I am long overdue for a blog update! This holiday season has been so busy at work and in the Morris House!
A few updates:
Taylor came and visited me during Thanksgiving weekend. It was fantastic! We had an absolute blast exploring Portland and just spending time together. Thanksgiving at our house was one for the books. It was my 100%! All of my community was present around the table which made this Thanksgiving very special. Each housemate made a dish that was special to their family and Katie prepared a delicious and tender turkey. The food was phenomenal and it was so fun to have the opportunity to combine 8 different Thanksgiving traditions into one big fun meal! That evening each eat, drank, danced and ended the evening by watching Love Actually.
The month of December flew by as work was so busy. We had several holiday activities for our participants and staff on top of our normal job responsibilities. In December I finally took on some of my own cases. This has made my placement much busier and has given me more opportunities to learn about resources available in Portland and has allowed me to continue to improve my Spanish. I have learned so much at my placement and I have really enjoyed doing domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy. I am so thankful that I have a placement that allows me to put into practice the theories and skills I learned in college. A personal highlight from work was the UNICA staff Christmas party at a Latin dance club in Portland. We danced and sang karaoke all night. So fun!
During December my community made a trip to Seattle to celebrate Christmas with some other JVs. On Friday night we had an absolute blast spending the night at one of our housemates parents house (free food-nom nom and wonderful conversation!). Katie and I also spent Saturday afternoon with John which was so fun! Saturday night was party time! The JV parties are always a fun opportunity to reconnect with the other JVs in the area, share our experiences, and get to know each other better. The Morris house ladies had some much fun that evening, dancing the night away!
Another highlight during December was the Morris House Christmas party. We decided that it would be both fun and festive to have a secret santa exchange and a white elephant exchange. In typical JV fashion we decided that we could only spend $5 for both items. Our house was so creative and thoughtful with the gifts. The gifts ranged from collages to ribbon dancers. It is also important to note that most of the gifts were purchased or created from items found at our favorite neighborhood store SCRAP. This store sells ridiculous craft supplies for really great prices. The other day I purchased 25 greeting cards for 25 cents, what a steal!
I was also very fortunate to have the opportunity to go home for a couple of days at Christmas. JVC encourages us to consider staying in our communities for Christmas but I decided that it was important to go home and see my family especially as it was my mom’s first Christmas as a Sittser. Going home was fantastic. I was able to spend quality time with both families and reconnect with some old friends from college and high school. Going home was also a really nice break from the routine of getting up and going to work everyday.
Another highlight was New Years Eve. The majority of my community was present to celebrate ringing in the New Year. We had a really fun get together at our house with the Portland area JVs and some special guests from Seattle. Morris gets fancy. We splurged and bought pork for the potluck. Pulled Pork for days. We thought we would have leftovers considering the majority of JVs were vegetarians. This was not the case as the majority of the supposed “vegetarians” caved by the end of the night. Someone was overheard saying “Oh my gosh I have not had meat in two years. So. Delicious. Nom. Nom.” Yes Morris gets fancy. The night was really fun as we ate, danced and received an impromptu homily from Paul Grubb, the SJ assigned to our community. Happy New Year!
This past weekend our house at the opportunity to go to the Oregon Coast. It was such a wonderful and relaxing weekend as we slept in, played on the beach, and enjoyed each others company. It is amazing what a little R and R can do. We all felt rested and a little more prepared for the upcoming week.
I have realized how easy it is to become complacent and get attached to a routine. I am such a creature of habit and one of my goals this year is to allow for more flexibility in my life. I am trying to break up the monotony of working forty hours a week by doing activities that I love. Fortunately I live with seven other people in the same situation. I still feel so blessed to come home every night to a community who will play, laugh, listen, and enjoy each others company.
And now the holidays are over and life is slowly down…sort of. Our house is gearing up for our second area visit and a JV gathering in Gresham this upcoming weekend.
