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!

Its movie time!

On the topic of movies I recently saw "The Hunger Games" and loved it! Well written. Fallows the books story line. Strong leading female character. Great action. Romance. Sisterly love. I cried 3 times. Midnight premiere made it even better!

This past Saturday evening was the Harry Tompson Center's big fundraising gala! It was a really fun time. We were all dressed up which is diffidently not our norm. Dresses, makeup, heals, and hair done is the complete opposite of how the Harry Tompson Center usually sees us. The board member, families, volunteers, people in the community, and friends all came together to raise money for the HTC. Over all i think it was a very successful event! Annes parents were in town this past weekend (shout out to them!) which made the night even more fun. There were so many people at the gala that they got to chat with, so many people to meet, they were celebs at the gala! I also ate my first raw oyster... well i think it was my first one. I took it like a shot (of water...), which was odd because it was just a slimy hunk that slipped down my throat. Not something i think i will do again, but had to try it once!

Back to the movie theme. A while ago Father Jeff came around the center to film clips of the guests, interviews, and interactions for a short film to advertise the HTC. Anne and i were not so keen on the individual interviews and were super nervous about whether or not we did a good job. I will let you all be the judges of that. The clip premiered at the gala in front ALL the guests! I turned red, what a surprise. But seriously, the clip captures the HTC in an amazing way. The images are well set up and show a very small window to the beautiful people I have come to know and love. I hope you enjoy it!

http://vimeo.com/39631070

(If that link does not work then you can go onto my facebook page and the clip should be on my wall.)

Weekend Adventures

I realized this weekend that I have not been updating on my weekend advntures.  These past few weekends have been very busy!  Mostly becasue New Orleans always has something going on.

A few weeks ago Mom and Dad came to visit! It was probebly one of my favorite weekends in this city so far. We went ALL over! I tryed asking my guests and friends in the city which places to take my parents while they were visiting and instead of getting a few famous places that a lot of people recomended i got a lot of different recomendations (infact almost no one suggested the same places).  So i figured where ever we went would be good and it was! I think my favorite night spent with them was Saturday night becasue we were out to see the night life.  It started off with littereally running into a parade that was marching through the French Quarter. Dad got us each a Hurricain drink (basically a really fruity, very alchoholic drink, famous in New Orleans) to enjoy while the parade went by.  Mom picked up the hang of bead catching really fast and walked away with lots of flowers.  We then walked through the Quarter to get to a bar/music venue.  This place had been recomended to be by one of my roommates and was a great success! The live music was amazing. I knew Mom and Dad had to hear the live music in New Orleans becasue it just has a different level of heart.  I think they both loved it, especially Dad. The second round of drinks probebly helped with the enjoyment.

After the concert we went to a famous burger place and each finished our own gigantic hamberger and backed potato! Both delicious! Upon Mom and Dad's request we walked down Bouben St. on our way back to the hotel. Definetly something you should expereince once but only once, haha. 

Mom and Dad came to work with me on Monday, starting bright and early at 7:00am, with donuts and coffee.  I was on shower duting that week and put mom and dad to work cleaning the showers.  They worked very hard and met so many people!  It was probebly a little overwhelming but they made it and everyone they met loved them. I think my favorite response when i introduced my parents to my guests was how shocked the guys were to hear my mom was my mom and not my sister.  They showered her with wonderful compliments and kept looking at me to say, "Oh i see where you get your good looks from now!"  Dad may not have recived as many good looking coments but he did get the MVV (Most Valuble Volunteer) award! He fixed at least three of the broken showers with his engineering/MacGyver skills.   

The week after Mom and Dad left was a long one. Most of the student volunteers who come to help with showers were on spring break. I went from all the wonderful help in the world on Monday to no help the rest of the week. I was on my feet a lot. But the week led into a really fun weekend. In New Orleans St. Patricks Day has a big parade! What a surprise, New Orleans having a parade for a holiday?! We were at a friends house for most of the parade because he lives on the parade route. He has a balcony/roof that overlooks the street. So we all crowded on and had the best view ever! Being that it was a parade there were of course lots of beads being thrown. We all caught tons of green beads, not that we need ANY more beads in the house. Along with the green beads we were catching Irish Spring soap, Lucky Charms cereal, onions, potatos, large cabbage heads, and basically anything that had any reference to the Irish.   

(Anne and i become pro Cabbage catchers!)

Sunday was the third Sunday of March which is also known as Super Sunday (around the same time as St. Josephs day). This is a day when all of the Mardi Gras Indians come out together to parade in their costumes. You can get right up close to them and take pictures or watch the performances.  The Indians are apart of each of the 'Krewes' (the 'Krewes' in each parade during Mardi Gras). The tradition of dressing up and creating these elaborate costumes was started to thank the Native Americans who had helped free slaves. "The Mardi Gras Indians named themselves after native Indians to pay them respect for their assistance in escaping the tyranny of slavery. It was often local Indians who accepted slaves into their society when they made a break for freedom. They have never forgotten this support." (http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/mardigrasindians.html)

(This was one of my favorite Indians because his outfit was incredible. All of the costumes had an amazing amount of detail but this one in particular caught my eye. The man wearing the costume looked like he was taking his job/role very seriously.) 

The week after was another long week. It rained a lot! But that did not stop the guests from coming with more needs, questions, concerns, and general comments. Anne, Emily and I each had a moment or two during the week when we really just needed a minute to sit in a quiet corner and breath. It was a week that reminded me how wonderful the people i work with really are! I would not have been able to survive without Anne's great humor and ability to help me step back to understand the bigger picture. The long week did lead into another fun weekend though! Stephanie and Emma were asked to help out at a Beer Garden, to represent St. Arnold beer and they brought me with them. Niki (one of the FJVs works for St. Arnolds) was on a trip this weekend and asked if we could got to the beer fest in her place. St. Arnold is a beer that is based in Houston, is available all over Texas, and has made its way to Louisiana. The Beer Garden was a big beer tasting event right outside the Superdome.  We had a lot of fun working it! I am pretty good at poring from a tap into a 2oz tasting cup, I can describe 5 different St. Arnolds beer in fancy beer lingo, and bs my way through just about an question regarding the St. Arnold beer company. Of course we also were able to do some tasting of our own. Stephanie, Becca, and I walked around with our little tasting cups and tried lots of different beers from all over the world. I came to the conclusion that i really am not a huge beer fan although it was fun tasting so many different types. I enjoy beer somethings but i really don't like the taste of hops...which is very distinct taste in most beers. 

Over all it was a very fun day that ended with a surprise. Emma told us that the vendors at the Beer Garden were given a hotel room at the Hyatt to stay for free Saturday night. She said we could have it if we wanted! Which of course all 5 members of my community were down for. The Hyatt is near the French Quarter so it would have been super easy for us to enjoy the hotel treats and be able to go out to our favorite bars without having the long commute home. Of course by the time we all got to the hotel, turned the TV on, laid out on the big cozy bed, there was no chance we were going to get up for anything but snacks. All 5 of us lounged in the hotel room until about noon the next day.  It was brilliant! 

Later on Sunday we all went to a Crawfish boil. It was the first for us this year and my first one ever (I think)! I loved it! The food was so good and fun to eat. The Crawfish were as fresh as could be and our hosts had a ton. We all ate until we were stuffed. In the pot with the Crawfish were potatoes, half ears of corn, big cloves of garlic, and lots of Cajun spices. 

I learned how to get the meat out pretty fast but i never mastered how to not make a mess. I had Crawfish juice all over me. I do not think the vegetarian of the group was ready for the ripping off of the heads but she did enjoy the meat.  Everything was so good! Even the tables were set up for Crawfish eating. Big round ledges were attached to the top of heavy trash cans, so you could lay the Crawfish out, break them up, throw away the shell, eat the meat, and continue the process over and over, all while standing in a circle chatting and enjoying the company.  

It has been a very very busy couple of weeks! Some hard days at work and long nights. But my weekends always seem to come to the rescue. Although not very relaxing, my weekends have been full of adventures which is exactly what i have needed. Maybe i will sleep a little this weekend...maybe, haha.

I hope all is well with you! 

p.s. A Santa Clara Immersion trip is here this week and it has been fun seeing some familiar faces :)

How to describe Mardi Gras?

Mardi Gras is.... Mardi Gras is crazy fun.  Mardi Gras is mass chaos.  Mardi Gras is costumes.  Mardi Gras is friends, family's, students, co-workers, clients, bosses, and strangers all coming together to celebrate.  Mardi Gras is sitting in your lawn chair, a beer in one hand and the other up in the air catching beads.  Mardi Gras celebrations start the Wednesday before Mardi Gras with full out celebration and parades until Mardi Gras Tuesday!

Most people had work the week before Mardi Gras but that does not stop the city from starting the parades.  Every night, starting Wednesday, there were at least three parades that rolled down St. Charles and through the Qurater (the parade route that most of the floats fallow).  After work on Wednesday we grabbed a beer and walked down to the parade route to see our first Krewes.  Each Krewe in New Orleans is like a club or adult version of Greek life.  Each Krewe has a parade duing Mardi Gras--hence why there were so many parades.  There were about 20 floats pur parade with school marching bands and dance groups in between the floats.  Wednesday after work we grabbed our beers and biked down to St. Charles to watch the first parades.  We caught some beads and funny stuffed animals, saw some school bands that really impressed us, then biked home.  Thursday we all went to work and again after work put on some fun costumes, grabbed some beers, found a spot on the parade route and watched the Krewes go by.  Thursday one of the Krewes we saw was Muses, which is a famous all female Krewe known for throwing fancy decorated shoes.  You are luckey if you catch one of these shoes because the women throwing them are hard to convince. 

The way to get the good throws is to make eye contact with the people throwing.  Each float has a bunch of people holding long strands of beads, stuffed animals, cups, funny nick nacks, and what ever else they are throwing.  If you want something you have to catch the throwers eye.  They will point at you and you better be ready to catch what ever they are throwing and make sure no one snatches it out of the air before you!

Friday was when our visitors came into town! I came home after work to a very full house.  We had about 25 JV's from other cities visiting for Mardi Gras last weekend.  We had almost enough couch/bed space for all of them but luckily our upstairs is all carpeted so we had room.  It was fun having so many people in the house but made the weekend even crazier. We all went out to watch the parades together on Friday.  Saturday was a little different because the big parade that we all wanted to see what on a different street a little farther away.  Everyone was dressed and ready to catch the 3:15 bus when all of a sudden it started to poor. We were all crowded around under the tiny cover of the bus stop waiting for the bus.  IT was a little too much for some people so most of the group went back to the house to dry off and celebrate at the house.  Me and about 5 others got on the bus and made it to the parade route.  It rained all afternoon and night so when everyone else decided to make it to the parade it was to late to care about getting wet because everyone was going to be soaked.  Because of the rain not as many people came out to see the parade which meant more throws for us! It was a different adventure watching a parade in the poring rain but we had fun.

(This was right before the parade started and before the rain came. You have to love a giant Shrek!)

Sunday those with bikes rode to the parade rout in the evening and watched some of the more famous parades pass by.  Then my roommates and i went to a Trombone Shorty concert! We had bought the tickets weeks in advance and were so excited.  Trombone Shorty is a famous musician in New Orleans because of his amazing talent with a trombone and trumpet, but also because he is really good looking! We were in the front row all night.  The concert went until about 3:00am.  We rode our bikes home after which must have been hilarious for anyone watching us because we were singing Shorty songs, dressed in fun Mardi Gras outfits, and riding our bikes at 3:30am.  I would have laughed if i saw us!

(Here is a youtube video of him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBgMGuEf87Y )

Monday was more parades after we slept in until at least noon.  Most of our guests had left by Monday which was nice becasue the house was a little quieter.  But we left the pull out couch in the living room out so that we all could lounge while watching 'Friends' and eating take-out before that nights parades.  Tuesday was Mardi Gras day and it started with a wake up call at 6:00am for mimosas and costumes.  We made it to the parade and lasted until about 10:00am when we all decided that Mardi Gras had beet us and that it was time to go home.  But that was not before i caught a coconut! The 8:00am Mardi Gras parade is called Zulu and is known for its painted coconuts that the float riders will throw to the crowds.  I was getting a little tired of being pushed around by all the people fighting to make eye contact with the throwers so i stood back on the side walk and watched from a bit farther away.  As i watched one of the floats go by i noticed one of the riders pointing at me. I put my hands up just in time to catch the coconut that he had launched at me.  I caught a coconut! I think it was the big yellow tool bow i had in my hair and my Mardi Gras colored tu-tu that caught his eye :)

We never made it down to the Quarter or the Bourbon St. area because none of us really wanted to see that side of Mardi Gras.  We had a ton of fun in the areas that we were in, caught more than enough beads and random stuff for a life time, and basically knew exactly what we would see if we ended up in the Frenchquarter. Overall i think we did our first Mardi Gras right.  We had a great time, saw a ton of parades, and caught more random stuff than we will ever need!

If I am here next year I hope you all come visit :)