Daily life at Common Ground.

Yesterday during dinner, a girl from Clark University remarked, "After two days here, you already feel like an expert." How right she is.

Though I got here since only Tuesday, we all feel like we know the place, and would be able to give a tour if needed. So allow me to give you a sort of tour.

Every morning we are woken up early, around 6:15 or 6:30, to the tune of people singing a song through the halls (today it was "You Are My Sunshine," yesterday it was "Sex Machine"). After rising reluctantly, we get in the long line for breakfast. Around 8 or so, our days begin, and we head off to gut a house or do other work.

We work until 12 or 1 until Common Ground brings lunch, take a break, and get back to work for another three hours or so. We return from work and have some down time until dinner, time which people usually fill by sleeping or showering.

Showering, as with everything else, is a communal experience. You wait in line in the locker room, and when your turn comes up, you undress and step into the shower. The warmth and pressure of the showers vary tremendously; they can be scalding hot or icy cold (or in my case yesterday, somewhere in between), and usually aren't very powerful.

Dinner is served from 6:30 till 8. I'm not sure if the food here is great or if it tastes good only because we've worked up a big appetite, but at this point, I'm not really in the shape to care; I just eat what's in front of me. When you've finished, you wash your dishes (some ceramic, some plastic), in a few baths of warm water and soap and finally a mixture of cold water and bleach. After this you must remember to sanitize your hands.

Following dinner, there's the mandatory evening meeting (which most people seem to think is not required.) They tend to be led by Hattie, a stout, mohawk-headed woman with boundless energy. She and the rest of the CG mainstays are among the most enthusiastic people you'll ever meet, and their positivity is infectious. During the meeting, we go over any new developments, things to be done, new arrivals and departures, and upcoming events. New announcements are always made. Last night, for example, it was announced that there will be a makeout coordinator. People can submit lists of the top 5 people they would like to make out with, and she and her co-coordinator will sort through the lists and, if they find a match, will hook the two people up for a night of making out. That's Common Ground for you.

Also, chores are assigned every night. These include groundskeeping, security, lunch delivery, and dinner clean-up. Me and a few other Woxy kids volunteered for kitchen cleanup last night, which was fun. I put some vegan curry into a container (and managed to spill it all over my rain jacket) and mopped the floors, while thunder and lightning boomed overhead.

Finally, our night concludes with a mandatory class meeting at 9 (just the Woxy kids must attend), where we check-in in groups of six to eight, share our highs and lows (which tend to be the same for everyone), and write in our journals. I get to bed between 10 and 11, though others stay up later. The next morning, it starts all over again.

I am really enjoying myself here. Everyone is positive and there's this collective feeling of constant happiness, despite the work. I've already managed to become closer to a few people here, who I've known for a few days, than I am with most people back at school, who I've known for months. And the atmosphere is very casual; you don't really care what you wear or do, and things like this strange and worrisome growth near the inside of my eye (like a big zit that has persisted for several days) just sort of go unattended because they don't really matter. It's nice.

Today we're taking another break from gutting because our professor is going to a convention, which we also will be attending, and because rain was forecast (it came last night instead.) Tomorrow's it's back to gutting.

Thanks so much everyone for reading. It's good to hear from you.