I have been very bad at updating. Please forgive me. I have been busy and distracted and lazy. Those are my excuses. :) Here are the topics for this post:
1.) Please have snow and mistletoe...
2.) A duel in my honor
3.) Frito pies
4.) Work cures all
5.) I thought of you...and saved paper!
6.) Farewell to Natalie
7.) You feel like paradise and I need a vacation tonight
8.) Be careful!
9.) A gaggle of galloping girls
10.) My word is money
11.) A retreat to remember
12.) Cowboys
13.) Honoring the King
14.) Your grandmother is my idol
15.) Sick as a dog
1.) Please have snow and mistletoe...
My trip back to Chicago from December 18th to December 28th was lovely. I met with old friends, walked around downtown, walked around my alma mater's campus, enjoyed meals and games with family (including my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents!), partied in Wrigleyville with one of my San Antonio housemates who is also from Chicago, hung out with some Chicago Jesuit Volunteers at their community's home, went ice skating, performed a play that I wrote with my sisters, some family friends, and the Chicago JVs, and made a music video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxYFymza2ok.
I loved being home. I hadn't realized how much I had missed my family until I saw them again. They're really neat. They even let me put the angel on our family Christmas tree. And my friends are cool as well! And Chicago has a ton to offer. I'll be back there in August for sure....when it's WARM!
2.) A duel in my honor
I had the pleasure of spending New Year's Eve and Day here in San Antonio. I was alone in my community's home from December 28th to 30th and then only one of my housemates returned on the 30th so I celebrated the New Year with her and a family from the parish. They were really friendly and took us downtown to a big party in the streets- with over 20,000 people! The father of the family, Carlos, works at the church and is a really amazing person. He exudes endless patience, kindness, understanding, generosity, and hospitality. I would say he's almost like a father figure to me here- though he would have no idea that I see him that way! So, all that said, this is what ensued:
Carlos, his wife Pearl, his son, two of his daughters, one of their boyfriends, Megan, and I went downtown and walked the streets which were closed off. There were carnival rides, live music, food stands, and a TON of people in a small space. We found a spot near the main stage and waited for the firework show to start. One of Carlos' daughters was determined to play in the House of Mirrors so Megan and I fought our way through the crowd to enter the grotesquely overpriced attraction. Then, as we made our way back to where Carlos and his family were, an older, seemingly intoxicated man grabbed my arm and tried to drag me with him. I pulled away from him (which wasn't difficult because, as I said, he seemed pretty inebriated) and ran over to Carlos.
Not thinking about what effect my words might have, I told Carlos in a joking manner that I had been grabbed by someone in the crowd. My intention was to laugh about it with Carlos because to me, it was humorous and harmless. However, Carlos is the father of five girls and does not take lightly any offense to his family or those close to him. Even if the "offense" was just the over enthusiasm of a drunken partygoer. So as the words rolled off my lips..."Some guy in the crowd grabbed my arm..." Carlos' normally placid and jovial face transformed into one of horror and outrage! He quickly asked me who had grabbed my arm. I casually gestured in the direction of the guy but told Carlos that it was no big deal. He asked again, "Which guy? Which one grabbed your arm?" And because he was asking so anxiously, I answered. By now, seeing the look on his face, I had some idea of what he was planning to do. "Carlos! It's okay, he probably thought I was someone else." Carlos could sense that I was worried so he told me he was "going to the bathroom" and took off in the direction of my arm-seizer. The crowd was pretty thick so I couldn't really see him but as I stood on my tip-toes, I watched as Carlos grabbed the man's arm and started berating him for having grabbed my arm. Carlos was civil but still forceful and tough with the guy. I was so scared that the man would react violently and they would get into a physical altercation... because of me!!
Ok, so a "duel in my honor" may have been an overstatement. In the end, Carlos let the man go after yelling at him and the man just staggered away. But it was still fascinating to watch just how invested Carlos became in righting the "wrong" that had been done to me. Is it a Texas thing? Or would it have happened elsewhere too? Who knows! All I know is that I'm safe when I go out with that family! Haha.
3.) Frito pies
Yes, you've got that right. A delicacy on the West Side is the Frito Pie. You can google it. But basically it's a bag of Fritos Corn Chips with chili, nacho cheese, and jalepeños dumped in it. It's everywhere! The ice cream trucks even sell it. The kids at the after school program that I help facilitate are all about them and they'll sometimes bring them to the program. Which is a big mess because the nacho cheese and chili gets everywhere. The bags usually come with a spoon but it's apparently a lot more fun to eat the snack with one's hands. If you want my opinion, I would say that there probably isn't a less healthy snack in the history of unhealthy snacks and it breaks my heart to watch the youngsters consume such garbage.
4.) Work cures all
My coworker, Josie is a woman in her sixties who works the front desk from 9am-1pm Mondays through Thursdays. She is an AARP employee which means that she must follow several strict guidelines regarding how much time a day and how many months she can spend at Catholic Charities. She's a crazy lady but has a big heart and I'm quite fond of her.
The other day, she came in to work on a Friday which was unusual and not permitted. We were afraid she might run into problems with her AARP employer but luckily nothing happened. When asked why she came to work on her day off, she said she was "depressed" at home and wanted to be in a more pleasant environment. I was shocked! Since when was the workplace the preferred hangout for an employee?? It really opened my eyes though to her reality and how lonely a person can get when they reach a certain age and have no family living with them. Her transformation upon entering the office and diving into her duties was inspiring. She perked right up and you would not have been able to guess that the woman had ever experienced any sort of sadness at all. I wonder how many of the other employees at my job see the workplace as a refuge as well...
5.) I thought of you...and saved paper!
My coworker, Natalie, the coordinator of the After School Program, is in charge of printing out the "sign-in" sheets for the kids in the program. Well, last month, she printed out 30 sign-in sheets with the wrong month on them (November, instead of December!). She told me that she was about to throw them all away when the image of me popped into her head. "I thought of you," she told me later, "and I just couldn't do it! I knew that you would have been sad if you found out that I threw away 30 sheets of paper. So I whited out the month on all thirty of the papers and wrote in December."
I guess my constant rants about how wasteful our office is really stuck! With one person at least...
6.) Farewell to Natalie
...but it doesn't matter anymore. Because Natalie's gone :( The sad day came during the week after New Year's. She was an Americorps volunteer and her Americorps supervisor did not like that our Catholic Charities boss was assigning Natalie tasks not related to the After School Program. After a ton of headbutting (that pretty much started in September but continued through January), the supervisor placed Natalie elsewhere. I was devastated. Natalie was the backbone of the After School Program. Literally. She planned all the activities, was in charge of contacting parents, and basically just ran the show. Also, she was a breath of fresh air in an office where the average employee age is 65. No joke. So to have a young 21 year old to talk to and joke with was awesome. She's still in San Antonio so I know we'll keep in touch but it's not the same!
Her replacement is a guy named James. He looks to be in his late 20s and he's nice. In fact he's very friendly, generous, and energetic. But it's not the same. It's just not the same.
7.) You feel like paradise and I need a vacation tonight
That's right. I quoted Britney Spears. Why? Because her new song is so ridiculous! That is all.
8.) Be careful!
So I've noticed that a lot of the older Spanish-speaking people in the community who know me like to tell me to "Be careful" every time they bid me adieu. I wondered why this was. Did they know me to be reckless and wanted to warn me to take it easy? Were they paranoid? Were they honestly concerned about my safety? Then I thought about the farewell phrase in Spanish- "Cuídate." It means "take care" but maybe the rough translation is "be careful." I'm not sure but it's kind of annoying to be told to "be careful" every day because I'm starting to wonder if I really should take extra caution in my daily activities. Hmm.
9.) A gaggle of galloping girls
So there I was. Minding my own business. Trying to take care of my health. When they came.
When I got back to San Antonio after visiting Chicago, I was excited to experience the considerably warmer weather again. I was SO excited, I decided to start running again. I had stopped running in December because I thought it was getting cold in Texas. However, a quick trip back to the North set me straight and I realized that I had NO excuse not to spend time outside in San Antonio because it could be a helluva lot colder. So anyway, I decided to run around the high school that's behind my house because it's the safest place to run. Well, safe from MOST things.
One day, while I running around the school, I ran by a group of high school girls sitting on an outdoor staircase. I didn't think much of it until I distinctly heard a member of the group say "Let's chase her." It struck me as odd and I thought that maybe I had imagined it. But then, sure enough, the gaggle of girls was gallivanting behind me. Chasing me. I didn't know what to do! I started to fear that they might catch up to me and try to harm me or hassle me in some way. Why were they chasing me??
Then, because I am an exceptionally slow runner, they caught up to me and ran past me. It was kind of embarrassing that my pursuers were running so fast they passed me up! Then one of the girls so eloquently declared: "We look stupid." And the rest of the group ceased their stunt. I was in disbelief.
10.) My word is money
One of my duties at work is to call the utility company that supplies the city with energy. They are called CPS Energy and I call them to make a "pledge" or promise on my clients' accounts. Basically, I'm just telling them that a certain amount of money WILL be paid to the client's account and asking CPS to hold off from disconnecting that client's services because said payment will be made. However, a lot of my clients were confused by this process. They didn't get what good my pledge was if there was no money in their account yet. Then one of my clients said a phrase that forever changed my career as a utility caseworker.
Client: Oh, so you mean your word is money?
Me: Yes. Where have you been my whole life?
So, I tried out this phrase on my next client when explaining to him what the procedure was for utility assistance and by jove, he got it! He understood it right away. Gone are the blank stares. Gone the empty nods. I just have to say to my clients: "My word is money" and somehow this magic phrase expresses to them all that they need to know about how their utility bill will be paid.
11.) A retreat to remember
JVC planned a "Re-orientation" for all of the Jesuit Volunteers in the south region. It was on the 13th to the 16th in a town called Leakey, TX. The retreat was at a facility called the H. E. Butt Retreat Center. So we called it the Leakey Butt retreat! It was fun seeing all of the volunteers from around the south region (Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Alabama, South Dakota, and El Paso) and hearing their stories about how life is going.
Before the retreat, the JVs from South Dakota flew into San Antonio and we showed them a good time at a dance club called "Cowboys." (see next section)
Then that night at 3am, the two communities from New Orleans came to stay with us. They were all so sweet and we stayed up talking until 5am. Then at 8:30am, I had to wake up and drive the South Dakota folks to pick up their rental car. Busy busy! Then we took the three communities to visit the Alamo and ran into the Austin community there! Then we all caravanned to Leakey.
In Leakey, we sat through a series of lectures on social justice given by a New Orleans native with an interesting sense of humor. He told "Cajun" jokes before every section that he presented on. I had a good time but I was cold the whole time. The heating inside wasn't the strongest and it was frigid outside! Which was too bad since it was GORGEOUS there. A huge river, trees, rocks, nature. Lovely.
On the last night of orientation, we had a talent show, and Casa Guadalupe rocked the house. (Casa Guadalupe is my community). First, we put on a skit that we had written together and practiced a little bit. It was a day in the life of our household. People laughed hysterically! Then I shared a song I wrote in high school and got a ton of positive feedback. It's called "The Boyfriend Song" and it expresses the various situations I've run into with boys that have made it impossible for me to have a boyfriend.
"He's got a girlfriend or he's gay,
He's either mean or he lives far away...
...He's an ex-convict or a priest,
Or I find out he's related to me..."
I was scared out of my mind to play keyboard and sing alone in front of everyone but my community went up there with me and did back-up vocals at the end of each verse so that made it easier. Boy did I love hearing the laughs! And I was surprised at how many people liked the song since it's pretty dorky. Maybe I'll produce it for fun someday. :)
Overall, a very positive experience. JVs are special people.
12.) Cowboys
It was our first time there and probably not the last. But it was a bit overwhelming at first! When you walk in, you are shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of young college students. Then in the middle of the club is a huge dance floor and instead of bumping and grinding or salsa-ing, the people are doing the most ridiculous dance I've ever seen: the Texas Two-Step. Basically, it's two steps to the right and a fall back step on the left. To me, it looked like people shuffling and stumbling around without really knowing what they were doing. Taking two steps in succession so fast with the same foot looks the same as tripping. So, if you can imagine a gigantic, crowded dance floor of drunken college students tripping over themselves, that was Cowboys! Now, some dancers were amazing and worth watching. They did spins and flips and avoided looking like they were losing their footing. But the majority of the dance population paled in comparison.
I was asked to dance by a 22 year old college student in a black cowboy hat and matching boots. His name was Eddie and he made me feel like a horrible dancer. His rhythm was completely off!! And because I hadn't really danced much before dancing with him (just a few times with my housemate, Megan), I didn't know if I had a good sense of the rhythm yet. So try picturing two people with completely different rhythmic concepts trying to keep from tripping and falling while on a crazy crowded dance floor. Intense! After the song or ditty or whatever you can classify country music as was over, he asked if I was "goin' or stayin.'" I gave him one more dance and then excused myself from the dancefloor. He told me to "save the last dance for him" and I distractedly assured him that I would.
Then an hour or two went by (with a few pop and hip hop songs sprinkled in to relieve us from the live country band...er, I mean to relieve the live country band from having to play so much) and he found me again. Well, he used the crowded dance floor as an excuse to hold me a little too close. It really was crowded and, no joke, it took an entire song for us to make our way around the dance floor. Did I mention that the dancefloor functioned like an ice skating rink? So basically, you all dance in the same direction, round and round in circles. So it took us an entire song to make ONE lap around the "rink." Crazy. I told him I had to leave soon and thanked him for the dance. He leaned in close to thank me for the dance and as I walked back to my housemate, she asked me if Eddie had kissed me. And at the exact same moment that she asked that, another college boy asked me to dance. I didn't really process what he was saying though and so I said "No" in response to my housemate. However, the boy thought I was declining his invitation to dance and he looked sad. Having seen what happened, my housemate told the boy that I did want to dance with him. And I was out on the floor again! Only this guys' rhythm was much more in sync with mine and I might have actually enjoyed doing that dance. A little.
It was especially hilarious seeing the reaction of the four JVs from South Dakota at Cowboys. They've spent the last 6 months on a Native American reservation where the nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away and the nearest bar is 45 minutes away. So they were in total shock when they entered that club. "There are more people in here than on the entire reservation" was one comment. Nice.
13.) Honoring the King
When we returned from the retreat in Leakey, we went to the largest Martin Luther King walk in the nation. In San Antonio! I was surprised that it was the biggest in the nation. Why San Antonio? What's the history there? No one could really tell me. It was a beautiful walk but surprisingly subdued. Maybe because the sky was overcast and it's really more of a memorial walk, not an activist march. I'm glad I got to be a part of that.
14.) Your grandmother is my idol
I met Dorothy Day's granddaughter. Well, I went to a talk given by her at the Catholic Worker House here in San Antonio. She was very laid back and said she is the only one of Dorothy's eight grandkids and various great grandkids who is still involved with the Catholic Worker House movement. I thought that was kind of sad. She had some interesting commentary on San Antonio's homeless population and the efforts being made to help those without homes. She had strong criticism for Haven for Hope. If you remember my previous post, I was singing Haven for Hope's praises. But Dorothy's granddaughter said that it's too impersonal and aims to "fix" people too much. She said it's best if you just let people come to you as they are and let them be who they are. Don't try to fix them unless they ask you to. It's something to ponder.
15.) Sick as a dog
My housemate, Janine, got sick last Sunday (the 15th) and we all tried to avoid her. However, her illness quickly spread to three of us. It was awful. I held off until Wednesday the 19th but then it hit me real bad and I was out of work on Thursday and they sent me home Friday morning when I tried to go. To tell the truth, I can't remember anything that happened Thursday and it freaks me out. I slept the entire day in the hopes of recovering. My symptoms were a TERRIBLE headache, body aches, the chills, and congestion. By Friday I felt so bad I decided to go to the Emergency Room. Janine had gone that morning and was diagnosed with bronchitis right away and sent home. I wanted to see if I had the same thing and if they'd prescribe me anything so I went to the exact same E.R. However, I went at 3pm and that was a poor decision. The E.R. was crowded and I had to wait a very long time to be seen by someone. Then, they mentioned that I might have bronchitis but that they'd have to run some tests to see if it really was that.
A nurse gave me a shot in the rump to bring down the fever I didn't know I had and my heart rate which I didn't know was too fast. Well, the humiliation was worth it. The shot helped bring down my fever which then took away my headache. However, it made me nauseous and I sat in misery in the waiting room waiting for 45 minutes to pass so they could take my temperature and heart rate again. When they did, they were glad the fever was gone but my heart rate was still fast so they decided to run more tests. A chest x-ray, a blood test, and five hours later, I was in a room by myself wearing a little hospital gown waiting for the doctor to tell me what the heck was wrong with me. I was shivering, exhausted, hungry, and pissed. They finally came in to tell me that I had bronchitis and that there was no treatment other than drinking fluids and sleeping a lot. Then, in three weeks, it would pass.
At 10pm, they discharged me and I was on my way home. That means I was in the E.R. for seven hours. For bronchitis. Which has no cure. I will never go to the E.R. again if I can help it!
I guess on the plus side, I got to do a lot of people-watching while I waited in the waiting room. I saw a stab victim, heard a woman violently throwing up, a woman with a broken arm, a lady with swollen feet, etc.
Also, at one point, when they called me in to check my heart rate and temperature for the second time, they called me in with another woman too. We sat next to each other in a little hallway area and when I took my jacket off, she asked if I were pregnant. I was so offended and confused and surprised by her comment that I let out a loud, "No!" Then I was trying to find a place to put my jacket and she grabbed it from me and wrapped it around herself because she was "cold."
Uh, lady, I don't know what kind of disease or illness you're in here for... take off my jacket!!!
Well, that's what I wanted to say. But I didn't. She then asked the nurse if she was Filipina.
Good times!
Well, hope you enjoyed the update. I will try my best not to take so long next time in publishing one.
Take care and be careful!
:)
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