Community Fun

Two weeks ago for community night Krystina and her friend organized an awesome scavenger hunt. We started in Times Square and had about two hours to complete as many items as we could before meeting at home. It was really fun and although my team may have gotten a little over competitive I think everybody had a great time. Here was our list and some pictures as proof (the ones in bold are the ones my team of Krystina and Alaina were able to complete):

1 Get five different pizza place menus.    50 points.

2 Take a team picture with an elderly couple.     50 points.

3 Bum two different brands of cigarettes off of strangers.     50 points. (My team only got 1/2 credit for this one because we got a Marlboro and a Marlboro light. The other team said they were the same brand. I guess we weren't the only ones who took it really seriously)

4 Picture of a bar menu with a margarita happy hour.     75 points.

5 Take a video of a team member singing ''you are my sunshine'' to a stranger on the train.     100 points.

6 Picture of a purple door.     75 points.

7 Picture of a midget.     125 points. (In addition to not seeing one we all agreed that this one was pretty tasteless so we say we protested it).

8 Picture with a cop.     50 points. 75 extra points for wearing the cop's hat in the picture. (We totally didn't see that second part =( )

9 Picture of a place that sells $1 slices.     50 points.

10 Picture of the entire team doing the Beatles walk on a crosswalk.     100 points.

11 Picture of a team pyramid in front of a school (not the one you live in).     75 points.

12 Picture with a duck.     125 points. (This one was a last minute bit of luck)

13 Toothpicks from 5 different restaurants.     100 points. (Bubba Gumps, Red Lobster, Ruby Tuesdays, Tasty Corner, and Daly Pub. One of them didn't have toothpicks so he cut a drink mixer for us =) )

14 A flower.     75 points.

15 A pamphlet about the end of the world.     125 points.

16 Get someone's yamakka.     250 points. (See #7)

17 Take a picture of a teammate getting a piggyback ride from a stranger.     100 points. (This guy was with his dad who wanted to take about 300 of his own pictures of this freakish event during their trip to the city. He also made a joke that his son didn't even get my number.)

18 Picture of the whole team in front of a library.     50 points.

19 Pictures of 5 places of worship, each of different denominations.     175 points.

20 4 Metro cards with different expiration dates.     50 points.

21 Picture of 7 people jumping in the air.     125 points. (75 extra points if they're all in the air!)

22 Picture of a radio station.     100 points.

23 A penny from 1987.     75 points.

24 Picture of poop in a toilet.     125 points. (This one was a lot of work. No pain no gain.)

25 List the middle names of everyone in your community.     100 points.

26 A hotel bar of soap.     75 points. (We also got a hotel stress ball/apple, corkscrew, and warm cookie).

27 A free NYC condom.     50 points.

28 A movie ticket stub.     50 points.

29 Video of a team member doing a cartwheel on a train.     100 points.

30 Picture of a team member walking someone's dog.     125 points. 

31 A timetable train schedule.     100 points. (Apparently they're almost exclusively available online)

32 A singnature from a four year old (with a picture to prove it!)     100 points.

33 Cups from fast food places.     25 points per cup, each from a different place. (I think we had 5)

34 Picture of two men kissing.     125 points.

35 Picture of a team member swimming in a body of water.     250 points. (This one was debated. Xteens was a champ and got in the East River without a shirt, although her body wasn't submerged in water like Lar's was. Lar also had a car to have enough time to put on a bathing suit. Turns out we didn't even need these points to win, but I think teens earned them.)

36 Picture with a Toy Story backpack.     150 points.

37 Picture of someone's camel-toe.     125 points. (Teens took a buch of random croch shots on the street and got one. Gross.)

38 NYC Bus Tours pamphlet.     75 points.

39 AMNY from today.     75 points. 200 extra points if the crossword puzzle is completed!

40 A list of the colleges that each community member attended.     75 points.

A few things I learned from this community night: Just how competitive our community is, including a great nack for shit talking all around. How helpful random people are. When we got the little boy's signature his mom asked to see our list and started throwing out suggestions of how to get some things. Then the lady next to her took our list and did the same. That's how we got the churches and the school. We will do a lot of crazy shit for nothing more than momentary recognition from each other. You can do a lot of crazy things in NYC, especially Times Square, without anyone giving you a second look. Tourists actually find this very funny and want to participate.

A Weekend Retreat

Last weekend three of my community-mates and I went to enjoy our free time at Jess' 'cabin' upstate. In reality it was not a cabin but a brand new beautiful huge vacation home made from logs. It was so nice to be in a comfortable bed with all the luxuries of a normal home while enjoying the quiet of upstate. We rode on her quad, hiked through the woods with her dogs, grilled, played monopoly, made smores, and even got a brief horseback riding lesson from her dad.

I don't usually notice the difference until I leave the city, but the air upstate feels so much bigger. You can see more than a sliver of sky, and the air fills your lungs in such a deep, refreshing way. There was also darkness at night and a quiet that settled my bones and made me feel at ease. It was difficult to leave, and as I sat down at home to eat dinner I felt homesick and almost nauseous over leaving such a lovely place. It's strange to have such conflicting views... I love living here in NYC and I couldn't imagine a life in a place so quiet and rural as where her cabin is, but for that weekend upstate was exactly where I was supposed to be.

TCI

This week at work I was in a four day training for TCI, or therapeutic crisis intervention. It's 98% deescalation techniques and 2% physical restraints for when that doesn't work, but the restraints are all the residents are really aware of so they like to ask 'you gonna TCI me?!#?' as if its a verb. I was really excited for the training because the man who runs it is really awesome, plus I was thinking of it as my respite from working the floor. I loved most of it, and feel like I really learned a lot and have a slightly better outlook on the work that I do (although I'm still not back to the level of optimism I came to this year with). I HATED the restraint part, though. I was one of the dummys that the rest of the group practiced the restraint on, and even though I was friends with these people and they were being over careful and gentle, it still felt so invasive and violating. The restraint basically involves two people approaching the youth from the front, on one each side, taking the child to the ground on their backs, pinning their arms to their sides, and then flipping them over to their stomach and using your body to pin them to the ground. After this training I made a promise to myself that even if it's "necessary" to use a restraint on my shift I won't, unless I need to relieve or help a coworker to prevent an injury. Yet another reason to be glad there are only 6 weeks left to the year.

We had a really great pseudo-community night tonight. Laura Halley, former GSV employee who interviewed most of of for our positions this year, invited all of the GSV's to her adorable apartment in Harlem for dinner. It was really lovely to see everyone and have a change of space, even just for the evening. We're having an exciting really community night this week: Krystina is organizing a scavenger hunt for us somewhere in Manhattan! I'm also excited for our dinner with Sister Paulette (President(?) of Good Shepherd Services) this Thursday and our weekend at Jess' cabin upstate this weekend. It should be a week full of funfunfunfun.

I signed up for McGill's International Buddy Program about a week ago, and I've been emailing back and forth with my new 'buddy' for about a week now. She's going into the same program with me and has the same research interests as me (!!) and has been super helpful. It's making me feel more comfortable about moving to the unknown soon, and it's nice to know that someone will be waiting to meet me. Hopefully I'll have an apartment nailed down soon!

changing perspective

So, friends, last time we met  Marian Hall was falling on some hard times. Although that is still true, it's also true that I was projecting a lot of my stress from feeling stuck in this job in that statement. Since then I've been doing a lot of self care and I'm currently in a week long training, so I'm feeling a little better about things even though not much at the program has changed. The staff that was suspended (also my favorite staff coworker and a mentor figure) was fired, and the residents are still "goin thru it", as they say. But I just keep reminding myself that I can only control myself and that I contribute all that I can, and that is enough.

Annie has moved on from our community, and she just finished her road trip and made it safely to LA yesterday. I honestly thought there would be a bigger reaction from my roommates, but it seems like everyone is just rollin with the punches. Everyone is pretty caught up in finally enjoying the sun and the city, and worried about next year (we only have a month and a half left here!). We also only have about one community and one spirituality night each left to lead, so our time together is becoming more valuable and more planful than before, which is saying a lot.

I'm feeling a little stagnant in my spirituality, but it's because I've been focusing on other things recently.. like how poor I am. I have less than $10 in my bank account and a credit card bill =[ Simplicity sucks.

My personal life, though, is going quite swimmingly. I had two great weekends with Dave, went to a friend's wedding, and am continuing to learn French and pull things together to plan for McGill. I even have an "international buddy"!

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

 Community Night on the Brooklyn Bridge

grilling at a park upstate

Dave and I at a friend's wedding

hot hot heat.

Not cool. Literally. Ba-dum-CHI!

I have updates gallore, but alas, they must wait until tomorrow!