The second week I was at home in Goshen doing yard work during the day when the weather was reasonable, fixing my mom's bike, and making more travel plans so my mom wouldn't be worried about my arrival in Argentina because at that point I had NO IDEA where I MIGHT stay for the first week. So I applied to several couches on Couchsurfing.org and found a place to stay after three days of searching. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of couch surfing I'll give a brief explanation. Couch surfing is a network of people open to hosting travelers to stay on their couches (or extra beds sometimes floors if the person REALLY needs a place to stay). So you connect with strangers and find a free nights stay. There are also security measures and a good sense of accountability between couch surfing members. Any way with details being finalized for my travels and things becoming ever more real I said my good byes to my friends who were still in the area, and then my parents as they dropped me off at the train.
As I said my good byes to my parents at the South Bend airport as I prepared to board the South Shore train that would take me to Chicago everything slowed down. The train whistle tooted, I turned around, took my first few steps towards good bye and leaving my family, before I even got a few steps to the side walk the train sets into motion... I thought to my self... welp... I guess thats that... I ran inside to verify that the next train would leave in nearly 5 hours from now and sulked back outside. Two taxi drivers saw me with my head held low and reminded me that cars are things. They were like "you know, we could just drive you to the next station." As I returned to the car where my parents were waiting for me we embarked towards the next station. Only to get on the toll road headed westward to Chicago before realizing the next stop is way before the next exit. So taking it in stride we just went on to the next one. As we got of the highway and headed for the train station, we almost miss the train because one of two motorcyclists that were parked unmoving on the side of the road decided to make a U-turn without looking behind him, luckily we were able to slam our brakes and no one was coming in the other lane so we swerved into the other lane. Slightly stunned the cyclist who also stop sat right next to our front right wheel as he almost then hit us, as we swerved around him and stopped. Petrified, we left him to consider the lesson he learned at such a young age: "look both ways before you cross the street." Making it to the train station with the train already there, I hopped out jogged over to the train and got on straight away.
As I arrived in Chicago I boarded the Red Line to take me to Uptown and back to JPUSA. Besides the hoards of the (Gay) Pride Parade that were bustling about the subway my trip was un-eventful and I made it back to JPUSA safe and sound. As I enter the dining hall I received one of the warmest welcomes I have ever had. Wyatt Muncy one of my best friends here at JPUSA sees me and yells at the top of his lungs "J Deeeeeeee !!!!!! Your back!!!"
Today is tuesday my second full day of returning to the normal schedule at JPUSA. I am back on "Home Crew" which is the group that cleans everything. Together we do all the dishes, pots, pans, tables, floors of the dining hall, bathrooms, stairs, etc. from 7am-2pm. Then dinner clean up rotates. I have already returned to the task of memorizing new names, faces, and things about people. The newest change has been Juggling. I don't have any pictures yet, but will try to get some by this sunday when we will start a formal "circus juggling" night. I will be teaching juggling of clubs, possibly balls as well and a friend of mine will be teaching contact juggling. Each night I have been outside practicing my stuff after dinner until I get interrupted/bombarded by lines of kids, who all want a turn trying it out, or just practicing. most of them are still working on tossing a single club, but its fun to watch kids learn and I have found an easy style to teach even the worst jugglers to juggle. It is a pared game that makes things seem really simple but looks good when you watch it. Thinking back on just what I did today I really wish I had taken my ipod outside to take pictures or video of what we did.
People here at JPUSA continue to be great, full of discussion, challenges, and love. While every one needs a little grace sometimes, its nice to be around people who care about each other even if not everyone gets along. No worries, everyone is happy with me, but this morning there was an intense group meeting that brought some heated discussion, but all is well, and things blow over much more quickly here than they do in many other settings I've been in.
Peace to all who are reading this blog and thank you for your interest. I'd love to hear comments or questions from anyone who reads this, both my family or my friends.
-JD
Hope to hear from you again soon.
ReplyDelete