So What's New With Me?

Hmmm...not much new going on with me, but I am sure I'll still find plenty of things to say. The picture is from a concert at our house last Friday evening, put on by my housemate Andrea. Our loft area worked out nicely as a place to perform. I ended up going home this past weekend. I left Saturday morning so I wouldn't miss the concert. My mom was happy to have me home for mother's day and I got to see all my grandparents, so it was a nice visit. Unfortunately I felt pretty sick on Mother's Day. I have been struggling with allergies/a cold/who knows what for a couple weeks now. It is really not fun. I have been told allergies are bad down here and I must say I agree. I would say this is the worst allergy season I have experienced so far, and it has just begun! Advil Cold & Sinus, Benadryl, and coffee have been my good friends the past few days to help me make it through the week. And what a week to be sick! There is a lot going on at work. Under normal circumstances I would probably have taken a day off, but I am toughing it out. I woke up early and drove back here Monday morning, literally slapping myself to stay awake. This is the last week we are having our mini-programming for the kids and I didn't want to miss that (especially since I am one of two staff for this, I am kind of needed). Today is the last day for after-school stuff (again). In June some summer programming will start up for the kids, but we are still working that out. We are also having a yard sale this Saturday as a fundraiser, which I organized, so there has been a lot of work to do for that this week (including lots of manual labor which has worn me out, and there is still lots to go!) As facility manager I decided awhile ago I wanted to do a "clean sweep" of this place because we have a lot of stuff crowding the building. Hopefully we will sell a bunch and make a decent amount of money. You should have seen the condition of some of the "storage" rooms in this building - it was a lot of work! And if that wasn't enough - Louise is on vacation this week so I have had to open the building at 8 a.m. two days this week and sit at the front desk and answer the phone (which keeps me from some of my other duties and adds to my stress level). This also makes for very long days. I am sitting at the front desk now and I am the only employee here! It is almost noon and no one has come in yet! (except Edgardo briefly and the janitors) I have been lonely the past four hours. And we are having a community support meeting tonight that will most likely go to 8 p.m. which makes a 12 hour day for me! And I can't stop coughing.

Enough about work, but that is really all I have to talk about this week because my time outside of work has been spent laying around and sleeping. I did make it to the BBC last night though for some beer & bluegrass. I have also been working out the details for going back to school in the fall. After several e-mails and working the system I was able to meet the deadline to be considered for federal work study. I am just a little bitter due to the fact that they screwed up my application, which led to me getting my acceptance letter very late, and then me having to rush around stupid deadlines! Ohio State gave me early acceptance, offered me work study without me having to do anything, and gave me a small scholarship (which I obviously had to decline). Hopefully I will qualify for work study here too, which means I will get paid for the practicum I have to do and use the money for my tuition. And there is still hope for scholarships as well. I am almost 100% sure I will be doing my practicum here at Americana in the fall. They gave me other options to consider, but due to my late start, most of them were full! I did have an interview somewhere yesterday, but the lady basically told me she thought the position wouldn't ge good for a first year student. So it looks like my first year practicum will be done here, which I am happy about because I enjoy it here and wanted to stay involved anyways. Although this will include some additional paperwork since I have worked here....ugh....paperwork. They want to make sure I will be doing something different than my job now.

Oh yeah, last Friday I attended an all day training with other staff put on by the Center for Victims of Torture in Minneapolis. Yes this was a very heavy topic, but I enjoyed it, which makes me think social work is the right field for me! They came to Louisville because we have one of the largest concentrations of refugees in the country where there is no center for torture victims nearby. Who knows what these people have experienced in their home countries before they had to flee. Some of the children we have major behavior issues with have come straight from refugee camps and have no doubt experienced trauma in some way. The training was a good way for all the agencies who work with refugees and immigrants in the community to connect. And it reinforced why I want to attend school here - I already have several connections in the social work/non-profit field which I do not in Columbus. So although the admissions office has brought me some frustration, I think I am making the right decision! And it looks like everything will work out thanks to my persistent e-mails.

P.S. The janitors just left and all the adult education classes are on their lunch breaks, so I am officially alone!