Picture Catch-up

Easter at Dolores Mission:

 {We made an Easter egg hunt for the kids; St. Ignatius has an egg!}

 {Easter dresses!}

 {cross on Easter morning.  during Via Crucis, the man playing Jesus was "nailed" to this}

{mural of Mary in the plaza}

 {cupcake from one of my students for Teacher Appreciation Week :)}

Every year, the 7th grade gets to go on a camping trip for 3 days (!!) and they needed a driver and an extra chaperon, so I got to go along!

 {park right on the beach in Malibu!}

Morning mountains.  We went hiking onto the top of these, which was gorgeous.  The kids complained a lot, but they enjoyed the beach much more after they were worn out.  It was beautiful to see the sun rise and set over the side of these ridges in the morning and evening.  The stars were also visible (actual stars! Not just the airplanes that the kids sometimes mistake for stars in LA).

We went creek stomping and the kids loved it.  A little too much.  We went twice and both times they got completely soaked from head to toe in the pools that collected.  Which is why they decided to dry their shoes over the fire.  Basically they smoked their shoes like a hot dog. 

Mr. S. (the art teacher) in the morning of the last day.  The other leaders and I understood the idea of not showering until returning home because you never can get clean and there is something special about that campy smell.  The kids however were waking up at 6am to make sure they could get a good shower in the morning.  Crazy!  Despite their good hygiene, we walked into mass on Friday morning and Fr. Scott made at least 3 comments about how much we smelled like fire and camping.

I loved getting to know the other teachers better on the trip and talk to the kids outside of the school setting.  So many personalities came out that I had never seen before and I realized how amazing their class is.  One student was really scared about being away from home and sleeping in a tent and the other students comforted him and did not let anyone pick on him.  The sense of community between the thirty 12 year olds was remarkable and I felt so blessed to be a part of the trip.  Some kids came back saying that it was the best 3 days of their lives.  Talking to the 7^th grade teacher, she said that many times the kids have not been in nature, had never spent the night away from their parents, and are often given so many responsibilities at home (like being the man of the house or sticking up for their moms) that they never get to just be kids, but they definitely let it show that they were 12 on this trip.

Saying Goodbye to ELA

It was sad realizing that we were the last of 18 years of JVs living in our house, so I took some pictures to commemorate the occasion.  Looking back now, it looks a lot more rough than I ever thought it did.  The laundry picture reminds me of buildings in Belize City.  It was a wonderful experience to live there though and really live in conditions much unlike those I'm used to.  Dealing with the noise of constant parties and barking dogs, hearing the metro and buses whiz by our house, not knowing the language being spoken around me, and living in an area that's not super safe to walk around in after dark, was eye-opening and humbling.  I feel like I got a small taste of what my students face everyday and what is "normal" for them.  

{juicy oranges from Celia's tree}

{air drying laundry in our "backyard"}

 {my room}

{"view" from my window}

PLACE Welcome Orientation

Another catch-up post:

In April, I went to orientation for PLACE Corps.  I am very excited to start the program, but also really nervous.  There are 28 people in my cohort (C11) – 21 girls and 7 boys, which is actually a pretty good ratio compared to other cohorts.  I knew one of the other girls from an immersion group that came to DMS from Santa Clara University, but otherwise I knew no one.  I know quite a few of the graduates of the program and current members because of DMS connection.  It felt a little like high school again, since I went into St. T. knowing (or at least knowing of) a bunch of upperclassmen because of Annie, but not knowing a lot in my class other than those from Lourdes.  They had a packed schedule for us, including lunch with our principals, barbeque with people from all past and present cohorts, bowling with the current cohorts (I’m still awful), a formal dinner with our principals and the Dean of LMU, mass, staying with one of the communities, learning about the program, going through our massive binder (3 inches, and FULL) of information about our next two years, signing up for classes, meeting each other, and signing our life away for the next two years.  Literally.  We received our calendar for the summer and it is so full of social events, classes, observations, etc.  I’m excited, and after the orientation, I was roaring to just start then and there, but it’s starting to sink in that I am leaving JVC really soon.  

The people in the program were a fun mix of people from all over, a lot from California, but not all.  I’m the first person to ever do PLACE from SLU which is cool.  I’ll have to go back and talk it up.  We got to stay in the PLACE Corps communities for the weekend and I was placed at Maria Regina in Gardena, where Mr. DeJesus, the science and Spanish teacher for DMS lives.  All the communities are about 9 people and are in former convents.  The rooms are really small and the closets are itty bitty.  As Diana, the coordinator of PLACE put it, nuns only needed 2 pairs of shoes and 3 outfits, so that’s the closet space they received.  The common areas were really big though, with a massive kitchen, living room and dining room, plus, there is a chapel complete with confessionals in case I need one at the last second.  Too bad I don’t have a 1-800 number to have a priest for these emergencies as well.   

 

At the barbeque, I was completely ambushed by some FJVs who had done PLACE Corps and heard that I was a JV.  It was amazing realizing that I am becoming part of a network of such inspirational, dedicated, and enthusiastic people by doing JVC and now PLACE.  

My Cohort, C11, in our "professional best":

 

 {Maybe the fuchsia dress was a little bold, but it was in the 80s all week!  I might as well take advantage...}

New House!

Moving!

So, our coordinators decided we should move closer to Dolores Mission and Proyecto Pastoral and avoid rising rent costs, so they found a house two blocks from DMS.  Our house is part of a group of affordable housing units in an area that was projects about 5 years ago.  It is interesting to be a part of this community, an area in the heart of urban renewal.  Boyle Heights is directly across the LA River from downtown and Little Tokyo (we are 3 blocks from the bridge), making it the idea area for people looking for cheaper housing close to downtown and for trendy/edgier people to move into.

 I’ve had some very interesting conversations with one of our friends, Joel, who grew up going to Dolores Mission School and studied urban planning at USC and currently works with transportation and urban growth.  We’ve heard that there is a Starbucks that will be moving into the area and there is a newish pizza place called Purgatory Pizza which is also a hipster magnet.  In our immediate neighborhood, we were surprised to realize our neighbors are very diverse, despite the fact that Boyle Heights is 98-ish% Latino; there are whites, Latinos, Asian Americans, and blacks in our two block area.  I’m excited and nervous about seeing the changes in the area over the next two years.

I love being so close to school!  Some of my kids have games at the park next door so I can go and watch them (Colleen and I watched a baseball game after Confirmation Class last night and our kids were on the team that won 6-0!), walk to mass in the morning, walk to school in 5 minutes and be more in tune with the environment of my students.  I think the only drawback to the move is leaving our old neighborhood which was definitely more authentic feeling, but I'm sure we'll discover new things around our new house soon!

We are thinking about doing a MTV Cribs style tour of our casa for JVC's youtube channel.  That would be pretty sweet :)  But for now, here's a mini photo tour:

 

{outside}

 {blurry!  but one of my favorite parts - painted wooden cross and photo of Sr. Ita Ford}

 {living room}

{kitchen - with dishwasher!}

 {map of LA on all between kitchen and dining room.  I love the openness of the house}

{dining room with our sweet new (free!) yellow table and matching placemats}

 {going up the split stairs, window to street with our Heineken vases}

 {top of the stairs, from l-r, Paula's, mine, and Greg's rooms}

 {down hallway into bathroom - we have 3!  Colleen's room on the right}

 {my room!}

 {we have ginormous closets with huge mirrors (a little messy!)}

 {different angle}

{Another shot outside}

 It's weird knowing that I'm leaving in less than 30 days.  I can't figure out if I should unpack or not, so a lot of my stuff is just in boxes in my closet right now.  I love our new house!

 

We Moved!

Pictures to come soon (once I clean up my room), but holy cow!  Our house is gorgeous!  And two blocks from school!  And I'm starting a compost pile! And a garden!  YAY!

New Address (until June 11th):

152 S. Utah Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Some Easter Brunch pictures until the moving pics are up:

All LA JVs + a few other random JVs in town

 

Jacques, me, Paula, Colleen