Getting My Fix

I think we all have addictions.  Some people struggle with smoking, others with television, and there even exists the internet addict.  My addiction is a fruit stand.

Really, it's more than just a fruit stand.  It's "Los Cocos," a family owned business located just a few blocks from St. Mary's campus.  I was first introduced to this utopia of produce during a field trip to a local bakery with one of the leaders of University Ministry. Wayne had taken Irene (new to UMin) and I to a Mexican bakery to order bread for the church services that would occur on Dia de los Muertos at the end of November.  Really, my position had nothing to do with the field trip, but I was hoping for a chance to practice my Spanish as well as eat some free carbs.  I totally got to do both!

On the way back to campus from the bakery, Wayne took Irene and I to Los Cocos to get fruit cups.  Really, that's all they are.  Plastic cups filled with deliciously ripe fruit.  You can either order a single fruit or a combination of your choice, including mango, strawberries, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, coconut, cucumber, and jicama.  As some of you may have guessed, a cup of pure mango was my order.  This is where the addiction began. 

I soon found myself returning to Los Cocos, either when I was running errands around tomorrow by myself or if I organized a Los Cocos trip with co-workers during the workday.  My favorite orders are the cup of mango, strawberries with cream, aqua de horchata (a non-alcoholic beverage), or a mango milkshake.  A good estimate would be that I have been to Los Cocos about a dozen times in the past 3 weeks.  

The basic moral of the story is, come visit me in San Antonio, and be prepared to eat a lot of fruit :) 

Service Trip to San Juan

It has finally happened since I've started as the Civic Engagement Coordinator at St. Mary's - I got to go on a service trip!! Woohoo!!!!!

St. Mary's had mid-semester break starting on Thursday, October 16th. Paul Felarca, Paul Herrera, and I have been planning this trip for the last few weeks. We would be traveling to San Juan, TX, which is one of the farthest points south in all of Texas, down by McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley (more commonly referred to as "The Valley.") A few days before leaving on the trip, a family emergency came up and Paul Felarca was unable to go on the trip with us. That through Paul Herrera and I into a bit of a panic, because up until that point Paul Felarca had been the main point-of-contact for everything. We reviewed all the travel information and policies for St. Mary's service trips (ie - alcohol is apparently acceptable on service trips provided that students are of age, although I disagree with the statement "we can't stop them from drinking.") So Thursday morning at 8:00am we set off in a 15-passenger van with 8 students, 2 advisors, and a 5-hour driving plan to arrive at our destination. (Paul Herrera would be doing all the driving since I'm under 25 years of age.)

The trip started off alright, no problems with the drive-down. We stopped for an early lunch in Alice with the family of one of our participants. His parents were so great, and it was the first home-cooked meal I've had in two months!!! It was phenomenal, and his parents were really great. We arrived in San Juan around 1:00pm, and checked in with our host-site to get our room accommodations and get our work assignment.  

Our project for Thursday afternoon was to help with a project called "Mi Familia Vota" (My Family Votes), which is trying to encourage Hispanics in the area to vote in the upcoming presidential election.  The campaign isn't trying to gain votes for any particular candidate, but rather to show politicians in general that the Hispanics in southern Texas do have a voice.  Basically we traveled around communities in groups of 3 or 4 with clipboards of information (names and addresses of registered voters that haven't voted in an election in the past 3 years), asking residents to sign pledge cards starting that they would vote in the upcoming election and that the program could mail a reminder postcard right before election day.  Although this wasn't any sort of super thrilling activity, I did enjoy the fact that I got to utilize my Spanish-speaking skills quite a bit. 

Now Thursday night on the other hand was completely phenomenal!  First of all, one of the trip participants is from the Valley, and recommended a Mexican place called "Taco Palenque."  And when I say Mexican, I mean real Mexican!!!  Complete with sliced cucumber at the salsa bar and aqua de jamaica to drink.  Maravilloso!  The wonderfulness of the evening continued when we returned to our dorm-style housing for the night, and spend 4 hours playing "Coffee Pot" (a modified version of "Bowls," because a coffee pot was all we had), watching a movie, and snacking on cookies with cajeta.  Delicious.

Friday we were able to do construction for the day, which I were thoroughly excited for.  We worked with a group called Proyecto Azteca, which is very similar to Habitat for Humanity.  The program builds homes for families along the US-Mexican border ("las colonias") that are currently living in shacks made out of sheets of tin and loose cinder blocks.  We spent the morning installing insulation, and the afternoon using putty to seal exterior nails.  

Friday night we were invited to dinner at the home of one of our group members, followed by a showing of "Talladega Nights" and a detour to get some gelato.  The evening was a bit more laid back in the housing unit, but we did get to play Thumper, a personal favorite :)

Saturday was our free day, and we went to....South Padre Island!!!!!  Yes, I am talking about the popular spring break destination.  It is much more laid back in mid-October, and while the weather wasn't super sunny and hot, it was a pleasant day nonetheless.  Myself and two guys from the group ended up playing soccer on the beach with a group of women from Mexico, and man did we get our butts kicked!  It started out alright, but after the score was 8-8, we were taken in a 7-1 run.  Ouch.  Soccer may not be my best sport, but it was still a great time!

Despite quite a few hiccups during our service (both with voter recruitment and construction) it was a good trip, and a great group of students.  I can't wait until spring break though, when we can have a substantial impact and some hard-core group bonding.

Amazing.

Okay, so now that I've covered the basics of where/when/how/why, I can get into the fun stuff about my life in Texas.  What great timing, too, because I just had a phenomenal weekend!!!!!  This post is just a teaser though; you'll have to check out my most recent podcast, krystina003 to hear why I was positively elated this weekend.  I'll give you a hint: it involved service, new people, and language; three things I find absolutely essential to my life.  So click on "Podcasts" on the right!!!

Civic Engagement Coordinator

Moving on to the biggest part about why I'm in San Antonio: my VISTA position.  

I'm working with Texas Campus Compact, a coalition of public and private colleges and university across Texas that collaborate on service learning and civic engagement.  (*Note: Campus Compact is a national organization; in fact, Wartburg College was a part of Iowa Campus Compact, which is how I learned about the organization.)  Specifically, my placement is at St. Mary's University in San Antonio and my focus is on the civic engagement component within the Service Learning Center.  

First off, I have the greatest colleagues!!!!  The Service Learning Center and Career Services Center are combined in terms of staffing and resources, so there are quite a few of us.  There's another AmeriCorps*VISTA at my site, Leandra, who cracks me up with her aversion to air conditioning.  T-Paul (He's first name starts with a "t", but he goes by Paul) actually had my AmeriCorps position last year, but was hired on as full-time staff when an opening appeared; further proof that this year-long position may eventually lead to something more permanent.  Pablo (the other Paul, who we differentiate with his nickname from the Hispanic communities he's worked with in previous positions) is new to the office as well, and my direct supervisor.  We get lost on things a lot together, haha.  Megan is the receptionist for the SLC, and she's so great!  Originally from Colorado, she went to college in Minnesota, so we take about the strangeness of Texas.  These are the folks I tend to interact with the most, but the others are great, too: Norma, Denise, Rebecca, Shelly, Leticia, and our receptionist, the other Tina (crazy, right?!?!)

I was really thrown into things on my first day, meeting dozens of people, and attending a meeting in the afternoon about Election 2008 events, which I'm now one of the two key people for.  I was in charge of planning Constitution Day on September 17th and am now working on debate watch parties.  I'm also involved in the President's Peace Commission, a series of centrally themed panels that occurs each semester.  Apparently its a pretty big deal, so that was nice of everyone to throw me into that one on day 3.  Really it's a lot better now, but my first week was so overwhelming!!!  I'm also a part of the University Park Neighborhood Association, assisting with the Marianist Leadership Program, presenting to a majority of the 26 first-year intro course sections (very similar to IS 101 at Wartburg), helping students and RSOs (registered student organizations) find service opportunities, and so much more!!!!  By the way, since emotion is hard to read in print, I should explain that I AM THRILLED about all of this!!!!!  Some days are filled to the brim with meetings, but thankfully others I have more time to take care of things on the to-do lists that I make during meetings.  

Being professional staff is great, too.  Its nice to have one of those magnetic name tags to put on my shirt; helps distinguish me from the undergrads.  I have a nice cozy office (code for "small," but its cool), a sweet job title, and by the end of the week I'll have business cards - woot woot!

So there's a basic description of my job.  I like it very much, and this first month has flown by.  Can't wait for the next 11 to come :)

PSO in Denver

So after spending less than 24 hours in San Antonio, the Corporation from National and Community Service (which oversees AmeriCorps) flew me to Denver, Colorado for Pre-Service Orientation.  It was 4 days of information, good food, comfortable beds, great sites, and amazing people!!!  I truly adore that type of setting.  New people thrown together, sharing a common goal.  Great stuff.  

I learned a lot from the PSO about CNCS, AmeriCorps, VISTA, and how they all tie together.  I also learned the specific benefits I receive from the program, as well as my limitations for the year.  Examples of benefits I receive include a bi-weekly stipend (nothing great, but enough to get by on), an education award at the end of service to pay off some student loans, and some sort of elite status if I ever apply for a government job.  I don't recall what that's called, but apparently its at my disposal!  Some of my limitations are that I can't leave the state without first communicating that with my supervisor (yes, it does make me feel like a convict), and that I'm not allowed to participate in political demonstrations.  This is difficult during such an intense election!  At least I'm still able to vote and talk politics, provided that I do a little disclaimer that my statements do not necessarily reflect the views of CNCS or AmeriCorps.  I may just print a t-shirt with that phrase on it to keep me out of trouble.

The training wasn't just about listening to legal mumbo-jumbo; I also got to spend some time with some great folks!  One night myself and a group of girls went downtown, and at one point became a little disruptive when a security guard at a club wouldn't answer our repeated question about whether or not karaoke was available.  All he had to do was tell us it was a private party.   Punk.

Yeah, somehow I thought this post would be longer.  I supposed its because its not fresh in my mind that I'm able to wrap it all up in less than 300 words.  Basically, PSO gave me all the details about what it is to be an AmeriCorps*VISTA, and make some great contacts in this region.  

Tina in Texas

Okay okay, so I've been in Texas for a month now, which means it's a little belated to talk about my welcome to Texas, but it's better late than never, right?  Since I have a lot to tell about what's happened in the past four weeks, I'm going to break it down into smaller posts so as not to overwhelm.  To start off with, I'm going to cover the main of events of the first week.

On Saturday, August 16th, I began my solo road trip from Rose Creek, Minnesota to San Antonio, Texas.  The drive was pretty dull, 20+ hours behind the wheel stretched out over a three-day period.  The first day I drove for about 5.5 hours until arriving at my destination of Columbia, Missouri to visit my dear friend and former roommate, Sarah Vallandingham.  The two of us had a great time catching up on life, and enjoying the sites and sounds of Columbia.  

Day two was the worst, driving for 10 hours from Columbia to Dallas, Texas.  I survived off dried cherries and granola bars for the day, trying to eliminate any unnecessary food stops that would delay progress.  I arrived in Dallas around 8 o'clock on Sunday evening, and was graciously hosted for the night by my aunt Mindy, someone else I needed to do some definite catching up with.  Mindy and her daughter Cabby were great, and it was so nice to have some human interaction after 10 hours in car-enclosed solitude.  Hopefully I'll be able to visit the two of them more during this next year.  

Monday morning I finished the final 5 hours to San Antonio, which was a little slower progress than expected due to heavy rainfall.  I arrived on St. Mary's campus mid-afternoon, and then things got crazy!

Before I get too far into this, I should back up and explain why I am even in Texas.  For one year I will be serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, which simply put is the domestic PeaceCorps.  The mission of VISTA is too eliminate poverty through capacity building initiatives.  What this means is that direct service will only be a small portion of how I'll be attacking poverty.  Instead, my focus is on putting myself out of a job, so that communities can become self-sufficient in tackling poverty without the need of a VISTA.  VISTAs don't receive a lot of money, but I am provided a bi-weekly stipend, and thankfully my housing is covered by my site.  My position is through Texas Campus Compact (www.compact.org and www.texascampuscompact.org) at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.  I'm the Civic Engagement Coordinator, but I'll get into detail about what exactly I'm doing in a later post.

Anyway, I arrived on campus on August 18th, and had a few crazy hours of getting an ID, parking pass, room assignment, meeting colleagues and campus staff, and moving in!  Thankfully I had a lot of help moving in, as almost every time I started carrying something up the stairs, a guy would ask if I would like some help.  It was great!!!!  I had less than a day to get settled though, as I left for Pre-Service Orientation on Tuesday.  Coming soon.

Podcasts

Check it out!  I'm starting to podcast!

I haven't really settled on any sort of consistent "theme"; right now I'm just posting whatever random audio and video files I have created or create sporadically.  If anyone has suggestions on something specific I could podcast about, I'm all for it.  Click on the link on the right-side toolbar that says "Podcasts."  This will re-direct to my section on FeedBurner.com, where you can choose to subscribe to my podcast, which will even go directly into your iTunes if you'd like. 

I'm no techno-genius, so there are still a few hiccups in the system I'm trying to work out, but check it out anyway!

Getting Started

I've been in Texas for a month now, and I'm still struggling to get myself to put together some sort of update on my life.  My bad.  Check out some random podcasts I've made though.