Week One: COMPLETE

The end of week one is upon me, and I have really found this place to be a good place. I am comfortable with the residents and with most of the staff. There are still some staff that I'm a bit nervous around, and there are some that I still haven't met or been formally introduced to. I have found a group of guys that I can talk to and have a good time with. I support them, and they support me as well. A number of them ask me how I'm doing during the day, teach me something new (like how to do a proper trimming job on the hedges, or how to play pool like a pro, or something like that). I can have conversations with them about a number of different things, and we can share details with each other. They understand that I have never used drugs or been an alcoholic or been arrested or in trouble with the law, but I think they also understand that I'm here, not to judge, but to serve and to learn and to support them and give them something that others can not. I don't know what that "other" thing is that I have to offer, but I'm sure that I'll discover it at some point.

I'm also being pushed by the residents. Yesterday, Darren, one of the volunteers here, asked me if I wanted to go for a jog. It was him and two residents going for about a mile and a half. I reluctantly said yes. I had a really hard time, but "Mike" was incredibly supportive, patient, and told me that he would walk with me as long as I like. I told him that I would need for him to push me some, or I would walk the whole way, and that's not what I should do. He did just that: he pushed me, and when I wanted to walk, he would get behind me and litterally push me so that I had to jog some more. I finally had to stop jogging and tell him that my legs were about to fall off and my heart was about to pack its bags and jump out of my chest. Mike understood, and he just kept walking with me.

Then I gave my first chit today. Chits are like a documentation of a violation. When someone breaks a rule, or shows disrespect, or doesn't perform up to standards, staff have to write out a chit and then hand it to the resident. It's not fun, and I've seen and heard a number of residents get aggravated, even angry, over them. I understand where they come from, but at the same time, I understand where the staff comes from. It's a part of my job, so I have to do it.

So when I gave my first chit, it was to one of the new residents...like he got here this past Wednesday. I pulled him aside, explained why I had to issue the chit, and handed it to him. He said he understood, took the chit, and walked away. PHEW. I didn't get a boot in the face.

Everything is going well. I'm still waiting to hit the wall and realize that this isn't Fantasy Land, but I really am on another continent, in another country, and doing everyday stuff here. I really am weeding, and trimming, and eating, and writing, and reading, and walking, and talking and living life in another country. This seems so weird. It's hard to imagine that these guys have been here for a while, and that they would still be here if I weren't here. Sometimes I find myself thinking, "This person who is talking right now would probably be talking about this very thing, even if I weren't here to witness it." Their conversations would still happen, they would still wake up and do their jobs, they would still eat, and they would still do whatever else they do during the day and the night...even if I weren't here. They have always existed...they aren't characters that just appeared on stage for an act in my play....

...And I find myself thinking that all of the people who are back in the states are going about life as if it were normal. Life change is taking place with the many people that I've left, and they're still eating, and they're still walking, and they're still living life. It's so weird to me that there are other cultures and other people in this world. It's so weird to me that 5PM here is 12AM in the States, and that it's 6PM in Paris. This is weird, but I enjoy it immensly. Emmensly. However it's spelled. I wasn't in school that day....

It's almost dinner time. I think we're having fish and chips, which excites me a lot. :-)