"The freedom of man, I contend, is the freedom to eat."
- Eleanor Roosevelt
salutations from seattle!
aside from missing my transfer bus on the first day of work and dealing with the ridiculousness of the three hour time difference (which i reallllllly am annoyed with communication wise!)- this week was PERFECT. as some of you might have noted, i am really excited with life right now. like- i dont think I have been this happy since freshman year at denison- that was the last time i truly felt that God led me to where I needed to be. i know that part of faith is to trust that God is putting you where you need to be even if you dont feel it, yet its always nice to reach these moments in your life where you are perfectly happy with where you are. its like seeing the rainbow after the flood and remembering God's covenant ;)
so my job= perfect for me. i work at an AIDS alliance which is an amazing organization which has lots of departments (housing, insurance, development, education, thrift store (the best thrift store ever...where i recieve employee discounts and got a 10 dollar gift certificate for helping volunteer for like two hours...and where 80 cents of every dollar help fund our organization)....i work for the food department though. if you know anything about me, or my buffalo upbringing- you will know this is the most perfect place i could be at. which would be accurate. lets just say i wake up every morning with a smile on my face excited to go hang out with some awesome people. and eat awesome food.
the food program consists of a team of dietitians who work with clients (both who have HIV/AIDS or who are elderly), and configure the type of meal service they would like to receive (this includes culturally specific grocery bags, freshly packaged frozen meals with diebetic, heart healthy, etc options. then the kitchen goes to work to fill the orders of the frozen meals, and the warehouse compiles grocery bags filled with fresh produce, eggs, milk, cheese, etc.. to get clients though a week. let me just stop and say i have worked in MANY soup kitchens/food pantries and i have NEVER seen one operate like this. it simply blows my mind how much this organization does with so little. it is clean, the staff and volunteers (many of whom have volunteered there for over 15 years and come back rain or shine every week)smile and are happy to work there. perk: every day the kitchen prepares an OUTSTANDING lunch of yumminess. last weeks meals: coconut rice w/ curry veggies, veggie lasagna w/ ceasar salad, artisan cupcakes with buttercream frosting handpiped on...shall i go on? you get the picture...i am happy.
so what is my job? well its a mix of things: coordinating volunteers to work in the kitchen/warehouse/deivery and get them excited to work there. which isnt hard as i am easily exicted and try to spead my akwardness onto others to make them feel comfortable. it seems to work as we had a dance party rave in the walk in fridge the other day while the manager of the warehouse flipped the light on and off to simulate a strobe light. yeah. that happened.
i also deliver meals all over seattle to home-bound clients. which ROCKS. they are the sweetest people in the world and so appreciative of the food. and i am getting my bearings of seattle a little better every day, and have some pretty sweet views of the local mountains. pretty sweet. on tuesdays i will be driving down to tacoma to a drop off center there, and on saturdays i work with volunteers at local grocery chains (and whole foods!!!) to ask customers to shop for our clients. seattle has some pretty kind and big-hearted people i must say!
one quick other perk: my organization had free tickets they needed people to use, so i saw rufus wainwright and his sister live in concert at this beautiful concert hall downtown. for free. gahhhh! and it was one of the best concerts of my life. no big deal.
ok- so this is getting really long. let me sum it up....i love my life. i love getting up in the morning to go to work (though its not work for me...its fun). i love my house, my housemates, my neighborhood. i love seattle. i love you and miss you all. so there is that. i am sure there will be more exploring and more stories to come, but for now- i am just chillin like bob dylan and having a blast. talk to you as soon as i can!
love, me
ps- THANK YOU GOD!!!!!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
new beginnings
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain
(thanks jon!)
hey yall!
writing to you from seattle! hope everyone is doing well- i miss everyone so much already! but i am really loving LVC- i was so freaked out in the weeks leading up to the experience...i was starting to have doubts that i was doing the wrong thing. but as i attended orientation and got to meet some amazing people with such great ambition to make the world a better place through a year of simplicity, sustainability, intentional community, and social justice, anti-racism- i began to feel a sense of peace. a feeling that i was in the place that God wanted me to be in. i continued to feel this way as i flew over the cascade mountains and started to tear up. God is so amazing isnt he?
Alyssa told me that this year in LVC would be like a pumice stone to any callouses that i received during my time and stress at denison....she was right! i already feel some of that indifference shed from me. i tell you- living in an intentional community is sooo helpful with that. there are people in the same boat as you, who are holding you accountable for your actions and challenging you to dig a little deeper- as the house relies on it for survival. and i cannot wait to start work so that i might become more passionate about life and about peace through justice (and food!)!!
for a more specific update: i live in the CUTEST neighborhood ever which really should be worth $1200 a month in rent but a pastor who owns the building rents it to us for lower since she is affiliated with LVC. SWEET SWEET deal. we live above a barber shop in what i would describe as the short north (columbus) or elmwood village (buffalo) section of town. totally cute, totally (well mostly) safe, totally expensive, totally homogenous (not so awesome). its right across the street from a Thai and Vietnamese restaurants (and there awesome smells flow through the window all the time and makes your stomach growl). the apartment itself is HUGE...its got an old world charm with wood floors, high ceilings. built in closets, a patio off the kitchen (with a container garden!!!!), sunroom (which we are turning into a meditation/coffee room), HUGE kitchen with all the tools you would ever need to cook and a rockin spice cabinet, large but comfy living room, dining room/library, tiny bathroom, and three bedrooms. i share a bedroom with one of my housemates (which, by the way, i really must say how much i missed living in a room with someone else). the best part: my backyard is a grocery store. and there is a trader joes just down the street. could it get any better? i dont think so. well- perhaps if all you lovely people were here with me ;)
we just ventured on our first bus journey in the beautiful and humid free seattle to ballard (home of john murphy) to the best goodwill store i have ever been to. i will never need to go to any department store while i am out here because they have everything we could ever need there. like...everything.
we also have a local church (queen anne lutheran) supporting our house for the year who have the most kind people ever! they furnished a ton of our apartment with comfy couches and adorable lamps/dressers/etc....and when we went to the service there this morning they were all so sweet and welcomed us with open arms. amazingness.
in essence: i am so excited for this year and just feel soooo blessed for this opportunity to start fresh, to make a difference, meet some sweet people (as if i needed to meet any more!), and learn about seattle- queen anne, the works. i am lovin life.
and lovin all of you.
peace!
-Mark Twain
(thanks jon!)
hey yall!
writing to you from seattle! hope everyone is doing well- i miss everyone so much already! but i am really loving LVC- i was so freaked out in the weeks leading up to the experience...i was starting to have doubts that i was doing the wrong thing. but as i attended orientation and got to meet some amazing people with such great ambition to make the world a better place through a year of simplicity, sustainability, intentional community, and social justice, anti-racism- i began to feel a sense of peace. a feeling that i was in the place that God wanted me to be in. i continued to feel this way as i flew over the cascade mountains and started to tear up. God is so amazing isnt he?
Alyssa told me that this year in LVC would be like a pumice stone to any callouses that i received during my time and stress at denison....she was right! i already feel some of that indifference shed from me. i tell you- living in an intentional community is sooo helpful with that. there are people in the same boat as you, who are holding you accountable for your actions and challenging you to dig a little deeper- as the house relies on it for survival. and i cannot wait to start work so that i might become more passionate about life and about peace through justice (and food!)!!
for a more specific update: i live in the CUTEST neighborhood ever which really should be worth $1200 a month in rent but a pastor who owns the building rents it to us for lower since she is affiliated with LVC. SWEET SWEET deal. we live above a barber shop in what i would describe as the short north (columbus) or elmwood village (buffalo) section of town. totally cute, totally (well mostly) safe, totally expensive, totally homogenous (not so awesome). its right across the street from a Thai and Vietnamese restaurants (and there awesome smells flow through the window all the time and makes your stomach growl). the apartment itself is HUGE...its got an old world charm with wood floors, high ceilings. built in closets, a patio off the kitchen (with a container garden!!!!), sunroom (which we are turning into a meditation/coffee room), HUGE kitchen with all the tools you would ever need to cook and a rockin spice cabinet, large but comfy living room, dining room/library, tiny bathroom, and three bedrooms. i share a bedroom with one of my housemates (which, by the way, i really must say how much i missed living in a room with someone else). the best part: my backyard is a grocery store. and there is a trader joes just down the street. could it get any better? i dont think so. well- perhaps if all you lovely people were here with me ;)
we just ventured on our first bus journey in the beautiful and humid free seattle to ballard (home of john murphy) to the best goodwill store i have ever been to. i will never need to go to any department store while i am out here because they have everything we could ever need there. like...everything.
we also have a local church (queen anne lutheran) supporting our house for the year who have the most kind people ever! they furnished a ton of our apartment with comfy couches and adorable lamps/dressers/etc....and when we went to the service there this morning they were all so sweet and welcomed us with open arms. amazingness.
in essence: i am so excited for this year and just feel soooo blessed for this opportunity to start fresh, to make a difference, meet some sweet people (as if i needed to meet any more!), and learn about seattle- queen anne, the works. i am lovin life.
and lovin all of you.
peace!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
waves
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
-Teilhard de Chardin
man- this is sooo long overdue. i apologize to anyone who actually keeps up with this and is disappointed by my lack of effort but i promise i will be better! so lots has happened in the month of july- i cant even remember what happened to this summer! i am pretty sure i did absolutely nothing during the month of june- and then july hit and BAM! i mean- it was a great month- i got to travel all over the place, see lots of friends before i head out west, and spend time with some family down south. i can't complain! but as i approach this sunday- the day i leave for LVC- i cant help but already feel some homesickness. i am at home typing this right now, but for some reason, i have this disturbing feeling in my stomach saying "what are you thinking rachel? the west coast? the other side of the country where you dont know anyone? away from everyone you love?". yikes. i am just hoping that i am going where God wants me to be and shows me a purpose greater than my selfish self. which brings me to todays blog topic...
while on hilton head visiting my amazing aunt and her family- i had the chance to go wave jumping/body surfing on a day with HUGE waves. there was a tropical storm off the coast of florida, and the waves were a height well above my head....(and yes, for those interested, this was the same day as my jellyfish sting...) anyway, i got to experience something i dont think i ever have before- the power and fury of raw nature- nothing withheld- in the most tangible form possible. i literally was being pummeled by these huge waves and there was nothing i could do to protect myself. rachel vs. nature straight up.
so what does this have to do with God? good question- i am glad you asked;) i realized while being hit repeatedly (losing my bikini top several times) that i am so weak compared to the power that God has. like- so weak. people might have technology, money, social mobility, etc. but it pails in comparison to the power that God has. its kind of frightening at first, but when i think about it more- it is amazing. i feel so blessed that I am in the hands of an all powerful God capable of producing strong waves, of miracles. i know in my heart the truth that I am only part of a whole- only a small freckle in a greater cause. and believe it or not- it was waves that helped remind me of that. i wonder how many other things God tries to show me everyday that i miss...i need to pay better attention ;)
peace...and see you all on the west coast!
-Teilhard de Chardin
man- this is sooo long overdue. i apologize to anyone who actually keeps up with this and is disappointed by my lack of effort but i promise i will be better! so lots has happened in the month of july- i cant even remember what happened to this summer! i am pretty sure i did absolutely nothing during the month of june- and then july hit and BAM! i mean- it was a great month- i got to travel all over the place, see lots of friends before i head out west, and spend time with some family down south. i can't complain! but as i approach this sunday- the day i leave for LVC- i cant help but already feel some homesickness. i am at home typing this right now, but for some reason, i have this disturbing feeling in my stomach saying "what are you thinking rachel? the west coast? the other side of the country where you dont know anyone? away from everyone you love?". yikes. i am just hoping that i am going where God wants me to be and shows me a purpose greater than my selfish self. which brings me to todays blog topic...
while on hilton head visiting my amazing aunt and her family- i had the chance to go wave jumping/body surfing on a day with HUGE waves. there was a tropical storm off the coast of florida, and the waves were a height well above my head....(and yes, for those interested, this was the same day as my jellyfish sting...) anyway, i got to experience something i dont think i ever have before- the power and fury of raw nature- nothing withheld- in the most tangible form possible. i literally was being pummeled by these huge waves and there was nothing i could do to protect myself. rachel vs. nature straight up.
so what does this have to do with God? good question- i am glad you asked;) i realized while being hit repeatedly (losing my bikini top several times) that i am so weak compared to the power that God has. like- so weak. people might have technology, money, social mobility, etc. but it pails in comparison to the power that God has. its kind of frightening at first, but when i think about it more- it is amazing. i feel so blessed that I am in the hands of an all powerful God capable of producing strong waves, of miracles. i know in my heart the truth that I am only part of a whole- only a small freckle in a greater cause. and believe it or not- it was waves that helped remind me of that. i wonder how many other things God tries to show me everyday that i miss...i need to pay better attention ;)
peace...and see you all on the west coast!
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