Words will never hurt me...

Today was an interesting day where I of course encountered many unexpected things. I went to the meeting at New Start 2 this morning and really enjoyed it. Last week, all the people were told as homework to do something nice for someone else and not tell them about it. The basic idea is that a giver will get over addiction whereas a taker will not. This morning, everyone discussed what they had done and it was really nice and touching to hear some of the things. I had chills after a few of them.
After the meeting, I went to the new property and then returned back to the office. At the end of the day, I headed off to the car to go home. I encountered a man on a bike who was clearly not quite with it and was yelling at me. I will not quote him because he was rather offensive but it got me thinking a little bit. Had someone else said the same things to me, I might have been a little offended but in this situation, I just walked a little faster and broke out laughing when I got in the car. Insults don't carry the same sting when it tends to be just a part of the everyday interactions of some people. This morning, I was in Friendship Park when someone said "skinny ass white girl." This wasn't so much an insult, and could even be taken as a compliment. It just goes to show what you'll hear/see everyday in an environment that most of us aren't accustomed to. Each day brings something different and unexpected but presents an opportunity for growth. I can only imagine what I'll see/hear in the next year if I've already been exposed to so much in just a few weeks.

Phew.

I am now a licensed California driver! I passed the written test with only one wrong. It was very exciting but also sad because they had to punch a hole in my Massachusetts license. It's not quite as cool having a CA drivers license in CA as a MA license.

This Weekend

Lonestar Friday night was a great time, we even saw Mer there (this was all planned). The fair was very impressive. It looked more like a Canobe Lake Park (for those who know it) or a smaller version of Six Flags. It's surprising that it is a temporary fair. We didn't really hang out for too long though, just did the concert and left. We went out to the London Pub again with a bunch of the JVCs which was a lot of fun. It's nice having an extended network of people around the area.
Saturday and Sunday were pretty relaxed. We went through the Capital on Saturday (Meghan's boyfriend Mike was visiting) where we saw Arnold Schwarzenegger's office. Sunday we went and watched a bunch of boats get launched at Discovery Park. We've decided that we need to find friends with a boat so we can go out on the river for the day.
Yesterday we went to get our licenses and got there a little late so we only got the paperwork started, we go back today for the test. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll be a California licensed driver. On another happy note, today some guy told me he would marry me so that puts my mind at ease, I have a fall back. That's all for now, keep your fingers crossed that we pass our driver's test. I'd honestly be a little concerned, after having driven for 5 years if I didn't pass.

First Full Week

So I'm almost done with my first full week of work! It's been pretty good. Yesterday I worked in the office by myself because Tina was out and it wasn't too bad-it was slow for most of the day but I did some intakes by myself. Last night we went to the first Monarchs (WNBA) game and they won! It was very exciting, now hopefully they'll win at least one of the next two games. Meghan and I made flat Katherine and brought her to the game with us and she'll be coming out with us tonight too! She's like our Flat Stanley who will soon be leaving us to visit all the other MVC sites. It'll be funny to see everywhere she ends up-I'll keep everyone updated.
We're going to the California state fair to see Lone Star! We got the tickets for the fair for free and it should be a really good time.

Spanish mass

Last night, Meghan and I went to the 7PM mass at the Cathedral. Because our weekend was rather busy, this was the only mass we could make it to and it happened to all be in Spanish. I was thinking that I'd be ok, I am a Spanish minor and all but apparently those two years of no Spanish made a difference. My new goal is to get some Spanish tapes at the library and brush up on the language. Maybe in a few weeks/months, I'll try Spanish mass again.

My weekend

So my first week finished off nicely. On Friday morning, I went to an Alcoholics Anonymous at New Start 2. Both of the housing areas were there so there was a large number of people. It was very interesting for me, I had never been to a support group meeting and it was good exposure. Friday night we went to a Monarchs game (WNBA) with Dana (my boss) and Andrew (who had my position last year). It was really fun, I had never been to a WNBA game before. Afterwards, Meghan and I walked to the London Pub which is 15ish blocks away from our house. We hung out until 1:30ish (our latest night yet as we're still on Eastern time) and then came back and crashed.

Saturday was a lazy day then Saturday night we went to the Jesuit Volunteer house across town and met the other half of the JVCs. We got back kind of early and got a good night sleep. This morning, I woke up early to get to a baseball game where the residents of Clean and Sober played. I also go to play because they needed 2 females and the females that were there weren't very enthusiastic about playing. It was a lot of fun, we played 2 games and then there was a cookout. It was a tournament where all the teams were made up of AA groups so it was a very interesting experience. After I got home, Meghan and I went biking around Sacramento, did some errands and went to McKinley park. One of our errand was getting library cards so we had some books to read at the park-another very relaxing day. I'm looking forward to my second, and likely busier, week of work.

Bill

So first of all, let me apologize for the multiple entries in one day...I'm a little blog happy as a beginner. Bill is our neighbor and although we have only been here 4 days, we already find him very creepy. The first time we met was when he knocked on our door on Monday. Meghan opened it and said hi to which he responded, "are those your bikes," we said yes and he said "you'd better bring them inside or someone will steal them." It was only after Meghan said, "oh thanks for telling us, I'm Meghan by the way" did he say his name. Not so much an introduction but more of a side note. We have also been told that Bill might try and steal our parking spot-he told the owner (not knowing it was the owner) that it was his spot and that the owner said he could have it. He's very odd.
Today we got home from Ikea around 9:30 to find Bill watering the "plants" in the "front garden." He is a very creepy man. Meghan and I wanted to work on the gardens-just weed them some and cut some stuff back but now we're a little scared to touch them for fear of what Bill might do.

My First Day (and a little bit of yesterday)

Yesterday we went to Mer's house. It was our first adventure driving and it went pretty well. We hung out at Mer's house for a little bit by the pool which was a lot of fun. It was funny to see her out in Sacramento when I'm so used to seeing her at school. After hanging out for a bit, we went to Whole Foods and got Meghan some special food and then we stopped at a dollar store and got some things for our apartment. We both went to bed early so we'd be ready for our first day of work!
We didn't have to go in until 9AM this morning for our orientation. We got the tour of the whole area which is much like a village. There is a small school, a health building, a law office type place, kitchens, women's shelters, and Clean and Sober, where I work, all under the name of Loaves and Fishes.
After touring on site, I took the tour of the two off site housing areas. They're for people who have committed themselves to being clean and sober and have no place to live. It's very affordable and there's a lot of support provided for all the individuals which is great. I will be working mostly in the walk-in office during the day and then around the off site areas towards the end of the day. It will be a very eye opening experience and I'm excited to get going.
Later today we'll be going to IKEA to get some more stuff for our apartment-I'm very excited-hopefully we'll find some great stuff!

The Black Cat

This black cat haunts us. He is always around our house, presumably belonging to our neighbors but last night around 12, we heard what we believe was a cat fight. It was very loud and woke us both up, we even thought that maybe we wouldn't be seeing the black cat anymore. No such luck however. We got back from our adventure of opening a bank account to see him/her sitting on the stairs next door.

Home at last

We finally made it to our new home in Sacramento. We left Gwynedd Mercy College at 5:15 (Paup's was nice enough to drive) and got to the airport and through security in time for our 8AM flight. We got into Sacramento around 1:30 and to our new house around 2:30. It's very cute, it's the first floor of a house. It has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room and a tv room. There's a front porch and "back yard" as well, although we probably won't get much use out of either. We had a nice welcoming party when we got here, a volunteer from last year was here and there were several sisters here as well. It was very nice!

Meg and I started unpacking for a little bit then decided to go for a bike ride to see the area a little bit. It's really easy to bike around here, although we need to learn a little more about the rules of the road. We stopped by the house of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and introduced ourselves before returning back home to unpack some more. We had a delicious dinner of turkey sandwiches, chips and grapes (ironically what I had for breakfast as well-we have yet to get to the grocery store). I've posted some pictures of our new house (and our car!) so you can all check it out here.

kintera

Today I created a webpage through MVC. There's a little information about what I'm doing and a picture of Meghan and myself! If you'd like to learn a little more about what my upcoming year will bring or make a donation to my cause, click here.

Orientation

It is now Wednesday, the 4th day of orientation for Mercy Volunteer Corps (MVC). So far it's going great, everyone is a little tired but we're getting to know each other and learning a lot about what the upcoming year holds for us. My roommate, Meghan is from the Philadelphia area and seems really cool, I think we will get along very well. We're both very excited about getting to our apartment in Sacramento. The descriptions of the apartment and of what our jobs entail were very vague so we're both interested to see what we will be doing. Tomorrow my boss will be coming to Gwynned Mercy College so hopefully we'll learn more in the upcoming days.