New Bike & Photos

I recently was given a new (free!) bike from Brett, who lives in Maitri House in Takoma Park, MD. I guess I have good karma, because freeganism has been easier than I could have imagined around here (bike, new futon mattress, tons of food). Anyway, the only catch was that it had a bad brake cable and busted brake pads. So my supervisor told me about Pheonix Bikes which is luckily just a 10 minute bike ride away! Here is a video about the bike shop:



It was great! Not only did several adolescents fix my bike right in front of my eyes, they didn't charge for anything but parts and were incredibly entertaining. One of them had gone to Greenbrier Learning Center when he was younger and had several great things to say about it: it improved his grades, and was tons of fun. (By the way, that's our new website, it still has some kinks to work out though.)

NEW BIKE

Old sticker on the L, My = sticker on the R

Indiaaaa

GIGANTIC U Lock! Cost more than all my bike parts put together. 

Now I need to get a rack and strap on a milk crate. One of the brakes is really hard to squeeze, and the bike is a little large for me, but other than that I couldn't be happier with it. BRIGHT TURQUOISE!

My co-corpsers on the bridge to Georgetown in DC

My Apt Entrance

How the residents keep the door open so they don't have to get their keys out.

boletin

Hey! We plan that!

Exciting apt life

Nights around here have been pretty fun and social. Carolyn, Steve and I all live in the same stairwell so we cook together (mostly them) and eat together several times a week in ADDITION to our weekly AmeriCorps potlucks. It's really nice. We're also all big red wine fans : ) Here's a shrimp veggie pizza Steve & I cooked up last night.

THE MOST EPIC SHRIMP VEGGIE PIZZA

y ensalada : )

MMMMM: whole wheat crust, tomatoes, green peppers, broccoli, mozzarella, garlic, mushrooms,  pine nuts!

Followed by karaoke..

So I've been doing really well not driving lately. With my new bike, and the great weather, I've hardly had to use my car. I do drive to poetry readings, and also anytime I go to DC (to the metro stop), so those days are less eco-friendly. But here's another way I've been green and saving money:

Eco-friendly, saving 1.75 for the dryer!

Plus, it's a good way to use the corner of my room that has been bare and empty. My room makes me happy, but with my new futon mattress, it takes two people to lift it into futon position... so I don't have a reading couch anymore.

Safe Haven : )

My work week last week was quite anxiety-producing, but our beginning of the year to-do list has been steadily decreasing and thus, so has my anxiety.

Hope all is well elsewhere! We're planning an AmeriCorps camping trip...

E

Week 1

Wow! Week 1 with the kids is done...and I feel GREAT!

It's a good fit for me.

Why?
1. It's a fun age to hang out with: 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. I dig it.
2. I love my coworkers: they're fun and open minded and talented and awesome. We hang. A LOT.
3. It's multifaceted. We do a variety of activities in a small 3-hour window.

My schedule looks something like this:

10:00-2:30 Planning time (meetings, snack prep, logisticals...it goes faster than it looks)
2:30-2:45 Walk to Campbell Elementary to pick up group of students
2:45-3:00 All Students Arrive
3:00-3:30 Team Meetings: Icebreakers! Kudos cards! 
3:30-3:50 Free Choice 
3:50-4:10 Snack
4:15-5:15 20 minutes reading, 40 minutes homework help
5:15-6:00 Lesson
6:00-6:20 Kids leave, We write reports/clean


The kids are honeymooning, I know. But I have to say it feels pretty refreshing to work with this population compared to my work with the kids this summer.  It's pretty interesting, though. Surprisingly, for the most part, these kids really enjoy the homework help section of the day- most are eager to start, eager to finish, eager for help. They seem to truly know how important it is for their future. Today I had a young 3rd grader really struggle when I told her program time was over and that she had to finish her HW this weekend. It was heartbreaking because she knew and I knew that it was going to be a real challenge for her to complete it for Monday without the help of our center. The issue is that the parents often don't have the language ability to assist, and sometimes neither do the students.

This low-income/immigrant population can also be tricky because they form pretty strong cliques that can be disgustingly exclusive. Fifth grade can be hard for anyone, but some of the children have distinguishing personalities that come off really strong. I had one student tell me that even though her "best friend" told her she couldn't play her game and was being mean to her all day, she didn't want me to talk to her about it because she was afraid she would lose that "best friend" being a tattle tale. Remember those days? I spent a lot of time talking to her about what friendship actually means.

Today was the best, though. We did a GREAT community project where kids made "Personal Profiles" (cough Facebook anyone? cough) illustrating their likes and dislikes. Then, they all went around with post it notes and stuck onto people's profiles "I like Math too! -Erin" or "I don't like Vegetables either. -Erin". At the end they got to see their profiles and how many people had something in common with them. It was really cool. Except for maybe the popular group in the corner counting all their post-it notes and discussing their popularity.

More later. I'm going to try to get pictures of the place, my coworkers, projects, etc.

Keep on the look out!
Bye for now!

Erin

P.S. A post about my new bike is on the way!

potluck!

First Amer!Corps potluck of the year. MANY MORE to come : )

Ileana can't scare me

Kyle is a creeper

Dishes included: Mango Dal (!), Roasted Potatoes, Portabello Mushrooms with pinenuts and grapes, clementine platters, red wine. Yum!

Erin

Car Free Diet

So, at the Farmer's Market on Sunday, I made a pledge to these guys that I would not drive a car at least one day a week. It sounds easy- but actually, since Sunday I have not been successful- until today! SUCCESS... in small steps. I've been documenting this on my calendar. Today I walked to work, walked home, and then walked to a local bike shop (which was closed today unfortunately) with Steve. Good news! Brett's co-op has an extra women's bike that I can use. I just have to get a brake cable fixed and also drive up to Takoma Park, MD to pick it up.

I love living in the same apartment complex as two of my team members. LOVE it. We have been having dinner together, and playing some games as well. Tonight:

Me, Carolyn, Steve

I just already feel so comfortable and supportive by the "team". We are having our first (which I hope will be MANY) potluck(s) of the year tomorrow night! Followed by a game night and perhaps a little dancing.

We've been lesson planning recently, and it looks like we all have a lot of great skills to bring to the table. Im nervous, but excited. 

AmeriCorps. Getting things done. ; )

E

More Pictures

Here are some pictures posted by a local volunteer network of the picnic on Saturday:

Erin

Farmer's Market

Today I went to the Columbia Pike Farmer's Market, which is about a 5 minute bus ride from my apartment. Although the selection wasn't great, I got some lettuce and a cucumber and had a great time listening to the fiddle and banjo players and people watching in general. I also got my first proud dose of the Arlington bus system. I hope to really utilize public transportation this year, if only to make up for the damage done in St. Louis this past Spring driving 30 minutes to and from work everyday. I went to the Arlington's Car-Free Diet table at the market and pledged to go car-free at least one day a week- but I'm pretty sure it will be most of the week.

Greenbrier Learning Center is only a 8-10 minute walk from my house. Check this out:



View Larger Map

A: My Apartment
B: Greenbrier Learning Center (everyday)
C: Cambell Elementary School (where I will be stationed 2 mornings a week)

It doesn't really get much better than that.
Erin

Training

Me, Carolyn, Ileana @ the Picnic 

I finished my first week of my two-week AmeriCorps Learning Links training. Here's what I've done.

Monday I met my team, pictured in my last post. Great young people! I live with Carolyn, and work most directly with Ileana, Kyle and Joslynn. We all get along great!! We played a lot of ice breakers (my favorite!) and got to know each other pretty quickly. Carolyn lives with me, and Steve lives in the apt below us- so thats GREAT. : )

We went to a local Elementary school to get trained in Language Arts, which is what our kids need the most guidance with. A lot of the children that will come through the program (Greenbrier Learning Center) are ELL's, or, English Language Learners. They are all at different stages and we learned a lot of tools to be able to help them through this very difficult process. We also went to the Math training later in the week.

We also learned about food bank donations and how to serve them safely. Every week we get a shipment and have to go through and inventory everything, and serve it to the kids everyday for snack. We have 40 kids at our center, so you can imagine how quickly some food can be used up. We don't really have a choice on what we get--sometimes it's canned beans, sometimes it's granola bars, fruit cups, etc. It's actually a pretty big variety though, and we have a kitchen in case we need to cook anything (there were a ton of frozen burritos, for example). I've never worked with food bank donations and it's great to be able to get the experience! Also, they make weekend bags for the kids to take home with more snacks and dinner food we may not be able to serve easily (canned green beans/potatoes).

Another part of my service is at Columbia Grove apartments. Once a month on a Saturday, we hold a children's program at the community center. It might be a cooking activity, or jewelry-making, dancing, or whatever we decide to plan. Today was a big picnic for all the residents. AmeriCorps had a table, and we had crafts for kids, and I was in charge of face painting~!!! So exciting. Here are some of my masterpieces:

New Backpacks!

Ileana's so impressed.

More later!

Erin