Ethan Milne – YAV Blog

Hello everyone! I’m back for my first official post after making it into NYC. It’s currently Friday, August 28th, and I arrived here last Saturday. So much has happened already, and I’m excited to talk about!

Before getting to NYC though, there was YAV orientation in Louisville, Kentucky. Thirteen volunteers from around the country came together to talk about what the following year of volunteer work would look like. There were more YAVs online and some returning for a second year, so they didn’t come, but the rest of us got to get to know each other and hang out for five days before heading to our respective sites. We could bond over shared interests, and of course bond over how we were all excited for our respective experiences we were about to share. I learned about what each site had in store for the YAVs arriving there, and also got to meet one of my roommates, Jordan. During orientation, we would spend our days working with the YAV overseers and listening to presentations by PCUSA members who shared with us things like acknowledging and understanding poverty, or how to make equality the focal point of the church.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye and get on the plane. Travel went smoothly, and all of a sudden the New York City skyline was below us. Our site coordinator, Eun Joo Moksanim (Moksanim translates to ‘reverend’ in English), picked us up. While driving to our apartment we got to hear a lot of little New York facts from Kim Moksanim like where the buroughs were split or where local stores were to get food. After dropping us off and letting us get situated, Kim Moksanim just left us to our own devices. While that may sound bad, it actually gave Jordan and I a really good opportunity to practice walking around and finding both fun things to do and places to get groceries. And just like that I had begun just living it up in New York City before our volunteer jobs started.

I’ve spent the last few days just figuring out how to entertain myself. Already though, I’ve been able to do a lot of sightseeing. This past Tuesday I took my biggest trip so far by taking the subway (for the first time!) all the way down to both downtown Manhattan and then to Queens to play the one Frisbee golf course in New York City proper. I stopped in Manhattan along the way to see the beautiful One World Trade Center and the 9/11 memorial.

Other than that, it’s just me reminding myself how to really cook for myself, something I haven’t gotten the chance to regularly do for myself before now. Oh sure, I can make some good meals here and there, but that is nothing like planning and meal prepping and getting ingredients for a lifetime of feeding myself. So it’s been a lot getting used to! I’ve also been trying to make room for new activities that I haven’t gotten to do before, for example finding an ultimate Frisbee group or joining a D&D campaign somewhere in the city. I’m trying to keep myself open to try as many opportunities as possible.

I think that’s all for now though, so enjoy these pictures of the view outside my room window at night. Sincerely,

Ethan Milne