Welcom.

There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a
life that is less than the one you are capable of living

~ Nelson Mandela





Friday, July 16, 2010

Chillin'

Sup people's, just gone done with today's activities, and I was free for the rest of the evening, so I figured I drop a line and let everyone know whats up, so, been really busy lately, last Thursday was introduction, Friday was enculturation of the church, followed by an introduction to over sea's current, Saturday was a program about The Aids Pandemic in the global south followed by discussion, afterwords was a cookout with two live bands, you can check out one of the bands, Andinay, here: http://andinay.ning.com/
The white guy with the glasses in the band is actually one of the admins for the salesian group I am going with, lol.

Sunday was story telling, each person was granted an opportunity to share there story with everyone else, then that Evening the sky's finally cleared up and I was able to set up my telescope and check out the night sky, and with help from a fellow salesian, Stephen, he located the globular cluster m13, Check it out here: M13
He also Showed me several of the prominant stars, so now I can locate Arcturus, Antares, Altair, danube and vega.

The next day we had cross-culture Prep which went into the evening, Wednesday we had A reflection day, for the first half we watched a program about race and it's genetic impossibility as well as social economic impacts on how race is perceived, then in the afternoon I headed out to Manhattan with a few of my fellow salesians for mass at St. Patricks, this time I took some video, so hopefully that will be up later this week.

After that we went searching for something to eat, (Everything is overpriced here, and it took us forever to find something affordable to eat, we finally settled for a little cart stand offering falafel, which was quit delish) and for the rest of the evening we just chilled in times square.

Yesterday and today we engaged in handling trauma as well as conflict management in interpersonal and small groups, which was actually really enjoyable as we did allot of interactive games and skits.

And now I am just chillin' while waiting for dinner, so that's what has been happening.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Hey peoples, finally found time to actually post, so I though I would waist no time in doing so.
So the plane ride over to NY JFK was uneventful, (although I guess several other Volunteers were late because JFK had to close down on the 4th due to a bomb threat?!?!) All my luggage made intact (Mostly, thanks Dad, , although the strap on my backpack is starting to rip, so I need to get that repaired.)

Thanks to my Ma, I managed to find a place to sleep for the two days I had in between moving to the start of the salesian training, it was right next to time square, very cool place, although very hectic, went exploring a bit, got a bite to eat, (Fish N' Chips from an Irish pub) then hit the sack (somewhat) early, my three bunk mates for that night was a group from Australia, (or kiwi's, can't remember) and a guy from Vancouver, so we swapt itineraries before shuteye.

The next day I went to mass at St. Patricks cathedral, one of the most amazing Churches I've seen (the relics of St. Theresa the little flower were there), after which I went sightseeing, I saw Rockefeller center, Madison square and all them other class icy stuff, strolled through central park, saw the king tut exhibit at the exhibition center.

After the aforementioned activities, I met up with John and Marie, (fellow volunteers) and spent the next view hours strolling through central park (again) after which we decided to catch the firework show, so after acquiring directions as to where the fireworks would be held we headed of the the east side of Manhattan, a good 30 min walk, however, we noticed that there was an extreme lack of crowds, so after asking another passerby where the fireworks were she directed us to go to the complete opposite direction, the west side of Manhattan, however this time we wanted to make sure so after walking a few blocks we asked yet another pedestrian, and sure enough it was being held on the west side, so we booked and 40 Min's later, arrived on the west side only to be confronted with what possibly could have been the largest assemblage of people I have ever been in, so after fighting our way about a fifth of the way through the crowd, I became separated from my comrade in arms due to the police clearing the crowds from the streets onto the sidewalk, with john and marie on one side, and yours truly on the other, so of course the fireworks started to go off at this point, and of course there was several buildings blocking the spectacle, so the crowd started this mass emigration of epic proportions across the streets trying to get to a place with a clear view, and in the midst of it all was little me, being swept along like a cork in the ocean.
Eventually we ended up at a clearing between buildings, it wasn't perfect as there were some tall trees in the way, but I think that for whatever reason the crowd couldn't go any further, so I think everyone just gave up and decided to enjoy what they could see, (Thank God) The Firework show itself was quite nice, but I think I have been spoiled because I enjoy our family (or I should say my Fathers) firework show much more, of course being crammed together like sardines with several other THOUSANDS of people may have had something to do with my lack of enjoyment, although I have to admit that the finale was amazing.

Anyways, after the fireworks, the crowd started yet another Exodus, this time towards time square, and seeing how that's where our hostel was, I decided to go along with the crowd rather than fight it, the rest of the trip back to my bed was mostly uneventful, although I do remember one incident with much clarity, as the massive crowds flooded the streets, a child rushed out of a residence, followed quickly by who I assumed was the child's mother, as she grabbed her son to keep him from running headlong into the street, I heard her exclaim: what's going on??.
Two men behind me heard her as well, and replied jokingly that it was a Zombie Apocalypse, and I can remember thinking to my self that that is exactly what it looked like.

So I made back to the hostel in one piece and met up with John and Marie, who also had made it back unscathed, and after a round of comparing stories about the mob, retired for the night.

The next day, was rather uneventful compared with the previous night, we got a late start, attended mass at St. Patricks, went sight seeing for an hour or two, then packed our bags and headed to grand central station were we caught a train to ossining station, and after a 5 min taxi ride, we arrived at the Bethany house, our place of residence for the next two weeks, after unpacking, we met up with several of the other Volunteers, played a game of frisbee, had some pizza, played some cup games, then went out on the grounds and where we were engaged by a spectacular display of fireflies, after catching a few, we retired for the night.

One other thing I should mention, It is unbelievably hot out, like crazy hot, I guess there is a heat wave hittin' the east coast at the moment, lol, you know it's hot when you wake from sleeping, and your covered in sweat.

As for yesterday, it was all rather relaxed, so other then daily prayers, mass & getting to know the other volunteers, (and learning a bit about our expectations) we didn't do much, although when I went and put together my telescope, as soon as I had put it together, I looked out the window and guess what? The sky was covered in clouds, coincidence? I think not!!
Today was also quite laid back, 8:00 was morning prayers, 8:30 was breakfast, 9:00 to 12:30 was learning more about our sites, 1:15 was my Psychological evaluation (YEAHH!!) 1:45 to 4:00 was more site information, 4:00 to 4:45 was a fun activity involving a sort of treasure hunt where we had to figure out incredibly vague clues and interpret them as an object or idea, at 5:00 we said evening prayers, after which we ate dinner, at 6:00 we had an activity where we had to assemble a group of activities for a youth camp that we will be helping out at in a few weeks.
From then till now I have been reading a new book I found titled: The Dante Club, so far it's a very interesting book, definitely worth looking into.
Well that's it for today, now that I'm caught up, hopefully it Will be a little easier to keep up, lol.

Oh, and guess what, still cloudy tonight.......Grrrrr.