Hey! I know her!

Tonight, I'm thinking about the Somali refugees with whom I worked in Minnesota. I started a new job yesterday working with Burmese, Karen, & Bhutanese refugees. I can't help but think about the crazy first weeks in Minnesota - hitting the ground running, learning the city with the refugees, getting lost on the bus, learning about the medical field and refugee camps and the Somali culture, etc. I came across this publication from the MN Literacy Council. Go to page 80 and read the story submitted by Anab. She was one of the first refugees I worked with and became a good friend. She's someone that I miss.

all in a year or two

 

 

 

 

written in June 2008 - not long after I graduated from WC

I spent a good part of college worrying that I was going to miss my calling. The term "calling" was new to me. My Presbyterian friends talked about calling and predestination and wondered why I didn't know my calling. Sure, I went into college thinking that I was going to teach high school English. I toyed with the idea of going into Teach for America. By the time I began my sophomore year, I had a sicking feeling that I didn't want to teach. Nonetheless, I completed the mandatory 2 week field experience over Winter Break. I hated it. I finally found the courage to drop secondary education and eventually broke the news to my family.

I spent the rest of college trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I tried journalism and wrote for the school paper. That was ok, but not how I wanted to spend my life. When people asked me what I wanted to do, I could only say, "I want to work with people." I carried that with me as I found a job working in a development office. (Not a fan of the work, but I loved where I was working). Somewhere, I found the courage that I wanted and took off for a year long volunteer program in Minnesota. I spent the year living in community and working with a refugee resettlement program. I found a job that I loved.

I took off for Minnesota on August 21, 2010, and I haven't looked back. A year ago, I began a year of learning and working on a farm and at a Catholic Worker House. I traveled into the complete unknown world of farm work for four months and relished the time I spent working outdoors. As the program ended, I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to head. In July, I packed up and moved to Cleveland without a clear plan. In a week, I'll start a position with a refugee resettlement agency. I'll be going back to a field that I love. I wish I could tell my recently graduated self to trust her instincts, be ok with doing something different, and not to stress out so much.

new beginnings or just a continuation

After 2 years, I've left the world of volunteering. It was a sad day when I moved to my family's house for 2 weeks in mid August. I then moved to Cleveland to live in community with 2 former volunteers. I'm searching for a job...and am hopefully close to securing one.

Their pairs have been lost in the move.

Living in Cleveland has been a plan for a while. I thought I would end up here last year, but decided to go for the second year of volunteering. It's right now to be up here. I love the area that I'm living in and the community that I'm starting to build. I'm realizing or reaffirming that I am made for community living. It's right for me. I don't know how long I'm going to be up here or where my next step is, but I'm ready to find out.

Coffee on our balcony. I think this is my first morning in the apartment.

Sunset over Lake Erie. Definitely the best part of living here.

Living on Lake Erie is great. I love the sunsets and afternoon frisbee games in the park. Moving here, I left the farmland...the cows, long walking trails through the woods, and some of my favorite people in the world. It's been an adjustment, but I still know that I have a home back there.

It's an adjustment because I miss this place every day.

I'm still here...In the process of moving & transitioning.

the interim

You are in this time of the interim

Where everything seems withheld.

The path you took to get here has washed out;

The way forward is still concealed from you...

What is being transfigured here is your mind,

And it is difficult and slow to become new.

The more faithfully you can endure here,

The more refined your heart will become

For your arrival in the new dawn.

-John O'Donohue

an afternoon at Fellows Riverside Gardens

 A couple weeks ago, my roommate and I spent an afternoon at Fellows Riverside Gardens (Mill Creek Park). We dodged rain, but managed to spend a couple hours wandering around. It was a nice place to spend a couple of quiet hours.

Want to check out the City of Youngstown?

Fellows is one of my favorite places to spend an afternoon.

This was my favorite flower.

my week in pictures

A fun evening spent with friends eating outstanding food and trying our hands at Batik decorated Easter eggs.

Coffee and lounging around on Friday morning while watching some favorite tv shows because it means that I have a day off for Easter.

These flowers from our back yard because they survived the cold nighttime temperatures this week.

This is why I love my job.

Leftover salad from our night decorating eggs because I'm rarely a salad fan, but this was delicious.