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.