as if i don't have enough jobs...

yah, i already work at two different YMCAs as a lifeguard, but hey...i'm not busy enough! although i my last day at one is july 31...but i started an internship at a local radio station, and I'M LOVING IT!!! i'd job shadowed once, and enjoyed it a lot. so i set up an internship on monday nights, the 5 pm show, and started today. i really enjoyed it! both times i've gone in, i've met new people from the community, and i've learned a lot about radio. this time, i actually ran the control board for the last fifteen minutes. SAWEET!! i was on air last time. anyway, i'm having a BLAST!! (as you can probably tell from the many caps that i'm using to communicate my excitement ;) )

i'll probably post something insanely philosophical sometime soon. in the meantime, i'd like to share a video...it shares the story of the lonely ninja...and i shall bid you all farewell! :)

-enna

CHWC ROCKS!!!

so, i promised last post that i'd post more about CHWC (short for Catholic Heart Work Camp) and i just want to say that it's absolutely amazing...although something you as a reader need to keep in mind is that yes, my experience was awesome, particularly as i served, but you don't have to go to a huge shindig like CHWC to serve others. in your community, many many people probably need help. so you can get the same good feeling about helping others WITHOUT the hefty price tag! anyway, the easiest way to do this is to go day-by-day, so here goes a rundown of my week-long journey!

DAY 0 - saturday, june 12

ok, technically the trip was the 13-19, but bear with me. my youth group, called keysis, went to CHWC with the youth group from a parish in a nearby community, and we had a lock-in the night before we left. it started at 7 pm, but my sister and i didn't get there until after 10 because we got dragged - oh, sorry, i mean went to a "picnic" for the Catholic homeschool community in the town we'll be moving to. anyway, we got there and i was promptly set upon by my best galfriend, and we went crazy from there. :) as if i hadn't eaten enough at the picnic, i also had some pizza and dr. pepper...WHEEEEE...and around 10:30, a whole bunch of us went upstairs to the gym of the school and played volleyball. we had anywhere from six to nine people on a team (we rotated people in and out each time), and had a BLAST! renwen was having conniption fits the entire time...i still can't figure it out...i didn't get hit in the head with the ball or trip over my own feet even once. ;) i also can't figure out how, after not playing volleyball for six years, i was BETTER than i was when i was practicing and playing at least two or three times a week. go figure. anyway, we played until around midnight. OH yah...you haven't lived until you've played volleyball that late at night. it's awesome. ;)

DAY 1 - sunday, june 13

so by that time, it was sunday. we went back downstairs and ate a little more, then around 12:30 the adults set up the big-screen TV in angela hall and we all laid down to watch up. a very good movie, yes, but by that time i was exhausted. and fell asleep less than 20 minutes into the movie. it was sad...our evil adults (lol jk) woke us up at 3:45 am, and we changed clothes, brushed teeth, etc, and dragged all our luggage outside to wait for the bus. it got to the church around 4:30, and we somehow managed to fit 34 people's bags and snacks and water in the storage compartments and all of us on the bus by 5 am, and were on the road! pretty much everyone went back to sleep at that point. (incidentally, i came to the conclusion that sleeping on the floor in angela hall - only on a sleeping bag, and the floor was carpet with little to no padding - was more comfortable than sleeping on the buss. go figure.) we stopped for lunch at 11:30 central, 12:30 eastern time for lunch in ohio (hence multiple times). from this point until i say otherwise, times are in the eastern time zone, not central. about an hour later, we all piled back into the bus and drove on to toledo, ohio. after doing the chinese fire drill at a train (then turning around and going around it because it was just SITTING there), we finally got to cardinal stritch high school, unloaded all our stuffs, took a picture (we all looked lovely after being on a bus for the better part of eight hours), took our stuffs into the school, split up (boys down one hallway, girls down the other), dumped our stuff in our classroom, and ran for program. we got there around 2, and program started at 2:30. so we ran.

at program, we got our work assignments for the week. i was placed with a group of 3 work teams (6-7 people each) that was assigned to help a community garden/juvenile delinquent rehabilitation center. we then got some free time before dinner and used it to go back to our room and start setting up our beds - we didn't want to sleep on the tile floor! we had a LOT of girls in our room - we had pathways between the beds that were only about six inches wide. after dinner, we had activities to help our individual work teams get to know each other better. this went anywhere from playing two truths and a lie to trust exercises. for one, we each took turns standing on a balance board, pulling our arms close to our chest, and closing our eyes. our team members were supposed to catch us and keep us from falling. i don't like exercises like that...anyway, after those were done, we had Mass. it was very uplifting and powerful. after Mass, we went back to our room and finished setting up beds and crashed.

DAY 2 - monday, june 14

we were awoken at 6:15 am by very off-key singing...our lovely staff members singing some parody of a popular song (that i didn't recognize) that talked about hard-boiled eggs...by 6:45 we were in the cafeteria, eating breakfast, and were in the gym by 7:30 for morning program. it was short and sweet, after which everyone dispersed to get the things they needed for the day. on my team, i was assigned to be a break coordinator - also known as "grab the lunch or deal with very upset team members" girl. i didn't forget the lunches any day though. ;) we were on the worksite from about 9 am to 3 pm, then headed back to the school. as someone 18 or over, i had to wait to shower...sigh...daily Mass was at 4:30 each day, and i made it each day. and would go shower after that, and then eat dinner. between getting back and Mass, i generally changed out of my sweaty, smelly (compost does not smell as lovely as one might think) clothes and took a nap. after dinner, we had some free time before evening program started at 7:30. our youth groups generally spent that time playing wacky games such as ninja, bunny-bunny, and sleep-dart. it was nuts. at evening program, we generally had some upbeat music, some fun and crazy contests, and a visit with mr. rogers before they calmed us down for the serious portion. one of the staff members would talk to us, and we would sing some praise and worship music. total time for evening program was about 1 1/2 hours. then we had some more free time before the optional Rosary at 10 pm. (which, once again, i went to.) that was only offered monday, tuesday, and thursday...for reasons you will understand once i describe wednesday...anyway, after Rosary, i went to bed. wheee, right? :P (each night, we had to be in our rooms by 10:30 and lights out by 11 unless otherwise noted.)

DAY 3 - tuesday, june 15

commonly called "taco tuesday". on tuesday during CHWC, they do tacos for dinner. also, after evening program, we do DANCE PARTY!!! it was awesome :D :D other than those two things, though, tuesday wasn't much different from monday. actually, monday's formula was the basic formula for the four days we were working. until about 3-4 pm, each day was pretty close to the same.

DAY 4 - wednesday, june 16

the only notable thing that happened before evening program was that the staff members on wakeup call decided to do a parody of "party in the USA" by miley cyrus. (actually, though, i think i preferred their version...) evening program that night started early - 6:30. after our normal evening program, we had the four corners experience. the staff members set up four stations of prayer that campers could go to, as well as a corner for quiet meditation or discussion with another camper. one corner was the Sacrament of Reconciliation, another was for prayer for healing, another prayer for matters of faith, and the last was prayer for others. this went until about 10:30, at which time each youth group went to a separate area on its own to have a prayer time. that wrapped up around 11, after which keysis had to clean up the cafeteria. :P we finally got to bed around 11:30.

DAY 5 - thursday, june 17

they couldn't even be merciful and let us sleep in...it was our last day of work, so we had a cookout!! most everything was done, so we took about two hours to eat...it was fantastic. such good food...nom nom...we got back and i (once again) napped and wrote some affirmative notes to some of the people from the week until Mass...which they moved to 5 so that people could have time to finish their work and come back to shower before Mass. (course, they ALSO moved the girls' shower time so that it ended at 5 instead of 4:45 like it had all week...we almost were able to shower before Mass...sigh...) after Mass, i showered, and dinner got moved to 6. i didn't get in to dinner until 6:30 (i don't remember why, so don't ask), and program started at 7 instead of 7:30. we invited everyone that we helped to come to the program and say a few words. we probably had an additional hundred people there. realizing the impact that we'd had on the community was astounding. so many people were so grateful for all the work that we did...it was very humbling to hear their words of praise. they spoke for close to an hour! obviously, our program was longer than our standard evening program, but it was so uplifting and affirming...in short, it was one of the most amazing experiences of the week. they moved times back to accommodate the later program (and because it was the last day of work). we had to be in our rooms by 11 and lights out by 11:30. (the entire week, i think i only stayed awake until lights out on monday.)

DAY 6 - friday, june 18

they didn't wake us up at 6:15 on friday! yippee! wakeup was at 7, but i woke up at 6:20 and was almost entirely packed by the time wakeup was called. i finished packing and then went to eat breakfast. the morning program was also moved back to 8...i had a lot of dead time on my hands from waking up 40 minutes early. ;) anyway, for morning program, they showed a summary video from the week. they had video footage from the staff arriving, all of the campers arriving, registration, the first day's activities, the worksites, evening programs, morning programs, skits done by different youth groups, speakers, Dante (who did the music)...it was probably at least 45 minutes long. we then had a final Mass, grabbed our stuff, threw it on the bus, and took group pictures (after we had NOT been on a bus for eight hours) before we headed off to cedar point for the free day. after being at cedar point from 12 to 9pm that day, i can OFFICIALLY say that i HATE roller coasters. renwen was a dear and stuck with me (even though she loved the blue streak almost as much as i hated it) as we went on some other (funner) rides. at 9, keysis and the other youth group met back up and headed to the bus. after changing clothes and a restroom stop, we all climbed back on the bus and prepared to ride through the night. we had a nice prayer session while we were on the bus, then had a toy story marathon. i got all the way through the first one and about twenty minutes into the second before i crashed.

DAY 7 - saturday, june 19

i woke up around 3:45 (we're back in central time, folks!) when we stopped at a rest stop for the bus driver. i really admire that guy...he managed to drive all night and NOT crash us. i know i couldn't've done it. anyway, i stayed awake until we got to the west side of champaign, then called ma to let her know that we were 45 minutes away. yep, i called her at 4 am. don't you just wish i had called YOU, too? ;) anyway, i sorta dozed off and on from champaign back to the church where we were dropped off, at which point we unloaded the bus, said goodbye to everyone, and went home...we got back to my house around 5:30. i brushed my teeth, dumped my stuff, called renwen to ask her to grab the hat that we forgot, and crashed solidly until 8. yippee!!

so, ladies and gentlemen, that was my CHWC experience in a nutshell. it's hard to condense an entire week into a blog post...so many good things happened; we were truly blessed to serve! God bless you all!

-enna

i know i haven't posted in a while. mea culpa. after grandma died, i didn't really feel like writing much. however, i'm starting to get to the point where my creative juices are starting to flow again, so i'll start posting more often.

as a quick update, i've graduated high school, gotten an internship at a local radio station, and went on a mission trip last week in toledo, ohio through Catholic Heart Work Camp (CHWC). it was AWESOME!!! on friday, we went to cedar point before coming home. not so awesome. i discovered that i can actually SAY i hate roller coasters now. :P and we got back saturday at 5 am. i'll post more information on that later. for right now, i need to go to work...so i'll post later.

-enna