Week 49 (1) - 3.8.24 - Orientation Week

As I wrote in my final report, I look back very positively on my year at the Triform Camphill Community. I came to New York expecting to teach the people with disabilities a lot as a teacher and to help them with their everyday challenges. As it turned out, I was the student and the residents were the teachers, teaching me a lot about farm work, cooking, home economics, gardening and art. My householders and work supervisors were very pleased with my work at Triform and gave me excellent letters of recommendation. The Camphill Academy then made me an offer to study there. The course is called “Inclusive Social Development with a concentration in Social Therapy”. 

Practitioners of Social Therapy strive to approach individual situations out of an understanding of the integrity of each individual’s unique biography. They allow this holistic insight to guide the way social, educational and therapeutic support is provided as an integrated whole. As a result, Social Therapy brings an integral transdisciplinary approach to a field of work defined by the intersection of a wide range of disciplines, including not only social work, human services, medicine, psychology, and nursing, but also such elements as the arts, agriculture and community building. As professionals with a transdisciplinary orientation, practitioners of Social Therapy must be able to form a holistic picture of human situations and individual biographical themes and challenges. On this basis, practitioners of Social Therapy build and shape community processes, social, cultural and economic, drawing on the widest possible range of tools and methods, so that individual destinies can unfold.

Internationally, practitioners of Social Therapy serve in a wide variety of contexts, including:

• Home-based support 

• Accompaniment and work with the elderly, individuals struggling with psychiatric conditions and other marginalized groups 

• Workshops and community initiatives 

• In-reach and outreach, education and volunteer support 

• Inclusive community-building in a wide variety of settings

I am especially happy that I was selected for a scholarship! As a Community Fellow, the study costs of 21,000 dollars per year are fully covered by Camphill. The course lasts five years, with a degree being awarded after one, three and five years respectively, meaning that it is also possible to leave the program earlier. I thought about it for a long time and in the end decided to accept this generous offer! I expect to gain more in-depth knowledge about disabilities, which I will need in my future as a teacher in inclusive classrooms.

Besides my studies, I started to work in the Camphill Communities California in Santa Cruz. Licensed by the State of California to provide residential and Community Activities and Supported Living Services programs to adults with developmental disabilities, Camphill California offers an innovative and rich array of programs that nurture the heart, soul and mind of every person. Our vision of community living involves relationships of mutual respect, ongoing education, meaningful work, and natural circles of support. Our mission is to create a community that supports all individual abilities and recognizes the potential of every person. My job is to support adults with developmental disabilities. Our 40 residents care for the land using organic and biodynamic practices. I work in the garden, where we produce fruits and vegetables. Our residents also work in the Herb Crew, Weaving Studio, Artisan Craft Workshops and Kitchen. In addition to working in the garden, my tasks also include organizing leisure activities and caring for the residents.

Direct next to Santa Cruz I live in a beautiful house with its own pool in Soquel between the north shore of Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz Mountains. It only takes me 90 minutes to get to San Francisco by car. Santa Cruz, also known as Surf City USA, was the first place to surf in California in 1885. To this day, many surfing competitions take place here. There's nothing better than enjoying the sun at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk or having a bonfire on the beach with friends.

Would you like to go on the journey with me? I will keep you updated every week here on my blog. Not only will I give you insights into practical work with disabled adults, but I will also share my theoretical knowledge from my studies with you. I would love to take you on this adventure!

I write this announcement with both a laughing and a crying eye. Even though I am very happy about my new home and the new position, I will miss my friends in Berlin and New York very much. But as Vera Lynn sang:

„We'll meet again

Don't know where, don't know when

But I know we'll meet again

some sunny day

Keep smiling through

Just like you always do“

As the orientation week at the new Camphill started on July 29th, I had to forgo my vacation with my friends and instead flew directly from Triform to the new Camphill. Nevertheless, the joy of the trust placed in me and the chance to get to know a new place in the USA outweighs this. As I'm writing this blog post, I'm sitting in a café in Santa Cruz, California. Here I will be working at Camphill California and studying at the Camphill Academy.   

From July 29 to August 3, I took part in the orientation week. It's all about getting to know my future colleagues and learning the basics of working at Camphill California.

Monday

9:00-9:30

Morning circle, discussion of daily schedule, introductory game, singing together  

9:30-11:00

Welcome, getting to know each other, overview and introduction to community life and community guidelines, vacation regulations

11:00-11:30 

Snack

11:30-1:00

Introduction to working with residents at home, social and personal hygiene, balanced diet, rhythms and daily schedules, therapies and housekeeping

1:00-2:30

Lunch in the ISHI house

2:30-3:00

Training in dealing with seizures

3:00-4:00

CEU

4:30-6:00

Training on dealing with sexual harassment

6:00-7:00

Dinner at ISHI House

7:00-8:30

House meeting: How can we create a healthy house community?

Tuesday

9:00-9:30

Morning circle, lecture on sustainability, singing a song

9:30-11:00

Introduction to community activities and tour of my future work area, the garden

11:00-11:30 

Snack

11:30-1:00

Introduction to farm work

1:00-2:30

Lunch at MARIMI House

2:30-4:00

Introduction to water rescue

4:00-6:00

Practical exercises in water rescue

6:00-8:00

Outing to Pleasure Point and eating pizza together

Wednesday

9:00-9:30

Morning circle, play, sing a song

9:30-11:00

Introduction to administration and documents

11:00-11:30 

Snack

11:30-1:00

Introduction to administration and documents

1:00-2:30

Lunch at EVERGREEN

2:30-4:00

Gym membership, setting up the bank and telephone

4:00-5:30

Break

5:30-7:30

Dinner and games in the pavilion

Thursday

9:00-9:30

Morning circle, singing songs

9:30-11:00

Human relationships in the community: mentors, well-being and health, complaints and procedures, vacation

11:00-11:30

Snack

11:30-1:00

Events, social media rules, photographs

1:00-2:30

Lunch at SUNROSE

2:30-3:30

Fitness, bank, phone, shopping

3:30-5:30

Cooking together in the MARIMI house

6:00-8:00

Dinner at the house, afterwards: safe swimming & dangers in the ocean, ice cream outing

Friday

9:00-9:30

Morning circle, introduction of Santa Cruz, singing a song

9:30-11:00

Communication guidelines: Finances, cars, emails, visa matters, health insurance, contact persons

11:00-11:30

Snack

11:30-1:00

Spiritual life in the community: service, Bible evenings, anthroposophy, inner life

1:00-2:30

Lunch in the CHRYSALIS house

2:30-3.30

Training on dealing with sexual harassment

6:00-7:00

Potluck dinner by the pool

Saturday

9:00-4:00

First Aid Training

As you can see, Orientation Week was packed full. Some residents were still in the community, but most were with their families. So we had plenty of time to get to know each other and go on a few nice outings. We went for an Asian meal at “Chloe's Kitchen”, treated ourselves to delicious pizza at “Pizza My Heart”, had ice cream and visited Capitola and Santa Cruz.  I ate deep-fried ice cream for the first time in my life. We wondered how it works and fits together, but it tastes really good! The Camphill is located in Soquel in the immediate vicinity of Santa Cruz. The beach in Monterey Bay is only 3.5 km away! We did water safety training in the pool and ocean, attended a first aid course and received introductions to community life and Camphill policies. We were given a tour of Camphill, had lunch in a different house each day and were able to get to know the whole site. One day, we newcomers all cooked together and grew closer as a team. My favorite quote came from a disabled resident. A householder explained the rules and what we had to observe, then asked if anyone from the community wanted to add anything. An old man spoke up and said in a serious tone:

“Do not throw your computers into the pool!”. I wasn't the only one who laughed heartily at the thought of what must have happened here last year...

 I live in the “ISHI” house, which is a Licensed Home and differs from the other houses. The best thing is that we have a large pool right behind our house! I was assigned the garden as my work area, which I was very happy about. At Triform I really enjoyed working outside on the farm and I'm looking forward to learning more about gardening!   

I recommend reading the first blog posts about my time in Triform. That's where I first came into contact with anthroposophy and explained a lot of things about Camphill. I won't repeat everything in the blog posts about my second year, so feel free to take a look at my first blog posts to understand the following posts.

On Saturday evening, I flew back to Germany via Helsinki. For my studies in California, I can no longer use my B1 business visa, but need an F1 student visa. Unfortunately, this cannot be applied for online, but requires a personal interview at the consulate in Berlin. I will also use the time to renew my passport, visit the dentist and see my friends and family again after a long time!

Week 50 (2) - 23.8.24 - Route 1 Road Trips, Land of Medicine Buddha & Music Class

After my home leave to renew my passport, go to the doctor and pick up my student visa at the embassy, I returned to California after 1 1/2 weeks. During the approach to the airport of San Francisco I could enjoy a perfect view of the city center and the Golden Gate Bridge. You can read more about my vacation home under “Week 48”.

After the other coworkers had already been introduced to their tasks at home and at work, I had to quickly find my way around. However, my colleagues gave me a lot of support and often helped me to find the right drawers in the kitchen and the tools I needed in the garden shed, so I'm slowly feeling more and more confident. I am very happy that my wish to work in the garden has been fulfilled. I love being outside in the fresh air and working with my hands. I'm still finding it a little difficult to identify the different plants, but I'm learning every day. I will dedicate one of the upcoming blog posts to my work in the garden and show you in detail what I do there every day together with the residents.

Of course, many things are still familiar to me from Camphill Triform, such as the anthroposophical traditions, songs and also the care of the residents. But in many details there are differences to Triform. This sometimes causes irritated faces when I confidently go through the routines I practiced in Triform for a year and disrupt the habits of the long-time residents. For example, I was used to not giving the residents too large portions when serving food to prevent a lot of food being thrown away. The food is divided equally among all the residents and the leftovers are put in the fridge. The background to this is that some residents don't have a sense of how much food is healthy for them and always go back for seconds when they have the chance. At Triform, we have solved this by setting goals together with the residents, such as agreeing to opt for a second portion or dessert. In my opinion, residents need to understand that people need different amounts of food and learn not to see this as an injustice or punishment. A resident on a prescribed diet who sits in the weaving mill all day needs less food than someone who, like me, spends three hours outside filling wheelbarrows with coal and goes running for half an hour every morning. So we all get the same amount of food, which sometimes leads to a situation where I help to pack up the leftovers and seal them in the fridge, only to take the food out again at lunch break or in the evening, heat it up and serve myself a second portion. Ketchup is only available at the weekend, as are sweet desserts. We start the day at 7:20 with the morning circle, instead of 7:45 as in Triform. Some of the songs are familiar to me from Triform, but are sung at a different tempo here. Instead of holding hands before the meal and saying “May the Meal be blessed”, here we don't hold hands and say “Blessings on the Meal”. After extinguishing the candle, we don't remain silent until the smoke clears, but finish the meal immediately. We hold a morning meeting with all the houses every morning at 9:00, not just on Mondays as in Triform. The lunch break doesn't end at 15:30, but at 14:30, so we have time from 19:00 to 20:00 to spend the evening together with the residents. I'm gradually getting used to the small differences, although my housemates could probably play bingo as often as I say “This is how we did it in Triform...”. But this also shows me that the Camphill communities all follow the same traditions, but adapt them in detail to local needs and habits.

I am very grateful to have a resident in the house who also enjoys jogging and is training for a 5km run. Apart from me, no one in the house wants to go jogging, so we now meet every morning at 6:30, go jogging for half an hour and then have breakfast at 7:20. I'm happy to share my passion with a resident! On Monday afternoons, a householder always drives us to Rio Del Mar Beach, from where we jog several kilometers along the beach back to Camphill. As it is often foggy and fresh outside in the morning, we both enjoy the change of being able to go jogging by the sea in the midday sun once a week. In front of the beach is a half-sunken ship, the Palo Alto. It was intended to be used as a concrete ship in the First World War, but was only completed in 1919 and therefore never used. After 10 years in dock, the Seacliff Amusement Company bought the ship in 1929 and converted it into an amusement ship with a swimming pool, dining and dance hall connected to the beach. In 1931, after the company went bankrupt, the ship broke up in a winter storm. Initially used as a fishing spot, the damage became so extensive that it was eventually closed to the public. It was gutted, cleaned and now serves as an artificial reef. A beautiful eye-catcher on the beach! 

Once a week I go to an art workshop where we make music together. I can't read music or play instruments, but I really enjoy drumming. We practiced keeping time together with different instruments, adding an individual melody to a common song or expressing certain emotions with our instruments. A beautiful and low-threshold introduction to new instruments! 

I often drove to Pleasure Point between Capitola and Santa Cruz. During Prohibition, bootleggers from San Francisco drove to Santa Cruz to sell alcohol illegally in the pub “The Roadhouse”. This gave “Pleasure Point” its name. At this time, local farm boys started a new hobby: surf diving. They rode waves to the shore, which was an innovative new sport at the time. In the 1930s, Jack O' Neill discovered his passion for surfing. The young man, who served in the US Army Air Corps for a few years and then earned his living as a commercial fisherman and aluminum salesman, spent much of his free time on the water. To protect himself from the cold, he experimented with various materials. Together with Berkeley physicist Hugh Bradner, he developed the wetsuit. O'Neill founded one of the first surf stores in California in 1952.  In 1959, he moved his company from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, where it is still based today, run by his son Pat. His granddaughter took part in the 2020 Olympic Games as a rider. O'Neil was involved in many charitable projects, helped salvage sunken ships, helped dyslexic children as a dyslexic, campaigned for the protection of great white sharks and environmental education projects for schoolchildren. He died in 2017 at his beach house in Pleasure Point, California, at the age of 94. Pleasure Point offers a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and is perfect for a picnic on a day off! I also love to do Road Trips on the Californian State Route 1 with friends, where one magnificent view after another awaits you.

I've resolved to do more exercise so that I can stay in the same shape as when I was a farmer at Triform. I still do a lot of exercise in the garden, but not at the same intensity as on the farm. We all have a membership to the Cabrillo Fitness Club through Camphill, but unfortunately the opening hours are only from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. As I go jogging with the resident in the morning and don't get out of the house until 8.15 p.m., there is hardly enough time to cycle 10 minutes to the gym, change and do some exercise. There is an option to pay an extra 10 dollars to work out outside of core hours with a chip card, but since the membership is through Camphill, the office is now working on my request to set up an option for longer workouts. It would be a shame if Camphill paid for gym membership for all coworkers but the work schedule didn't allow for training during opening hours.

Two colleagues from Hungary and I took a bike tour through the redwoods in Nisene Marks State Park on our first day off, which falls on a Sunday. The park was the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, as the San Andreas Fault runs along the north-eastern border of the park. It was the strongest quake in the region since the great quake of 1906 and caused damage up to 110 kilometers away, for example in San Francisco and Oakland. 62 people died in the earthquake, which lasted only 15 seconds, property damage amounted to six billion US dollars and all communication routes to San Francisco Bay were interrupted. The earthquake was predicted four days earlier by geologist Jim Berkland. The damaged and closed Embarcadero Freeway was a popular spot for skaters before it was demolished in 1991. The next major quake is expected before 2032 - I hope this time California is better prepared for such a catastrophe. 

On the tour we visited the “Land of Medicine Buddha”. This is a sanctuary that offers traditional and contemporary programs based on Tibetan Buddhist practice. Founded and run by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and inspired by the Dalai Lama, Buddhist events and workshops are offered here for the public. The beautiful walking path features Buddhist paintings and sculptures as well as prayer flags. There is a bookshop and a place where staff explain Buddhist prayer practices and where you can ring the bell and turn the prayer wheel in a set ritual. If you have plenty of time, you can also take part in numerous courses where you can learn about Buddhism, explore your own spiritualism, practise yoga or meditate together. On the way, we saw the Tesla Cyber Truck, which I had only seen on TV before. This futuristic car looks very out of place in sun-drenched, convertible-populated California. We were on the Soquel Creek Bridge, from where you have a beautiful view of the town of Capitola and the ocean. It is a disused railroad bridge that is now open to pedestrians.

On Friday evenings, we eat pizza and watch a movie together. In the first week, it was my turn to choose the movie. I chose “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets”. A lost page emerges from the diary of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin who shot Lincoln. Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) must now prove the innocence of his great-great-grandfather, who is now suspected of being a co-conspirator because of the page that has turned up. This leads to the Library of Congress, the White House, Mount Vernon and Mount Rushmore. Following the historical scavenger hunt is a lot of fun, even if the second movie follows the plot of the first part very closely, just in different locations. The residents really enjoyed the movie with its humorous jokes, while my history-loving colleague and I really enjoyed the examination of American history.

My colleague from near Nuremberg had celebrated his 19th birthday on my first weekend here. We were all kindly driven to Twin Lakes Beach by a householder, where we built a campfire on one of the barrels provided and enjoyed the sound of the sea. I took the opportunity to get to know my colleagues better, we played cards and ate snacks. Unfortunately, the police arrived at 22:00 and cleared the beach, as we were told that nobody is allowed to stay here at night. As we wanted to celebrate our birthday, we had to look for somewhere else. We walked to Schwan Lagoon Vista Point and had a picnic there with a view of the lagoon. At 0:00 we sang and celebrated his birthday.

I could write a lot more after all my first impressions, but I will tell you more in the coming weeks!

Week 52 (4) - 06.09.24 - Alien, Beach CleanUp & Garden

Our entire community went to the “Rio Del Mar” beach in Aptos this week on Labor Day. We collected garbage together and filled numerous garbage bags to make the beach beautiful again. While collecting, we documented everything we found and were amazed at how much plastic, packaging and bottles were lying around on the beach. Many people were happy about our campaign and thanked our residents. Afterwards, we had a barbecue on the beach and celebrated our joint success. Of course, we took our own garbage back with us! On the way, I saw a stone with “Someone loves you” written on it. The special thing about the stone was that the sun created a heart shape on the stone through a gap in the fence. What a beautiful idea! 

On our off-day, I went to the movie theater in Santa Cruz with colleagues from Germany and Korea. There we saw the movie “Alien: Romulus” by director Fede Álvarez. I am a big fan of Ridley Scott's “Alien” from 1979 with the legendary Sigourney Weaver in the leading role. The design of the film comes from the surrealist artist H. R. Giger, who had a significant influence on the success of the film. In his style, he merges creaturely-organic with technical-mechanical elements in a morbid, darkly surrealistic subject, which together create a disturbing atmosphere. After Alien (1979), there were three more films, Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997). In the Prometheus series, “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Convenant” (2017) were released. There are also the spin-off films “Alien vs Predator” from 2004 and 2007. I was very excited to see how they would continue the film series. “Alien: Romulus” is set chronologically between the first two Alien films. The new movie goes back to the roots, which has good and bad sides. On the one hand, the new movie manages to transport the dense atmosphere of the first movie well into modern times and captivate the viewer. One of my colleagues had never seen an Alien movie before and was completely captivated by the atmosphere. He didn't think the movie would grab him and scare him so much. As someone who has seen all the Alien films, I really appreciated the atmosphere, but was disappointed by the plot. Because if you know the Alien films, you won't be surprised here and will have anticipated the twists long beforehand. I've heard the comparison to video games in podcasts, as the characters have to go from one confined space to the next and face a challenge (sneaking, climbing, finding an exit). However, the movie wraps up the familiar structure so well that I wasn't bothered by it.  There was too much action for my taste, the aliens seemed less scary and easy to defeat, especially in comparison to the first movie. The movie doesn't add anything new to the genre or the series and uses a lot of familiar set pieces for the plot. I still enjoyed the movie, but would still recommend the first film to newcomers to the series.

One evening I spoke to the pensioner who worked as a householder for many decades until five years ago and now lives in our house. He comes from Scotland and grew up in Camphill Copake as the child of householders. Camphill Copake is close to Camphill Triform and we often visited there, for example in the café and for theater projects. He helped found the Hawthorne Valley School, where the children of my former householders go to school. The school was originally founded to make it possible for the children of the householders in Copake to attend a Waldorf school. He was a pioneer in the founding of Triform and also worked at Camphill Kimberly Hills, where he promoted farm work. He studied “Environmental Studies” in 1972 and is therefore very familiar with the theory of agriculture and gardening. 

We were very industrious in the garden. We moved the compost and sprayed it with water. The compost decomposes faster if it is turned regularly. We have removed a lot of weeds, cleaned the workshop, removed rat hiding places and spread wood shavings in places where we don't want to grow anything or see weeds. Plants have been pruned and tied up so that they grow straight. In the garden, I often come across rabbits running between the plants and beds.

Every morning at 9:00 we meet in the hall to discuss the week and upcoming events. You can see some songs and the morning verse in the pictures. This is where the whole community meets and general topics can be discussed. 

One evening we had a movie night in the house. One of our residents is a huge boxing fan. He chose the movie “Chuck”. The movie from 2016 is a biopic by Philippe Falardeau about Chuck Wepner. The name is certainly unfamiliar to many who are not familiar with boxing. But many know the movie “Rocky” with Sylvester Stallone. In fact, the movie is based on the true story of Chuck Wepner, who rose to fame after losing a fight against Muhammad Ali. As described in Week 33 freshman year, I had seen “Rocky” for the first time with friends in May when we took our spring break vacation in Philadelphia. I wasn't very convinced by the movie though, feel free to read my first impression. I did like “Chuck”, however, as it takes a look at the true story behind the cult movie. 

One day we organized a games afternoon. There we played the game “Apples to Apples”. It's basically a child-friendly version of “Cards against Humanity”, which I know from my studies. It is played with two decks, green and red cards. At the start, each player is dealt seven red cards. In each round, one player is the referee. This player reveals a green card and the other players must place one of their red cards face down on the table. The referee looks at all of them and chooses the card that matches his green card the most. The winner gets the green card, the player with the most green cards wins. 

Example:

Green card: “Annoying” 

Red cards to choose from:

Call me Maybe

Gorillas

Getting a Shot

Learning to Swim

Stomach Ache

The referee must now choose which card fits best. It's worth thinking strategically here. Is the person being silly and choosing the most absurd answer (gorillas)? Or are they really thinking about what fits best, for example from their everyday life (stomach ache)? A nice game to play with children and residents. For adults, however, I recommend “Cards Against Humanity”, which is great for parties.