Every Day is a New Adventure.

First, every time I title my blog I have a mental mind-freak about which words to capitalize. Irrelevant.

So, I didn't really report back on last week. It was a whirlwind. I'm keeping a log of all of the stuff I do (I started it today). But, I guess I've kind of done a lot in the past two weeks. Crazy. I got a hug and a "You're making a difference." on Thursday from my boss. That was pretty cool. I think that some people have jobs where they never hear anything like that. I feel pretty fortunate. The facebook site still hasn't launched and I'm working on how to handle that. I have a week to get through the upper-level and to try to get it live. I think that I have everything done, I just need the ok. There's lawyers and stuff that have to get involved and a whole social media plan/policy that needs to be written by my boss. Except, I've written one from an example we got from a business in the area. My boss kept saying she'd write it, but I think she's been pretty busy so I did it. I'm just a little too scared to tell her I went ahead and did it. But, she's been gone for a few days so I may just tell her. We'll see.

I've been working in InDesign, which I'm not a professional at but I'm decent. I can work it and do image design. I have a pre-defined color palette which makes things a lot easier. It's kind of fun to see what I can do with that. My work probably isn't all that interesting to talk about. I really enjoy doing it and the days aren't that long, but describing it is kind of boring. It won't be that exciting until I finally get to launch something and upkeep the sites.

Of course, volunteering is a highlight for me. The kids down at the Bowden are pretty good. Some are pretty tough, but they're warming up to me. One kid comes up to me and shows me the progress of his loose tooth each time he sees me. I love it. But, today I got thrown into street outreach (and no mom, not the kind of street outreach that is in the Cross and the switchblade). We just go down to the "banquet" where they serve two meals a day to those who need it. Our job as street outreach is to sit there and make contact with families that have kids from 8-21 years old (or just the kids those age that are there). I was nervous because I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I actually was pretty good at talking to people who weren't in the age range. Ha. I was working with someone though and when I get thrown to do it by myself that will be fun! Imagine, shy Liz doing this stuff. It's crazy.

The people there are really the ones that fit the stereotypical homeless idea. Dirty, holes in their cloth, etc. They all speak with you a little more than you would think. Of course, some people won't but some are fine with talking about where they are in life. Not to say they're happy with it, but they're not angry at people they talk to about it. One man was lamenting his stolen backpack that had everything he managed to gather up. He wondered that anyone who was homeless could steal from other people who were homeless. The first thought that popped into my head was they had the 'survival of the fittest' attitude but I managed to bite my tongue. Sometimes, I have to watch what I say because I find myself referring back to a home or asking about a mom or dad pretty naturally. But, you can't assume that sort of thing really. I've done ok, but I have to be pretty conscious of it.

Then after that I got back with the kids and played for an hour and royally messed up the kickball rules and the kids kept laughing at me and saying. "Liiiiiiiiiz" like I should know better. Woops. I'm still learning!

So all is well. I miss my family, but I'm doing well. Hope y'all are too!

Oh, and I got paid for my first week. $200, about $5 an hour. Woo. Doin' ok though.

Lessons Can Come in the Littlest Packages.

Although I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to enjoy myself this week, I was wrong. From my last post, you can gather that I am learning a lot about the programs and the people involved.

Surprisingly, I found myself looking up at the clock and being surprised that it was already 4 o'clock. As anticipated, I try to get the tasks I'm assigned all done on the the day they've been assigned to me, but that's just not going to be possible. I have to work at being able to understand that. My boss is overwhelmed, and I can see where she's coming from more. It's interesting to learn what her strengths are. Facebook, for example, is not one of them. I anticipate trying to get our facebook to go live, to be a very hard thing to do. Yay for that.

I've made friends in the office though, and that's awesome. I'm actually very surprised by how much I feel comfortable in this office as compared to the last one that I was in. I wonder why that is, and I have a feeling it's because it is predominantly mother-like women and I feel comfortable there. Silly, but true I think. The woman who has a cube adjoining mine and I have started to hang up signs so that the other has a nice message when they get in the office. That's pretty awesome.

I volunteer at the youth center too, and that's interesting. I'm really just in the 'get the kids to trust me' phase and have them know that I won't be there for a short period of time. Volunteering at a place like that is an actual committment but I really enjoy it. It sort of let's me forget my work day (if there were any frustrations) and focus on making sure these kids have a good time. I hope that some day they'll feel comfortable enough to let me know a little bit more about what is going on with them, and I feel like if I asked they would tell me. But, I feel like that's only because kids don't know any better, I'd rather work on a relationship with them than take for granted how well-intentioned they are.

I played basketball with the kids, and they were cool. I'm BAD! They asked me to play and I told 'em I would, but that I was bad (and I really was, the other two staff there had played). But, at the end of it, one of the kids was like "See, you're not bad!" It was so cute, and he's my favorite so far. I was watching him play pool the first day I was there and he was super friendly. What was most interesting to me though was that he was making sure his peers were using their manners. A lot of the time I'm there I make sure the kids say excuse me and thank you and all that cause they tend to just barrel through otherwise. But, this guy, we'll call him Ronnie, wouldn't move until asked nicely. Most of the kids were just aware of each other and would move out of the way or else be run in to. He demands respect and I really like it. Kids are so smart that way.

I'm excited for next week, and think this will be great. The only part I don't enjoy is getting up so early, but you can't win all the time, right?

Whelmed.

I'm pretty sure that isn't a word, but I think it describes me right now. Just not really sure which way to go, over or underwhelmed.

Yesterday was my first day and it didn't consist of much, just did training for awhile and then went to the marketing meeting. I was excited to go to that and even got to speak a little, but nor a whole lot happened.

Today, I went to training in the morning and skipped out on the second half to visit a program site. The particular site I went to houses young men who have been to jail and no long have a home to go to (not because their parents won't let them stay at home, but for other reasons.) The story behind this program is that the department of corrections visited some time ago and deemed it too dirty and unkempt to receive funding for the next year. They get a chance to clean it up and have the dpt. of corrections back on Monday. My boss and I went to the site to walk the tour with them and give any last minute critiques we thought might help.

Honestly, the place was about what I expected it to be. It used to be a prison and now boys lived there, who apparently didn't have much of a rigorous cleaning expectation. Tiles in the ceilings were broken, a door window was busted, a lot of the furniture looked like it might fall over. Carpets were dirty, etc. But here's where I run in to a problem. How much more can we expect out of a program that gets (I think) most of it's funding through grants and charity? I didn't agree with the way the place was run. The kids don't have room inspections and are allowed to leave their basketballs (their own property) out on the basketball court. I personally would take the basketballs until they earned it back, and I would do room inspections. They wouldn't take us into the restrooms. I feel like there should be a higher standard with the chores. So, do we blame the staff and cut the funding or do we not expect much from these programs and let them live the way they do? I don't know.

Also visited a place where developmentally disabled sexual offenders go to find work. The don't do anything too high up in the business world (paint rain barrels, do factory line-work, landscaping). I saw some things in there that let me have a little peek into what they think about and it was what you might imagine, and it was odd for me.

Oh yea, and we met with the development committee. Our company needs funding, just as any other does, but geez we're pushing hard. Hopefully I'll get to sit down tomorrow and actually be productive. We'll see.

I don't really know what to think about it all, I think time will tell.

Liz

Let's Play A Little Catch-Up...

So, I've been a little negligent. But, I didn't really feel there was much that was exciting or enthralling to report on. Now that I look back and see how much time I have to update, maybe I should have posted a boring intermediary blog. :) Hindsight is always 20-20 on that sort of thing.

Anyway, you left me after my last experience at the factory and working temporary jobs. I had decided that $500 was my goal for the summer before I started work and after my work with the temp jobs, I only had $130. Fortunately for me, Carol (Connor's mom) found an opportunity for me to work for her while she was the director of a tournament in Kansas City. I was able to get some great experience working with Social Media to build a fan base and was paid for it. This put me to my goal, so working of the summer was over. Maybe I should have worked more, but I've been pretty busy anyway.

Last week, I went to a retreat in Rapid City, SD, which is about 5.5 hours from where I'm staying right now. This retreat was basically a review on how to interact with co-workers in the workplace and especially with your supervisor. All of the VISTAs in the South Dakota were there, so it was pretty cool to know what else people were doing in the state. I also had to drive across the state with the other VISTA in the Sioux Falls area. He was interesting. Entertaining and a little weird, but I think that people would say that about me too. We had a lot of fun and it made the drive easier than it would have been if we'd had to drive by ourselves.

I met the VISTA Coordinator for SD because she ran the retreat and found out that she is also in the Marketing office in the Rapid City office. One of the more interesting things is that another man who works in the marketing office there as a VISTA had actually served 7 years in prison for theft and other things. I found him pretty interesting because I've only recently learned that people can actually change for the better. I know it sounds shallow to say that, but it's a strange concept to me that people can suppress or get rid of a side of themselves that allowed them to act in ways that were so wrong. In his case, theft isn't so bad. But, he told me he was part of a gang etc. I'm still learning about people and how they change throughout their lives, I suppose.

Anyway, it was cool to be across the state and up in the hills. Saw a mountain lion when I was out running, that was pretty scary. It was kind of surreal, my reaction to it. There was not initial terror or immobilization. Part of me knew that maybe I would want to scream, but part of me thought that I could just walk away quietly and be fine. So, I did the latter and was ok. I think that I was just really lucky that it didn't see me/wasn't hungry/wasn't threatened.

I spent some time with Connor and got to check out Keystone which was  a lot of fun, we got ice-cream. La-de-da, I always have a good time with him.

I got back to Sioux Falls on Sunday, did some laundry, and was headed for Minneapolis by Tuesday for my 'Pre-Service Orientation'. Here, I learned a lot more about how VISTA works within an office, and how to find more information about what my role is supposed to be in the office I am working in. It was really helpful. I'd like to say that it was a really enlightening few days about the way we feel about poverty, etc. But it wasn't and I think that's ok. We talked about what poverty meant to us and when we first recognized it in the world. When you get a group of people like that together, they all want to tell their story in such a meaningful way that I guess the point just passed me by. Not to say that I'm not passionate about helping people alleviate poverty, or to help people themselves get out of it. I'm just to the point where I've recognized the issue and don't need the persuasion anymore.

Needless to say, I'm ready to get started and I start tomorrow! Of course, I'm going to miss being able to just sit around and do what I want all day, but I suppose that's all a part of growing up.

Wish me luck! It's going to be busy, hard, and educational for this entire next year!