Getting Settled

August 5, 2008 So I have been in Alamosa 2 days now. My 3 housemates are Joe, Joe, and Matt. I feel like I am in an old Bob Newhart comedy, “Hi, my names Larry, this is Daryl and this is my other brother Daryl”. Nice guys though. I like the layout of my house, though my old habits of wanting to fix things creep through. I really want to fix up the front yard with new plants; I have already replaced the kitchen faucet with one I scrounged from a sink that was being thrown away. I have spent several hours cleaning and will likely spend several more. I am not an inordinately clean person, but there are limits that even I won’t stand for. I won’t go into details, let’s just leave it at "dirty toilet" and I’ll let you imagine whatever nastiness you please.
Today we got a tour of Alamosa, ate at the kitchen (which by the way will be my main source of lunch and dinner) and were introduced to many of the different facets of La Puente. Listening to the head of each area of this wonderful organization made me realize what a perfect choice I made in deciding to come here. The concept of trying to be self-funding is only part of what I find incredibly cool. They engage the community as much as possible, and expand education to the schools about migrant workers, farming, homelessness, etc. But perhaps the thing that strikes me the most is the way they look at their customers. They deal with many different situations, many personalities, but the approach is far from cookie-cutter. They try to understand the individual, give that person dignity, belief in themselves. This holistic approach to the issues that these individuals face looks beyond solving the immediate problem (though that needs to be done also) but works on sustaining the person’s belief in themselves. If we could all but view our interactions in such a way. Seeing the person beyond the situation, and realizing that there are many things that go into an event, many that we are not even aware of. I believe our tolerance for each other would increase significantly.
A little aside, since I have no internet connection at my house, I have no idea how frequently I will be able to post. I need to scope out the library and of course Milagros coffeehouse and see what kind of hours I can get there. I bought a bike out here, so I will be using that more and more once I get used to those wheels under me. It also means that you may get multiple posts in the same day, so I will try to date each post in the post itself so you can see the day I am writing from. There will be some pictures in a while. Peace dudes.