Gabriel House Anniversary October 11, 2008

Last night we had the Gabriel House 1 yr. Anniversary party. It was a good time, hopefully a good time had by all. People were really only around for about 3 hours. The house stayed up late and had a living room dance party which was a lot of fun. I think the best part was seeing people passing by on the street start dancing as they passed the house. It was uplifting to see that.

Sue from Little Flower Catholic Worker also performed a puppet show in honor of the 1yr. anniversary. It was very witty! She did a nice job. I am not sure anyone who hasn’t spent a good deal of time around the house would get the jokes, but it was enjoyable.

I learned some new terms yesterday. I learned that a dub is 20 dollars, a dime is 10 dollars and a nik is 5 dollars. I also learned that a booster is someone who steals clothes from department stores and sells them out of the boot of their car or on the street. Another thing I learned was the origin of sagging, which is when men sag their pants down. I won’t explain the origin of that though.

This weekend is homecoming at St. Peters, the church I am attending. They had a gospel festival this morning with a great gospel choir from Philly. Everyone is welcome to sing with them tomorrow morning if they attend practice today so I think I will head over there to sing with them. I am excited about being able to sing in a gospel choir.

I am going to the folk festival this evening with Emily who used to live at the house. I am excited about this also because every time its been in town my family has been visiting my extended family but we never went for some reason.

I did some scrap booking today. I am scrap booking my year at the house so I have been taking lots of pictures. It has been a very restful day for which I am very thankful. I am starting to miss home, but I won’t be able to get to Maryland until Thanksgiving.

Some things just make no sense to me October 8, 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7658045.stm

The above is a link to an article about the release of 17 Chinese Muslims into the US from Guantanamo. The US is apparently upset about this because they think these people are a threat to the country. It also sounds like the US thinks it is doing the people a favor by keeping them in prison because they will not be accepted in China anymore and they think no other country will take them, how is it doing someone a favor to keep them in Prison? There was a group in DC that said they would take them in upon their release. Praise God that there is someone to take them in. That is a beautiful example of community and compassion.

Weekend Crazyness October 6, 2008

   This weekend was fairly eventful. Friday Sarah and I took Nate, a man from our neighborhood, out for ice cream to celebrate him getting his contracting license. I think he really enjoyed it. He has a lot of ideas for the house and the community garden it is great to have that kind of energy around the house from someone who has lived in this neighborhood pretty much his whole life.

     Saturday Sarah and I peeled up the linolium tiles that were in the upstairs hallway. It was a very sticky experience. At one point Sarah got stuck to the floor and came out of her shoes. I ended up with tile stuck to my shoes and decided it didn’t matter if it came off until the project was finshed because it would just get stuck to me again anyway. We finished sanding the yellow room and the hallway today. It is midnight now and we are just now finished. We started the yellow room a few weeks ago but it took us all day to get all the paint off the wood in that room. So many muscles in my body ache right now.

    I went to a menonite church today and that was interesting. I also went to the Cary town for a few hours. I was all excited about the food and wine festival only to find out it was really small and just wine tasting and it cost 20 bucks to get in. 20 bucks I didn’t feel I needed to spend on a wine festival when there was floors to be sanded! I met some people today that were train hopping across the country. They had a very clever sign to ask for change it said “Obama ain’t the only dude around here that wants change.”

    Wednesday night I had a break down. I am not sure why. None of the kids at work were really listening and then I came home and there were the regular group of kids here for community dinner and they were having a hard time listening. There was shalom zone talk which I was supposed to do training for but decided that I couldn’t do it. When I made the decision to do it I had only been here a week and I was felt pretty presured to do it and really wasn’t going through with it because I wanted to. There is already so much going on at Gabriel house with out me trying to join another non profit. I think it also dawned on me how hard it is to move. I left everyone I know. I just wanted a hug from someone I knew really loves me. Despite all this I still am liking it down here and know this is where I should be and know it is not easy.