Getting back

The year is winding down. All that meant to me before was a trip home and then the craziness of next year will start. All of which I’m totally ready for. But today we went to McAuliffe to say good-bye to our kids. It is the last day of school for them. I definitely wasn’t ready for that. I’m so lucky I’ll get to see a lot of the kids again next year, but some I won’t. Especially my three 8th graders I’ve been tutoring/mentoring two days a week for pretty much the whole year. I made a promise to myself to go see them at the 9th grade academy. They all play sports too so I’m going to go watch their games. Not to mention our kiddos in after school and lunch clubs. I remember missing them over winter break and I don’t know why that didn’t clue me in that I’d miss them even more now. These kids have been our focus for the past 10 months. Everything we’ve planned from lunch clubs, after school, family nights, a legacy project and so much more…. has all been for them. That’s amazing, but it makes leaving them so hard. It’s not hard because of how much we’re helping them and all we want to do is keep it up. This is the part when we realize just how much they inspire, teach and share so much of themselves with us. This is the part when all I want to do is give my all next year. Not because I want to change the world, but because these kids are some of the most amazing people I know and they deserve nothing less than everything I’m possibly capable of giving. I want to get to know these kids; their struggles, joys and laughter. I don’t care how much harder it’ll make leaving them after another 10 months. I was so touched by the assemblies for the 8th graders today; recognizing their accomplishments and letting them have fun with dancing and a slideshow. Christa McAuliffe Jr. High School will forever have a very special spot in my heart and I’m a far better person because of it.

Innocence

Jill and I (hmm…) were talking about the lack of volunteers to go to war refugees in a great time of need. People will flock to aid a hurricane or a tsunami. With the abundant and saddening amount of displaced people around the world I wonder if people realize the greatest number of displaced people is a result of war; in places like Sudan, the DRC, Sri Lanka, and Somalia, just to name a few, the need is great. I know there are many reasons not to go and help these people. But there are many reasons not to do a lot of things. I’ve found one very good reason to help. Children. Children are affected by this war it seems even more than the adult. With the horrors of becoming a child soldier, facing rape, and having any opportunity for education taken away from you in a moment, a child’s future in these war torn areas seems hopeless. I don’t have the answers. I know some people who would pick up and go to these places in a heartbeat. For others, it seems unfathomable. I think the biggest thing we need to do is talk about it. Talk about these children, because nobody can say it’s their fault, that they don’t deserve help. Then conversations around how you’re willing to help, how you’re able to help can happen. Maybe if we talk about it enough the right person will hear; the person who can do something. I’m all about action and deeds, but those actions need to start by getting a little fired up. Spreading awareness is as good an action as anything. So here’s a letter, written by parents in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on behalf of the children of their country. This is just one country, but unfortunately their story is common.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/22/letter-parents-eastern-democratic-republic-congo-un-security-council

Austin and Koi

Jill and I made a day trip to Austin yesterday. It was a great decision and something we plan to do more often. We walked around SoCo (South Congress) which is like a bigger version of South Town (First Fridays) here in San Antonio. Some of the highlights are a huge candy store that sells chocolate covered bacon, an amazing antique store called Uncommon Objects, and a little grocery store called Farm to Market. I also got to show Jill 10,000 Villages, which is my favorite store of all time. It’s a non-profit, completely free trade store. You can learn about the artisans here: http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/catalog/artisan.php Everything there is beautiful. We met up with Layton at a great little coffee shop and had a great time talking and catching up with her. Then we ate at Mellow Mushroom which was delicious. It made me very nostalgic for our days playing Trivia there this summer. Ahhh the good ol days. Finally, Jill and I went to a bookstore Layton told me about called Book People. Book stores always make me happy : ) but it also made me decide that I have to start going to the library more, because I just can’t afford new books right now.

So along with Austin, tattoos have been filling my mind lately. Lexie, Leigh and I are going to all get Koi tattoos when I’m back in Georgia this summer. I’m going to get one like this, but with 3 Koi in a circle instead of just 2. I want all of them to be like the black one with accents of color that my sisters choose. I’m debating between 2 places right now. The first one is the top part of my right calf; on the back/side just below my knee. The other is on my left side right below armpit. I like that one because it’s close to my heart. But my other tattoo is behind my left ear… so my balance would be off… any suggestions or opinions?

Adios!

Oh my god, SHOES!

I’m sitting in my new amazing beautiful apartment! It’s just 2 blocks away from San Pedro Park, the second oldest park in the United States and my favorite place. I’m living here with Jill and Carly. They’re amazing, I wouldn’t be happier with my living situation. The three of us are also coming back for a second year with City Year. They asked me to be a team leader for McAuliffe next year! We also had our McAuliffe Legacy Project yesterday. We have these two huge murals designed by the city based off of all the ideas from the kids in after school at McAuliffe. It started pouring down rain during lunch so we didn’t get to finish the murals, but that just means that I get to paint murals all week :)

Jill told me about TOMS SHOES. http://www.tomsshoes.com/ you should all definitely check out the website. The shoes are pretty awesome and it’s an amazing cause. If you have any other opportunities like this, please pass them my way. I think these are my favorite shoes on their website.

STONE SOUP!!!

My last post was insignificant and lame. I'm sorry. I'm going to tell you about the important things. City Year. Young Heroes. Camp City Year. Senior corps application. Did I mention City Year?

We're going through the application process for senior corps/team leader positions for next year. I'm getting very nervous as the process is quickly coming to a close. We've had time to "lead" other teams, have our interviews, and get freaked. It's hard because City Year is kind of my only option at the moment for next year. I really really want to come back as a team leader. I know that may make me super lame, Leigh, but it's true. City Year has been the best dang experience of my entire life and I'm not ready or willing for that to be over. So cross your fingers and think happy thoughts on March 13 (a Friday, by the way).

Young Heroes is still amazing and going strong. Last week we educated the Young Heroes about the Homeless population and they all went to various locations for service in the afternoon. The programming in the morning was fantastic. Carly arranged a rotation of quick games they had to win in order to get supplies to make a home out of a cardboard box. Guess which team won. Stone Soup of course. That afternoon my team went to the soup kitchen at the Samm Shelter. It was amazing. The man, Thomas, who ran the kitchen there said that our kids were great and more hard working than most of the volunteers that come every week. Yay, Stone Soup is basically the greatest. This service project reminded me of all my great and first experiences serving that got me hooked. It's really amazing to be in a position where I'm leading youth who are potentially having those same experiences. Goosebumps. Today was amazing with the Young Heroes as well. We spend the morning just in our team talking about people with different abilities. Our service during the afternoon was at the Mission Road Development Center. It's a home for children and adults with developmental disabilities. Our kids loved it and really got into the last part of the afternoon, which was playing basketball with the children at the center. One of the children played basketball really well. I also brought Falkor to this Young Heroes saturday. He was a big hit with the Young Heroes when we were hanging out in the morning, waiting for everyone to arrive and the building to be opened. And he was so great with the children at the development center. All of our Stone Soupers had a fantastic time. If they had a thorn for the day it was only that we didn't get to stay at the development center longer.

I have to run with my roommate to goodwill now. I'll write more about Camp City Year later :)

sick sick sick

I'm sick... since Tuesday morning I've been in this deplorable state and it sucks. The good news is that I'm taking care of myself this time. Unlike my sickness last semester that ended up last 2 weeks plus because I just kept going to work like I'm superwoman or something. And I'm not. Not even close. So I finally went to the doctor this morning. They gave me some meds and a steroid shot. My boss has ordered me away from City Year for at least today and tomorrow... which is smart. It's nice to have people around who will make me take care of myself. Cause Lord knows I'm not going to. I'm already getting stir crazy cause I've taken the last two afternoons off to rest. But that's the relatively uneventful sad story of right now... Let me catch you up on the good stuff.

CAMP CITY YEAR!!! I'm so excited about it. It's going to mean so much more to me since I have a hand in the planning as the Program Director. It sounds too official. Carly and Lilly are my Arts people, Shawn is my recreation guy, and Bella is handling all aspects educational. David, Allison and I were brainstorming quirky, random thinks to do througout camp so the kids never ever forget us. We also got this huge, amazing campsite in the Texas Hill Country so we get to go all out with an overnight camp!! I can't wait to see what the final product is going to look like. Watch out Cyzygy!!! Here we come!

We've also had a couple Young Hero Saturdays. As a team leader it's been a little tiring. I've worked the past 3 weeks without a single day off. I guess this sickness is my body asking "WHAT IN THE HECK?!?!" But I'm still loving it. Loving my YH team, Stone Soup! We had our huge MLK weekend extravaganza. A service project on Saturday. Young Heroes training and a retreat on Sunday. And then the HUGE (largest in the country as a matter of fact) MLK Day March. We had the Young Heroes in tow. I thought we'd lose someone for sure, but they stuck with us. Then the following weekend the Young Heroes learned about stereotypes among the middle school generation and cleaned up Woodlawn Lake. On Sunday we had our first Camp City Year meeting! We decided to go with the theme "Nature" and we're still working on a catchy title.

I miss everyone back home like crazy. Sarah, Brooke, Ashley, Katy, Lexie, Leigh, Dad, Daniel, Meredith, Naomi, Mom. And Layton in Austin... But I will say I feel lucky. I'm here in San Antonio and everyday I feel more and more like this was the best decision of my entire life. I know I wouldn't feel that way if I didn't have a best friend here to share it with. I don't think she hears it enough so... Jill you are amazing and you keep me going strong. I hope you know just how much you mean to me!

The New Year

We had two weeks off for holiday break and so I went back to Georgia!! Of course two weeks was not long enough to fit in all the things I wanted to do and all the people I wanted to see, but it was pretty close. I could list all the details, but the highlights were hanging out with Lexie and Leigh. Olive Garden. Taco Mac with Layton, Meredith and Daniel. Relaxing a lot at my dad's house and meeting Heather. Going to the burbs with all the puppies. Rock Band 2 and World Tour with Sarah, Ashley, Brooke, and Colin. Allgood with all the same people. Sushi with all the same people. Sushi and Trapeze with Katy. New Years at Meredith's lake house playing Dutch Blitz and Pass the Pigs :) Baking. Cooking. Watching movies. All in all doing nothing but what I wanted to do. Good times.

I'm back in San Antonio now after a grueling 18+ hour drive. Some punks tried to steal my car again! But this time is was all old news. The first week back at City Year for Advanced Training Academy (ATA) started out a bit overwhelming. First of all I over slept and was late. But then we got all this information about the tons of stuff we're going to do this semester. Which is very exciting and I'm looking forward to all of it. It also makes me a bit tired just thinking about it. Here are some things I'm especially excited about. YOUNG HEROES!! You have a little background information from my last post. I'm excited to build relationships with these amazing kids I've met. I know my Saturdays as a Young Heroes Team Leader are going to be some of the best times. I'm also really looking forward to the after school program we're starting at McAuliffe called Starfish. It's a service learning program kind of like young Heroes, but not quite as intense. The units we'll be talking about with our kids are Health, Environment, and Peace & Conflict. I'm point person for the Environment unit and I'm really looking forward to that experience. I'm trying to revamp my lunch clubs. I'm hoping to have a lot more success. I'm also looking forward to Camp City Year. It's a camp we put on for kids in San Antonio over their spring break. This year it's not overnight, but it'll still be a great time with the kids. I'm also really looking forward to Cyzygy. It's our national conference where all the City Year sites come together. That's going to be amazing, especially if San Antonio gets paired up with South Africa again.

Another thing that was overwhelming about the first day back was the rolling out of Senior Corps Member applications. I want to come back and do a second year in City Year as a Team Leader. There are many reasons I feel like that experience will be extremely beneficial to me. I came into City Year telling myself that I would put 110% into the year and take advantage of all leadership opportunities. I know that being a Team Leader would teach me so much more and prepare me to take on my future endeavors with confidence and experience. I never expected City Year to be so much bigger than just a gap year… It’s introducing me to this huge movement toward Nation Service. I think City Year is doing such wonderful and amazing things. It’s a strong leader in this movement and I’m so lucky to have found this community. I know that it will be a big part of my life from here on out. The Vice President and Dean of City Year, Charlie Rose, was in San Antonio these past couple of days. He is such an inspiring individual. Someone I can really look up to and model my career in the non-profit sector after. I’m so overwhelmed (in a good way) with City Year and all the experiences I have to look forward to this semester. Last semester was hard. It was a time to grow and get acquainted with City Year life and all the ups and downs that come with it. Now that I have my feet wet I’m ready to make the plunge and not look back.

So speaking of taking a plunge. One of the other activities we did for ATA as a corps was a high ropes course. I’ve been rock climbing and rappelling, but I’ve never done a high ropes course before. Man o man was it intense. I was so proud of everyone. So many people were terrified but did it anyways. Everyone was encouraging to each other as well. The first course our group (McAuliffe, Casey, and part of the CE team) was crazy! We had to climb to the top of a ladder and then climb up a telephone pole to this platform. From there we had to walk across a cable (we had a cable above our heads to hang on to). The last part was the hardest for me. We had to walk out to the middle of this log (with nothing to hold onto) and then free fall off of it. It took me a while to let go and walk to the middle of that log. Keep in mind that all this is going on about 30 feet up in the air. The second course started the same. Climbing up a telephone pole. Then you had to walk across another cable and this time you had two cables (one on each side) to hold onto. After that you hooked up to a zip line and went on down. It was a great experience!