Week 98 (50) - 25.07.25 - House Vacation

Week 99 (51) - 01.08.25 - Firecracker Run, Golf, Silicon Valley & Volunteer Camping

After successfully running the Boardwalk Fun Run with a resident, we signed up for another race. On July 4th, American Independence Day, we participated in the Firecracker Run. The run took place in Harvey West Park in Santa Cruz; many wore activewear in the colors of the American flag. We'd run in the park before, so we knew the location, but it's much more fun to run the course with so many other runners and be cheered on by so many people. Unfortunately, there was no participation medal like at the Boardwalk Fun Run, but there were delicious burritos and free Izzy's Ice Cream for runners. After the ice cream, the resident climbed on the playground until we were picked up. A fantastic experience! At the end of July, I finished my community internship with the resident, with whom I worked on his running journal after each run. We met every Monday evening, and he entered each run we did together into his journal on the house laptop. He always chose the route himself, depending on his available time. We usually went for shorter runs down the street to Horse and Heart or through the neighborhood; longer runs usually went toward New Brighton Beach or Blue Ball Park. When the other residents went to the library in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Live Oak, or Aptos, we would ride along and jog along the beach at Rio del Mar, in Nisene Marks State Park, Corcoran Beach, or Harvey West Park. He always chose the route himself, as well as the warm-up and stretching exercises before and after the run. I recorded stats like time, average pace, distance, and temperature with my Apple Watch and told him about them. He also answered personal questions, such as how he felt emotionally before and after the run and what his highlight was. He often had his camera with him to take photos, from which he could choose eight at the end of the month and print them out when the photographer visited. Our last run was on Corcoran Beach. We sat on a bench, enjoyed the view of the sea, and both thanked each other for the wonderful time we had spent together.

We have a new compost bin in the garden that's much easier to use. If you give the lid a push, the flap opens automatically; if you pull the tab, it closes gently and slowly. This makes it much easier for many residents to take the compost out on their own. I was able to "dismantle" the old compost bin with some colleagues, i.e., dismantle it into many individual pieces using a sledgehammer and an axe. That was great fun! A member of staff in the garden has a small, blind dog. He's very sweet, and when we pass by the car, we like to pet him; he always appreciates the attention.

My professional internship also came to an end. Every Friday, I went from house to house with the resident to collect suitable compost for our worms. The worms don't eat just any compost; some isn't good for them. We gradually filled individual levels of our worm farm with compost, which the worms ate. When one level was full, the worms moved to the next level and left their droppings behind. The droppings are natural fertilizer, better than any store-bought fertilizer. It was great to see how independently the resident internalized the course of our tour and how purposefully he selected the right compost, placing it in our bucket and, at the end, in the worm farm. Many have told me they will miss the weekly visits from the resident and me. I am very proud and hope that next year another volunteer will continue to run the worm farm with him.

On my day off, I went out to dinner with my two Hungarian colleagues, something we've done several times in the past. One colleague had his mother, who is also a teacher, visiting. We talked a lot about the Hungarian education system and inclusion in schools—a very interesting conversation. With another colleague, I discussed the difference between equality, equity, and the reality of the situation. There's a great image of this, showing a child, a teenager, and an adult standing at a fence, trying to watch the baseball game behind them:

• Reality: One gets more than is needed, while the other gets less than is needed. Thus, a huge disparity is created. In the graphic, the adult is standing on a giant tower of boxes, while the child has no box at all.

• Equality: The assumption is that everyone benefits from the same supports. This is considered to be equal treatment. In the picture, all three have a box, so the adult and the teenager can look over the fence, but the child can't see anything.

• Equity: Everyone gets the support they need, which produces equity. Here, the child has two boxes and the teenager has one, so both can look over the fence and observe the game, just like the adult. Sometimes there's a fourth image in which the fence, a systemic barrier and cause of injustice, is removed, so that no one needs a box to see the game.

Unfortunately, the father of one of the residents died suddenly. The family came to deliver the news in person. I painted beautiful pictures with some of the residents to show her that we love her and are always there for her when she needs our help. She was naturally sad, but with the help of the family and our home, she was able to overcome the challenge and develop a constructive way of dealing with the loss.

The year is drawing to a close, so I met with my mentor for my final mentoring meeting. My mentor, whom I met with every week, is Gaya Mezhlumyan. She is the Program Co-Director of the Camphill Academy in California and has been active at Camphill since 2015. Growing up in Armenia, she experienced an education system that was heavily focused on exams and student achievement, leaving little room for experiential learning and creativity. She studied economics and insurance for her bachelor's degree, but realized that this was not her future. She moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she volunteered at the Associação Comunitária Monte Azul, supporting children in the favelas. She then began studying "Inclusive Social Development with a concentration in Social Therapy" at the Camphill Academy, which I am currently studying at the Camphill Academy. After completing the five-year diploma, she began working as a lecturer at the academy. Today, she is the Program Co-Director and part of the Camphill Academy faculty. She was a wonderful mentor who always helped me with all my questions about life in the community and studying at the Academy. Fortunately, I didn't encounter any major personal challenges that year, but I always felt I could turn to her if I had any difficulties. For the last mentor meeting, she invited me to the restaurant "Sawasdee Thai Cuisine," where we had dinner together. It was wonderful to look back on the year together, remember the best moments, and celebrate the many challenges we had overcome.

We like to go for walks with our house. One resident is very fast and likes to walk well ahead of the group, another resident is very insecure and feels safer when someone walks beside her. As a coworker, it can be very challenging to keep this group together. My colleague found a great solution. The fast resident now walks beside the slower resident and helps her when she feels uncertain, while we coworkers walk behind them and support her if necessary. This way, the group doesn't split up, and he learns to be considerate of other people, while she also walks faster this way, as she otherwise tends to lose herself in her insecurity and has less confidence than she is actually capable of.

In the Capitola Library, I learned about the Civilian Conservation Corps in Capitola. In 1934, during the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt founded the Civilian Conservation Corps. From 1933 to 1942, there were CCC camps all over America, and 2 million Americans worked on public works projects. The CCC camp in Capitola opened in 1934 at the intersection of Monterey & Washburn Avenue, where New Brighton Middle School stands today. In 1936, the camp also hosted training for the US Coast Artillery. Program participants were between 18 and 25 years old and earned $30 a month, but had to send $22 to their families. Initially, many came from New York and New Jersey, but later many from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. They worked in many state parks and built infrastructure on beaches like Seacliff, New Brighton, Natural Bridges, Rio del Mar, and Sunset Beach. These included campsites, stone fire pits, hiking trails, picnic tables, shelters, roads, stairs, and parking lots. At the same time, they were able to attend courses ranging from accounting to mechanics and complete their high school diplomas at Santa Cruz High School, which benefited many participants from the poorer South. It is estimated that over 57,000 men learned to read and write through CCC. In their free time, participants played on baseball and basketball teams, boxed, or went swimming in the ocean. The residents of Capitola were very grateful for their help and organized dances and music for the hardworking volunteers.

Every morning in morning circle, we begin with a morning verse, even before planning the day, discussing appointments, and important announcements. Each year, the community selects a text to recite together each morning, starting with a certain point and reciting it by heart. Together, we selected a verse for the next year and reflected on why we do this every morning. There are many reasons for this, including that it bonds us as a community and gives us direction. It's also like a mental warm-up exercise that gets everyone talking. One afternoon, we reflected with the residents on the verses we recited every morning last year:

May calm warmth work in us 

Deep light shine through us

The waters power sound in us 

And the grounds strength live in us

Silently and together

We are all journeying

Lie the rivers underground

Like trains through tunnels

Like stairs through the evening

Let us look at each other

And know it! 

I swapped rooms with my Bavarian colleague because he was staying at Camphill California, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to get used to my room. My old room is significantly larger and overlooks the green garden instead of the entrance area, so it was a big improvement for him. I also saw it as an opportunity to pack and organize my things before my departure became too stressful. A few days later, I received the news that one of my Hungarian colleagues would be moving into his old room, so I moved again. This wasn't as stressful as it sounds, since I had already packed my things. I asked Chat GPT to write a newspaper article about it to stick on the refrigerator. The result was a very well-written article in the style of the local Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper, which some even believed to be genuine. My plan worked well, though; the residents and colleagues read the article with interest and were delighted by this creative announcement of the room swap.

In the SAGE Group, we played the Asian game "Mahjong." I had previously only known the game as one often pre-installed on old Windows computers, but I didn't know how to play it. A Mahjong game consists of 144 tiles, counting sticks, and four dice. Some games also include four place pieces printed with the Chinese characters of the cardinal directions. The tiles are divided into different groups. There are three color rows from 1 to 9, each in the colors lotus, bamboo, and writing. Then there are the three dragons: the red, green, and white dragons, which are unprinted in some games. Finally, there are the four winds: east, south, west, and north. The dragon and wind pieces are called trump tiles, bamboo, lotus, and writing color tiles. The tiles are shuffled and arranged face down to form a roughly square wall two rows high. First, the existing counting sticks are distributed equally among all players. The tiles are then placed face down in the middle and shuffled thoroughly by all players. When everyone agrees the shuffle is complete, each player begins building a wall on their side. This wall, if the flower tiles are used, is eighteen tiles long and two stories high. The wall pieces are then pushed together to form a square. Each of the four players tries to form a complete, if possible valuable, game pattern in their hand by drawing and discarding tiles. The first player to group all of their tiles into five individual pieces, such as three identical tiles or a sequence of consecutive tiles, can call "Mah Jong" and wins the round. To win, you collect four tiles and then a pair to complete. Tiles are:

Chow: three consecutive numbers, bamboo, or coins (e.g., 6, 7, 8)

Pong: three identical tiles (e.g., 2, 2, 2 or C, C, C)

Kong: four identical tiles

This sounds very complicated at first - but once you get the hang of it, it's a lot of fun!

At the end of the year, our SAGE group took a farewell trip. We went to Top Golf in San Jose. It's a multi-story building, open on one side, where players tee off at targets from a static position. The computer automatically counts the scores and displays a computer graphic showing the ball's flight. I'd never played golf before in my life, so I was very nervous. At first, I had a hard time hitting the ball, but after trying out a few clubs and memorizing the motion, I was able to hit many good shots. To my surprise, I was the best player on my team (a householder from Mexico, a volunteer from Germany, and three residents)! I was very proud and thankful for the opportunity to have this new experience.

One of the SAGE group participants doesn't live at Camphill, but rather in a house owned by his parents, along with counselors. As a thank you for the many wonderful experiences, he invited us to visit him at his home. We played Uno, ate snacks, talked about the year, and enjoyed some delicious ice cream. Thank you for the invitation and for the wonderful year together!

To cap off the year, we volunteers went camping together. Blossom's Biodynamic Farm, where we've already made several trips as a community and helped with larger projects, invited us to camp there for a night. We camped on a hill overlooking Monterey Bay, built a campfire, ate stick bread and s'mores, and admired the starry sky. It was a wonderful experience, and it allowed all the volunteers to come together to reflect on the year.

It's sometimes difficult to find a place where we volunteers can meet in the evenings. We can't be too loud in the community in the evening, going to the numerous fast-food restaurants isn't healthy, and bars often don't allow anyone under 21. We discovered that we could also meet at Fast Eddy's Billiards. Here you can play pool, air hockey, and darts. There are also a few arcade machines and sitting areas for chatting. Those over 21 can order a beer, while those under 21 are also welcome in, but are limited to Coke and the like. It's a nice place for volunteers to meet outside of the community for once.

One evening, I watched Breaking Bad with two volunteers from my house. I'd already watched the entire series, but it was so good that it completely captivated me again. One volunteer had the idea of baking Nutella bananas into pastry cases. What a great idea, it was delicious!

I visited the Gobi Mongolian BBQ restaurant with my Korean and South African colleagues. It's a fantastic restaurant! You get two bowls that you can fill with meat, vegetables, noodles, and other ingredients from the buffet. A chef cooks your selections on a large platter in front of you. The price of $20 also includes a side of rice, crispy dough pieces, a drink, and ice cream for dessert. Such a large portion, with a drink, side dish, and dessert for only $20! It was incredibly delicious, and I was a little sad I hadn't visited this wonderful restaurant before. Definitely give it a try; there's something for everyone here.

Last year, a section of the slope between the Peace Garden and Siwiini House collapsed, making it impossible for us to safely take the shortcut with the residents. A contractor has now repaired the path and secured the slope, reducing the walk from Ishi to Siwiini to just 5 minutes instead of 20.

I went to the cinema twice more with friends, but was unfortunately disappointed by both films.

Jurassic World Rebirth by Gareth Edwards has unfortunately lost much of the fascination that the first film by Steven Spielberg from 1993 sparked for me. The last film in the series ended with the prospect of dinosaurs populating the entire Earth. I was excited to see how the film would handle this new situation. Unfortunately, it turns out that the Earth's ecology is unsuitable for dinosaurs, and many simply died out. Some species can still survive around the equator. There is a travel ban here, but a family is still able to go on a sailing trip unhindered, where they naturally end up stranded on a dinosaur island. Alongside the family, there is also a group of mercenaries on the island who are supposed to collect DNA samples for a pharmaceutical company in order to develop a cure for heart disease. Of course, they don't need just any DNA sample for this, but DNA samples from the largest land dinosaur, the largest aquatic dinosaur, and the largest flying dinosaur! They don't volunteer their DNA samples, so the mercenary troop fights its way from level to level like a video game, gradually losing more and more people in the fight against dinosaurs and nature, while the stranded family fights for their lives. While the first Jurassic Park had a moral message (Ian Malcom's speeches are still remembered today) and demonstrated a great deal of respect for nature and animals, this one is a rollercoaster ride with dinosaur monsters. Very disappointing!

While Jurassic Park disappointed our high expectations but didn't bore us either, "22 Years Later" both disappointed and bored us. I had previously told my colleagues that "22 Days Later" and "22 Weeks Later," along with "Shaun of the Dead," are my favorite zombie movies. The first film was about a hospital patient who wakes up in a deserted London 22 days after the virus outbreak. "22 Weeks Later" depicts life in a London secured by the military, which has been liberated from the virus. The first two films look very high-quality, have an excellent soundtrack ("In the House, In a Heartbeat" by John Murphy), and feature great locations and well-known actors. The third film takes a completely different approach, feeling more like an independent film. On the tidal island of Lindisfarne off the northeast coast of England, a community has formed. This community can only be reached through a heavily guarded causeway that is submerged at high tide. For an initiation rite, the young Spike must leave the island with his father to hunt infected people on the mainland. A coming-of-age story with personal twists and turns that never surprised us. A mystery surrounding a hermit played by Ralph Fiennes piqued our interest and the question of whether a story like that of Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now lay behind it. Unfortunately, the resolution was very disappointing, and the film failed to impress us with either its story or its direction. This sequel is in no way worthy of its two excellent predecessors and, for me, therefore doesn't truly belong in the series.

On my day off, I took the bus from Santa Cruz to San Jose. I explored San Jose on foot and then continued by bus to Silicon Valley. San Jose wasn't that exciting; the downtown area is quite small and unspectacular. Silicon Valley was much more interesting; I visited the Apple Visitor Center, where you can enjoy a view of the circular Apple headquarters and relax in the café, but you can also test out the latest Apple products. Afterwards, I went to the Stanford Unviersity, which was visited by numerous IT inventors. A beautiful university with a large campus that invites you to walk around and has an observation tower from which you have a perfect view of Silicon Valley. You can read more about my trips to San Jose and Silicon Valley on the travel highlights subpage.

Week 100 (52) - 09.08.25 - Graduation, Last Day in San Francisco & Goodbye