A Sad Loss

This morning I learned that Brian (one of my guests) passed away. I do not think that the obituary in the paper gave his life justice. The picture provided is handsome and he was a proud alumni of Jesuit High so he would have liked that is high school picture was shown but it was unfortunately unrecognizable for those who knew him more recently. This by no means is an obituary but I do have some nice memories to share about him because he was apart of our life here at the Center and will always be remembered.

Brian was a character to say the least and full of facts about New Orleans, Jesuit High, people in the city, the gossip of the city, the weather, vacations to take, or really just anything and everything. He could talk for hours if you let him which was normally ill timed (beginning in the early morning when the most people wanted to talk) but when he caught you at a good time to chat he was a wonderful conversationalist and always had a compliment in his back pocket. He kept me up to date on the happenings of the city, the concerts to go to, the free food events, the best restaurants and who to talk to. He especially liked to talk about California and how much he liked it, but the conversation always ended with how much better New Orleans is. Brian was also very proud of his background. He enjoyed telling me all about his time at Jesuit High and what the alumni from him class were up to. One of his peers is now a judge in New Orleans and got Brian out of a few sticky situations. His friendly personality was wonderful and he was very generous with anything he had. He asked me to be his date to the Jesuit High reunion a few months ago, insisting that if I say yes then he would buy me a dress and be a wonderful date. I politely said no thank you but that I appreciated the offer; although this did not deter him so I told him that he had to ask Don's permission to take me. Don explained to him that that was not going to happen and he needed to stop asking me. Brian was not insulted and we still had lots of talks about California which I appreciated. It makes me sad to think that Brian is gone but I am happy to say that I knew him and that he made an impact on my life.

Lots of Love

It has been a while since I have sat down to write anything. I apologize! Its been a little busy, really hot, and I have found a nice routine here. But these past few weeks have been great!

On Friday at work I was asked to head down to the church to receive a large package that was to heavy for  Sister Vera to carry. I was a little nervous but luckily I had a dashing young man, who is strong and very helpful, with me to carry the very heavy box. Michael came to New Orleans along with Aunt Susie for an absolutely wonderful visit! They came to work with me on Friday and were big helps at the showers then came to clean up in the afternoon. Michael carried the box for me back to the center and we opened it to see what was weighing it down. It was a box FULL of personal toothpastes! And when I say FULL I mean it. Dr. Rick sent yet another awesome package full of toothpaste. It also looked like some of his other Dentist friends had pitched in to send more. We were able to put personal toothpastes in every hygiene kit this week, and then some! We have some happy smiles this week :)

Aunt Susie and Michael kept me on my toes last weekend. I had a blast taking them around the city! They were great at being flexible when we got caught in a rain storm on a daquari/walking adventure, on Aunt Susie's birthday. We ate more delicious food than I thought possible and some fancy food too! The bananas foster at Brennans melted in my mouth and made me a very happy camper. Drank Mimosas at Aunt Susie's BDay breakfast. They stayed in a beautiful little hotel close enough to the French Quarter that they were able to walk all over the place but far enough that they did not hear too much of the downtown noise. We walked a few blocks of Bourbon St., during the day (still lots of light out!), caught some beads, saw some bars (from the outside), just to say they did it. They went on a haunted tour of the French Quarter. We explored the 9th ward and saw Lake Ponchartrain. They were put to work at the Center and met so many of the wonderful people I work with. And I had a great time with them! I am so glad they spent their vacation time with me!

This past weekend the JV's went on a retreat in Texas: a retreat site right in between Dallas and Houston. We left Wednesday after work, stayed with the Houston JV's that night, then went to the retreat on Thursday. It was a beautiful site and brand new! The land was very flat and open which made for wonderful sun sets, lots of sun during the day, way less humidity than New Orleans, and you could see storms literally rolling in. We had delicious food and a lot of reflection time which we all needed. It has been a wonderful year but a lot to think about and process. The speaker created a space to share our thoughts and feelings with the group and then we were given time by ourselves to internally think about what we had gone through. About a month ago Stephanie and Anne decided it would be a brilliant idea to have Prom at our last retreat all together. There are about 60 JV's in the southern region of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. We have a lot of fun as a big group together. The talent show was Saturday night and was great. For those of you who know what this is: I did the broom trick and it was a big hit! Then after the talent show we had Prom! There was a big open room that we decorated and a speaker system to blast music. It was raining like crazy outside with huge lighting and thunder. It was a little scary but we were all inside having a great time. In the middle of the Cupid Shuffle everyone was on the dance floor when all of a sudden there was a deafening SNAP, 100 times louder than the snap you hear with a whip. We all hit the floor, the music went out, the lights flashed, and bits of plaster fell from the ceiling. The building we were in had been hit by lightning. No one was hurt, nothing caught on fire, the building had been built to withstand this type of weather, the only damage done was a crack in the plaster on the ceiling where the roof had pushed down because of the lightnings impact. It was a bit shocking, to say the least. The fire department came to check the building and make sure it was safe to be in, which it is but the internet cords were hit pretty hard. Now we all have a pretty cool JV Prom story, haha. And I can say that I have been hit by lightning!

Today's quote is, "Julie, if you could bottle your beauty up it would put coke-a-cola out of business." -Benjamin 8:15am

Lots of Love!

Appreciate

The word appreciate has taken on a different meaning for me this year. Well, actually, it has taken on more meaning. I used to use the word 'appreciate' to describe a past event or act of kindness someone had showed me. "I appreciated the help with dinner last night." Now I see it used in New Orleans as a word to replace 'Thank You.' One of my favorite New Orleans phrases is, " A'hh appreciate ya!" At first I did not really understand what that meant or why people didn't just say 'Thank you.' "I appreciate you," sounded odd and almost overly grateful. But after hearing it enough, and in context, I realized how significant it is. I appreciate you. I appreciate what you have done for me. I appreciate your generosity. It is more than just a 'thank you for what you have given me,' but rather it is an appreciation for your help, your life, you. I think it sounds a bit too New Orleanian for me to go around saying, " A'hh appreciate yahh," (I can imitate the accent but I cannot pull off the true New Orleans drawl) so I have found myself saying, "I appreciate it," after someone helps me. An offer to do the dishes: "I appreciate it." Helpful advice: "I appreciate it." A generous gift: "I really appreciate it." I feel as though it holds more meaning. Pleases and thank yous are important and imperative to a polite interaction (thanks Nana and Baba for helping me to see their value) but an appreciation for someone is invaluable.

A'hh appreciate Ya'll!

Seeing Faith

JVC is founded on four main pillars that are suppose to help shape your experience during your JV year. The pillars are Community, Social Justice, Simplicity, and Spirituality. Living in Community is pretty self explanatory in that everything in shared and the group must discuss decisions together, but it is an experience you cannot really understand unless you have lived in Community.  Social Justice is the work we are doing at our placements. Simplicity is a life style that we as a community have chosen to live: to become more aware of our impact on the earth and conscious of what value we place on material things. Spirituality is a harder pillar to define because it takes form in many different personal ways. But basically it is creating a safe place for the community to come together to pray, meditate, discuss religion, or just be solidarity together. Two weeks ago was another retreat that JVC sent us on. This retreat was based around spirituality and that meant it was a silent retreat. It was a 5 days long and just outside of Atlanta GA on a beautiful Jesuit retreat site in the woods. The silence lasted about 3 days and was probably the most relaxing time to myself i have had in a long time. We had individual rooms and bathrooms which allowed for plenty of separate space. We also had free rain of the entire property which was covered with wonderful trails and benches. The quiet gave me the time to relax that i needed. And time to think about my year so far. Also i loved being out in nature! Green trees, grass, a river, some streems, it smelled wonderful and was unimaginbly refreshing.

I do not nessesarly have to leave the city to see faith, however. My guests remind me every day that God is watching out for us. Their faith is some of the strongest i have ever witnessed. Michael for example reads the Bible (out loud) every day and always has something to say about God. One day Don got a call from Father Tom at the church next door about one of our guests who was up on the alter preaching. Don walked over to the church and found Michael passionately speaking the word, reading from the Bible, and walking up and down the alter. It was luckily not during a service so there was not harm done but he wasn't really allowed to be up there. Don got Michael to come back to the center and showed him a different place he could preach. Michael now stands on the small porch outside Dons office, at the back of the center, and preaches to who ever wants to listen. Mostly its the parking lot and big hospital buildings who listen but Michael is not worried about his audience, he just loves to talk about God. You can hear him for the inside of the office for about 2 hours everyday. He also has lots of jokes, loves word searches, calls eyelashes 'lid-hairs' (because the word 'lash' is a negative term in the Bible), plastic bags are 'carry-sacks,' he wears polo shirts buttoned all the way up, and thinks he is the funniest person alive: he is constantly cracking himself up.

Sandra is another amazing example of Gods work. It has taken Anne, Emily, and I a long time to earn her trust. Clearly a lot has happened to her which has contributed to her mental illness. She is always talking or yelling to herself, or to God, dancing around (she has a very high, high kick), gesturing with her arms, and generally expressing herself with no mind to the people around her. But she is a very sweet woman once you take the time to listen to her and get to know her. Sometimes she will pause look up to the sky, point to someone, nod, and then start talking again. That is the way she talks to God, its her prayers. Her favorite color is purple. And when i say her favorite that is an understatement. She owns nothing but purple cloths: head to toe, socks, undies, t-shirts, everything. Anne, Emily, and I knew we had gained her trust when one day she brought us each a purple shirt to keep. She gets a shy but happy smile on her face every time she sees us wearing our purple shirts. I asked her one day why she loves purple so much and she said it is Gods color, that children of God should wear purple, always.

I have talked about Morris before but he is another guest who is constantly reminding me to have faith. He gives great high fives but not just one at a time, he does three in a row. He explained that you have to give three high fives every time for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In New Orleans when someone wants to give you a big thanks they say 'God Bless.' I have heard that before but in New Orleans it just seems to mean more. They also say, 'Im'a gon'a dance at yur weddin!' which I also like. Anne and I are going to have a lot of dancing happening at our weddings :)

God Bless!

Gifts from the Heart

When given the opportunity some people love to show their affection or thankfulness in lots of different ways.  Anne and I are given weekly Sprites and Snickers from Glenn who likes to show his gratitude by bringing us things he can buy with his food stamps. Sometimes we will be sneakily handed a 5 dollar bill or some change which we try to not accept but if that is how someone wants to say thank you than we do not want to insult them. The tips normally go into the "After Work Margarita!" jar :) Sandra (the lady who loves the color purple) went out and bought Anne, Emily and I our very own purple shirts. The shirts are a bit small but we wear them under our work shirts some times so when she comes we can show her we have them on. For Valentines Day, Lane gave us Christmas cards with the 'Christmas' crossed out and replaced with 'Valentines Day.' Billy gives out necklaces to everyone (except Don) who works at the Harry Tompson center. These necklaces are very special to him and have come from the, "depths of the bayou, while i was out alligator hunting (says Billy)." Herbert and Taushiem made me flowers out of toilet paper. We are given books in all shapes sizes and conditions. Beads beads and more beads, all year round. And today Roxanne came up to me right before lunch started and handed me a large plastic bag with a painting in it. I was not sure what it was at first but thanked her and told her how it was not necessarily but she insisted that i deserve it. She wanted to do something special for me after everything i have done for her. I pulled the painting out of the bag later and discovered this gem of a painting! Its a rather large replica of a Jesus painting that you can find in just about every GoodWill, Salvation Army, thrift store, back yard, garage, grandmothers basement, convent (Sister Mags said they have one in her house), and now the JV's house in New Orleans. 

If not the best gift from this year, at least the most memorable!

The Weather

The weather in New Orleans is very odd, but i think i am getting the hang of it. The winter was not too bad this year which made it easy for Anne and i to continue riding our bikes to work most days. It is now starting to get much warmer. Normally the afternoons will be up in the 80's with a little humidity. This California type weather will continue for about three days then all of a sudden it will get very humid and sticky. It builds and builds until all of a sudden the wind comes, the clouds break, and it poors! Last weekend it was beautiful and so was the weekend before that, but the week in between there was a big storm. This is a picture of what the weather report said when i woke up early last week.

That big green spot just stopped right above New Orleans and did not leave until all of the rain was emptied out of the clouds. The 3 red warnings on the bottom were for severe thunder storms, severe lightening, and flash floods. At night the lightning was so bad it looked like a strobe light was flashing at our window. I have never heard thunder crack right outside my house before. Its a scary sound, like a gigantic whip or belt snapping angrily. The sound that sheet metal makes when you are trying to imitate a thunder sound was not even close to what i heard last week. Normally after the storm clears the sun comes out and its back to being beautiful. The change can happen all of a sudden, in the same day sometimes. The morning will be gross and wet then after lunch the sun will have dried all of the benches and wish i had worn flip slops, not my rain boots.

I talk about California a lot here. People ask me all sorts of questions about it. But i think i will really really miss the California weather when June July and August come around and i melt into a puddle of sweat :)

The Food List

Upon request i am writing a blog about our grocery routine on the JVC budget. Just a reminder we are given 90 dollars each month to pool together for the community groceries. We shop once a week, normally Sundays. For the first 4 months we took the number 16 bus to the nearest grocery store. Now that Lily has brought her car to NOLA the shopping has become a little easier and we are going to a different food store (better produce section). Two or three of us go together normally and we try not to make just one person go. We bring reusable bags and come with an exact list of what we are going to buy (it is very very rare that we buy something spur of the moment). This week the line up of cooks goes like this:

Sunday: HAPPY EASTER! Ordering in Chinese food! (about 5 out of the 11 are with family here in New Orleans or back home and some extra money has been saved so that the meal is bought with the community card)
Monday: Becca's family will be cooking for us. Most weeks there is at least one dinner when we are invited to someones house, we are volunteering at an event with free food, or someone comes over to cook for us.
Tuesday: Portobella Mushroom burgers (Chef Stephanie)
Wednesday: Baba Alice's lentil soup (I am cooking)
Thursday: Lentil Curry (Chef Lily)... Normally we do not do lentils two times in a week--don't want to over kill--but Lily and i both had favorites that we wanted to make, so we went for it.

Here is the receipt for this week and approximate prices:

Flour 2.19
6 yogurts 3.30 total
Chocolate Chips 2.29
2 bags Lentils 3.00 total
1% gl Milk 4.29
Hunny Nut O's 2.99
Shredded wheat 3.15
Parmigiana cheese 2.99
Pasta sauce 1.82
Sugar 2.49
Romaine Lettuce 1.79
2 yellow onions .82 total
4 Bananas 1.02 total (normally we buy at least 10 but this week we got some for free)
4 loaves of bread 6.00ish
2 hamburger bun packs 2.40ish
Green onions .75
Carrots 1.19
4 apples 3.72 total (normally we by at least 12 but this week we got some for free)
Curry powder 3.39
2 red onions 2.31 total
Spinich bag 2.59
1 tomato 1.40
Folgers coffee 8.00ish

Total: 67.00 ish

This will last us for dinners and lunches for the week. Left overs are the usual lunches but we have eggs, butter, tuna, pb&j, pasta, more yogurt, oatmeal, dressings, spices, and other basics around that go on the list every now and then.  Weekends normally you are on your own for meals but there is usually a big batch of pancakes or eggs made on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Not every week is the same and this week was defiantly on the low end. We have a pretty good routine down that makes the food shopping and preparing process pretty easy.

We also LOVE our community dinner time. Its a time for all of us to be together no matter what type of day we had. Sometimes they are long dinners with lots of chatting and sometimes we are eating and running, but either way we are almost always together 5 out of the 7 nights a week. Dinner time is an important and enjoyable time for my community!