Last weeks in Germany *tear*

So the last week or so have been full of goodbyes... and cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning. It has been really weird these last few days. Sometimes I'll be doing something and it'll hit me that I'm leaving soon and going back to 'normality'. Of course, being here so long has sort of distorted what I consider normal but I'm sure I'll readjust.

At last Sunday's church service my congregation said goodbye and my bosses gifted me with a funny gift. A bear shaped backpack. The bear wearing, naturally, a sweatshirt with the USA flag embroidered on it. They said the reason it was a backpack was because I'm always travelling. Well they're right with that I guess.

I've recently found an Aupair family. In December, through April, I will be in Germany AGAIN to be an Aupair for a really nice family.

I don't think the idea of leaving has really sunk in yet. When it does, I'll write another blog about how it feels and about my reflections on the past 12 weeks.

Monday

This is my last week in New Jersey. I walked by Cornel West today in Princeton. Check it out:
http://northsoutheastcoast.blogspot.com/

Weeks 4 & 5 at Girls Inc.

These past couple of weeks have been both really fun and really tiring. The girls have been doing awesome. We have done a ton of interesting projects. A few examples: we made purses out of old blue jeans, we made different stuffed brown paper bag animals, we had a walk-a-thon, and we had a huge slumber party. One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment here. These girls keep me on my toes all day everyday. Today we are having a luau here at Girls Inc and then the girls are going bowling. I think the best activity we have done in the past two week was the slumber party we had last Friday. The staff, the volunteers, and the girls wore their pajamas all day. We had different things going on in the different classrooms and the girls rotated among the rooms. In one room we had them making sleeping masks and decorating them, in another we were doing nails, they made tie pillows in another, and then in the gym they watched movies. The girls and the staff all had a great time. I'm not sure what all we have going on next week but I do know that the talent show is coming up. Girls have been practicing their singing and dance routines every chance they get. They try to go hide in classrooms and in corners of the gym so that nobody sees their "secret" routines. It's really cute to watch and I can't wait to see them all perform.

HoundHaven Week 5

"What ever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it" ~ Mohandas Gandhi



This quote has touched me so much and made me think about all the community service I do. Sometimes the smallest thing that we do may seem insignificant at the time but in the long run it is very important that we did it. I think about this everyday. I do not always know if helping to clean kennels and walking dogs is helping the animal shelter in the long run but I can sometimes see it. The dogs that get attention have gotten healthier and they are responding well to learning their commands. I hope that by the time our dogs get adopted they will be good at training and it will be a good start for them for when they go to their forever home. Recently I have been working with some of our more difficult dogs to learn their commands. Our puppies are learning how to sit on command now. The other dogs are learning to not jump up on us. One of our dogs, Deke, liked to put his mouth on our arms or hands while we were trying to put his leash on but after extensive discipline and control Deke has stopped nipping as much. I feel like I was supposed to go to this organization. I believe God sent me to this place to learn a few lessons of my own. I have never felt more loved by dogs and more appreciated by individuals. I have been told many times from the other volunteers that I will be sorely missed when school starts back up and I won't be working anymore. I really don't want to leave this group but hopefully I will be able to come back some weekends and work the Petsmart day and meet some of the new dogs that come in.

Final Week :(

This past week, I completed my SoS. I have to admit, I was pretty excited to not have to wake up at 6am or spend my entire day filing but at the same time I was sad to say goodbye to all of the wonderful people I worked with. I was also sad because this was my second and final year working with Meadowbrook. Volunteering there has become something that I look forward to as a part of my summer but since I will be graduating this spring a summer spent at Meadowbrook is most likely not in my future. Over the past two summers that I have spent at Meadowbrook I have learned so many things that I would have never expected to discover. Here are a few things that the past two SoS's have taught me:

1. Sometimes the impact is more important than the action.

-Ok so I have to be honest, when I sat in the SoS meeting towards the end of the school year I wasn't exactly super super excited about my site. As I listened to other Bonners' plans for their summers I felt like volunteering at a school wasn't as interesting or "out of the box" as it could be and because of that I felt like I may not be able to make a true impact on the community that composes Meadowbrook. By the end of the first week I was proven wrong. The principal of the school as well as the other office workers continually told me how grateful they were for my help. Although I often did things that don't seem important like filing or organizing a closet, the impact it made on the school was great and greatly appreciated. Judging by the constant thanks that I received I was completely wrong about not being able to make an impact.

2. Don't forget where you come from.

-As I may have mentioned before, I graduated from Meadowbrook Academy. I was home schooled my first two years and from 2nd grade through my senior year I was a Meadowbrook student. Needless to say, coming back to volunteer was a completely new experience. I was no longer under the authority of the staff but more like a co-worker. Even though I had a new "position" at Meadowbrook it was a great way to reflect on how much the school has shaped who I am as a person. Going away to college was probably the best decision I have made in my life so far because it helped me to discover new things about myself. Even though this change was good going back to Meadowbrook really helped to remind me how I got to where I am today.

Overall, this SoS was great! I went into it knowing what to expect but I was still amazed by how much I learned. Although sometimes the work wasn't the most exciting, I was truly miss Meadowbrook and all of the people that have taught me so much about what it truly means to be a servant.

Agro, Bro

So, as much fun as it to work here most of the time, it comes with it's annoying times. We had a big meeting earlier today to flesh out what were doing with our social media and the boss basically set us back to square -57. Goal setting. So today I've spent around 6 hours goal setting. I would show you the page, but it's intranet..classified information, ya know? Regardless, it ends with us having a cool blog, an active Facebook and Twitter and a strong PolicyOptions website. So really I came on here to say that you all should create a Twitter and follow us at http://twitter.com/bonnernetwork. Now, I resisted forever before jumping on this Twitter wagon, but it's actually pretty cool. We're going to be sending out job opportunities and such and we already had one person sign up for IMPACT because of an update we sent through it. Also, we created a new Facebook profile called "Bonner Love" which is a personal profile and a Bonner Fan Page called Bonner Network (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bonner-Network/142428915769333) so we can connect and update everyone more. I'm not sure if they will stay alive, but I sure hope so. Hope all is well everywhere.
-Jack

Weeks 5 & 6 SOS

Hi everyone!

So for weeks 5 & 6 of my summer of service I was working in the Human Resources Department of City Hall. My big task for the week (and i'm still working on it) is to write the Rules and Regulations document for the City. When my boss for the week, Mark Hayword, told me this I was thinking, "Oh, ok I am going to be proof reading...this should be fun" but it turns out that he gave me a copy of Lake Mary's Rules and Reg. and a file folder full of emails, comments, ect. and said, "have fun and get started". He really ment that I was writing the Rules and Regs. It took me to whole two weeks of non-stop work and I am still not done, but on my last day in his department he called me into his office and told me that when I get the project done he is going to let me present it to the City Commission and when it is adopted it will have my name on it!