next year's plans

Wow. Well, here it is. Among many feelings of not wanting to leave Bethel, I have accepted a position with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org) as Community Programs Assistant at the Greater Newark Conservancy (http://www.citybloom.org) in Newark, New Jersey. Yes. New Jersey.

New Jersey.

I maybe thought that the thoughts of "can I even make it in New Jersey/the East Coast at all?" would slowly dissipate with time. This has proved to not be true so much, but I still have all the excitement that I had when I first heard to know that this will be one of the biggest adventures of my life. The fact that I have NO IDEA what it's going to be like is pretty scary/fun to think about too.

Reading wikipedia has not really helped me get any sense of what it's going to be like being a JV in Newark...I spoke with the guy who has my job right now, that that helped a little more, but still, I think that alot of what is going to come in August and September and October...and November (you get the point) is going to be new new NEW, and I'm anticipating a steep learning curve.

I don't have any other information about anyone else in my house yet, and now that's just what's playing on my mind. I hope they're nice, I hope they like me, (I secretly hope they love to play music as much as I do).

It's REALLY hard to think about leaving Bethel, especially with all the nice weather, sun, warm temperatures, summer coming, starting to fish, it's hard. But I know that this is what is best for me right now. This is what I wanted, this is what I've been working up towards, and if I didn't take it, I know that I'd regret it. Major...

...especially since my job seems like so much fun. I'm going to be building gardens, taking care of gardens, taking people on tours of gardens, helping others build gardens, and teach kids about gardens. Basically, getting dirty all the time. Sweet. I love my job here, but it's really wearing sometimes to have so many kids in crisis all the time. I'm really looking forward to having plants in crisis if anything is in crisis. I think I could deal with that. :)

So that's where I'm at. I'm leaving Bethel for Newark, New Jersey next year, where I will be working a sweet sounding job and making no money and living with 4 to 5 other people, who, at this point, I know nothing about. It's a great adventure and I love it!

love, Bethy

P.S. this is the official invitation to anyone on the east coast (or the west coast for that matter, I checked and flights are pretty cheap if you buy them early:) to come visit me/take me out to dinner/help me visit you :D LOVE YOU GUYS!

some scattered thoughts

Yes, it's early in the morning, and no, I haven't slept. The sickness that I have aquired has kept me awake, coughing, blowing my nose, hacking, more coughing, spitting up phglem, you know, all the good stuff.

Spring is definitely here in Bethel. In the same way that when I left for Bioneers, when I came back fall had turned to winter, when I came back from Folk Fest, winter had turned to spring. I think it just had a lot to do with not being around the changing weather for a few days, and then the change felt very dramatic.

But spring means that the ice is melting, the temp is warming (I wore flip flops yesterday!) and the dust is all over again. All of a sudden, last summer seems like it just happened. Like we just had a six month hiatus from real life covered in ice and snow, and now everything is melting, and we're back to reality again.

The sunlight is also here again - staying light outside until late into the night. It makes it really hard to have any concept of what time it is in the evening, but it's nice for it to still be light outside until 10 or 11pm. I will certainly miss that when I leave...

...and speaking of leaving...I'll know for certain tomorrow (hopefully) and when I do, I'll post a blog. The future. It's scary and exciting at the same time, but when is it not?

Love, Bethy