Greetings From Bridgeport!

Hello everyone!!

I’m a couple days in to my first full week in Bridgeport! I found a few free minutes and some internet access, so I thought I’d let you all know how I’m doing.

Orientation went very well. We were at a Jesuit retreat center in the Blue Ridge Mountains in PA, which was absolutely gorgeous! I got to meet my 82 fellow Jesuit Volunteers (JVs) serving on the east coast this year, as well as the program coordinators for each city and some of the staff of the JVC Baltimore program office. Each day of orientation was focused on one of the four JVC values (social justice, community, spirituality and simple living) and included speakers and activities relation to that value. We also went bowling, had a talent show, did a bbq/bonfire and hiked part of the Appalachian trail. On the last night we had a Missioning Mass where each community was prayed over and we all received Jerusalem Crosses (the Jesuit cross, from what I understand). It was a really great few days. I loved meeting all the other JVs, the speakers were wonderful, and of course the mountains were just gorgeous. But I have to say, we were all pretty excited when it was finally time to leave for Bridgeport. We could not wait to see our house and the city and just get started!

We drove through New York City on the way to Bridgeport, which was just nuts! I haven't quite processed the fact that I'm on the east coast yet, and then here we are driving under the "Welcome to Manhattan" sign. Absolutely crazy. We almost died at least seven times; those NY drivers are intense! We drove through Manhattan and the Bronx, and we could see the skyline (saw the empire State Building!!). It was pretty darn cool.

We pulled in to Bridgeport around 6:30. The first thing we all noticed is that we are definitely the minority here. I think we all knew going in that this would be the case, but it's one thing to think about it in theory and another to drive down main street for 10 minutes and not see anyone who looks like you. It was definitely very eye opening, and something we continue to reflect on as a community.

Our house is on a nice little side street. It's a dead end street, so we don't get much traffic which is really nice. It's a beautiful little home. We have a living room, dinning room, a kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a (sketchy) basement and a little "book nook". It's very homey, and we've spent the last week really making it our own, which has been SO cool. There are some great kids who live on our street, so we've gotten to meet and hang out with them a little. They are definitely testing boundaries this week, as kids do, so we've had to have some conversations as a house about what boundaries everyone is comfortable with, but they're good kids and we're looking forward to playing with them this year.

We took a tour of Bridgeport with a former JV (FJV) in the area a few nights ago, which was pretty cool. She showed us around, gave us some history of Bridgeport, took us to some cool (free!) places to visit and so forth. Bridgeport is one of the poorest cities in the country, but it's located in one of the richest counties (Fairfield County), which creates a very strange dynamic. On the tour we drove into Fairfield (the town), and the night and day difference as soon as you cross that boarder is really jarring. Again, it's one of those things we knew about in theory, but seeing the economic gap displayed so plainly in real life is very...disturbing I guess. That's another thing we have been reflecting about as a community.

I'm enjoying Bridgeport. It's obviously got a lot of very serious socio-economic issues, issues with violence and gangs, abandoned or run down factories, buildings and houses, etc. But there's something really great about this city that I get glimpses of here and there. We are super fortunate because last week we toured each of our work sites (I have 5 housemates, so that made 6 sites in all), so we got to learn about some of the great work that is being done in this city, people's dreams and visions for it and just some really cool programs. I think it's such a blessing to have those connections, to get to see and participate in those great things. There's a lot of hope, a lot of good that is being done and that can be done, and that's really cool to see. And I don't know, there's just something really cool about this city. I haven't quite figured it out yet. It's rough around the edges for sure, but there's more here than just that.

On Saturday we went to an Oyster Festival in Milford, a town near Bridgeport, which was pretty fun. We got to wander around and see all the different booths and listen to music. I even tried a fried oyster. Personally, not a fan, but it was fun to try! Sunday we hung out down by the ocean (we're right on Long Island Sound for those who don't know their Connecticut geography) most of the afternoon, which was really fun too. We can't wait to explore more of the city!

On Monday we all started work. A couple of the girls brought cars, but I'm embracing the public bus system, which I totally conquered on Monday. All that practice with the crazy busses in Rome really paid off--Bridgeport busses are a breeze! In all it takes about a half an hour to get to work, which is super nice. I was anticipating a longer commute. Work was slow on Monday, mostly just paperwork, training and a lot of reading. Today (Tuesday) was more exciting. I got to meet with Josh, who is the Youth and Family Director and who I'll (probably) be working with most this year. (We think) we'll be organizing a new Teen Achievers program that will give high school students homework help, college prep, and some various activities that will give them a place to go after school and help them grow and develop important life skills, etc, which is super exciting. It's sounding like it'll be pretty much exactly what I was hoping to be working on out here, so that's really awesome! Some things are still a bit up in the air at the moment, but right now it sounds like that will be my main focus, which I'm super stoked about!

That's mostly it for now. I'm having a marvelous time, and I think this year is going to be really amazing. Write letters, shoot me emails, give me a call--I want to hear all about what everyone is up to! I'll update on here as often as I can find a free minute and some internet, but I'd love to chat on the phone or via email too.

  

God Bless,

Aimee