Cootie Catcher Monday

Today was great. I taught kids how to make cootie catchers ( little fortune tellers). We had a lot of fun and I had forgotten how much fun they are. By the end of the day I was telling everyone's fortunes!

May good luck come your way! 

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Pictures from my delightFULL Saturday

I had a FULL Saturday! It began with picking up two large boxes of books one of my teammates had gotten a library to donate to our school! :) Rosa Parks k-8 has a library, but sadly has no librarian. No one can check out books, so we want to start a City Year library, where kids can check out books from our office! After the book pick up, I couldn't resist stopping at the Farmer's Market by my house. And while my friends were jamming out in Austin at ACL (Austin City Limits ) I was having my own jam session at the Farmer's Market, eating my tamales and horchata while watching a really talented guy sing and preform. 

Next, I made my way to Oakland, where my great Aunt Catherine lives. I hadn't seen her in about a year, so I was excited! I met her at her house and then we drove down the hill to a really cute restaurant where we met up with her son ( and my dad's  favorite cousin) Paul, his wife, and their daughter. We had a really nice lunch. It was nice being with family. Once our lunch was over, they went back to their home in San Francisco and I went back to my aunt's house, where we had a really wonderful conversation. The last time I got to see her was at my GrandMary's funeral, so it was nice to see her under different circumstances. And it was nice because in many ways my Aunt Catherine reminds me of my grandmother. She is my grandmother's older sister. They speak similarly; similar voices with similar vocabularies  Though I might describe Aunt Catherine as having a very mild tone and my GrandMary has having a more emotional, feisty tone. You could always tell how she was feeling, by her voice. My GrandMary's laugh was contagious and could make anyone join in, and her sarcasm was always on point. I miss her, so it was comforting to feel connected to her through my aunt. Aunt Catherine also shared with me an old picture GrandMary sent out just after my Uncle Bert was born. 

The left is a picture of GrandMary and Aunt Catherine growing up

and the right is a picture of my grandparents, my dad, and all of his brothers 

After our visit, I planned on stopping somewhere cool to start studying for the GRE before heading back to Sacramento. Her house in Oakland is right on the border of Oakland and Berkley, so I ventured into Berkley. I loved it, but parking anywhere seemed out of the question. This meant studying was out of question. haha In my search for a cool study spot I kept getting glimpses of the bay over the hill. I guess it's the Pisces in me that couldn't keep myself from heading towards the water. I found a perfect spot right on the "dock of the bay". I could see the Golden Gate and Bay bridge from my spot on the rocks. As I called my parents to catch up, my dad starting singing this song to me. It was the perfect song to soundtrack my moment. I was literally wasting time and sitting on the dock of the bay. 

I would say it was the perfect way to end a beautiful day, but my adventures weren't quite over yet. As I've mentioned before, navigating in California has not come naturally for me. It seems I always enter and leave by different routes. This was the case Saturday night and I ended up passing the first Sonic I've found since my move to the Golden State. I've been out of the habit of eating any fast-food, but this was an exception. I had to order the Jay Sheppard special  "medium cherry Dr. Pepper with extra ice". Cheers to you, Mom and to a great day!

Sunday

I tried to pack a lot in this weekend. Friday night me, my roommate Todd, and a few others from City Year decided to check out a back to school event in Davis. Davis is just about 20 minutes outside of Sacramento. UC Davis has a beautiful campus and it's a really cute town. I would gladly go back or even go to school there.. grad school? maybe..who knows?

Anyways we had fun at the event and in the end some of us got to do some free hena. It was cool, but what wasn't super cool was the millions of questions from our students that would come as a result. 

"Why did you draw on yourself?" "Is that marker?" "Is that a tattoo?" "Ohhh.....you in trouble!"   "Can you draw that on me?" "When is it going to come off already?" 

We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get out of Sacramento and discover another city in Cali. Then Saturday we had a Team BBQ. It was the perfect day for it and we had lots of fun playing Texas Hold "Em and B.S. Some crazy people jumped in the freezing pool, but I just dipped my feet in! :)

Opening Day!

Opening Day was awesome!

It was a day where we were able to introduce ourselves to the community, be inspired, inspire others, and truly get a jump start for the year. Though we've been in schools for a month now, this "kick-off" event actually happened at the perfect time. I love what I'm doing, but I think we all share moments of  thinking, "Why am I doing this again?" Opening Day reminded us of why we're doing what we're doing. 

Why we're waking up before the sun... Why we're putting in over 50 hours a week .... Why we're there longer than any staff member and receiving a stipend amounting to a small fraction of what they make...Why we put up with attitudes...Why we plea with students to just turn in their work... Why we don't just go back to where we came from and do something else...

...because they need us

 these students, these schools, and this city 

...because statistics from last year showed that having CY there made a difference ...because for every bad attitude there are at least three good ones that are glad you asked them about their day ...because by the end of the year our students will learn that it pays to do your work... because there are people who could have used City Year while they were growing up, and now have trouble finding their way ...because we want to be advocates, cheerleaders,  and champions for these kids. ...because we want them to feel empowered ...because we know these kids and want to see them succeed ...because we know if we keeping "bugging" them and reminding them to do their work, eventually they will ...because when one of our students is having a rough day, we want to be there to talk to them ...because we want to be there to see the clicking light bulb later this year when our students finally begin to understand ...because we see in them an abundance of potential just waiting to be unlocked and we're hoping to help them turn the key. 

...because we truly aspire to #MakeBetterHappen 

Goodbye Alex

Some pictures from our Freshman dorm Holiday party

Last night I read some very disheartening news. My friend Alex who had been battling cancer for the past few years passed away. I was shocked. I haven't talked to Alex since the beginning of sophomore year and had thought he was getting better, not worse. It's weird being in California when all of my friends who know and love Alex are in Austin. It's hard being in California when all of my big support systems are in Austin.  But really it's hard knowing that this terrible thing called cancer isn't going away. Young people, people who are 20 years old should not be dying because of this terrible disease, and it's hard to see this happen. I met Alex my freshman year at UT, and like many others Nola and my dorm room became a hangout/sleep spot for him. While Alex and I didn't talk a ton, we saw each other a lot and got to be pretty good friends. When I think about Alex, I think about his smile and how he never seemed to let cancer bring him down. And when I picture him, I remember my freshman year, him and Nola arguing over pillow pets, Lucy and him rolling their eyes at each other  and all of us staying up late playing card games and making memories last. Alex was a wonderful person and I am honored to have had the pleasure of knowing him. I'll leave you all with the sweet words my friend Lucy wrote about him,

" I will continue on with no regrets, because that's what you would have wanted. But the least I need to do is give you a proper goodbye, since I didn't give myself the chance. You changed the life of every person you met with your kind words and even kinder spirit. When your body betrayed you, your soul never wavered. That strength has radiated to everyone who loves you . We now have a new purpose and a new motivation in life - to do things that you would have done, to make decisions you would have made. Thank you for being in my life, and for continuing to do so until we meet again. Goodbye, Alex - rest in peace and happiness forever." 

Lucy said it better than I ever could have. Alex's death is a good reminder to us all that none of us are guaranteed to live to be 100. Choose today, choose now to be doing what you what to be doing. Choose now to do more good for others than yourself. Choose now to be who you were meant to be. ...Because we never know when our "now" could be too late.

Thank you Alex, for being my friend.

Be the good

I love this. This is my next craft project! 

So, I've finally caught up with my blogging. I'm going to try to be better about posting, because if I don't do it right away, I forget. This really the perfect sign though. I'm always saying that I believe there is more good in this word than evil, but have I made it a point to not just recognize the good, but become it myself? We shouldn't just be sitting around believing things and hoping for things, we should be out there making things happen. Actions speak louder than words, and it's our job to be living full lives. I think this is what a huge part of this year is to me. My time to live out the "be the good". But should I just be dedicating a year of  my life to the greater good? No, I should be dedicating all my years. I'm still unsure about what I'm going to be doing next year (don't worry I'll figure it out before next August, lol) But, what I do know is that I need to be serving others in some way next year and it doesn't taking being a part of a service organization to do that. Maybe I'll serve another year with Americorps or somewhere else. The point is wherever you are at in your life, BE THE GOOD. We can be the good when we offer a friend a ride, a place to stay, send a sweet letter, wash their dishes, play jump rope and tea parties with second graders, challenge students to be better, celebrate with friends, and even when we do something as small as smile. There are opportunites to be the good everywhere. Thank you to all the people in my life who have shown me how to be the good, and who have been a constant source of goodness in my life! 

#MakeBetterHappen 

Rain, Rain, Come and Stay!

Today I spent my Saturday with this chicken . 

Her name is Hermione. 

We helped with an event called Paint the Town today! We went into a neighborhood that needed some extra help, repainting trims, fixing fences, and doing whatever we could to help.

The Crew before the rain

... And after!

Also  I was very excited to get a letter today! I really want to start having pen pals! And because I had proof of address I got a library card!!!! So let me know of any books you'd recommend!

You can't say you don't have my address now!