28 people, 9 months, 1 house!
Our first week in New York, exploring Central Park at dusk.
3 days worth of groceries.
On the first day I was asked to cook for everyone. All 28 people. The best I could do was bacon and egg on toast for 1.
The new term I quickly learned was 'voluntelling'. Basically, you don't put your hand up to volunteer you just get told to do it. And I was NOT gonna put my hand up to cook. Stuff that! But, you know what? Life is full of doing things you don't want to do so sometimes you just need to get over yourself and stick it out. And with the help of others we were able to pull off our first dinner together.
Too late to back out.
The first week of ESM was really exhausting and physically demanding. It felt like I had landed in a ski lift that was taking me up the mountain and it was too late to back out. I had to keep up with everyone because I didn't want to let the team down and I just had to enjoy the ride.
This whole concept of not knowing what I'm doing and still unexpectedly managing to get it together is a recurring theme. And I'm sure it will be something that will continue to recur.
Letting go of knowing what's going on.
During our second week at ESM we went to Washington D.C. as part of community building without a schedule or any information of what the week would consist of.
The house of a beautiful French family who welcomed us into their home during our stay in Washington.
Our first road trip!
We hopped off the bus after a 5 hour trip and our chaplain was at the bus stop waiting for us with our ubers ready to go. We didn't know where we were staying that night and it was the first time I had ever been in an uber without knowing the final destination.
Next thing we know, we rock up at a multi million dollar house. We knock on the door (hoping we have the right number) and a 10-year-old opens the door with a joyful greeting and welcomes us into the house and shows us to our rooms.
At this point, we hadn't met any parents and we start tripping out when trying to wrap our heads around this situation and eventually they introduce themselves and everything is hunky dory.
The kinds of situations where you don't know what's going on, but you low key know that everything is fine, is the kind of situations we run into a lot during ESM... and it's hunky dory!
I've decided that I want to know how to play guitar by practising a little bit everyday for the next 9 months. Let's see how I turn out!
Outside the shrine of St. John Paul II. We pray for his intercession during this year of mission as we follow his wisdom and aspire to live for greatness.
Bonding through the streets of Washington.