My one challenge for the year will be keeping up this enthusiasm and excitement that I have now. I'm so ready and eager to jump in and get started now, so let's all hope that it sticks through. I know at times it will be tough, but I really believe this experience is going to be one of the most worthwhile I will ever have.

Today Dave and I both headed over to Cristo Rey for a 1/2 day. We were first introduced to Hannah, who is a Jesuit Volunteer doing her service at Cristo Rey. She is going to be helping with some college counseling and a few other tasks. It was great to meet her, she is living with six other Jesuit volunteers whose house is not too far away from ours. It's good to know that there is a house full of people our age nearby. The three of us helped organize textbooks and I administered a high school placement test for a student, which brought back horrible memories of scantron testing from my younger days. I had a nice quick chat with the director of admisssions, who is also the mother of a girl I went through high school with.

Our site director/principal of Cristo Rey had us fill out some paperwork and then took us to lunch to talk business. We went to a great Mexican restauraunt within walking distance to the school, along the way she pointed out some good stores and other places to eat. At lunch, we discussed hours, job duties, etc. We learned that the first few weeks are going to be more quiet, because it's just a 1/2 day for the students starting next Wednesday while they have job training. For those who don't know much about the Cristo Rey system, the students go to work in the community one day each week. It's a really cool program and I encourage you to learn more about it! She also told us to not be afraid to say no to certain jobs, because she knows we have outside commitments to our community members. The school has a small faculty/staff, so they are going to want to use us whenever and whereever they can, but they don't want to overuse us.

During the first week of classes, we're each going to get two students who need a little extra attention to mentor throughout the year. We're also going to be teamed up with a teacher or faculty member to help do an "advisor" group type thing and help with uniform checks, attendance, etc.

My hours are going to be from 7:00 AM to between 2-4:15 pm. I'm helping in the mornings to distribute breakfast to the kids who qualify and to pack lunches for the groups going to work that day. Since I have to be there earlier, I can leave earlier than most if needed. I'm going to feel it out and see how it goes the first few weeks. I'll definatley need to be going to sleep earlier than I'm used to :-)

Oh, random fun fact of the day: On September 16th, we have an event at St. Hugo where we're going to be giving a presentation on the school. Guess who works at St. Hugo? My mommy. Guess when her birthday is? September 16th. So excited!

As for the community life of the experience, everything is going great so far. We definatley want to become friends with the JVC's so we can step outside the circle of the four of us and meet some new people.

Before I sign off for now, I want to wish my sister's husband Dave a very happy birthday. I love him as if he is my own brother and wish him all the best on this day and always.