What exactly are you doing in MN?

Wondering what I've been up to in MN the last 10 months? Check out this A Nun's Life podcast. Many thanks to Sr. Julie and Sr. Max for having me on. You should also check out their website: http://anunslife.org

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spring has sprung...finally

we do strange things when there is a hint of spring in the air

 

Gotta love St. Cloud.

 McRudy's - Irish Pub in Downtown St. Cloud.

 St. Patrick's Day was the first "real" taste of spring we got up in the frozen tundra. People were back out on bikes, strolling through downtown. It was heavenly.

 Just in case someone doubted that I'm Irish. I have an abnormal amount of green clothes. Enough to do an entire load of laundry.

Finally! Irish (or wannabe Irish) sighting in St. Cloud. I went through an entire St. Paddy's Day at work and didn't see a single person wearing any shade of green.

Gotta represent.

Free for the taking. Found along Clearwater while walking home Saturday afternoon.

just around the corner... right?

I crave sunshine around this time of year. It is February and spring should theoretically be just around the corner. But, this year, I'm living in the frozen tundra of the north and I still have a good two months left of winter. Sunshine around here tends to be a cruel joke. It's usually colder when the sun is out and the sun always comes out after a heavy snowfall. I can't take much more of the well below mornings and afternoons even though the sun makes me feel alive. With the sun, I don't think about hibernating as much. I think about spring and flowers and short sleeves and sandals.

Today, the temperature topped out above 40, which was a far cry from the -18 we had earlier in the week. I could finally take a walk around the neighborhood without worrying about frostbite. It was grand. 

 The snow piles are still there, but the warmer temperatures do give me home that spring is just around the corner. (I'm ignoring everyone who tells me that it's just a temporary thaw).

 

When the snow melts...

 The street in front of my house is turning into a river. It's going to be a mess when everything starts to melt. I don't know what they are going to do with all the snow. In the Twin Cities, they are trucking out some snow. Too much for up here.

Racism

As part of my volunteer year, I live and work in St. Cloud with a refugee resettlement program. The majority of the refugees I help resettle hail from Somalia. They've spent the past 15-20 years living in refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia, Yemen, and a few other countries while a civil war has raged on in their home country. I've had a chance to get to know this refugee community. Like all of us, they have their strengths and their faults. I've learning about the Muslim culture. This experience is completely different than anything I have ever experienced.

St. Cloud, while pretty and situated nicely along the Mississippi river, is a racist town. Despite welcoming refugees into their city for upwards of 10 years, there are still many people who don't hesitate to voice their hatred of the refugee community. St. Cloud is a primarily white, German, and Catholic town. The Somali refugees are Muslim. They speak a different language. They look different. They have different dietary needs and prayer needs. Some people have embraced them as neighbors. Others...not so much.

Why do I write about this? This morning, weeks after the November election, I stumbled across two articles about a man who was elected to the school board. He has definite feelings about how Muslim students should be treated in the school district - feelings that I don't agree with. Frankly, his one statement made me sick. (Nevermind the fact that I don't think he is qualified to be an elected member of the school board). This article, originally published in the St. Cloud Times, includes the comment that I saw this morning. How he was elected to the school board, I will never understand.

After conversations with my other volunteers, I know that I (we) cannot remain silent and ignore the racism in the city that we are calling home for 10 months.

colors

This is why I must always live in a town where the leaves change colors. The leaves change earlier up here in Minnesota than they do in Ohio. Now, two weeks after I took these pictures, most of the leaves have fallen. They're just reaching peak color in Ohio.

I feel more alive in the fall. I just wish the vivid reds and oranges and yellows lasted longer.

after 2 weeks

St. Cloud is one of those places that I have a hard time describing. It's a college town with a downtown on the smaller side. It's a city that feels suburban. I told my dad that it's how I imagine Youngstown in the 1950s and 60s. People here are nice.

I'm working for Lutheran Social Service in a program that resettles refugees. Most of the refugees that I work with are from Somalia. A few are from Iraq. In my one week on the job, I've registered a kid for school, spent hours at social security administration registering people, went to an eye doctor appt. with someone, and filled out countless forms. It's one of those jobs that is different every day. I love that. After spending almost 2 years working at a desk for 8 hours a day, this is a welcomed change of pace.

I'm also learning the bus system. I don't have a car here so my main mode of transportation is either the bus or by foot. I'm frustrated that my place of work is at the end of the bus route so I have an extra long (almost an hour) commute in the morning. If I had a car, it'd take me less than 10 minutes. The other 4 volunteers in my program don't have cars either.

Sometimes I have moments when I think, "holy crap. I'm living in Minnesota" and then I go back to my regular life of trying to help refugees or cooking dinner with the other volunteers.

Home for the next 10 months

Mississippi River by the campus of St. Cloud State University.

This Mississippi River is about a 10 minute walk from my house in St. Cloud - my new home - where I'm spending the next 10 months engaged in a volunteer program.