Week 1: Orientation/Training and Brian and Chrissy's Wedding

Training/Orientation

Training and orientation was awesome! We were generously hosted by the Maryknoll sisters in Ossining, NY. We did some really fun icebreakers to get to know each of the DVs (Dominican Volunteers) this year. Just to highlight two of those:

1) We stood in a circle and went around. As we did so, we said our name, where we were from and where we were going, and then we did a movement that would be associated with our names. So we had a lot of fun doing jazz hands (I wonder who’s motion that was), making muscles with Mike, hopping with Julia, curtseying with Morgan, and doing an elderly person gesture (hands on back and pretending to have a cane) with Margaret (our young at heart volunteer). We would then do every preceeding person’s gesture while saying their names. It really helped me since I am awful with names.

2) We were asked to think of the floor as a map of the US and then stand where we thought our “hometown” was (people had many different interpretations of what they considered home). Then, we had to say something about our hometown that very few people might know. That was great! Then we moved to where we would be doing service, then we changed it to a world map and said if we could do service anywhere in the world, where would it be. I chose Central and South America so I could work with Latinos and think about immigration reform (something I have recently been very interested in thanks to my friendships with Ricky from Argentina and Henry from Ecuador). Working at an international English school also helped!

I am so used to doing and running icebreakers that I thought those were clever and original ones I had never seen before.

Also at Orientation, everyone learned about Dominican spirituality, Catholic social teaching, the history of Maryknoll, Maryknoll Lay Missioners, living in community, conflict resolution, simple living, and so much more!

Just being at Maryknoll and eating meals with the sisters was so inspiring. Many of them had done “service” abroad. I put service in quotations because you would ask a sister where they had done service and they would say well I was in Peru for 35 years or I was in Bolivia for 15 years and then Guatamala for 20 years. I don’t call that service, I call that living in another country and living out your calling. Holy cow!

Maryknoll Seminary

While in NY, we also got to visit the Dominican sisters of Blauvelt (where I felt right at home, having been there so many times for preaching conferences, to preach, or just to hang out and party), the Dominican sisters of Sparkill (oddly enough didn’t feel as at home, even though it was right next to my college, but I did get to speak to one of my favorite professors, Sr. Joan Beairsto, who taught me reading and writing curriculum classes), and New York City (where I felt once again like a tour guide, which was so fun)!

I could share every intimate detail, but all I will say is that my fellow volunteers are AMAZING and that prayer was beautiful and we learned SO much! (And had a little fun!)

The Ha Game - the first person says "Ha," the second says "Ha ha," then down the line and everyone laughs.
This was new to me...

Wedding

Thanks be to God, DV was really nice about letting me miss about two days of Orientation to go to my brother’s wedding (obviously a significant event). Brian and Chrissy’s wedding was so beautiful. I loved being one of the groomsmen. I loved seeing family. I loved the mass, and the reception, and the ridiculousness of the dance floor. I would go on and on, but this is already WAY too long.