First Day (Sort of) at PAWS

Well I had my orientation today at PAWS! It only lasted for 2 hours, and didn't really give me any insight into what I will be doing this year. :/ I had a good time at the orientation, but it is a little upsetting that I still don't know anything. I am going to more training on Tuesday and Wednesday night so maybe then I will have more of an idea. The problem is that there are so many areas that I could volunteer in, but my supervisor has been on vacation (or at least the person I think is my supervisor) and so I have no idea what direction I am going to be going in... Frustrating to say the least!

I don't really have much else to blog about....I just felt compelled to blog about my first day at PAWS. Hopefully I will have more exciting stories in a few weeks! The area around PAWS is really nice! If I stay in Chicago after this year, I definitely wouldn't mind living there. It's in Lincoln Park and there are a ton of shops in the area that I would love to spend hours wandering around in! And there is a Crate & Barrel outlet store near by as well. I'll probably pop in there at least one or two times this year. Not that I'll be able to afford anything...or have a place to put anything...but I still like to wander around and look at all the deals! My house actually does need a crock pot. I think it is a little insane that we don't have one. They are the perfect tool for cold weather cooking! Not that Crate & Barrel sells crock pots, or that I would buy one there.....

Tonight we are going to dinner with some other people in Chicago who are also living in an intentional community. Matt Black was one of the YAV Alumni that was at orientation and the placement event. And (from what I've been told) he lives in a community of other Christian people and they want to live simply. Which sounds pretty cool to me! Kiva (one of the other girls in the house and my roommate) is working with 2 girls that are basically doing the Catholic version of the Young Adult Volunteer program and I think we are going to invite them over for dinner soon. It will be nice to expand our group and get to know more people. :)

First Day at Fourth Presbyterian Church

I had my first day of work at Fourth Presbyterian Church yesterday! The church is huge and has so many people on staff! I didn’t know until today that Fourth Pres is the 2^nd largest Presbyterian Church (USA) in the US. That’s pretty amazing! The church building is beautiful and covered in ivy right now. They just broke ground this summer on a new building for Sunday School classes and offices, among other things, so we are kind of scattered among a few different buildings. For instance, my office is in the mance, but on Sundays we will meet on the 19th floor of one of the office buildings nearby. 


I am working with the “Elevation” group (6^th and 7^th graders) on Sunday mornings and whenever they have retreats/lock-ins and fellowship. I am pretty much planning everything for the year, but I have some templates to start with. And I have Sunday School curriculum to use as well, which is nice. We are covering the Old Testament this year…they alternate Old and New Testament lessons each year so that by the time the kids get to the Confirmation Class in 8^th grade they have a good understanding of the Bible. I am really excited to be working with everyone here—they are all really nice! My office is SUPER COLD but that’s ok…I was advised to bring in an extra blanket or old sweater for the office because it is usually pretty cold. My office is in the old mance and overlooks the courtyard area. It is really nice! I share the space with 3 other people, but I have my own desk and it isn’t crowded at all.

Vlogging in Chicago

I decided that I want to have a video blog (vlog) for this year in Chicago at some point this summer, but I hadn't actually done anything about it until today! One of my housemates doesn't have a computer and since I knew we had extras at home, I asked my parents if he could have one. Of course they said yes because they are awesome!! So Denis wanted to say thanks and we decided to do it through a video blog.

I made a special youtube channel for my house to use to upload video blogs. I am not sure who else is going to bother to upload vlogs as well, but I thought it would be nice to let you all know that it exists!! Once I find out the policy on pictures/videos at my different site placements then I will try and get those up here or on the youtube channel. And once I get the house cleaned up to more of my standards I will film the house as well. :)

The link for the video is http://www.youtube.com/FaithHouseVlog

Today was a lot of fun--tomorrow I will try my hardest to post a blog about this past week in Chicago!

YAV Orientation, Part 2

Well orientation came and went and I never blogged about it! I really meant to, but other things got in the way. We spent the week in different seminars about various topics such as, Critical Cultural Competency, Sexual Misconduct, Safety/Gender Issues/Relationships, Living in God's mission & how to share your story, Self Care and what makes you tick. I think by far my favorite sessions were Self Care and what makes you tick.

The Self Care session really helped to reinforce that although we are taking a year to live simply and volunteer our time to help others, we still need to make sure we are taking care of ourselves. Working out, eating right, doing things that we enjoy, are all important to remember so that we don't get down and therefore not as useful to our placements.

The "what makes you tick" session was a lot of fun (for me) because we took the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). For those of you who do not know what the MBTI is, it is a questionnaire designed to take Carl Jung's theories on differing psychological concepts and apply them in broad categories to the questionnaire's participants. I could go on and on about the test because I really enjoyed it, but I won't. :)

We had an earthquake in New York! My first earthquake experience and I didn't even know that it happened until Rebecca (my sister) texted me and asked if I survived the earthquake. It wasn't really that big of a deal up at Stony Point. Honestly I think only a couple of people noticed it. Most of our attention was focused on Hurricane Irene. About 20 of us volunteered to help prepare Stony Point for flooding on Saturday morning. We bagged so many bags of sand! At one point a couple of us had to go get more sand and I got to drive the golf cart! :) Haha I felt so official! Irene didn't hit us too badly. There was some flooding in the main building because the site isn't properly set up to handle that much water. The water basically drains down the hill into the side of the building, so of course it is going to flood. Luckily nothing was damaged (that I know of).

We were supposed to split up into different groups and attend local churches on Sunday morning to be commissioned, but all of the churches canceled their Sunday worship because of the hurricane. :( It was disappointing, but then we had a commissioning service at the ending worship service, which was really nice! I think my favorite thing for the entire week was getting to know the other YAVs that are going elsewhere in the country and the world. In a couple months I know it will be really nice to have that network of support! I got to know the people that are going to Kenya pretty well last week and I felt so bad because their flight was delayed until today because of Hurricane Irene! I know I was really lucky that my flight wasn't delayed or canceled!

I arrived in Chicago on Monday and we went to Lou Malnati's to get pizza. IT WAS SO GOOD! I love Chicago style pizza but this stuff was awesome!! :) According to my site director, Lou's also does a really good job of becoming part of the neighborhood and it is supposed to be a place where you can come and enjoy yourself--not get rushed out the door. A link to their website is here if you want to read more about their history.

I'll write another post about my week here in Chicago but I have to go get ready. Our site director (Krista) is blindfolding us and dropping us each off in a separate area of Chicago and we have to find our way back to the house. Luckily Chicago was designed on a grid pattern so it should be fairly easy....I am hoping! Wish me luck!

YAV Orientation!

Well I finally made it to the YAV Orientation in Stony Point, NY! I had a bit of an adventure getting here...which started with me leaving the house at 4:30 this morning. My wonderful mother sacrificed sleep to take me to the airport!! (Thanks Mom!) It was a bit of a hassle at the airport getting my suitcases and guitar checked but we finally got it. Then for some reason, when I was going through security I triggered some sort of alarm and they decided that they needed to check me for explosives! Of course I was fine, but my flight had already started boarding at this point so I was extremely worried that I was going to miss it! NOT a good way to start my YAV year. But I did make it on time, so at least I was guaranteed a flight to St. Louis.

Once I got to the airport in St. Louis, I had about an hour before my flight to Newark, which seemed like plenty of time. Except for the fact that I had to leave security and go back through it again to change terminals!! I guess the airport had been hit by a tornado a few months ago and they are still undergoing construction to fix the damage. But I managed to make it through with just enough time to get to my next plane before they closed the doors.

When I landed in Newark, I was a little concerned because I still hadn't heard anything about where I was supposed to meet up with the YAV group. And Newark is a fairly large airport so it wasn't like I was just going to run into people I knew...but I got a call from the program director, Shannon, and she reassured me that I wasn't going to be left at the airport. Which made me feel better, until my luggage came down the carousel. Somehow, one of the airlines I was traveling on managed to break my suitcase! I gave it to them with 4 wheels and got it back with only 3. :( It was really upsetting because not only was my luggage set a high school graduation present from my parents, but I had all of my other stuff that I had to lug around the airport. To make a long story somewhat shorter, eventually I did manage to move my stuff between terminals and find my group.

The bus ride to Stony Point from Newark was really pretty! It was really cool seeing the NYC skyline again and Stony Point is in a really beautiful park of New York near the Hudson River. The campus was donated by a group of sisters back in the day and historically has been used to help prepare missionaries before they go out into the field. A little bit of their history can be found by clicking here. It isn't the entire history of the site, but I couldn't find their history on their website anywhere.

It is really beautiful up here and I am so glad to be here among all of the other YAVs. It's nice seeing all of my friends that I made at the placement event back in March and meeting the other people that are going to Chicago! I can't wait to get out there!