Arriving to Philly

We just got to Philly yesterday. We are boarded up on the second story of a four-story humble home on a busy street in Kengsinton, PA. The streets are full of litter and the train runs loudly overhead on pretty blue/green tracks. All the old homes are right up to the streets with no yards anywhere. The area has much heroin and many prostitutes. We are down the street from the St. Francis Inn (free daily meals) and the Catholic Worker Free Clinic.

As soon as we got here we "shopped" in the food pantry and got some good staple food and toiletries. Pretty much all we need so far as day-to-day food looks like it'll be covered between the pantry and the free meals. We started talking to some people about volunteering to cook and there is an HIV testing clinic and pharmacy that I may volunteer at. We'll see how it goes. There is a garden here too, it's a funny thing that spans several little allies and back patios from the surrounding houses. Each sections is chained up and you have to carry many keys here to get through all the locks.

We live with two young boys, two older kids that we have yet to meet as well as an older Burmese woman. Her name is Moe-Moe Aye and she mops and sews. Apparently her family only eats what they cook and no "american" food. This area has many Vitnamese, Chinese, Korean, and other Asian stores. They even have a kosher store with live animals they butcher right there.

We've been taking daily walks and reading alot. Jon is currently reading "The Different Drum" on community making and peace by M.Scott Peck, and I'm reading Isabelle Allende's "House of Spirits" . Daily we are reading short easy essays by Peter Maurin from a book called "Catholic Radicalism".

We are going to Mass tomorrow morning. The churches are huge, old, and beautiful.