Hi Everyone!

Hi everyone. I don't know if anyone still happens to check this blog, but I wanted to say 'hi'. I also accidentally posted on this blog instead of mine for work/school (signed into wrong account) and then realized I haven't talked to most of you in a long time. I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe it has been two years since we graduated. Miss you all and hope to talk to you soon.

It's almost December!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving and that everything else is going well. It has been so long since I have talked to most of you and I cannot believe tomorrow is December. I have been living in New Hampshire for three months now. I started subbing at the beginning of October and I pretty much was called every single morning by one or more schools (I think I may have signed up for too many districts…I think six). At the end of October, I was called by a principal of a school I never subbed in, but she asked me if I wanted to interview for a long-term substitute position since I was certified for special education. A few days later, I was called to start the job and for the past month I have been a 5^th grade special education teacher (very similar job to my student teaching) and I will have this job until at least the end of January. It has been a great experience, definitely a challenge because the teacher I am replacing for her maternity leave did not really plan much, but I am learning a lot. I am still living with family friends that have two little girls and it is going really well. I am saving up some money now that I have a steady income for a while so hopefully I will be able to move into my own apartment in a few months. I hope that each of you is having a great time, wherever you may be, and that you all enjoy the holidays. I definitely wish we could all be together and I miss you all so much. Please keep my family in your prayers because I found out today that one of my grandmothers has some more tumors after she thought she was finished with all of her chemo treatments. Additionally, my dad is going to have a biopsy for some lumps in his thyroid (he already had one of his kidneys removed because it had a malignant tumor on it). I just am hoping (and praying) for the best. Best wishes for everyone and I hope to hear from you all soon. xoxo <3

sewing circle

So hey ladies!
Its been a while...Katies post got me thinking I should respond...as I spend more time here in KY, I am learning more and more...but I do really miss our Thursday nights... something about our group...just kept me grounded.
well this past week Ive had a womens sewing group here living with us...and although much older it has brought so many memories back of our womens group...so much power through groups of women...ive spent the past week sewing with a circle of women making things for the local nursing home...something women have done through history...and surprisingly it was so much fun! There is something so special about women when they gather....anyways I miss you all..but know you are doing great things!
stay well!
Colleen

Nostalgia

Hello Seniors! Oh wait, you're not seniors anymore. Does that still seem weird to some of you? All of you? I thought it was my turn to write but I honestly have no idea how often any of you check this thing. Just wanted to say hi. We had our first Women's Group (now called Women's Spirit...I'm having a little trouble with the name change and am pretty much constantly having to correct myself) last week and our second tonight. Last week we had a great turnout but this week it was a much smaller group but it still went well.

I do have to say that last week when we gathered, I thought of every single one of you and your smiling faces...and meant to blog then but got busy and didn't so am doing so now instead of going to bed. Isn't that always the best time to blog? When one should be doing something else other than blogging? Tonight I talked about nostalgia with the students who were there. We tried to define it and realized we all had our own definition. Then they each talked about different things that made them nostalgic and some of them even said they really didn't get nostalgic for things (am I allowed to say I had a hard time believing that one?).

Me...I thought a thought and shared a little. Nostalgia is a crazy thing as I'm pretty sure you are all well aware of by now as the school year has come and gone and most of you aren't in school for the first time in a long time (yes, yes, I know some of you are at schools because you're teaching so I suppose that helps and grad school helps too). Okay, back to nostalgia...what I didn't share tonight with the students is that Women's Group (ahem, I mean Women's Spirit) makes me nostalgic and leads me to think of you. That's why I'm posting. To let you know I'm thinking of you and sending you all good thoughts wherever you are in the world and in whatever you are doing. You all are such good women and I hope you know how much you touched my life last year and how confident I am that you will continue to touch so many lives in such good ways in all that you do!

back in the states

Hey ladies! I figured I probably should write, since I am back in the states/to the world where I have regular internet and the like. Jenna, it sounds like what you're doing is perfect for you--I hope it goes well for you! That goes for everyone--I really hope you are finding peace in the work you are doing, and that it makes you happy and is everything you wanted.

I don't even know where to begin to describe Cambodia in a single blog post. I could have a week and probably couldn't come close to describing what it was really like, and what the experience meant. Cambodia was so different from the US--that much struck me as soon as I landed (and immediately became terrified by the insane movement of traffic in Phnom Penh!). For instance, the Khmer eat rice for three meals a day (the word for to eat actually literally translates to to eat rice), they leave bones in their meat (I had a chicken foot in my soup one day...it was actually funny--I looked at my friend Hai and asked him what do I do with this?, which was something I asked him more than once when it came to food), they barter in markets, and those in a village who are well-off may have a tin roof on top of their tiny house. That last thing really struck me, and it was something I learned after I had already been in Cambodia five weeks.

The people are absolutely beautiful. I thought of the ship's crew as nine older brothers and most certainly beautiful spirits. They all have this incredible kindness, such as in Bun Roth's (he is the pharmacist) face when he picks up a child, or in the way the engineer Sam Ath looks at some of the younger members of the crew. Easily the most powerful thing I did was to give out numbers in the morning. It was beautiful, because people would look up at you with this amazing gratitude, but it was also so difficult because we almost never gave numbers to everyone in line--there were simply too many--and people would touch my arm or my sleeve and beg me for a number, so they or their child could see the doctor. When an American team was there for two weeks, we saw 2000 patients, and that was so amazing to be a part of. I especially loved the old women, who had no qualms about touching my barang (foreign) skin or giving me huge smiles, and the children because you don't need language to communicate with kids. Needless to say, I still really miss Cambodia and all the Khmer people. I love them all more than I can say, and I feel strangely like this experience made me into a real adult, if that makes any sense.

Love you all, let me know how you are doing! Nicki

oh hello real world

hey ladies,
it's been awhile since I posted so I thought I'd say hello. It's so exciting to hear what you've all been doing! I'm glad to hear that you all seem happy too:)
As for me, Friday was my last day at my camp job and I start City Year on Tuesday!! So this weekend is a really weird transitional one. It was strange and sad for me to leave camp on Friday- I've worked there for the past 6 summers and will most likely not be returning next year. It's hard to imagine my life without it-so many people that I will miss a lot, co-workers and campers. It was a crazy summer there too, lots of children drama (child abuse, tough divorces, etc.) and although I am relieved to get away from some of the tough stuff I know that I am going to really miss it soon.
I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty nervous about Tuesday- yet somehow it all doesn't really seem real yet. Part of me is still convinced that I'll be moving back into Marist soon and be back with all of you shortly. However, the other part is slowly realizing that this isn't true and that post-college depression is setting in a bit. I hope that once I start working at City Year that I will be very busy and happy and won't miss Marist as much- I kinda doubt it though. Anyways, Tuesday is the first day of a five week training period. I'm staying with my cousin this week and then moving into my new apartment this weekend. It seems as if the real world has officially arrived. Hopefully I'm ready.
Anyways, I miss you all and would love to hear from you again! Also, I think we should talk about getting together on alumni weekend because I am really looking forward to this and would love love love to see you all! Keep me posted.
love, Jenna

Jumping out of planes and simple living...

Hey ladies!!! Its taken me like a week to figure this out. So, I gave Jenna the wrong email address (since I forgot what my gmail name actually was). Then it took me forever to figure out that I needed to accept her invitation through gmail to actually get on, but anyway yay I'm here!!
Its great to see what so many of you are doing already. I've had an eventful summer so far. I went skydiving about two weeks ago which was completely amazing! The five hour weather hold must have calmed my nerves because I was smiling and cracking jokes the whole plane ride up to the 13,500 ft jumping altitude. Beyond the initial milli second it was really amazing. It was not at all like a roller coaster and free fall is just exhilarating. Once the parachute opened I was able to see Long Island below and its beauty was amazing! It was a much better view then what you get out of a plane window. I highly recommend it.
After skydiving I had an amazing fourth of July weekend with some of my housemates and then went up to the Poughkeepsie area for a few days with Nicki. There is this really awesome boutique in Hyde Park (Just south of the Vanderbilt mansion) that I finally checked out. It is run by this woman who survived two heart attacks at the age of forty five and decided to leave the corporate world and do something different. Her boutique features an eclectic mix of books, jewelry, accessories and clothes that have been collected from around the world. She supports a lot of local artists as well, and sponsors many different charity events. If you are ever back in the area you need to check it out.
And one last little bit of story that I promised Coleen I would share with all of you. I really believe in the simple living aspect that the Jesuit Volunteer Corps encourages, so I've tried to start living the simple life. I think for awhile I was taking it a little bit to the extreme, I refused to buy any new clothes and was very choosy about any other purchasing choice. It was getting to the point that it was frustrating my parents a bit. The pinnacle of my extremism came when I went to get an eye exam. I ended up needing a new pair of glasses since the frame snapped when they tried to adjust it. Anyway this meant the pair of sunglasses I sort of needed (to drive and not be blinded by the sun as I'm prone to doing, thus endangering society at large) would come at an extra expense not covered by insurance. I had a complete melt down when I realized how much it cost (mind you my mother was paying for it). I couldn't believe how much one pair would cost and how that promoted consumerism, and I felt guilty for getting them. I thought this was a complete destruction of the simple living I've been striving for. My mom tried to tell me I really needed them but I could not be reconciled for a while. I then realized that hey I did need them and simply living doesn't mean not getting what you need. Simple living is more about not living in excess and carefully choosing how you use what you do already have in a way that honors the simple life. So in retrospect my extreme attitude was amusing and certainly has been a learning experience.
I miss you guys sorry for the obscenely long post! I hope to hear from you all soon!!
-Mary =)-