonderful mass and welcoming spirit of all the JVs present.

Well on to the second week of my placement and third week in Portland.  I am hoping to participate in the September "Business Bike Challenge" which encourages different businesses in Portland to make a team and commute to work by bike.  So as long as I can borrow a bike from a coworker I will begin to join the biker community of Portland. Whoop Whoop!

Well there is a lot to catch up on from this last week as I settled into our Portland flat. We have been greeted and welcomed by all of the community in the church, former JVs, and our placement coworkers.  JVC Northwest is an extremely well established program that began in Alaska and the Jesuit priests took it over to spread the service through out the U.S.  The Northwest has remained separate from the national JVC regions because of their purpose to serve indigenous communities.  I am happy to say that I am very proud to be a part of this organization and its focus on environmental and social justice.  But enough about the history lets get to the good stuff.

So we got a few tours of Portland this week starting with a long bike ride from our home to downtown Portland for a picnic on the river.  Ps. I haven't eaten meat in like 2 weeks now and I think my body knows it! But hey this could be a veggie filled year and I am ready to accept that.  Anyways, so after our long bike ride (I was exhausted and bruised) I decided I would commute by bus (Yay public transit!).  Portland is a beautiful city and full of bike commuters, im serious! There is literally a bike rush hour at the end of the work day.  But I am loving the bus route to and from work, one bus and happy passengers.

I could go on for days about Portland and the little bit of culture that I have already learned. Here is a little history on N/NE side that we live on.  Portland is basically split up into 5ish sections: SW, NW, N,   NE, and SE.  The N and NE side were originally a red lining district for African American industrial workers.  Now the community has become gentrified and "swanky" aka trendy.  Unfortunately, the community of workers have now moved towards the suburbs in the cities attempt to build up the communities.  One of my coworkers explained that Portland is a one race city, but they think that they are culturally diverse.  In my opinion, there is definitely some segregated neighborhoods, but everyone still seems to get along.  I also learned some street definitions of hipsters, hippies, and "normal" from some of the youth at work.  All you need to do is watch an episode of Portlandia and that actually explains the city's culture.

Speaking of my placement (work), I finished 3 days at New Avenues for Youth!  WOOHOO! It was quite an overwhelming experience and I am not going to lie I was really nervous (even getting sick at home before I left for work..yikes!)  However, my coworkers happily greeted me and I feel as though things will calm down as time goes along.  Every morning I will arrive at work at 8am to make breakfast for the homeless youth (ages 17-24) that utilize the drop-in space.  I am trying to quickly learn as many names as possible, but some of them filter in and out so randomly.  A few of them have warmed up quickly to me and we are beginning to create relationships.  As one youth stated I went from a "hello" on the first day to a "whaddup" on the second.  After Breakfast, I begin to tutor those seeking to complete there GED (let me tell you I need to brush up on my writing and math skills).  After a few hours of that I get a nice little lunch break, and then on to either meetings, data entry, or group activities.  On certain days the drop-in center is open for the youth to come in for a safe space.  Sometimes we will go play sports, deliver meals on wheels, or just hang out.  This is a great time for the staff to engage the youth off the streets and seek the New Avenue services for either GED completion, jobs, or college.  So technically I work in the Education center, but I also help out in the drop-in center. One of my coworkers explained the mentality of the drop-in center he said, "this is your house and you are hosting a party, make sure no one gets in a fight or breaks anything, but you also want to meet people and engage in conversation."  That conversation just make everything make sense!

Anywho, so now on to the weekend for some good ole community time, including our free movie in the park last night (so fun).  Today it is raining for the first time since I got here, I should get use to this I guess.  But this past week has been awfully hot and unbearable.  I left the Midwest for some cooler weather, but it has been hitting between 95 and 102 the past couple days! GROSS!  It is cooling down now and the true Portland is beginning to "shine".

Well that is all for now, can't wait to update you all with more stories after this next week :)

Orientation in the Cascades and Move-in Day

Well after a long week, I have finally arrived and settled in to our Portland "condo". But here is what the last week has brought me:

All 140 JVs gathered at Camp Adams in the woods of the Cascade Mountains just outside of Portland. From day 1, we began to practice all the JVC Northwest core values including: simplicity, social justice, community, and spirituality. Each day was filled with a lot of information, but also some great activities.  Every morning we woke up for a wonderful breakfast prepared by the amazing staff at the camp and then transitioned into some morning wake-up music. We brought back all the childhood songs, such as "head, shoulders, knees and toes" but then transitioned into many other inspiring songs such as "I've got my eyes set on freedom" and many more. Although I was having a lot of trouble this week, the staff and my community was very, very supportive.  I even met my first Spiritual Director, Jack. He has run the orientation for decades, but this year he has handed it over my my Area Director Julia (who is AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL).

Anyways, we were very blessed to be at Camp Adams, with numerous paths around the "hills" and I even got to see the tips of Mt. Hood on a clear day.  At night we star gazed and searched for the current meteor shower, which actually just turned into a few shooting stars (we were a little early). But overall, I met so many wonderful people from all over the country, even a few from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Chicago area! Granted I am the minority because I did not attend a Jesuit college, but I am still representing the Norbertines well.

Yesterday, August 11 my housemates and I moved into our wonderful home right above the JVC Northwest office.  It is an 8 bedroom, 2 bath home with a huge kitchen, family room, and porch.  We have two plots in a community garden, and a street filled with young Portlanders.  My housemates are Jackie and Kara from the LA area, Justin from Washington, Nick from Ohio, Steph from Iowa, Sarah from Maine, and Cara from Cape Cod.  I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year filled with laughter and tears.  We also have so much support from former JVs; we were even given dinner last night by our support team already.

I know this is going to be a very tough year feeling with inner turmoil and maybe even some community hiccups.  But as JVC Northwest says, you will be "ruined for life" after this year of service! Let the challenges begin.