Peace House Letter #4

Dear friends and family, After being inspired by my Dad's weekly email and an update from David, I decided that it was indeed time to finally send another mass email. I have fallen out of the habit of it this semester because I have been blogging instead of emailing as much. So here it is an update on the last month or so of my life. This past week has gone well for me, we had a few days that were particularly spring like which was lovely. I have also been learning the ropes at Horizon House, which is my supplemental internship that I picked up. I am continuing at Indiana State Museum but just reducing hours so that I could find another internship that offered more direct peace and justice connections and experiences. Horizon House is a homeless day center that is open during the hours that most shelters are closed. It offers services such as laundry, showers, phones, storage, case managers, and a place to rest and hang out that is off the streets. The majority of its clients are single men of whom a high percentage are veterans (it is interesting to think what this says about how the army has supported its own troops). I work mainly at the front desk, checking people in, answering the phone, making appointments, etc. This has really been a nice addition to my more academia based internship at the State Museum. I have also helped out a little in employment and through this and issues from class have really began to think about the difficulties of living on minimum wage jobs. Another nice aspect of Horizon house is that is about a half an hour walk from peace house, so in nice weather it makes for a good chance to se the city. This weekend we had a group of Manchester students staying at our house while they were attending the Midwest Peace Summit. They are a good group and it has been nice to have the company. We also hosted an Earlham student who is hoping to come here for the summer term, she was on her way home for their spring break. She was quite nice and I enjoyed showing her around a bit. Speaking of spring break, for our "spring" break (back during the first week of march), our house went camping in Louisiana at a state park around an hour north of New Orleans. It was a fun, challenging time that grows more fond in memory then it probably was during the time. This being mainly due to our forgetting the fact that just because it is spring break does not mean that it is actually spring. So while we enjoyed sightseeing in New Orleans in 60 degree weather, we all shivered our way through the upper 30's nights. For a more detailed account check out: http://amarien42.blogspot.com/2005/03/camping.html Life here at peace house is going well, we have moved beyond the superficial getting along to the fun place of actually interacting at levels that while sometimes involve conflict also seem more likely to produce lasting friendships. This afternoon is our open house from 3-5pm. So if any of you goshenites leave soon you could make it :) We would love to have some of you all. Last night Samuka, David and I played pool for a few hours. Which was a first in a while mainly due to the fact that we could rarely see the surface of the pool table. Anna is in Ohio for the weekend, so we have been missing her, but she returns this afternoon. Currently we are in the midst of a spring cleaning rampage due in part to the soon to occur open house. I also went grocery shopping last night to the kroger a few blocks north of here and discovered how much it makes a difference when you have to carry the bags home using only your own arms and legs. I definitely woke up sore this morning. Well that's about it for this update and I would love to hear from you all about your lives and how your semesters are going.