Alright champ, show me the back way. Take us home.

Alright, so it has been a little time since I have last updated. When last I reported in we were getting to know both each other and the surrounding community, and I am happy to report we are succeeding on both fronts. But I will get to that in a bit. First and foremost...

We started work! Alright, kind of. I have been a little frustrated these past few days. See, while my first day of work was last Monday, the 17th, it was an orientation. So was Tuesday (we role played on Tuesday...my SW friends will attest to how much I love that...). Wednesday I had the pleasure of taking a bunch of online seminars. Thursday and Friday were bully prevention seminars at the high school. While necessary and I am getting a lot out of these endeavors...I am just ready to start. Tomorrow is my first official day at the Hanson House and I am anxious. Thursday is my first day at the high school. Also, anxious. There is some cross over in clientele, but it doesn't overlap completely. All I know so far is that this is going to be a tough year. The more I learn about the kids and what I will be doing...wow, it is not going to be easy. It is good that I know this going in, but I am also just kind of...well, nervous about it. So yeah, that is kind of what is going on there. Having Mondays off is going to be both good and bad. I will have a ton of time and space to myself. But I will also have a ton of time to myself...Oh well, I am looking forward to the year.

The more I learn about my job the more excited I get. HH (Hanson House) basically operates under a positive peer culture, where the youth themselves are encouraged to help each other fulfill their duties and stay within the guidelines of the house. My role is essentially a support person. I don't really 'tell' the kids to do anything. Instead, I present consequences. For instance, "If you don't cook dinner, then you won't eat." Along those lines. Instead of being presented with successes and failures, it is internalized; the responsibility is on the kids to complete their tasks and accept responsibility if they don't. I really like this model. For those of you around during my Catch a Falling Star days you know I really disliked punishing the kids for their actions. So that is really cool. As I find out more I will post a better description of how this works.

Now the community. Being in a small community is awesome. You realize very quickly how easy it is to get to know everyone. Every time we go out we meet someone else and then they turn up somewhere else. This was apparent as we went out on Saturday do a sports bar called Kelly's. This place was packed (and it eventually turned into a Laclede's for the middle aged) and we knew everyone. And the people we didn't know we were introduced to pretty quickly. It was a lot of fun. Boat rides, potlachs, chilling out at the local bars (although with the prices we won't be doing too much of that in the future). Everyone has been extremely forthcoming with advice, tips, and other stuff. I don't know, I don't think I have ever felt completely supported by a community like I am right now. Everyone knows who we are. We 'played' in a 3-on-3 basketball tournament Saturday (it was ugly) and everyone came up to us and introduced themselves and talked to us. Yesterday we went to a cafe for brunch and listened to a folk band just jamming right next to us. As the time went on people came and left as they wanted to, but it was awesome to just sit there and listen to them jam out. Upright base, mandolin, a great harmonica player. we all just sat back and thought, "Wow, how awesome is this?" Again, as the year continues I will update you on our friends and what we are doing.

We finally took our first hike last weekend! It was, again, incredible (I am going to use that word a lot this year, I have a feeling). So pure and untouched...It is hard to use words to describe the scenery here. I can take pictures, but they just do not do the area justice. The clarity of the air. The feeling of the rain. The fact that I wake up to a different view every day because of the cloud movement. The mountains disappearing into the clouds is something I will never get tired of. When it is so clear that I can see for miles around the island and see the volcano...And then the knowledge that I will be here for the next year and see so many different sides of Sitka and Alaska is extremely reassuring. I really do love it here.

I was talking to my friends Lauren the other day, who is off the Nicaragua in a few months for JVI. We hadn't talked in a few months past a few texts and whatnot, but we had a really solid conversation. I just realized while I was talking to her how happy I am here now. Even knowing the challenge that is in front of me. Even knowing that I will not see you guys all that often, if at all, in the next year. I just feel like that my presence here right now is right. I don't know if I can expand on that anymore. The feeling is so solid, so strong. With interactions with my community members, with bike rides to and from work, walking around town with them, it just feels right. It can be very difficult for me to see God's hand in my life at times, but not right now. I am happy here. And that is weird to acknowledge. But yeah...

I hope everyone is doing well. Keep your eyes peeled over the next day for another post. I think I am going to write a little bit on the four core values of the JVC (social justice, community, spirituality, and simplicity) and what they mean to me. I think I am going to need to reflect on each fairly often over the next year, and posting them here I think will help me convey what I am feeling a little better. Until then...