Some assembly required.

Although this phrase was first being thrown around in reference to the work tables we were putting together to make our bike shop a bike shop, it now far too accurately, describes the whole program.

Our goal is to get the first round of students (probably about three of them) going by February 15. At this point we've got a bunch of bikes, which is great! the only problem being that they are all working great because we used them to practice our own bike savyness. Which, I must add, I have some reservations about. Especially since I seem to be the relative bike mechanic expert. Despite the fact that even when I am feeling cocky, I would not call myself an expert. 

But, hey! we can totally teach highschoolers about bike maintenance! so. moving on. In order to do so there needs to be highschoolers to teach. That was the presiding topic of conversation today. So far it looks like we'll have to wait till next week for opportunities to get to speak in some highschool homerooms, and also wait till next week to share in the group counseling session that takes place next door to the shop. 

Then, going back to our smoothly running fleet of nice road bikes that working too well... we need to get some donations! So come on people! send me your old bikes! But seriously. That needs to get happening, whether it be from Goodwill or Salvation Army or the police department. The only problem is, word has come down to us from on high that we are to let our bossman take the lead on that so as to have one identifiable and responsible voice when dealing with donors or the public at large.

Then we also need to figure out how on earth this freakin program is going run anyways! It'll be an after-school thing thats a given. How many times a week will we run? How many hours a day? How much material can we cover? And on and on. It kinda makes my head hurt. So I'm going to move on to more exciting news. Like moving!

I'm going to be living in a shed!!! the real excitement comes when I think about how much I'm saving on rent!  Instead of paying $350 a month to live in a house/ apartment with ready access to toilet and shower and stove and refrigerator and cooking supplies and internet and a living room, I'll be paying $150 a month! That means there is an extra $200 in my monthly budget that I can put towards making up for the lack of all those above mentioned amenities. Thats a LOT of beer money! (see: definition #1)

Also, apologies for the lack of photos. I'm working on doing better. We'll get a good documenting of the job site, the shed site, and Tucson site up here before too I should hope. In the meantime enjoy the surprised kitten. You can never get enough of the surprised kitten:

On starting a new life

Its a pretty crazy thing, starting a new life.
First of all: a place to stay! For that I have to give a huge shout out to Ali Wood and Scott from CHRPA for letting me stay at Ali's house for a bit until I find something more permanent. With out this to hold me over, I'd be stuck on some strangers couch or something.
Then its nice to have a job. Got mine on friday! It took a couple of days being anxious and simply waiting and biking around (read: twiddling my thumbs) but it happened! The interview was Friday morning and by the afternoon, on my way to get a library card, I got the call that said I got a job. And today was my first day! (but more on that later, first there's more about starting a new life!)
Next, its back to the living situation. I'm now in the process of finding a good place to live! I think I've got a pretty good chance with this one group of out there hippies. They seem like an interesting group, especially the older couple who owns the place, and it seemed like they liked me. Not to mention its right smack dab between and next to downtown and my work. And on top of that rent is quite reasonable at $300 including utilities. But I'm getting carried away.
Now there's the bike issue. Since the mountain bike was left here as a relic of my traveling days of ohsolong ago, I do have some transportation and have been using it exclusively and thoroughly. But it is not meant for what I am making it do. The poor thing is just longing for some trail; the fork is simply begging to be left un-locked out for more than 30 seconds when I bump down some stairs! And so a road bike is in order. Evidently there might be one available to me for cheap through my work  :-) but we'll see, it might be being saved for one of the disadvantaged youth we will be working with...
Then, finally, as all the practicalities are being finalized or at least have some potential solutions its time to think about those other needs higher up on the pyramid. Thank God for church. Shalom Mennonite was great. Super welcoming and helpful. Even offering to help keep their eyes open for potential housing opportunities. Then on Monday I met more people at an MLK event that I went to for work. I hung with with Kendra and Danny who work for Habitat for humanity and some other random fun folks.
And so, although the whole meeting new people thing is going pretty well so far I still have a long way to go in the 'making of friends' section of starting a new life. And although it is of course crucial to meet new people to make those friends it can also be a bit overwhelming. Frankly, I think I might be getting tired of all this newness.

Winds of Change

These past few weeks have been just crazy! At one point I was thinking about hanging out in Harrisonburg and maybe finding some temp work until March.
Then, there was hope of working for this bike program. Then there was a week or so of making chili and hiking  and hair pulling and thumb twiddling.
Then I began losing hope and started dreaming instead, for an epic Central America trip with Austin Martin!
The next day hope was revived for the job in Tucson, I sent some emails, placed some calls and so now here I am; I have an interview on Friday and am in the Harrisburg airport waiting for my flight to Phoenix!
Its a crazy time, this stage of life. Or more specifically: this stage of my life. Its easy for me to think of this (likely) move to Tucson as a period of stability. But then I am reminded of friends who have jobs and communities. People who will have these jobs for years! and suddenly my AmeriCorps position of 8 months is short again. And so its nice, that reminder; even if I'm not constantly wringing my hands over where I'll be in a week or two its not like I've given up on my adventuring potential. It just means that I have more time to plan the next trip!
Who's up for a bus trip through Panama!?
At very least I'm excited to be reunited with my mountain bike!!!

Home is whenever I'm with you

Its just that you're all 'you'. Which means Home is pretty much anywhere!
Being back in Lancaster was really great. Mom and Dad are just awesome. High speed ping pong games with Dad and left hang games with Mom were great fun (not quite this fun, but still fun). Beating Dad in chess three games in a row was surprising (not quite as surprising as this, but still surprising).
I was a bit disappointed about not getting to spend more time with the extended family but luckily cousins Collin and Shay were able to come over to play one day and I was able to make it to the Groff's Christmas gathering, and cousin Steph's wedding.
Getting to see how everyone is growing up was very interesting and helped put my own experiences in perspective. Collin and Shay are getting to be big kids and great siblings. I loved watching them interact through Sorry and as we wrote a collective story about a bunny.
Also Lancaster City is pretty cool! Thankfully Taylor and Austin and Thia all came up from Harrisonburg/ Chambersburg, and Emma came down from Pittsburgh and Melanie and Allison were around too, all for New Years. We got to watch the Rose Drop, some great fireworks, and generally just have a grand time in this great little city!
And then being back in Harrisonburg! I really do like this cozy little apartment and its great inhabitants (although there is only one of them at this point.) Today we went hiking; Matt, David and I had a blast smashing through snow and going all around Hone Quarry.
In other news, I have no idea whether I'll be here or in Tucson two weeks from now. I might be moving to Tucson on the 15th to "help to establish and maintain a solvent non-profit micro-enterprise that refurbishes and sells bicycles to low-income community members at cost." Or I might be chilling here in Harrisonburg for a month until there is space for me at some volunteer housing that CHRPA is connected with. Or there is also a chance that I might go back to Tucson on the 15th and just chill there for a month. Maybe hitch hike to a beach in SoCal and hang loose there for a month. I think I'd make a great beach bum...
But for now I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs and hoping to hear back from people as soon as possible!