Christmas

Christmas is such a happy time of year. Opening presents in your PJ's in the morning, and eating dinner together, with a lot of relaxing and being lazy in between. Being with family who sometimes drive you to madness, and sometimes bring a smile to your face. How I cherish you and your memories!

Family gatherings at Christmas time are always interesting, to say the least, but quite enjoyable! Today we met with my mom's side meaning there is a head count ranging between 50-60 people. Due to the large and forever increasing numbers, we've been meeting in a church building instead of an aunt or uncles' home for the past few years. This time the schedule of events were no different than years past. Socializing, food, more socializing, a white elephant gift exchange, and even more socializing.

It was great fun, especially the gift exchange where I and my cousin Jaime (who's married and has kids of her own mind you), fought over who would end up with the infamous 'Snuggie'. We tired different strategies of not passing the presents in order, but in the end I triumphed! Yes, that is correct. I have a 'Snuggie' of my very own now. And it's not just any 'Snuggie' it's a pink Breast Cancer Awareness 'Snuggie.' I even promised I would "wear it loud and proud," in honor of my aunt who is a survivor. What a tribute, huh?

Christmas is not over yet! I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings with Grandma and my dad's side. It should be fun and full of socks I presume.

Oh family, you are so crazy! But I love each and every one of you. :)

Home for Christmas

I am currently sitting in the airport in front of the gate where my flight will be taking off from in 3 hours. I am SO EXCITED to go home! I can enjoy the company of family and friends and be with these people for 1 1/2 weeks! I get to take a physical as well as mental break from work and RHHP and everything Baltimore. Oh how great the sound of that!

In light of going home to Ohio for the holidays, the ladies at work were so nice this morning when I said goodbye and I do look forward to seeing them again, but that will come soon enough so I can wait. Also, Anita my wonderful best friend from work, was so generous and insisted she take me to the airport. To add to the kindness and dearness she has shown me, this morning I presented her with a plate of decorate sugar cookies and Christmas card. She was so touched by this, and I wish I could have given her more for everything she's done for me (such as give me way more money that is necessary for lunch at an airport) since I've been here. She is a wonderful woman and I am very glad to know her!

I have been in the best mood all day because the anticipation of the holidays is about to breach and I will be in the center of it all. Everything I've been looking forward too for the past month is coming true! Oh joy!!

Now, I will pass the time by watching the end of Season 3 of LOST.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy Holidays!!!!

The Office

I'm sitting at Millicent's desk (a co-worker) on her computer because she is not in the office today due to the outrageous amounts of snow the sky decided to pile on us over the weekend, and the city hasn't had a chance to clear it all out yet. I couldn't get in right away because the office was locked, and then there were only 4 of us here for the first 30 mins. Now there are 6. More might slowly make thier way here. This is just surreal and weird because no one is around. What can I say, being a volunteer just means dedication.

Also, I miss Christmas break in college. 3 whole weeks off without a care in the world...

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

The whole state of Maryland is in a State of Emergency because of the blizzard that has decided to blow in starting late last night. It hasn't stopped snowing since, causing today to become a Snow Day! Luckily, I'm house-sitting for a nice family from church who are on vacation in Cancun, Mexico for the week. They have a lovey Bernese mountain dog, 2 fluffy cats, a cozy fireplace, flannel sheets and unlimited amounts of tea. Also, Beth has a couple friends visiting who were able to take part in the family's generosity by staying at the house as well. Unfortunatley for them, the snow has caused many problems when it comes to traveling home for the holidays. All flights were cancelled today and some airports on the East Coast were closed down. Therefore, the stress of rescheduling flights and making new plans for the journey home occured for most of the afternoon for them, making for unnessary anxiety. However, though inconvinient for some, flights did get situated but days inbetween now and their departure await.

Snow. Even though you are beautiful to look at, you can be so inconvient when it comes to getting out of this city. It's supposed to stop by tomorrow morning sometime, but I'm still a little nervous for Wednesday when I will be flying back to Ohio. I pray to God I get on my flight and make it into Dayton! I do NOT want to be spending Christmas in Baltimore.

But until then, I will enjoy spending time in this nice house. Even though it's a bit chilly, thankfully the power is still on and there is plenty of food to be eaten. No one will end up hungry or freezing. And it really does feel like Christmas now that the earth is covered in this beautiful mess!

My Life in the Past Week

For the last 7 days there has been Holiday Cheer and Merriment and excitement for a break and chance to go home soon! I look forward to seeing friends and family while I'm in Ohio for 10 days starting on the 23rd!! Only one more week. 5 more days of work. 7 more days in Bmore.

I'm beginning to really get the hang of this place. In the past couple days alone I've gotten a real taste of this city. Along with numerous Christmas parties that consist of wearing a tacky sweater, I witnessed the kick off to the Christmas season by the Lighting of the Washington Monument (yes, Baltimore has it's own-not the one in DC), which included a laser show and fireworks. I've seen 2 guys get arrested and pulled out of their car. One night last week on the way home a police officer stopped Kristin and I, asked what we were doing walking down this street and ended up giving us a ride home while scoffing at our naivety for being volunteers and choosing to live in this neighborhood, even in this city. It was a strange experience. Also, just being with some of the housemates here and the interactions in the kitchen where everyone congregates has been a riot. Life here is funny. Strange funny. But still enjoyable! Baltimore is starting to form a soft spot in my heart.

One of my housemates, Joseph, wants to have an elaborate feast this weekend for everyone living in RHHP. A few days ago he already started decorating the dining room for this event which is just stupendous! I'll take pictures and allow everyone to see these great things soon!

I also had the realization today that Baltimore is a cool place and there are some really great people here. Today for lunch Anita treated me at an Arts Cafe and I met Kevin, the guy who owned it. He was such a nice man and had a young joyful soul. He said his parents sent him to an all girl college in Ohio and it was torture for him. But, he got free school because he was a minority. I think about growing up and what my life will be like and I hope I am full of joy always. I wonder, I wonder...

Wow this entry is very jumpy and all over the place. Welcome to my mind, this is how I operate.

Snow Day

After a week of 60 degree sunny weather (which was very nice, but quite strange due to the fact that it is December), this past Saturday morning I awoke to a wonderful sight outside my window.



The rest of the morning was spent in my favorite way possible-eating a leisure breakfast of eggs, cranberry bread and coffee with good company. My sister and I would do this all the time over the summers and breaks from school back home. Then, Beth who LOVES snow, insisted we go on a walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the pleasantly falling snow. How could I say no? It looked so white and fluffy falling from the sky. So off we went! Here are some snapshots from our little adventure.









This is a shot of the outside of my house, or should I say mansion. It's so HUGE!

It finally feels like winter.

I'm Dreaming of A White Christmas

I'm currently sitting in my living room, sipping hot chocolate and watching the movie "White Christmas," after walking through the most extravagant Christmas light bonanza on one block that I have ever seen! Tomorrow the weather forecast calls for 1 inch of snow. This is mind-boggling because lately the weather has been on average 60 degrees and sunny. Also, the housemates and I are going to be heading to DC to spend the evening, meet the fellow NY VSers, and see the monuments lit up. I can feel the holiday cheer!

Work has been very busy this past week, coming back from a mini break for Thanksgiving (which was so wonderful, by the way. I'll touch on that a little later), I've been slammed with things to do and stuff to accomplish. Many things kept me in a positive mood and motivated. Having different events to look forward to and spaced out every few weeks for the next 3 months is going to be such a great relief, I think, and will definitely help get me through the winter season. A Christmas party with tacky sweater theme, a break from work and time at home for the real deal holiday itself, Friends are hoping to visit me, my birthday is coming up, and a mini-retreat is planned for a weekend in the Poconos! All of these great things will keep my head up while having to get through what's suspected to be "a very bad winter." I'll keep everyone updated on how these events go, don't worry!

So back-tracking a bit to Thanksgiving time-it was sooo great! I was able to meet up with 2 dear friends, Carrie and Annie Yoder and shown so much generosity from them, their family and my host family from church. All of these people have been great and I'm so happy for them! The whole weekend was a bit of a blur with a random assortment of activities. I was an adopted family member to the Yoder clan for a few days. We had a breakfast of donuts and baked oatmeal, met up with Sol one night for coffee, went to Philly for a Mountain Goats concert (hadn't really listened to them much before, but they were pretty great live), and then came back to Bmore where I gave an unofficial tour of parts of the city that I hadn't actually been before (Little Italy and the top of Federal Hill). Then sadly, friends headed their separate way after a quick dinner of T-giving leftovers consisting of stuffing and cheesy potatoes. At first, during the last day when thinking of the departure that would soon be happening, I would become sad for a few moments, but then force myself out of it telling myself just to enjoy the company. So when they left for good, I was surprised to find myself at peace and filled with joy at the fact that these short few days made me feel the most like myself and connected to life once again than I have since being in VS. It has definitely been very challenging for me to just be comfortable where I'm at in life. I think I've got a much better hold on that now. But that's also one of the reasons why I decided to do this-to be challenged. I'm happy to say that I'm learning for this experience.

I'm also learning a lot about myself from the GED class I help with at Project PLASE, which isn't really where I expected that to happen. I've been studying different learning styles and how I learn and about my personality and just reading about all of the different traits I have has made so much sense as to why I do certain things. It's made me much more comfortable in being me. I find it very interesting and would love to talk about it with anyone who is interested as well! So if you have any questions, just ask!

This entry to getting to be a bit long, so I think I'll end it here with the promise of pictures to come soon. Good night and Happy Holidays to all! :)