Jennifer: Meeting with our Mentors

Hey there everyone,

I wanted to get some pictures up from our meal last Sunday.

We invited all 8 of our community mentors and their families - with that many people it was hard not to have a good time! The food was also delcious -a taco themed potluck! It was great to get everyone together for a while to encourage, support, and socialize. Ubuntu had the idea of community mentors before we landed the placement in RC. We were looking for a diverse (sex, department, etc.) group of faculty and staff who would help hold us accountable to our goals and to help us along our way. We also looked for people who may have had experience living in communities like this before. It was a tough process narrowing down our list but we eventually managed. This past Sunday was our first time to meet as a group and I know we all enjoyed it. I think we picked a good group - a couple even helped wash the multitudes of dishes! (Thanks a bunch!!) From here on out, our meals won't be quite as much of a production - only one or two mentors a meal! Can't wait!

Andrea: Realizations

I came in this semester with 6 credit hours looming over my head from unfinished summer classes and something new and shiny on my left hand. I was feeling so ambitious about how fun it would be to live with 3 other blushing brides-to-be; doing homework together, planning our weddings, and having giggly girly pajama parties with chick flicks and chocolate. ... then I started 15 more credit hours when classes started ...and I started my job at Bluffton Presbyterian church... and I started getting emails about "Acting on Aids," "Spiritual Life Week Planning Committee," "PEACE Club," and "Social Work Club" (to name a few) ...and we started having "family" meals and meetings to discuss our responsibilities as part of Ubuntu... and somewhere in the middle of all that I had a terrifying realization: I CAN'T DO EVERTHING.

I was homesick for the summer I spent in Pittsburgh with Kyle, and on the brink of an identity crisis over the loss of my posse of girlfriends who graduated last May. After several late nights sobbing and snotting all over several of my housemates (thanks, guys :) ) I realized something new about myself: I HATE CHANGE.

I always thought I was adventurous; that I could handle anything- I just spent a month in Africa for crying out loud... why am I having an emotional breakdown over being in Bluffton?! I agreed to learn simplicity and community this year... and I think I'm learning those things already. Your schedule is not exempt from a simple lifestyle- it's okay to say "no" sometimes. Community is an everchanging thing- you don't get to hang on to all of your same friends all of the time. You CAN grow separately without growing apart (Teresa told me that.) I love the people I live with now, and even though I miss Erica, Kyle, Teresa and my other friends from before, I would be stealing from myself if I didn't allow myself to grow into the community that's inviting me in right now.

So there you have it. I can't do everything, I hate change, and I love this community.

Karla: What did I get my self into?

It seems as though EVERYONE but me is used to the idea of living simply and community based. So are within the past 2 weeks I have been challenged in ways I did not expect. I think the issue here is time. Last week I didn't have much time to eat lunch and get to class. I got some enchiladas my mom had made out of the freezer and tried to warm them up in the microwave. It didn't work. Why? Because it wasn't plugged in. Who doesn't keep that plugged in! I was a little upset and asked why in the world we don't keep it plugged in and Kristen answered "because it still pulls energy even when you aren't using it." Well, at least I know for next time that a.) I need to plug in the microwave and b.) because it wasn't plugged in I may have saved 1 kw of energy (eyes rolling). This is going to take some getting used to.

Jennifer: Two Weeks Down

As we approach the end of our second week of classes, I feel exhausted! A last minute class change means I'm already behind schedule in class. That, along with clubs and work, means I'm beginning to wonder why there are only 24 hours in a day. However, I feel very lucky to be living over here with the rest of Ubuntu. We're all in the business of supporting each other. After this summer I can't express how nice it is to come home and find that someone has washed my dishes for me, or that someone has donated some delicious tea to the communal cupboard. It kind of lends itself to a "pay-it-forward" attitude - I'm more than happy to clean somebody else's dishes for them when mine were cleaned for me that morning. As far as bathrooms go, we're even sharing our responsibilities there! The girls have created a rotating chore chart and the bathroom has stayed clean so I think it's working! We officially meet with our mentors for the first time on Sunday and it'll be great to hear their suggestions since some of them have had experience living in similar situations already. I know it's just the beginning of a long journey but I can't wait for what's ahead.

Kristen: What is community?

Community is:

• Walking to the kitchen in the morning, grungy in my pajamas and seeing staff members from the neighboring offices.
• Playing a spontaneous game of Apples to Apples Bible Edition (who knew?).
• Sharing floor cleaning duties.
• Exchanging wedding planning details, hopes, and stresses with the 3 other engaged women on the floor.
• Snacking on mint water, frozen jell-o grapes, and other tasty treats with good friends.
• Having deep discussions about serious issues in the lobby.
• Being exposed to the same germs... but hoping the sniffles are just allergies, not a cold!
  

Jennifer: High Hopes for Community Living

Hey guys,

For those of you who may not know I've been spending the last 7 weeks of my summer living at the "Peace House" in Indy. It's owned by the Indianapolis Peace Institute which has helped all 8 of us living here to arrange internships for the summer. The program also focuses a lot on community living. So of course as I've been going through this program I can't help but compare it to what I imagine Riley Court to be like next year. While I've had fun here I know Ubuntu is going to be even better!!


Of course there are some differences - there are 12 of us in Riley Court (compared to 8) and we're going to have to live together for an entire school year instead of a mere 9 weeks. We'll be living in the somewhat secluded little village known as Bluffton whereas here I'm easily within walking distance from downtown Indy. But I think the biggest difference between the Peace House and Riley Court is going to be the students.


While I've made some great friendships here in Indianapolis, we were all kind of thrown in the house together with different goals, ideas, and expectations. The ability Ubuntu has had to sit down in advance and to discuss our vision of community living will prove vital to our success. For example, one of the similarities between the Peace House and Ubuntu is our community meals. Here in Indy the Tues. evening meals are a requirement of the program and therefore can feel very forced because not everyone wants to be involved. Instead of being excited about community time together people complain and argue.


Now, conflict isn't a bad thing - in fact it can be very healthy - but it hasn't always been handled that way. During orientation we had a meeting to go over community expectations and rules. One of the rules causing the most conflict is one of the most simple - clean up after yourself in the kitchen; don't leave dirty dishes out or in the sink. However, after our first community meal, we had leftover pesto sauce. The next day the pesto appeared on the stove and stayed there, out in the open, for 5 entire days. I will admit my bias - I'm a little bit of a neat freak - but that is gross. This simple thing, pesto sauce, was causing a huge uproar in the house. To no avail, people were trying to drop hints to the person who was responsible for leaving the pesto out. Eventually, after 4 days a note was left on the pesto asking (not so politely) that it be cleaned up. This only made the issue more divisive than ever. And while the pesto eventually did get cleaned up, another nasty note was left and the house would never come together as one again. It’s a pretty sad story actually.

Here’s what I see about our Ubuntu group though, while I’d like to be optimistic enough to say there will never be a pesto-like problem in the community that’d be lying. Things aren’t going to be perfect and each of us will probably do something which will annoy the other. There will be conflict. The difference is going to be in solving it. As a group we have recognized that there will be conflict we’re going to have to approach it directly and with love. The behind the back conversations and malicious notes will not be acceptable. We each aim to respect the other person and to grow as a group. Bluffton has instilled in us an ability to look beyond ourselves and to have bigger motives at heart. I am confident that our group will be able to talk through issues of misunderstanding instead of disregarding any rules the group has agreed to and turning everything into an “us” vs. “them” conflict.

It’s embodied in our name, Ubuntu. It means “I am, because we are”. As a group we will recognize each person’s individuality as a member of our community – to grow, learn, share, experience, disagree, agree, eat, clean, and garden together.

Kristen: Preparation

So, I've never really written in a blog before, but I guess it's about time I did.

This next year is going to be a great adventure. I'm looking forward to being part of a community of people, instead of just living on a floor of students that I don't know very well. I think it's great that we've all come together in sort of a common purpose-- to live simply in community together.

I think I am most excited about our "green" focus. Several of my friends have gotten to calling me a tree-hugger, and while literally hugging trees is not my hobby, I think it's so important to be aware of the impact our lifestyles have on the environment. One of the main ways I'm excited to see this happen is to eat locally. This summer we're helping out with Devon's family's garden, as well as Tig's. Also, with Devon's work at Suter's Produce, he has easy access to lots of delicious locally grown fruits and veggies.

Clearly, though, most of this food is ripe and ready for the picking now-- in the summer-- and we don't start living together until the end of August. Thus, it's really important to store up for the winter. After reading Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" about her family's experience living locally for a year, I realized how much planning and preparation goes in to making local living a success. You really can't expect to just pull fresh sweet corn from the freezer unless you've actually taken the time to put it there. As obvious as that sounds, I think it's actually very significant. Many of the big ideas we have will remain just that--ideas--unless the appropriate thought and planning goes in to making those things a success.

So far, Devon and I (with the help of my Grandma!) made some freezer strawberry jam from Suter's stawberries-- hopefully it'll be enough to last us through the year! I'd also like to freeze some corn and maybe make up some spaghetti sauce once the tomatoes are ready in the garden.

Anyways, I'm excited to plan/dream/do/fail/persevere/live/grow with this wonderful group of people.