An Irish Butterfly in the Desert

I hope that everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend. I am sad that I missed celebrating with my family this year, but I was able to instead spend it in the desert with a wonderful group of people, which I am so thankful for.

Last week we had school on Monday and Tuesday with a half day Wednesday. It was nice to have a short week of work and have an opportunity to relax. On Monday we had our faculty/staff thanksgiving party following classes. I sat at a table with six female faculty members and it may have been the most

entertaining table conversation I have been a part of in my time here. I sat next to Brandi, who is the dean of students at Verb, and she could make a Buckingham palace guard laugh. The entire conversation revolved around one of the faculty members who was going to be spending thanksgiving with her boyfriend's family for the first time and what she should/shouldn’t do. Have heard this conversation before, but it was almost always from a male perspective. Even though it was only an hour of my day, it just made me appreciate how wonderful the staff at the school really is and how lucky I am to be a part of this organization for an entire year!

Mashanda’s husband had surgery on Tuesday, so I took the early shift on Tuesday so that she could take him to the hospital. The best way to observe a class is by spending the mornings with them. Most of the guys are so used to a routine that the smallest change throws them off. Some of them just seemed shocked to see me in the morning shaking their hands as they walked in the door! It was as if they had never seen me before and was entertaining watching their reactions. The only problem with switching shifts was that I had two early days last week on back-to-back days. Needless to say working 7 to 6 can be rather tiring, so Wednesday afternoon couldn’t come soon enough. We picked up all the students from work at one Wednesday due to the holiday, so we were all able to get home by 3:15 or so to pack up the car for our drive to Phoenix. The traffic was better than I thought it was going to be, but it still took us over 8 hours to get to the JV houses. There are two houses there, and we were lucky enough to stay at the one house that had carpet (even though it was not very thick). We all went to bed pretty much right away when we got there.

It was quite odd waking up in Phoenix for thanksgiving. I am used to 20 degree weather, so when I walked outside and it was 60/sunny it really dawned on me that I am not going to be having a typical holiday season this year. The phoenix houses were wonderful hosts and pretty much did everything for us in terms of dinner preparation. All we had to do was pay 7 dollars and come ready to eat! Dinner was outside in the backyard, and it was just a great way for so many of us to still celebrate thanksgiving away from our families. That night we just hung out at their house after dinner and went to a dive bar that was four blocks away from their house.

Friday morning we decided to explore Phoenix a little bit and went hiking to a park called North Mountain. We managed to get 8 of us to go, which turned out to be a pretty good number. There are essentially 3 peaks at this park, and from the top of them you can see almost all of Phoenix. I have seen large cities before, but Phoenix is massive! In almost every direction I looked I couldn’t see the end of the city.

As I said there are 3 peaks at this park, as we neared the top of the third one there was a dog at the top barking at us. I couldn’t see the owner, but I figured that he/she was just sitting somewhere we couldn’t see. However, once we got to the top there was no one to be found, only this dog. At first I was worried it might attack one of us, but then I realized that her tail was in between her legs and she was shaking. She wasn’t mad she was scared. I went over and sat near her, and after a few minutes she slowly walked over to me and let me pet her. She had no tags and clearly had some sort of an eye infection, but besides that she seemed healthy. John and I immediately named her Mariposa, which means butterfly in Spanish, and decided that we needed to carry her down the mountain. Even though she wasn’t barking anymore, I did not know if she was going to let me pick her up. I slowly grabbed her and she let me pick her up with no sort of a struggle. For the next half hour John and I took turns carrying the dog (she peed on me twice…) and spotting each other since it was a pretty steep hike. One of the other guys called an animal shelter in the area and arranged for them to meet us at the bottom. Near the bottom we decided to set her down and see if she would follow us. She walked the rest of the way and even followed us when the path split up! At the bottom of the hill we ran into some park rangers who were going to watch over her until the shelter arrived. They said that stray dogs get released at the park all of the time, which is really too bad. We gave her some water and in any other situation but this one I would have a new dog at my house. Unfortunately that wasn’t an option, so we were forced to part ways there. I am not sure where she is now, but she made my weekend so much better!

My girl: Mariposa

That night we hung out that the other house again and managed to get to bed at a decent time. The three girls in our house and I woke up at 7 the next morning to drive back to LA. This time the drive took less than six hours without all of the traffic. You may wonder why we left so early? The reason was clear: IRISH! A JVC agency in Atlanta had tickets to the Notre Dame-USC game and donated them to JVC headquarters who passed them along to us because we are the closest house to USC. I have watched USC wipe Notre Dame clean for the passed 8 years, but I knew that this night was going to be different. So I proudly threw on a green shirt and joined in the tailgating! Carolyn and I won the house drawing for the tickets, so we found ourselves in row 93 of 93 when the game kicked off at 5. Luckily our seats were in the Notre Dame section, so my yelling was more than welcomed (I think….) by all of the fans around me. It started pouring around halftime, but that did nothing to dampen my spirits. After a long scoring drive with only 2 minutes to play, Notre Dame ended a near decade of agony with a 20-16 victory! It was a wonderful way to end my season of watching USC football.

I don’t have much of a voice today, but it was all worth it for a great weekend. I miss all of you and wish that I could have spent the holidays with my friends and family back home. I am sending lots of love from the West coast and I will see you all soon!

Bullet Points

I know that 3 weeks is far too long between posts, so after several reminders to keep writing I decided to finally sit down and do another.

Quite a bit has happened since I last posted. I will try to sum up some of the main points before going further into a few of them:

· Went to another USC game with John

· Went back to Omaha for a long weekend!

· Hosted all of our corporate partners at Verb for an appreciation lunch

· Drove several of the van routes after drivers didn’t show up

· Our program coordinator stayed with us for a week and visited all of our jobs

· Had a house retreat

· Met with one of our Spanish teachers and got my first real lesson

· Started making the CWSP section in the yearbook

· Filled up a lot of vans with gas

· Was filled in on the path of the work study program at Verb

· Met more students!

· Had a few conversations with some homeless people

· Had a few awesome spirituality nights

· Started spiritual direction with a person who works at Loyola Marymount

· Went to a Mass at Loyola Marymount and heard a presentation about a wonderful study abroad program in El Salvador

· Got stuck in traffic

· Verb made the playoffs in football

· Verb made the playoffs in cross-country!!

· We lost 5 students from the school….

· Saw Harry potter

· Finally finished “3 Cups of Tea”, I would recommend it

· Realized how lucky I am to have such a great casa

· Realized how great the people I work with are

· A lot of other things that I can’t really remember…..

I spent last weekend in Omaha (and a wonderful 2 hours in Sioux City with my family). It was such a great opportunity to just go back and meet up with so many of my family members and friends who I am missing while here in LA. It was short, but amazing. I got to spend some good time with Michelle, Erin, my parents, grandparents, so many of my incredible friends, and the city that I grew to love in college. Not to mention I had the chance to experience 3 to 4 inches of snow on Friday night!

This past Tuesday and Wednesday I had the chance to help host an appreciation luncheon for all of our corporate partners at Verb. I was the contact for the luncheon; so for the past 4 weeks or so I have been compiling a seemingly endless excel spreadsheet with company/supervisor names. After making all of the lists, collecting student quotes, and setting up table tents it felt great to see the final result. Probably 75% of the partners came, and it was so cool seeing all of the support that the companies really have for their students/the school. Seeing our students interact with all of their supervisors gave me such a clear look at how great of a program this is.

I am having an amazing experience out here so far. I have met so many incredible people out here and was reminded this past weekend of how many loved ones I have at home too. I miss all of you, and I promise that my next post will be much closer than this one was to the last.

Sending lots of love!

Spirit is in the Air!

Today is Halloween, and now that I have fully removed all of the makeup that went into my Jersey Shore costume I can tell everyone about one of the best weeks that I have had here so far!

Last Saturday one of the Jesuit parishes in LA (Dolores Mission) had a Mass to pray for immigration reform in the United States. Most of the people who are reading this blog don't live very close to the border, but this issue is HUGE. The current system has literally devastated the lives of millions of families only for the reason that they were not born in this country. The Mass was an attempt to show as many people as possible that change is needed. The head Jesuit from the California province lead the service, and there were representatives from almost every Jesuit organization that works in and around LA. The speaker of California's state assembly was also there with another member of the state senate. We heard testimony in both Spanish and English describing how the laws have affected individuals. One of the most vivid one was forced to raise 5 children on her own because the father had been deported back to their home country. How could a country as great as ours have laws that are so unjust? There are very strong arguments for "cracking down" on illegal immigrants in this country, but none of them in my opinion overrule the basic principle that all immigrants are humans. Ask yourself: "If i was living in extreme poverty in a country with unbelievable drug violence, would i try my best to get my family out of there?" I am pretty sure everyone would answer yes to that. Remember that the next time you thing about immigration reform.

After the Mass around 20 or so JVs stayed and played a game of kickball at the school right next to the parish. I really wish I could say that we won, but that would just be a lie..... After the game we just came home and chilled for the rest of the night.

The past week was homecoming week at Verb. The themes for the days (which I of course participated in were:

Monday: Verb wear day (forgot about this one.....)
Tuesday: Backwards day (yes i wore my pants and shirt backwards all day, not comfortable!)
Wednesday: Shorts and funky socks with shirt and tie (participated, hilarious)
Thursday: Hawaiian day (swimming suit and flip flops to work? Heck yes)
Friday: Blue and Gold or Halloween costume (Wore my OG jersey that my dad sent me. Tool, I know)

To go along with the themes, we also had events going almost everyday. Tuesday the faculty played a game of basketball against the students. When Brandi (the dean) asked me if I wanted to play, I just assumed that we would get killed. Eddie (the guy I replaced) and myself were literally the only ones in the email that were below the age of 30. However, we killed them! We had the help of two recent verb alumni, but even then i wasn't even close. The game started out 20 to nothing and it never really got much closer than that. Imagine a packed high school gym with 17 year old students going against 40 year old teachers. Possibly one of the most entertaining experiences I have had so far this year!

Wednesday morning I got to drive one of the routes because a driver was out. The students complained when I refused to take them through the McDonald's/Burger King drive through, but it was an awesome group/route. Culver City is beautiful, nothing close to Watts.... And one of the kids gave me a home made papusa when he got out of the car, delicious!

That afternoon the students played each other in a game of dodge ball, it was at that point I realized that the Junior class at Verb is much more athletically gifted than the Seniors. None of the three games were really very close. At the end of last week I had two projects that I was working on. The first and shortest one was to talk to my students who received "borderline" ratings on their evaluations. It is always helpful hearing the different sides of an evaluation and reminded me of how challenging what we are doing really is here. Asking 14 year old boys from low income families to be effective corporate workers? It is happening but it is not easy. The second project that I worked on was much longer and not nearly as exciting. I had to submit work permits for every student who works at Verb. Very necessary but very monotonous.

Also Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday over 200 potential new students who were 8th graders were visiting the school, so it was even more hectic!

Thursday and Friday brought something to my Verb experience that I had not experienced so far: Girls. On Thursday a school from Israel came to visit while they were in LA to see what an American high school is like. I am not sure if they realized how much different we are from a normal school, but none the less hormones were high when 20 foreign women stepped on campus. So entertaining to watch the guys fight for attention as they gave tours!

Friday afternoon we went to Verbs sister high school for a Pep rally/to hopefully intermingle the two schools. I drove the drum line there, so we were the first on campus. It was a very beautiful school in Inglewood called St. Marys Academy. They cheer lead for our sports teams, so there is quite a large connection between the two schools. Now, I have never claimed to be very good with girls. It took some time for me to work up enough confidence to talk to them consistently in my early Junior High/High School years. That being said, I hope that I was better than the majority of our kids! There was an almost instantaneous clustering of guys when they got off the bus. The faculty just sat there and observed/laughed, it was like scientists studying animal instincts.... I was the lone Verb faculty member who agreed to put my face in a hole cut out in a wooden plank and have students try to hit me in the face with a water balloon. Part of me was scarred when 3 football players lined up to take a shot at me. Luckily their aim was no good, and I was able to raise like twenty dollars for St. Marys!

After work on Friday we drove down to San Diego as a house for a JVC Halloween party. I had never been to the city before, and it is beautiful! All of the LA houses, plus the two in Phoenix, were in attendance and it was so much fun. We spent the day on Saturday just walking around on Coronado Island, such a gorgeous place that i will definitely go back to. We had dinner down town at some Mexican restaurant and John and I had a solid two hour conversation with a Marine who was just watching the Giants game because he had weekend leave. He was a really nice guy and it was just crazy to think how different my life would be right now if I hadn't left ROTC.....

As I said in the beginning our house dressed up as the cast from Jersey shore that night for the party. I had never really seen the show before, but we did a pretty good job. Our house is hosting our JVC program coordinator for the week, so that should be fun! Miss and love ALL of you! Until next time, Paz.

From Skid Row to a perfect weekend.

Hello everyone! It has been a pretty eventful week since the last time I posted anything.

I will start out with spirituality night that we had the week before this past one. It was Cara's turn and she decided to do an activity that dealt with Native American spirituality. There was a wheel that contained 4 different animals and personality traits that identify a person as one of the animals. We discovered that Carolyn and Cara were deers, John and I were eagles, and Julie was a Bison. It was a really cool activity and a good change of pace to normal spirituality night.

Thursday we all made a return to the Los Angeles artwalk that they have once a month. The city almost decided to scrap the event because of the cost but the vendors downtown were able to come together to raise the required funds to make the event possible. It is such a cool and eclectic way to spend an evening, even better it is free!

Friday was the finale celebration for Latino Heritage Month at Verb. Greater than 50% of our students are of Latino heritage, so it makes these type of events much more special than they ever were when I was in school. The celebration centered around a Mass which was performed by the pastor of Dolores Mission ( a very Latino Jesuit parish in East LA). During the Mass my boss Cristina( who is Mexican) called out all of the countries in Latin America and the students who were from these countries stood up when it was called. Te majority were from Mexico, but there was also a large contingent from alot of the Central American countries. It was so cool seeing how proud all the students were of their perspective country's. All of their families came to the US looking for a better life for their families and hopefully Verb is helping to provide that. Following the Mass there was a delicious lunch of homemade tamales, rice, and salsa provided by the parents of the Latino students. To make the lunch even better, we were serenaded by a live mariachi band. Overall it was such an awesome day at work.

That weekend was Verbum Dei's first ever "Urban Plunge" service weekend to downtown LA. Julie was one of the people that helped to plan it and since they needed a male chaperon, I decided to tag along. After school that Friday we loaded up the vans with 10 students and headed down to skid row. John works down on skid row, so I was excited to finally see/learn more about this area of the city. Skid row is essentially a section of blocks near downtown LA where a large number of the homeless population is concentrated. It is that largest concentration of homeless people west of the Mississippi.

When we arrived at skid row, one of the directors of one of the missions took us on a walking tour of the area. It was crazy to see how such an immense concentration of poverty and despair could occur so close to the large concentration of wealth that exists in the beautiful high rises of downtown LA. The majority of the kids had never been to this area. Even though they all come from lower level income families, I don't think they were used to the large concentration of problems that we encountered.

Following the tour we headed to Union Rescue Mission, which is one of the largest missions in the area, to serve a meal. I have served food at homeless shelters back home before, but never on such a large scale. For over two hours we found ourselves serving countless numbers of trays full of meatloaf and rice to people. The way the mission was set up felt as if it was a prison rather than a homeless shelter. Armed guards watched over every activity and people were ushered in and out of the massive cafeteria as quickly as possible. There were four waves of people: Families, women, handicapped men, and men. This mission is one of 2 downtown that accepts families, and that was the most disheartening to see. What kind of childhood is that, growing up in homeless shelters in down town LA? Following serving a meal we went to dinner as a group. One of the funnest parts of the trip is when we would drive the kids around in the van. Within a few second of getting into the car I would hear the request: "Bump it Mr Petersen"! This essentially means: turn the radio to something good and make it really loud. I cant honestly say that I ever thought I would be driving around downtown LA with a van full of high school students who were all rapping in the back. It is just great.

We spent the night at the St. Francis center, which is a mission located in between our house and downtown. There are no beds here, so the night was spent on a linoleum floor. That Saturday we woke up at 5 am, which is not easy for me and even harder for high school boys. From essentially 6am on we were working at the center. I found myself sorting cans of food, bagging potatoes (many rotten...), motivating students, and setting up tables for breakfast. When people began arriving for a free breakfast we took shifts eating with them. I was slightly hesitant when I sat down at my table, but soon enough those fears were alleviated. I found myself in discussion with 6 homeless men about topics such as: what is the best college major?, Do the Lakers suck, and Whether salt is good on everything?. It was incredible. Every time I meet a homeless person it seems that my previous perceptions are wrong. One of the men I ate with grew up in the Nickerson Gardens project that is adjacent to verb. He talked about his friends dying in the neighborhood because ambulances would not come in at night to help them. He actually made it out of the projects and started attending college in Compton wanting be a lawyer, unfortunately he never finished. After spending 11 years in Seattle he decided to come back to LA hoping to find a job down here because there was nothing in Seattle. He was just offered a position, pending a drug test and background check he will be hired. I am praying that everything turned out well for him.

Following breakfast we cleared everything out and set up a food market in the entrance of this building. We each had a food item that we were in charge of and were told how much we were able to distribute to the families coming through. I was in charge of the apples stand. My Spanish is not great since I have never actually taken a class (have been regretting that decision for awhile), which was not great for me because the majority of the families that came through spoke only this language. I spent about 2 hours saying roughly three or four words: manzanas?, cuantos?, mas?, and de nada. I am now committing myself to learning the language, I was everyone to hold me accountable for that statement! The experience as a whole was incredible and heartbreaking. Putting apples into a grocery sack being held by a 5 year old girl was both rewarding and of course made me ask the ever important question: why?. Why does she have to do something I never had to do, it never will make sense.

After we left St. Francis center at 2 we went to lunch and everyone began hitting a wall. Luckily the students (and myself!) we able to rebound for a few hours once we arrived at the downtown women's shelter that we were going to be volunteering at from 4 until 6. Little did I know, our service would be making "hygiene" kits that were going to be distributed to needy women. Seeing 5 high school boys handling (and asking questions..) tampons was quite entertaining. They were actually much more mature about it than I was expecting and we made enough kits to last the shelter several weeks. It was behind the scenes work but very rewarding as always. Thinking about how needed such commonplace items like shampoo and tampons are really puts things in perspective.

The women's shelter essentially ended our weekend of service. The rest of the night was spent reflecting, eating, and playing games. The nest morning we went to Mass at Dolores mission and I realized what it felt like for teachers when students would fall asleep in church. I only had to wake up one kid, so it was better than it could have been. Overall, it was one of my favorite weekends that I have had at verb so far. It was fun getting to connect with the students and having an opportunity to directly serve members of the LA community.

This past week at work consisted primarily of us trying to collect mid-quarter evaluations from all 66 corporate partners that we have. For some odd reason many supervisors just wont complete the evaluations. It doesn't really make sense considering it is literally a 2 minute survey monkey evaluation, but it is something that we just had to deal with. By the time the week was over we had collected all but one, so that is pretty much the best that we could do. Tuesday I got to drive one of the routes again because a driver could not make it. I only got lost twice, so I guess I did alright....

There was a ceremony that week in which the honor roll was announced. The school set a recent record for the largest percentage of students above a 3.0 (roughly 30 some percent). It is clear to see that Verb is on the upswing, and it is really exciting to be there while it is happening.

Thursday was a day that I had been waiting for all semester: the Souders came! It was exciting to get to show them where I work on Thursday and have Michelle and everyone get a little glimpse of what my life looks like out here. My roommates and I made dinner and a birthday cake for Michelle and had dinner over here. It was just great having her meet such important people to me and show her where I live. I took off work on Friday and we were able able to go to Santa Monica pier and Hollywood. Such a fun/chill day!

That night on Friday Carolyn's boss had her 30th birthday party at a bar in Venice, so we decided to go as a house. There were a lot of Verb people there and it was fun just hanging out in a setting that is outside school. Saturday I was back with the Souders at the most magical place on earth: Disneyland! It was an amazing day with amazing people. It was hard saying goodbye that night, but such a good experience seeing her and her family even if it was only just for a few days.

I am always here for more visitors if anyone finds some free time. I miss everyone and would love to hear how yours lives are, update me por favor!

And two and a half weeks later.....

So, I decided to take a couple weeks to focus on a few other things (primarily one giant test), but I will try to highlight a few major points that have happened since September 24th.

I.....

• Went to Long Beach with my roommates
• Went to an AMAZING Spanish rock concert (Elefante, check them out) at the house of Blues
• Took 6 full practice LSATs
• Walked around downtown Disney
• Ran a sprint/hills workout with the cross-country team (almost died)
• Went to an awesome fundraiser for Urban Compass (Carolyn's placement) at Lucky Strike bowling alley
• The Packers lost twice
• The Twins got swept by the Yankees
• Went to an great cocktail party hosted by the Chairman of Urban Compass' board
• Chaperoned an all day/overnight Freshman retreat
• Met an amazing nun
• Had support people over for dinner, they are still amazing
• Continued to learn students names
• My roommate Dan came down to visit
• We had an entire week where all we ate as a house was rice and beans (we could have used some bean-o)
• My job continues to ebb and flow, sometimes I am swamped and sometimes there is nothing
• It rained in LA, at least twice!
• Filled up the vans, always a pleasure
• I took the LSAT.......

I know that I missed a few things, but that is what I could remember off the top of my head. Needless to say I have been pretty busy/preoccupied these past few weeks. Luckily I was able to have a few fun/refreshing events to give me some sanity in between studying!

Work has been good and our community has been even better. I don't know if I have ever been surrounded by so many people committed to so many good causes. Everyone here seems to care more about others then they care about themselves. I am just excited now that I can fully commit myself to my job and community and not have to worry about admissions tests....

I promise that I will keep blogging consistently now, it helps me remember everything that I am doing too! I miss all of my friends, family, michelle, and everyone from back home. We have plenty of couches if anyone wants to come and visit, the weather is always warm!

Coach!?

So as I discover more and more everyday that I am not very good at consistently blogging, I am going to try to cover a week and a half in LA in a single post....

Last week was another busy, yet exciting week at Verb. My boss Christina put me in charge of collecting all of the liability insurance documents from all of our corporate partners. While this job doesn't sound too bad on the outside, it turns out to be very time consuming! Let me attempt to break down some of the numbers (I still don't get all of them): Currently Verbum Dei has partnerships formed with 66 separate corporations. Almost all of these are for profit companies with the exception of 5 or 6, which are ideally funded by separate companies that cannot current use students but still want to help the school. Some companies have one student working while others have up to 12, it really just depends on what they can use/afford. One job consists of a team of 4 students who are paid $27,500 (split 4 ways). This is the basis of the Cristo Rey model that allows for a reduced tuition.

Verbum Dei is required by law (and the contract we sign) to issue liability insurance to every one of these corporate partners for around $2,000,000 in case anything happens to a student while on the job. This essentially covers us. Also in the contract it states that the company is required to issue liability insurance to us for a similar amount of money as a secondary coverage just in case something severe happens so that the company is covered. In the past we have been keeping records pretty well of the certificates that we have issued to the companies, but have done a pretty awful job of making sure that we are issued insurance in return.

I spent most of last Monday sending out reminder emails to the companies that had not yet issued us insurance (around 55 of the 66 companies!). Responses ranged from "absolutely, here it is" to "What is this? We have never had to do this in the past and have been working with Verb for 7 years". So for the past two weeks I have constantly been sending out certificates, scanning copies of the signed contract, and processing the ones that I have received. Right now I have received around 2/3 of them, I will be having a party in my cubicle once the last one comes in.

I lead our spirituality night last week and used some paper plates I found at our house to do an activity involving the certain masks that we wear as individuals. It was stolen straight from the Encounter retreat, but I still loved it.

I have been wanting to get involved with activities all year at school, and last Wednesday I got the chance to actually participate in my first cross country practice. I ran like 5 miles with the guys and it was awesome. The current coach is good, but I think that they appreciated a coach actually doing the workouts with them as opposed to simply telling them to run. I now have 30 guys referring to me as coach whenever they see me at school, I can't honestly say that I was expecting to have that title given to me anytime soon!

One of Carolyn's friends from BC came to town last weekend, so we got the chance to show him around LA a little bit. Julie and I got free tickets to the Dodgers game from work, and it was fun to see such a beautiful stadium. The game was a blowout, and I must say the the Rockies looked good! One of the girls in another JV house got 10 free tickets to see Chivas USA and the Kansas City Wizards play that Sunday night (an MLS game for those who don't follow soccer). Chivas lost 2-0, but the stadium they play in was beautiful. I would definitely go back soon.

There was no school on Monday this week because of a teachers in-service, but the students still had to work. Since all the teachers were gone (including Christina and Mashanda) and there were no students on campus, it was essentially dead. I actually managed to be fairly productive with LSAT studying and doing a few other things, but overall it was a pretty laid back day. That night John led spirituality night, and he had us be silent for 2 hours using no electricity. It was crazy! It is hard to really appreciate how nice it is to read a book with a lamp until you have to read one with a candle. Overall, I really enjoyed the night.

On Wednesday we had our first league cross country meet! I was pretty impressed with the guys. We finished third out of five teams with definite room for improvement. I am confident that Varsity should be able to place second in league, which would be good enough to send the team to CIF finals. There were over 22 guys, and everyone of them finished the race.

Yesterday we had a hill workout for cross country. Because of work I am never really sure what days I can coach for sure, and luckily I forgot my clothes for yesterday so I didn't have to run (I may have died). The guys worked hard and I was really happy with how hard some of them pushed it. I told them I wouldn't forget my clothes next time......

After practice it took almost an hour to get back to Verb from the park because of traffic. This city is seriously crazy when it comes to rush hour traffic!

Last night Julie, Carolyn, and I crashed the USC Newman center start of the year dinner. We got lots of free food and cake, it was great. Also we had some really good conversations with the people there. The priest was awesome and so was almost every student that we talked to. We ended up staying for almost two hours and they seemed really happy to have us there even though we essentially have no affiliation to USC! I am starting to like that school more and more, even though the priest did pray for the USC sports teams in the grace before the meal.....

Today marks the third day in a row that I have woken up before 6, so I am a little tired. BUT it is college Friday here so I am getting to rep the Creighton polo my mom bought for me, how can a day be bad when that is happening!?

I love and miss all of you! Update me on your lives, I know you are all doing amazing things.

Fight on!

So after taking a solid week off of writing, I decided that it was probably time that I kept posting!

Last week was a short 4 day week at work. It made me realize that faculty members love days off of school just as much (if not more) than students. I managed to take a full LSAT practice test on my day off, which was a very thrilling thing to do and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to kill 3 hours.....

Monday was not only a day off of school, it was also Mashanda's 40th birthday! Right from the beginning of the day Tuesday our office was flooded with birthday wishes. Her phone was buzzing with texts, she was responding to every ones wall posts on facebook, her husband sent her red roses (very smooth), everyone that walked by popped their heads in to wish her well, etc, etc, etc. She was in such a good mood, and it was an absolute blast to watch. I don't know if I have ever met a woman like her in my life. She gets to work by 7 everyday, never really leaves before 5 or 6, is hilarious yet serious. She is just a great person to work with everyday. I don't think I have gone a day yet without hearing the words: "Stupid-ass kids" come out of her mouth. All I can do is laugh when she says it because I know the only reason she says it is because she cares so much about the well being of the students.

Tuesday Julie led spirituality night and we focused on the works of Mother Theresa. I must say that she had some pretty amazing quotes/poems in her day. I would highly recommend them for anyone who has not read any of them yet.

Wednesday is my early day. This particular Wednesday one of the drivers couldn't make it. That of course meant that I hopped into a 12 passenger van with 8 Sophomores and proceeded to attempt my first entire route by myself. It was actually pretty cool. The guys were fun to talk to, and it was quite the battle over the radio station. I managed to make it to Pasadena and back while only getting lost ONE time (wasn't my fault, one of the stops got left off of my directions. So it doesn't count).

Last week was also overcast for the first few days. It was great! It reminded me of home and a good rainy day. It was also at that time that I realized how much LA people complain about the weather. I don't think they fully appreciate how perfect the weather is out here compared to the Midwest (or pretty much anywhere else in the country). I just have to laugh about it.

Thursday started out as a pretty slow day. I got my normal fix with my gas station crew and decided to fill up all of the vans. Hubert and Liz were great as always. That afternoon I got the chance to go to practice with the cross country team for the first time with Mashanda. I was awesome. It made me realize how much easier it is to get to know students when I interact with them away from the structure of school. Unfortunately I was not able to run with them (I was wearing dress clothes), but it was fun to just watch them practice and talk to Mashanda about different parts of the Verb athletic scene.

That night we went downtown for an art walk that LA puts on once a month. While the idea of an art walk usually would not appeal to me, it was actually really cool. Unfortunately the price (saw one for $50,000) was a little out of my range, but it was a blast checking everything out. John and I found an amateur artist to draw a picture of us in under two minutes for a dollar a piece, it was awesome.

On our way back to the car we were brought back to reality and why we were in LA. Walking past one homeless person is bad enough, but walking by 20 or 30 trying to sleep on the sidewalks is pretty hard to swallow. John works downtown and sees it everyday, but for the rest of us it was hard seeing something like that. It just doesn't make sense how so much money (art walk) could be a block away from so much poverty (man curled up on a curb in a sleeping bag).

Friday overall was a pretty uneventful day at work. Theresa (Carolyn's boss) decided to throw alittle part in the afternoon to show off their newly remodled office. It looks wonderful. I got the chance to talk with Lupe (the janitor) about the history of Verb sports and how they won 7 straight California state basketball championships and a national championship in the 70s. Right now they have 2 guys in the nba, I knew they were good back in the day but that shocked me! I also got the chance to talk with Paul who is the VP of fundraising for Verb. He is such a cool guy and clearly knows his stuff, hopefully he is a person I can get to know better. That night we decided to stay in and watch a movie. It was nice to take a chill night.

Saturdays in the fall are always the best, primarily because they feature large amounts of college football! Unfortunately when our tv is equipped with bunny ear antennas there aren't a ton of games on. Luckily the Notre Dame game was on (even though the result wasn't great), so John and I spent pretty much all afternoon watching that. We also found out the USC's first home game was that night against Virginia, so we figured that we would check out the tailgating for a bit. All I can say is WOW. The entire campus was filled with people. There were kegs everywhere, dj's, the marching band, kids, grandparents, everything. Everyone was chanting "fight on!", which is the incredibly creative USC saying. It was ridiculous. John and I ended up getting tickets for $20, so we got the chance to experience our first Trojan game. Overall it was fantastic, and I have no doubt that we will be going back there again soon.

Sunday brought some NFL football at a sports bar by our house, and as always a little test studying.

Yesterday (Monday) was back to work. I got to hang out at my gas station for a bit, went downtown to pick up a kid who wasn't feeling well at work, and got the opportunity to supervise my first J.U.G.. This stands for "Justice Under God" and is essentially a detention. It once again gave me the weird feeling of being an authority figure.

Last night one of our support people came over for dinner, and we all just hung out for an hour or two. Unfortunately our other support person couldn't make it because her aunt suddenly passed away, so I will make sure to keep her in my prayers. Also that night I got a very nice care package from Michelle (I was informed Ellie helped, so she gets a shout out too!), which of course my roommates and I loved!

Every morning when we get off the interstate to enter Watts there are always men standing by the lights walking between traffic asking for money. It is hard to ignore but it is almost necessary to do so in order to maintain my sanity. Today however a man came over and began to wash our windshield without asking. Almost immediately I recognized him as someone that i had talked to at the gas station only a week or two earlier. He told me his story about how he got kicked off of the football team in high school for too many absences and we managed to have a very nice 10-15 minute conversation. I began fumbling around for change in our car but the light quickly turned green and people behind us began to honk. I had no choice but to drive off. I know that none of us asked for our windshield to get washed, but I felt terrible all morning. Why am I so privileged and he is not? He is not a dumb man nor a bad person. All he has done in life is make a few mistakes just like all of us. The only difference is that he most likely did not have a support system. He did not know how to rebound. This is not reality for me, I can leave whenever I want. I am not trapped here. My stipend is more than he makes in a month. It just doesn't seem fair, and that is because it isn't. All he and so many others can do is fight on, and hopefully someone will be there to fight for them too.

Father G, Gospel Mass, and a long weekend.

Last Wednesday we got to go as a house to hear a talk given by Fr. Greg Boyle, who as I mentioned earlier is the founder of Homeboy Industries here in LA. The talk was in the absolutely beautiful new student center on USC's campus. This is the first year it is open, and I am starting to see just how much money USC really has as an institution! That being said, there were probably only 20 or so people besides the 10 JVs in the audience there to watch. Even though the audience was small, it really was a very inspirational talk about his journey and the stories he has are simply amazing.

Afterwards he took all of the JVs out for a beer at a bar right across the street. It was so cool how a man who has touched so many lives is still able to make time for a few JVs that just happen to live in LA. Recently Homeboy has gone through a lot of financial struggles, and I decided to ask him about the sustainability of the company once he retires/isn't able to work any longer. he wasn't really able to give me a straight answer and pretty much said that is will work out and that he isn't worried about it. At the time it disappointed me alittle bit because i would hate to see such a great company go away because of poor business planning, but I then realized that many people in this line of work simply do not think about those things. Business people tend to work in the for profit sector and social justice people work in the social justice sector. There is a struggle now as social businesses are becoming more and more frequent. For now we can just be grateful that people like Fr. G exist in this world.

Thursday we watched a documentary called "Bloods and Crips: Made in America". It was a movie dealing with the formation of these two major gangs in the South Central LA area. Verb is located in Bloods territory. Since the late 1980s over 20,000 gang-related murders have happened in this area. For years police and ambulances would not enter the projects at nights because it was too dangerous. People talk about wars in Africa and the Middle East, but it is shocking to me how a war in one of the wealthiest cities in the world could be ignored. There is no other word for it, it is a war. Take a drive around Watts, and it is clear to see that it is not over. When you drive through the projects by my school, dumpsters are pushed into the middle of the streets in order to prevent drive by shootings. The situation has gotten better, but it is far from over.

Friday before a long weekend = tons of businesses letting out early = pain organizing rides for 70 Freshmen working jobs! Christina has a broken foot, so she can't drive. That means Mashanda, Jeff, and myself drove all around town trying to pick up 14 year old boys wearing shirts and ties. I drove to two businesses in Pasadena and only got lost twice on the way there. I sure I looked great driving a 15 year old minivan around holding google map directions and talking on a cell phone (illegally.....) all at the same time! After work and a long week there is only really one cure, Happy Hour!

On Saturday the JV house in San Diego came up for the weekend. There are 6 girls and no guys in the house, which actually makes me very thankful that we have a multi gender house hold. I think it makes for a better dynamic. That night brought Verb's first football game! They beat the other team by 40, but it was fun to see some of the students in action. After the game John and I went to the Santa Monica JV house We didn't stay for a long time because we were pretty tired, but it was fun to see everyone.

Sunday I went to probably one of the coolest Masses I have ever been to. it was a two hour long Gospel choir Mass and was so fun. If you read Carolyn's blog (top right) she goes into much more detail about it! That day we faced the challenge of getting 11 people around LA with only one car. We decided to go to Santa Monica pier again and thankfully John stepped up and rode the bus with all of the San Diego girls (which took like and hour and a half). It was fun and was followed by a labor day party for all the JVs at the Santa Monica house. Pretty much everyone showed up, and it is so great when all of the houses get to interact together!

Monday was a chill day. Took the San Diego girls to the bus station, studied for the LSAT, and enjoyed the Boise State game with John on my computer.

I miss you all, sending much love back home and wherever everyone is!

Glow Parties and Gas Stations

Last Thursday afternoon and all day Friday saw an absence of Mashanda in my office. My boss Christina has her own office, so this meant I was alone for most of the time. One of the hardest things I have been trying to do so far is meet all of the students and try to remember their names. However, on Thursday I had the chance to watch over a study hall with two Sophomore guys. I ended up being a bad influence and talking to them half the time when they should have been doing their homework, but it was great! Anytime I get a chance to hang out with the students, it makes all of the monotonous work worth it.



So this weekend was definitely one that was full of excitement. On Friday we had our Verbum Dei staff "Luau". This was my first experience as to what an office party was like, and it was actually pretty fun. It was an afternoon event (from 4-5:30ish) so nothing too crazy happened, but it was fun interacting with the faculty/staff on a more casual level. Following the luau all of the JVs in LA (current and former) were invited to Homegirl cafe for a welcome party. Our program coordinators showed up too and it was a fun opportunity to hang out as one large JV community.



On Saturday I got to go to lunch with my cousin Zach who is in LA for the summer and his step-uncle (I think that is what he would be called....) David. David is an actor/producer who has lived in LA for around 13 years or so. He has been on Gilmore Girls, a bunch of Lifetime movies, and a lot of other things. So pretty much it was my first celeb meeting! We just hung out and chatted for probably 3 hours, and it was a blast. That night a former JV who is an attorney had a 30th glow in the dark birthday party at her apartment, so my house decided to bring the overall age of the party down and showed up.



Sunday brought plenty of LSAT studying, a free Shakespeare play in the park, and just hanging out.

Part of my job is to take all of the vans the students ride in when going to work and filling them up at the gas station down the street. Normally this is a job that I would not enjoy doing, but that all changes because of the people that I interact with. There are three main employees that I get to interact with almost every single day. Hubert and Kenny are the two guys that help with the basic upkeep/running of the station. They wipe down the machines, take down the number of the van I am filling, and always have something to talk about! Yesterday I found myself in a conversation with Hubert about his trip to Palm Springs and the Friday before I was talking to Kenny about how he doesn't like the Lakers anymore. Liz is the cashier at the station, which in this neighborhood means that there are several inches of bulletproof glass in between us. That being said, she is always kind and willing to help me out when I need it. Who would have thought that a guy from South Dakota would be making friends with gas station attendants in Watts? Probably not me, but I love that it is happening!

Don't forget those who normally get forgotten

Last night as a house we had our weekly spirituality night. One of my roommates John brought up in discussion that one of the best services that people can do for one another is to simply treat others kindly. It seems so easy, but many of us fail to do it.

Educators, teachers in particular, are very overworked and underpaid. That being said, many of them have huge hearts that keep them going. Even more overlooked than the teachers/administrators are the janitors. Here at Verb there are two full time janitors Lupe and Gustavo, that are the epitome of service through kindness. Lupe has been here for over 30 years and is still going strong. When I was here for orientation he told me that this place would seem foreign at first, but after awhile it becomes home. When we has faculty/staff Mass he gave everyone in the room the sign of peace, this place is his home.

Gustavo has been here for 15 years, almost the entire time he has been in the US. He immigrated from Honduras, lives with his father, and takes the bus 45 minutes each way to work alone. Most of his family is in Chicago, but he cannot afford to take time off work to visit. He is one of the nicest people here and always talks to me when I see him.

Never be above anybody, and always try to treat people kindly!

On a side note, Creighton started today. It makes me sad that I am not back there this year. It went too fast!

My First Real Post

Hey everyone!

So I just finished up my first full week in LA and I decided that it was time to get this blog started…..

I spent the first five days of my JVC experience in Apotos, CA at orientation. It was at a retreat center called St. Francis located right on the pacific ocean about 45 minutes from San Jose. It was an absolutely perfect place for the year to begin. The orientation was for the 90 or so people participating in JVC in the states of California and Arizona.

I arrived in San Jose the day before orientation began and spent the night with 6 other future Jesuit Volunteers (JV’s) and 4 JV’s that were on their way out at one of the houses located near Santa Clara University. 2 of the future volunteers happened to be two of my roommates: Julie and John. Everyone was great and it was a fun, less stressful way to begin my JV year. The next morning our program coordinator (Andrew Carrol) picked us all up in a van and took us to Apotos.

That first afternoon a few of us decided to walk up and down the coast before the retreat started. I have never spent much time by the ocean, and it was pretty surreal to think that I will be living near one for the next year of my life!

Everyone I met at the retreat was great, and it was amazing to find myself a part of such a large, united community. Probably the most important people I met were my four other roommates. John is from Massachusetts and went to Fordham in New York. Cara is from a suburb of Washington D.C. and went to St. Josephs in Philadelphia. Carolyn is from a suburb outside of Philadelphia in New Jersey and went to school at Boston College. Julie is also from a suburb of Philly in New Jersey and went to school at George Washington in D.C.. We all found out who we were going to be living with in June, so it was great to finally be able to put faces to the names of my roomies for the next year.

Orientation was overall a very good experience. The people I met were great, the food was good, and the location was beautiful. However, by Tuesday I was getting pretty anxious and just wanted to get to LA instead of waiting in Northern California for another couple of days. Wednesday we had a missioning Mass in which we all officially became Jesuit volunteers and were given a cross to symbolize it.

Thursday morning some of us woke up at 5:30 and drove into San Jose to pick up rental cars. After a quick prayer, all of the casas (houses) located in Southern California took off on our drive to our new homes. Our house got split up, so I ended up riding down with two girls from another house located in LA.. It took about 8 hours to get there, but around 5 we ended up at our new house!

When we arrived at our casa, we were greeted by three of the five people that lived in our house last year. Eddie, the JV I am replacing, took a full time teaching position at my high school which has turned out to be extremely helpful getting started. They pretty much gave us the run down of our house and gave us a few tips. If I have any advice for people who are still in college, it is to live less fancy while in school so that everything else after that seems nice. I loved my college house, but I must say that this JV house is an upgrade. It is located about a mile from USC’s campus (beautiful!), and it isn’t in too rough of a neighborhood. It is definitely a lower income neighborhood, but it is mostly families and seems to be fairly safe.

The next day one of my roommate’s bosses picked us up and took us to everyone’s work sites so that we could see what everyone would be doing. John is working at an employment agency called Chrysalis located in downtown LA. Cara is working at Homeboy industries, which is a place designed to help gang members get a fresh start. Julie and I are both working at Verbum Dei High School located in the Watts neighborhood in South East LA. Carolyn is working for an afterschool program called Urban Compass, which is located on Verbum Dei’s campus. It was a fun day and a great way to see all of the locations we will be working at.

The next day we needed to take care of some basic house duties: grocery shopping, buying a vacuum, and various other things. We are limited to spending $90 a month per person on food and $100 a month per person on whatever other expenses we have. It isn’t a lot of money, but it will help us try to rid many luxury items from our lives and force us to depend on one another for things like shopping for food.

At the end of the night we managed to make it to Santa Monica pier just around sunset, and it was great. However, I didn’t take into account that it gets pretty cold on the ocean in California so we didn’t not stay too long. After the pier we met up with another JV house in LA and went to a Spanish bar called La Cita in Downtown. They had free concerts all night, and it literally felt like we were in a foreign country. Everyone was speaking and singing in Spanish. Even though I didn’t understand much (I will try I promise!), it was a great experience.

My Spanish got even more practice when Julie and I ended up going to a Spanish Mass on accident the next morning. It was a holy day that had something to do with Mary, so the place was packed! It was a great church and I am sure we will go back soon.

Monday marked my first day of work. It was orientation for seniors and freshmen at the school, and it was also orientation for me. I was introduced to all of the freshmen as Mr. Petersen, and let me tell you how weird it is to hear a little 14 year old boy in a shirt and tie call you Mr. Petersen for the first time. It made me realize that I am not in college anymore and have to get used to the real world. I hung around most of the day with Eddie (the guy I am replacing) and my wonderful co-worker for he next year: Mashanda. I must say that she is about every personality that a person could have. She is hard to explain without meeting, but the best thing I can say to describe her is to picture a strong-willed, hilarious, hard working, middle age African American woman. I know it is going to be a fantastic year working with her.

I also found out that afternoon at the school BBQ that moms are pretty much the same wherever you go. When I told one of the student’s mom’s that I wanted a hot dog, I was handed a plate with 2 hot dogs, mac and cheese, beans, and corn on the cob. When we were walking to lunch, Mashanda turned to one of the students who was walking by and said: “Black man eating watermelon, now that’s a stereotype right there.” I could have died laughing hearing that!

The rest of that day and the next was filled with meeting 266 students that I was trying (and failing) to remember names, being called Mr. Petersen, and filling out seemingly endless paperwork in order to get the students ready for school. Being a Cristo Rey school, all of the students are required to work jobs in order to supplement their tuition. Mashanda, Christina (my boss), Larry (the guy who sets up the jobs), and myself are essentially in charge of the work program that the students participate in. And trust me, the process of setting up jobs for 266 high school boys is not an easy one. If you want to know more about the school and the Cristo Rey system, check out the link below to watch a quick video made on the school.

http://www.verbumdei.us/video/snapshot/snapshot.html

Tuesday night was the first spirituality night that we had as a house. As part of JVC, every house is supposed to have one spirituality and one community night a week. We started off the year by each stating our hopes and fears evolving the 4 pillars of social justice, spirituality, community, and simple living. It was a great way to hear everyone’s thoughts on something that is so crucial to the next year.

Wednesday and Thursday were on-site orientations for the students work sites. When I say that the students work jobs to supplement their tuition, I don’t mean that they are scrubbing floors at the high school. The majority of the students work for companies such as Nike, Sony, Delloitte and Touche, Law Firms, etc. Wednesday I had the chance to take a sophomore transfer student named Oscar to one of the regional Wells Fargo corporate headquarters in Long Beach. Since it was only an hour long orientation, I just stayed with him and got to meet everyone and take a tour of the office. This was Oscar’s first job ever. His immigrated from Mexico and are supporting his adult brother who has a learning disability. When I asked him why he transferred to Verb (Verbum Dei), he told me that it gave him a better opportunity to go to college.

It made me think of how everything was so much easier for me growing up where I did. I never had to worry about paying for school. Going to college was almost the rule, not the exception. The public schools in Sioux Falls were good; it wasn’t necessary to go to a prep school to get ahead. The kids I will be with this year have some major hurdles to get over, and it seems for a lot of them that the Verb is the best option kids and parents have to climb those hurdles.

On Thursday I took another load of 3 kids to Loyola Marymount for their orientation, but was not able to stay for the entire thing. When I picked them up (a Junior, Sophomore, and Freshman) I could just see the excitement in the freshman’s eyes and how he talked. It made me laugh and feel great for him. After doing plenty more filing back at the school, my house went to Santa Monica for a free concert series they have in the summer. We just chilled on the beach, drank some Two Buck Chuck wine from Trader Joes, and talked. It was a great community night.

Friday was our faculty/staff retreat at Loyola Marymount. I remember when teachers would have those back at O’Gorman, so it felt weird to be considered a part of a high school staff. Loyola is Gorgeous! It is on a bluff and overlooks the entire city of LA. The retreat was very laid back, and it was good to interact with the rest of the staff at the school. Two of the Homeboys from Homeboy industries (where Cara works) came and talked to us about their stories. The things that they went through are incredible. Hearing the stories of ex-gang members really puts into question the methods used for law enforcement in this country and how gang violence can be addressed. I am planning to read “Tattoos on the Heart” by Father Greg Boyle (founder of Homeboy) soon, and would recommend it to everyone.

The weekend brought about a much-needed break. We had a party at our house with all of the other casas in LA, because on $100 a month it is pretty hard to go out in a city like this. One of my cousins (also named Zach) was able to come too, so it was nice to reconnect with some family while out here. We have access to Loyola High School gym, so we managed to get there a few times to work out for free. Saturday took us to Venice Beach, which I must say is one of the most unique beaches I have ever been too. Muscle Beach, skate parks, street ball, a pretty awesome boardwalk, etc. It was a fun (and free) way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday was another chill day. We went to an English Mass this time, but the non-native speaker leading it might as well have been speaking Spanish. I managed to sneak off to USC for a few hours to do some much needed LSAT studying in one of their libraries. They had an alumni football banquette outside and fraternity recruitment, so me strolling through campus in a University of Arizona shirt and gym shorts kind of stood out like a sore thumb.

We had dinner with a former JV named Rose who is an attorney in LA, and it was quite the entertaining dinner. She ended up inviting us to her 30^th birthday party next Saturday, so the connections here are endless!

Overall it has been a great experience so far! I am missing all of my friends, family, Michelle, and parents. If anyone has any desire to escape the snow come winter, please feel free to head out this way. I would love to see some friendly facesJ

Sorry this was so long, I left some out, but I promise to make it more frequent next time! Miss and love you all.

Zach

Heading out today!

So tonight at 5:25 my journey will begin when I leave Minneapolis for San Jose, California. From there I will have a 5 day orientation with everyone in the Southwest region of JVC (90 or so people I believe) before I make the drive down to LA next Thursday. Hopefully then I can start updating this attempt and begin telling my story!