Juno - Go See It

Juno is probably one of the best movies I have seen in....oh...a long time. Incredibly funny and thought provoking while also exposing so many truths about adolescence. I laughed...my friend cried...and all in all it was worth the $9 I paid to get in. It is also worth your $9 or whatever it costs to go to the movies where you live. I give it my highest recommendation. I think it might actually be better than Little Miss Sunshine...well maybe not better but definitely on par.

Halloween

So I said I was trying to catch up on old events....so well here are some pics from Halloween. In the pics, you will see some pumpkin carving, pictures of my sweet pumpkin with the lights out and candles lit, our adventures at Eastern State Penitentiary (one of the largest haunted houses and one of the best in the country), and a upside down scarecrow I made. All in all it was a nice week or so. The Haunted House was really only fantastic because Sara kept getting spooked by just about everything so it was fun to laugh. I do have to admit I was given a good solid scare a few times myself. The prison is huge and you actually get to go in old parts of it and see where the prisoners lived. Kind of spooky....Al Capone was actually a prisoner there once....

Red Bull Art of Can

We went to this really neat art exhibit about a month ago in Philly. Red Bull put on a contest for any interested artist in which they had to make a piece of art solely out of Red Bull cans - great for advertising right? Anyway, not all the pieces were made solely from Red Bull cans but the exhibit was still very neat. They allowed us to take photos so I managed to take pictures of every piece of art until the camera died. Check out the slide show below. My favorite was the play on Sistine chapel...or at least part of it.

You will also notice some random pictures of tape on a wall. I took these pictures because the exhibit was in an old MTV Real World house, so there were still some leftover pieces of Real World being there. You could even use the bathroom they used if you felt so inclined. It was neat to be there but the exhibit was what really drew me in :)

Lasallian Volunteers Marathon Video

A friend of the Lasallian Volunteers put together this video of the marathon. It is nicely done with pictures and audio. I make a decent amount of cameos. Take a look....some of my friends from Loyola made it into the video as well. If you know them you will recognize Alex, Jackie, Allie, Rachel, and Maggie. Maggie probably gets the award for most pictures...that is probably because she scarified herself to run 9 miles with me during awful heat just so I could make it....thanks Maggie.

Here is the link

http://www.lasallianvolunteers.org/news_1007_marathon_video.asp

B. More Night on the Town

Well like I said I haven't been doing well at posting on this blog...so I am going to try and catch up with past events and let you all know what I have been up to. The following slide show of pictures is from a night in mid-October. The Brothers had an event honoring a Brother for his many years of service and it was also used as a fund raiser for one of our Lasallian schools, Lasalle Academy where Sara and Denis work. Some of the pictures are from the fundraiser and others are from when we went out afterwards to celebrate Sara's birthday. Most of the people in the pics are current or former volunteers. All in all it was a great night. Enjoy....

A Little of What I'm Doing

So I have been pretty busy lately....trust me there will be more coming in terms of this blog. The last couple of weeks have been jam packed with all sorts of events, trips, haunted prisons and other things that have been taking up my time. While you are waiting for these wonderfully entertaining blogs to come your way, I thought I would let you explore some of the work I have been doing with the volunteers. Part of my volunteer position includes working at the Christian Brothers Spiritual Center with our Young Adult Program. I have been doing a lot of the "technology" aspects of what we do....this is comical to me because sometimes I don't have a clue as to what I am doing but I learn as I go.

One of my "learn as I go" experiences was building a website. I finished it a little while ago and I think I worked out the initial kinks....enjoy perusing and learning a little more about what I do here.

http://thebrothersplace.org/

I'm One Proud Aunt

This last week has been very exciting for me because my sister delivered her baby on Tuesday. She is absolutely beautiful. Here name is Rosemary Elenbaas but I like to call her Rosie. Here are the details of her birth.

Birth Weight: 6lbs 8oz
Length: 20 inches
Time of Arrival: 11:10am

You can also check out the blog that Pete and Leah made to share pictures. Here is the website http://theelenbaby.blogspot.com/

Also I thought you might want to see some pictures as well, so here goes.

The Chicago Marathon - Did I mention it was cancelled

Well the marathon is over and I survived. I was on of about 25,000 other people to make it through hours of unbearable weather, poor conditions on the race, lack of water, lack of paramedics and ambulances, and an all around bad marathon. This is one race I won't soon forget.

I ran the Chicago Marathon with a group of 20 other former or current volunteers. We flew from all over the country and raised money to support our volunteer program. Many others came to support us as well. I think in all about 60 people came for the marathon. It was great to see other volunteers and do the marathon together.

The night before the race. We had mass together and then had a huge pasta dinner. We received our race jerseys for the next day and got ready for the big morning. I woke up around 5:30am, had breakfast, and we headed down as a group to the race course.

It started out nicely. Yes it was already warm by 8am in the morning. I think it was already in the 70s but hey I wasn't going to let that deter me from finishing my 3rd marathon. By mile 2, I knew that I wasn't going to hit my running goals for the day. I wanted to try and run the marathon in 4:30 or under, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. I was already extremely hot and slowing way day because of the heat.

The first two aid stations were almost impossible to get water. There were so many runners trying to get the water and Gatorade that it wasn't even worth trying. I didn't witness this, but one of the other girls running with my group saw runners drinking out of the fountains in Lincoln Park. Yes we were that desperate to get water so early in the race.

I started running the race with two other volunteers, but I decided I couldn't keep up with them. I was having stomach problems and if I tried to run much faster I am sure someone would have found me puking on the side of the race course. So I slowed down. It was probably the best decision I made the whole day because it helped me finish the race. I ran miles 4-10 by myself which wasn't terrible but I was getting lonely, hot, and feeling dehydrated. At mile 10, I found some of my friends from Loyola and with them was my friend Maggie. She was supposed to run the marathon with me but injured her knee about a month ago. She was feeling better and I was begging her to run with me so she did. Maggie ran miles 10-19 with me...yes 9 miles. I was impressed and grateful because I had really low motivation at this point.

During these 9 miles, it was becoming increasingly harder to get water and gatorade at the aid stations. They started running out of cups so I just carried a cup with my along the route to guarantee I would at least have something to drink out of. I mistakingly threw my cup out and at another aid station again there were no cups...so what did I do. That's right I picked up a cup off the ground. Yes I was that desperate for water.

At every aid station, I was grabbing water to drink and probably two more cups to pour over myself. At the 30K mark, I started noticing tons of ambulances and fire trucks. I have never heard so many sirens in Chicago at one time...not even during the two years I lived there. I was getting concerned with all of the sirens but kept on running. Around the 20 mile mark, police stationed around the route started making announcements that the marathon was canceled. All the runners around me were just as confused as me. We thought they were joking. Marathons can't get canceled after they started. But it was true. The race director had decided to cancel the race because high temperature and because of the medical needs along the course. They city was running out of paramedics and ambulances and there was one fatality during the day.

The cops were telling us to stop running because the race was over. I was so confused and couldn't believe they would just tell us to stop running because it was over. The more I ran the more serious it got. Fire Fighters started opening up hydrants to spray the runners and cops were driving through the race course telling people to stop running. At this point, I decided what's the point. I was running by myself and hot. I actually met a woman from Australia named Kathy. We decided to run together to help motivate ourselves to the finish because we both lost our running partners. Kathy and I ran to mile 22 and decided to start walking. The water supplies were few and far between and we both had ran marathons before so it wasn't so much a loss to us to know this would be a slow marathon for us.

I also didn't mind walking because I was hoping that one of the other Lasallian Volunteers would catch up to me. I didn't really think that anybody would, but it was worth a shot. At about mile 25, I happened to look to my right and my roommate, Sara, ran by. It was probably the best thing that happened to me all day. We talked about finishing the marathon together but we didn't think it would actually happen. Sara actually motivated me to run the final mile and we finished together. I thought finishing my 3rd marathon wouldn't matter as much as it did, but this marathon was probably the most meaningful because it was the hardest run I have ever had.

Our whole running group finished the race and nobody had to receive medical attention. The marathon was rerouted at one point after it was canceled and a few of our runners were put on the rerouted course that took them about 20 miles instead of 26.2.

All in all it was a pretty rough day and the city of Chicago will probably be defending themselves for awhile for all the things that went wrong that day. Lack of water, resources, and medical support causes problems when you have a race on such a hot day.

Here are some pictures from the day....enjoy (If you can't see the photos if you get this in an email, just go to my blog to see them).

The Race is Finally Here

Sara and I ran our final two miles before the marathon tonight. We thought there was no better way to cap months of training than...well running like Rocky did :)

We finished our two miles right in front of the Art Museum, jogged up the steps, and celebrated at the top. Denis was kind enough to join us and take pictures which you can see below. We are rather small in some of the pictures but I think you get the point.

See you at the finish line

Mari

Philadelphia Street Art

Apparently, Philadelphia is overflowing with street art. I was recently reading a Philly blog that was talking about specific ongoing projects and one of those is called STIKMAN. I was very interested in finding a STIKMAN after reading about the project but didn't really think I would ever find one. To my great surprise, I found one our very own Manayunk. They range in size from quite small to large as a person and they are made from a variety different materials. You can read more about the STIKMAN project here. http://www.woostercollective.com/2005/09/25-week/

Check out the one I found.



Philadelphia also has another street art project going on right now. I noticed it while I was running the other day in Manayunk. I happened to see a little soldier that children play with that was painted pink and glued to fence along the path. I didn't think anything of it until I stumbled on a website where people had been posting pictures of pink men they found in Philadelphia. It looks like they’re part of something called the Phantom Soldier Meditation Project. Apparently there are 3,764+ of them scattered throughout the Philadelphia. And, I assume it’s not a coincidence that the number of American war dead was at that number just a few months ago, when the campaign started. It is really an incredible reminder of the cost of this war.

We have found around 8 Pink Soldiers so far and are keeping our eyes our for more. Here are the pictures I took of them.



Here is a picture of the sign explaining the art project.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1377/1367548639_0c519f1538.jpg?v=0

If you are interested in learning more about street art around the country and world, check out this website. They have some really fascinating projects all over the world and very creative and artistic.

http://www.woostercollective.com/

Wow I am not so good at this

Well apparently I haven't been as good at keeping up with my blog now that school/work has started. I knew I would be busy, but I find all my down time being spent with my community...which is how it should be. I really enjoy spending time with the other five individuals I live with and we find a variety of different things to do.

I am also still pretty consumed with running. Sara and I have been running faithfully for months now and we are nearing the end. We only have three runs left. I can't believe the marathon is only a week away, but honestly I am really glad to be done with such a strict schedule. It will also be great to see many of the other Lasallian Volunteers who are also running and coming to watch. In total I think there is 15-20 of us running.

Running hasn't actually been all that bad. Bud has really been sprucing things up for Sara and I after our mid-week long runs. Normally, our community has dinner together at 6pm Monday-Thursday, but Sara and I have been missing dinner on Wednesday so we can complete these runs together because they tend to be on the long side (anywhere from 5-10 miles depending on the week). After our first mid-week long run where we missed dinner, we came back to find that the kitchen table was set for us and dinner was staying warm in the oven. It made a good run even better knowing that our community was thinking about us. Not only was the table set and dinner ready, but Bud also made a wonderful centerpiece for our dinner. It was a great pick me up, and the centerpieces only got better as the weeks rolled on. I only have pictures of two centerpieces, but they are great. They are pictured below in order....mind you the second one is the best!!!

Week 1 - A tribute to well of course running and also the many blisters both Sara and I were getting. If you look closely you can see "blisters" on the cactus.



Week 2 - This needs some explaining...see Bud started referring to our sports bras as sand traps. Long explanation, but needless to say it stuck. He then made a artistic representation for us....hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

It's Running Time

Well the time to the Chicago Marathon is getting smaller and smaller each day. I am in the midst of the week in which I will run 40 miles. I have four runs this week in this order 5 miles, 10 miles, 5 miles, and 20 miles. Basically, I will be committing about 10-12 hours of my life this week to running....just running...that's all. When I think about it, it makes me go a little crazy, but I realize how much I do enjoy running and that the ultimate goal is worth it...not only finishing a marathon but also raising money for the Lasallian Volunteers.

The above picture was taken just before my 10 mile run on Wednesday night. Surprisingly, it was probably the best run I have had since training began. The weather was beautiful. My body felt good and I ran like the wind was pushing me at my back. I finished the run with a great time and I still had a great amount of energy. It was the first time that I really felt like I could finish the marathon. I always have a run like this close to the finish of marathon training. I was beginning to get worried because I have not had a good run in a long time, so despair was starting to set in. But for a nice long run I knew I could do it and the goal of finishing another marathon was attainable. There is nothing better than believing in yourself fully even if for something like running.

I also have a few updates regarding the Chicago Marathon in relation to tracking me while I am running. First off, for those of you who tracked me last year via email or text messaging on your cell phone...well you can do it again...and for you newbies I am going to explain how to track me right now. All you have to do is click on the link below. From there, you can sign up for runner tracking. The runner tracking system gives you the option of receiving email updates or text messages when the runners you are tracking cross the splits which are located at 15K, Half, 35K, and the finish. I had many friends and family do this last year and it really worked out. The only problem is that it doesn't send the text messages or email updates (depending on which method you choose) immediately. Some might come fairly quickly and then the final Finish time might not come until an hour after I finish the race. It isn't perfect but my friends/family that couldn't make the marathon last year enjoyed getting the updates on my progress and seeing my times.

Here is the link

http://www.doitsports.com/results/MSG-signup.tcl?sub_event_id=2161

Secondly, I wanted to give everyone an update on fundraising. As of today, I have raised $350 towards my goal of $1,000. I am hoping to get closer to my goal, but I am also excited with what I have raised so far. Also, the Lasallian Volunteers as a whole have raised $9,518.98!!! Our ultimate goal is $26,200. We have a long way to go, but we are slowly getting support in from around the country. It is exciting to watch not only our progress as runners but also as we raise money towards our goal. If you think about us this week, say a prayer or send good thoughts our way or do whatever it is you do to support people as we run 20 miles this weekend. It is our longest run before the marathon and one that most dread from the beginning of training.

One final note - After my fantastic 10 mile run on Wednesday with Sara, Bud and Leo (two of my Brothers) had prepared a wonderful dinner for us and set the table for us upon our return since we had missed our community dinner because of running that evening. It pretty much capped a great day. The pictures of our table and us eating are below.

525,600 Stairs

Ok...I love the RENT Musical. I think the music is great and it has a great message. Well since I moved to Philadelphia, I often feel like I am living the famous RENT Song, 525,600 Minutes. Why you may ask? Well because I live on the 3rd floor (or the Penthouse as Sara calls it) and I have something like 32 stairs to climb before I get up to my floor. About 3/4 of the way through the second set my quads and calf muscles start burning like none other and sometimes I think I might not make it. It is even worse when I have laundry because you have the added weight along with less maneuverability and you can't see where you are going. Basically, what I am saying is that if I don't have great legs by the end of this year I am going to be disappointed. Climbing these stairs multiple times a day is bound to have an effect....right?

I thought I would share my stairs with each of you. If you are lucky enough maybe one day you can climb them too...

Staircase Number 1



Staircase Number 2



Now, at the top of our stairs, there is a drawing that Sara (my lucky Penthouse buddy) and I have affectionately given different names to. I call the painting Man on Fire and Sara calls it Man on Top of the Mountain. Either way he is our inspiration for when we get to the top of the stairs...almost like he is greeting us and congratulating us for making it. It is very motivational at times. You can probably see why we have different names for him if you look at the picture below. He is probably standing on top of a cliff with water behind him but hey...water...fire...it is pointless when you are climbing 525,600 stairs.



As a tribute to Man on Fire/Man on Top of the Mountain, Sara and I took a picture on the top of the mountain we climbed last week in upstate New York. This mountain was a 2 mile hike up pretty much on rocks the whole time...it was pretty tiring. We thought the picture would look nice in a frame sitting on the bookshelf at the top of the 2nd set of stairs. This way our smiling triumphant faces can greet us along with Man on Fire/Man on Top of the Mountain. Take a look...

It's Been A Long Time

Before I write anything, I need to commend my Michigan State Spartans for an impressive showing during their first two football games. It is a great start to the season when you know you have a much better record than Michigan and Notre Dame. Sparty and I give them a thumbs up. Go State!!!



Wow...I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. I have been up to quite a bit recently and therefore haven't had a chance to update this blog...so here goes with the short version of my past two weeks...pictures included.

By my count, I have been in five states over the last week including New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. It was my first time to Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey so needless to say I was pretty excited. I also experienced the first of all first...a trip to New York City, but I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start where I left off about two weeks ago.

First - About two weeks ago the final member of our community joined us. Sara was on her vacation for the summer and joined us just in time for the start of the school year. I will give more detailed information about all community members as promised, but I have far too much to write currently. The below picture is Sara, Denis, and myself at Lasalle University's first football game of the year. It was a miserable game in which they lost 28-0. I love football and I was bored watching, but I did get a free t-shirt out of the deal (obviously the one in the picture). For anyone that really knows me, they will know a free t-shirt was worth it.



Second - After the miserable Lasalle football game, Sara, Denis, and I headed to Lake George in upstate New York to enjoy a weekend with other Lasallian Volunteers and some Brothers in an A-Frame. It was a great weekend of relaxing, riding in a canoe, watching the Sound of Music, playing games, and hiking up a mountain. But it was started and ended with a trip to Brooklyn. One of the volunteers didn't have a ride up, so we took a little detour and drove to NYC to pick her up. It was probably one of the best decisions we made during the weekend. We stayed in the Brothers community in Brooklyn which is beautiful for one night. They treated us to pizza and beer in their garden and great conversation. The Brothers sent us on the road the next morning with all sorts of great food and feeling very refreshed. We had such a great time that we are considering spending Thanksgiving in NYC. After leaving Brooklyn, we headed to the A-Frame which is right on the Hudson River. It was a great weekend overall. There is a slide show of pictures below for you to peruse. You will notice some great outdoor shots with some New York City flare including Yankee Stadium among others. If you can't view this slide show from your email, just click on the link to my blog and you can view it there.



Third - Myself and two of the Brothers in my community, Bud and Leo, headed to Northeast Philadelphia for a retreat. It was three days on getting to know one another and team building before we start the year at the Spiritual Center. I should probably clarify here because I am not sure I have thoroughly explained this. My job as a volunteer is split between two places, West Catholic High School and the Christian Brothers Spiritual Center. At West, I work in the Guidance Office and at the Spiritual Center, I work with Bud and Leo. We create and put on programs in our community for young adults. The focus is on spirituality, service, and social activities. So Bud, Leo and I headed on our retreat which was led by Sister Maria of the Sisters of Mercy. We stayed in the Sisters community and Maria led us through various activities everyday. It was really quite nice getting to know the Brothers and spending time in the Sister's beautiful home. The slide show below contains pictures from the week.

Also, some history I experienced over the week. The Sisters live in a home that was built by Rachel Avery who was part of the women's suffrage movement in the early 1900s. Rachel Avery was a personal friend and worked alongside Susan B. Anthony. When Susan B. Anthony would come to Philadelphia for meetings, she would stay in Rachel Avery's home (the house I was staying in). Maria was telling me this one night over dinner and I was quite intrigued. Come to find out that "Aunt Susan," as Rachel Avery referred to Susan B. Anthony, would stay in the pink room on the 3rd floor. Turns out I was staying in the pink room on the 3rd floor. It was really neat to be experiencing a piece of history like that. I included pictures of the room along with the house so you could experience the history with me. The dog in the pictures is Midas. He lives in the community as well.



Finally - I traveled done to Baltimore this weekend with Denis to hang out with some other volunteers and watch another pitiful Notre Dame game. It was nice to visit a new place and Baltimore has some really cute areas. We stayed the night with the volunteers and Brothers who live and work in Baltimore. They have a nice home which happens to be right next to a prison. I did not get any pictures of the prison. It was interesting because you can hear all sorts of noise coming from the prison from announcements over a loud speaker and also inmates yelling and what not. Friends and family often park outside the prison and yell to inmates on the inside. Apparently, it was someone's birthday the other night and a few cars pulled up to celebrate with their incarcerated friend/family member. I did not get to experience this while we stayed in the community but I did hear all the other noises. I don't have many pictures of this trip, but I did manage to get a few shots of Camden Yards.



I hope you have enjoyed this marathon of a blog entry. I am impressed with anyone that made it this far. If you did in fact read the whole blog, why don't you comment on what was your favorite part of my travels or something you thought that was interesting. I am eagerly awaiting your responses.

Trip to Camden, NJ

I made my first foray into New Jersey today. Denis and I went to visit the LVs at our Camden site. They just arrived yesterday and NJ is only about 15 minutes from where we live in Philly and their community is only about 20 minutes from where we live...so basically we see this group of LVs quite a bunch.

Anyway I don't have anything really spectacular to say about the trip but I did take some pictures I thought I would share with each of you.


Sign on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the way to Jersey

Sign on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the way to Philadelphia

This sign occurs at most intersections. It is basically telling drivers to not pull into the intersection unless they can get all the way through...otherwise they will be blocking the box.

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Art Museum

Again the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Art Museum

The famous Rocky Statue

A better shot of the famous Rocky statue

New Ideas for Thinking People

A friend of mine just told me about a great service for those who love to watch good movies that provoke discussion...or even if you just like movies...but hey either way it is worth check out. The below link will take you to a non-profit organization called The Film Connection. The came right off their website:

"The Film Connection is a community of film lovers, social activists and lifelong learners who use our non-profit online film library to watch, discuss and act on compelling films from around the globe. An initiative of the global humanitarian agency Mercy Corps, The Film Connection offers a growing library of DVDs that tackle the issues facing the world we live in."

http://www.thefilmconnection.org/

All you have to do is register your film group and then you can start checking out films. They send them to you in the mail for free and you send them back for free. You can also donate or join as a premium member but that costs a money. Anyway check it out...get a film and have a discussion. The first movie I checked out was Born Into Brothels. I just ordered it today, so I am waiting to get it in the mail..for free. How nice.

Some films may have limited availability because of their popularity but I think you can always find something on there that is available. Let me know if you subscribe and if you watch any great movies.

Also, last night I did something I have never done before. Our community was invited to dinner at another Brother's Community in the Philly area. I was the only female in a group of about eight men. I am getting used to be solidly outnumbered at everything I attend. Even in my community I have been the only woman for over two weeks. The other female volunteer, Sara, arrives tomorrow so that will quickly change. Anyway, after dinner the group of Brothers had told the Priest of the local parish that they would attend the 7pm prayer service, so our group went along. The parish, St. Therese (pronounced Tir-ez like the flower), has a diverse congregation, so it was an interesting mix of older white Brothers, Denis and myself, and members of the congregation.

We were on a relatively busy street corner with a group of about 25 people and the Priest conducted a prayer service. The service's focus was on violence in the city. Not to scare anyone but Philly is recording a record number of homicides this year and many are nervous about the implications for the greater Philly community. So we were on this street corner and the Priest started praying...no this wasn't new to me. I have been to a prayer service before, but I had never prayed the Rosary before. The group prayed the Rosary together and prayed for an end of violence in our city. Not knowing the Rosary, I did a lot of listening. It was quite the experience between the Rosary, the busy street corner, and the diversity of the crowd.

After the end of the service, everyone extended the sign of peace. I was hugged and kissed by many older ladies and welcomed to the group like an old friend. All in all it was quite the interesting night capped later by one of my current favorite movies Stranger Than Fiction.

Here are some pics of where the prayer service was at and those who attended.

I am an Americorps Member and I will get things done...

Just a quick post for tonight. I am finally a legit Lasallian Volunteer. They have updated the website and my picture is on there along with the other volunteers at my site. You can read about my school and what I will be doing. They have the locations and information for every volunteer in the country so if you are so inclined you can read about everyone...

Here is the link to my picture on the website

http://www.lasallianvolunteers.org/sites_philadelphia.asp

And if you are still wondering...yes we are still cleaning. Hopefully we will finish on Friday but we have to do a bunch of the first floor. I am hoping it doesn't take too much longer. My little body can't take much more.

Also, I thought I would add pictures of dinner tonight...well actually the table. We ate outside in our little garden/backyard without grass tonight for dinner. I set the table :)




Some of you might be wondering why I titled my blog in such as way...well there is a reason. I figured since I was finally a legit Lasallian Volunteer I am also a legit AmeriCorps Member. My signing up for the LV program I am also apart of AmeriCorps. We add up our volunteer hours and at the end of the year we get either an education award to pay for future education or an award to pay off current loans. We have to fill out a ton of paperwork and basically sign our lives away, but the end result is worth it. If I volunteer for two years, I will have almost my entire student load dept paid off. Now that is exciting!!! An additional aspect of being in the AmeriCorps is that you have to take a pledge. Yes it's true. It is really quite stimulating and inspiring, so much so that I thought I would include it here. Enjoy reading...and take care until next time.

The AmeriCorps Pedge

I will get things done for America -
to make our people safer, smarter and healthier.
I will bring Americans together to
strengthen our communities.
Faced with apathy, I will take action.
Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.
Faced with adversity, I will persevere.
I will carry this commitment with me this
year and beyond. I am an AmeriCorps member and
I will get things done.

Cinderelly! Cinderelly!

Since Monday, we have been cleaning our community from top to bottom. Each day we tackle a new room or floor and it is slow work but you can definitely see progress. I have dedicated the following poem to my last few days of work.

Once upon a time
In a land far away
There lived a beautiful maiden
Who slaved day after day

For her brothers
And her fellow volunteers too.
She never heard the end
Of them telling her to do

Cleaning, laundry
Chores and more
Make us breakfast
Sweep the floor.

Darn our socks
And underwear.
Take the garbage
Over there.

Mari! Mari!
Life is truly grand
Having you at hand.
Mari! Mari!
You must do as we command.

Ok so I am totally joking, but like I said we have spent a long time working on the house. It looks really great now and there are many clean guest rooms waiting for any of you to visit. It has actually been really fun working with Leo and Bud (two of the brothers) and Denis (the other volunteer). We have had a good time joking around with each other while we are cleaning and deciding where to move the furniture. I dare any of you to take a gloved hand to this house and find dust. Here are some pics of our cleaning adventures. Just click on the picture and it will take you to my web album.

Cleaning

I have also recently had my life changed. Paul, one of the volunteers from the previous year who is getting ready to move out, showed me new ways to fly and save tons of money. Myself and the other two volunteers were looking for round trip flights to Chicago in the beginning of October for the Chicago Marathon. The cheapest flights we were able to find were $240. Yikes!!! We did not want to spend that much money so we had pretty much decided to drive...even worse but well we would have saved a ton of money between the three of us. Also, driving would have taken us 12 1/2 hours one way. Basically a full day with the round trip...a lot of time wasted but real fun to be had en route in the car. I really love road trips but sometimes they aren't worth it. Enter Paul.

Paul cooked up this scheme with me. We bought $100 United Airlines certificates on ebay for $20. We then purchased two one way flights. One from Philly to Chicago and the other from Chicago to Philly. Each of these one way flights cost about $120 each, but with our certificates they only cost $20. Basically we bought round trip tickets for about $80.

Here's how it breaks down:
-Cost of certificate on eBay: $20
-Actual value of certificate: $100
-Real savings of airline ticket: $80
-Example of one-way ticket to Chicago from Philly: $120.
-Reduce that by $80 (real value of certificate less cost of purchase): $40
-So if you buy two one-way tickets for race weekend from Philly to Chicago and back it is $80...yes, a ROUND TRIP to Chicago for $80!...not the $240 United really wants you to pay!
-However, if you just buy a round trip ticket, the savings are less ($240-80=$160).

Get it? Paul really changed how I fly. I would encourage you to also look into saving money this way. It really works. We ended buying three round trip tickets for us for the total cost of what originally one trip was listed at. Great deal. Because Paul had such a quick impact on my life I decided to include his picture.



He thought he kind of looked like a techy nerd in the photo...I disagree. Paul is actually leaving for Paris to study there for one semester with Temple University in a MBA program. He will be missed in our community.

I also visited West Catholic today which is the school I will be volunteering at. I met the principal and president along with many other administrators. I had a great time there and I am really excited to get to know the students. I am hoping to take more pictures next week when I spend more time there. Here is a pic of me en route to the school. No mom I did not take it while driving...



Finally, mom also was a large contributer to my well being this week. She sent my three most cherised possessions from home to Philly...can you guess what she sent...cmon..anyone got a guess. Yes that's correct...two pillows for my head and my body pillow. Some might think that is excessive but I am finally sleeping well. It has been a rough couple of nights without my pillows but now I am feeling great. In tribute to my mother...the following pic...



Ok that was a lot of information. If you got this far into the blog, I am impressed. I hope you enjoyed the pics and my stories. Don't worry there will be more coming. As a test to see who made it through this whole post, I will pose a question and see who actually responds to me. What has been your favorite part of reading my blogs thus far? Please comment. Also is there anything else you would like to see me write about? I am interested in your feedback.

Now this is the story all about how, my life got flipped, turned upside down

Okay so I am not even close to being anything like the Fresh Prince, but I do sort of live on the west side of Philadelphia, but anyone from Philly would probably throw me an evil stare if I compared Manayunk to West Philadelphia.

Anyway, Denis took a ton of pictures of our home the other day so I thought I would take this oppurtunity to share them with you. The pictures start from the entrance all the way to the 3rd floor. You see a picture of my door but none of the room because Denis obviously didn't go in there while taking pics. I am sure I will send those later.

All you have to do is click on the picture below and it will take you to a website with my shared pics. There are a bunch so if you get bored, don't feel bad for not getting through them all. If any of you happen to come by Philly sometime in the next year or two, feel free to give me a ring because their is a guest room with your name on it. You can also share in the wonder that is the Christian Brothers Spiritual Center. Some of you might be most interested in the last few pictures. That will be incentive for you to scroll all the way through.

Sorry no trivia this time. I will be sure to include some when I write about the Christian Brothers...and then also when I am talking about the other people who live in my community.

Christian Brothers Spiritual Center

I am almost done talking about William Penn

Congrats to Beth Mamolella hailing from Chicago, IL for correctly answering our trivia. William Penn is pointing northeast towards Penn Treaty Park, where he made a treaty of friendship with the Native Americans in 1682. I have also heard that he is pointing towards England...but that hasn't been confirmed.

Now a little information about Philadelphia and William Penn's statue above City Hall. The statue was built by Alexander Milne Calder. At one time, there was a gentleman's agreement that no building should be higher than Penn's statue. One Liberty Place was among the first of several buildings in the late 1980s to be built higher than Penn beginning the so called Curse of William Penn. This curse refers to the failure of professional sports teams in Philly to win championships since March 1987 when One Liberty Place skyscraper exceeded the height of Penn's statue. The last professional team to win a championship was the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1983 NBA Finals, when they swept the Los Angeles Lakers in four games. The curse has gained such prominence in Philly that a film by the same name, The Curse of William Penn, was produced in 2006.

Another bit of information regarding Penn's Statue is that at 37 feet tall it is the largest single piece of sculpture on any building in the world. The statue stands on City Hall, which is the tallest building ever constructed without a skeleton of steel girders and the largest municipal building in the United States.

Since I have been talking so frequently about William Penn and his statue atop City Hall, I thought I would include a picture. You may make your own assumptions about the statue but folks....it is his hand...or a treaty or something like that....but not what you think

Today I also went to two Philly eateries. Tony Lukes, which is a very popular cheesesteak place on the southside of Chicago. For dinner I went to Tommy Gunns which is a barbecue place located right in Manayunk. It was founded by a La Salle University (a Christian Brother's school in Philly) graduate who previously worked on Wall Street and quit his job to start Tommy Gunns. It now has two locations and a catering service. Great Barbecue....I am sure Collin might want to visit this place.

Here are some pics from my visit to Tommy Gunns.

Rittenhouse

First off I need to extend congratulations to our winner of the trivia question from last night. Jana Lithgow hailing from Chicago, IL correctly guessed that Peter Boyle was previously a Christian Brother before becoming an actor and starring on Everybody Love's Raymond. Thank you to everyone for playing. There will be another trivia question at the end of this blog.

Rittenhouse Square is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn (the founder of Pennsylvania) during the late 17th century in central Philadelphia. Originally called Southwest Square, Rittenhouse Square is named after David Rittenhouse, a descendant of the first paper-maker in Philadelphia, the German immigrant William Rittenhouse. William Rittenhouse's original paper-mill site is known as Rittenhousetown. David Rittenhouse was a clockmaker and friend of the American Revoluation, as well as a noted astronomer; a lunar crater is named after him.

The four squares were intended to mark the outermost corners of Philadelphia, but the growth of the city over the centuries has far surpassed these original squares. They now are gathering places for friends, lunches, or a stroll with your dog. Tonight Rittenhouse Square was also a venue for a free concert. Denis and I attended with my friend, Bethany, who I met on my original visit to Philly in May.

We enjoyed the music, ate great Qdoba burritos, and Bethany solidly beat Denis and myself at Phase 10. All in all a great night. Here is a picture of Denis and Bethany in the midst of our card game in the park.

I also thought I would include a few pictures of my community while I was at it. These are all of the outside of the house. I will add more when I can play with my camera more...wait you might be wondering where did Mari suddenly get a camera. Well my previous supervisor gave me the best belated graduation present a girl could ever ask for. Thank you Beth for making all my dreams come true :) I am finally in the 21st century, but I am still keeping my old 15lb. camera for memory sake.







Now for the trivia. A sculpture of William Penn stands atop City Hall which comprises the fifth square of the city he designed many years before. In the sculpture, William Penn is pointing northeast. What is he pointing to?

Manayunk - "Where We Drink"

The neighborhood I live in is appropriately called Manayunk meaning "where we drink." I learned this tonight from Brother Joe who is the Archivist for the Library at La Salle University. The name is appropriate because Manayunk is situated along a canal that leads to the Schuylkill River. The roots of the word come from Native Americans because Manayunk was a place where many would stop for rest and refreshment from the plentiful water.

This name is still very appropriate because Manayunk's Main Street is populated by many trendy restaurants and bars. I suppose the young and beautiful hang out here on the weekend and find a place to drink. I wouldn't know. I have spent most of my time here getting settled and hanging out with the Brothers. I will get down to Main Street one of these nights but for now I am content getting used to my surroundings.

Many of you also might be asking, "Who exactly are the Brothers?" Well that question is going to be answered in a future blog. You will have to check back. To give a quick but thorough explanation of the Brothers I need to do some research and thinking on how to best sum up their mission and service.

For now, I will leave you with a bit of trivia. Who was a famous actor on Everybody Loves Raymond and many other movies/shows that was a Christian Brother for a period in his life? The first person to respond with the correct answer will receive a special gift from me.

Subscribing to My Blog

I am almost 100% sure I have figured out how to help you subscribe to my blog. There is a link on the left side of the page that let's you subscribe to the blog which will enable you to receive an update via email that I have added content to my blog. You will only receive an email when I have added content to the blog. All you have to do is click on the link and enter your email address. A email will be sent to your account asking you to verify your email address and you will be all set. You will then receive updates only when I add content to my blog. These emails may be sent to your spam folder in your email so look out for them and let your email service provider know they are not spam.

The City of Brotherly Love

I have finally arrived in Philadelphia. My journey started about two weeks ago with a train ride to Chicago from East Lansing for the start of my orientation with the Lasallian Volunteers (LV). I am spending the next year of my life living in community with two other volunteers and also three Christian Brothers. We share our lives and serve in schools in various capacities. I will be serving in a school counselor's office at a Catholic School in Philadelphia. I am excited for the year to start but also nervous about all the new experiences coming my way. You can learn more about the volunteers at http://www.lasallianvolunteers.org/

I was in Chicago for a little over a week meeting all the other volunteers serving around the country (48 in total), learning about the Lasallian mission, and also receiving training about the many new things I will be experiencing this year. We left Chicago for Philadelphia on Monday, August 6th barely making our flight at Midway Airport. A smaller group of us were then hosted at La Salle University in Philadelphia for four more days of training called New Teachers Institute (NTI). Needless to say, I think I am as prepared as I can be for anything coming my way this year.

Now for the more interesting info. I had my first authentic Philly Cheesesteak on Monday. It was better than I imagined. A group of us went to Reading terminal (pronounced Redding) which is basically a huge market with all sorts of food and delis. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but we all knew we wanted a cheesesteak so we headed there first. After lunch, we made a quick stop by City Hall and the Liberty Bell. I plan to do a much more thorough tour in the next year, but not all the volunteers I was with are staying in Philadelphia so we wanted to see as much as possible.

I am now moved into my community and slowly getting settled in. I live in Philadelphia but the neighborhood we live in is called Manayunk. You can check out the website at http://www.manayunk.com. My community is called the Christian Brother's Spiritual Center. It is pretty laid back right now because both myself and the other volunteers don't start working at our schools for two more weeks and the Brothers are all mostly on a break or vacation. It is a huge place so sometimes you don't even know if other people are in the house. One of the other volunteers, Denis, was kind enough to help me move my furniture around. I don't think he would have volunteered if he knew what he was getting into. I wanted to move into a different room, but to do that we had to take a wardrobe completely apart on top of moving everything else. I spent one night in the room and decided I liked the other one better. Needless to say, we had to take the whole wardrobe apart again and move everything back. I am definitely going to have to make it up to him....

I am also training for the Chicago Marathon on October 7th right now. Denis was kind enough to accompany me on my 15 mile run this weekend. He rode one of the Brother's bikes and carried water for me. It was a great way to see part of Philadelphia. Manayunk is about 6 miles from Center City Philadelphia and a beautiful running path takes you right downtown and past the famous Art Museum steps (cmon Rocky Fans). I didn't run up the steps at that point but I will get around to it at some point probably with Collin and Lisa. I am training for the marathon with about 20 other volunteers, alum volunteers, and other supporters of the LV program. We are trying to raise $26,200 (catchy huh) as a group for the LV program. All the money raised goes towards supporting the program and recruiting more volunteers. Individually my goal is $1,000. If you would like to support me, please by all means let me know.

I was only slightly successful looking for a church to go to this morning. I was successful in that I found a church but I was one of only 8 people in attendance and probably the only person under the age of 50 maybe even 60. It was a good start but I am not sure I will be attending there anymore.

I am hoping to get a digital camera soon so I can post pictures on here for all of you to see. I will try and write weekly so check back for more posts.