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.