I have officially been to Nebraska!

Hurray for checking more things of my life list!

Today started with breakfast for all the volunteers and more greetings by staff and principals and such. I was really glad to have the opportunity to be together with all the volunteers, I missed out on meeting people last night because my headache and I were in bed...but I felt much better today!

We went to mass again today, but I did not volunteer (or be volunteered) to lead songs, we did still have music though and it was quite nice. I also had the chance to go exploring on a walk this afternoon which was some really great alone time for me.

Tonight for dinner we went to get Chinese in Nebraska, I hope this is giving you all a since of how much there is going on here. haha. In order to get there we had to drive through the city of White Clay which is officially my least favorite place in the country. It is a town just over the border and just off reservation that exists for the purpose of selling alcohol (the reservation is dry, it is against tribal law to even be intoxicated on reservation land).  As we pulled through every building had people who just looked so battered and discouraged and lost sitting outside. It broke my heart to know that people had created a town just to profit of the misfortune and struggles of others. I may have lost a little bit of my faith in humanity after that.

Despite the downer of driving through White Clay dinner was really great. I enjoyed being with people and building the friendships we had started. Our car even tried to go to a movie, but there were only 4 to chose from ad none of them really spoke to us. Maybe next time. I am excited to be able to count Nebraska on the list of states I have been too...I hope to visit all 50 before I die.

Over all it was really a great day of getting to meet people and get a feel for the community we are going to have, it is really very beautiful. Even though I mis everyone that I have met in life I am so grateful to feel so happy and at home and truly feel like I am exactly where I need to be right now, I hope I can hold onto this feeling all year.

In other news...if its not obvious...I'm on a story poeple kick. you should check it out... http://www.storypeople.com 

"I'd like to leave you with something valuable, she said. You probably already have, I said, but we take most of our lives to remember that, even in the best of times" (Story People)