My First Weekend in Kentuckiana

I posted some more pictures below. They show the kitchen and living room/dining room area in my "flat" as well as the outside of our building. And also the wonderful "Welcome to Kentucky" sign. I learned this area of KY is called "Kentuckiana" because it is close to the border of Indiana. When we were walking around last week we actually crossed the border and were in IN for a few minutes.

My first weekend here was fun. The first Friday of every month they have a gallery hop downtown. You can ride the trollies for free and they take you to all the galleries in the area (which are also free - hooray for free stuff!) There is also one the last Friday of every month in a different area of the city, so we will have to check that one out too. The first stop of our gallery was interesting. We were invited to a reception (with free food!) for all the community ministries in Louisville (there are 15). It was at the Frazier Museum, which was on the route of the trollies. It happens to be a historical arms and weapons museums. Those of us well educated in the Mennonite faith found this an odd place for a church reception to be. When you walk into the museum there is a huge cannon pointing at you. So we ate and chatted with many people surrounded by knives, daggers, and guns in glass cases. Due to our late start, we didn't get to see all the galleries so we will have to go back.

Saturday we went downtown to the WolrdFest. It would have been better if it wasn't so hot, but it was neat. There were a lot of booths and plenty of international food to choose from. There was also a variety of entertainment, including African drums, salsa music, and belly dancing. Oh yeah..one of my roommates broke out in hives while we were there. She has no allergies and nothing like this has happened to her before so she had no idea what to do. Luckily I am an expert on these things and had Benadryl and lotion to give her. She's fine now.

These next few Sundays we will be "church hopping" in order to visit a variety of churches. This Sunday we went to a Presbyterian church in our neighborhood and I really liked it. I plan on going back. We walked there, it took about 15 minutes. It was rather small and everyone was incredibly welcoming. The neatest thing about it (for me at least) is it is a bilingual service..both in Spanish and English! It is an old church, and as the neighborhood changed, they adapted which is awesome because sometimes churches have trouble doing that. When we sang hymns people sang in both English and Spanish, whichever language they knew. There was a mix of hymns and praise music. Some readings were in Spanish, some in English. The sermon was given in Spanish with an English translator (and I was excited to understand most of it before it was translated). After church there was a potluck and they insisted that we stay. We met three people our age who were very nice so we have new friends. The also insisted on driving us home in their van. We have plans to go to another church this coming Sunday, but I hope to go back to that one soon.

Sunday evening my roommate Ben (who has the theatre internship) was able to get me, Emily, and Andrea free tickets to a play called "Love, Janis." It was an excellent show, about the life of Janis Joplin. It was just as much a rock concert as a play. I really enjoyed it. So did the drunk guy next to me, who somehow snuck in a few beers. He was drinking and cheering extremely loud the whole time. Anyways, the theatre was really nice and Ben will be able to get us free tickets for all the shows! How wonderful it is to have connections. We only had to pay $1 for the bus ride home. Oh yeah..we have been riding the bus a lot this past week. It isn't the most efficient way to get around, but there is a stop right in front of our house and it is cheaper than driving. And public transportation is always fun....you always see some interesting characters.

That brings me to today. I went grocery shopping (for seven people) and did some cleaning. How fun! We all just hung out today, enjoying our last day of freedom. We start work tomorrow. I don't have to be in until 10:30 tomorrow. A girl from the program last year who had my job is going to help train me I guess. I have no idea what my normal hours will be though. Ok this is long enough...guess I had a lot to say. I'll update when I can actually explain what I will be doing at my job.