Here we are...

Well, here we are, the first week of being a JV, and so far, it's been fabulous. The orientation wrapped up on Thursday, and my 4 housemates and I made the 5 1/2 hour trip from Aptos (near San Jose) to Los Angeles, no prob (kudos to Erica, our fearless driver...).

We were all thrilled to find that our house is beautiful, spacious and has been well-taken-care-of by former JVs and by Celia, the landlord. We have a great living room/dining room, new carpet, a foosball table, avocado and orange trees, and most of us (including me) have our own bedrooms. The only down side to the place is that there are 5 girls and only 1 bathroom. But we'll make due.

Last night I had my first experience driving behind the wheel in LA traffic, when we drove from East LA to LAX airport to return the rental car. It was interesting and exciting and an adrenaline rush, for sure. And it wasn't even rush hour! The car that our community has to use is a manual 1989 Nissan with no power steering and a noisy muffler that is likely to fall off any day now. I told one of our bosses about it, and she said to let her know when it actually does fall off. She didn't seem too concerned....

Today we took a tour of a place called "Homeboy Industries", which was a program started up back in the 1980's/90's to help deter gang activity in the area. It's an AMAZING place and has had the success that I imagine many missionaries dream of. The building they're in now is HUGE and consists of a cafe, clothing shop, job services, tattoo removal, housing placement, legal counseling, narcotics/alcoholics anonymous support, educational services and anything else you can think of that would benefit anyone. It's really an impressive set up.

I also met my boss, Vince, today, and I'm pretty sure we're going to get along just fine. We've both got sarcastic senses of humor and like to kid each other a lot, so I'm expecting to have a lot of fun with him. I'm really excited to go to work on Monday - Vince and I are going to go shopping for office furniture...an event I never expected to be so excited for.

No pictures today, but I'll be sure to take a few of the house, of Dolores (the car), and of my new office (once I see it). Hope all is well! Ta-ta for now.