back to school.

This year, for the first time in a long time, I'm not spending this fall as a student in the traditional, academic sense.  Instead, I've shifted roles to being the one teaching, supervising, coordinating, and tutoring. It's been an interesting transition to say the least, but as my semester in Rome taught me, the real learning in life often takes place outside of the classroom--or in my case with Casserly House, on the other side of the classroom.

And to say that I'm learning a lot would be an understatement. Some things are deceptively simple--the names and ages and grades and birthdays of my students--while others are much more complex. Although the simple things are important and not to be underestimated (have you ever forgotten a 9-year-old's birthday? it's no laughing matter), it's the complex things that I've been wrestling with.

The after school program began this past Monday, and I've finally been able to spend my time focused on what I signed up for when I agreed to do JVC. Over this past week, the hour and a half from 3:30-5:00 has become the most intense part of my day, as I spend my time running around... usually trying to do five things at once. While there's a lot of the mundane involved in that work, there's also a lot of food for thought.

One of the most interesting faucets of my work is how much it brings the reality of statistics home to me. Catholic Charities of St. Louis had this really great ad campaign over the past few years that featured pictures of easily stereotyped individuals, with taglines such as, "He's not a statistic; he's someone's big brother." These ads were actually quite powerful, and I feel like my work at Casserly House has had the same effect in bringing a lot of lofty ideas down to a personal level for me.

It's one thing to know on an intellectual level that urban youth have a lot of problems to deal with, and it's another situation entirely to know intimately what these kids are up against--that these third graders wrestle with more serious issues on a daily basis than I've ever dealt with in my privileged life. (Privilege is such a JVC-esque word that I almost feel cliche using it, but it's also very, very true.) 

Hearing statistics about the failures of the American educational system, students dropping out of school, neighborhood violence, and domestic violence only has a limited impact, but that can't be said about seeing that these are the realities that many of the children that I work with live with every day. I can put names and faces on these problems now in a way that I couldn't before. (I also do want to clarify that it is important to note that these problems are not ones that are unique to urban areas; that's just the framework I'm currently working from.)

I have also struggled with wrapping my head around the idea that what I'm doing at Casserly House is so much more than just a job in the traditional sense; in someways, it certainly is. I show up from 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, and Casserly House provides me with health insurance and the means to pay my bills; basically, I get compensated for my work and time. And it's simple to then conclude that what I'm doing is just a job, that it's just a way to get a paycheck, it's just how I spend my time between the weekends. But, frankly, it's not just a job. It's so much more, and that was the real point of choosing to do JVC. 

I'm also learning a lot of practical things--how to write professional emails (tell me, how do you sign yours? currently, I've settled on "Best, Megan"), how to multitask like it's my job (oh wait, it kind of is), how to outsmart an elementary school kid, and how to be in five places at once... yeah, still working on that one.

So, in short, not going back to school is turning out to be one of the biggest learning experiences I've ever had. After so many years of focusing on academics in the traditional sense, I have to admit that it's refreshing to finally see learning in a more practical way.

i set out upon a journey.

"All stories, they say, begin in one of two ways: 'A stranger came to town,' or else, 'I set out upon a journey.' The rest is all just metaphor and simile."

--Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

The above quote from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle isn't really reflective of the subject matter of the book in the slightest, but as I read it tonight, it resonated with me about how I feel about this year and what this experience means to me.

(Also, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a fantastic read for anyone interested in questions concerning where we get our food, eating locally/seasonally/organically, etc. And it's fun to read as well.)

month one.

It's hard to believe that it was just a month ago that I boarded a plane in St. Louis to head to JVC orientation. I can't believe I've only known my housemates for a month, that I had never seen this city a month ago. And at the same time... I can't believe that one month of my year-long adventure as a JV is already over. I don't know where the time went. I can't wait to see what the rest of this year holds.

month one: a recap

jvc northeast '11-'12.

orientation.

bleary-eyed goodbyes and flight out of lambert at 6am. waiting in the airport with a fellow billiken. meeting two housemates at the airport. meeting two more at orientation icebreakers. realizing that there was no 6th roommate, and that therefore we would all have our own rooms. some awkward conversations. meeting so many wonderful people from all over the country. sharing our lifelines. the beautiful hills of blue ridge, pennsylvania. the four values. four hours of silence. starting to realize what a wonderful, crazy year i was in for. talent show performances. the first round of goodbye's. passover remembered to send us off.

local orientation.

hanging out at bwi with the portland community. flying to boston. freaking out a little at the airport. getting picked up by fjvs and beginning to realize the extent of the fjv network in boston. meeting maria. first dinner and first sam adam (for me at least).  trips to target. electricity problems/mice. sam adam's factory. kickin' it in jp. jamaica pond, jp licks, thrift stores. boston common, freedom trail, quincy market. placement tours. our first foley's visit. jacob wurth's. papa's visit.  meeting dave, infamous bartender of foley's. mass at st. cecelia's and a bar-b-que. first grocery shopping trip. cleaning. rearranging my bedroom. getting settled in, just in time for...

and the real work begins: week one.

first day of work. teaching ESOL classes but mostly learning. maggie's birthday dinner. free pumpkin beer from an fjv on a tuesday night. dinner with peter, our jesuit liaison. walks to work. meeting the kids, little by little. learning the faces and names of casserly house. getting the internet. first community night (pumpkin beer on the balcony). runs around the neighborhood. discovering the forest hills cemetery. nights out with fjv's. st. anthony's festival in the north end. surviving (and enjoying) my first hurricane.  

boston community at the sam adams factory.

work: week two.

my first spirituality night. a disastrous meal. beginning to really explore boston. packing lunches. learning, growing, & pushing myself at work. planing for the after school program. first community night with matt and sarah. visits to back bay, newbury street, the freedom trail, the north end, and lots of bookstores. labor day weekend. wandering around jp and hanging out at doyle's. getting a boston library card. a night at foley's (one of the many we will have this year). mass with peter at st. ignatius + brunch. harpoon brewery tour and a visit to the other foley's (not as good as ours). 

work: week three.

emails, emails, emails. after school program registration & meeting the parents, but most importantly, meeting the kids i will get to spend the next year with. spirituality via meditation. a week of gloomy, rainy weather. "the honeymoon is over." my first venture across the charles to cambridge. beginning to realize what kind of weather i'm in for this year. the five love languages. a beautiful weekend. touring somerville and cambridge via mass ave. falling asleep during movies. saturday morning farmer's markets. free crepes. the cambridge carnival international festival. an fjv potluck (and another visit to foley's). mass at st. cecelia's. sowa open market on a sunday afternoon. party planning. freaking out about my computer and the first day of the after school program.

view of downtown boston from the harbor.

And a whole lot more. And a whole lot more to come (11 months to be exact).

p.s. This was intended to be posted last night (I left St. Louis on August 11th), but the aforementioned computer issues prohibited that. 

learning + exploring boston.

 photo via | I see these everyday.

So, I've been a little quiet on this front for the past week and half, but that's because most of the writing I've been doing has been on the T while I've been wandering around exploring Boston (and enjoying public transit!).

Just walking around cities and visiting new neighborhoods is one of my favorite things to do, so I've spent the last few weeks taking advantage of my current work schedule and using my afternoons to explore Boston. (Until the after school program starts, my working hours are 8-3; after it starts, they will change to 9-5:30.) Since I moved here a few weeks ago, I feel like I've seen a decent amount of the city, but there's still so much to do!

(And speaking of my job, a quick update: work is full of up's and down's; I have really frustrating moments and really amazing moments when everything falls into place and I understand why I'm there... usually within the span of a few hours. Overall, it's good--just an adjustment. Let's just say that I have lot of learning and growing to do over the next year.)

For the first week of my exploring, I mainly focused on my surrounding neighborhood in Jamaica Plain. First, I became obsessed with the Forest Hills Cemetery (which is more of a park than a cemetery, and not creepy at all). Then, I moved on to Roslindale (the neighborhood just south of JP  where Casserly House is also located), which has a really fun/cute downtown area with lots of local shops/restaurants/thrift stores.

Then, I boarded the "T" (subway) and made my way downtown.

 

T map: I live on the orange line.

A few of my adventures so far...
At this point, I have walked the majority of the Freedom Trail and have therefore seen some of Boston's most historical sights, including but not limited to: Boston Common, Beacon Hill and surrounding areas, the original Cheer's bar, Sam Adam's and Paul Revere's graves, and so forth.

Unsurprisingly, I also spent a good amount of time in Boston's North End, which has historically been the Italian neighborhood. I bought a cannoli at Modern Pastry (my sources tell me that it's better than the more touristy Mike's). I did a lot of wandering down Hanover Street, admired all of the other Italian restaurants, and checked out some more historical sights. Last Friday afternoon, I also visited the Haymarket, which is a really big, cheap farmer's market near the North End.

One of my other favorite neighborhoods so far as been Back Bay and Copley Square, which is home of the main branch of the Boston Public Library (I have a card now!).  Then, I walked down Newbury Street (Boston's main shopping street) and down to the Charles River.

 

image via | this is actually really helpful for understanding the different neighborhoods.

Yesterday, I ventured across north of the Charles River for the first time to explore Cambridge--mainly Harvard Square and Harvard Yard. I wasn't there for very long, but Harvard is so beautiful! Definitely an amazing campus. Cambridge itself is really cool as well; there were lots of neat shops and just good people watching.

I have also been doing a bit of a bookstore tour of Boston. Essentially, if I pass a bookstore, I go in. I've probably been in at least ten so far, but my favorite one, which I just went to yesterday for the first time, has been Harvard Book Store.

Soooo, in a nutshell, there's a really brief summary of some of the adventures that I've gone on in Boston so far. In general, I really like Boston as a city; it's very neighborhood-y, which makes it all the more suited for adventures like these. It also means that there's always something new to discover.  Physically speaking, Boston really isn't a very big, so it makes it much more manageable. It's also very walking and public transportation friendly, which I love. I'm really glad that my work schedule has allowed me the opportunity to  see so much of the city over the past few weeks.

hunkering down for a hurricane.

 photo via

I moved to Massachusetts expecting beautiful falls, mild (for me) summers, and long, snowy winters. What I did not expect, however, was hurricanes. Or rather, one particular hurricane named Irene that has been ravening the East coast for the past few days (just in case you were living under a rock).

Despite the initial predictions and all of the resulting hoopla, we survived today with only mild inconveniences. Yesterday afternoon, we stocked up on groceries, batteries, and jugs of bottled water. Our supplies and precautions were unneeded, but it was still good to have them.

The hurricane did provide us with a couple of rather windy, rainy days, which was a good chance for all of us to stay in the house and have some good community time. After going out Friday night to St. Anthony's Festival and some local bars with a few FJV's, I spent the rest of the weekend just hanging around the house. We did not go to church this morning (apparently, Boston's archbishop excused us--thanks!), and instead made a leisurely breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs. I spent the rest of the day working on decorating my room (finally there are pictures up on the walls!) and baking a loaf of whole wheat French bread, among other things.

The past few weeks have been a crazy blur, as we went from regional orientation to local orientation to beginning (and completing) our first week of work. Honestly, even though my original plans for the weekend included wandering around and exploring half of Boston, after being forced to spend the past two days inside our house, I'm actually really thankful. Instead of continually pushing myself, it was a good way to relax and mentally recharge. 

I guess the hurricane can been seen as another example of the differences between God's timing and my own; when I want to keep rushing, keep doing, God whispers to me to slow down, to take a moment (or a weekend) to just be exactly where I am. And that's one of things this year is about, right? Simple living and learning to appreciate what I have been given... one natural disaster at a time.

casserly house: practically speaking, what i'm doing this year & why it matters.

"People come here, and they're pretty broken. Sometimes, they walk in and their head's hanging down. But, when they leave here, they walk out with their heads held high."

(Casserly House)

I finished my first week of work at Casserly House today, and I cannot express how wonderful of a place it is. I am going to attempt to explain a little bit about the program and what I'll be doing over the next year in this post to provide people with a little bit of background, but it's really hard to put how amazing it truly is into words.

Here's a brief overview of the program and what it's about:

Casserly House was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston as a part of the congregation's 125th anniversary celebrations. Modeled after the work of the first Sisters of St. Joseph, Casserly House was created to be a ministry of presence in a culturally and ethnically mixed neighborhood populated by a large number of new immigrants. In 2000, the Sisters purchased a triple-decker house at 42 Stellman Road, in the Forest Hills section of Roslindale, and it has since provided a space for both service and residence. Three sisters live on the top two floors of the house, and neighborhood programs are run out of the first floor.

Casserly House has two main programs. Monday through Friday from 9 am to 12 pm, English language and literacy classes are provided for adults living in the neighborhood. We currently have 46 students from 16 different countries! On Monday through Thursday from 3pm-5pm, 15 neighborhood children in 2nd-5th grade come for the After-School Program, which provides homework help and tutoring. In July, we have a two-week Summer Learning Camp with a focus on reading, computers, and art. Along with these programs, we also provide a location for neighborhood gatherings, meetings, and prayer.

So, in a nutshell, that's what we goes on at Casserly House. The center has a small staff, basically just Sr. Nancy (the director), me, and Jim (an Ignatian Volunteer), as well as a lot of volunteers, so I'll have quite a bit of responsibility over the upcoming year. My main job is coordinating and overseeing the after school program, but I have also been assisting with (and teaching!) the ESOL classes, writing thank you notes, and lots of other random tasks. The after school program won't begin for a few more weeks because Boston public schools are still on summer break until after Labor Day, so I have been preparing for that as well.

That's what we do as the staff, but it's the students who come in for the programs that make Casserly House such a wonderful place. The ESOL students at Casserly House have continually amazed me with their courage, their determination, and their kindness. The diversity of the program is astounding; there are students from Haiti, Cameroon, Vietnam, Somalia, Costa Rica, Guatamala, Iraq, Albania, and even more countries. It's beautiful to see the amount of learning and sharing that goes on on a day to day basis.

This afternoon, I listened to a middle-aged woman from Haiti read who had never been to school before she came to Casserly House, who couldn't even write her own name a few years ago. These are just one example of many of the experiences I have had so far, and I know there will be many more over this upcoming year. Education is so precious, and I have never been more thankful for the opportunities that I have had in my life.

And as for the kids: well, I haven't really worked with them that much yet, but some of them have come by to check me out and see if I'm nice enough (I think I passed the test). One asked how old I was, and when I asked what they thought, I was mildly horrified by the answer: "Thirty." Not that there's anything wrong with being thirty, but when you're actually twenty-two, it's a bit of a low blow! Anyway, they seem like an energetic, enthusiastic bunch to say the least, so I'm sure they'll keep me busy this year and that we'll have a lot of fun together.

In conclusion, the quote from the top of this post is something Sr. Nancy said earlier today, and I feel like it really hits the nail on the head of why Casserly House is such an life-giving, wonderful place. Unsurprisingly to those who know me, I got really emotional earlier this afternoon when hearing some of the ESOL students talk about what Casserly House means to them (I even teared up, not gonna lie). As one of them simply put, "Casserly House is my home."

It is such a privilege to spend the next year of my life working here.

P.S. We have the internet now, so expect more frequent updates! :)

bean town beginnings.

Well, orientation’s over, and we’ve begun the process of getting settled in our new home in Boston.

Orientation was a blur of trying to remember everyone’s names, talks about the four values of JVC, and beginning the process of getting to know my four housemates. It was pretty inspiring to meet all of the other people who, like myself, will be spending the next year dedicating themselves to this program on the East coast. Although we came from all different areas of the country, went to a wide variety of universities, and had varied academic interests, we all bonded pretty quickly over our shared desire to serve this coming year. Orientation also included our housemates rewriting and singing a version of Rebecca Black’s song “Friday” at the JVC talent show (appropriately retitled “Boston”... yeah, that happened).

While two of our housemates drove to Boston following orientation, the other three of us (myself included) flew here on Tuesday. We were picked up at the airport by two FJVs (Former Jesuit Volunteers) who drove us to our home for the next year.

Once arriving, we were greeted with a basket of goodies from the ’10-’11 JV Boston Community, a binder about my job about Casserly House, and our landlord, Maria (more about her at a later time – she’s quite the character). The house is full of quirks, partly from the fact that it’s over 100 years old and partly because it’s been lived in by JVs for so long. We were then greeted by two other FJVs who came over with pizza and Sam Adams to begin our year. There’s a wonderful FJV community in the Boston area, and it sounds like we’ve only had a small taste of it so far.

I slept in my bed for the next year for the first time two nights ago. This house doesn’t quite feel like our home yet, but it does certainly feel like a home. I guess that comes with the territory considering that JVs have lived here for around 15 years. After some cleaning, unpacking, and rearranging, this place has begun to feel more like ours.

As part of local orientation, other FJVs have been giving us tours of our neighborhood (Jamaica Plain) and downtown Boston. There’s a potluck dinner at our house tonight, and tomorrow we are all traveling as a group to visit our placements for the first time, which will be another long, but exciting day. And on Monday, I have my first day of work!

After months of planning, I’m finally here. I’m not going to lie: this is pretty surreal. Amazing, exhausting, and (soon to be) really challenging, but also surreal. I can’t believe I just left Missouri a week ago; I can’t believe I just meet my housemates a week ago. It already feels like it’s been much, much longer.

Right now, we don’t have internet at our house (I’m actually at the local library right now), so my posts might be kind of sporadic for the time being, but I will try to keep you all as updated as I can in the coming weeks/months!