This week I have been focusing all of my mental energy on my placement at Marian Hall. A few of the girls had trying weeks, mostly due to parents who don’t understand and/or respect healthy boundaries with their children. There is also a growing problem on the floor with substance abuse. Two girls are in rehab, and a few more perhaps should be.
On Thursday I took one girl to BARC, an animal shelter where volunteers can play with cats or walk dogs. That was fun, except that we were trapped outside in Brooklyn in the peak of the freak storm. We got pelted with 1″ hail balls and ran for cover. Friday was the first day of my cooking program, where I hope to cook or bake one item with whatever girls are not able to go on weekend home visits each Friday.  I’m hoping that this will help me to continue engaging with the girls while addressing two of their favorite complaints: boredom and bad food from the kitchen. We made chocolate chip cookies yesterday and it went very well. Only two girls participated, but they worked together really well, and even shared the cookies and dishes. I was really happy with myself for having the idea and proud of the girls for doing such a good job.
I haven’t had a problem with simplicity yet, and I’ve even been buying myself some nice groceries and gotten a few coffees. Not going out for drinks is helpful, and so is being used to living on a poor college-student budget. I actually made it through this pay period with an extra $32!
Spirituality has fallen out of focus for me since orientation, but we are still doing our weekly spirituality nights and sharing different experiences together. This week we went to a meditation introduction lecture at a church. Community continues to be a learning experience for some of us as our personality differences become more apparent after having lived together for about a month now.
Ta-ta for now!