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.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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.....
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!
Friday, September 24, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, September 13, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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!
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!
Monday, August 30, 2010
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!
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!
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