Last Day in San Fran

We started our day with packing early this morning and then had delicious pancakes and eggs at the hostel. Before heading out we sang happy birthday to Cal(she was on the Q-Trip who were also in San Fran for a Catalyst Trip) because it was her big 2-0. It was another rainy day in San Fran as we lugged all of our belongings to the BART station to get to the airport. We said our goodbyes to San Fran and were very grateful for all of our wonderful experiences and connections made during our week.

This trip was one of the best spring breaks most of us have had while at Hamline and it gave us the opportunity to serve during our time off from school and get involved in the issue of food justice. We not only served at food shelves but we made connections with very special people who we will never forget. I know many of us are excited to go home and share with our families and friends what we experienced and continue to be involved in our communities but it is hard to leave.

We flew from San Fran to Phoenix and had a brief layover. In our spare time we sang happy birthday to Cal- again. Our flight attendants from Las Vegas were very entertaining and cracked jokes the whole flight- we had the 'Party Plane'. During our flight we also sang happy birthday to Cal (one last time) after Paul, the wonderful flight attendant, announced on the loud speaker that it was her birthday.The whole plane joined in. Our flights were a little turbulent but fun/interesting overall. We safely arrived back on Minnesotan soil at 10:20pm.

This trip has made us more aware about food justice and because of our moving experiences we have planned to volunteer and serve together as a group and help our community. As our friend Kevin said, in order to create change and understand, you need to change and understand yourself.

We are very grateful for all of the support we have gotten from all our friends, families, and even strangers. This trip has truly been full of eye-opening learning experiences that we will never forget. I know that when I began to prepare for this trip I thought I would be touching lives myself, and while that may be true, I never thought of how much these people would touch my heart and give me experiences I would have never know.

Nancy- Thank you for being the best Hamline Staff person we could travel with. You gave us opportunities that are incredible. You took a week out of your life to spend with us 'cool college kids' and I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Also one last thing.... MUFF!!

Addie- Thank you for all the work you put into making this trip happen with Nancy. I'm sure it got stressful at times, you have been planing this for a year. But all of the work that you put into it payed off, and we cant thank you enough! You are wonderful!

All other members- Thank you for being so welcoming, ready to work, and fun. It was a wonderful trip. We all bonded so much over these great things, and I think after all of our experiences, massaging, and jokes we can call each other friends. You are all great, and I hope you remember all of the great things that happened on THE BEST CATALYST 2011 TRIP HAMLINE HAD!!!!!!!!

xoxo,
Anna & C.Sipe.

P.S. Nice Tats!
P.P.S. You are all wonderful
P.P.P.S. MUFF to everyone!
P.P.P.P.S. Lets have a reunion- actually... lets have A LOT of them!!!! We will miss you all!

St. Gregory's Food Pantry

As soon as we walked into St. Gregory's we were welcomed by hugs and smiles. We found this cute little lady named Angela, who explained what happens when people come into the Food Pantry. Sara Miles introduced us to a few volunteers at the pantry and then we sat down with all the volunteers and ate a wonderful lunch. We quickly got to work. We were told to recycle cardboard boxes and a few of us got to sit down at the different stations. There was a reporter there who was taking pictures of Mari like she was a Queen (though I beg to differ- just kidding Mari).>

When we were done giving food to the people who came, Sara took us down stairs to show us some of Jenny's art work. The art was absolutely beautiful! She made these huge 3D pieces of work all made out of tiny beads stacked onto one another.

The Food Pantry is a very warm welcoming place that I would gladly go back to. We definitely felt like this place provided much more than a band aid for a huge wound in the world. It was more than just feeding people. It gave families an opportunity to be able to pay their rent by not worrying about paying for grocery's. It helped families stay together and out of the streets, along with giving them a community to be welcomed and a part of. After all, Jesus welcomes everyone at his table.

At the Food Pantry they center everything that happens around their table. They want to make everyone feel welcomed, not shove them to the back of the church and down the stairs to receive their food. By having the Food Pantry right around the table they are welcoming everyone (just like Jesus). All are welcomed to come and take whatever food they want, and pretty much anyone can volunteer there, as long as 'you' are not high, drunk, or shouting at people 'you' can volunteer.

The Food pantry is a very lovely place, where even I felt like I was a part of the community for the few hours I was there. There were so many smiling faces, and hugs given. The people were happy that we were there to help out, and we were excited that we were given the opportunity to serve.

xoxo,

C.Sipe.

P.S. If you ever go to San Fran- make sure you stop at St. Gregory's!

St. Martin's Catholic Worker House

The day has arrived where the Food Justice Catalyst group has to say adios to San Francisco. The night before we split into 2 groups, 6 were assigned to St. Martin’s and 6 were assigned to St. Gregory’s. We (Anna, Linda, Michael, Addie, Harry and Susun) ventured off to St. Martin’s at 8:30 ready for a day of serving. Little did we know how memorable this experience would be to our entire trip. Once we arrived at St. Martin’s, we were quickly put to work with prepping today’s lunch. It was apparent how much the volunteers at St. Martin’s cared for the community members they served since there was a great deal of focus on details such as lettuce size. In the midst of the preparation fun, there was a minor knife accident with Anna. While chopping lettuce leaves, Anna accidently ran the knife through her left thumbnail. She was a trooper and was back to work within half an hour. There was time to mingle and rest before serving lunch so we had an opportunity to tour the courtyard area and mingle. While in the courtyard area watching the pigeons fight over a piece of bread, we met a man named Adam. We enjoyed the lively conversation with Adam regarding his younger years when he used to play college hockey as well as other personal narratives.

Lunch was fast pace and everyone found some way to occupy their time. Overall, we had an amazing time at St. Martin’s and it was mostly due to the sincerity and community that was prevalent. Other volunteers remembered our name. After serving lunch and cleaning the courtyard along with the kitchen we met up with our good friend Kevin for the last time before heading back to Minnesota. Along with the many influential words we keep in our hearts and minds from Kevin, we were lucky to get the chance to keep an artifact from his beautiful exhibit also.

Nearing to the end of the day we come back to the hostel for one last refection with the group, remembering this week, remembering what we gave, and remembering what we received. Ending the last night in town we head on over to Fisherman’s Wharf to enjoy a delicious dinner at a Seafood Restaurant and completing it with a late night stroll.

Rain, Rain, Go Away....

It is weird to think that we only have one more day left here in San Fran. Today we were up and ready to go tour Berkeley Pacific School of Religion. Yet, the rain had a different plan. It was just a light drizzle back here at the Hostel, and we were all geared up for that (at least some of us were, if you were wondering dresses and tights are not good for rain weather). We took the BART to Berkeley and learned very quickly that the weather in the Bay Area is drastically different block to block. It was a literal downpour there. We started to walk to the school, but had to take shelter in a small coffee shop. We warmed up with hot drinks and waited for the rain to die down. The rain defiantly did not slow down! In fact, it rained harder and harder, and the wind was pretty strong.
Luckily Nancy called us a few cabs and we found our way to our destination in warm dry cars. My cab driver happened to have a girlfriend who he claimed was 'Woman of the Year'. He even showed us pictures of her. Whether or not this is a true fact, we could not tell you, but he was a charming young gentleman.
Berkeley Pacific School of Religion is a beautiful place, with warm and welcoming people. They apologized quite a lot about the rain, but we are from Minnesota so we understand outrageous weather! We had a wonderful lunch with students and staff and had some pretty cool conversations. We took a mini tour from a young lad named Wesley who went to graduated from the same school as Fancy Nancy. We only saw a few buildings- the ones we could see while staying dry.
After our mini tour we gathered as a group and reflected on our week together. We chatted about- what we have seen, how it has impacted us, and what we can continue to do upon returning to snowy Minnesota with what we have experienced. We talked about how this trip has made us excited to share with others at home our experiences, as well as bringing us (as a group of 12) close so we can continue to reflect together back home. After all, we are on this trip together, experiencing it together.
After reflecting we got a quick glimpse of the library, and learned about Harry's obnoxious consumption of bananas, I think it was something like- around 11 in one sitting (I do not guarantee that, however it was something close to that). Nancy was smart enough to call more taxis for rides to the BART to get back to the hostel.
This time my cab driver happened to have many deep insights into life and the hills around Berkeley Pacific School of Religion (which is on what they call 'Holy Hill'). Addie asked him what he thought of the hills, he responded with a very deep answer. He explained that the hills were a metaphor for life- sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, no matter what always enjoy the ride. He also is a new actor. He has a new show coming out on the Discovery Channel, its called 'I Almost Got Away With It' (I think, my memory is a bit foggy- probably due to the rain). Although his character gets killed off, he seemed pretty proud and excited for it. He was a funny man.
We arrived at the BART and took our ride back to 'our part of San Fran'. By the time we got back to the hostel we were all tired from the rain. Everyone took some time to take a nap, or at least relax a bit. We cooked dinner together, which was a blast. Taco Thursday. It was probably the fastest meal I have cooked in a long time. It took us about 15 min. to get everything ready and then we ate. It was a good meal, we got a few laughs in and of course- maybe even a few back rubs (those tend to happen all the time, which might possibly be one of the best things on this trip).
We wanted to do something fun and a few of us (Harry and Michael) wanted to do something daring. We walked to a tattoo parlor called 'Let it Bleed'. Some of us tried to get Nancy to get a tattoo but she kept claiming 'it was not her thing'. Harry and Michael had a little 'bromance' going on. They bonded over holding each others hands while they got inked. It was a fun time, the tattoo artist was a nice man who did a quality job.
We came back to the hostel just chilled and chatted for a bit, then got ready for bed. We have a big day tomorrow. Half of us are serving at St. Martin's (hopefully seeing Kevin), while the other half will be at St. Gregory's (seeing Sara Miles). Lets all cross our fingers for nice weather- after serving we will have dinner out together somewhere at Fisherman's Wharf, with a bit of sight seeing and shopping.
I'm sure we are ALL (especially Michael) looking forward to singing "It's Friday, Friday, Friday.. Gotta Get Down On Friday, Friday, Friday" all day tomorrow (if you don't have even the slightest inclination on what I'm talking about YouTube- Rebecca Black's song 'Friday" and you will understand)!!!!! Along with it being High Five Friday.. man tomorrow is going to be a quality day.. I can tell already.

xoxo,
C.Sipe :D

P.S. When San Fran's sidewalks get wet... they get extremely slippery. So if you plan to go to San Fran, or have a friend going, let them know to bring good shoes or always be careful when walking. I looked like a fool a few times today slipping and falling, and Lothy had a comical slip yesterday at a crosswalk.
P.P.S. Have a wonderful Friday! Give High Fives to everyone.. it will brighten everyone's day! Guaranteed.... (99% at least). :D

Labyrinths, Lunch, and Love

This morning we rose super early to enjoy a continental breakfast of bagels, toast, and juice. We then ventured out to Grace Cathedral which was unfortunately located on a really high hill. This particular church is famous for reinvigorating the Christian labyrinth movement. It has two giant labyrinths, one located outside, and one embedded in the floor of the actual cathedral. It also hosts beautiful icons painted into the walls and on the stained glass. We spent around two hours walking the two labyrinths and viewing the enormous building. Most of us walked one of the two labyrinths, enjoying the spiritual experience, and thoroughly enjoyed viewing the church. Lighting candles is similarly very popular at Grace Cathedral, a practice some of the students enjoyed. As we finished early, we spent some time getting coffee and checking out the gift shop. Harrison and Susun enjoyed Tai Chi with the grandmas outside the cathedral as well.
Around eleven, we headed to Glide once again to serve lunch and dinner. As it was our last day at Glide we tried to venture out of our comfort zones, which lead some of us to different parts of serving and washing dishes. We had deeper connections with the people there, because we were no longer trying to navigate how to serve. Other than being yelled at by Joann, the unquestioned leader of the kitchen, we all had a blast serving. Most of us had fun joking around with other volunteers and the lunch patrons. Everyone was a little sad as our dinner shift came to an end and we had to bid Glide farewell for the trip. We had one last meal and some wonderful conversations.
We finished dinner and hiked back up to have a final reflection. Then it turned to shenanigans. We got to meet Nancy’s cute nephew in our attempts to go out for the evening. A hair straitening party at Diva Daddy’s salon commenced and the night wound down. We all ended up back in our rooms early and are looking forward to a day trip to Berkley!

Jajajajajajajajajajajajajaja

LOVE,
M.A.

Oh yeah, here are some photos, in reverse order, perhaps sub-par quality, but in full color!

"Food isn't a privilege, it's a right"

This morning we decided to tour aroud the Tenderloin, taking pictures of street art and familiarizing ourselves with the neighborhood. We somehow stumbled upon this little niche restaurant called "Subway" We think they make submarine sandwiches.....? And they make them really fast! We took pictures of what turned out to be a bear, and found some cute gardens. Lothy got lost. Again. But she redeemed herself with papples

We ate another hearty breakfast, and we even caught a quick glimpse of the Q group before they disappeared off into the city again! For the second or third time, we tried to find out how many people the couch can hold, today we made it up to 5... but it could've been 6 we're not quite sure, people get pretty buried.

We gathered our courage and struck off into the wild, wild city. This time we were headed off to Potrero Hill, a spunky little district where the hills are bigger, the cars are older, and the street art is cooler, errrr, more hipster.

We checked out a place that half of us will be serving at this Friday, St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker House. Although we didn't get to take a good look around, we got to see the courtyard where people can hang out, charge their electronics, and take a shower. St. Martin was also where we were meeting Addie's friend Kevin. Kevin is a man who rejects commercial society and lives a life where material possessions come close to last on the list of priorities. They met when Addie and Nancy served at St. Martin's back in November, and through facebook we were able to set up a second meeting so the whole group could talk with him and hear his stories.

For lunch, Kevin led us to a bagel joint we believe is called Noah's, but please don't quote us on that... While munching on delicious bagel sandwiches and sipping some tea out of plastic bottles (yes, Kevin had an opinion about those) we were able to listen to Kevin's nuggets of wisdom. His musings ranged from not wanting to conform to society, his shamanism, the study of anthropology, and how maturity is about learning to let go of things. He even showed us some of the prizes he had found amongst the rubble of earthquakes and drawings that had taken him an estimated 80 hours. As college students, we envy is work ethic!

Since our trip is all about food, we were very intersted to hear what Kevin had to say about food, and that is where we got the title for this blog. He recognized that food is theoretically a right but that in reality many people are deprived of this right. He also gave us insight about how to be better volunteers, that handing a person a plate of food is good and average, but if you give that person a little bit of yourself by having a conversation or exchanging smiles, then you're doing a greater good.

Then he gave us a tour around the neighborhood, showing us some gorgeous murals that had inspired him. We even stumbled across a little garden where a man named Jonathan was putting mind, body, and soul into a little slice of earth, maybe 20'x 40' squished in between 2 buildings across the street from a yuppie loft complex.

Kevin was even so good as to show us to St. Gregory's where we were meeting up with Sara Miles. The transition from someone on the receiving end of food services to someone who oversees an entire fresh groceries pantry network was quite sudden and fascinating.

St. Gregory's architecture was like that of Hogwarts, but constructed by Swedish gnomes for Epcot's Circle of Nations. Aka, we thoroughly enjoyed it! After meeting up with Sara, she showed us her gorgeous church and explained the worship services and how the pantry functions. We were all very tickled by what she called the 'dress-up room,' the closet where all the worship clothes are kept in. Sara even had Michael sing a couple notes so we could experience the full glory of St. Gregory's acoustics. In case you were wondering, Michael's rendition of 'Happy Birthday' was only a tad (okay a lot) off-key, but we still love him, he's more of a dancer anyways.

After finding a bus stop that in no way looked like a bus stop, we found our way home to the hostel and had some group reflection time. Although the hostel has signs posted everywhere that food is not allowed in the rooms, we enjoy munching during our meetings on a whole spectrum of munchies: guacomole chips, oranges, wheat thins, cookies, nutella, and dayquil. Ashely organized another delicious meal that consisted of vegetable soup and bread.

Post-dinner, we had some chill time and some of us headed off to Chinatown pt. 2. In the rain. We found a quaint little bubble tea shop and we each ordered our own unique conconction of tea with jellies, pearls, or mango juice balls. And lo! Lothy spotted some street art by world-famous artist Banksy! His infamous words "If at first you don't succeed, call an airstrike" were stenciled across the side of a building next to a black and white figure holding a backpack.

Then we found our way home. And started on this novel of a blog. And filled our quota of group massages, in which Harry was punching people in the back. Oh look! The Q group is back, but now we have to head to bed because we have to get up SUPER early tomorrow morning. Like, at 7:30...... But it'll all be worth it because we'll be walking a labrynth, and who doesn't love that?!!?

Peace out, dueces (not the poop kind) and MUFF

L