First Week back in NeverNeverland

Dacha, September 30, 2009

Friends,

It's been almost a week since I've been here at the Gesundheit! Institute, and what a whirlwind of a week! Where should I even begin?

How about this, my address?

Caleb Warner

c/o Gesundheit! Institute

H C 64 Box 167

Hillsboro, WV 24946

If you like, you can send mail here, until I’m gone on October 28. I would love to hear from any and all of you if you can find the time to sit down and write a letter, and what you have been up to lately. And I will write back!

So, I got here last Friday, and I was the first volunteer to arrive. I stayed the only one for two days because of some mixups with rides and trains and things. But it was a great chance to get to know the land manager and his beautiful family.

Wildman (yes, that’s his name, I didn’t make it up) is a great guy, full of wonderful ideas and philosophy about how to live in peace with nature. His wife Elisa is originally from Italy, and is sweet and funny too. Their daughter Annamaria, however, contains the most energy and silliness and craziness I ever thought a four-year-old could have in them. She latched onto me right when I walked in the door, and told me promptly that I would be doing her princess puzzle with her. The family dynamic works so well with them, and they have been generous beyond measure to me. I am so grateful that they are here and not some mean-spirited person.

So, what did we do? Waiting for the other volunteers to show up was hard, because we would all get excited whenever the phone rang or a car went by on the road, and then get let down. But we did a lot of hard work to pass the time. Saturday we cleaned out the entire Workshop, a big three-story building with a clown room, woodworking supplies, and art stuff.

Sunday, more people started showing up, like students and teachers for the class, and Meira, our wonderful volunteer and helping hand! So far, she and I are the only volunteers here, even though another comes tonight, and the last on October 6. So we have been doing a ton of cooking in the kitchen for 25 people.

Monday, we picked up Anna from school wearing clown costumes, and goofed off all day waiting for more people to arrive. I tried to use the stilts, but I think I’ll need several more tries to start walking. Also, the dogs came back! They were away being quarantined because they attacked a rabid raccoon the other day. But now they’re here, Black Dog and Sway (I’m not sure how to spell it).

Did I mention that Annamaria is bilingual? Her mother speaks Italian to her, and both parents speak English, so Anna will save Italian as a secret language with her mom, complete with a good accent and everything. So I’ve been learning some Italian vocab, like the word for fart and poop and butt, all the words essential to a four-year-old :o).

There are chances to hike around, and perhaps explore one of the caves behind the waterfall. We’re already busy planning the meals for the week, and other fun things like Love Day or Song Day or Crazy No-Talent Show. I love it here, and I feel like a part of Wildman’s family. If I ever come back here (which I would love to again and again), it will be nice to return to a familiar face.

All in all, I’m in NeverNeverland.

Love,

-Caleb-

Translation: Life-Journey: Thoughts and Prayers

(Verena, you can correct me if my Deutsch is bad on the title or anywhere else! :o)

Train to West Virginia, September 24, 2009

Well, friends, the time has come for me to travel and see what I can discover out in this old world. Some of you might be wondering why I am not in school this year, and it’s really a long and drawn-out story that better told in a personal setting. Regardless, I am not attending school this year in order to learn how to live with my words. I have talked too long about my desire—and yes, the Christian command—to live for the purpose of serving others. It’s time to DO something.

The Doing comes in several parts, some planned, some totally unknown. The first leg of my journey (arm? finger? other body part?) leads me to the area of Hillsboro, West Virginia, to experience a month of volunteer work at the Gesundheit! Institute. This dream-child of Patch Adams’ has grown from a mere vision in the late 60’s, to a free clinic, to (currently) a campus of buildings in the mountains—a place where classes of medical students and life-lovers can come to learn. Exactly what they learn can include anything from new perspectives on music and social activism, to the humanism of medicine that focuses on joy and love instead of emotional distance. I went to the weeklong music workshop (composition ± activism?) in July, and the medical “humanism” class comes while I am a volunteer there this October.

The other parts of my Lebenreise (life-journey) include a month in November wandering around Madison and Chicago, with no other aim other than to talk with people and hear their stories. (You can tell this is the one I know nothing about, right?) And finally, from January to May, I go to Georgia to live and work with the Jubilee community. You’ll hear more about these things, as they get closer.

Right now, I sit on the Train, somewhere in Indiana (Ma, should I comment on the vast stretches of nothingness out here? I’ll let Dad tease you about Indiana; he’s better at it than me :o), settling in for the night ride to Gesundheit! Hope you all are well, having your own adventures wherever you are.

Love,

-Caleb-

PS - and now i'm here in WV, able to write and send this to you all. I'll write more later about my first half-day here. Ciao and goodnight!