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 :)