Warning, this is going to be a long entry

First of all, I would like to thank those who participated in my survey. So my blog looks normal in Bangledesh? Interesting. I'm glad to hear that everyone can see my pictures. Anyways, I had another great weekend. Friday night the pastor and a member of Jeff St. (the church we attended last Sunday) paid for us to go to a folk concert at a bar. Not typically my thing, but I won't refuse a free concert! I enjoyed it. And we split a pitcher of yummy sangria.

Saturday was the Americana World Festival, and since I work at Americana, I had to volunteer. It was in our neighborhood, about a fifteen minute walk. As I've mentioned, our neighborhood is very culturally diverse. All the cultures were represented with booths, food, and entertainment. I volunteered in the kid's area and had no idea what I would be doing until I got there. I ended up painting kid's faces/arms the whole time (four hours) nonstop. They just kept coming (two other girls were helping too). I have never painted faces before and I am not exactly the best artist, but I managed. Some of my creations turned out better than others. But little kids don't care, and it was free. I learned that it is hard to write the word "princess" on small faces. But several girls requested this, and even one little boy. A lot of the kids I work with were there. A few of them kept asking me for money. I felt bad. I wanted to give it to them, but I know I can't. After I was done volunteering I ate dinner there with my roommates. We had some delicious Vietnamese food. Then our awesome roommate Ben got us some free tickets to yet another play. This time, the Chicago-based play "Too Much Light Makes the Baby go Blind." It was awesome. And we got front row seats. The actors were right in front of me, on my level. They do thirty plays in sixty minutes and it is HILARIOUS. It includes audience participation. One of the actors came over to me and rubbed my head. If you have no idea what I am talking about, you should figure it out and see this show. The show changes every night, so we might try to go again later this week. After the play, we watched an Australian movie called "Danny Deckchair" at Keith's request. It was pretty funny. You can't go wrong with accents.

We continued our "church hopping" today. This morning we attended Paoli Mennonite Church in Paoli, IN, which was an hour away. We decided to go before the time change, because as Abby knows, it is great to leave at 9 a.m. and get there at 9 a.m. It is the closest Mennonite church and several of the members helped start the Urban Corps program here in Louisville. It's always nice to be back with the Mennonites. An older couple whose kids are all out of the house invited us to their home for lunch. We had pizza, homeade applesauce, and icecream. They had a beautiful home out in the country, surrounded by woods. Those who had proper shoes went on a hike, which did not include me. Alisa and I stayed back with Bonnie (the wife) who taught us how to play a new game. It's from Germany, known as the "bean game" and it was really fun. I won't try to explain it because it sounds dumb unless you play, kind of like Apples to Apples. A few of my roommates are rather musical, so they had a minor jam session with banjos and a guitair. During part of this I went in the basement because they had a piano! (I was excited because I haven't played for over three weeks now because I don't have access to one). It was nice to play again. So we ended up being there for quite awhile. They were so hospitable and it was a great afternoon. It was a nice "break" from the city.

So tonight there were at least 15 cars in our parking lot that do not belong to us and lots of teenagers hanging out. They are not supposed to be here because it is private property and the center closes at 9. I also recognized them as the Bosnian teenagers that are banned from the center and who (in my mind) are suspects for the car break ins we had. I tried to call Edgardo (my boss) but he did not answer. So I called the police myself but they were not at all helpful. A cop car came into the parking lot, talked to one of them for like two seconds, and then left. Stupid cops. So I called Edgardo again and he said he would be over. We turned out our lights and all crowded around the window to watch the unfolding scene. Cars kept coming and we thought it would be Edgardo, but even more teenagers kept appearing. A few minutes later, a car zooms into the parking lot and parks right in the middle of all the cars. We thought, oh this definitely is not Edgardo, but then out he comes! I don't think I have described him much....he's from Argentina, big, and scary. Seriously, I am intimidated by him. He's a really nice guy, but very dedicated to his job and nothing goes wrong in his center. He gets out of his car, talks to them forcefully with lots of hand motions, and they all leave. Unfortunately they just moved to the Vietnamese Catholic church parking lot next door. I can still hear them revving their engines. Damn kids. Edgardo stayed around for awhile picking up all their trash. How many executive directors do you know who whould do that? I wanted to go out and talk to him, but decided he probably wasn't in the best mood and the teenagers were still in sight. I really hope nothing happens to my car....(I didn't mention I had to walk through all of them to move my car which was parked in the street, so they all know which is mine now. I made Keith come with me so they wouldn't talk to me). Hmmm..that was a dumb move, but I didn't want to leave my car parked in the street either.

I apologize for my long entries. But I recently realized that this blog is for me as much as my friends who read it. I really want to keep a journal of my experience here, but I am too lazy to have a separate one (plus my hand hurts after writing so much!) So this is it. Of course I will leave out anything too personal ;) We talked about community and storytelling during our seminar Friday morning (oh, by the way, we have seminar every Friday morning with Susan, the director, so I only have to work in the afternoon!). Anyways, this inspired me to put more detail in my blogs, not that I didn't already. I think I will enjoy our seminars. Occassionally we will have assignments. It keeps the dork in me that misses school happy. I have several stories already about the kids I work with, but I think I am done for tonight. It's been a long day. I'll write some later. See below for a couple pictures.