Day 1: Starting Line

The first day of our trip marked the first time that we were able to spend time outside of class for an extended period of time, which turned out to be a great experience. Our van ride was filled laughter, head bobbling (from being asleep), and a group CD that was eaten by the CD player.

This did not mark a day of strictly service work but we were able to get a good feel for our surroundings. We met with Owen Sallee, who works at Seattle Pacific University doing community outreach work. His message was essentially about gaging the work that we do and also summing up critical issues in Seattle, as it pertains to racial/ethnic differences. From here, we had some downtime to explore downtown Seattle along with some areas that we will be serving, most specifically the YWCA Angeline's Center. After, we headed to the SonShine Inn to meet with Serve Seattle interns, which turned out to give us all a good perspective on what to expect moving forward. What was a twist was that we also met students from Western Washington University, who have a similar agenda as us. So essentially we were all getting to know one another as we get ready to tackle a common goal. 

High and low points from the day (from a team perspective):

Highs

• Leaving school on time
• Laughter
• Getting to hang out with the team outside of the classroom
• Meeting and interacting with the Serve Seattle interns and members from WWU 
• Seeing Seattle as a city as well as what it has to offer. 
• Encouraging words from Owen Sallee, as in he likes the work that CU does and that he wants to replicate a similar model at SPU and work with us in the future.
• Team members being ready to get out and serve!

Lows

• Personal preferences are still commonplace (biases, preferences, etc.)
• That said, this is the first day of the trip and it takes time to completely get out of your comfort zone.
• Unexpected raucous of being in such an occupied lodging area where lots people are sharing relatively small spaces.
• This could prove to be a conflict when trying to build a team camaraderie but it serves as an opportunity to get and give perspective.
• Lack of not knowing how religious Serve Seattle is as some members on the team are not religious.
• This difference can be of good use as there are various ways in which to help alleviate
  
  
  
  
  poverty and injustice.