youthworks is my life.

so as lauren pointed out on my facebook wall, it's been over a month since i've updated this thing. i think there are two main reasons why it's taken me so long. first: i just haven't had time! today is my first day off since i started youthworks training on may 25th. and second: i knew that whenever i did write an update, i wouldn't have any idea where to start because sooo much has happened in a month. but those reasons aside, it's about time i let people know what's been going on in my life. so here goes nothing!

i'll start at the beginning. on the morning of may 25th, i drove to philadelphia, pa for a week of youthworks training called RAMP (regional and mission preparation). this week with the eastern region staff felt strangely similar to freshman orientation at w&m, in that i was thrown into a situation with no one i knew and was surrounded by tons of college students, and that we were all constantly being carted around to different seminars and told when to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, etc. it was an intense week with long hours consisting mainly of sitting and listening to people talk. i was trained in things like: how to cook a meal for 72 people, how to play contemporary worship songs on guitar (not really my favorite thing to do), how to be a tour guide in nyc, how to speak to a group of christians from different states/denominations and not offend anyone, how to write/deliver talks, how to keep a kitchen clean, how to perform basic vehicle maintenance... we covered quite the variety of material, haha.

[the eastern region youthworks staff @ the 'rocky steps' in philly, PA]

RAMP also took me farther out of my comfort zone than i expected. it took me a while to get used to the fact that i was no longer surrounded by people who knew me and accepted me for the goofy/weird/twampy person that i am. it also took me a while to get used to the fact that nobody else was catholic or from virginia or was into a cappella as much as i was. at the same time, it was really interesting to meet different types of college students. the majority of the people there were from the midwest, and many had those fun minnesotan accents. it also seemed like most people attended small christian colleges. while it was, overall, a pretty awkward week, i had fun and i'm glad i got to meet the people i did. plus, it gave me a chance to use some of my sweet awkwardness-breaking games. hurray for 'contact!'

i also got a chance at RAMP to meet the three staff members with whom i'd be working for the rest of the summer: julio (from puerto rico), jackie (from houston), and hanne (from seattle). all three of them are super awesome, and i'll probably talk more about them later.

since that week of training, i've been living in the basement of first presbyterian church of jamaica in queens, new york. as i write this post, i'm sitting on my air mattress (which also functions as my desk) in the small children's play room which i share with julio as a bedroom. during our two weeks of preparation following training, i moved in, met the church staff, wrote 4 talks, almost died trying to drive in new york, learned how to play a bunch of christian worship songs on guitar, learned how to cook meals/take care of a kitchen, wrote/rehearsed skits, taught everyone the dance to 'what time is it' from high school musical 2 (thanks jake), went grocery shopping at costco for the first time (bill: over $1200), and... lots of other stuff. it was a pretty busy two weeks.

then, finally, the kids came! i guess i didn't really know what to expect from a group of high school students... it had been about 4 years since i'd had much interaction with this demographic, and as hard as i tried, i couldn't really remember what it was like to be in high school. i couldn't get a grasp of the 'mentality of a high school student.' and then, when they got here, it all came flooding back - and it was hilarious. we had two groups, one from ohio and one from iowa, and they were both great. then came the second week - another group from ohio and one from minnesota). they arrived on sunday, left on friday, i slept for 12 hours to recuperate... and here i am now!

so that's the gist of what my summer has looked like, big picture. but i think the best way to show you guys what i actually do is just to go through my typical day here at youthworks. so here it is!

• 6:45ish - wake up (misery in the morning, anyone?)
• 7:00-8:10 - help prepare, serve, and clean up breakfast (and maybe eat if there's time)
• 8:10-8:15 - give a morning devotional to the whole group (i do gospel reflections and make analogies to star wars)
• 8:15-8:40 - morning devotionals (read the bible)
• 9ish-3ish - volunteer at ministry sites. basically, we divide up into teams and travel around jamaica to different places (asisted living facilities, recreational parks, salvation armies, nurseries, churches)... this is my chance during the day to drive around and help out different teams with their projects, while coaching them and getting to know the kids better.
• 3ish-4:30ish - free time (hang out with the kids & play games /do whatever needs to be done to prepare for the evening)
• 4:30ish - 6ish - help prepare/serve/clean up dinner, eat whenever there's time
• 6:00 - give an evening activity orientation to the group (tell people about the history of the place we're going, what we'll do when we get there, and why it's important that we're going... basically i play tour guide, with some Jesus thrown in)
• 6:00 - 8:00 - evening activity. i continue my tour guide role as we caravan (imagine a huge group of 70 people carpooling busy new york streets in 15-passenger vans) to our destination. places we go include rockaway beach, flushing-meadows corona park, a soup kitchen, and a community cookout (where i single-handedly grilled for about 120 people last thursday!)

[the unisphere @ flushing-meadows corona park, site of our tuesday evening activity!]

• 8:15 - snack (yum).
• 8:45 - 9:30 - club. this is basically the 'retreat' part of the day, where the staff performs skits, we play games, we worship (i do that guitar thing), and i give a talk to the group.
• 9:30 - staff meeting, dry all the dishes and prepare the kitchen for the next day's breakfast, prepare everything else for the next day
  
• 10:45 - kids go to bed
  
• somewhere between 11:30 and 12:30: staff finish working and go to bed.

working for youthworks here in queens this summer has shown me a few things so far. it's reinforced something i already knew, which is that i just don't like cities. at all. it's also made me really stop and look at who i am and what direction i want to go with my life (i haven't even begun to figure this one out). living in a presbyterian church and being surrounded by non-catholic christians all day every day has shown me a side of christianity i'm not usually exposed to, which is cool... but it's also made me appreciate catholicism all the more. working as a team at a site that requires a LOT of work has done some to ameliorate my laziness and made me into a harder worker, which is something i needed and hoped to get out of this summer. most strikingly, working here this summer has made me very aware of my faults, flaws, and the areas where i'm lacking. i'm constantly put in situations where i don't feel comfortable or confident (i.e. navigating confusing areas, cleaning kitchens, giving logistical information to large groups, working long, hard, and consistent hours). it's humbling to see just how weak i am. on the one hand, it gives me incentive to try to become stronger... and on the other hand, it helps me to know where i really don't belong in life. either way, it's a good experience.

since this entry has become super-long already, i'll go ahead and end it with a couple of embarassing/funny things that happened to me so far.

1) i was volunteering at madison york assisted living center with a group of kids. jonathan (a hilarious and brilliant freshman from ohio) and i were handing out cookies and juice to some elderly folks, and one man with a very heavy accent approached us and starting talking to me. i had no idea what he was saying, so i kept saying things like "excuse me? sorry..." etc. after a while i gave up and just started nodding and saying "uh huh" to everything he was saying/asking. eventually, he walked away, at which moment jonathan gave me a shove and said "thanks, DAD!!" apparently the guy had asked me if jonathan was my son (jonathan was asian), and i had said yes. oops.

2) my hair was getting pretty shaggy, so i decided to walk across the street to the barber and get a little trim. now, to get a good picture of this, you have to understand that the town of jamaica is a pretty diverse place... meaning that there are no white people. i don't have a problem with this - in fact, it's cool to see/meet people from so many different ethnic backgrounds and countries. but that didn't make me feel any less awkward as i sat for an hour as literally the only white person waiting for a haircut. after a while, the barber (his name was Justice) called me up to the seat. i realized that he might not be used to cutting the type of hair i have, but i figured i'd give him the benefit of the doubt. he eased my worries as he said, "alright, i'm just gonna cut it a little shorter evenly... just tell me if you want it shorter." i breathed a sigh of relief which lasted about half a second, because at that moment he took a raser to my scalp and gave me the closest thing to a buzz cut i've ever received. i was hit by the irony that for a place called 'scissors,' i don't think they knew what scissors were for. after shaving one stroke down the right side of my head, he asked, "that short 'nuff?" and i was able to come out of my shock long enough to force the word, "yep!" my face remained bright red for the remainder of the time i was there, and as i was leaving afterward Justice called to me, "come back next time!"

[me with my buzz cut]

haha. the truth is, my hair is so short right now i don't think i'll ever need a haircut again. unfortunately i have no actual pictures to post here, but you guys can use your imaginations. :-)

okay, this post has gotten way long and hasn't even begun to capture my adventures this summer. if you survived this lengthy post and still want to hear more about life here in queens, please email, call, text, facebook, smoke signal, something! i don't get much contact with the oustide world/people i know and love, so i'd really enjoy a conversation and to hear how your summers and lives are going.

alrighty. i'm off to rummage our (incredibly stocked) kitchen. it's one of the perks of feeding 70 people every week... :-D

hark upon the gale.

over the past few weeks, i've had many opportunities for emotional outpouring. i sang in my final gentlemen, string theory, and bots concerts. i attended the grad mass, my last ccm event. i said goodbye to friends with whom i've spent countless hours rehearsing, talking, laughing and praying. i reflected more than i've ever reflected before. it hit me again and again that i was leaving, but never once did i shed a tear.

...until today.

with graduation behind me and the car fully packed, i was on my way out of the burg. but at the intersection of harrison and richmond, instead of turning left toward i-64, i found myself heading right, back toward the college. i parked at ewell and walked the few steps to what is, in my opinion, the most breathtaking part of campus. i stood at the steps of the sunken gardens opposite the hallowed wren building and took it all in one last time. i remembered writing the lyrics to "autumn leaves fall," choir dinners in the grassy knoll, and singing loch lomond and barbara allen on the wren portico. i remembered all the times i ran through the sunken gardens - to catch a frisbee, to avoid being late to rehearsal, to complete one third of an esteemed college tradition. and as i stood there, looking out upon the beauty that is old campus, it finally hit me. yep, there were tears.

but i didn't cry because i was sad to leave. as a matter of fact, i could not stop smiling. i cried tears of joy and tears of thankfulness, because i had been lucky enough - blessed enough - to experience something as beautiful as an education at the college of william and mary. i don't have the words to express how much w&m has changed my life. i will always hold a deep love for that place.

standing in child-like wonder of old campus for that last forty-five seconds was my way of paying my final respects. but when that time was up, i got in the car and drove back to northern virginia. today marks my return to the world. the bubble known as undergraduate education has been officially popped. and now, it's time to see just how much my experiences have changed me. it's time to flex the muscles i built, to put to the test every lesson i learned, every piece of knowledge i gained. it's time to leave behind the comfortable world of ewell 151, the catacombs, and flatbread pizzas from the marketplace. it's time to embrace the true challenge of life after education - to jump into the fray, to do something real, to live a purposeful life. here we go.

the purpose of this blog is to keep friends and family updated on how i'm faring. i'll try to update with details about whatever i'm doing as well as the occasional rant - though past experience has shown that it's best for me to avoid linguistic tangents... (if you're curious, ask me). :-)

as far as plans for the near future: i'll be spending my summer (may 25 - august 11) serving as a program staff for youthworks (just google it). i'll be serving in queens, ny, which means you won't be seeing me for a while - but it would be great to receive letters. if you write, i promise to write back. my address for the summer is:

First Presbyterian Church of Jamaica
Attn: Youthworks - Daniel Paris
89-60 164th St.
Jamaica, NY 11432

beyond that, i'm still waiting to hear back from the jesuit volunteer corps regarding placement for the '09-'10 volunteer year. no backup plan... yet.

so in sum:

1. to the college of william and mary, its beauty, tradition, wisdom, and community: thank you.
2. to the future: bring it on.