Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Greatest City in America

As soon as I moved to Baltimore one of the first things I noticed were signs that said "The Greatest City in America."  These signs were literally everywhere, including the bench at the bus stop that I wait at every morning.  I continue to laugh at these signs every time I see them, I mean, has anyone even been to every city in America!?  It's just a ridiculous assumption.  While I am in no position to state which city in America is the "greatest," I am slowly starting to get to know Baltimore, and I wanted to tell you about it.

My house is in a neighborhood called Charles Village which is due north of downtown a couple miles.  CV was apparently named after the Village People and Charlie Chaplin (not true) and is on the east side of the Johns Hopkins campus (my current location due to lack of internet at home).  It's a relatively nice neighborhood with a lot of college students, some restaurants and bars, and a lot of activities.  This has been slightly hindered in the last few months due to a large spike in violence that continues to have the whole village talking.

My work placement is in a part of the city called Fells Point.  It is directly east of the inner harbor (downtown) by about a half mile or so.  The specific part of Fells Point my work is in is not the greatest area, with a huge housing projects right across the street.  But one day while walking around during my lunch break I headed towards the water where I discovered a huge area packed with bars and restaurants.  We went there later that night and will certainly be a location that we continue to visit.  My work is also just a couple of blocks from little Italy.  I've spent only a small amount of time in little Italy but with lots of restaurants and shops, I'm sure I'll be stopping by frequently.

Last weekend I finally had the opportunity to visit the Inner Harbor, the main tourist area of the city.  This is a very cool area that has been renovated over the last twenty years or so.  It nestled snuggly between the harbor and the main downtown area.  There are a lot of things to do here; take boat tours, go shopping, eat at great restaurants, rent paddle boats, and of course visit the National Aquarium.  Due to our limited budget we won't be able to spend much time in this area, but in September and October the National Aquarium and one other museum in the area have $5 Fridays, something I desperately want to take advantage of.

Since Baltimore is such a large city, there are still a ton of things I haven't seen or done in the city.  I've spent a little time in some other areas.  Hamden is one such area, where the Ace of Cakes building is, and a very hip area with lots of bars.  I went there last weekend for Hamden Fest, mainly just to see the toilet bowl races.  And yes, they're exactly what they sound like.  Yesterday I went to an area called Federal Hill, which is apparently where all the college students of the city go out on weekends.  Again, I'm sure I'll be spending lots of time there.

Some other things I've been up to:

Every JV house is responsible for throwing a party on whatever holiday they're assigned.  The Baltimore house, affectionately called the Pedro Arrupe house (look him up) is always given the task of throwing the Labor Day party.  Our party was a huge success (I think) with people showing up from a majority of the houses (the furthest coming from Raleigh, NC and Bridgeport, CN) and other people that we know from Baltimore.

Through my roommate Tim we have met some other volunteers that are living in the community.  These include 2 houses of Lutheran Volunteers, Mennonite Volunteers, a group of guys from Germany who are here volunteering and when asked what they like to do respond "you know, drinking, partying, clubbing."  They're fun guys.

Work has been going great.  We just got a new intern from University of Maryland who will be doing the same thing as me on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  While she was doing her training this past week, I got to do some other things that our agency does.  On Tuesday I worked in the meal program, our lunch program that serves almost 400 people a day.  This was a great opportunity for me to talk with many clients and serve a lunch number of people.  On Thursday our head of security was out doing training, so I stepped up and worked the front desk; talking to clients, watching the security cameras, answering all the calls, and doing other responsibilities.  This job was much more difficult than what I was expecting but was a good learning experience.

Life with the roommates has been fun.  We've had some good talks, spent a lot of time together, and we haven't had any problems thus far.  Living simply together has made life interesting as we look for things to do together.  Our favorite things have been watching the Wire, an incredible HBO show that shows the "true" side of Baltimore, and working on puzzles.  Yes...puzzles.

I can't believe it's already been over a month since I've left.  Last weekend was the first time I really started to feel homesick.  This wasn't too surprising for me since I experienced the same thing while in Italy.  It's been a difficult transition not being able to see friends and family whenever I like but I've gotten a lot of support and this year is already flying by.  Thanks for reading and please share any comments or questions you have.  Love!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Longest Two Weeks of My Life

Hey everyone!  Sorry it took so long for a second post, hopefully they will not continue to be this few and far between.

Even though I left just about four weeks ago, I have only been working in my placement for two weeks, because of orientation and my returning to Oregon for my sister's wedding.  But looking back to my first day at work, exactly two weeks ago, I am shocked to learn that I have not been in Baltimore for several months now.  But that's exactly what it feels like.

I definitely wouldn't say this a bad thing.  I'm certainly still getting used to having a forty hour per week job, it's been a few years since I last had one, but my days go by relatively quickly.  I would say I'm feeling this way because of the gravity of my job.

Before I explain what it is exactly that I am doing, I'll give you some information about what happens in my building on a daily basis.  I work in a center called the Beans and Bread Outreach Center.  This is a day resource center for the homeless community of Baltimore.  A hot lunch is served seven days a week, and I believe there are around three hundred lunches served daily.  There is also a small area where people can literally just hang out for the day as a chance to get them off the streets where they can get into trouble.  There are other resources offered including a nurse, a substance abuse counselor, and case work, which is what I do.

The Beans and Bread center is just one of fourteen agencies that make up the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Baltimore.  There are two other agencies that are located in the same building as Beans and Bread; Home Connections, which is a permanent housing resource, that unfortunately only has sixty spots and has a minimum five year wait, and the Frederick Ozanam house, which is a temporary housing resource with only twenty rooms, located on the second and third floors of my building.

So about my job.  My responsibilities in the first two weeks have been to meet with eight clients a day, who sign up at our front desk, and help provide them with whatever resources they are looking for, and if I cannot meet their needs, at least point them in the direction they need to go.  These needs can be anything, and in the first two weeks I have seen very diverse needs.  Permanent housing, temporary housing, employment, health insurance, cell phones, state identification (IDs, birth certificates, SS cards), food stamps, clothing, hygiene,  and transportations are just some of the things I've been asked about.  But most of the clients come in looking for clothing, housing, or assistance in obtaining some form of identification.

The need is tremendous.  There has not been a single day when the eight spots for case work are not filled, and sadly enough, there has not been a day when I have been able to see all eight clients, mostly because they get impatient and leave.  The first day I did case work my supervisor took the reigns while I watched.  The second and third days I took over while she sat next to me and directed me on what to do.  By the fourth day I was on my own.  This was quite a daunting task because there are absolutely a ton of resources to know and a lot of different situations and questions that I haven't had to deal with yet.

After doing the case work on my own the past two weeks, I definitely have a pretty good grasp on what I'm doing and things are starting to run smoothly during my case work hours.  Soon I will begin to acquire my own clients whom I will meet with on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, and set long term goals with that we will work together to achieve.

This job is without a doubt taking a hard mental and emotional toll on me.  There have been times in the two weeks where I have gotten frustrated because I was unable to help my client with what they were asking.  Another factor of this mental and emotional exhaustion is coming from the stories I've heard.  Most of the clients I have dealt with usually have some sort of criminal history, drug abuse history, some have been younger then me, but all have incredible stories which they have been more then willing to share with me.  Some of these stories are very hard to hear but it is important for me to be an attentive listener for them because maybe that's all they actually want.

I have been warned by several co-workers, who have been more then supportive for me, to distance myself a little from my clients because it can directly affect me.  After being around it for only a couple of weeks, I know exactly what they mean.  But it's been amazing to see the level of respect that each person who works at Beans and Bread has for every client who comes in.  It is important to treat the clients like human beings, because that's exactly how they deserve to be treated.  Towards the end of the day on my first day, my supervisor came into my office and gave me a bit of advice which has really had an impact on me.  She told me that "even if you cannot help them with what they need, and a lot of times that will be the case, always smile at them and look them in the eye, because there's a good chance that you will be the only person that does that for them today."