To the ends of the Earth

It is rather apparent to me that my job pushes me towards schizophrenia. Over half of the time, I lead a normal life (for a BVSer). I go to work in the morning, sit at a desk, eat lunch with coworkers, then go home eventually. At times it can be depressing, especially in Winter when the sun sets around noon and you're forced to hole up inside all evening. Even as a volunteer, it's easy to feel stuck in the rat-race.

Salvation to the South

Orientation, my friends, is the freedom I am given from the cubicle I sit at right at this moment. It is a rolling green field, it is a dock on a small lake, it is a porch swing to read a good book on. By the way, it was winter in Elgin.  

Sunny days were spent kayaking on Fischer Lake or reading

Working with Habitat in Miami

In my last post, I glossed over what happens at orientation. There is simply too much happening, and I'm in the middle of it all. Many of the group discussions, speakers, games, and activities are the same for every orientation. What makes each one different is the people that participate. It is hard to compare anything with how much weight personality has at orientation. They are like snowflakes: no two are the same, so don't compare. And, as it alights on your hand, it melts away quickly. Many people will say that three weeks is a long period of time to be so involved in a group, but the time will always fly. I promised to say what makes unit 292 special, and I will stay true to my word. For fun, I think I'll also mention the good old reliable fact of orientation; the things that never cease to amaze me.

Come to the Table

this space intentionally left blank.	Tried-and-true	292!
Food Groups	Groups usually struggle with providing solid meals. While there are some snacks available, generally there is no supplement to dinner.	On the first night, a volunteer shared cookies that she made for everyone. She didn't even know us yet, and she made us cookies! On the downside, each successive meal would be deemed a failure due to lack of cookies.
Urban Weekend	A time to see a different setting, mix things up a bit, and spend five hours in the car with people who hate your taste in music.	Spending "Urban" Weekend camping, making it actually more rough and country than the rest of the three weeks. Groups cooked by a campfire, though we did have dinner at El Tropico, a fine Cuban restaurant, on Friday.
Celebration	The last session before everyone departs, included awards for each person. There were snacks and music, which led to much rejoicing.	Each award was handmade by Julie and Sue, and each was hilarious. See below.
Ping Pong	When available, we waste all of our free time playing ping pong.	OK, nothing special about this one, we just played a lot of ping pong. Enough that I needed to mention it.
Potluck	Each orientation, BVS holds a potluck and invites former volunteers, supporters, and friends, to share a meal with the current unit.	Camp Ithiel is already special when it comes to potlucks, because they hold a Contra Dance after dinner (think line-dancing meets baroque meets cha-cha slide... maybe not that last one). What made this potluck special was a guest! None other than Unit 291's Britta! She hitched a ride from someone at the Palms and caught up with the staff, and even did a little contra dancing!
Ice Cream	As a treat, after everyone has had their placement interview with Dan, we usually take the group out for ice cream. We're not all business all the time!	This time, things were different. One word: sprinkles.
Packing and leaving	It's inevitable. At the end of orientation, we have to load up and go. Volunteers go to the airport or the train station, and we drive back to Elgin.	This time around, there were a few caveats. One volunteer was headed to Su Casa in Chicago, so he would ride back with me. Another didn't have a flight until Saturday, which meant staying an extra day with me. Because time was of the essence, we decided to take two volunteers to the train station on the way out of town. Dana was also headed to the airport, after helping load the van. All in all, we loaded the van with everything it came with, plus six people's luggage, and then those six people. Kevin didn't have any leg room, and Nico was a little squished in the back, but we made it. And we saved about 30 minutes driving time - just don't ask how long it took us to get everything packed.

"Best Hair" award. According to Julie, the moustache was needed to
distinguish it as a man. A very thoughtful, solemn man. I can speak from
experience that even a beard is not enough to distinguish me as a man.
Sunday, in the store, a salesman asked "How we doing, ladies?"

Meeting the Silly Photo Quota

Here you can see Britta and I guffawing at something the eldest

Neff child said during the potluck. Good camera work, Sue!

Miscellany

I have to give mention (shout-outs, props to my homies) to Luke Matheny from Wilmington, DE, who won an Oscar for the short film God of Love. Probably the most famous person since Joe Biden to come from Delaware. And that, well that's something, folks.