AUGUST 1981 to JULY 1982 CHAMPAIGN/URBANA, IL
when i was in college at Tabor in KS i applied for Mennonite Voluntary Service and was accepted. that summer i chose to go to Champaign/Urbana, IL.
at first i was told that i would have two part time jobs. one would be a part-time secretary at a non-profit organization in the a.m.’s and then in the afternoon’s i would be working with children in a day care. i accepted that (even though i know i don’t work well with children, i hoped that things would work out somehow and that i wouldn’t have to work with the children).
i was to leave in the middle of August for my Orientation in Elkhart, IN. sometime during the summer, i received a call from a Gerry Sieber, didn’t know him, from Mennonite Voluntary Service, telling me that one person in the home i would be living in worked full-time as a home-maker health-aide. i had worked with elderly in the past when i worked at a Dr’s office and they wondered would i be willing to work as a home-maker health-aide in the afternoon instead of working with children so this girl could work part-time at the day care instead? i readily agreed. i could work with elderly much easier.
before i left home, my parents instructed me about phone privileges. i could call them anytime i needed to talk and they would reject the call and then i would need to stay by the phone and they would call me right back person to person. that way, it would be cheaper for them.
in mid August, i had packed and i was ready to leave. my parents drove me to San Francisco for a overnight plane to Chicago. i had never flown alone before and was quite nervous/scared about it. i was told to get a limousine service at Chicago, IL airport. i had a phone # for a specific limousine service that would take me to Elkhart, IN, it was a difficult goodbye all around at the airport to my parents.
i flew on an overnight plane and by the early a.m. i was in Chicago. i went to collect my luggage and from the suggestion of my Pastor at home, grabbed a luggage cart. i didn’t know what to do that i grabbed the first one i found i was so nervous. i wheeled that thing down the corridors and then realized i had to wheel it down the escalator to where the luggage was! what a pain.
once i had my luggage, i didn’t know where to go to call for the limousine. there were still pay phones in those days but not in the luggage collection area. so i took an elevator (with some other people) first in the wrong direction — down to the parking garage. then i changed elevators (with those same people) and found my way upstairs. i finally found a bank of telephones and called the phone # i had been given to call. they told me to go outside and wait on the curb.
i found a place inside where i could get some o.j. and then i finally found my way downstairs and came outside and sat by the curb waiting and waiting. i was stupidly awaiting a real limousine! a long sleek car. . . i was quite disappointed when a mere van drove up and asked if i were going to Elkhart, IN. when i said ‘yes’ i realized that this was the ‘limo’. reality hit. oh well. the guy loaded my luggage into the van and because he did, he returned the luggage cart and got the $ (i think it was just .25 cents) back instead of me getting the money back. short-changed.
anyway, we eventually took off for Elkhart, IN. i was not the only passenger in the van. it was a nice, cool a.m. the only thing i didn’t like about the van ride was that it was in a van that allowed smoking and someone was smoking. it gave me a headache. we stopped in Gary, IN, Notre Dame, IN (i was a bit impressed as we drove past the University), South Bend, IN and then Elkhart.
in Elkhart, i was dropped off at a downtown hotel and i called the Mennonite Board of Missions office in Elkhart and reached someone, don’t remember their name, and they came and picked me up and took me to their main household and grounds where we would be having Orientation. i was not the first one there but was given a room that had one double bed and one single bed. i was given half the double bed & told that the room would be full and i would be sharing the bed with someone. i immediately opened one of my suitcases and got ready to shower and rest.
by the evening, the household was full of people from all over the states. couples. singles. i remember one particular cute guy who was going to AZ, i believe. he and i would play cards. must have been hearts. i wished, at the time, i was going to AZ too! i met another guy, too, who was going to Ontario, Canada (Mark B.) he seemed very nice as well.
we all received an itinerary. the first night, dinner was made for us that first evening.
that evening, we had a meeting in a building across the grounds from the house where we slept. there we were instructed that until 11a the next day, we were to be silent. we could read, rest, write home, journal, but we could not talk to one other verbally. it was difficult that evening, not being able to talk to the girls i’d just met that day and get to know them better.
never thought about writing them notes but i don’t know if they forbade that or not. it was difficult to go through breakfast and all the next morning not talking to anyone. ate lunch and finished the day with lots of conversation over dinner and playing cards.
one of the mornings, Howie S. taught us a ‘Good Morning’ song
“Waay up in the sky” (point to the sky), “the little birds fly” (flap arms) “Way down in their nest”,(point down) “The little birds rest”(tilt head to rest on hands) “With a wing on the left” (flap left arm) “And a wing on the right”, (flap right arm) “the sweet little birdies lay down for the night” “THEN UP COMES THE SUN” (sorta yell this and hands up) “THE DEW FALLS AWAY” (say this in a deep voice and hands down), “GOOD MORNING, GOOD MORNING, the little birds say!” then everyone is supposed to yell “Good Morning” to the next person that walks in the door! one morning we all sang it early enough that we said good morning and Howie walked in so we said Good Morning to him! i think he was very surprised.
anyway, we had a film about Unit cars one of the days during the week. we learned that the automobile that we will be driving doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to the household where we will be living and we need to learn to take care of it. it showed how important it is to park far distances away from other cars so that the Unit’s car won’t get dented. we will have to fill out a mileage log each time we drive it, etc.
we got a piece of paper showing that we were split into different groups. there are 8 different groups. those groups will be helping making lunches and dinners all week long. Mark B, the guy that is going to Ontario, Canada is in my group.
one day, the cute guy that is going to go to AZ asked me if i want to go to a mall. other people are going too. he has borrowed a car. i remember this trip mainly because he parked the car way out in the middle of nowhere in the parking lot clearly far away from any other car. he could have parked it closer in but he doesn’t want the car to get hit! i buy the book “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” at his suggestion. i’m in ‘like’ with this guy.
one evening, with my group, we went into the kitchen and helped make dinner. i worked on making dessert — something with graham crackers, i remember. we had help from the kitchen staff. it was all fun when we were helping and working with one another. we set tables, etc. it was all apart of ‘serving others’.
that was the main theme of our time in Mennonite Voluntary Service — serving others in an intentional community. i was being oriented for my new way of living. a simple way of life.
a “Unit” was identified as one or more individuals living in a common residence in a particular geographic area and sharing living responsibilities and resources while serving to meet human needs. i would be living in a Unit when i got to Champaign/Urbana, IL.
one afternoon we played a game i sorta liked at the time but didn’t like later. it was called Star Power. it is described on Wikpedia. it took us approximately 2 1/2 hrs to play. it’s a game of “classes”. the upper, middle and lower classes. how people get into them and how they act in them.
there were 36 of us in the entire group (including me). after the game was over four people ended up in the upper class, 8 of us (me included) ended up in the middle class, and the rest ended up in the poor class. it was a miracle that i ended up in the middle class.
this whole ‘class’ thing was demonstrated to us very clearly at dinner after the game had been played and ended. i thought the game was finished and done with. but no, it wasn’t. i believe everyone thought the game was over as well.
dinner was delayed and delayed. the door to the dining room was locked and no one could get in. so we waited outside and got hungrier and and the longer we waited, i began to get a little angry. i wondered if others were getting angry at the delay as well. about 1/2 hr or so later the door opened. we surged.
we were held up and whomever opened the door called out 4 names only. they happened to be the people that had been in the upper class of Star Power that afternoon. about 15 minutes or so later, the door opened. again we surged. this time the person called out 8 names–my name included–the people that had won the middle class of Star Power. i was thankful to finally be able to go inside the dining room.
inside i could see what had been done to the dining room. curtains had been drawn to the back room. but you could see a table for four had been put up and the people that had won Star Power were sitting around it already eating and eating by candlelight and eating good food. they were ‘priveleged’. we, however, were in the main part of the dining room, at a long folding table. we had paper plates, hot dogs and chips, i believe, and punch already at the table. everything was already at the table and we served ourselves.
the rest of the floor of the dining room was empty/void of tables and chairs. i didn’t know what would happen when the rest of the people would come in.
finally, the rest of the people, came in and stood around for awhile. some grumbled. some began to sit down. finally someone from the inside of the kitchen, opened a door, slid out one big pot of rice and one big pot of water (that was it) and went back into the kitchen and closed the door. i sat, incredulous, looking at all this.
my mind was going 100 miles a minute. thinking, this can’t be. this can’t be. what are they doing? why are they doing this? i kept eating, i think but the food just wasn’t as good.
for a few moments, the people standing around or sitting were silent or grumbling. then one or two people took charge and began to say something about doling out the rice and water or calming down or taking it easy. people were arguing. some people began to look up at me (for there were enough people that they were sitting near the long table where i was at) and ask for food.
here is where i began to get very angry inside of myself at the game, at the people who put the game on, at whomever sent me up to middle class, at myself for feeling smug, it was all a mess inside of my head, etc. i didn’t know what to feel or do. i just wanted it to all go away but it wouldn’t. some of the people from the back room came out and began to share their food. i didn’t do anything. i just sat in my chair and ignored my food and seethed inside. what was i supposed to do? no one had prepared me for this. no one was explaining. i don’t remember whether they ever did.
i don’t know if i left the whole dinner early or if we were allowed to. some people left and i began to leave too. i left hungry, i know that. i was grumbling at cards that evening. i believe we were maybe all talking about the game that evening.
we were leaving the next day in the afternoon and i was going to miss a few people. Mark B for one and the cute guy who was going to AZ for another. i had gotten to know some girls in my room, Kareen B was one. but i don’t remember the other girls name. i see their faces in the black/white photo.
the next day i was packed and taken to the bus station and was driven to Chicago, IL again. in Chicago, i had to drag three fairly large/heavy suitcases (and one cosmetic case) all the way across the station to the next bus. it was insane. i would carry two suitcases for some distance, set them down, run back and get the next two (hoping noone had stole them or would steal those that i had just taken further), grab them and carry them further than i had the other two that were still there, thankfully, set those two down, run back and begin the process again until i finally got to the other bus — the bus to Champaign/Urbana which was just boarding. the Chicago, IL bus had been running a bit late. EGADS. then i had to leave the suitcases, run upstairs and get my ticket from Chicago to Champaign/Urbana. Thankfully the bus driver said he’d watch the suitcases. and, thankfully, the ticket counter was not busy at all. i got my ticket, ran back downstairs and got onto the bus as relatively the last person.
when i came into Champaign/Urbana, very late, i called my Unit Director, Bob H and he came and picked me up. i just remember there was a very big welcome banner across the front door (i came in the back door) for me that was signed by everyone in the Unit. there were six others in the Unit household at the time, not including myself (Audrey L, JoEllen C, Kathy T, Kerri B, Mike B & Ron M). and next door was the Unit Director, Bob H and his wife, Sue and their 14-month old son, Freddie,
the house we lived in was in Champaign itself (about 6 – 7 blocks from I-74), it was a big two-story place with a big full basement. lots of space. the neighborhood, however, was in a place i was not accustomed to. it was a racially integrated neighborhood (lower middle-class)– at least that was my perception. i grew up in a middle-class all white neighborhood where we all locked our doors each day/night. i was not accustomed to this neighborhood. it sort of scared me at first until i got more ‘used’ to it or more ‘numb’ (as you might say) to it.
i had begun having migraines in college one year before and i got migraines with stress. needless to say, i got several migraines with having a new environment.
i was put upstairs in a bedroom with Kerri B. you couldn’t have chosen a better roommate for me. Kerri and i fit like ‘click and clack’. like ‘pete and repeat’. we were friends almost instantly. it was very good to be with her. she was very good friends with JoEllen and Ron because they had come into Voluntary Service at the same time — the previous January 1981 (7 months prior). so, since i became good friends with Kerri, i naturally became friends with JoEllen. Kerri was from OH and JoEllen was from IN. Ron, was from OH. i remember he used to like to fish for ‘crappie’.
about 1/2 a month after i came into the household, a new girl, Kim, came into the household. her job was working with the ‘girls club’. i had a girl whose name was Sheila that became my ‘little-sister’. JoEllen and Kerri each had a little-sister as well. we made cookies with them. they spent time in the Unit with us. i don’t think i did a good job of paying attention to Sheila but she came over now & then.
Money: i am given $25 a month as an allowance. i was given toothpaste, shampoo, soap, aspirin, food and basics were taken care of. what was not taken care of were personal items such as maxi/mini pads (that i used at the present time), Mc. Donalds which i went to less & less since i didn’t have that much money. what astounded me was going to the local drug store (Osco) and watching people spending $35 at one pop. getting that little bit of money once a month changed my whole perspective between needs and wants.
Meals: the Unit ate together at least once a day every day. weekdays we ate together in the evening. Saturdays we ate together at lunch and Sundays we ate breakfast together. i think the Unit Directors made up the calendar as to whom cooked when. i cooked at least once or twice a month depending on the calendar. we had a “More with Less” cookbook and a popular recipe in there was Cheese Strata which fed quite a few people (made in a 9 x 13 pan) and could be made the night before and refrigerated and popped in the oven the next day. we ate Cheese Strata quite often?
once a week we would have a Unit meeting, usually Mondays at 7p in the Unit household (not usually in the Unit Director’s house). it was usually more convenient for the Unit Directors to come over than for 7 of us to tromp on over to their home. at the Unit meeting we would discuss problems that had come up, the Unit calendar — who was doing what for the new month, (chores, etc).
Chores: household duties were split up between all of us. at first i helped Kerri with her duties (with whatever she was doing) until i could get some assigned to myself alone. there was dusting/vacuuming/cleaning bathrooms, mowing both the Unit’s grass, the Unit Director’s home grass and also the lawn at the church. grocery shopping had to be done. who would do what?
sometimes there was food that someone had dropped off (one time strawberries had been dropped off and a few times cartons of milk were dropped off). that had to be used or stored. and volunteers were asked (from the Unit) for to help jar or can the strawberries or use up the milk. sometimes one or another person would be the only person to volunteer and they would get frustrated/angry. thus, i would get uncomfortable with the anger vented at the meeting (i had not grown up in an environment that had anger in it).
i was always glad when the Unit meeting was over. sometimes there were good times with the Unit meetings too. i remember one time, Kathy T sitting at the piano and playing “Father Abraham” and nearly everyone was either running around the room dancing or sitting and singing to the song as well. it was quite the evening.
we also had Unit recreation. once i remember we went bowling together. when we came out, some Unit members that were in the van, had locked it and had instigated a scheme. the window was sort of broken so the window latch opened out and the window was held out and whomever wanted in the van had to crawl through the window. so, i crawled through the window — i was small enough back then. when Bob came out, he didn’t allow that sort of shenanigans and demanded the keys to the van. he was sort of the ‘dad’ figure to all of us. sometimes we also went out to breakfast together as Unit Recreation.
one fall evening i remember we, as an entire Unit, went to someone’s farm and got popcorn on the cob. this farmer grew popcorn and we shelled popcorn. we all needed gloves. whatever popcorn we could shell that evening we were allowed to keep. we were told we had to dry it on newspaper once we got it home because there was still moisture content in the popcorn. that job became mine, sort of. i remember doing it, at least. spreading newspaper downstairs in the basement on a wooden shelf and placing the popcorn on it for a few days. we had lots of popcorn after that! YUM.
one Saturday, in early June, we went to a “Birkey farm” (i don’t remember their names) and picked strawberries. we all had to get up incredibly early 545 a.m. (for me, anyway) and eat breakfast and get out to the farm, pick the strawberries before it got too hot. i picked a row with Bob, Vonnie S was with us (she was the Area Director’s wife–they lived just down the street from us). Marc M & Bonnie were in the row next to us. it took Bob and i two hours to pick one row. Bob and i both picked 14 1/2 small boxes. altogether, the Unit picked 86 boxes. they gave us a case of eggs as well (how very nice).
when we got home, Kim went to buy Sure Jell and the rest of us worked on taking the green tops off all the strawberries. that was 1:30 p.m. Kim divided the berries up into ‘eating berries’ and jam berries. Kim put a washtub of the jam berries in the refrigerator while Bonnie and i were going to lay out for a couple of hrs. well, Sue came over and called out to us angrily how we had to work with the strawberries NOW and she wasn’t going to do all the work. i went in and began reading directions. Bonnie came in and we were both pissed off. don’t know if anyone else (the guys), came to help us as well or if it was just Sue, Bonnie and i.
Sue came over and helped freeze berries and told us how to begin the canning process. we got 4 1/2 quarts done before we ran out of lids. it was 4 p.m. before we were done.
Mark M & Mike U picked up a pizza for Bonnie and i, which was nice. they also brought up (beer — which is, by the way, illegal in a V.S. household). i tried the beer and didn’t like the taste but i’d been bringing up Boones Farm Strawberry Hill up into my room so i was no saint. i hid the Boones in my winter boot which was a tall boot. it was someone else that got me interested in the Boones Farm but i continued to bring it up and hide it in my boot. can’t say how many times i brought up a bottle.
Church. . . for three Sundays a month we went to church at First Mennonite Church in Urbana. then once every other month we went to East Bend Mennonite Church which was in Fisher (it was out in the country) and was quite a large church and some of the women wore head coverings (soft caps). one or two of our Unit members had host families at this church. we also, once every other month, went to Dewey Mennonite Church in Dewey. it was a smaller church.
the first Sunday we went to East Bend Mennonite Church, we were, as a Unit, invited out to Monicals Pizza. it was fairly good pizza and sodas but what i really liked was the family-size salad. there was an option of creamy Italian dressing which i’d never had before. i tried this and liked it a LOT! the family that hosted our meal were farmers. they were very nice.
the following month, one Sunday, we went to Dewey Mennonite Church. Bob announced that i was a new Unit member (i guess Kim already had an extended family) and that i did not have a host family yet. after church was over, we Unit members, two by two, were farmed out to different families for lunch. JoEllen and i happened to go to lunch with the family of Al & Marilyn L. they had three kids (two girls and a boy) that were in elementary school at the time (i believe). they were good looking kids. Al and Marilyn lived on a farm and all i remember is that they grew soybeans. i also remember being with Don, on a smaller tractor later on in 1982. they also had steer as they occasionally had them for dinner!
at the end of our meal, JoEllen and i were picked up by Bob, and the Unit, in the van. i was told later by Bob that week that Al & Marilyn wanted to be my host family while i was living here in IL. WOW. how very nice. i don’t remember whether i wrote them a thank you letter or not. it was wrong of me if i didn’t.
when i first started working at Center for Christian Studies, a not-for-profit company, i bicycled, walked or took the bus to work because it was quite nearby (in Urbana). i would open the office and work mostly i did record-keeping, typing up of a newsletter (i had forgotten that), typing up letters, etc. i think i ran them into the ground because i didn’t do very well on the accounting side of it all. once my boss, Joyce, took over the accounting/record-keeping she found i didn’t balance. i thought i had balanced but i guess i didn’t. i should never have been balancing as i’d never really taken a class in accounting.
i did help them out (Kerri as well helped me & them out) on a phone-a-thon. i’d never done a phone-a-thon. just get a phone book and begin with a certain letter and begin calling every single phone #, do your spiel and see if the’ll give you money. i sometimes dropped CCS’s mail off at the post office before i left work or as i was leaving work (since it was right around the corner). i would then go home, eat a little lunch and go to my afternoon job.
in the beginning, my second job was to take over some of Kerri’s Homemaker Health-Aide Clients. later, i got my own clients. i was to be under Family Services of Champaign County. my Supervisor was Georgine Gambler. she was very nice/understanding in all circumstances. i read over, now, the position description and i don’t think Georgine realized that i wasn’t trained in 90% of these items! thankfully i didn’t need to do 50% of most of these things that are listed. i liked my clients, though and some i came to like very much.
work. everytime i wake up on Sunday, it makes me realize i’ll be working this next week and there’s no way to prevent Monday from coming. I can’t get off the world and stand before time and push it back (like holding a door shut) but time is just there . . . It cannot be stopped unless, it would be a world-wise decision, but nature would not stop, the sun rises, shines and sinks; rises, shines and sinks, etc. a never ending cycle. Ecclesiastes speaks similar of this. and where does it lead? nowhere but in never ending cycle of drudgery.
My Clients in the afternoons: i had different clients on different days and sometimes went to see the same client on multiple days during the week all for different amounts of time. sometimes just 1 hr, sometimes 2 hrs.
i saw Mr L his wife Piedy twice a week in their two bedroom apartment. Piedy was on oxygen and sat and watched me as i did the chores (unless i was downstairs doing the laundry). sometimes i was in the kitchen defrosting the freezer, washing the dishes, mopping the floor or chasing roaches! sometimes i was in the back bedrooms making the beds or in the bathroom cleaning the toilets or the tub. i even went shopping for them sometimes.
Victoria M i saw her just once a week usually on Mondays. she had been a client of Kerri’s. i remember going to visit her for the first time with Kerri. Victoria had an ancient (the most old thing i’d ever seen) vacuum cleaner it had black metal at the bottom where the suction was, and then a cloth bag and whenever you wanted to empty the bag it was tied with string at the top. you had to cit the string, empty the bag into the trash and then get new string and tie it back up to the top. crazy. as Kerri was vacuuming, i was asking Victoria, “Do they still sell parts for this?” Kerri said she was laughing as i asked this question.
But, Victoria was very, very sweet when it came down to it. she was nearly blind. i didn’t need to do much for her. dust, vacuum, do some minor things for her in the kitchen and that was it. she had a one bedroom apartment. during the winter, i believe i did some grocery shopping for her as well.
there was one other client that lived in that same area, Mary Lois B. she was a fan of pampus grass. there was plant in the back by where her garage was — she lived in an upstairs apartment. she was an elderly woman but apparently she was still healthy enough that she could climb the stairs that went up to her door. i swore to myself that she went around spreading dust every week before i came because the two bedroom apartment was spotless. i was to dust, vacuum and wash the dishes. i dusted but there was nary a speck of dust to pick up!
the last 10 minutes or so, she’d have me sit down and eventually she’d offer me a Diet Pepsi or even a Hostess ‘fruit pie” (but the store brand). she liked to chat with me about her time in New Mexico (i don’t remember what year she said she taught there) when she used to teach the Indians and she had photos to prove it. she had those shoes that buttoned up to the ankle, she looked weathered in those photos.). she could tell some stories. but she wanted me to always take some pampas grass home from the plant. i did, a few times, and put it in a grape juice bottle in my room.
one client i was given later on was Vallena K. she had had had a ‘tracheotomy’ — a hole in the throat that was there permanently. she spoke with a ‘wheeze’ and it was very difficult to understand her when i first met her. she gave me a grocery list and she mentioned sweet potatoes. i didn’t understand what she wanted and i got canned sweet potatoes while she wanted the raw ones. oh well. i was a bit scared of her when i first met her but i began to understand her the longer i knew her.
she wanted to get to know me so she spent some time talking with me. one day we went out into the garden that the housing project she lived in (which was nice) had for the residents. we got some green peppers that she was growing. one day she made me sit and watch a “soap opera” with her. it was funny. she seemed interested in my V.S. term and was very interested in my going to Europe as well.
one client i inherited from Kerri was a Mr T. she had given him rave reviews telling me they got tickets to a football game from him, etc (don’t know what team).
well, i did the best i could for him. he had diabetes and was overweight. i was to clean up his bathroom in his 2-bedroom apartment and also do his grocery shopping. on his grocery list he was always putting sweets rolls & candy and other kind of sweet things. i had been with Mr T for some weeks as a homemaker health-aide when i was grocery-shopping for him sometime in October. i met up with someone who also knew him (maybe an ex-homemaker health-aide for Mr T???, just a guess). she asked to look at his grocery list. i complied, because i was young and stupid. she marked off all the sweets with a pencil. just get the vegetables and meats and that is all you need she told me.
well, i did what she requested. when i got back to Mr T’s apartment, i turned in his groceries. he was livid when he noticed things were missing. i believe i tried to explain but he was yelling at me by this time and told me to leave (even though my hour with him wasn’t up). i told him that i wasn’t finished cleaning up the bathroom. he didn’t care, he wanted me OUT!
i almost cried as i drove home and when i got back to the Unit, i called my Supervisor at Family Services of Champaign County (maybe before Mr T could?) and told her of what had happened. she told me to not go back to Mr T’s until further notice. Thank the Lord that notice never came. he was never my client again.
i had an interesting kind of client. a Miss Vickie (Wyktoria). she had not trained her little dog to go to the b-room outside so it went on papers inside the back bathroom. one of my new jobs for this new client was to pick up these papers (yeah, YUCK) and take them outside and burn them in the barrel in the back yard. Miss Vickie lived in a home. it was quite foul to burn these papers. i attended to them, while they burned, because i ‘d never burned papers before and i didn’t know what to do — watch them or not. they smelled quite badly while they burned and i tried to stand up wind. plus, i was sort of afraid of Miss Vickie because she was a new client.
the first day i had her as a client not only did i burn those papers but it was asked of me to go cut down some brussels sprouts. i really didn’t understand what she wanted and thought i should cut down just the ‘brussels sprouts so i chopped at each individual one until she came out and told me what exactly what to do (she wanted the whole stalk cut down instead of each individual sprout!). it had begun to snow lightly during this time and i was COLD. so i did as i was told.
after a few weeks of working for Miss Vickie, i called Georgine, my Supervisor (after Miss Vickie had been in the hospital). i asked Georgine to ask Miss VIckie to see if the relationship between her and i was working or not. Georgine finally called me back. i was right. Miss Vickie didn’t like me (i guess she thought i was too young and inexperienced?).
i also had a client, Laura L, that lived quite close to our Unit. she lived upstairs in an apartment building. once every other week i did her laundry. and once every other week i worked in her apartment cleaning the bathrooms and vacuuming and washing the dishes. when i knew i would be doing laundry, i would bring a book to read because i would be downstairs in the laundry room. Kerri had introduced me to Johnnie H who walked the halls of the apartment building and thus saw her in the laundry room, became inquisitive and talked to her. he thought she belonged to a commune the way she talked!
soon Johnnie also began to come talk to me. at first the conversations were plain and o.k. but maybe i was susceptible and naive because i’d not really dated much but in April, Johnnie told me that we should go to the Worlds Fair in TN in ’82 and i shouldn’t go to the Netherlands. he also did other things (sexual) i won’t mention. i seriously think he was planning this trip. before you know it, i began to rue the day i talked to this guy and didn’t want to talk to him on laundry day anymore. i called my Supervisor at Family Services of Champaign County, Georgine, G and told her about the situation. if i ever saw him i was to call him Mr H, not by his first name. he had propositioned her once as well!
i had one couple that i had never seen make such a proper bed. Mr and Mrs K. Mrs K taught me how to make the proper bed. i guess i had never made a proper bed before — i think all my other beds before the ones i made in her home were sloppily made!
they seemed very proper and austere but as i worked there and they saw how hard i worked for them, they ‘lightened” up a little, especially Mr K. he was the cook of the family i think because Mrs. K was not a well woman. one day Mr K was making chicken and dumplings. it looked delicious. i said as such and i thought he might invite me to take some home but he didn’t but he was talking of how he made it, where he learned how to make it, etc.
i don’t think they trusted me in the beginning with anything i was doing. they checked everything i was doing after i’d done it (the bathroom, the beds, the floors, etc.). they ended up being a nice couple though after i got to know them.
i also had a new client Ruth L. in June ’82. she said she prayed for death. she must have been very depressed. one day i came to her apartment and she didn’t answer the door and the door was open so i went in. she was lying on the floor. i didn’t know what to do. i didn’t touch he and i asked her how she was. she had fallen. she didn’t want me to help her get up. she prayed for death. we talked and i sat on a chair near her. finally after 1/2 hr of not knowing what to do, i told Ruth to try to get up or i was going to call and have some firemen come help her. i called my Supervisor. my Supervisor said “Don’t touch her and i’ll call 911. soon Paramedics were knocking at the door and taking Ruth to the hospital. i guess after that the daughter put her in a retirement home because i never saw her as a client again.
i have more names in my journals as clients. people i have forgotten. faces and homes (and chores) that i remember when i read their names.
in late November it was coming upon Thanksgiving, Kerri and i drove with a couple through Indianapolis, IN to Springfield, OH, where Kerri was from. we stayed from 11-27 to 11-30. the family had two poodles, Heidi & Muffin, to which i was introduced (GRR, they said). Bill was her boyfriend back then. he was a sweetie. we had Thanksgiving on Saturday afternoon. and later i had a double date with Kerri, Bill and a guy named Carl. what was strange was that Bill didn’t show up (i guess he was ill). so Carl, Kerri and i bought a pizza and some sodas and went to Bill’s where we each had a piece of pizza, our sodas and then Carl and i left.
he and i went to see a 3-D movie (strange movie), and then he drove me around town and out of town. Kerri had told me “Carl won’t do anything”. Carl told me “I won’t do anything”. he drove me clear out to the dam (wherever that was) and then we went back to his old High School and he asked if i wanted to go for a walk (what do i say?). we got out in the 30F temp and wind and begin to walk (with my meager jacket), and i about froze. finally we walked enough and i was about frozen. he had me sit next to him in the car. i no longer thought of what Carl might do. i just wanted to warm up.
the next day, Sunday, i went to church with Kerri’s family. we went to a steak place for lunch. Carl was there but i really didn’t say anything to him.
the next day, Monday, Bill and Kerri wanted to go to a basket ball game with Carl and me in the evening but i wanted nothing more to do with Carl (he and i didn’t click) so i backed out. during the day, Kerri and i went to a mall and shopped around. that afternoon, i called Carl and said i was busy and had other things to do that evening. i spent the time with Kerri’s parents watching t.v. and working typing a V.S. newsletter edition.
on the 30th, Tuesday, Kerri and i were back in a car driving back to C-U (Champaign/Urbana). it had been a very good Thanksgiving with Kerri’s family.
in my journal on 12-16-81 i notated that we had our first snowstorm. the winter of 81/82 would become the most severe winter they’d had in 10 yrs. wind chills so that we had to cancel church on Sundays. we had 18 severe storms that winter. the winter season was extremely long from late November to mid April and lives of 34 people were lost. i slipped and slid on roads while i was driving and hated driving in the snow but i never had an accident. i did get stuck (in the snow) and had the exhaust pipe in the snow, didn’t know that, and could have gassed myself if i hadn’t cleaned out the exhaust pipe. i learned to rock the car especially with a manual transmission.
in mid December of Audrey found an advertisement in a Mennonite circular (while we were at Gerry and Vonnie Siebers home) about a year in Europe via a program called Intermenno Trainee Program. I asked Audrey to get me an brochure/application as well. a year in Europe sounds exciting to me. mom and dad went to Europe in 1978 and made it sound so beautiful.
i find out the name of the woman’s name in charge of the program here in America, is Doreen H. first i wrote to Doreen and asked her whether i could be considered for the Trainee program since i was in VS and my term of service didn’t end until August 31, 1982. could i leave for Europe, i asked, alone rather than with the group?
in mid January, she returned my letter and said that the Intermenno Committee arranges for a group air ticket in mid August (probably Aug 16, 1982) and they would have group Orientation in Europe that they wanted everyone to attend. she asked could i possibly terminate my VS term a few weeks early?
when my application came, i filled it out. the wanted references and also a 250 word essay on why i wanted to live in Europe for a year. then i had to choose, in order of preference, which countries (out of 4) i would want to live in. i chose Switzerland as #1, Holland as #2, Germany as #3 and France as #4. then i sent the whole thing off to Akron, PA.
on December 1, in our Unit, we picked a name out of the hat (i got Kim) and that was our ‘secret pal’ for the rest of December. we were supposed to do nice things for that person. when we had our Christmas gift give-away, we would focus on giving a gift to that secret pal. we had each made a ‘list’ of what we wanted for Christmas. i don’t recall what i wanted that year.
anyway my secret pal was Kim so i was nice to Kim all month long but i don’t remember what i did for her. so, in late December for the 23rd, as a Unit, we all dressed up crazily for our gift give-away (i dressed up in my pajamas) and i don’t remember why we dressed up strangely. i don’t recall what i gave Kim that Christmas but when she opened her gift she was totally surprised it was from me. i had guessed, already, that Kerri was my secret pal. she gave me, among a couple of other things, The Two Towers (by J.R.R. Tolkien) paperback. i had told her i had read The Hobbit.
for Christmas vacation, mom and dad were to pick me up on the 23rd of December. the night before they were to come it was supposed to snow 6 inches by the following day. it had snowed 4 inches by the time i called them at LouAnn’s in Bettendorf, IA (the quad cities). i talked to dad. i told him that the roads were going to be bad and it was supposed to snow 6 inches and i didn’t think he should drive through to pick me up, that i’d be ok alone for Christmas (i was worried for him). “You don’t think i’ve driven in snow before?” I can drive in snow!” “We’re going to be coming.” i guess he wasn’t going to let some snow keep him from seeing his daughter at Christmas time! how funny. i was glad they were coming out though. i wanted to see them.
so, the next day, he and mom knocked on the door of the Unit. dad had taken some photos of the street scenes with the snow, and the house in the snow. someone else answered the door but i came down and saw them and hugged them. i introduced them all around to whomever was there at the moment (some people had already left for home) and showed them around the house (my room, especially) and took them next door and introduced them to Bob (Audrey happened to be next door as well) and Sue.
mom was anxious to get going so dad grabbed my luggage and got in the car (they were borrowing Joe’s car) and we took off. we stopped at a restaurant (in Champaign nearby– Bob Evans) and ate a little lunch before we left Champaign/Urbana. i had to help mom navigate the steps to the restaurant since it was a little icy on the pavement.
we finally got going and it wasn’t snowy/icy all the way to Bettendorf, IA. about 1/2 hr or one hour outside of C/U, the roads cleared. we finally got to Bettendorf, IA (quad cities). my brother-in-law was going to Chiropractic school there. my sister Lou (Ann) and her husband Joe F had two children at the time, Sommer, 4, and Jack, 1 1/2.
on Christmas eve we celebrated Christmas. the most crazy book i received was “The Gift of Sex”. why had i received that when i was single, i asked. well, my mom said, we gave it to everyone else in the family and they wanted to give me one too. Mike and Sharon wanted a really good picture of me opening the book. i was VERY embarrassed when i opened the book and saw the title. dad got three good photos.
mom made some peppernuts at Lou’s so i took some home when i left on the 26th and took a bus back to Champaign/Urbana. Peter D., the pastor at First Mennonite Church, picked me up and dropped me off at the Unit household. i was in the household all by myself. it was nice and quiet.
on Monday, December 27th, i registered for Urbana 81. Urbana ’81 is the largest Student Missions Conference in the world and held every three years. i just happened to be living in in the area that year and asked the Unit if i could attend. the theme of Urbana ’81 was “Let Every Tongue Confess That Jesus Christ is Lord”.
there are many speakers and i went to quite a few of them. there are over 100 mission agencies with booths in one of the Universities buildings (i don’t know which one) on campus and it is interesting to look at them.
one of the speakers is Helen Roseveare. she worked in Zaire as a MD. she spoke on Judges 7 on Gideon’s calling by God. how we must be concerned for others, not just ourselves. Jesus is the light of the world. we must allow God to smash us (as we are jars) so we can show our light (Christ) to the world. we should give unquestioning obedience to God.
another of the speakers is Robert Munger. former Fuller Seminary Professor, author of My Heart Christ’s Home (i have this booklet). the topic he speaks on is ‘Knowing the Will of God’. Jesus said “Follow me” without saying where or why. Jesus is calling us unto himself–let him be our Lord. give of ourselves so we have something to give — be in God’s will — no matter how insignificant. God wants us to be his companions. he wants us to get to know him. –offer ourselves daily to God (all of ourselves) & –ask God to show us His will.
one other speaker was David M Howard who who was (Jim Elliot’s brother-in-law). David spoke on the topic “Jesus Christ is Lord”. we don’t need a ‘call’, we need a ‘kick in the pants’. go in faith, one step at a time. even though we don’t do well, God still loves us with our struggles that we go through. God still wants us to follow Him in obedience. even if we lose struggles, God still loves us. When we go out, we go under the sign of the cross!
there were many other speakers that i listened to. Rebecca Manley Pippert (author of Out of the Saltshaker) who spoke on “Making Jesus Christ Lord Now”, i also heard George D McKinney whose topic was “Professing Christ in the City”. one person that i heard was Dutch, sort of hard to understand. her name was Eva den Hartog. she had directed medical relief in several countries. her topic was “Acknowledging in a Suffering World.”,
one of the main speakers i wanted to see was Billy Graham. i went early to this meeting. his topic was “Mission Impossible”. we can’t be silent. we should speak out and pray for peace. calling begins where you are. live lives of total commitment to him now.
–first face question of personal relationship with Christ. come to him in faith, child-like faith. worship actively. make it apart of your daily life in order for you to grow.
in your vocation, everything should be done unto the Lord. in our spiritual house–does God have the keys to our entire house? i wonder that now. No Reserve, No Retreat and No Regret (can we say that?).
i was duly impressed with Billy as a speaker. always have been, always will be. our Urbana ’81 conference ended with a communion that was at midnight on Dec 31, 1981. i believe Ron picked me up from the meeting.
in late January, we knew that Kerri, JoEllen and Ron were leaving V.S. at the end of January. because they were leaving, Kerri & JoEllen had chosen, as their going away meal, to go to the Sunshine Dinner Playhouse to see “Brigadoon”. i guess there was enough money in the Unit ’till’ to pay for everyone’s ticket. i don’t know how everyone’s ticket was paid for.
everyone dressed up, and we took a Unit photo before we left (Ron happened to be late for photos–which wasn’t his fault), and we drove, in the Unit van to the playhouse. it was a very good play and dinner as well.
that evening, after we got home after much laughing and joking and much slipping and sliding on the ice outside, we went upstairs and then came back downstairs where Kerri and Jo (Ellen) got their going away gifts.
as a Unit, we had received $30 as a thank-you from some group who had stayed overnight and for some reason, the subject came up again of what we should do with the money. Breakfast on Sunday was suggested (but not at Perkins–i guess we’d gone to Perkins too many times). Sue immediately pounced on “No, Fred will be sleepy, i don’t want to get up any earlier, Fred will be cranky at church”, etc. She then thought up alternatives or different suggestions but we rejected them all. She finally gave in. But, the subject of when do we leave came up.
a lengthy discussion followed with periods of silence in between. i was getting angrier and angrier. it didn’t seem fair to turn Ker & Jo’s farwell into an argumentative discussion.
it was asked if we could leave it till tomorrow lunch. Silence. finally Kathy got up and agreed. i was quick to follow and stormed upstairs. Ron came upstairs as well to Kerri and my room (Jo was there too) since discussion had been had about being late when we all knew when we were supposed to get together (and i had sort of made Ron late when i went to pick up JoEllen, i had taken Ron with me so he got a late start on getting ready and he was late for pictures).
that was the frustrating part of living in the Unit. the collision of personalities. what to do. does one say what they think or does one keep quiet — like i did? i journaled a great deal about what i was thinking about all the arguments/discussions but said not a word in the discussions.
Ron wanted a different kind of going away meal and i don’t remember what we did or where we went. it was sad to see him leave as well. i had become a good friend to him.
some new VS’ers came in place of Kerri — Bonnie B and she came with Mike U and Marc M. don’t know where Mike U was from but Marc M was from Kokomo, IN. i had been through Kokomo and seen a stuffed steer in their square (when i was 4 yrs old and we were traveling as a family).
for some reason, Bonnie and i did not connect even though Bonnie was my roommate. she was the opposite of Kerri. we don’t really get along and Kathy T ended up showing her the in’s and out’s of VS life. naturally, Bonnie, Marc & Mike hang together in the Unit, at church as much as possible. i understand this.
in early February i got a letter from Doreen saying my application/references were screened in PA and then sent off to the Committee in Europe. in mid March i received a letter via Doreen via Europe that i had been accepted (as well as Audrey had) to go to the Netherlands. i was surprised.
at first i was not sure what to do. i was wishy/washy about what to do. go/no go. go/not go. i could not decide. there were so many pros and cons.
on March, 29th i went out to my extended family, to see Al & Marilyn L and their family. they had a BIG tractor and let me sit in it so Marilyn took a photo of me sitting in the cab. Marilyn and i tilled one row and Marilyn allowed me to drive but my row was not straight. it’s a lot different plowing than driving a car!
i also sat on the fender of Al’s tractor as he plowed with his small tractor and talked with him about my being accepted to being a Trainee in Europe. it was a new concept to me so i was still trying to wrap my head around it. i was telling him about Europe and wondering what i should do. he’d been to Thailand (i believe) and that had been the experience of a lifetime for him. i told Al, “i could always apply again next year.” and he said “but you won’t, you need to do this now, you might never do it again.” that conversation really, really swayed me in a positive direction.
i began to ask questions because i was still not sure what to do. the questions i asked were referred to someone on the Dutch Committee and i got a letter in April from a Marrye Maarsen-Keim. she was a Dutch Committee Member. she answered my questions the best she knew how. i had asked to be placed in a Christian Mennonite home or setting. after a very long paragraph written from her, i still felt i had no solid promises.
they had to wait until the end of June before they could begin placing the new Trainees in their different placements and that is why she really couldn’t answer me. i tried to understand. it was difficult to be patient.
it was asked that we make a down payment of $50 to the Committee (that was to confirm our intention to participate). the $50 would be returned to us in European currency once we got to Europe. i didn’t send off the check immediately but waited for awhile until i was sure that i really wanted to go. i wasn’t the only person questioning whether i should go or not. Mark B, from my Orientation at Elkhart, IN for VS, had been accepted to go to the Netherlands. he called me a few times and wrote a couple times. he couldn’t decide either whether he should go or not. Audrey, too, was having a difficult time deciding which way to go.
on April 23 i got a letter from Doreen with all the information i needed to get the ball rolling. i guess i needed to decide whether to go or not. we were told that we were to arrive in Akron, PA by Saturday, 15 August. and, that Intermenno Trainee Program was a ‘cultural exchange program’ not a ‘voluntary service program.
finally after April 28, i sent off my $50 showing that i was in earnest and had an intention to participate in this year in the Netherlands. i began to make preparations in earnest. i had to apply for a passport. i had to get a photo, ask mom for my birth certificate from home, then i needed to get a police certificate. my parents had to do quite a bit of working on this at home as well and i had to go to the Champaign Police station to give them my finger prints and explain to send them to the police station to where i lived in the Central Valley in CA so my parents could do what needed to be done.
i also had to get a TB skin test while i was in IL. i did not remember them telling me that after the skin test i was supposed to come back in three days. i came back in 1 wk. however after 3 days, i had not had a rash so they said that was ok. i also had to go to a Doctor and get a medical examination while in was in Champaign. i also had to get a Dentist Certificate form filled out as well while i was in IL. it seemed a bit of a hassle to go to all these appointments but i’m sure my folks were having a bit of a hassle too in CA. i was thankful my folks were helping me out and backing me in this ‘venture’.
i had been working my jobs, naturally during all of this letter exchange. i had my daily clients. before Kerri left, she trained me on how to make up the Voluntary Service Unit Financial Report. i guess Bob thought i was a record keeper at work in the mornings so i would be a natural at doing this for the Unit. actually, i enjoyed doing it for Bob. so, i took over once Kerri left. so toward the end of each month, Bob would give me a blank piece of pre-printed tri-colored paper and i would get a typewriter (and white-out, of course) and type up the report. it was interesting to see how much was earned and how much was distributed and given out to Mennonite Board of Missions.
our Unit made so much income with one of the Unit member’s jobs that we were able, at the end of each month, to donate quite a bit of money back to Mennonite Board of Missions. some Units out there weren’t so fortunate. they didn’t end the month in the ‘black’.
Kathy T’s farewell was on May 25 and we went to a Mexican Restaurant. the tostada i ordered filled up the entire plate. it is sad to see her leave the Unit. she is staying in the area, C-U.
from May 20 to 23, we went to a VS Midwest Retreat. by then we had the new guy in our Unit, a John M. the retreat was at Lake of the Ozarks State Park in (MO) Missouri. we crossed the Mississippi River and saw the Arch in St Louis (which i’d never seen). i took a couple photos as we were driving by (not very good photos).
the retreat was for 4 days. Howie was there from Mashulaville, MS (Mississippi). i don’t remember whether we sang the Good Morning song or not. it was good to see so many people that i remembered. maybe it was an overload? i also saw someone i had seen at Orientation a Kareen B. she was a little short thing but full of life. it was nice to see familiar faces. i distinctly remember there was a lake nearby and i went there a couple times and took photos of it. it was serene and quiet. nice and calm. something i needed in those days.
on May 23, in the a.m. Kath & Bonnie sang Happy B-day for me. later the group at the retreat sang for me. as we drove home, on the way home to Champaign, i was asked to drive some of the way home, and i did. when we got home, there was a call for me from Carol. and in the mail quite a few cards.
when we returned from the retreat in Missouri, on May 28, my work with Center for Christian Studies ended. they closed down. they had been a not-for-profit business and not many people were taking their classes so they shut down. i have a feeling that when the books didn’t balance and Joyce finally balanced them they were in the ‘red’.
once my job at Center for Christian studies ended, i needed some type of work to do in the mornings, so i was hired on at ’empty tomb’ . on the local level empty tomb has clothes that are donated to the center and is available ‘free’ to people in need. groceries are provided by churches or other families to those who are in need. ‘family to family relationships’ is financial assistance and friendship between Christians with resources and families in need. in regards to ‘furniture work’, donated furniture is picked up and delivered to needy households. and there is home maintenance work (Mike U and Mike B both worked for empty tomb in this maintenance work).
i did a lot of typing of reports at e.t. (as we called it). Sylvia was my Supervisor (she always wore black — i was convinced her closet was full of black tops and pants). there was a guy named Steve M. who also volunteered there answering the phones — i didn’t really have to always answer the phones because i had just started and didn’t know the business end of it. i either took the bus or bicycled there. i didn’t bicycle there often.
wanted to describe some of the people in the Unit. . . even the ones that had left.
Kerri B: she was my friend. she and i thought alike about our bodies, she and i thought so much alike it was scary. she and i liked the same music artists. we both journaled. i am glad i got to know Kerri B. i won’t forget her.
JoEllen C: she was seemingly laughing a lot. i liked her a lot. i was glad to call her my friend at the time and to those she meets. even after she left V.S. she and i got together and did things — go out for pizza, go to the Ground Round (a casual restaurant where you could get popcorn anytime and peanuts and throw the peanut shells on the ground). in May for Memorial Day week end. she took me to her home in IN. it was a very nice week end. got a raspberry pie to go at Yoders. it was a Mennonite restaurant. it had delicious food. we laid out at a pool and later had a picnic at a park. a day later, Jo and i were off for C-U (Champaign/Urbanan).
Audrey L: has been a seemingly real good friend. she is, most of the times, her own person. she is a two-year person and leaving at the end of June. she seems to always be ‘joyful” and she hides most of her feelings well. she seems to be patient with people. i like the poems Audrey has put in my mailbox. she was going to be going to the Netherlands as well.
Bob H: i like Bob. he is a neat person. he admits to his faults. he is a very authoritative person and good as a Unit Director. he is open to new ideas and helpful. he mentioned to me one day something i hadn’t realized, that each of my t-shirts had pictures on them. hadn’t noticed that before.
Kathy T: i get along with Kathy pretty well. one day after i’d arrived, she, Kim and Audrey had me pile in a small car (a Chevy Chevette) and we went in the pouring rain to a outdoor plant sale! it was insane. i will never forget that. Kathy and Audrey bought some plants too! she is a fun person to be with and, she seems, to me, to be a dynamic Christian.
Mike U: he seems ‘crazy’ to me. talks loud and does ‘nutty’ things. he can be serious (i guess) but i haven’t seen too much of this. he has red hair. he taught Freddie to say carburetor. it was funny to hear a 2 yr old say that!
Marc M: i’ve had some good talks with him. he’s nice.
Kim S: she yelled at me at one time and i really disliked her for that for some time. she’s ok at times and then again she can be ‘maddening’. i came home one day and wanted to take a shower (this is the story of why she yelled at me) and i locked the front door and back door (because at home in CA we lock our doors)– i guess they hadn’t been locked before. while i was in the shower, Kim came home and couldn’t get in the house and had to crawl in a window. that was why she got mad at me. later Bob made a copy of the key, found a hiding place and put the copy of the key there.
Sue H: she’s also yelled at me. i borrowed her bicycle (with her permission) and then i ran the bicycle into the back of a car (accidently). i straightened the handlebars but other than that there was no damage to the bicycle. she got upset at me when she found out. she has her good points as well. she can be very nice and she is a good mother to little Freddie.
Mike B: he is much older than the rest of us. i can’t say what his age is. he is from CO. one Sunday morning he came up from the basement and he had a type of mohawk except that part of the haircut hadn’t been completed and he had cut himself and was sort of bleeding. it looked strange. Bonnie’s parents were there and Bonnie’s father imitated an Indian war whoop in silence and, Mike went to church like that. after church, Sue offered to cut the rest of his hair off and make him bald so he was bald for some time.
Mike doesn’t talk much. he talks quietly when he does talk. and sometimes he has seemed to follow me around the house and it feels creepy. he’s always had a beard and mustache as long as i’ve known him. he has dark hair. he is tall to me and always wears boots.
Bonnie B: she was terribly hard to get used to as i was accustomed to having Kerri around. it took time but i have accepted her as being apart of the Unit. she works for Family Services part time and also at the day care part time. Bonnie has a recipe for sugar cookies that i really like a lot, they’re really soft with frosting.
Freddie: is an enjoyable part of the Unit life. little Fred has me laughing when i wouldn’t be otherwise. he can be a little ‘nut’ at times. i enjoy watching him.
John M: he is new to our Unit. it took me awhile to get used to him. he does like to cook. he is a new Christian and still smokes (he does so outside and goes on walks to do so). i’m looking forward to getting to know him better. he didn’t do well at his job at the daycare and he couldn’t find another job so in late June he finally went back to his home state.
in mid June a new VS’er had come to the Unit named Karen M . she was quite young. she was petite and blonde. Mike U liked her a lot. i didn’t know much about her. she worked at the Day Care full time, i believe.
on Sunday, June 19, i went with JoEllen to my extended family — Al & Marilyn L’s home. JoEllen and i stayed overnight and in the a.m. we were supposed to go on a canoe trip. in the a.m., Al knocked on JoEllen’s and my door (i think it was the girls bedroom–they were not there –don’t remember where they were) and said the trip was cancelled. JoEllen said to me “He’ll think of something”. we slept a bit more and got up and skipped church.
at 10 a.m. Al, Marilyn and Galen the truck to Lake of the Woods (a forest preserve) and left it there. We had decided to go down the Sangammon River to Lake of the Woods. at 1130 or so Al, Marilyn and Galen came back from Lake of the Woods and we took off from Fisher. in one canoe was Jo and i and the other canoe was Marilyn, Galen and Al. i clumsily threw my shades into the water. c’est la vie (that’s life). it was tough canoeing. hard on the arms.
at 1p we had lunch by the side of the river. we came upon 8 jams that we needed to portage around. at one, Al saw a big bullfrog (i guess) and prodded it with his paddle. it didn’t move so he reached over to touch it and over their canoe went. Uh Oh. but, they got their stuff out of the water. one of the portages (we had to go over a log), Marilyn and i were holding onto some branches to keep our balance and all the sudden Marilyn screamed “A snake!” i looked and jerked my hand off and sure enough, there was a snake sitting there a few inches away from my face! Jo said “Don’t panic!” my heart was beating wildly and Marilyn said she “i hate snakes”. Al went and pushed the bull snake (he said) off into the water.
we finally continued but we had changed places. Marilyn was in our canoe now. i was sitting in the middle, Marilyn was in the back (and had a hard time steering) and Jo was in the front. we kept turning around backwards and heading to shore (we did that 4 times). finally i insisted — i should have asked politely or something else– but i “insisted” that we change positions. i got in the front to paddle, Jo in the back to steer and Marilyn in the middle to paddle (i guess she had a paddle). after that we went forward.
i did get us stuck in a sandbar — my fault, i guess and i got out and pushed or pulled us out. a bit later, we passed the guys and maybe i shouldn’t have done this — stayed together? i’m too competitive. Al told us 2 miles to Lake of the Woods and 10-15 min later a guy told us 2 1/2 miles more. eventually some guy told us 2 more bends. we passed a few bends but finally saw the truck! yeah rah! it was relatively late afternoon by then.
in the pickup, i sat on Jo’s lap, Galen (their son) on Al’s lap and Marilyn drove. i still had some Doritos chips which i shared all around and then we went to their house. we all changed their daughter Shelly was home by then. then we all went to Monical’s Pizza for dinner in Rantoul. from there, Jo and i left and she dropped me off at the Unit. it was an exhausting day but full of blessings. blessings of beautiful scenery, fellowship and that no one got hurt during the day.
on Saturday, June, 26, i went with some people from First Mennonite Church in a van on a day-trip to Chicago. i’d never been to Chicago for an extended period of time before. there were two vans going.
we all stopped at a restaurant on the way up stopped at a Bob Evans restaurant. even though i’d eaten breakfast in the Unit, i ordered coffee, with biscuits & honey. i gave one biscuit away.($1.11) i kept a tally of everything i bought so i’d know how much i spent. i got in the one van that was going to stop for shopping. one could get in a van that was going to north Chicago or get in a van that was going to South Chicago . i chose South Chicago because shopping/Art Institute is listed on that page.
some people got off at the Art Institute by Lakeshore Drive but i continued on to Water Tower Place. it was magnificent inside (or so i thought). i hung around with a mother and daughter team (Betty and Rhonda Z). i don’t know if they minded my being with them or not. we made it up to the 6th floor before we had to come down and meet others by 1 p.m. i went back downstairs and went back to the Hallmark store to buy my friend Carol some cards ($2.67). crazily i also bought two buttery croissants at Vie de France and ate part of one ($2.02).
then i came down to the entryway & met everyone. we walked 5 blocks to lunch (someone i guess knew of a place) and it was closed so we came back 5 blocks in another direction to another restaurant called “The Magic Pan”. by then my stomach was rebelling intestinal-wise (it will do that occasionally). i really didn’t want to eat anything here but i ordered an apple crepe ($2.50). it was delicious.
after lunch, i caught a bus south, with Betty and Rhonda and one other woman and we first stopped at Krochs & Brentanos, a book store. i bought a book ($.63) “Living in Europe”. we were there 1 1/2 hrs. we lingered in a store but finally we got to the Art Institute at 6:30 p.m. were supposed to go back to Bob Evans to eat dinner but with a mutual decision, went to Skewer Inn (i don’t remember what i ate there) at Lincoln Mall ($3.00), in Chicago instead. we finally made it to Bob Evans and the people in the other van were still eating. i saw a store called ‘Venture’ and some of us went inside. i bought a pair of mirrored sunglasses — $4.23 — (since i lost mine in the Sangammon River earlier this month). talked with Robin S on the way home. i don’t think i’ve ever talked with him in church before.
in early July, i received a letter from Intermenno Trainee Committee saying that i would be in a city that was north of Amsterdam placed with a family and working in a Mennonite Retirement Center. that is all i was told.
in later July, i got another letter, this time from Marrye Maarsen-Keim. she wrote me that i would be placed with a family in the city of Lisse, south of Amsterdam, placed as a secretary in a tulip/bulb exporter and living with a family. i might have to purchase a bicycle from the prior Trainee. did i know how to ride a bike, she wanted to know. I thought this a funny question but then i realized she didn’t know me at all.
by now a new VS’er had come to replace me, Karen S. she was very nice and energetic. she was rooming with me and would be taking over my job in the afternoon. i believe she was working at the Day Care in the a.m.
on Sunday, July 25, we went to the original House of Pancakes for my going away meal. couldn’t believe it when we got our food! Kim’s apple pancake filled the plate. my strawberry waffle, covering the entire plate, had fresh strawberries encircling a scoop of ice cream, more strawberries on top, powdered sugar coating the waffle. there was also strawberry syrup to complement the entire concoction. i got 3/4 of the way through and couldn’t finish it.
Mike B had eaten 1/2 of a pan pizza with a salad bar the night before and claimed he was still full. But, he finished his big bacon omelet, the remainder of Kim’s apple pancake And the rest of my waffle. Big appetite.
July 31, Saturday, i left VS. i had gotten an Illini t-shirt and a photograph album all prior to leaving on Saturday (the day we went out to breakfast). i was ambiguous to leaving. feeling like a part of me was being ripped in several directions. one direction was the Netherlands. one direction was CA where my folks were but that was just for two weeks. and, believe it or not, one direction was for V.S., i felt pulled back into V.S. i felt no longer needed at V.S. and it bothered me that life was going on without me. i don’t remember who i trained on the financial report but for others to continue on with their lives while i had to leave was sad for me.
i had asked JoEllen (Jo) to take me to the bus station. she came and we loaded my luggage into the car and went to the bus station. she said it would ‘hit me’ when i got on the bus (that i was really leaving VS). i think it hit me when i finally got to CA.
i ended up in Bettendorf, IA (quad cities) where Lou picked me up with three kids now –Whitney had been born in April 1982. Saturday evening, i babysat (Sommer, Jack and Whitney). Lou fed me a very nice lunch on Sunday & she took me to the airport that day. Joe adjusted me before i left. i needed it!
August 1, Sunday, i flew home from IA but flew through Denver. my folks scheduled a layover for 4 hours so i could see Carol. she and i went to Pizza Hut and got our regular pizza 1/2 olive (mine) and 1/2 pork sausage (Carol’s). she had brought a scrapbook for me to look at (a book she’d mentioned in her letters) so we looked at that. the rest of the time we talked, kidded one another and laughed. before i had to leave she said we HAD to go up/down in some glass elevator so we did that. now i could say i’d been up/down a glass elevator!
it was hard to leave her. it’d be another year before i’d see her again. we were very close at the time. she was making tough decisions in her life like i had been making in mine.
August 2, Monday. i am home! everyone was there to meet me at the airport. mom and dad. Mike (brother), Sharon (his wife) and Brandon (their son) who was born in Oct 1981. was good to see everyone. Brandon even came to me after awhile. was difficult to shake off the fact that nearly every car had a CA license plate! strange to see after being in IL for eleven months. i kept looking for IL plates. everyone seems more excited than i am about the Netherlands trip. lots to do before i leave.
August 3, Tuesday. i feel like a foreigner at home. i ate everything off my plate (Sharon noticed) and then the food that was thrown away (that in VS we would have saved!). wow. i feel strange. i have changed a little inside. Sharon asked if anyone’s personality clashed at the Unit when one took over or did it their way.
i didn’t tell her this, but, for one, sometimes no one would take the responsibility upon themselves (especially after Audrey or Kathy left) so Kim or i did it (so it seemed?).
my responsibility is much better (or so i think). i do things usually as soon after i’m told or do them without being told. i don’t watch as much television. i am eating better (not as much breads or sweets, etc). i feel so alone, though. i am having a type of ‘culture shock’ but no one seems to understand other than Sharon who seems to notice verbally. maybe others notice and don’t say a word. i want to be economical and thrifty. it’s crazy. i feel out of place and want to go back to Champaign where i’m NOT out of place.
i was busy (packing boxes) in my room one evening and mom wanted me to talk to her about V.S. so, i came to her where she was, in the kitchen. i sat on a bar stool. she just asked me regarding my extended family. i began to tell her but then all the sudden she went to another room and i gave up on that. i went back to my room and continued what i had been doing (packing my boxes).
to see more . . . see MY TIME AS AN INTERMENNO TRAINEE — MID AUGUST 1982 to MID FEBRUARY 1983
taynabay 