Maria's Blog

Long Overdue!

2008-06-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally updated my blog! Always one of those things I think about doing, but never do. So enjoy the multiple posts and pictures below to see what I have been up to these past few months!

Americana

2008-06-22T15:47:00.001-07:00

So what did I decide to do with myself after graduation? Well, it might not be too surprising that I ended up taking a full-time job at Americana. I was offered a full-time position with salary and benefits immediately after my classes ended, so I couldn't really refuse. I have moved into an administrative position - I believe my title is "finance and grants manager". Americana is funded mostly through grants, and I am now in charge of that, which means writing grant proposals and reports, and making sure we do what we say we are and let the funders know how we are spending their money and why they should keep giving it to us (because Americana is awesome of course!). And the part-time accountant is leaving in a few weeks, so I am taking over the accounting as well. Not exactly social work, but a good skill to learn (I suppose) and fits with grants and budgets (which is the administrative side of social work...) Since my job is mostly administrative, I am no longer working directly with the kids, but they are there 8-4 every day because the summer program is currently going on, so I see them. I eat lunch with them every day and help as needed. I am allowed to work with the youth programs a few hours a week, but not my main responsibility obviously. It is pretty nice to just be able to observe and hang out with them when I want, but not being responsible for the programming!

So, this is what I am doing for now. Staying in Louisville and working at Americana. I like the "new" job so far. I have to share an office with my boss (Edgardo), but hey, you can't have everything. And, we just switched to a 4 day work week which is awesome! To save us on gas costs, if we can get our hours in Monday-Thursday, we don't have to come in on Friday. So I work 9-10 hours M-Th, and I'm done! This was my first 3 day weekend and I loved it, and this will be my schedule from now on! Of course I might end up doing work on Fridays if needed, but I can do a lot from home (as I did this past Friday, finishing up a report).

We'll see what the future holds, but I am fine with this for now. Other than working full-time I am enjoying myself and trying to regain a social life!! I truly do love working at Americana, which is why I am still there, and I work with great people, who have basically become my Louisville family (along with my church family). So everything is good for now. Oh yeah, the pic of me is at the recent Americana World Festival where I spent an hour in the dunk tank (first year we had one!). It was my fourth world festival, I am a veteran now. It was a good festival, and a fun day (but very long)

JAMAICA!!

2008-06-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

On May 22-29 Chad, Reba and I went to Jamaica to visit Joel, where he is doing SALT with MCC (his term is almost over). It was the perfect graduation present to myself and a lot of fun. (although I am sad I missed Abby and Robb's Ohio reception - would have been nice to see everyone!) Anyways, the trip was amazing. I think what I liked the most was that we got the non-touristy experience. Joel lives in Kingston, where we spent a few days (although the capital city, not

a place for tourists - no beaches close enough). We also spent 3 nights at a resort called "Strawberry Fields Together" which was an hour and a half bus ride (through the mountains) from Kingston. It was a secluded resort and barely anyone was there (and also pretty cheap - the four of us shared a small cabin with a small kitchen so we could cook for ourselves). So, we basically had these gorgeous beaches to ourselves which was AMAZING. Joel also took us on a hike one day where we went to a waterfall (where surprisingly there were some people, but they soon left) and another deserted beach with rock formations you could climb on. It was a great day. Unfortunately, some lack of planning meant we hiked the last of it in the pitch black with no flashlights, but it was fun (in the scary kind of way - I almost had a heart attack when suddenly there was a donkey in front of me). I celebrated my 25th birthday in Jamaica and had the beach to myself all day - can't think of a more perfect birthday really! So in summary, the trip was fabulous and I wish I could go back!

Some Fun Things

2008-06-22T15:24:00.001-07:00

Being done with school allows for more free time and more time for fun things! At the end of April I went on a canoe trip in Eastern Kentucky with friends which was amazing. We also got to explore a cave system by crawling in a back entrance from the creek (normally you would pay to go on a tour..). That was awesome. And of course, I went to the Derby for the third year in a row (first weekend in May). Some friends from Columbus came for the second year in a row, and it was the first time I caved and wore a dress and a big hat. It was a fun day, as always (starting at 7:30 in the morning!)

Graduation!

2008-06-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

I officially became an MSSW (Master of Science in Social Work) on May 10, 2008. What a great feeling it is to be done with school! Classes were over April 18 so I was pretty much done then. I finished with a 4.0 and received a "dean's citation award" so I got to wear a medal at graduation (but decided not to pay money for the pretty honor cords). Grad school was a good experience, and I will miss aspects of it. But it is wonderful to be done!!

The Accident

2008-06-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well if you haven't heard by now, there was a slight mishap in Germany. We stayed one night in a hostel (with bunk beds) in the city of Ingolstadt where we attended a conference on immigration. On the fateful night of March 7, 2008, around 2 in the morning, I woke up on a top bunk and realized I had to go to the bathroom. The next thing I remember I was in a bathroom trying to no avail to rinse out all the blood in my mouth, and wondering what the heck was wrong with my teeth. Luckily I blacked out most of the incident, but I have come to the conclusion that I missed the ladder on the way down and knocked my chin/mouth on the bunk bed, which cut open my chin and knocked out one front tooth completely (root and all), as well as severely damaging 3 other teeth that were about to fall out. Somehow the other 11 people in my room slept through this, but I managed to wake someone up (not having idea what happened) and soon everyone was up and figuring out how to get me to the hospital. Went to the ER around 3 a.m. where they put stitches in my chin and determined I needed to go to a specialist to attempt to save my teeth (which was an hour cab ride away). So after the scary cab ride, I had emergency dental surgery to restore my teeth and had braces like things. Anyways, I'll spare all the details, but should mention the bill from both hopsitals was less than $400 combined (and would be cheaper if the exchange rage wasn't so high). Universal healthcare anyone? I know there are plenty of arguments against it, but we have a broken system in the U.S. that is ridiculous and something needs done.

Anyways, that was the slight mishap on my trip (about halfway through) but it did not ruin the experience by any means. Just gave me quite a story! Unfortunately the whole ordeal has caused me a slight headache since my return. I won't go into everything, but I have had several trips to the dentist, a root canal and oral surgery due to the accident. And after three opinions, unfortunately it has been determined I need braces for at least 18 months to fix everything, and I will end up losing a total of three teeth. Life happens. I plan to fight with insurance companies until the end to get some money, because this whole ordeal costs thousands of dollars. It really sucks to have braces late in life and for the third freakin time, but oh well. Probably will get them on in a month or so. Sucky. But in two years I will have a better smile than I started with....(at least I hope so!) And by the way, the front tooth I lost completely is currently glued in place with no root, fun huh?

Germany!!

2008-06-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Germany in March as an elective, pretty amazing really. We were gone for two weeks and I got three credit hours. The main purpose of the trip was to learn about how another country does social work and social policy. So we attended lectures and visited various social service agencies (including a refugee camp) and it was all very interesting. Germany does things differently than the U.S. We were in Munich the majority of the time, but also visited the cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, along with a day trip to Salzburg, Austria. We also went to a monastery in the country one morning where we attended Catholic mass in German. The sights were amazing and the food and drinks were delicious. The land of beer and sausages. I loved every minute of the trip (well minus one incident). As always, group dymanics were interesting to observe (one professor and 19 students, only one male). Here is a sample of my pictures (I took hundreds!). I love Europe and traveling, so of course I had a fabulous time and learned a thing or two as well. The one souvenir I bought myself was the traditional German dress - a durndl, seen in the picture. It is my heritage after all! Now if I only had more excuses to wear it....

A much needed update!

2008-02-12T19:40:00.000-08:00

I always think that I should blog, but never do. Today Louisville had a rare snow/ice storm, so I was able to work from home for my practicum and my real job was closed for the day (and they closed early yesterday too). Since I had this rare amount of unscheduled time, I decided I should do two things for sure (1) take a nap and (2) update my blog. So here you go. Isn't my life exciting :) I also was also pretty productive for a good portion of the day, despite suffering from my second cold of the season. I have been eating healthier, I excercise, I get enough sleep, I go to the chiropractor, I get weekly allergy shots...why am I still getting sick? And although my schedule is still busy, I am far less stressed compared to the previous three semesters. Maybe because it is my last semester and I have a) stopped caring slightly and b) have finally figured out how to successfully balance everything. I can't believe I graduate in May, it is going to come fast. Especially with a two week trip to Germany in there! (I will be gone March 1-16). I am very excited for the trip. As for life after graduation, haven't really started worrying about that yet, I figure it will all come into place, just as it always does. I plan on working at Americana through the summer, and that is when I will do some serious job searching and such. I figured I do not need to add the stress of a job search on top of everything else I am doing right now. I know that Americana is an option (which is why there is no need to worry/rush), but it depends on what the offer is (obviously my job duties will change since I will have a master's in social work!) I will most likely also look for jobs in Columbus. I am really debating between Columbus and Louisville. I love it here, but I also like Columbus and obviously my family is there, as well as being closer to a lot of good friends. Decisions, decisions....If I ended up leaving here, there would be a lot of things I would miss, including my church and my job (especially the kids...) Could I just move those things to Columbus? I honestly don't know yet what I will end up deciding, I say both chances are equal right now. Only time will tell!

New Semester and Weekend Road Trips...

2008-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

I am a little over a month into my last semester of grad school, and have been out of town 3 out the 4 past weekends. My new schedule is practicum and work Mon-Wed, class and work on Thursday, and class all day Friday. Since I don't have class until Thursday, it is much easier to go on road trips compared to my Monday/Tuesday class schedule last year. But I also feel like I never have a significant amount of time to just rest! I am looking forward to being in town the next couple of weekends, before my two week trip to Germany for school!

Over Martin Luther King Day weekend I spent time in Bluffton/Findlay/Toledo. Several former Blufftonites were gathering to celebrate Eric's return from Vietnam, and most of them I hadn't seen since graduation, so I decided to make the trip. I think Chad was ecstatic to have 4 girls staying at his apartment in Findlay, hence all the towels. During this trip I also got to see all my grandparents, and spent the last part of the weekend in Toledo visiting Vicki. So it was worth the trip, plus a coworker/friend also had a friend in Toledo so he rode with me and helped with the gas, which is always nice.

The weekend after that, I made a trip to Eastern Kentucky with some friends to visit our friend Brittney who recently moved out there, joining a voluntary service unit. We ended up helping with a service project. I found out I suck at hammering, but am awesome at cleaning out gutters filled with nasty, black chunks of ice. Eastern Kentucky really is a whole other world...and the scenery is beautiful, even in the winter.

This past weekend I went home to Columbus and called Monday off work so I could go to the dentist there (because I am still under my mom's insurance - how wonderful!) Ironically, I planned the whole visit for this reason and then my car decided to die and I missed the appointment. I need to reschedule before I turn 25, so I have a few months...And my car is fine now, just needed a new battery. Well, actually the main problem was my headlights turned themselves on in the middle of the night and wouldn't turn off, which apparently has been a reported problem with my car when it is cold....I am hoping that doesn't happen again or I have a more serious problem! Other than that slight mishap, the weekend was lots of fun.

Other than fun trips, my life during the week consists of school, work and practicum. And this coming weekend I will actually be in town, and I plan to get some much needed rest!

Christmas was good....

2008-02-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well it has been awhile since I updated, so I'll start with Christmas. It was good, as the title says. I was the head elf for the third year in a row at the Americana Holiday Party, which is always a fun but stressful job because it is impossible to please everyone. I was able to go home for a little over a week and had a wonderful time with family and friends as always. I was glad to get the chance to reunite with Bluffton friends at Abby's house in Van Wert, although I missed the baby shower due to Christmas at my Grandma's in Bluffton. And Suzanna and Rebekah being in Columbus at the same time was also a surprise. We caught up at the Starbucks I used to work at. It was the first time we had been together in over four years! As always, it was a little hard to go back to Louisville and back into the routine. Being at home is nice and relaxing. I had a whole five weeks of no school and enjoyed it thoroughly. As I'm sure I have said before, just working seems like a vacation to me! Oh yeah, I should also mention how awesome it is that Rebekah is back from Bangladesh!! Too bad she lives all the way in Pennsylvania. And Abby Mo, we missed you!

I'm still here

2007-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well I thought I would post just to say I am still here. Here are some not so recent pictures I took at the park near my apartment a couple months ago, just to brighten up the post.

Since I haven't updated in over a month, I don't really know what to say. Nothing major has happened - no babies, no proposals, no trips to Israel, etc. Umm...I did finish my third semester of grad school over a week ago. Only one more to go! I did well this past semester (still have my 4.0!) and am now enjoying the chance to relax some. Finishing this semester was such a relief...that is one thing I will miss about school, getting these nice breaks. I have five weeks of no school! Now I am "just" working at Americana, which seems like a vacation, and putting a few hours in at my practicum that will count toward spring semester. Oh I do have one thing that I don't think I have said on here - I am going to Germany and Italy in March!! It is a two week trip with my school and counts for 3 credit hours (an elective). That means I only have to take three classes next semester instead of four, and I get to go to Europe. So it seemed worth taking out extra loans :) One less class means more time to work, so I guess that balances things out somewhat. I am looking forward to graduating in May and entering the "real" world. I am still not sure what I will be doing after I graduate, so I guess I will start looking into that soon...but I'm not that concerned, things always seem to work themselves out.

So anyways, I am still enjoying life, especially now that I have a lot less stress for five weeks. I am making the most of it. I will be going home to Ohio on the 22nd through New Years (not sure where I will be for New Years yet). The big holiday party at Americana is the 21st so I have to work through that. Bluffton girls - I hope we can arrange some way to all get together over the holidays. It would be great to see everyone -especially Reba!! Let's try and work something out.

That's all for now. I'll try to update more regularly and have more interesting posts :)

Oh yeah, I saw two interesting movies this past week (now that I have time to do those kind of things!) The Kite Runner and What Would Jesus Buy? I would reccomend both of them, especially the second. It has a good message, even though not delivered in a way that would make people take it seriously....but, you should check it out.

Where does the time go?

2007-10-30T18:34:00.001-07:00

October is almost over and I almost made it without a new blog. I guess the days of blogging regularly are over. As you can see, a lot has happened (but don't worry, the baby is not mine!)

Okay, I guess I'll explain the pictures first: The top two are from Americana's annual chaos in the form of a fall party and talent show. I am still running a group for middle school girls, and I was proud to see them perform four versions of "crank that" (superman, spiderman, lion king, and yank). And if you don't know what that means, you are behind with the times. I am proud to say I also learned all these dances through observation (I let them practice during group time), and then decided to teach the rest of the staff and perform the same dance in front of the kids at the end of the show - I believe they found it amusing. The other picture if of a very disappointed kid when he did not win a bike in the costume contest. Notice he is not wearing a costume - but he was still very distraught. Picture 3: The baby belongs to my good friends Celeste and Matt. She was born in the beginning of October and I was able to meet her soon after when I went home for a weekend. This picture amuses me because it looks like she is being attacked by hands. Picture 4: I decided to be the traditional witch this year for Halloween. I dressed up for the Americana fall party. This is my sweeping up with a minature broom after the party. Unfortunately, you can't see my very dark eye make-up, which made the outfit. Picture 5: My former housemate Keith came to visit. We hadn't seen him since he left for Germany over a year ago. I believe I am supposed to say his visit was the best time Louisville has seen in 2007. The picture was taken at the big St. James Art Fair (my third one! I am a native now).

For other updates. My life mostly consists of school, work, and practicum.

School - It is going well. I like my classes for the most part. I have an advanced research class which is pretty intensive and consuming and made me realize I never want to do research.

Work - Americana is still the same and I still enjoy it. I help out with the after-school program a couple days a week, and the other days focus on more "administrative" things. And like I said, I still run my girls group which is fun. I imagine some day I will no longer be working there - it's hard to imagine leaving all those great kids! They make my day.

Practicum - In case you forgot, I am working in the immigration legal services department at Catholic Charities. I enjoy it and am learing a lot of new things about immigration law and policy, which is useful information. I am seeing clients and helping them with legal casework.

Life outside of these things - Unfortunately, this takes up most of my time. But I have been doing my best to do fun things on the weekend. Keith was here a few weeks ago, then I went home to Columbus for a weekend, and Alisa was here this past weekend. She came for a wedding. It has been over two months now since she moved to Baltimore. So I have had a few non-stop weekends, but they have been fun. This weekend I am going to a church retreat and am looking forward to a chance to relax and get away.

I should be working on a paper...

2007-09-16T18:49:00.001-07:00

..but I decided to update my blog instead. It sounds more fun to me. So I am going into my fifth week of school. I had one of those "why am I doing this to myself?" moments last week, but they always pass. My schedule during the week is pretty hectic with no free time and by the time I get home at 7:30 or 8:00 I have to do school work, then wake up early and do it all over again. But I remind myself that it will be over soon enough. And I do enjoy the things I am doing, including my practicum, school (well, minus the stress of assignments), and my contiuned work at Americana. It just seems overwhelming at moments. Since I no longer have class on Monday, I am trying to enjoy my weekends more (since nothing is due at the beginning of the week). However, this means I stay up too late during the week and make myself sick (like I did this past week). But while this sounds a little depressing, it really isn't that bad. I am making the best of it. And at least I have my weekends....

This weekend wasn't that eventful. I had a housewarming party on Friday night. I have lived in my new apartment for a month now, so I figured it was about time. It was a fun party and a lot of friends stopped by. Too bad I was so exhausted and burnt out from the week. Once everyone left I crashed. Saturday I basically slept and watched cheesy movies all day in order to rejuvinate from my long week (I had some bigger assignments due which caused me to get less sleep than usual, which just throws everything off). And I am fighting off some kind of cold or something (of course, what else is new). Today I was much more productive and feel better. Oh yeah, last weekend I ended up going to Bluffton. It was my aunt and uncle's last weekend in the States before they headed back to France, and I got to hear my uncle preach at First Mennonite, plus see some of my old Bluffton professors. It was so weird to be back there! But it was good. I also got to see all my grandparents and my cousins...and Chad. It was a good weekend.

I realized I have lived in Louisville over two years now! As well as working at Americana for that long too. Definitely the longest I have been continously in the same job. Every Labor Day weekend Louisville has a big World Fest down by the river (which I always have to volunteer some of my time at). I felt like a veteran this year as it was my third one. Kind of hard to believe! Also last weekend I went up to Paoli for an Urban Corps celebration. The program has currently closed down, but they are still looking into possibilites for the future. It was nice to enjoy some delicious food and reminisce. Ok, this post has been kind or random, but there really isn't much to update on except for the same old routine. If I did a day in the life of Maria post now it would be much less exciting than over the summer. "wake up, go to practicum, go to work, go to class, come home, eat something, do school work, go to bed, start over". Awesome. I can't wait until Christmas vacation! Oh and if I didn't mention it, I love living by myself! I like being in complete control of my environment. But I at times miss the constant interaction with people, but during school this is helpful.

The New Place

2007-08-21T20:09:00.001-07:00

These are some pictures of my new apartment! I really can't wait until I have my own house someday that I will stay in for more than a year. But this does just fine for now :) I still need to brighten it up a little bit, but since I don't have money for decorative things, they will come slowly. This is what I have for right now!

KaBOOM!

2007-08-21T20:00:00.001-07:00

I don't think I mentioned on here that Americana got a new playground! It was very exciting. We got a grant from a nonprofit organization that builds playgrounds all across the country. It was funded by Home Depot. It was all built in a period of about 6 hours by around 200 volunteers. On one of the hottest days of the summer, I think it hit 103 that day (it was August 9th). What a day that was. All the Americana staff put in long hours that day and started off very early (6:30 a.m.). I can't even describe how exhausted I was at the end of the day (and I didn't even do that much physical labor). That is what spending 10 hours either in the hot sun or the hot kitchen will do to you (I think the kitchen was hotter than outside). I took so many pictures that day - here are a few.

The End of Summer

2007-08-21T19:34:00.001-07:00

My four month summer vacation from school has officially ended. How fast summer flew by. I miss it. Only two days into my new schedule and I am pretty exhausted. And my eyeballs hurt (just thought I'd share, don't know what is up with that - I am assuming it is my allergies/the disgusting weather & air quality we have had). I included some pictures of me in case you forgot what I looked like. One is at the Bats game I mentioned in my last post (sporting a fashionable hat with dollar signs all over it, which you can't see) and the other of me having an awesome time at my family reunion (actually, I shouldn't be sarcastic there, it was an enjoyable afternoon). My last weekend of summer was spent with my family for the reunion. My aunt and uncle who are normally in France were there and it is always nice to see them. My uncle is preaching at First Mennonite in Bluffton in a couple of weeks. Wish I could make it up there for that, but doesn't seem likely. If only I could apparate like Harry Potter....Anyways, I am sad that the trip to the lake did not happen, but I was able to use that weekend to prepare for moving, which was a good thing. My original plan was to wait to move until this coming weekend, but then I realized it would be a lot less stressful to be all moved in before school started, so that's what I did. I moved the majority of my things last week after work. I am so glad it is over. And also greatful for all the help I had from friends. Couldn't have done it without them! As of Sunday night, I am all unpacked and I am loving my new place. I am definitely going to be spoiled by living alone. I can do whatever I want, whenever, and have everything just as I like it. And I don't have to clean up other people's messes. It's quite wonderful. But I did feel a little sad leaving my old place, which I usually do. And my former housemate Alisa left last week....another friend gone. Luckily I have several friends that live around my new place, so I am not all alone by any means. But I need to be careful not to become a hermit. It could become quite easy when I am in the midst of school and work and practicum, plus I love being at my new place! But that should wear off soon.

So school began yesterday. Not quite ready for it. The first week is always easy, but the reality of all the work it takes will sink in soon enough. I started my new practicum at Catholic Charities yesterday. I will be there Monday-Wednesday (16 hours per week). So far we have just been doing the orientation thing and meeting with different departments of the agency. Everyone has been so nice and I have two other interns with me so that will be fun. I really like the agency so far, they do a lot of good things (obviously). I am actually excited to dive in and learn lots of new things and start my work (whatever it ends up being, I have a general idea, but only time will tell). Yeah, I'm a loser. I am taking 4 classes but have only had one so far. It was tonight and it seems like it will be a good class (spirituality and social work). My other classes are Thursday and Friday. And I will still be working 15-20 hours a week at Americana. Yep, I'm superwoman. Actually, I thought going to school full time and working part time was crazy enough, but I found out some people in my program go to school full time and work full time and are single moms. Now they are really superwomen. I thought my 11 hour days were long enough!

Updates

2007-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a little while since I posted. These are a couple of recent, random pictures. There's one of my current housemate Dan and I, and I'm not really sure what is going on but it is an amusing picture. The other is some of the teenagers at my church. Dan, Alisa and I had them over on a Saturday evening. We ate frozen pizza and introduced them to Billy Madison. It was a good time. They are sitting in the sun room of my current apartment, the room I will definitely miss most. That's right, I am for sure moving. I just paid the deposit for a new apartment today! After a somewhat frustrating search, everything just fell into place, which I knew it would in the end. After Dan and Alisa decided to move, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I couldn't find two people to move in (that needed a place right now and who I would want to live with...) so I knew I would have to move but was having trouble finidng an affordable and decent one bedroom in a non-sketchy location. As of August 25th, I will be living in a one bedroom apartment in a quiet complex in the Highlands area (very near Bardstown Road for those who know Louisville). It's a pretty good deal. My parents are going to have to help me out with my rent though, which they offered to. If not, I would be living in a hole in the wall or move back to the Americana (which I really wanted to avoid). Money versus happiness. I chose happiness. I wish I could completely support myself, but not quite yet with no roommate and still in school (and determined not to live anywhere just because it is cheap). But soon I will have an awesome salary as a social worker and everything will be just fine ;) Back to my new place - it is definitely not as unique as the apartment I have now, but I like it just fine. The carpet is kind of ugly, but you can't have it all right? I also know two people who live in the complex and others near by (including Dan's new place). The location is a little less convenient for school and work, but not that bad (but my days of riding my awesome pink bike to school are over). A month ago I didn't even know I would be moving. If I could have stayed here another year, I definitely would have, but oh well. Life goes on. And I am looking foward to living on my own for the first time. Too bad it is so damn expensive! After this year I will probably need a roommate again, or a husband :) Oh yeah, I am also in need of some furniture. Right now I have a bed (that isn't even mine), a TV, and a bookcase. Need to work on that.

Other than the moving dilemma, my summer has still been going well. I start school August 20th. Not looking forward to that hectic lifestyle again, but at least I know I will be coming home to a clean house! :) Other than working full-time at Americana (where there is never a dull moment), taking plenty of opportunities to go to the Y (I feel so much healthier!) and spending time with friends (and myself), not much is new. I really am enjoying life right now and it will be very hard to get back into the routine of school. I should stop saying that. It will be so easy I mean. It is so fun to work and go to school and write papers all the time. Oh yeah, Katie was in town this past weekend! It was wonderful to see her. (reminder - Katie was one of my housemates when I was doing Urban Corps. She moved to Colorado, and came to visit for the weekend). And of course I already finished the Harry Potter book, which was fabulous. I laughed, I cried - and now I am so sad the series is over and I will never have the excitement of reading a new one again. And for those who still haven't read them, so should just give in and do it. Everyone else is! The other night my friends and I had a discussion with an English lit bartender who absolutely loathes Harry Potter. It was amusing. Oh yeah, I also went salsa dancing! It was a lot of fun and I learned some new moves. That has to be it for now, off to a Louisville Bats game with a bunch of Americana kids and staff (we got free tickets). Woo hoo.

A Day in the Life of Maria

2007-07-13T22:30:00.001-07:00

Today (well now yesterday) I woke up at 7:45 a.m., which is sleeping in for me. Americana doesn't open until 10 on Fridays which is wonderful. I took a shower, got dressed, put on a little make-up, then ate a banana and a 100 calorie Yoplait strawberry yogurt for breakfast. I walked out the door with my hair still wet and wavy because I have gave up making time to blow dry my hair. I had an appointment with my chiropractor at 9:00 (located about 5 minutes away downtown in the 12th floor of some big building). I got to be on the roll a bed for 15 minutes or so which is very relaxing, then got my neck cracked which was much needed because it was very tight after a somewhat stressful week for me. I left the chiropractor around 9:45 then ran a couple of quick errands for work downtown before heading to the southend. This including stoping at Metro United Way to drop off two big boxes of tax records from this past tax season (we served over 500 clients at our free tax service). And I must mention that no one offered to help me carry them in or open the door, which I thought was somewhat rude. Then I stopped at some electrical store to buy a new emergi-lite battery becasue we just had our annual fire inspection and needed to correct some things. I arrived at work around 10:2o and took my position at the front desk. Luckily, Fridays are less stressful because there are no activities going on (which means no kids!), just a catch up work day. Two people called within the first ten minutes of me being there asking to rent the building. A little after 12, me, the Jasons, and Esther and Prady left work to stop by Mr. Mesa's party. He works with the kid's ESL program, which just ended Thursday (it was in the mornings, however the afternoon program still has two more weeks). He invited the teachers and Americana staff to his home for some very delicious Cuban food (he also runs a catering business) We got a little lost on the way because we were distracted talking to eachother instead of looking for street signs and lost about 20 minutes. For a half an hour we enjoyed awesome food (including BBQ chicken, beans & rice, fried plantains, and other good stuff I don't know the name of). We ate outside which was pleasant because by some miracle it was only in the 70s today. This was quite a treat for me because I usually take a "working lunch" (a.k.a. I don't get a break) and never have food as good as I did today. We returned to Americana a little after 1 (after driving on some awesome hills where we all pretended we were on a rollercoaster). I stayed at work until about 4, which included prioritizing a "facility management issues" report and doing some work to prepare for a $40,000 playground that will be built in less than a month thanks to a grant from an organization called Kaboom! I left a little after 4 to head to Wal-Mart (which I loathe, but today it was necessary). On the way to Wal-mart I got a call from Keith all the way from Germany (because I told him to call me via gmail chat before I left). I hadn't heard his voice for a year and it was a nice, but short chat. I pulled up to the "tire and lube" section of Wal-Mart 15 minutes later because I got a flat tire Wednesday evening and needed to not be driving on a spare anymore (this is what the pictures are of - it was after the international community reception at the Muhammad Ali Center where Americana got an award from the mayor, woohoo - luckily I had my coworker Will in my car who is very handy and changed my tire in his suit, he tried to teach me some pointers, but I was more interested in taking pictures, plus I had heels and a skirt on, it was also convenient that it happened in an empty parking garage and not the road). Back to today, so they told me it would take less than an hour to finish my car. So I go in and do some shopping for Americana (unfortunately the most affordable place where you can get everything you need in one stop, it was a very random shopping list) I bought the stuff with Edgardo's credit card, then went to see if my car was done. It was still in the garage, so I ate some Subway (which was inside Wal-Mart). Then I sit outside and wait for my car by my shopping cart full of stuff while catching up with Chad on the phone (there was a lot to discuss). Two hours later (should have expected that) my tire is fixed and it only cost $9.50. By this time it is 6:00 and I am supposed to meet my housemate Alisa and a friend from church/former LUC participant at the movies at 6. So I am a little late. Get to the movie theatre about 6:30. The movie started at 6:15, so I missed the beginning of Ocean's 13. Enjoyed the movie, it was entertaining, but they need to be done with those movies. Get out of the movies about 8:15. Take my friend Laura home. Chat in the parking lot for awhile. Talked to my friend Adam on the drive home who helped me realize that having to move is not the end of the world. Finally come home about 9:30, only to leave with Alisa to a going away party for our friend Heather who is leaving tomorrow morning for seminary in San Francisco. Mostly sit on the couch and talk to people at the party. Help someone retrieve a bottle of rum they dropped off the 5th floor balcony. Get scratched by a dog. Alisa leaves around 11, then my other housemate Dan shows up after work. We go down to the neighbor's porch swing (that is not on a porch) and chatted with our Bud Lights. Although I live with him, I hadn't seen him for a week due to St. Louis and opposite work schedules. He has also decided to move out of the apartment (but still in Louisville, closer to his work for cheaper rent with people that have a dog) so I am in need of finding a new living situation, which is a little stressful, but I'm sure will work out somehow. My coworker joined us on the swing, where we tried to avoid talking about Americana (but it kept coming up). Dan and I left about 12:45 a.m. Now I am at home updating my blog so everyone can know what a day in my life is like. I am waking up at 9 a.m. tomorrow in to help out my friend Emily who is running focus groups at Americana in order to complete a community health assessment regarding the new Health Clinic that will soon be opening up on Americana's property. I am providing childcare for $17 an hour. Rock on. I could have 2 kids, I could have 20, only time will tell. I also need to bring in to work all the crap that is still in my trunk, since I didn't make it back there. Ok, I need my sleep!

I think more people should do this.

Still Enjoying Summer....and a trip to St. Louis

2007-07-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

As the title says, I am still enjoying my summer. One wonderful thing about no school is the ability to take weekend road trips without any stress. My friend Kim had a wedding to go to near St. Louis (a couple hours out) and I wanted to go to St. Louis to visit Abby, so we made the trip together. She drove down to Louisville and then on to St. Louis. It was my first time there and I had a great time. Long car rides are so much more enjoyable with someone to talk to along the way! Especially a good friend you don't get to see all the time. And of course it was great to see Abby (and Robb as well). Since it was my first time, we had to do some of the touristy things, like travel to the top of the arch. We also attempted to get a tour of the Budweiser brewery, but it was pretty crowded with a long wait (much like the arch). Instead, we admired all the beer and then decided to be rebels and sneak in the room at the end of tour where you get the free beer. So we enjoyed that without the hour long tour. I must say, the pomegranate-raspberry Michelob Ultra is very tasty. After a fun and much too quick weekend, I am back in Louisville.

Not much to update on other than St. Louis. And I really am not looking forward to going back to school. I still have a month and a half so I shouldn't worry yet, but it is going to be hard to get back into that crazy routine. This summer seems to be moving along much too quickly. I am enjoying my freedom while I have it. I love having time to exercise regularly, go out, spend time with friends, etc. The Americana staff has been gathering at Edgardo's house the past couple of Thursdays for lots of delicious food and just hanging out. I have also been able to go to the Wednesday night dinners at my church for the first time since I've moved here which has been nice. I've also made it to the track a couple times since Derby. $2 to get in and $1.50 beers fits in my budget, unlike Derby day. Unfortunately I haven't made any money, but my housemate made a good amount the other week. Dan, Alisa and I spent our 4th of July at the track and skipped out on the traditional BBQ and fireworks. I got enough fireworks at Thunder over Louisville.

Oh yeah, I do have another update. My housemate Alisa recently decided to move to Baltimore after our lease is up August 15th. So....I'm not too sure what my living situation will be after that. I'm trying not to worry about it, what happens will happen, but I really don't want to move, but that might have to happen. There are a few possibilities, but who knows. I guess I have a month to figure all that out. If I end up moving it's not the end of the world, but did I mention how much I loathe moving? And I am happy where I am, don't really want to leave. So we'll see. I'll keep you posted. It's also very sad that another friend is leaving Louisville! They all need to come back.

And one more thing...I am very excited about the upcoming Harry Potter movie and book!! Yes I am a dork, and yes I am going to the midnight showing this Tuesday although I will have to be at work at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Stay tuned for my upcoming post "A Typical Day in the life of Maria". Abby and I devised this plan to show why we don't blog as much anymore.

Enjoying Summer

2007-06-24T11:33:00.001-07:00

I had a wonderful week long vacation in Hilton Head Island with my family. After returning to Louisville and one week of work, I am ready for another vacation! It was so relaxing. And I got a pretty nice tan (which can't be seen in this picture because it was taken at the beginning of the week). As you can see, we stayed right by the beach. So my days were spent there, along with the pool, mini-golf, bike riding, shopping, eating out, reading, and simply doing nothing. How wonderful. The weather was pretty nice, just rained one day.

Now I am back into the swing of things in Louisville. I am still immensely enjoying summer and having a break from school. Work was a little stressful for me last week though. I guess that is how it normally is after having a week off. We are in the midst of the summer program, so kids are in the building all day long. I spend the mornings at the desk in the front office, which can be hectic at times, and the afternoons doing various things. I may help out with the summer program a little bit, but didn't have the chance to last week. My duties are more administrative now, instead of hands on with the kids. So now I am stressed in a different kind of way! I still get to see my kids daily though, so it's all good. And now I'm not the one that has to discipline them, I just hang out with them in the office when they are in trouble. I like that change. Anyways, I have plenty to do at work and there is never a dull moment, but we won't talk about that now because it is Sunday and I am relaxing. I have realized how important it is to try and forget about work once I leave for the day. Especially with the jobs I will be having in the non-profit/social work field. They are draining by nature, so you have to take care of yourself.

I love the weekends. During school they never felt like a break. But now they truly are. This weekend I had absolutely nothing planned and just played it by ear. I wish more weekends were like that. I was sick during the first half (big shocker), but felt better enough by yesterday to enjoy a Louisville Bats game (which was interrupted by some much needed rain) and then watching a movie with friends.

I have been working on taking care of myself this summer. I am trying to eat better, working out regularly (a Y membership is a big help with this), faithfully getting my expensive allergy shots, getting enough sleep and have started going back to the chiropractor. And my stressload is definitely lighter. But I still got a bad cold right before vacation and then some weird stomach flu type thing at the end of this week. Can someone please explain this to me? What else can I be doing to avoid getting sick all the time???

I'll end with that. I am going to the Y in a little bit for some cardio and weight lifting. I have also been enjoying group classes, but they don't have any today.

My Sudanese Dancing Debut

2007-06-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was fun. The Sudanese community reserved the Center for a cultural celebration they always have at this time of year. I was having a nice conversation with the man who reserved the building the other day and like always, they say I am welcome and I say "maybe I'll stop by if I have the time". Usually I don't (not because I don't want to, but normally I have other things to do on the weekend/want to be away from the building I work in), but this time I was obligated. Somehow our conversation turned to "do you like to dance?" and "do you like these dresses?" (he was pointing to a picture). Me saying yes to both of these things turned into "Ok, you come Sunday at 3:30 and we will have a dress for you and you will dance on stage with us" I was reminded yesterday at the world festival so I knew it was for real. So I came. They gave me a dress to wear and after eating and then moving to the gym, I was rushed backstage where I was quickly taught what I was expected to do and then the curtains opened and I danced in front of 150+ people. I had a lot of fun, and was only slightly embarassed. And so you aren't too impressed - the steps were not difficult and anyone could catch on. It was an enjoyable afternoon. It was a situation I could not have imagined myself in two years ago, but seemed quite normal today. I came by myself and probably knew about 10 people there (and most of them kids), but I was immediately welcomed and felt quite comfortable. And everyone seemed to like my dancing!

Birthdays and World Festivals

2007-06-03T19:20:00.000-07:00

I had a nice birthday last weekend (May 26th in case you missed it!) I went home to Columbus for the long weekend. Drug out my birthday as long as I could. Had a few celebrations and a couple of cakes. I got to spend my birthday with family and good friends from home which is always nice. I'm 24 now, how old! Anyways, good times were had. And I saw Spiderman 3 and Pirates 3, both were entertaining but a little on the long side. It was a nice mini vacation from work before gearing up for our big World Festival which was this past weekend. We had a kick-off concert Friday night and then the festival all day Saturday (2-10 p.m.). I stayed for the long haul. This was the first year the festival was held in June and at Americana (and it was the 17th annual one). It was formerly in September and at a shopping center. This confused people and we didn't have as big a crowd, but it was still a lot of fun. I mostly sat at the booth representing Americana where I was kept entertained by all the kids (basically they wouldn't leave me alone, but it was fun). I also ate some good food, danced some salsa, and made my own tye-dye t-shirt. Not a bad day.

Now that I am settled into a routine I feel I don't have much to write about! And I have been working at the same place for nearly two years so what else is there left to tell? I assume it is obvious that I still enjoy it and have fun with the kids. This past week was my last working the evening shift which I am quite happy about! Not sure what my schedule will be now, but I think I'll go in at 8 tomorrow. The earlier I'm there the earlier I can leave. I'm excited about having evenings again, but not excited about getting up earlier. Oh well, can't have it all! I'm still working out regularly at the Y which I actually enjoy. I am going to start taking group fitness classes this week (the only ones I could take with my old schedule were "silver sneakers"). My housemate Dan and I are trying out Pilates tomorrow evening. There are a bunch of options so I shouldn't get bored. I am also immensley enjoying leaving work and being able to think "what shall I do tonight?" instead of "oh my gosh I have so much homework I should be doing". Whether I decide to go out or stay in, I am enjoying myself. Oh yeah-I am leaving for Hilton Head this coming Friday for a week vacation with my family, which is a part of my yearly routine but still exciting. I will miss the first week of the summer program at ACC. That's when I got hit in the head with a basketball last year, so maybe it's a good thing!

So today started out normal - went to church and then out to lunch at the good old Vietnam Kitchen. Then I had an interesting afternoon - I think I'll do a separate post for that.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the return of my ramblings. The garden one is for any former LUCers looking at this. It's still alive and kicking - and the Bosnian women are still out there every night!

A Fun Saturday Morning at Work...

2007-05-19T06:41:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here at work on a Saturday morning, so it's a perfect time to blog! It's crazy how fast time is going lately. How is it already May 19th?? So far May has been great! Again, a break from school is extremely wonderful. And this is officially my last summer not in the "real world". I'm trying my best to enjoy it. This month started out with a great Derby weekend. Some of my friends from Columbus drove down to experience the Derby (really, everyone should at least once in their lifetime!) Anyways, that is what the picture is of. It was another great, crazy day. Started out really early to beat the crowd and get a good spot with our Amish escort Amos (a.k.a. Dave). It wasn't as hot this year and was supposed to rain, but God did not allow rain on Derby day! Which was good becasue we had nothing to protect us from the rain. The infield was very muddy though because it had been rainining days before the Derby. But other than that, it was a great day! People annoy me though. Too many people. Oh yeah, I picked the winning horse, but so did everyone else, so not too much money was made from that!

For the month of May I am working different hours at Americana because one of my coworkers is on vacation for a whole month. So I am currently the evening front desk girl and have to close every night (I work until 9 p.m.) and work Saturdays 9-4. I am the only staff person here on Saturday, but other activities are going on. From what I understand, I am just supposed to be a "presence" in the office, so I can do things like update my blog and waste time on Facebook. I will do some work too though or I would be bored out of my mind. Second shift is definitely not my favorite, but I really shouldn't complain. Life is good. However, working in the office in the evenings while the after-school program is going on makes it impossible to get any work done for the 3 hours or so that the kids are here. If I have any work out I have to answer a million questions about what I am doing and why, along with getting interrupted about every 10 seconds, so I stopped trying to do that. But the after-school program ended Thursday so things will be much calmer in the evenings now. No kids until the summer program starts June 11 which is a nice break. Once Nermina returns I will probably be working more of an 8-4 shift which I prefer. Although then I will probably complain about having to get up so early.

Other than working, I have been working out at the downtown Y which I recently joined. It's been way too long since I have worked out regularly. I am sore today and it feels great! I plan to keep it up all summer and hopefully will have time to go at least once a week once school starts again! Have to get my money's worth. I have also been reading for pleasure which is wonderful. I have a huge stack of books checked out from the library, we'll see how many I get through! It is has also been great to have more time to spend with friends and do fun things, as well as just relax. I am reclaiming my weekends as time to have fun, not do homework. Oh yeah, I started getting allergy shots. One in each arm. The right arm always swells up really big where I got the shot and itches like crazy. But other than that, it's ok. I hope over time these really work becasue a) they are freakin expensive and b) I really want to not be allergic to everything anymore. I was over at a friend's house who has a cat last night and was really suffering by the end, even with all my allergy medicine. Wouldn't it be wonderful for that to not happen anymore?? Hopefully some day.

Oh yeah, my birthday is next Saturday! I'll be 24, crazy. I decided to go home for my birthday this year to spend it with my family and Columbus friends since last year I stayed in Louisville. It should be a nice long weekend. Convenient how my birthday is always around Memorial Day. If anyone feels like driving to Columbus for my birthday dinner next Saturday, you are welcome!!

1/2 an MSSW

2007-04-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Yes that's right, I'm halfway to having a Masters in Science of Social Work. My semester finished up last Monday. Hard to believe how fast it went! In case you were wondering, I still have my 4.0 :) And not having to worry about school for almost four months is a glorious feeling. I need to enjoy this time while I have it. Not only do I not have to worry about school, I also can postpone worrying about the real world for a little bit because I still have one year of school left before I have to make the big decisions. What a good place to be. Today I worked at Americana from 8-4, and then I was done. That's right. Only an 8 hour day and no homework. I didn't know what to do with myself! I worked out (cardio salsa!), cooked, watched some Jeopardy, relaxed, now I'm blogging. This is so wonderful. This summer shall be good. For the month of May I will have 40+ hours a week at Americana because someone is on vacation the whole month, then I can have up to 33 hours per week for the rest of the summer. I think that should be enough for me so I won't get another job. In my spare time I shall work out (my housemates and I are joining the Y close to us), read for pleasure (I spent almost an hour tonight figuring out what books I want to read this summer), scrapbook, expand my cooking skills, get allergy shots twice a week (isn't that exciting?), take naps, go out, and spend time with friends. And I can't forget just sitting around doing nothing because I can. Really, I can't express how much all this excites me. Grad school really steals your life temporarily. But I still enjoyed it. I took a couple days off work this past week so I could have a 4 day weekend to rejuvinate myself after a crazy semester. I went home to Columbus and spent lots of time with family and friends. I got to spend a lot of time with Denise which was fun, and she took that picture of me by the way (she decided I needed new pictures for my MySpace). And my friend Becky got married this weekend. Weddings are always fun. I caught the boquet - again- ha ha. I think that makes 5. Still not married though!! Anyways, I had a great time and now I'm back in Louisville and life is good. And the Derby is this weekend!! Time flies. It will be a good time I am sure. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, for some reason this stupid one won't let me have them so my blogs will just be one big ramble!

I Have a Life Again!

2007-04-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

...and yet I am blogging. I turned in my last papers and projects on Tuesday (what a wonderful feeling!) and finished up my practicum hours tonight, along with the final girls group, which was a little sad. I have my final evaluation tomorrow (which is no big deal) and my last classes on Monday (with nothing due), so basically I am done! So you should be hearing from me more often, if I decide to keep up with the blog over the summer. I plan to do a lot of things this summer that I didn't have time to doing the school year, starting with working out and having a social life! Can't wait. These past couple of weeks were hard, especially since I was sick for part of them (big surprise huh?) Since you have last heard from me, I have had a sinus infection, severely pulled a muscle in my neck so I couldn't move it for a day (that's what happens when you sleep propped up on two pillows because you can't breathe, which leads me to...), and also have had some major allergy "issues" which includes lots of coughing and difficulty breathing. I went to an allergist today and I think it is finally time to go through with the allergy shots, which has been suggested to me a few times. Seriously, I am allergic to everything. Trees, grass, molds, dust, animals, weeds, etc. They poked me 70 times on my back today to prove it. That was fun. I still itch. All that said, I am rather tired because I did not get the proper chance to rest and relax lately, which I needed. I'm going to start that now. This weekend will be fun - the first one with no school work to worry about for a long time! And it is Thunder this weekend (big kick off to Derby). Can't believe it is that time of year again! Hopefully you will hear from me more in the future.

Where Have all the Bloggers Gone??

2007-03-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

I never knew how much fun a box of old dance recital costumes could be. I had this brilliant idea last time I was home to bring them back to Kentucky with me so I could do a "fashion shoot" with the little girls. They often get jealous that they are too young to be in my girls group (which is for middle school girls) and ask why I never do anything fun with them. So yesterday was their turn. It was a good time. And I took so many pictures. I am actually doing something similar with my girls group tomorrow and throwing in some lessons about self-esteem in there.

I actually took a moment to check everyone's blogs and realized no one has blogged since February, except Reba. Where have all the bloggers gone? I haven't blogged since March 8 myself. I decided to procrastinate a little and blog so I could say I blogged more than once this month! It's amazing how fast March has gone.

I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with school right now. It's that time of year when papers and projects are constantly due and I am going a little crazy!! But my last day of class is April 23 so it is coming to an end. I will actually be relieved a little sooner: my last project is due April 17 and my last day of practicum at Americana is April 19. I have to keep reminding myself this so I can get through it. After that, I will simply be working at Americana. How nice that seems. I hope to get enough hours to be almost full time this summer so I don't have to get another job, but alas, it depends on funding (of course). Maybe even I am only working part-time I won't get another job and just be a bum! But that might not be good for my bank account. I am hoping for enough hours in once place so I don't have to juggle two jobs.

I was looking at my last blog and I did get to have a couple of fun weekends thrown in the midst of all this craziness. The first day that the weather was really nice here (which has been like three weeks now), me and several coworkers went on a spontaneous camping trip at Otter Creek Park not too far away. Most of us did not stay the night, but were there until like 3 in the morning. It was the perfect weather for enjoying the outdoors, without the bugs! Our friend Brian was in town for about a week over my spring break which means there was a party every single night. Even though I was on spring break at this time, I only made it to a couple of them. Then I went home for a weekend for a bridal shower, which is always nice, but too short. I can't wait until I can go home for a weekend and not have to worry about school work. I've pulled a couple of "almost" all nighters lately to finish up projects, presentations and papers. I still don't think I have quite pulled an all-nighter in all these years of school. I always get at least two to three hours of sleep in there.

I love this weather and the beautiful blooming trees, but my allergies hate it. I woke up with my eyes swollen shut yesterday. It was awesome. I need to get back on some prescription strength medicine. Not feeling my best plus all this school work plus having a million things to do at work has made me kind of loopy/stressed. I am trying to make the best out of it though. I just can't emphasize how much I need some rest and relaxation right now. But I have to wait three weeks for that. Seems like an eternity. Speaking of that, time to work one of my several papers.....

Please leave me nice comments reminding me it will all be over soon! (only to start over again in four months!!)

Happy International Women's Day!

2007-03-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

Did you know it is International Women's Day? This is an important holiday in some countries throughout the world, and this year Louisville's celebration was held at Americana. We closed our normal youth programs because of this event today, which was a nice "break" from the normal routine. However Thursday is the day I usually have my middle school girls group, so I invited them to come celebrate International Women's Day instead and we just hung out in place of a formal meeting. However, they thought this celebration was "boring" and wanted to have a regular group session instead! I actually took pictures today, which is something it seems like I rarely do anymore (can you believe it?) I love how these boys were in the tree by the women's day sign the whole time during the rally. I also included a picture of me and my co-facilitator with some of our middle school girls. Finally, we had the kids make some art for the event, and I included my favorite piece, done by a 15 year old boy. My girls group is going really well this semester. It took a lot of work trying to get it started last semester, but it seems to have paid off. Last week we had a session on anger management, and I think it was the best one yet. They all participated and were really into the discussions. We ended with a discussion using the "iceberg" theory, all the problems that are underneath that people cannot see and may cause our anger. I am pretty sure every girl in that room cried. It was really powerful and I am so happy that we accomplished our goal of creating a safe place where these girls feel comfortable sharing what they have gone through. It was neat to see how they responded to each other and showed respect. The group is definitely my favorite part of the practicum experience at Americana.

So I read through my last post and really not much has changed. I am still very busy and it is very easy to feel burnt out and exhausted at the end of the day. But I am surviving and trying to do fun things once and awhile. It happens, but not enough! I have been meaning to update this thing for awhile, but haven't found the time or the energy. I guess I have to write so much for school that this feels like an added assignment!

Technically I am on spring "break" next week. This means no class (which I only have on Monday and Tuesday), but I am still working and getting practicum hours in, but I might not do as many as normal so it is somewhat of a break. However, I have a test, project and paper due right after spring break (including a book I need to read for one of those which I haven't started), plus two big group presentations that include ten page group papers (which I despise) a week after break. So, the time I would be spending in class will just be spent studying! How fun. I am realizing that the semester is past halfway over and the end is near, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. When my last project is turned in on April 17 I will be extremely happy. Just working 40 hours a week sounds so glorious right now. I cannot wait. It seems like I have more papers and projects this semester, or maybe just more spread out so it feels like I am constantly working on them.

I was very sad to hear of the Bluffton baseball team bus accident this past Friday. It was a tragedy that hit too close to home, and I am sure the Bluffton girls are right with me. How weird is it to see the Bluffton campus on the CBS evening news? I am contiuning to pray for the families of those who were killed.

And to end on a brighter note, I have a couple fun weekends ahead of me, so that is exciting. And by fun I mean not spent doing homework the whole time! Seriously, my weekends usually consist of homework, cleaning, church and one fun thing that I allow myself Friday or Saturday night. Usually Saturday because I am so burnt out by Friday night that I tend to space out in front of the TV, seriously. One of my goals this summer is to remember what it is like to have a social life. Anyways, some friends that have moved away from Louisville are returning this weekend for a visit, so it should be good times (Brian, Emily and Craig for those who would know). And nice timing since I am on "break". Then the next weekend I am going home for a bridal shower, and it is always nice to get away for a little bit. However I really wish the drive was shorter!! I am getting very sick of it.

And by the way, Denise turned 13 yesterday, can you believe it?

Is it summer vacation yet?

2007-02-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

It has been a little while since I posted, so I suppose that means it is time for an update. I just finished up doing some homework on a Friday night. Boy isn't my life exciting. I have a paper and project due the beginning of this coming week, so it was necessary, but again, not fun. Actually, I find the topics of my papers/projects interesting, seeing I get to pick them and all, but I am having a hard time getting the motivation to actually do the work. Fortunately, basically everything I am doing this semester relates to the refugee/immigrant population, so that is helpful. Getting these two things done will pave the way for future projects...or so I hope.

Seriously, I have been a little stressed lately. I am trying my hardest not to be. It comes and goes. My days are just so long and when I come home I don't really get a chance to relax, instead I do school work and go to bed. And if I "relax", I am really thinking about all the things I should be doing. I need to fit a social life in there somewhere, but it hasn't been happening much lately. We are told that it is important to take time for ourselves and meet our needs, but how am I supposed to do that with everything that I have to do?!? But I am having a "girls night out" with some friends tomorrow so that should be fun.

So what fun things have I done lately? There really is not much to tell. We had a super bowl party for the youth at our church the other week, or whenever that was. That was fun. I went home this past weekend, which was mostly fun. I got to see family and friends which is always good. But the whole cramming in 7 hours of driving into one weekend is a little stressful in itself.

School, work, practicum, school, work, practicum, school, work, practicum. Ok you get the idea. That is my life right now. I do enjoy it though, for the most part. But this cold weather is messing with my health, and I am no longer going to the chiropractor, so I haven't felt my best recently, which makes everything harder. Blah.

Wow isn't this entry uplifting. I am sure things will look up. Everything will get done and life is good. Right? I really can't wait until summer break, and no I am not taking summer classes!!! I will just work and save up some money and enjoy having more of a social life. Hooray. Though, I should also try to enjoy the present as well. Ok, I will do that. Starting by getting some much needed sleep!!

Oh, I don't think I have mentioned on here that I have my advanced practicum placement set for next school year, which will start in August. I will be at Catholic Charities, working in their Immigration Legal Services department. After a couple visits there, I am really excited about it. I will have a great supervisor. It is also conveniently located between my house and campus and Americana (where I will still be working). So commuting won't be an issue!

Trevor Likes Me Too

2007-01-31T21:28:00.000-08:00

Abby finally sent me this picture. The one I had it looked like he did not like me. But he looks happy here.

Warning: Randomness Ahead

2007-01-31T20:54:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling this is going to be a random post of whatever pops into my head. So what has been going on in my life recently? (since it has been a whole week and a half since I posted last....)

1) My cell phone died today! And I hate how much it is bothering me. All the sudden it just won't do anything. After a very long day at the Americana I came home and plugged it in the charger to be greeted with the message "No Battery!". I didn't realize that was possible. I guess I need to get a new one tomorrow. I hope this is inexpensive. And that there is nothing else wrong. Seriously, not having a phone for a day should not be a big deal at all. But it is my only phone and without it, I want to call people more! And I am coming up with all these crazy scenarios of people really needing to get a hold of me, but they can't! Even if I used someone else's phone, I don't know anyone's number because they are all stored in my cell phone! I could call my parent's house. And Americana. That is about it. How sad. Remember the days when you had everyone's phone number memorized? What did we do before cell phones? At least I still have the internet. Then I would really feel cut off from the world. But I don't like that. Maybe we should go back to having no cell phones and no internet. It would make life simpler in some ways. But I would lose touch with a lot of people, and that is not good. Okay, enough with this rant.

2) I am finally feeling better! It took awhile, but I am back to normal. This has finally allowed me to get into the swing of things again, the whole balancing act I am trying to pull off between everything. This past month hasn't been too bad, but it has reached the point in the semester when I need to be studying and working on projects/papers more. Boo. I decided to take tonight off though. (after 12 hours at Americana I deserve it, right?)

3) I really respect the kids I work with. As I am building better relationships with them, and being more in a "social worker" role, I am learning a lot. They have been through things I cannot even imagine. It is amazing really. A lot more running through my mind about all of that, but this isn't the place for it!

4) My co-workers are fun.

5) I am now a Louisville Urban Corps board member. I go to my first meeting tomorrow night. Hopefully we can contiune this program and have participants next year.

6) Lost is returning next week! But I have a feeling the love/hate relationship is going to contiune.

7) Today I had the thought that I wish all I had to do was watch TV and play Wii. Ok, I could throw work into there, but once I come home from work, all I have to do is watch TV and play Wii. That would be the life. I don't have cable, but while I was sick I discovered there are quite a few good shows on network TV that I would be watching if I only had the time. sigh.

8) I hate insurance companies and Worker's Comp is really stupid.

9) Ok, I will explain that one a little more....I got a letter in the mail the other day that said while they will cover the treatment I have received at the second chiropractor, the treatment I received at the first place was deemed "not medically necessary" and therefore not covered. What the hell? Seriously. They treated me for the exact same problem and did the exact same thing! But they aren't in their network, although I was told they would pay for everything up to the point I learned this. Liars. And I am feeling better, so I can no longer be covered under worker's comp, although contiuned treatment would be highly beneficial for me. It has been a few weeks and I am feeling it. I am going next week, but I don't think it is covered. And I don't have the money to pay for it. And somehow I have to figure out how the first five weeks is going to be paid for (15 visits). I filed an appeal. They told me that decision will be final and I ended with a threatening "we'll see about that" and hung up. I'll keep you posted.

10) I am really thirsty right now.

11) I like Indian food now! I only had it once, which was two years ago. That was a bad experience (a lunch buffet followed by a back of the van ride and then vomiting). I avoided it since then. But this past weekend was a friend's birthday, and they were going out to an Indian restaurant, so I had to face my fears. But I loved it! Good stuff.

12) I am done with Taco Bell for life. Never again. It caused me to vomit Friday night. I was afraid for a little bit I had food poisoning. Maybe I will change my mind in a couple of years.

13) I found out the best secret the other day that has really made my life easier during this cold weather. That is all I can say.

14) Is it the weekend yet??

15) I am going home next weekend! I have to get a cavity filled (not fun), but it is a good excuse to take a Friday off work and go home for a three day weekend (and my mom's insurance will pay for it there, even better).

16) This needs to end. It is time for some posture pumping and bed.

17) Questions? Comments? Did anyone make it to the end?

Sick of Being Sick

2007-01-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

I think this was the title of one of my posts way back when I had strep throat. Well this still holds true, but this time I have an upper respiratory infection, which is equally no fun. Thankfully I did not wait as long to go to the doctor this time to get medicine for it. It suddenly hit me Tuesday evening while I was helping kids with homework at Americana. I somehow drug myself to work Wednesday morning and survived for a few hours on Theraflu. (the problem is if I don't show up, there is no one to open the building!) I left work early and spent the next couple of days sleeping and watching Buffy episodes. It is nice to have a chance to relax, but not so nice considering how crappy I felt and that I am getting behind on things. Luckily it happened in the beginning of the semester, so school work is not much of an issue. There were several things I was hoping to accomplish during my practicum hours last week, but I only had three of them, so that didn't work out. Other than missing practicum, I also missed work, which means no money. So that is bad too. I make enough to cover my bills and that is about it, so I will be pulling money from other sources to pay my rent next month. I was lucky not to get sick last semester. I am feeling better now, but still not the best. I am not sure how this week will go. My schedule is not an easy one. There will be no relaxing after today. I am not sure my body is ready for that. I spent the majority of this weekend doing nothing, which was needed. But I did venture out of the house Friday night for a poker game with my coworkers. I did not win a single hand for the first 3/4 of the game, and this picture was taken right after I finally won a hand! ( I should mention the last time we got together and played I did not win a hand the whole night, and was the only one). I did not end up winning, but got 3rd place, which isn't too bad. Alright, back to studying now.

Oh wait, I have to complain about something first. One of my issues with the student health center on campus is parking. Ok, I am sick. Really sick. I am having trouble breathing and barely have the energy to stand up. Do they have parking anywhere near the student health center? Of course not. On top of that, I am expected to pay for parking to go to a doctor? I don't think so. Even so, the closest paid parking was all full. If I had followed the rules, I would have had to park pretty far from the student health center. Instead, I just parked at the McDonald's across from campus. I still had to walk a good 5-10 minutes though, in freezing cold weather (yes, it actually felt like winter that day). The walk was rather harsh on my sore throat and breathing difficulty. Don't you think they should have parking for sick people by the health center?? Just a thought. I also think I could have been prescribed some better medicine for my problem, but oh well.

Happy MLK Day

2007-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

I like this whole go to school for one week then get a three day holiday weekend thing. But it is just teasing me. However, I did enjoy the weekend. The first week back to school, work and practicum was okay. I am still not completely out of vacation mode, so going back to school was a wake up call. This semester will be pretty much the same as the last - so yeah, we'll see if I can handle it as well again. Not much new to report, except I no longer have a Friday evening class which is glorious. What was I thinking?? Now all my classes are on Monday and Tuesday. I am going to try really hard to fit working out in my schedule now. Of course that is what I always say after New Years. I no longer have to go to the chiropractor two or three times a week which gives me a little extra time. I had a re-exam last week, I am doing much better. I don't have to go back in for a month, but I am still in a little bit of pain. I guess it will always be this way??

Anyways, back to this weekend. Chad and Joel returned to Louisville for their 4th and 3rd times, respectively. Does this inspire anyone who has yet to visit?? We took our traditional picture holding up Reba's picture (the missing link), but I decided not to post it because I don't like the way I look in it, ha. So here is a random one of me instead, taken last weekend I believe. Chad and Joel's visit was fun as always. Basically I just had them tag along to all the things I would have done this weekend if they weren't here. They are past the "tourist" phase. We did go out for some Vietnamese and Ethopian food though. And it was delicious as always. I have been out to eat way too many times these past couple weeks, which is something that soon needs to stop (too expensive for me these days). Chad and Joel also provided me with several installments of juicy Bluffton gossip. Seriously. Crazy Mennonites. Well we had a good time and kept busy, I don't need to bore you with anymore details. After they left this evening I enjoyed my former Sunday night tradition - crying at Extreme Home Makeover and being amused by Desperate Housewives. This will definitely be the last time that is going to happen for awhile (ok I usually do stop studying for Desperate Housewives, but not for both). I have all day for reading tomorrow, oh joy. Oh yeah, there was one slight stress with getting my last online prerequisite done that I put off for way too long, but it turned out okay. I passed the test with an 83% today. Hallelujah!

What happened to the Maria who wrote blogs?

2007-01-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

This is for Reba, who was worried that I no longer wrote blogs. I go back to school tomorrow. Part of me really does not want to go. I don’t know if I am up for my crazy schedule again. But I know I will make it. I enjoyed this last week of just work and no school. I was able to get together with some former coworkers which was fun, who can be seen in the picture. My last weekend of freedom was also enjoyable. If you are bored sometime and need a good laugh, I highly recommend R Kelly’s Rap-opera. Even better if you throw a couple beers into the mix. It is only 30 minutes of your time and it is hilarious, and I am still confused about whether or not it was supposed to be serious. So that was Friday night. Yesterday our friend Emily was in town and it was nice to hang out with her again. Then today I got to enjoy some Firefly and Wii. Has anyone played Wii? It is so much fun! I did tennis and bowling. This was my last weekend homework free for quite sometime. I am very sad about this. But like I said, I will survive. Hopefully. Well this is all for now, I have to be at work at 8 a.m. tomorrow. No fun.

Contrast of Cleanliness

2007-01-04T20:34:00.000-08:00

Alisa's computer is only a hop, skip and a jump away from Dan's reach.

Some Pictures

2007-01-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. I am back in Louisville now and am quite sad that it is over. I really enjoyed the two weeks at home and was was not quite ready to head back. It was the longest I have been in Columbus since I moved to Kentucky...maybe I just got a little too comfortable! How wonderful it was to just have to spend time with friends and family. No work, school, cooking, or cleaning to worry about. It was glorious. I go back to work tomorrow and am really not looking forward to it. I am sure I will get back into the swing of things, I just had so much fun at home I did not want it to end. I don't start classes again until the 8th, so at least I have one more week before the craziness begins. My schedule is pretty much the same.

Some highlights of my second week of vacation:
~the traditional Christmas Eve service where Denise, my dad, and I all played the piano
~a great Christmas with my family (and again I was blessed with more than enough)
~a trip to Laura's to reunite with the Bluffton girls and I finally got to meet Trevor! (who was adorable)
~my first visit to a line dancing bar, it was a good time
~a trip to Bluffton to celebrate Christmas with my grandma and that side of the family. I walked around campus bit, nothing has changed.
~and of course Vicki's wedding!! Including the bachelorette party, rehersal dinner and all the fun that led up to the actual event. I had so much fun and we danced the whole night long. It was great to have all my friends together. I am sad that it is over! It was a great wedding to be a part of. And by the way, I did not catch the boquet! We went a little crazy over it and it was actually ripped into several pieces! Adam (my "date") did catch the garter though. He gave it to me because he didn't know what to do with it. So it is kind of like I caught something, have to keep up the tradition!

I drove back here New Year's Eve day and rang in 2007 with my Louisville friends. It was a fun party, but I had to leave a little early since my housemate was feeling sick. Oh well.

Did I mention I don't want to go back to work tomorrow?

Oh yeah, the photographers at Vicki's wedding already posted some of their pictures on their blog (yes they have a blog!). I can't wait to see them all, looks like they did a really good job. Here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.lookphotography.net/blog/index.htm

And I will also put up some pictures of my own. But maybe not tonight because blogger is being weird.

One Week of Relaxation

2006-12-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have been home in Columbus for about a week now. How glorious having nothing to do is. I am really glad I got two weeks off work. I am actually surprised it was approved. Highlights of this week include:
-sleeping in!
-going to Denise's orchestra concert (it brought back memories)
-attending my dad's work Christmas party (remember the summer I spent working in the law library? anyways, I got to see all those people again and it was fun)
-helping Vicki with wedding stuff (it made me feel like I have a purpose)
-spending time with family and friends
-doing nothing!
-receiving random myspace messages from kids I work with (they discovered me) But it is nice to know I am missed! I really had a chance to build better relationships with a few kids this past semester, being the social work intern instead of a regular staff member. I miss them too.

This break was needed. Right now I can't imagine going back to my crazy work/school schedule. Oh by the way, my grades for first semester were: A+, A+, A, A, and pass (practicum). Sorry, just had to share because I am proud of myself!

Tonight is Vicki's bachelorette party, which shall be fun. And yes Reba, Vicki is finally getting married and yes I am wearing the cheap dress I bought this summer. I got shoes to go with it the other day, and they actually cost a little bit more than the dress!

And on another random note, I received Christmas cards from Lindsey M. and Rhonda this week. I haven't heard from them in quite awhile!

Holiday Party 2006

2006-12-22T12:13:00.000-08:00

This past Friday was the Holiday Party at Americana. I am not sure what the final count was, but it seems like there were more kids than last year. I would estimate 350-400. Getting ready for the party was a little more stressful than last year because we had less time and less staff. It was pretty ridiculous actually, but we pulled it off! I only had one nervous breakdown (at Walmart) but I won't go into that story here. I was head elf again this year, and passed out presents from about 4:15 until 8:30 straight. I think I had less complaints this year. Actually all of my kids (the ones that I know) were pleased. It was the kids I had never seen before in my life and just showed up to the Center to get a present that complained the most. I even had a couple moms try to get behind the dividers and pick out a toy themselves. How rude! Since all my kids were happy, I was happy. I think next year there are thoughts of making the party smaller because right now it is open to the community and getting a little out of control. Really, it is chaos. I think it would be much better if it was just open to the kids we already serve and their families...that is over a 100 people right there. I think that is good enough. After working 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. straight the day of the Holiday Party, I was quite exhausted.

1/4 a M.S.W.

2006-12-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

I finished my first semester of grad school last Monday and it sure is a wonderful feeling! I celebrated with some classmates at Tumbleweed with $1 margaritas. No papers or projects to worry about for 5 weeks. So this past week I have just been working, and it seems so relaxing! Not that my job is what you would call relaxing, but when I come home I am done and that is what is great. I am not sure what my grades are yet, I will find out this week. I really don't have that much to write about, just wanted to say how great it is to have a break from school and relax a little! I am working a little extra this week to get ready for our big holiday party this Friday (where I will be an elf again) and get everything ready for the two weeks I will be gone. I am really looking forward to time spent at home with family and friends. and Vicki's wedding is the 29th and I'm a bridesmaid, so that will be a lot of fun. I am going home this Sunday. And I just love the Christmas season, it always puts me in a good mood. And I am done with all my Christmas shopping! And I didn't have to set foot in a mall! I did some "socially concious" shopping this season and I really feel good about it. All my purhcases were made at a fair trade store in Louisville (and the night I went 15% of the sales went to Americana) or at the open house for a group of Somali Bantu women who have started their own little business making various things (I won't say on here in case one of the recipients of my gifts is reading). The group started at Americana and it is so cool to know exactly who your money is going to. Ok, I did make one purchase at the U o f L bookstore, but it still isn't the mall!

Ok this post wasn't very exciting. Um...Friday night I had to act out "Moby Dick" in a game of Charades at the Americana staff party held at Edgardo's house. You can have fun imagining that one. I think I embarassed someone. I also had a few glasses of homeade sangria in me, it was delicious! Alright, that's all for now.

Oh yeah..can anyone tell me what is up with the two "anonymous" comments left on my last post? Did someone real write that or is it some kind of spam?? I am confused.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

I have a little breathing room, so I thought I would update. Three papers down, one more to go! Two group projects down, one more to go! Only those two things left and come this time next week, I will be celebrating the end of the semester (my last day is Monday!) I cannot wait. And my last two assignments are probably the least work of them all, which is nice (however still work, I'll get to that tomorrow). I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. I was able to go home to Columbus (go Bucks!) Tuesday night through Sunday afternoon which was nice. Every part of my break was enjoyable, minus writing a ten page paper on welfare reform, but that is over now! I did manage to enjoy some time with family and friends as well. This Thanksgiving was different from all previous ones. I almost felt like I had a big family! In addition to my immediate family and all my remaining grandparents, my cousin Jenny and her family joined us (at my parent's house, so I didn't have to travel anymore which was nice). Anyways, Jenny's husband recently got a new job in Pennsylvania, and since Idaho was too far to travel, they came to us. They have three small children so that was definitely a change. The little blond girl pictured is three years old and deemed me as her entertainer for the day. She wore me out! I am not ready to be a mother :) We played with Barbies and she tried on my shoes, it was a grand old time. I also added a picture of my crazy, almost teen sister. She is growing up too fast! The cowgirl picture was taken at the fall party at Americana last week. I was the MC for the talent show and decided to dress up a little. Boy was that a crazy night. We had like 80 kids there. Pictured is Fatuma, who was one of them. Yeah, that night really was insane, but I won't go into that here. I am so excited for winter break. More updates once I am there and enjoying a break from school.

Busy Busy Busy

2006-11-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

Not much new to report. I like my new chiropractor okay, but not as well as the last one. But it is free, so I can't complain. I am down to going twice a week and am feeling better, so I have a feeling I will be kicked off worker's comp soon, even though I think I have awhile to go until I am healed. But that's how those things work. I think I will report a higher "pain scale" on Tuesday.

Paper writing and group project season is upon me. So I have been rather busy and have not had much time to do things outside of the normal routine. I had one big group presentation last week, so that is out of the way and it went well. I still have two big group projects left that include a presentation and a 10 page paper (can I tell you how much I hate group papers!!) And of course 4 individual 10-12 page papers still due for each one of my classes. Half of these will be done before Thanksgiving break, the other half after Thanksgiving. I think it is evil to assign a big paper due the Monday after Thanksgiving, but of course that is the case. However it will all be over December 4! Luckily, I do not have finals, so the last day of the semester for me is the last day of classes. And then I get a whole five weeks off. I requested two weeks off of work at Americana (the week before and after Christmas), but I am not sure if I am allowed to take it yet. I really hope so. I think I deserve a break. And while I cannot wait until December 4 when things slow down, I am also trying to enjoy life now, because that is still three weeks away. Everything will get done, no need to worry....

Yesterday afternoon I spent 4 hours working on a group project. We have to do an assessment of a neighborhood, so we spent half the time walking around the Highlands and taking pictures (luckily we got a pretty easy neighorhood). So it was kind of fun. The picture is of a great local business in the neighborhood taken by my classmate. I just thought I would add a picture to spice up this post...

All is well at Americana. I've been working there a year and two and a half months or so...hard to believe. When I stop to think about it, it is really amazing that I found a place that I love so much and took my life in the direction it is going now. Our big fall party and talent show is this week so that will be fun. I've enjoyed coordinating "practices" for the groups who want to perform. Those kids can dance, let me tell you. I also finally started my group for practicum. I am co-facilitating it with another student. Our group is for middle and high school girls. We have only had two meetings and they have gone pretty well. We started watching "Mean Girls" this past week along with a discussion of cliques, gossiping and all that fun stuff. Don't you miss high school?? hah.

Okay time to stop pretending that I have the luxury of relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. Time to get to work. I am not sure what project or paper I should start on first....

Oh yeah, one more thing I wanted to add to the former LUCers possibly reading this...I got to see Ben this past week! He was staying at a hotel about an hour and a half from Louisville, so he decided to stop by. Alisa didn't get to see him because she was working. It was nice to see him and brought me back to last year. I really do miss all the good times in the Convent. Pete was in church this morning too, which again made me think of last year. And Katie was mentioned in the sermon. I miss everyone! Okay time to stop reminiscing of the days I had no school work to worry about and there was always someone around to entertain me....

Updates

2006-10-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Going to the chiropractor is really helping me. Recovery is a process, but I am getting there. I think I have mentioned before that I absolutely love the place I go to. Unfortunately I just found out I have to switch chiropractors, which makes me very sad. Someone from church referred me to this place, and at first I did not know how I was going to pay for it, but figured it should somehow be covered since my injury happened while I was at work. It was decided that Urban Corps should help me because although I was working at Americana, I was getting paid by Urban Corps at the time. They filed a worker's comp claim for me and I can get the whole thing covered. But of course there is a catch. They just called me yesterday to say the chiropractor I have been going to is not in their network and while they will cover for the treatment I have had so far there, I have to switch to someone in their network to contiune being covered. I really really do not want to switch and made several phone calls (even to attorneys!) to see if I had to. And I do. If I have the opportunity to not pay one cent for my treatment, I have to take it. So I am making my last visit on Monday and then have an appointment with a new chiropractor on Tuesday. I really hope that I can contiune a similar treatment plan there. I don't like having to switch in the middle of it. I am hoping there will be no problems, all chiropractors are trained the same, right? Fortunately, the person I talked to from the new office is really nice and I will again have a woman doctor, and it is just down the street from where I have been going. So hopefully everything will turn out fine. Stupid insurance. Really, I think it is ridiculous that they are making me switch after I have been going to the same chiropractor for five weeks now (which is over 15 visits).

Things are going a lot better at Americana now. We finally have some new staff so things are running more smoothly. Of course a little crazy at times, but that is part of the job. I now have the time to do the things I should be doing during my practicum time with the youth programs. I made several home visits this past week, which is always a little akward, but I think I am getting more comfortable with it. I had some successful visits. I have also been spending some time outside work with my new coworkers and they are a lot of fun.

School is going well too. I have done very well on all the assignments, papers and presentations I have had so far. This next month will be the most hectic, with all my big group projects and papers coming up. I won't have much of a life in November. But come December 4th I will be all done! And I don't have to return to school until January 8th. It will be a very well deserved break! I can't wait.

Last night I went to a Halloween party where costumes were mandatory, so that was fun. The only thing I had was my elf outfit that I wore when I dressed up for Americana's holiday party. So I wore that. It was a really random night and it was great. So since I had my fun last night, tonight I am going to be productive. I need to get to that now. But first I am going to take a break and use my posture pump! (which is helping, but usually makes me sore the day after and is very uncomfortable, like I said, it is a process...)

Abby Mo's Visit

2006-10-28T13:26:00.000-07:00

As promised, I will write more about Abby's visit last weekend and I thought it would be nice to share some pictures. She arrived Friday night after I got out of class. We went out for pizza and beer with a few of my friends and reminisced about how much cheaper this was to do at the Bluffton pub! When we got back we had fun with my new posture pump. I thought it was only fair to include a picture of Abby in it as well! Abby also did some adjustments on my housemates. She stayed away from me since I am currently being treated. Saturday was a beautiful fall day. I really love this season and my neighborhood looks gorgeous right now. In the afternoon we took a walk in Central Park, just a block away from my apartment. Not as nice as the one in NYC, but still nice. Since we went out to lunch, we decided to make dinner. Abby and I cooked together then had our meal with wine out on my balcony. It was very much like we were on some romantic date, which we found amusing. Abby left early Sunday morning, which worked out because I had to go over to Americana to open the building at 8 a.m. Then I had all Sunday to dedicate to school work, along with church (our pastor has returned from sabbatical!). We went out to the Ethopian restaurant after church which we discovered has a buffet on Sundays. It was delicious and you get more for your money this way. We have to add it to our rotation.

The Posture Pump!

2006-10-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

Just looking at these pictures makes me laugh. So at my visit to the chiropractor this past Friday I was given a "posture pump." I am supposed to use it three times a week for fifteen minutes. Basically, it is to repair the muscles and curve in my neck. It is not painful to wear, but really uncomfortable. But supposedly this is another treatment that will help me in the long run. And I must say, this is the weirdest freakin thing I have ever seen! My doctor said it looks like some weird medieval contraption, and I have to agree. So my housemates and I, along with Abby Mo who was visiting (!), had some fun with this thing Friday night (don't you wish you were hanging out with us?). The color picture was taken by Abby Mo and it is her foot in it, not mine. The black and white is one of the many pictures Alisa took of me while I was posture pumping. She is quite the photo artist. She got some great pics! And they are hilarious.

I was re-examined at my visit last Friday and was told I still have to come in three times a week, although it was supposed to go down to two this week. I haven't healed enough yet. But I am feeling better, it is just a long process. Today I started my "active care" so now I have to do exercises everytime I come in. And instead of ten minutes of electric stimulation therapy (or something like that) I "graduated" to the rolling table...Abby Mo, do you know what this is? It was so weird! I didn't like it very much. Today I met with the physical therapist, which I do once a week. Imagine a ten minute massage that makes you want to cry. But, I am making progress. Some day I will be all better!

Ok I need to go to bed now, but more on Abby's visit and other updates coming soon!

In the spirt of little things...

2006-10-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

I will follow the Abbys in my blogging style today...

I got to go home this past weekend for the first time in about two months. And it was way too quick. Arrived home around 11:15 Friday night and left Sunday early afternoon. Alisa was with me for Mo's wedding. I hadn't seen Mo for a few years. I was friends with her in high school and she went to Goshen where her and Alisa played soccer together. It was a nice wedding and it was good to see her again (although very briefly). The reception was outside in an enclosed tent with heaters, but this did not stop it from being cold!!!

Along with the weater, today was a miserable rainy Monday and for some reason I still rode my bike to campus. I was soaking wet and freezing the whole afternoon/evening and U of L has yet to turn on its heat! It was painfully cold in my classes (I wore my hat and gloves in class, although they were soaked from the rain...yeah, don't wear wool things in the rain...)

Along with the wedding, I also jammed in spending time with my family, lunch with friends, a movie with friends (don't see the Departed unless you enjoy seeing everyone getting shot), church and a mini celebration for my dad's birthday. Then I had to come back here for homework and a group meeting.

So today I had a group presentation, then a group meeting in between classes for my presentation tomorrow, and another group meeting after class for yet another presentation. There is a lot of group work in my program, but I suppose that makes a lot of sense. The last group meeting of the day was very efficient and we met at a pizza place, which is a lot better than the library.

I discovered there is a Starbucks in the library today. I really haven't explored campus very much. Coming from Bluffton, a Starbucks in the library seems amazing to me. Oh how I miss all my free drinks from that place. I spent $3.50 on a drink today, can't make this a habit. But it was very welcoming on this freezing, rainy day.

I'll stop now because I need to get some work done! It never ends....

I Hate Politicians

2006-10-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

And here is a good example of why. So we had no knowledge of this billboard going up, and imagine Edgardo's surprise when he sees this a couple miles from the Center. Anne Northup supports Americana Community Center? Who knew?? I sure didn't! But she is using us for her campaign! If you can't read it, it says "Americana Community Center, Another local project sponsored by Anne Northup". Really, it pisses me off. Oh and for those who do not know, she is the Kentucky's current representative in the U.S. congress (and Republican). She has never given us money or really done anything to support us and it would be my guess that most of the policies she supports would hurt us more than help. (and if the Executive Director says she doesn't help us, I am sure he is correct) Where was she when we lost all our funding back in April?? I am not sure what will be done about this false advertisement. I hate election season. I am sick of all these campaign ads. Enough already! I just hate the political system in general I think. We were coming up with a lot of fun ways to protest this billboard at work. One of my favorite options was to replace her name and picture with mine. I think I have done a lot to support Americana Community Center, shouldn't I get a billboard? Or we could simply add a "not" in the appropriate place. Oh we were having so much fun with this.....

Things are Looking Up

2006-10-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Today was my 12 hour day at Americana, half the time working, half the time practicum, and it was a pretty fun day! I am blessed with great people to work with. I was laughing all day. Today was just one of those days when everything was cracking me up. I am happier with my practicum now. My regular supervisor is back and after meeting with her yesterday I felt so much better. And now that new staff is finally coming in, I feel I can refocus and get back to the goals and objectives I set in the beginning of the semester. I will still have to be a support for a few weeks, but not relied on as heavily and able to do other duties. I should be starting my group in the next couple of weeks and have started working on case management. So that is good. And I had my midterm today (which is basically a meeting with my supervisor and faculty liasion to evaluate me) and it went really well. I only heard positive feedback and I really needed that. We adjusted my goals a little bit to reflect what I have been doing the first half of the semester (which was basically taking on a leadership role and doing a little bit of everything!) And there are always those moments when a kid does something so random that cracks me up and reminds me why I am there. Those kids really do have a special place in my heart (awww.....) For example today Athey, the one pictured, was getting ready to go home, but first came back into the office, put his hand on my arm and said in a serious voice, with a concerned look on his face, "take care little buddy". Then he ran away. This kid is only 8 and comes up to my waist. To me this was hilarious and it still makes me laugh. What a goofy kid, he is great.

Sometimes I have fun....

2006-10-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in between school, work, practicum, writing papers, reading, studying, chores, chiropractic appointments, eating and sleeping, I do find some time to have fun. I did not have class on Monday and Tuesday, which allowed me to get away with barely doing any school work over the weekend. Instead I did some fun things. The St. James art fair was this past weekend a.k.a one of the biggest art fairs in the country that brings in thousands. And it was in my neighborhood. Saturday was a beautiful day and it was fun just to walk around and look at all the booths full of art I will never be able to afford! It also interesting to see all the "tourists" brought into our neighborhood. We noticed how our area was suddenly converted to white, middle class Republicans, which it is usually far from! (I could tell people's affiliated party since politicians used this event to pass out annoying stickers) The owners of the house I rent from sold some of their art in front of the house, as well as the Somali Bantu Women's group started at Americana. Their booth is pictured. As well as some of the "crew". Saturday evening I went out to dinner and shopping with my friend Tia who I hadn't seen in awhile so that was nice (she is one of my former coworkers that was laid off back in April). Sunday I saw Rent! Alisa and I had tickets way in the back, and two of our friends happened to be there too and we could sit by them. I enjoyed the show. I really love that musical and it was fun to see it live. I had a good view of the whole stage, I just couldn't tell what the actors looked like! Monday I got back into my normal schedule, replacing classes with school work and group meetings. For quite awhile now a bunch of us get together on Wednesday nights, but I have skipped out the past couple Wednesdays. Part of this is due to the start of "Lost" but also I am just so exhausted after my 12 hour day that I do not have the energy to go out! I had a good day today, but just wasn't in the mood to socialize I guess. I also plan to have a good time this weekend. Alisa and I are going to Columbus for a wedding. A friend I had in high school happened to be a good friend of Alisa's in college, and she is getting married this Saturday. I will also squeeze in some time to see friends and family. Unfortunately I have class until 7:30 on Friday evenings and have to be back here by 7 on Sunday for a group meeting because I have a presentation the next day, so it will be a short and quick weekend. I have been trying to get ahead with my homework since I won't have much time at all to do it this weekend. I miss the days when taking a weekend trip was no problem! I learned a good tip today. Sometimes when I flip through my planner the sight of all the things I have due before this semester is over stresses me out. How am I going to have the time for all this? I was told "just tape your pages shut and don't look at them!" I don't think I will actually do this, but I am going to try not to look further ahead than I have to. I just need to take it one day at a time!

Finding the Good in the Bad

2006-10-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a little random story for you. I am at work on a Friday afternoon, eagerly anticipating the weekend, and no one else is here except the janitor, so I can take a little break for a blog. Two weekends ago "Kentuckiana" experienced very heavy rains which caused a lot of flood damage. The basement at the community ministries next door was completely flooded, which was very inconvienent for them because that is where they do most of their services. And it caused this building to smell horrible! Over at Americana, we thought we only experienced some slight flooding in our kitchen and boiler room and we lost some janitorial supplies like all our toilet paper. Not that big a deal. No one thought to check in our basement. I suppose this should have been me since I am the "Facility Manager" but you know, I have a million other things to do. A few days later (this was last week) our pest control guy came to spray and came to me and said "uh, I can't spray under the stage in your gym because it is flooded!" Oops. It looks like the water came up quite high, over two feet. By this time we saw it was just all soaked up into the carpet and smelling quite nauseating. Mainly we used these rooms as "storage" for a lot of junk. One side was fixed up though to hold "soccer" meetings for the kids (it used to be a locker room back in the day when this was a high school). So this caused some extra work for me with calling insurance people, carpet cleaners, construction compaines, making an inventory of what we lost, etc. Luckily the insurance people were actually quite helpful as well as the construction company. When they finally came over here this week they were quite timely. The carpet is ripped up now and it does not smell down there anymore. Today they came back to get rid of all the junk for us that is ruined. They are loading it all up in a big truck as I write. And why does this excite me so much? One of my big projects this past year has been trying to get this building free of clutter and junk, which has been quite a huge job. And now there are people down there doing it for me! Some of this stuff I have been wanting to get rid of for a long time, but was told to keep it "just in case we need it some day." Although I always thought it was a bunch of crap we don't need. And now it is ruined so we have to get rid of it. Hooray!! That space is going to be so much cleaner now! One good thing came out of the flood.

Ok that entry was pretty pointless, but I am excited. However you can't always find the good in the bad. This morning I opened the building to be greeted by a police officer with some terrible news. Four Somali Bantu children were killed by their father this morning, all under the age of 8, a few miles from our community center. He was coming to see if we had contacts in the Somali Community to help translate, so I helped him with that. What a way to start off the day. At first my stomach was feeling quite sick, wondering if I knew this family and they were kids that came here. The police officer did not know the names. I have since learned that we did not have contact with this family here at Americana. Instead they went to another community center not far from here and were clients of Kentucky Refugee Ministires. Not that this makes it any better, it is still an awful situation. But I am not sure how I would handle this if I knew the family. Sorry to end on such a sad note.

Lots of adjustments

2006-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Chiropractic Update: So I decided to go to the chiropractor for a year. A lot of committment. But if what Abby Mo says is true, I think I will be in much better health all around next year. The chiropractor told me that I could see her for a month and get relief from the pain I am having, or keep coming regularly for a year and fully correct the problem. So I chose the latter. I have to go three times a week for 4 weeks (luckily only two more weeks of this - just a little hard to fit in my schedule). Then 2 times a week for 6 weeks. The once a week for another amount of time. Then ending with once every other week. The cost of all of this, including x-rays, is about $1,300 with my insurance. I am now in the process of seeing how much I can get this covered by Americana and Urban Corps since I was at work when this injury happened. Hopefully most of it, and my parents are willing to help also. I am very glad I do not have to worry about this cost. I have been to the chiropractor five times now and I am really starting to feel better. Adjustments sure are an interesting thing. And they are not just focusing on that. I will also meet with a physical therapist some of the time and I have exercises for my neck to do twice a day at home. Next will come strengthening. Who knew all this would come from a basketball in the head! Since I have back pain too in general, they took x-rays of that last week and found there is some work to be done there as well. So I am just getting fixed all over. Wish me luck.

Things aren't going the best at my practicum. I shouldn't write too much detail on here. But my practicum supervisor returns next week, who has been gone for three weeks, and I think things will get better. I set goals and objectives for the semester with her back in the beginning and I have yet to be able to implement any of them, which is obviously just a little frustrating. Bottom line, I have been relied on as a regular staff, which I was told I wouldn't be. But some unforseen things happened and that is life. We got a new person this week and she seems great so far, and another new one should be starting next week. I think I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. But right now I am not in a very good place. The supervision I have been doing while my regular supervisor is gone has not been very helpful to me. I leave each session feeling knocked down and discouraged, completely opposite of how I should be feeling. I am not being encouraged to do the goals I helped come up with, but instead being told what I should do instead, and it is not what I had in mind. I should stop here before it goes on. The great staff and kids keep me going, that is when they aren't mad at me for being the "mean" Ms. Maria. However if things seriously do not get better, I am thinking of changing my practicum next semester (it is supposed to be for the whole year). I would still work at Americana though. I really don't think it will come to that though, at least I really hope so!

I have been super busy lately because I had several assignments due this week, including a ten page paper. And I still have one more paper to write for Friday (but only three pages). I decided to take the night off school work. Pretty much all I did this whole past weekend was read and write papers. Not much fun. I did take a break on Saturday to go over to our friends' place and watch a couple episodes of "Firefly." What a great show! Created by the same guy who did "Buffy." It only lasted a season though, but it is so good. Can't go wrong with space cowboys I guess. In other exciting pop culture news, the new Evanescence CD came out yesterday! They hadn't released a new once since their debut over three years ago. So I was very excited. I love it. And the premeire of Lost was tonight! I really hope they start answering some questions soon too! But it was a good one. And another thing to look forward too....I have a "fall break" soon. No classes Monday or Tuesday. I still have to go to work and practicum, but get out of 3 classes, plus doing the work I would do for these classes. But there is a lot I should catch up on. I also have some fun plans for this weekend, including seeing "Rent" which is in town! I am so excited! I am looking forward to a fun weekend because I really need it. I hope I can survive these two years.

Time for another blog

2006-09-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

Health update: My neck contiuned to hurt and the pain was worsening. I made my first trip to the campus health center last week. They weren't sure what was wrong with me, so they just gave me some muscle relaxers and pain killers. I was a little skeptical of this treatment. After that trip I made a wonderful decision to not go into practicum that day and slept a lot and it was wonderful. The muscle relaxers really helped with this (I had been having problems sleeping due to the neck pain). The next morning I got up early for work and my neck was not feeling better, but worse. As I was in the shower, I started feeling around on my neck for knots which caused everything to go black. So yeah I passed out in the shower, that was fun. I felt very horrible for a few minutes but decided to go to work anyways (well really I do not have much of an option on this one when I am the one that opens). I amazingly made it through 4 p.m. that day, however I was supposed to stay until 8 p.m. But I decided I had enough and went to the doctor again just as they were closing. Hmm...maybe it is a viral thing they said...again, I was very skeptical. So they gave me some stronger painkillers and told me to get some rest. But just to be safe, to get x-rays the next morning at the U of L hospital. So I got my x-rays and guess what they revealed - there is a reason why my neck is hurting! Anyways I don't know the technical terms, but things aren't lined up right and my muscles have experienced a lot of strain because of this. They asked if I had been in some sort of accident because it looked like whiplash - the only thing I can connect this problem to is that damn basketball hitting me in the head this past June! The doctor reccommended a physical therapist but I decided to go with a chiropractor instead. I had never been to one, but have heard good things and of course Abby Mo is becoming one, so I trust her opinion. Someone from church recommended a place and I made my first visit on Monday morning. Everyone in the office is really nice and I felt very comfortable (I think this is really important....I have very opposite feeling about the campus health center). Luckily I was able to get x-rays for free through my student health insurance so I do not have to worry about that cost. Unfortunately, with chiropractic I have a $250 deductible before I get any help (which still isn't that much) But they are giving me a cheaper rate since I am a student, which is nice of them. So the chiropractor said a lot of "oh that is not good" while looking at my x-rays. I got 4 adjustments and some "therapy" which involved ice and electrical something or others. Unfortunately right after the treatment I was feeling worse. This concerned me a little. But this morning I was feeling better, the best I have felt for a couple weeks. I even went back to riding my bike today (yeah another cost I have had to endure is parking garage fees since my neck prevented me from walking or riding a bike, or even walking to bus stops). I go back to the chiropractor tomorrow. I guess they will want to see me pretty often at first. It is going to be a little difficult to fit this into my schedule, but I guess I will have to manage.

So yeah that was a little detailed, but that has been my life the past couple of weeks. I am so glad I am finally starting to feel better. I guess this all goes back to that basketball incident. My neck never felt quite right after that, and I am not sure what caused it to hurt so bad all the sudden (stress?, heavy backpacks? bike riding? sleeping wrong?) I have lots of theories. I tried to explain to Juma how the consequences of his carelessness are still effecting me and his reply was "man Ms. Maria, you're weak!" ha

Americana update: Missing two days of practicum last week was a nice escape from the craziness there. So they are having interviews this week so there should be new people very soon. Praise the Lord. Oh and the other intern who works with me in the youth programs is going to be out for a couple of weeks now too (her father passed away). It seems like every week I learn of someone else who will be out for awhile or permanently. We barely have any staff as it is and they keep leaving! (this is not meant to be insensitve at all, just an observation)
This morning in my practice class we were asked to split into small groups and share with eachother how are practicum placements are going. This was helpful for me to realize how much I am struggling and upset by the fact that I cannot really do my social work duties because I am doing the jobs of everyone else who has yet to be hired. It really is frustrating. I can deal with the daily craziness, I am used to it. But what is hardest for me is I am not really getting the true practicum experience. I do not feel like I am really learning anything new at all, which is rather unfortunate. I have kept telling myself things will get better, and they still haven't, and now the semester is almost halfway over! I am trying my best to have a positive attitude about it, but I have raised my concerns with some people outside of Americana, which I think was important to do. During the youth programs I am doing the duties of a regular staff person (or how about five at the same time) and not what a social work intern should be doing.

On a positive note, this past Saturday I took three middle school boys to a college workshop at U of L called College 101. It was designed for middle school students and their parents to get them to start thinking about college. My supervisor asked for me to take some of our kids that don't get a lot of opportunities like this. Another group of kids went with one of my coworkers while I was responsible for three eigth grade boys. It was rather amusing (Juma was one of these by the way). Despite having to get up very early on a Saturday morning, it was a great day. I was really impressed by their behavior and I think they got some valuable information out of it. Plus we got free donuts and pizza. The funniest part of the day was Juma decided to call me mommy. Pretty much everyone was there with their parents. I really did feel like their mom. At one point we split up and then they said, ok go find your parents in the next room. All the sudden I hear Juma yelling "mommy" through the crowd until he finds me. I definitely got some odd looks. One kid actually asked if I was their mom. Yes, I have three 14 year old sons from Africa. I think he was just very confused.

Other random updates: School is still going well. I enjoy my classes. More assignments are starting to be due, but I am not overwhelmed yet. My first big paper is due next week though. And guess what is the topic? Assessing Americana Community Center. I do not think I will have many problems with that. Actually, I might even have trouble not going over 10 pages!

Our good friend Moses is joining the peace corps and leaving for Turkminestan this Saturday. We are having one last celebratory event for him tomorrow night. It will be sad to say goodbye to another great person. No more goodbyes please!

I realized how much I miss my Sundays from last year. They were always the go to church, take a nice nap, relax, then watch Extreme Home Makeover and Desparate Housewives days. Now it is go to church, go out to eat (which I like), then clean, cook and study all day. Which isn't all that bad, but not relaxing. I managed to watch the premiere of DH, while doing homework during the commercial breaks, but no extreme makeover :( Those days are gone. I will probably have to tape my shows and watch them when I have time (whenever that is...) Lost starts next week! I know Abby is excited. I'll definitely make time to watch the premiere.

I'll stop now. I should start blogging more frequently so my posts are shorter.

World Festival Fun

2006-09-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

The highlight of my weekend was the Americana World Festival, simply because this was really all I did. I haven't been feeling my best lately (what a surprise huh?) so I decided to take it easy this weekend. Instead of going to parties and concerts, I stayed at home, ate some queso, and watched some Buffy, which worked for me. My main issue is that my neck has been hurting so much lately, as in it hurts to move it - actually it just hurts, no matter what position I am in. I am not quite sure what has caused this. Abby Mo will be happy to hear I plan on going to a chiropractor. But my first step is visiting the campus health center tomorrow so I can be referred to one. Along with neck pain, it is simply that time of year when having seasonal allergies is not fun. I still drink Benadryl straight from the bottle, in case you were wondering.

Back to the World Festival. Louisville had a World Fest downtown a couple week ago, but this past Saturday was Americana Community Center's version and it was a good time. I was there for about nine hours, part of the time working, part of the time just hanging out and enjoying the festivities. The festival was located at a shopping center close to the community center. As of the day after Labor Day, I have officially been working at Americana for a year. So last year, I was very new at the time of the festival. I enjoyed it much more this year as a "seasoned" employee. My first duty of the day was to ride the trolley and show the driver the route and encourage people to hop on and come to the festival. This was the first year we had a planned route and stops. The trolley went through the two apartment complexes most of the kids live in, so that was fun. I posted a picture of Beha on the trolley. The kids really enjoyed this form of transportation and were amazed that it was free. Later in the afternoon I sat at the Americana booth for a couple of hours, where I mainly entertained kids who wanted to sit with me in the shade. It was a very hot day. I also enjoyed the various entertainment (Spanish dancers, African dancers, belly dancers with snakes, salsa bands, etc.) I was going to post more pictures, but Blogger does not want to right now. Maybe later. I danced to salsa music with the kids for about an hour which was a lot of fun. It was a great opportunity to simply have fun with the kids. My housemates came to the festival in the evening. Dan and I enjoyed some Bosnian food. Alisa did not join us for food because she was catching up with an old friend. Ok if you are skimming, read this following story because it is one of those insane, wow what a small world things. So Alisa spent three months in Cuba while she was attending Goshen College and made some really good friends there. One of them told her he loved her the night before she left and she assumed she would never see him again. Guess who taps her on the shoulder at the world festival and says, "hey don't I know you?" Yep. This guy. His family won the Visa lottery in Cuba two months ago (which does not have good odds). And where is he placed? Louisville, Kentucky. In Americana Apartments to be exact. So naturally he attended the Americana World Festival. As does Alisa since her housemate works there. She is orginally from Goshen, IN so he was obviously not expecting to see her there. Isn't that one of the craziest things you have heard?? So yeah, he is going to hang out with us Wednesday night at the BBC (where we gather weekly) and I am looking forward to getting to know him. After spending about nine hours at the festival, I went home exhausted.

Other than not feeling my best, things are going well. I have settled into a routine and am used to the new schedule. I do not feel too overwhelmed with school work yet, that will come later. Work is still stressful - so not much has changed there. As I have said, we really need to hire some new people. Guess who was put in charge of writing the job descriptions and posting job ads? Me. Something a manager would normally do, but I do everything now :) Actually I felt quite powerful deciding what skills and responsibilities these new people will have. Oh, and this just tops everything off - so we did have one position filled - basically the coordinator between all the different aspects of the youth programs (and we pretty much built the structure around her - she is awesome) and guess what - she's quitting! I'm not sure when yet. I don't even know if she'll be here this week. Guess I'll find out tomorrow! And that's not all, the associate director of the Center will also be out for three weeks (which is one reason I am writing job descriptions). It is due to family issues, so I completely understand why she will be gone - but it will make things even harder for awhile. This person is also my practicum superivsor (who I meet with weekly and go to for advice) She has been very helpful. While she is out, Edgardo is going to be my supervisor. I know they have completely different styles so I will have to get used to this. So those are the updates at Americana. Wow, I can't wait to go into work tomorrow!

Not Much Has Changed...

2006-09-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

So yeah not much has changed since my last entry, but of course I can still come up with things to say. I thought I would liven up the post with some recent pictures. Over Labor Day weekend I enjoyed having three days off and did a whole lot of nothing (and studying), but we did paint the “conquistador” room “colonial yellow” which can be seen in the pic. This was the first time I have ever painted a room, well helped with one at least. I painted a wall maybe, and then had to write a paper. But I did help! I love our new bright room.

My housemate Dan's birthday was on Thursday and we celebrated last night. We had some people over and tried out the new Italian restaurant a block away. It was delicious. The we went back to the apartment to have cake. I believe the pic is when we were singing to Dan. My foot is in the picture (I was laying on the lovely fainting couch). After cake we headed to the Mag Bar for some pool (where I actually made a couple decent shots). You can also see my new haircut via a crappy picture I took of myself on my cell phone. I went to the hair design school again where you can get a haircut for $10 and an eyebrow wax for $6 which fits my budget much better. I like my hair. So when I told the lady that was cutting my hair that I am getting my master's in social work she said "oh, so you just graduated high school?" Hmmm.....enough said.

School is still going well. Practicum could be better though. The youth programs started up this past week and it wasn't the best week. My main issue is that they have yet to hire the needed staff for the program (soon we should have 3 additional staff), so I was doing several people's jobs at once (the first day you could have refered to me as the one woman show). So since I was busy helping people with homework, orienting new volunteers, making sure they have something to do, making snack, monitoring the halls, making sure kids were where they were supposed to be, etc., I was not able to the things I should be doing in my social work practicum. I know this is just temporary though. But if those people aren't hired soon, I am not going to be happy. The most frustrating moment was when my "client" Juma needed my help with something that was related to my practicum, but I could not do it because I had to pass out snack. Ugh. But to look on the bright side of things, I guess I am getting some management experience. Things will be good once we have all the staff and our activities schedule is started up (because right now we have nothing to offer the kids other than ESL and homework help, which they need, but then they have nothing else to do which does not make them happy let me tell you. Of course I was the one who had to hear all the complaints this week) But like I said, things will improve soon so it is alright.

Yeah so in general I am still having a good time here and life is busy, but good. That's all for now.

Crazy Schedule - 1.5 weeks down, several more to go!

2006-08-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

I've only been a grad student for 1.5 weeks now, but I feel the need to let everyone know how it is all going so far (plus I think this whole blogging thing is theraputic to me in some way). So far I am really enjoying it! I have very long days, but it isn't too bad yet. I am taking four classes: Human Behavior, Social Welfare Policies and Institutions, Social Work Practice, and Human Diveristy (taught by the one and only Edgardo). These classes meet once a week and are 2.5 hours, which amazingly goes by rather quickly (minus the library orientation we had on Monday, seriously, I am a grad student, I have done research before!). Anyways, I find the readings and discussions interesting and I enjoy what I am learning, so it is a good thing. And I even like all the papers I am going to write! (ok, the actual writing of them is not as fun, but the topics interesting). Yeah so I sound like a dork, but it is great because I am really confident that this is the profession for me and I feel like I am in the right place (yes I have decided this after only a week and a half) When I get to the paper phase, things will be a bit more stressful. I think I have pretty good time management by now, so I should be alright. I have to be sure to schedule times to have fun as well. Right now I could be at the BBC with several of my friends here, but I decided I was too tired. We went out last night though so it is ok.

My other "class" is practicum. Three credit hours which translates into sixteen hours a week in the field and lots of assignments and paperwork and such. It is pass/fail. My practicum is at Americana Community Center, three days a week. On my first day last week, I was a little frustrated because everyone was in meetings and I wasn't sure exactly what I should be doing yet. Of course I had real work to do, but I'm not supposed to do that during my practicum time. For a half an hour or so I questioned my decision to have my practicum at a place where I was an intern for a year and am currently working. It can be hard to keep those two things separate. Should I get a new eperience? (well I will next year for sure) If it was my first day at an agency that didn't know me, of course they would take the time to orient me. But I am no longer questioning things and can hardly recall that one day where I wasn't sure what to do because now I have so much! And now that I know what I am doing, I am very excited about it and it is definitely a new experience. Although I will still be with the youth programs, my role will be very different. Mainly I will be working on case management (along with developing a system of one there) and facilitating a group. I was asked to look for a need, and I know where there is one. So I will be starting a group for middle school girls. This is actually the group of kids that intimidated me the most when I first started working there. I am sure it will be challenging (especially with some of these girls) but it should be a great experience (and maybe help me to relate better to my own middle school sister!) We will combine "fun" time and structured activities to address different issues that middle schoolers deal with. I am just in the brainstorming phase right now, it will start sometime next month. Another one of my goals for practicum is to get to the next level of cultural competency.

Another reason I was frustrated with my practicum at the beginning of last week is we still didn't know what the heck was going on with our youth programs! But we have that all figured out now (after a 3 hour meeting yesterday) Things will be quite different than last year, but I think it is a good change. I was a little hesitant at first, but now I see how it will work well and be really beneficial to the kids. Last year, there were basically two separate after-school programs. One was ESL run by the public schools and was all Hispanic kids. The other was ours, which was less structured and run by Americana staff. This program mostly consisted of African kids. This year we do not have enough money to pay for enough staff to run that program. Instead we are combining them. The schools have committed to expanding the ESL program which will include all our kids that qualify (which is most of them!) The classes will be split up by levels and it will no longer just be for spanish-speaking kids. And they will incoporate more special activities into the program so they are not just sitting in the classroom. For our faithful kids who do not qualify for ESL, we will run a very small version of last year's program with one or two staff (that still need to be hired), volunteers, and interns. I am not a "staff" for this, but a social work intern who helps out with things related to my position (so I won't be helping kids with homework, making snack, opening the gym, etc. like last year as a regular staff, except as a backup). Anyways this all starts after Labor Day!

So one of my assignments today for practicum was to get the word out about our new program to all the kids. So I made A LOT of home visits. Luckily this is not too hard since 95% of them live in two apartment complexes, both located near the Center. I had a list of around 25 families I needed to visit, and I got them all, plus some more I ran into. I didn't need my list of addresses because all I have to do is drive into one of these complexes, spot a kid I know outside, and they show me where everyone lives. I think I pretty much covered everyone. This took a good 3 hours or so. And it made me realize another reason why I am doing this - I really love these kids! I hadn't seen them since the end of the summer program, so I missed them. I was worried they would not react well to the changes in the program, but most of them were just excited to come back! And they really do need the ESL help. I heard a lot fewer complaints than expected. I have really gotten more comfortable with this whole home visit concept. Everything went great tonight. Oh yeah, I was also assigned my first official "client" last week. The one and only Juma (who knocked me unconcious with a basketball). He wants to transfer middle schools and I am going to help him with this process. I went to talk to his school counsler today, and had a "meeting" with Juma.

In addition to all this school stuff, I am also working 18-20 hours a week at Americana. I am still the facility manager/newsletter writer/shopper, and in addition to this, I am now one of the front desk girls (I guess administrative assistant would be a better term). I work four days a week, and three of these I am at the front desk. Let me just say that time flies by because when you are answering the phone, talking to everyone who comes in and doing the million other things that come up, while trying to do the other part of your job, things go fast! I have four hours a week of work where I am not at the desk, but that is when I have to do all their shopping and errands, which takes up most of that time! (hooray for sam's club....ugh! I hate that place!) Thankfully I should be getting a work credit card with my name on it soon so I no longer have to pretend I am Bosnian.

Well there you have it. That is my life for the next year, well school year at least. My days are filled with the three components of work, class and practicum (a combination of two each day). Wednesdays will seem the longest days. I have work 8-1 and then practicum 2-8. So yeah 12 hours in the same building! Today I actually stayed until 9 due to the home visits. I am beat, I need to get some sleep. I might be getting sick and I really need to avoid that.

I know this is a very detailed blog, maybe one person will actually read the whole thing. But in case you were wondering "what exactly is Maria up to these days?", there you have it! I really do use this thing as a personal journal (well minus the really personal stuff obviously!) I might use some of this for my reaction paper that is due for practicum this week....

And maybe sometimes I will do fun things that don't involve school and work and I'll be sure to tell you about those.

P.S. I may have officially gone crazy. I came home after my 13 hour day and saw dishes in the sink and I almost wanted to do them. I did not do them purely out of obligation (really I didn't even have to) I guess cleaning can be theraputic for me too! (plus it doesn't take as long with only 3 people)

The New Apartment

2006-08-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well here are some pics of my new apartment. It is part of the the beautiful, old house you see. We enter through a gate on the side of the house (and then get to climb up some lovely, steep stairs). You can also see "our" backyard. I love it. We have our own balconly/deck that overlooks it. The picture shows our view. When you first enter our apartment you are in the "sunroom" which is pictured here. Also on this level is the kitchen and our one and only bathroom. Then you go up the narrow, winding staircase (also pictured) and we have our "sitting room" (not pictured). On this level are the three bedrooms. There is a picture of my room which is so much bigger than my cell last year! I love all the space. I could do cartwheels in my room if I wanted. And you can also see how annoying it is when you wake up at 3 a.m. and have to go to the bathroom! Those stairs are fun. Okay I hope you enjoyed the "tour". Come visit me and you can see the whole thing!

I'm a Grad Student

2006-08-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

I had my first day of class today and it went well. I think I will enjoy my classes. And this is my sweet new form of transportation. I can get to campus in about 8 minutes by bike from my new apartment. Pretty convenient (until it rains or gets cold, and then I will just ride the bus, which I can do for free as a U of L student). So yeah I saved myself quite a bit of money by avoiding a parking pass. I was thinking I would ride the bus or even ride my bike to work as well (which is a little further) but unfortunately I don't think I will be able to stick to that. When I have to be at work so early it is hard to make myself wake up even earlier when I can drive there in only ten minutes, while the other forms of transportation would take considerably longer. And the day I go into work late I found out I have to do the shopping for their supplies so I need my own car. So there goes that idea.

I worked 8 - 12:30 today and then had two classes from 1:30 - 7:30 (with an hour break in between). So it was a long day and I am quite tired. All my days will be like this between class, work, and practicum. I think I'll make it though. It will just become more difficult when the school work starts to pile up and I don't have much time to myself in the evenings and get less sleep and all that jazz. I had an ambitious goal of getting a head start on my reading tonight, but that didn't happen! (I only have each class once a week so I have plenty of time to do the assignments). But I did do the dishes, so I accomplished something. And I must say doing the dishes for three people is a lot easier than seven!!

So it was my first time back to the Americana today since we all moved out. It was quite odd. As I was opening the building it was like things were the same, but so different at the same time, if that makes sense. Our good friend Steven has now moved into our old place. He pays rent, but I think the idea is to have someone live there and help them out until urban corps is up and running again. During work I actually went up to the apartment and it was so weird, it almost made me cry!

I have had a good first few days in the new place. We pretty much have everything we need now and my room is all organized which makes me happy. And it is so big compared to my last room! This past weekend was fun. We had a housewarming party Friday night then walked over to the local bar that is a block away. Saturday I got free beer and queso at the BBC we frequently visit due to new developments. (Larry is great!) Sunday I accomplished a lot, including finshing my online statistics classs (I passed with an 82 I believe). Now just one more online class and I am done with those. Sunday was also random because I saw two friends from Hilliard that happened to be in Louisville. First my friend Kristen (who I danced with for years) was visiting a friend, who lived just down the street, so she walked over to my place and we got to catch up which was nice. Then right after she leaves Erin calls who just got into town for some vet thing and she is lost looking for a grocery store. Oddly enough, I was about to leave for the grocery store and she was lost in my neighborhood. So I gave her directions and we met up at Kroger (which happened to be giving 10% off to U of L students that day). So yeah we met up in Aisle 3 and it was cool. She will be here all week so we will get to hang out again, other than our brief meeting at the grocery store. Oh yeah, after church on Sunday my housemates and I went out to eat at the #1 Asian Buffet and it was amazing. I think I have another new favorite restaurant in town (that is pretty cheap!) I can't believe it took me a year to discover this place.

Well now that you are caught up on all the details of my exciting life, I think I will post some pictures of my new place. Which I really do love by the way.

Actually, pictures to come soon. Blogger is being weird and I need to go to bed. I will leave you in anticipation!

Next Chapter of Life in Louisville

2006-08-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is a cute picture I took of my sister while I was home, and is completely unrelated to this post. Just thought I would share.

After dumping all my stuff into my new apartment (thanks to my gracious "host dad" Dave and his truck), spending one last night in the convent, and saying too many goodbyes, I left Louisville to spend a few days at home with my family. Katie looked on as I drove away with tears in her eyes. I was already crying on the inside, and this just made me lose it. It was hard to leave this great year behind, but now on to the next chapter of life in Louisville.

I had a nice time at "home" these past few days and time went much too quickly. I go back to Kentucky tomorrow morning. My family is coming along to help me move a few things from here. It will be weird to not return to the convent, but to my new apartment in Old Louisville instead. I really like the apartment, although it was not the easiest place to move into (lots of steep, narrow, and twisting stairs). Thankfully that part is mostly over, but I have a lot of unpacking to do tomorrow. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but to refresh your memory, I have two housemates now. Alisa who I lived with this past year, and Dan who we met at church. I'm sure we'll have a good time. Although it doesn't seem like I will be spending too much time there!

I am a little nervous to start school again on Monday, but excited too. I will just have to get back into that whole routine of studying and writing papers and being stressed out. And I will be working more than I have ever been before while attending school, so I hope that all works out.

I should get some sleep because tomorrow will be a long day. And then I have orientation on Friday all day, starting at 8 a.m. Yeah, something else I will need to get used to, the whole waking up early thing. I have to be at work at 8 a.m. two days a week and I can no longer simply walk downstairs to get there! I will miss that convenience, but it will also be great not to live where I work so I can really get away. Another thing I will miss from the old place - having a sink in my room! That was so extremely convenient. Now I will have to walk downstairs to our only bathroom. That's the only thing I would change about the apartment - a bathroom on the same floor as the bedrooms. Not really a big deal though (but annoying for people like me). And one more thing I will NOT miss from the convent - all the people hanging out doing lord knows what in the parking lot! I don't have to deal with that anymore and feel like I should be calling the police or Edgardo or someone. Yeah!!!

LUC Quotes 2005-2006

2006-08-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know if those outside of the LUC will appreciate this post as much as I do, but I'm doing it anyways. We started a quote board pretty much the first day we arrived and there are some great ones on there. Now the year is over and no more quotes. Of course all these are taken completely out of context and some just flat out won't make sense unless you were there. But they still make me laugh and I'm sure they always will. I won't include all of them, but several good ones. So for your enjoyment (or possibly boredom) here are some of the classics! They come not only from LUC members, but friends as well. (and by the way, the first quote from Keith was said one of the very first days when he barely knew the five women he was living with!)

"You can't have a good religion without oppressing women" -Keith

"Having 3 adolescents, I believe stoning should be brought back" -Susan

"No one uses vosotros with me!" -Emily B

"How do you know frogs don't have dreams?" -Maria "Maybe I was one" -Keith

"I don't know if it's the vodka or the talking, but I feel good" -Katie

"I'll find a girl, shove her in a windmill and we'll grow old together. She'll be happy there." -Chadd

"You weirdo, just tell me how your pretzel is" -Emily B to Keith

"I just want to slap something!" "Let's play war" -Emily G., Mennonite

"The problem is the Bible" -Andrea

"My shell's gonna be sweet!" -Emily while drawing a turtle

"You just lost me five million dollars!" -Maria to African kid, in her dream

"I AM a domestic goddess, man on man" -Katie

"Go to freakin' bed and leave me alone!" Keith to Maria

"I just remember my music teacher playing 'Proud to be an American' every week" -Emily "Oh, so you hated it?" -Andrea "Actually, I think I was the one who requested it" -Emily

"That's when I was like, man, she's kind of a silly girl" -Emily about Maria's handkerchief

"It's not the first time people have wanted to take a picture of my boobs" -Susan

"Alisa, weren't you the who told me you should allow yourself five minutes to freak out?"-Katie
"No, I believe that was Jack from 'Lost'" -Maria

"It's fun when trash smells weird" -Emily

"Can we just pray for God's sake!?" -Alisa

"I cook like a Mennonite woman" -Keith

"Country crock has changed my life here"-Emily two minutes later: "Country crock is a crock!"

"I hate it when people break wicks" -Emily "I'm a wick breaker!" -Katie

"You know I wasn't waving at your bitch!" -Emily B

"I'm going to make the perfect husband, oh lord" -Ben

"Sacrilege! That's what my life's all about!" -Emily

"I gotta say goodbye to my wives first" -Keith (referring to the rest of the house)

"The monks don't want to be sexually tempted by the nuns" -Keith

"I was herpes" -Andrea "You look like herpes" -Katie

"Emily is the most violent Mennonite known to mandkind" -Ian

"And that's my 'I just killed Maria' jig" -Keith

"Dude I'd totally have a union with you" -Brian to Moses

"Sometimes I like to pretend they are fish and I am spearing them" Katie (about pickles)

"If I was Jesus, I would make the flowers real for her......That's all I'd do" -Joel, on Katie's birthday

"The end. God is over." -Keith

"I've gotten to #5 with all my housmates!" -Keith, referring to the 12 steps of intimacy

*Warning: the following quote sounds really mean, but it was actually hilarious at the time (and of course very untrue)

"I'd say 'screw you', but everyone already has!" -Keith to Maria

"Do you wanna flip and I put out or you flip and I put out?" -Katie

"This is what drunk people do, isn't it?" -Maria

"I just closed the door on your hot thigh action" -Keith to Maria

"What the heck is this bus doing? Eating jelly beans?!" -4 year old girl during a traffic jam on TARC

"We're just being the sugar daddies" -Phil M.

"I wouldn't kill you" -Maria "But you killed Jesus" -Keith

"Did you see how it kept getting on me?" -Emily B., about plant

"I rode the short bus" -Maria

"I got stoned in middle school" -Emily

"Am I going to hurt you with an icepick, or hug you?" -Maria "Either one would be equally terrifying" -Keith

"I wouldn't date that tramp if you paid me!" -Keith regarding Maria

"I didn't know there were white people in Ohio!" -Somali boy

"All the escalator people were midgets!" -Emily

"Of course I went to a Catholic school so there was all kinds of hate going around" -Dan

"Everything about her is a scandal!" -Emily

Oh, what a great year! I miss it already. Even though most of those quotes are insulting me....but that's just Keith's sarcastic humor. And he once said he only insults people he thinks highly of...even though he didn't want me to know that! ha ha

Hope some of you appreciated this post!

More end of the year reflections to come later...

Last Weekend in the Convent

2006-08-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

This Friday is the last day of the program, therefore this past weekend was the last in the convent with the remaining LUC. And not much time was spent there (which is great since due to this "oppressive" heat). Well every post needs a picture and I don't have any of my own from this past weekend, so I stole this awesome picture from Ian's website of our campfire. We went camping Friday after work at Otter Creek Park with our good friends Kate and Ian. I believe this is only the third time I have actually gone camping, as in sleeping in a tent, my whole life. And it was a great time! Amazingly I only got one mosquito bite and my allergies did not act up. Although sleeping on the ground was a bit uncomfortable. We were only 25 miles away from the city, but it felt much further and it was great. We ate lots of great food, lounged around, and swam in a creek. And we had perfect weather. As I said, good times. Just what camping should be, nice and relaxing.

I did not stay a second night in order to attend two going away parties. First to Brian's barbeque where I managed to get about 30 mosquito bites because I forgot to put on bug spray. Then I met up with Shavaun and her friends at Fourth Street Live to celebrate her departure. I will really miss both of these great people. It's sad that good friends I have made outside of the house are also leaving me! Then last night my host family took me out to dinner and then to the musical "Cinderella" which was a lot of fun.

So I have to say a lot more goodbyes this week, which is sad. It hasn't quite sunk in that this is the last week. And can I just say how much I HATE moving! Seriously, I loathe the whole process. I will move all my stuff into my new apartment at the end of this week, then go home to Columbus for a few days. Then back here to finish moving and getting settled in the new place before my crazy new schedule of work, class, and practicum begins on the 21st. As I've said before, it's been a great year and I will miss it. I expect grad school will be a good time as well, although not as relaxing and a little more stressful!

The Ridiculous-ness of this day

2006-08-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

Another post so soon? Well I have to share this ridiculous day that I am glad is over. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but at the time it was. I think the heat is making me delirious.

So last night I noticed gas was $2.83. How amazing! Did I get some? Of course not. I was near empty and fully intended to stop on the way back from the BBC. But as I passed the gas station I decided it could wait until the next day because I really had to pee and I was tired. Gas can't go up that much in one day right? So as I am driving back to work this afternoon after running errands I notice that gas is $3.19!!! I didn't know my overactive bladder would cost me nearly $.40 a gallon. Why oh why did I not stop the night before? Anyways, I go to the cheapest gas station around which is $3.18. I had a little trouble getting there since all the traffic lights were out and drivers were going crazy. Then I pull up ready to fill my empty tank wondering why it is not working and then I realize duh the power is out. No gas stations nearby were in service. So I go back to work still on E. The power is out at work too. It took me awhile to realize the scope of this - no power equals no air conditioning or fans! So we close work early and everyone is excited to go home to their air conditioning, while I get to go upstairs to my convent where it is even hotter. And yes it was painfully hot. I was sweating like crazy. My housemate and I have a brilliant idea to go to a pool. There was no way we could sit around in there. And Katie even had free passes to an indoor pool nearby she was going to let us use. So I get on my bathingsuit while Andrea calls Emily to tell her to hurry home from work so we can go to the pool. While Andrea is on the phone with her, Emily gets a flat tire on the freeway! And who is the only person with AAA? Me. So I am laying on my bed in my bathingsuit with a cold washcloth and slightly crazy from the heat, talking to AAA about my broken down car. Do I know what model it is? What color it is? What side of the road I am on? Do I have a spare tire? No. I know nothing. Andrea is trying to get the answers from Emily while I am talking to the AAA person while we are all laughing hysterically at this situation. That lady must have thought I was an idiot. So we go to rescue Emily, assuming the person with the AAA card needs to be there. They "rescue ranger" beat us there (probably because we were stuck in rush hour traffic!) Turns out you do not need to show your AAA card! Just get someone with AAA to call for you if you are ever in this situation. Emily just signed my name and we were off. (after standing on the side of the freeway melting away for awhile). So we get home and the power is still out. I contiune to lay on my bed in my bathingsuit with a cold washcloth pretending I am at the pool, which we no longer have time to go to because of another engagement. I start gulping down some water and choke on it, right when a phone call I had been waiting on comes. That was fun. So the power finally comes back on, just to tease us and go back off again. Then after awhile longer it comes on for real. By this time we were supposed to be at someone's house. But we haven't eaten dinner yet. So we eat hurriedly while trying to call this person, but we lost her number and everyone we could think of that would have it does not answer their phone. We finally leave but I have to stop at Walgreens to get a prescription (which is another story in itself - I have spent hundreds of dollars on doctors visits and prescriptions this past month or so trying to fix a problem that was misdiagnosed a couple times -ugh!) Anyways of course they screwed up my prescription and I had to wait which makes us even later. We finally arrive to our destination over an hour after we were supposed to be there. But our host was understanding and now we have her phone number. And I spilled a fudgescicle on my white skirt.

Ok that's my story. Is it really that ridiculous? But let me tell you, it was HOT! If you have ever been to visit me, imagine this place with no cooling system and over 100 degree weather. It does things to you. Ok so I am not in Bangladesh, but seriously. This heat is ridiculous.

And my tank is still on E. Think gas will go down tomorrow???

It's Getting Hot in Here....

2006-08-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

I went home this past weekend because Vicki's bridal shower was on Sunday. I think it went well. I planned the games and they were fun I think. It has been quite awhile since I have seen so many of my friends from home all in one place, so that was good. And my bridesmaid dress was approved! (I found it in Hilton Head at a Gap outlet for only $27.99!) Her wedding isn't until December, but it is nice to have that out of the way. Especially since I will no doubt be very busy once grad school starts in less than three weeks. Anyways, it was overall a great weekend. There were a couple instances I could have done without, but all in all, I had a good time. I am getting tired of the three and a half hour drive though. I was falling asleep on the way back here yesterday morning.

Things have calmed down here quite a bit. I went from feeling really busy, to not having much to do which is nice and relaxing. One reason for this is the summer program at work ended last Thursday. We ended with a traditional booty-shaking talent show and party. It was extremely amusing as always. Gotta love those kids. It's hard to believe how fast this summer has gone and that the summer program is already over! It feels like just yesterday we were having meeting after meeting to figure out if we could even have one. So work without four hours of kids is quite different. I still have stuff to do though, in case you were worried. But it is a nice break. The after-school program will begin next month sometime. Although I am no longer running around the building at work, I have been exhausted when I return home. I blame this on the ridiculous heat! And our air conditioning seems to not be doing much again. I could barely watch a two hour movie because the room with our TV is sooooooooo hot. I was sweating just sitting there! So yeah I have done nothing much the past two nights which is new. And I started working on my online stats class finally. I should get out of the house tomorrow though. Particulary to somewhere there is air conditioning....or a pool.....or something....

Did I mention it is hot in here???

Oh and I should definitely enjoy this time of not being busy. I set my schedule last week of work, class, and practicum. Let's just say I will not be spending much time in my new apartment. 20 hours of work (paid, which is a new concept for me!), 16 hours of practicum time for credit, and four classes. And fit studying and having a life in there as well. Hope I adjust to the new schedule well! Wish me luck.

Soooooooooooooooo HOT!!

I Hate Goodbyes....(This Post Dedicated to Keith)

2006-07-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

As stated in my entry below, Keith left the LUC today. He had to leave the program a few weeks early because he is leaving for Germany next week (for another year of service). Today was a sad day. I am really not good with goodbyes. Here are some recent pictures of Keith - rockin' the bass at Andrea's concert last week (oh yeah, I don't know if I have mentioned on here that my housemate Andrea has been playing at a local coffee shop on Wednesday nights this summer, tomorrow won't be the same!) And the other is a rather artistic picture I took almost on accident the other night. I love it.

I decided my theme song for the past year is "Seasons of Love" from Rent. I have listened to it several times today (actually I am listening to it right now) I have truly had a wonderful year and am sad to see it end. We still have three weeks left of the program, but Keith leaving early makes things weird and caused me to feel sentimental earlier. Things won't be the same without a male in the house! I was sad enough when Ben left, but this is harder since Keith was around a lot more and actually a member of the LUC. I consider this past year possibly the best year of my life. College was great, but I guess what they say is not true and I have plenty more "best" years to come! I have been blessed with a wonderful job, church, coworkers, friends, and housemates this past year. I am so glad I decided to do a year of voluntary service and I cannot believe it is coming to an end! This year flew by. I am glad I am sticking around in Louisville to attend grad school so I do not have to say goodbye to everyone that has made this past year a great one. But there are still several goodbyes to come....in addition to my housemates, I am losing some great coworkers and friends. But there will be new friends soon enough and I hope to keep in touch with everyone.

Friday made me feel extremely sentimental about my past year working at Americana. We were supposedly having a staff meeting, but instead it was a "party" for Shavaun and I to celebrate our year of service. Shavaun's Americorp term ends next week and then she will be going to grad school in Nashville. I will miss her greatly. Anyways, we had cake and my coworkers made both of us cry with the nice things they said and the cards they gave. We have really been through a lot this past year and it was definitely a learning experience. They recognized that without us, there would have been no summer program for the kids which is a crazy thought to me. We both received $500 for our efforts (which I was very excited about). Shavaun said this was the best year of her life and it will be hard to find another job and coworkers that measures up to Americana. I agree -which is why I am not leaving! I guess you can say I found my calling there, which is why I am now going to school in social work. And Americana is the main reason I decided to stay in Louisville for it. I am glad I will be staying there at least another year, if not more!

One more thing I don't think I have mentioned on here - this is no Louisville Urban Corps next year! This was only the second year of the program and they had trouble getting applicants. It is rather sad. They will be doing a year of "restructuring" and try for the next year I guess, if possible. I was looking forward to meeting the new group, but there will be none. Well I had a great experience with the LUC and hope that it starts back up again someday. I still have three more weeks of it to enjoy (minus Keith) and before I know it I will be in school. Classes start August 21. Yikes!!

Busy Week

2006-07-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

I just reread my last entry which said I was going to start studying for my online stats class, which I have yet to do at all. Last week and this past weekend flew by, with stuff going on every night. Here is a brief recap:
*Took some Americana kids (16 to be exact) to a Louisville Bats game one evening because we got free tickets (along with free hot dogs, which was good for everyone except the Muslim kids). I think they had a good time and enjoyed the chance to go on a field trip. I did not see one second of the game. And here is a really cool picture from that night (I think the cotton candy gives it an interesting effect)
*Saw Pirates of the Carribean 2 - dumb as I expected, but highly entertaining
*The LUC gave a few "performances" of what we put together for Paoli Mennonite about living in community. There was a slight glitch one night, but other than that, all was well :)
*Friday night we had a "going away" party which included lots of cake and good company
*Saturday was my last day with Cameron (the autistic kid I have been working with for about six months now). I decided it would be too much of a commitment while in grad school full-time and working part-time, even though it is just once a week on the weekends. But that is 3 hours I could be doing something else such as grocery shopping, sleeping, or having a social life. The mom was real nice about it though and said if I ever have time to give her a call. I did enjoy it, so maybe I will continue to work with him every once and awhile. Talk about a flexible schedule!
*Chad came to visit Saturday and Sunday. This makes his third time to Louisville! (does that inspire anyone who has yet to visit?) The main reason of his visit was to say goodbye to Keith
*Sunday we all made it up to Paoli because Keith decided to become a Mennonite! He gave the "sermon" which I enjoyed. And as always we were invited for lunch where we were fed too much food and got to enjoy some time in the woods. Sunday evening was a surprise party for Chiayim's 16th birthday (someone from our church). I must say it was the most well thought out surprise party I have ever attended and I believe he was truly surprised.
*Yesterday we were able to take the kids to the pool for the summer program which they were thrilled about. They used to go three times a week in past summers. We only got to take them once. And boy were they crazy. But it was fun. And I was thrown in the pool with my clothes on by a few boys. (luckily I was smart enough to wear my bathingsuit under my clothes)
*Last night was the final evening with all six of the LUC. We went out to eat at the first restaurant we all ate at during orientation. Awwww...So yeah, Keith left this afternoon. He had to leave the program early because he will be leaving for Germany this coming Monday for another year of service with the InterMenno program. The rest of us still have three weeks left, but it will be weird without him.....I think I will do a separate post now to split things up.

Muhammad Ali is my hero

2006-07-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to take a few of the older kids to the new Muhammad Ali Center today, at absolutely no cost to us. It was a small, manageable group and I am amazed at how well they behaved (they never listen to me that well!). It was a good time. I even learned something. And it was a nice place. What an awesome guy he is (and he is from Louisville by the way, if you aren't aware). I think the kids learned some too, but I am pretty sure their favorite part was getting to try out some "boxing" of their own, as seen in the picture.

One sad story from today. As part of the visit, they showed us a movie about Muhammad Ali (in a theatre with a very big screen). During the movie there were a few clips from the Vietnam War while they were discussing his refusal to fight in it (go Muhammad!) Anyways, there was a one second clip of a bomb in this short film and the kid sitting next to me started freaking out. He put his head in his lap and said "I can't look at this!" And then he started sobbing. There were tears flowing and sniffles throughout the rest of the movie. I started crying myself. I wasn't sure how to comfort him. I can't imagine what he has been through and what memories this split second clip of a bomb triggered for this nine year old boy. I am pretty sure he is from the Congo, or possibly Liberia (I should know this by now) I have been working at Americana almost a year, and this is the first time I experienced something quite like this and so personal. It made me realize how lucky I have had it my whole life and gave me a deeper respect for these kids and their families.

Nothing much to report from the weekend. It was the first weekend in awhile that I had nothing planned and was able to get some rest and get some things done that were needed. I could have gone camping, but decided against it. My biggest accomplishment of the weeekend was completing an online course in about two and a half hours! There are three prerequisites that I have to finish by the end of my first semester of grad school. They offer them all online (pass/fail) and I just registered for them. I sat down on Saturday to start the course "Human Biology for Social Workers." All I have to do to for these courses is pass the final test (70 or above). I got a 74 on the practice test before looking at anything. I figured I should study a little since the final test was longer and more difficult. So in about an hour I skimmed through all the study aids and all the chapters in the entire book. Then I took the test and just made it with a 72! Two more questions wrong and I would have failed. My next two courses should be a little more difficult: statistics (which I have never had!) and research methods. I looked at the first question of the stats practice test and didn't understand it at all, so I will need to study a bit for this one. Maybe I will start tonight if I feel up to it. My goal is to get them done before I actually start real classes.

Oh yeah, one thing I did do this weekend. After church Alisa and I headed to the track all day. I hadn't been there since the Derby and boy was it different than that crazy day. For one, it only cost $2 to get in and you can actually sit in the seats! (and thank God because it was HOT outside) We stayed there for all 11 races and bet on each one. I ended up losing about $16 - oh well! I put about $40 down. I was breaking even at first, and then just wasn't picking the right horses at the end. Betting on horses is fun! However something I can't make a habit of (obviously). It was the last day the track was open for the summer.
Suzanna - I picked one horse simply because it had "Seattle" in their name. My logic was: "Suzanna lives in Seattle, and she just got engaged, so she is lucky and therefore this horse must be lucky as well." And it won!!

And can I just say IT IS SO HOT UP IN HERE!!! And there is a heat advisory outside. No good.

Wonderful trip to PA

2006-07-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

After having a week long vacation at the beach, then a four day holiday weekend, and working two days, I went on another mini-vacation to exotic Pennsylvania! Bridget and I made the trip together from Columbus. Chad and Joel were also there (Joel all the way from Iowa!) And Abby Mo flew in from St. Louis (unfortunately her plane was delayed so she arrived Sunday instead of Saturday). I was so glad to get the chance to see Rebekah while she is briefly at home, before her return to Bangladesh (which I learned is pronounced BONGladesh). We had a great time and it was so nice to see everyone! Those who weren't there were missed. It's hard to believe it had been a year since I have seen Rebekah - this year has flown by. And in case you are wondering - she's still our same old Reba! Bangladesh hasn't changed her too much :) And Reba - I miss you already! See you next year? Some highlights of our time together: the Wingert's hospitality and cooking (we were fed very, very well), hiking, putt-putt, Abby putting her chiropractic knowledge to the test and giving us some adjustments (oh my goodness my back cracked so loud), Hindi movies (Neal and Nikki!), and of course simply enjoying eachother's company. It was a great trip and a nice break from work (again!). I came back late Monday night and again thrown back into work. Today I didn't even have time to eat lunch. But things should be ten times less stressful next week when Louise returns from Africa. Can't wait for that. But things are going pretty well there. The house is pretty quite this week because there are only three of us in town. I can't wait until we are all back because the program ends in less than a month now and I won't be seeing these people daily anymore (except Alisa of course). I'll miss them. I can't believe this year is ending.

One more thing that has been a stress for me lately: the ridiculous cost of healthcare. I was kicked off my dad insurance when I turned 23 at the end of May. I have insurance with the program, but it is crap. Doesn't really pay for anything. And unfortunately I am a person who gets sick and has to go to the doctor and get medicine. Singulair: $92. Antibiotics: $65. One doctor's visit: $83. Just for some examples. Ridiculous. This is the one money thing that really stresses me out because I can't control how often I get sick (which unfortunately seems to happen often). And I am about to start grad school and just took out my first loan. Scary! (and yes I realize how incredibly lucky I am to have no loans from college). Ok the end.

The Community Garden

2006-07-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture I took of our community garden the other night. I really like it, so I thought I would share. It is doing pretty well for its first few months of existence I must say (and without the staff to take care of it!) We went out to water our plot as the sun was setting, and decided to water everyone else's as well since the community center is closed for the long holiday weekend.

Blast from the Past

2006-07-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across the CD of all the files that were on my old computer yesterday and found this picture on there. Good times! Doesn't this seem like forever ago? Just thought I would share it with you all! We should have won that costume contest!

I want to go back to the beach....

2006-07-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely and relaxing vacation with my family. We actually took a year off from Hilton Head and went to the Smoky Mountains last year, so it was nice to return to the beach. I love the beach. I want to go back. I love this picture that I took of my sister. And I managed to get a pretty good tan, which you can see in the other pic. My days were spent laying out and swimming at the beach and pool, shopping, eating out, reading, bike riding, putt-putt golfing, and watching TLC. Who could ask for anything more? It was a good time. I enjoyed spending a week with my family and not working!

I returned to Louisville Saturday evening and didn't have to work Monday or today (obviously). How wonderful it is to come back from vacation just to get a four day weekend! And then I only have to work two days until I get another four day weekend! I took Friday and Monday off to make the trip to Pennsylvania to see Rebekah who is home briefly from Bangladesh. I can't wait to see her and everyone else who is making the trip. I wish everyone could come!

So it is really hot here. I guess I shouldn't complain too much because I am not in Bangladesh or Vietnam or somewhere like that. But it is still hot. And our air conditioning doesn't really work at all. Which is good for the environment...but makes for a very hot, sticky apartment. And there is no beach here. My housemates and I had to get out of the heat yesterday, so we discovered a public pool close to us that we can enter for only $2. Amazingly it was not crowded, but it was very, very dirty. However, it was refreshing and I can contiune my tan there, so I think I will be returning there often during the summer despite the ganky water. Ah, public pools.

I went to my first flea market Sunday. Alisa and I had thoughts of getting stuff for our new apartment. Instead I spent way too much money on DVDs. I now have five new movies and a season of Buffy. But they were so cheap! I guess that counts as entertainment for our new apartment.....I found the complete second season of Buffy for only $20!! (compared to the usual $50). So I convinced myself it was worth it. Right??

I hope everyone has a good holiday. We are heading to a barbeque soon and then maybe downtown to the fireworks at the riverfront if it is not storming. (hallelujah for the rain though - we needed it!)

I Need A Vacation....

2006-06-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

And I am getting one! I leave for Hilton Head Island tomorrow morning with my family. They are coming here to pick me up and then we are off. I am excited for a chance to relax and lay out on the beach! And spend time with my family. And hopefully fix the self tanner mistake on my legs. It shall be a great week. Time is going so fast. I can't believe June is almost over.

We had sumo wrestling as an activity today in the spirit of Asia week (seven week program - different continent theme each week). Here is one of the cutest little girls, United, in one of the sumo outfits that Dominique created. Can I just say that this was absolutely hilarious. We had the gym set up like an arena and let every kid who wanted to have their chance in the ring. This had the potential to be very hazardous, but it turned out just fine. It was a lot of fun.

So work has been going well, but busy. Now that my headaches are mostly gone, I have a more positive attitude. As of today, we have one new staff person and one junior counselor for the summer program. So that is great for us and now I don't feel quite as sorry for the staff left behind while I am at the beach! I think the summer program is going pretty well - the kids keep coming back so it must not be too bad. And I am enjoying the chance to get to know some new kids that are coming.

So I have worked nine hours straight the past two days. Since I have plenty to do I barely realize how long I am there - time goes so fast. However I do miss my nice one hour lunch breaks while watching Days of our Lives (I no longer get a lunch break and eat with the kids) And I miss Louise who went back to Rwanda for three and a half weeks (one of the reasons I have been so busy - I feel like I am doing a little bit of everyone's job). Again - I am really looking forward to this vacation!

Another funny thing about today - So we have been without a person to pick up the trash outside the building for awhile now. And believe me - there is a heck a lot of trash out there and we have a pretty big space, including soccer fields. For the past couple weeks, I have been picking up as much trash as I can while I am outside with the kids and getting quite sick of it. So I passed it off to the kids today. I decided they receive five "good ones" for filling a bag of trash (just for an idea of the scope of this - we filled about 12 bags today). They use their good ones to buy prizes. Hooray for cheap labor! So many kids jumped at the chance to do this. I think I should raise their pay because it is not an easy job, especially in the heat.

Ok off to bed. Hilton Head here I come!

Good News?

2006-06-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

We just found out Thursday that we received a $10,000 grant to use for the summer program. Yes this is very good news and I feel like I should be more excited about it. I do think it is a great thing, but it would have been a lot easier if we had received this money before we did all the planning for the summer program. We had a meeting yesterday about how we can extend the program now and it just stressed me out - which I attribute mostly to the pounding headache I had. It will just be a little difficult to figure out what we can do now in the midst of the actual program going on. Thankfully we have the money now for a little more staff - in addition to Shavaun and I, Dominique will be with us every day (instead of 10 hours a week we can now pay him 28 hours a week - big difference!) We can also hire one more staff person and two junior counselors (high school students). Although I have a feeling it will be a little difficult to find someone available now, for the staff person at least. Please pray that we find a great person soon! Once we find the staff, we will accept more kids and add one hour of activities (two was suggested - but I think one is better for our stress levels). With the money, we can bring in more outside people to do activities (like artists) and go on a few field trips. So that is exciting. And we can plan crafts that involve something more than construction paper and popsicle sticks! I just hope I feel better soon because it is not easy doing this job when you don't feel your best. And I don't see how I can do everything in an 8 hour work day. I have to be with the kids the four hours they are there as a regular staff person - and the other four hours I am supposed to be a youth programs co-coordinator, the facility manager, and for the three and a half weeks Louise will be gone - the administrative assistant. Hmmm....does anyone else see a flaw in this? Once my headache goes away I hope to be more optimistic about all this. I'm sure it will all work out....right?

P.S. More good news: As a part of the budget, Shavaun and I will both be given a $400 stipend at the end of the summer for our hard work! (she is an Americorps volunteer) Unexpected money is always great.

The Perpetrator

2006-06-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is Juma. He is the reason I have had a headache for the past six days! Alright, so it was an accident - but it was Juma who threw the basketball that hit me in the back of the head (very hard I might add). He told me he was trying to pass to James, and I guess I got in the way. Ironically, about five minutes before this incident I had scolded them saying if they kept throwing the ball like that someone would get hurt. Looks like Ms. Maria was right! I have been pretty out of it this week. I was unable to go to work the day after due to a horrible headache, nausea, and an inability to get out of bed. Self-diagnosis: I have a concussion. I made it through work the rest of the week, but it wasn't easy. I was really hoping this headache and sore neck would be gone by now, but it was still there to greet me this morning. I was encouraged to go to the doctor mid-week by a few people, so I went yesterday afternoon and it was a complete waste of time! I figured a doctor wouldn't be able to do anything and I was right. I had to go to a different doctor and this guy wasn't personable at all. He didn't even tell me anything I should be doing to take care of myself! He said it was a "little worrisome" that I still have symptoms but he is 95% sure I am fine. He said I could have a CAT scan, but obviously I declined. So he wasn't helpful at all. I will just stick to getting plenty of rest and taking lots of pain killers. But this whole "taking it easy" thing is getting pretty boring. And it makes me angry that I have to feel like this just because a stupid basketball hit me in the head. This all could have been avoided!

Here's a little insight into the mind of Juma: http://www.xanga.com/liljuma I found this the other day - there is only one entry and I find it very amusing. Believe it or not, he is one of my favorites, although he went a little down on the list after the incident. I think it is hilarious that under his interests he lists "beating people up" followed by "curious george." (it is his favorite book to read - he once told me "I love that little monkey")

I was supposed to work with Cameron this morning, but his mom called to say he was sick. I am glad to get the chance to relax instead. I'm not sure I would have been up to the challenge anyways. (while he is usually pretty good for me, the past two sessions have been difficult) After lunch, we are heading up to Paoli for the weekend. We are going to stay in the same cabin we did for a retreat back in November. Then we are giving the sermon at the Mennonite church Sunday morning. The theme is "experiencing God in community"

Eastern Kentucky

2006-06-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

The LUC had a great trip to Eastern Kentucky last week. It was absolutely beautiful there. We spent the week doing random service projects for different organizations (food boxes, creek clean-up, planting trees, moving stuff, etc.). We also learned a lot about the area and met some quality people. And we went on a couple great hikes. Like I said, it was gorgeous there. I really liked the area and was sad to learn about the coal mining practices, like mountain top removal. If you aren't aware, they actually blow the tops off mountains because it is the cheapest and easiest way to extract coal, and also horrible for the environment and the people who have to live there. The mountain tops have to go somewhere - these valley fills have covered up hundreds of miles of creeks and ruined the area's drinking water, among other environmental problems. Although the coal companies get rich off the business, none of the money stays in the area and there is a very high poverty rate. And did you know you can't buy bottled water with food stamps? Not good for poor families who can't drink their own water. Can we say social justice? Eastern Kentucky could really use some!
The most interesting service project was doing the creek clean-up. I expected just picking up trash, but we dug some crazy stuff up from that creek and hauled it to the side of the road (not easy work!) This picture is an example - I'm not really sure what it is. Something you attach to a truck to pull things I believe (the word for this is escaping me right now) We also found a patio umbrella, a conveyor belt, and some car parts.

Alright, for some reason this stupid thing never lets me put more than three pictures on a post, so this will have to do. I have a lot of great pictures. Anyways, I really enjoyed the trip and a break from the city and work! We got back Friday evening and then I spent the weekend in Cincinnati to visit Vicki. I wasn't quite ready to go back to work today.

So today was the first day of our summer program and I am already exhausted. I hope I have enough energy to make it through this summer. It went okay I guess - but it is hard to pull this off without the support of a full staff. And the kids expect things to be like they were in previous summers, and we are far from it. We are trying our best, but I heard a lot of complaints today. And to top it all off, I was hit in the head by a basketball! The gym was a litlte chaotic with balls flying everywhere. I am actually surprised it took 10 months for something like this to occur with my working conditions! This ball was thrown HARD and it hit me in the back of the head. I blacked out for a second - next thing I knew I was on the ground with a throbbing head and kids swarming around me to see if I was ok. Needless to say I have a horrible headache. I hope it doesn't last long. I need to get some sleep now.

Quick Update

2006-06-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hello - just a quick post to say things have been going well. Last week at work was spent planning for a mini version of the summer program we are going to try to pull off. It starts June 12 and goes to the end of July. We will have activities Monday-Thursday and use Friday as chance to take a break and plan for the next week. I hope it goes well - we will be relying a lot on volunteers! Shavaun and I will be the only summer program staff there every day. It shall be interesting. (did I mention we have been given the titles of youth programs co-coordinators? I was not told this, but saw my name in print with this title!)

So I told Edgardo this past week that if there is money in the budget, I would like to contiune my work at Americana as a part-time job. He said yes. My job will be facility manager/writing the newsletter/administrative duties (getting paid for this will seem weird!) It was also officially confirmed that I will be having my practicum at Americana. This has to be completely separate from my job. It will be with the youth programs - I'm not sure if I've said this on here, but we will have money for youth programs in the fall. We just have to make it through the summer with very limited funding. Anyways, my practicum will be with the after-school program, but I will have different responsibilities as a social work intern than I did in the past as a regular staff member. So after my year of service is over in mid-August I will move into an apartment and start school soon after. But I will pretty much be at Americana the same amount as I am now, plus four classes. Hmmm...I will be busy. I knew I needed to have some sort of job to make money and I'm glad I don't have to start something new! This makes things a lot easier.

Ok so this update hasn't been so quick. I had a good weekend and tomorrow morning the Urban Corps is leaving for Whitesburg (Eastern Kentucky) for a week. We will be doing some service work/visiting the area. I am looking forward to the trip and a week off work. I will return Saturday sometime. I'll let you know how the trip goes. As of now I'm not really sure what we will be doing all week! I'll find out tomorrow - it should be an experience!

Random Story

2006-05-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

So here's an amusing little story (in my mind at least) that I deem post-worthy.

Background: The former financial manager at work, my friend Nedjmija, was one of the employees recently laid off (it kind of worked out for her since she is spending two months in Europe this summer and it looks like they might have the money to rehire her in the fall) Anyways, she has been training another employee to take over for her temporarily. I offered to do the weekly shopping for our supplies, which was one of Nedjmija's duties. They decided it wasn't worth switching over the names on the credit cards since she will most likely be back. I have used these work credit cards with her name on them several times and just sign my name. This was never an issue until my first visit to Sam's Club last week....

Story: First of all, can I mention that I hate Sam's Club. That place gives me a headache. If you've ever been to Sam's Club, you know that you have to be a member to shop there. I am using a card that says Americana Community Center, but also has the name Nedjmija Bosnjakovic on it, along with her picture. No one questioned me when I was entering (it's not like they really look at the card anyways). However the lady at the checkout counter took my card, and then kept looking at the card and then me. My first thought was she could obviously see that it was not me and was going to call me out (can you get in trouble for this?) Instead she asked "how do you say your name?" I responded with the first name. Of course she wanted to know how to say the last name as well (luckily Nedjmija has taught me how to pronounce this). Then the lady said "oh, is that german?" No, it is Bosnian, I replied. I proceeded to tell this woman that I am from Bosnia, but I moved here when I was a baby, which is why I don't have an accent. During this whole conversation I was debating whether to keep it up, or admit that I am not Nedjmija Bosnjakovic (because I think it is rather obvious that I am American!) To make it worse, the lady kept saying "Did you find everything you like Nedjmja?" and "can I help you with anything else Nedjmija?" I felt really stupid. And when it came time to sign, I realized I couldn't just sign my name like usual due to our in-depth conversation, so I signed hers (although I couldn't remember how to spell her last name, so it was just a B with scribbles after it). Nedjmija got a kick out of this story and told me to just sign "NB" in the future. She also said no one has ever started a conversation with her like that. Of course it happened to me. I wonder if I am going to have to keep up this Bosnian facade every time I go to Sam's Club...

That's my story. Hope you found it amusing.

Fabulous Four Day Weekend

2006-05-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

Edgardo decided to give the staff Friday off as well as Monday, so I had a four day weekend. And that means I didn't have to work on my birthday which was a nice present! I had a good 23rd birthday. I'm getting old! My coworker Louise and I (seen in the picture) share the same birthday, so we went out to lunch on our birthdays. Louise is great. She started calling me her daughter this weekend, don't we look alike? So the last day of school for kids here was Thursday. This means that on my birthday I had a lot of visitors all day. The word spread around that it was Ms. Maria's birthday, and that I was having a party. The kids shouldn't have been able to get in the building since the center was closed, but due to a busted out window, they were able to open the back door and come up to my apartment (most of them have figured out I live there now). It was cute, but by dinnertime we had to start ignoring the knocks. They wanted to come to my party. We started the party outside playing croquet and wiffle ball and some kids joined us. We shared the field with a variety of people, and we got some odd looks and stares (everyone else was playing soccer) Two 13 year old African boys decided to join my croquet game. One made it all the way through although he insisted the whole time that "this game suck." Once I started getting bit by mosquitoes the party moved inside (minus the kids!) My good friends Kim and Jenni made the trip from Columbus to come visit for the weekend. I was so glad to have them here for my birthday. They arrived around 10:30 Friday night. We decided to go out dancing around midnight, along with a couple of my coworkers. It was a fun time. So I had a good birthday here!

Saturday was Amy's wedding reception. Kim and Jenni went to see X-men 3 with a couple of my housemates while I went (escorted by my mom Louise). It was a really nice reception, held in her parent's backyard in a very nice neighborhood. I left early to return to my friends, so I missed the salsa band, but not the delicious food. And by the way, the collage of the kids was a big hit among the guests, as well as making Amy cry the second she saw it. I need to make one for myself.

The pastor at my church is taking a four month sabbatical and this was her last Sunday. We will definitely miss her. I am very glad I will see her again since I am sticking around. It was a nice service, followed by a potluck. Those are always good. Kim and Jenni left Sunday early evening. It was great to see them and we had a good weekend.

One of the board members of the program invited us all to her house for a cookout today. It was delicious. And my housemate Ben moved out today. His apprenticeship at Actors Theatre is over now. I can't believe how fast time is going. He was a fun guy to have around, when he was actually around. It is sad to look at his empty room across the hall. I'll miss him. And now Keith is the only male in the house. Poor Keith! Keith, Ben and I stayed up until 4 a.m. this past night watching Lost and talking. The two of them often stayed up late, which I could hear since my room was right across the hall, and I decided to join them for Ben's last night. And I was unable to sleep in today because I worked with Cameron, so I am rather tired! I think it will be an early night. Back to work tomorrow.

More Ramblings

2006-05-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had a day off today which was wonderful! I worked so much last week, plus the yard sale on Saturday, that I was told I could take a day off. I had plenty to do and didn't get half of it done. But one of my accomplishments of the day can be seen in this picture. The former youth programs coordinator (who I miss so much!) is having a wedding reception on Saturday (she was married in Nicaragua and never had a reception here). Anyways she told me on her last day that she didn't have any pictures of the kids, and I was thinking what I should get her, and then the obvious clicked in my brain. So I made this collage for her of the kids. I love it and want to keep it for myself. I will just have to make another one in the future. (And as far as I know, she has no idea that my blog exists, so I don't think I ruined the surprise)

I also got my hair cut today (it had been awhile since my last one - remember that episode??) Anyways, I thought I would include another haircut story to keep the tradition going. I went to a hair design school so I could get a cheap but hopefully good haircut, and it worked out! The student I ended up getting said he has been styling hair for six years, but just moved to Kentucky so he had to go back to school for a few weeks because of a technicality. So I lucked out. I like my hair and it only cost $12 (a lot cheaper than what I usually pay...) However it did take him ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES to wash, cut, and style my hair. And this is with no breaks - I was his only customer. A little on the long side...good thing it was my day off!

So this past weekend was pretty good. Friday night was our good friend Steven's birthday and he had a party at his trailer in Southern Indiana with a "lawn games" theme. It was a fun party. And my birthday is this Friday (in case you forgot!) and I will also be having a party. Wish y'all could come!

Saturday was the yard sale and I am glad that is over! It was my first yard sale, and I did nearly all the work for it. I made Americana $300 and got rid of A LOT of stuff, so I would say it was a success! I started setting up at 7 a.m., by myself, but thankfully some other people came to help me out. I kept the sale going for 8 hours and by the end I was so exhausted. I just left everything out and made it a free for all. It was so funny to watch the kids pile up stuff in trash bags, place it on their heads in true African style, and attempt to ride away on their little bikes.

I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor this week. I am now on two daily prescriptions for my allergies. It is already starting to help which is a good sign. I just don't like the idea of taking medicine every day, and having to pay for it, but it should be worth it. The doctor told me I looked miserable, which I was.

One more thing I wanted to say - I finally have a host family here. This was something our director said we would have in the beginning, but it never happened. Then our pastor decided to get us all set up with families. My host dad is Dave (who you know as the Amish man at the Derby). Anyways his family took me out to dinner and for icecream on Monday. They have two adorable little kids. It was a good time.

Alright goodbye for now!

Oh wait - so the season finale of Lost was tonight - and oh my goodness! What an addicting show. I love it and hate it for leaving so much unanswered! No new episodes for a few months, it is rather sad.

So What's New With Me?

2006-05-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

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!

More Derby Pictures!

2006-05-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

Blogger won't allow me to include these pictures in my last post. So here they are.

Like I said, we could actually see the horses! Here is a view of them sprinting by through the fence. When they weren't by us, we could watch the rest of the race on the jumbo-tron TV seen in the picture.

A glimpse of the infield

The LUC!

Derby!

2006-05-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very long and a very fun day. It was definitely an experience. We were up a little after 6 a.m. to get an early bus to Churchill Downs. We arrived to meet Dave, who goes to our church and is involved with Urban Corps. He calculated that this was his 30th Derby. Dave is hardcore. Every year he arrives at 7 a.m. to claim a place in line before the gates open at 8 a.m. When the gates open, he sprints across the field to stake out his territory with tarps. This year Emily ran with him while the rest of us got to take our time. The sprinting is worth it. We got a space right by the fence around the track. So we could actually see the horses when they ran by (and I was amazed by how fast they were!) I should mention we were in the infield where thousands upon thousands of people come to experience Derby. Most of them can't see a damn thing. But we could. It cost $40 to enter the infield. I don't even want to think how much actual seats cost. And did I mention that every year Dave comes to the Derby decked out in Amish gear? (he is a Mennonite). He is always interviewed by reporters and people come up to take pictures with him. Here he is explaining to us the art of betting on horse races (he even had a spreadsheet analysis - like I said, very hardcore)

The races started around 11. The Derby is the tenth race which was around 6. Like I said, it was a long day. I put a few bets on the Derby. Unfortunately I did not win anything. But I only lost $9. I should have put some money on Barbaro. He was the favorite, but as Dave pointed out, the favorite had only won once in the past 15 years. So this made the second time.

So what did we do to pass the time? Time was spent napping, walking around in the crowds, standing in long lines, and of course, drinking some mint juleps, the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. Dave and his friends have a mint julep race, or the "Drinking Derby" which can be seen on the bright green poster which marked our spot. They had little horses which moved a spot on the track every time they finished a drink. The picture above is Dave and his friend "The Checkerboard Buddha" with the first mint juleps of the day (at 8:30 in the morning). I had a couple myself. I think this was the first time I have had a drink so early in the morning! They cost a disgusting $9 a piece! (I only paid for one, and I got to keep my glass...) There is a great story behind the "Checkerboard Buddha" which I would love to tell you sometime if you want to hear it.

It was a fabulous day. I heard lots of horror stories about the infield before I went, but it really wasn't that bad. Yes there was lots of drunkeness, but I didn't see anything too crazy. And the weather was perfect! No rain, so no mud, and not too hot. But definitely sunny. I could always brag that I have never had a sunburn, but I got one yesterday. We were in the sun for a long time. The back of my shoulders are red today and they hurt a little bit. And my face is hot. But it's not too bad. After the Derby race we headed home. The traffic was going to be horrible no matter what, so we walked. We are only a couple miles from the Downs. It took about an hour. We probably could have made it faster if we weren't so dead tired. What a way to end the day. I collapsed on our futon once arriving in the door at 8 p.m. Once I woke up I was too tired to make myself something to eat, so I had Hot Cheetos and icecream for dinner. Not a good idea. I awoke in the middle of the night with a very upset stomach. Lots of sun, some alcohol, and a dinner like mine do not make a good combination. I will end the post with some more pictures of the day. (pictures to come soon....computer being stubborn!)

Life Outside of Work

2006-05-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

I was looking over my past few entries and realized they are almost entirely about work. So obviously my job is very important to me and I have a lot to say about it, especially due to recent happenings. However in this post I will try to avoid the subject. But just in case you were wondering, the past week went pretty well. Thursday was a little crazy, but that's life at Americana. I do miss my former coworkers though :( And I think the kids still like me although they aren't a big fan of our "new" after-school schedule. Ok I'm done. Let's move on...

So here are some fun things I've done recently:
-Andrea, Emily, and I took our "little sisters" to a baseball game last week: the Louisville Bats vs. the Columbus Clippers. I wasn't sure who to cheer for! (not that we watched most of the game, we spent a considerable amount of time at the playground). I believe this was my first baseball game outside of Bluffton games. It was a good time, and by the way the tickets were free. That's one perk of Big Brothers/Big Sisters - free tickets. This Wednesday we are taking our sisters to "Champions on Ice". I am very excited about this because I still love figure skating and many of the skaters from the recent Olympics will be there. Tickets cost around $40, and we are going for free!
-We finally started working on our garden plot this past week. Our friend Emily came over and helped me get the ground ready. We had fun trying to figure out how to use a tiller. Gardening is hard work! I definitely got some exercise, and also hurt my back. We are now attempting to grow mint, carrots, and spinach. We will plant more soon.
-We saw this season's final play at Actors Theatre Thursday night. It was an excellent show. One of my favorites. It was called "Crowns" and it was fabulous! So I pretty much saw every single play they had this season, except all the ones in the Humana Festival (I only saw three). And all for free. If you do the math, it would be hundreds of dollars in tickets. I am very sad that there will be no more plays to attend, until next season that is. But no Ben next season. Alisa and I need to make friends with another apprentice or become ushers or something to score more free ticekts.

And I guess that brings me to this announcement...It's official, I will be staying in Louisville after the program is done in August. Alisa will also be staying (she has a great job with a jeweler here and wants to contiune with it). And I will be attending the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. It is a two year program. I finally got my acceptance letter after sending my college transcript three times. Now I am working on getting a practicum set up for the first year, and I finished my scholarship applications last week. I hope to get something. But even in the worst case scenario that I am offered no financial aid, the school is relatively cheap (especially since I can be considered a Kentucky resident).

Alisa and I are almost 100% sure where we will be living after mid August. The director of our program, Susan, casually mentioned a few weeks ago that she rents a three bedroom apartment attatched to her house. We had no idea! She would like to know the people living above her, and it would be nice to personally know our landlord. She has a great house in Old Louisville, a cool part of town which is right down the road from the U o f L campus (I could walk). It is a pretty nice apartment, with our own deck! So this makes things extremely easy for us. I wasn't looking forward to trying to find a place to live. And the rent is a pretty good deal: $350 a month including utilities. Now how I am going to pay for that rent I am not sure yet, but I'll worry about that later. And it looks like we will have our friend Dan as a third housemate, who we know from chuch. So things are just working themselves out. It seems almost too easy! I think some of my friends and my family are a little bummed I am not returning to Columbus, but I am really not that far. And I still see them pretty often. But I do miss them.

Oh yeah, what else has been going on lately? The Derby! The amount of hype that leads to this two minute race is truly insane/ridiculous. But the two week celebration is finally over. After the air show, fireworks, hot air balloon races, steamboat races, a huge parade, marathons, parties, etc., Derby season is now over. I should mention several of my housemates, including me, got out of work early because of Derby festivities. Friday evening we had some of the youth over from our church for a Derby Party. We played ultimate frisbee and Apples to Apples. It was a fun time. Then I headed to another Derby/birthday/Cinco de Mayo party. And yesterday was the Derby. I think this justifies another post....

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye...

2006-04-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

As I said before, Thursday was the final day for our regular after-school program and the last day for several youth programs staff. We ended two weeks early. Here are some pictures of me and my kids on the last day. The party and talent show went really well. Things ran pretty smoothly, by our standards at least. It was the best talent show we had this year (our third one). For the final act, the staff peformed a dance to a Jackson 5 song, complete with some 70's costumes. We made it up and rehearsed it earlier that day. The kids seemed to enjoy it. I made a video of our farewell party. It turned out well - I got some great footage of the kids. Speaking of videos, I also finished my video for Extreme Home Makeover last week and I am going to mail it in with the application tomorrow. I got some really good footage with that too. How can ABC pass up my cute kids?? Anyways, I really enjoyed our last day and tried not to think about how sad it was until it was over. Afterwards I went out with several of my coworkers and then it started to sink in. We really had a great after-school staff and we worked well together. And the coordinator did an amazing job. It will be hard without them. We had a great year and I am sad that it is over. But those of us who remain are going to do all that we can. Tomorrow starts the first day of our "new" after-school schedule. For the next three weeks we will be open three days a week for two hours, for homework help only. Most of our volunteers are going to keep coming which is great. And the kids can still come to eat at Kids Cafe. But that's it. I have a feeling this is going to be hard to enforce, but we'll see how it goes. A lot of the kids won't understand why we can't just have the normal program. I'm going to be asked over and over why I can't open the gym or the computer lab and I will keep having to tell them no. I am not looking forward to that. I had a super long meeting on Friday about our possiblities for the summer and also about keeping the community garden going. So don't worry, I will have plenty to do. And I will still get to see the kids. But this transition time is going to be rough. And whatever happens in the summer, it won't be the same without all the staff that were laid off.

And this weekend sucked. My last entry on Thursday night says I had a horrible headache and basically it never went away. I'm not sure what is wrong, but I have felt awful the past few days. Talk about bad timing. First off it is no fun being sick on the weekend when I would much rather be out doing things. And it gave me lot of time to sit around and dwell on what has happened this past week, which is not good either. I didn't make it out much - only for church tdoay. And I have slept A LOT. I have enjoyed having time to read for pleasure this year, but I couldn't even do that this weekend! I could only make it through two pages of my book with this headache. Staring at my computer isn't helping either. Hopefully I feel better soon. It is important that I am at work this week, and Derby is next weekend! I need to get rested up for that. Ok I can't take this headache anymore, goodnight.

Check This Out

2006-04-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the after-school program and the last day for several staff. It has been a very busy, crazy, stressful day, but also a great one. So many emotions are going through me right now I don't even know what to say. So I will write on this later, but for now, check out this article about Americana:

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/COLUMNISTS05/604270377

It was in the Courier Journal today. (Louisville's main newspaper). I guess it is good we are getting some publicity....

Don't worry you will hear from me soon. It has been a long day and I have a terrible headache, so I need to go to bed. Tomorrow at work is going to suck. I don't want to go. Blah.

Thoughts on Thunder...and other things

2006-04-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Saturday marked the beginning of the two week long celebration until the Kentucky Derby on May 6 (and heck yes I am going, you will hear more on that later) I heard someone describe Derby as a season around here; you have Christmas, Easter, and then Derby. I would say I agree so far. Yesterday was "Thunder over Louisville". According to the news, a crowd of 800,000 headed down to the waterfront for this event. There was an air show all afternoon, "The best air show ever" apparently. We got downtown around 5ish and it was well underway and contiuned until the fireworks. We ran into a couple protestors along the way and talked to them a bit. They gave us a flyer and I have to say I definitely agree with their argument. The whole display was very militaristic. I'll admit the planes were cool looking, but when you think of their real purpose, it is rather disturbing. These protestors had some good points, such as "don't equate reveling in glamorized military might with patriotism" and my favorite "Respect and welcome Louisville's growing immigrant communities, some of whom relive the terror of warplanes bombing their towns." I think that is well put. We had discussions about this at work the past week. We live right by the airport and they were testing those damn planes all week. Heck, I had dreams about being bombed! And I know it disturbed some of the kids, and adults too I'm sure. Anyways, after the controversial air show (in my mind at least) was a rather impressive display of fireworks, fired off from the Second Street Bridge over the Ohio River. They say it is the biggest and best fireworks display in the nation and I would have to agree. Definitely the best I have ever seen. We watched them from inside the Presbyterian headquarters downtown (thanks to a friend of the LUC). There was a big window up high with a great view of the bridge, so we could see them well. However I must say I prefer watching fireworks outside. But we did get the benefit of air conditioning and clean restrooms, along with delicious free food provided for us. We did brave the crowds for awhile and walk around before the fireworks and it was pretty insane. So was getting home. We took the bus, but it took us forever to get out of the massive crowd of people to get to the bus stop (the normal one, not the special one running just for Thunder, we're cheap). We were stuck in a traffic jam of people for a good twenty minutes, barely moving. Of course my allergies were acting up and I had an asthma attack at this precise moment. We finally made it to the bus, only to sit on it for a good hour and a half before returning home! But it was a fun night. I did enjoy the fireworks although the still bitter side of me was thinking "one of those fireworks could have saved Americana Community Center!" The whole thing cost $6 million!! Isn't that ridiculous? And it was rather ironic that Thunder coincided with Earth Day this year.

Tomorrow starts the last week of the full-blown after-school program. We are going to end on Thursday with a party and talent show. And Friday will be the last day of work for those getting laid off. So last week at work wasn't too bad. We told the kids on Tuesday (right after I returned from my mini-break at home, which really was perfect timing to get away). But then I was snapped back into reality. Most of them don't really get it, especially the younger ones. Or they won't realize it until it's over. Some were really sad though, and that was hard. And the behavior has gotten worse since we told them. Again, it hasn't quite sunk in for me. But the mood at work has been more hopeful than I expected. The rumor mill has been spreading around town that we are completely shutting down, which is obviously not the truth. I guess you could describe it as more of a "step back" or a "restructuring." It seems like things will look up again in the near future (at least that is what they are leading us to believe). Those of us who remain will contiune providing homework help three days a week until school is over, along with some volunteers hopefully. And we will still have Kids Cafe, which provides dinner for the kids three days a week. And it looks like we will be able to offer activities in the summer, although it won't be a full-blown summer program like they have had in the past. It still sucks though. It will be sad to not work with these people after next week. I don't even want to think about it! And it looks like the job of youth programs coordinator will be put on Shavaun and I this summer. Not sure we can live up to the great job that Amy did with this - they are really losing a valuable person. I have been having fun with my coworkers lately. We had a "poker night" the other day at my apartment after work and I won!! We each put in $2 so I got a little money too. I have never won poker before so that was exciting for me. Friday night a bunch of us went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. And then a few of us went out to kareoke. That was a lot of fun. It was this little Korean place where you rent a private room. For anyone who went to Vietnam with me, it was very similar to what we did there. It was an amusing time, especially since none of us can really sing. Ah..good times. I hope to still hang out with these people often after they are no longer working with me!

Ok time for bed. It's going to be a long week.....

Can I borrow a couple hundred......thousand?

2006-04-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday evening I went out after work to a Japanese restaurant with several of my co-workers. I tried sushi for the first time (actually I just tried the vegetable rolls, I really don't think I can handle the raw fish). Anyways, it was a good time and as always I enjoyed the company of the great people I work with. None of us knew what would happen the next day....(like my attempts of making this really dramatic? well actually, it is very dramatic, keep reading...)

Thursday started off as a normal morning at work, and then I was called into Edgardo's office around 11:30 to find this out: The community center is struggling with money, a lot more than most of us realized, so as a last resort, several people have to be laid off. The majority of the people in this picture will no longer have jobs at Americana after two weeks. Since I am not paid by the community center, but by Urban Corps, they can obviously afford to keep me. So I will be sticking around, but my job duties will definitely change. As Edgardo was explaining all this, it took a few minutes for the impact of all this to hit me. The entire after-school staff has to be laid off, including the youth programs coordinator (who has done so much for the center and did most of the work for our new community garden). The financial manager and even the janitors are being laid off as well. Others have to cut back their hours. This leaves only three full-time paid staff. My friend Shavaun and I will still be working there full-time as well through August at no cost to them (Shavaun is there through Americorps). But everyone else sadly has to go. I am very sad that I will no longer be working with these great people every day. But the worst part by far will be having to tell the kids this. In case you didn't catch this, since we will no longer have youth programs staff, we will no longer have youth programs. We are going to have to shut down the after-school program in two weeks (luckily only two weeks earlier than we had already planned since school will be done next month). And we will not be having a summer program, which they have had for years at the center It was going to serve over 100 kids. And most of the after-school staff was going to stay for the summer program, which I was excited for. The kids do not know yet. We have not discussed yet how or when we are going to tell them. I'm not quite sure how I am going to tell all my adorable African children that they can no longer come to the community center. It breaks my heart.

You may be wondering how this came about out of nowhere. I'm sure it is something the directors have been struggling with for a long time, but they did not let us in on it. Funding from multiple sources has been cut or lessened. A lot of non-profits are struggling with the economy right now. So it was not just one thing, but several. I am sure they fought hard and tried to do everything they could so it would not come to this. But in the end it had to. So unless a miracle happens, this is how it has to be. This is obviously a very depressing situation and I have taken it pretty hard. I am very emotionally invested in this job. And I didn't see it coming at all. But I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. I have had eight wonderful months working there, and I still have four more to go. I am wondering what exactly my job will be without the kids. I will still be the facility manager, but that is not a full-time job. I am sure I will just end up helping out with whatever needs done. Whether that be financial, administrative, etc. And I will have a part in deciding where we should go from here and what we can do with the staff we have. I am sure I will keep busy, but it won't be the same. But I fully intend to continue building relationships with the kids I have come to know and love. I will still see them since they live right by the community center and will most definitely be hanging around outside in the summer. Shavaun and I are going to decide what we can do between the two of us. And the current staff has already said they would be willing to volunteer so maybe we could run the program one day a week. I am up for part of my job to simply be going outside and hanging out with the kids that are there. And I guess I will be helping out with the garden as well. So I am not sure what the future holds, but part of my job will be figuring out what we are still capable of doing at the center. And I have a feeling this will be a question: so what will still go on at the community center? Well, the adult education program that is run through the public schools will still be there. They have a summer G.E.D. and ESL program. There is also an ESL program in the morning for kids, which mostly targets the Hispanic population. Not so much the African population though (which was what our afternoon program would have been). And groups contiunally rent the center for various things. So it will still be running, but without our current youth programs that were staffed and paid for by the center. They worked so hard to get where we were, but we are in a need of a lot of money to keep it going. The associate director worded it something like this: I feel like I have been climbing a mountain the past five years and I finally reached the top, just to be kicked down. Horrible huh??

Well I still have two more weeks of working normally before it will really sink in. So everyone pray for a miracle and if you have a couple hundred thousand dollars laying around you would like to donate, let me know! With something so drastic happening, maybe we will be able to get the money we need as people realize the scope of it. But that is a small hope. An even smaller hope is my Extreme Home Makeover application. I was halfway done with the video when I found this out, and I decided to keep going with it. I am going to finish it up next week. It does make for a better story. I put a new "interview" with me in the middle. I taped myself while I was alone in the house during my lunch break and I explained the new situation, without holding back my emotions. That's the kind of stuff that show is made of. And how will they be able to resist my footage of all the cute little refugee children, knowing that without out their help the youth program will shut down. Now wouldn't that be a miracle!!

I apologize for the long entry, but I obviously have a lot going through my mind. And the next few weeks will be a little hard for me. Right now I am at home in Ohio for Easter. I drove home last night after work. It will be good to get a little break and spend time with family and friends. I should get back to that now. I will return to Louisville Monday evening or Tuesday morning.

Oh one more thing I have to mention. After we were all told this information Thursday, we decided we could not go through with having the after-school program like normal and closed it for the day. We sat around for a good hour or so just being depressed and coming up with crazy ideas for fundraising that made us all laugh. And then we decided we needed to go somewhere and we ended up at Hooters. I had never been there, but a few others (who were females by the way) decided they were in the mood for some good chicken wings and beer. It was comfort food. And they do have good chicken by the way. And the next morning at seminar when Susan asked if any of us went to a Maundy Thursday service I replied "Nope, I was at Hooters!" What a way to spend my Maundy Thursday. In shock/depressed at Hooters with some great people. Oh yeah, Happy Easter to everyone, however you may be spending it!

Rest and Relaxation

2006-04-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

Things were back to normal today after a nice & easy week at work and a quiet, relaxing weekend. The kids were on spring break last week and we had activities planned for them only three days and we were done by 5. It was nice to get home at a normal time for a week and work less than usual. The weather was beautiful and we were outside most of the time. It was pretty low-key. We had around 20 kids each day, which is so much easier to manage! And I got my exercise while at work: kickball, frisbee, flying kites (which the kids made), gardening, relay races, etc. It was a fun week. We also tye dyed shirts, which was one of the things I planned. I was a little nervous about it, but it turned out great! Friday was the easiest day at work I think I have ever had. “International Youth Day” was held in our parking lot and I had nothing to do with the planning. It was basically a party in the parking lot and I just got to hang out all day and enjoy having no responsibility for the event. It was wonderful. And although the weather got a little crazy later, it was beautiful for this.

That brings me to the start of my relaxing weekend. Three of my housemates were in Chicago, so the house was rather quiet, especially compared to last weekend when we had a house full of guests. The excitement of Friday again was the weather. Early evening I was the only one in the house watching a movie when I heard the tornado sirens go off. Five minutes earlier it was nice and sunny out, so I just ignored them. Then Katie runs in from outside holding marble sized pieces of hail in her hand. It was crazy outside. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to turn off the movie and check the weather. Right as I do the weatherman says "A funnel cloud was just spotted (insert my exact location in Louisville here)" So we decided it was a good idea to go in the basement. Luckily nothing hit the ground, but the weather was definitely insane. Two tornado warnings in less than a week. I hope this isn't normal! After Keith returned safe from work, the three of us decided to watch "The Big Lebowski" which inspired us to be lazy and bum around. Since the weather calmed down we sat out on our "porch" for a couple of hours and just talked. It was nice. By the way, our "porch" is a mini roof we can climb to from Ben's window which overlooks the back parking lot. Now that it is warm I have a feeling we will spend a lot of time out there. I enjoyed my first roof experience here. It is also a good way to help monitor some of the "activities" that go on after dark in our parking lot. I think we might have stopped some drug deals! A few cars sped off after they spotted us. The rest of the weekend was even less eventful, so I can stop here. But I enjoyed it. The three of us left in Louisville had a nice, quiet weekend. The dynamic in the house really changes when you take half of us away. (but I was happy to see the rest return, in case you were worried!)

And one more thing. One of my housemates watches “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” on ABC every Sunday and I usually join her. We always comment that we should nominate our building for a makeover. Well I actually decided to do it. I have the application filled out and I started the video tonight. I think we have a great story - three non-profit organizations housed in a 50 year old school building! This place could definitely use some repairs & improvements. I will start filming at work tomorrow - the cute little kids will be the ones to sell this. Not that I actually expect we will be chosen, chances are slim to none, but it is fun to try! I think it fits in my job description as facilities manager. Why not try to get the community center a free makeover?

Hooray for Spring!

2006-04-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Well I can't top Laura having her baby, but in addition to the birth of Trevor, April 1st was also the day of our community garden kick-off. We divided our garden into 50 plots and we have a diverse group of people signed up. It is an exciting project and a great way to get the neighborhood together. Saturday served as an orientation and gardeners had a chance to paint a sign to mark their plot. You can see the beautiful sign my housemate Katie painted for our plot. We haven't started planting yet. That shall come soon. A lot of our kids showed up because their families signed up for plots. They seem really excited about the garden. We have a few plots set aside just for the kids. We will be doing some gardening with them in the coming weeks. I guess I will be learning a few things! Luckily Saturday was a beautiful day for this event. It got a little out of control at the end when a lot of kids showed up (including ones banned from the center) and wanted to run through the garden and paint everything (including me). But for the most part, it was a good time.

The rest of the weekend was good too. We had a lot of visitors, so our house was full. Most of them were there because of the Humana Festival at the theatre. Friday night I got to see two more excellent plays back to back. The second one was put on by the apprentice company, so we got to see our housemate Ben in action. I also played pool two nights in a row, but I still suck. Actually I think I might be getting worse! Sunday's excitement was the weather. I was rather annoyed when they interrupted "Desperate Housewives" ten minutes in to report the same things over and over. Eventually the tornado sirens went off and we all hung out in the basement of the community ministries for awhile. We had bad weather, but no twisters near us.

That is us being scared because of the tornado warning! And that brings me to this week. It is spring break!! Not that I actually get the week off because I work at a community center, not a school, but it is still exciting. We are having spring break camp Tues, Wed, and Thurs for the kids, and earlier in the day which makes me happy. We have a lot of fun activities planned, most of them outdoors, so I hope the weather is nice. It will be a nice break from the norm. Today no kids and I got home at 5:00. What an easy day! Andrea and I had our "little sisters" over this evening. It had been a month since we saw them last because they were in the process of moving and we couldn't get a hold of them. We made cookies and played darts and they loved it. They are so easily entertained. But we now have a few extra holes in our wall due to their lack of aim. And here's a story for you: After we picked them up they talked about the new fish they got the whole car ride (which is unfortunately 20 minutes, I wish they lived closer). These fish really excited them. So when we dropped them off they really wanted us to come in and see the fish. Well we get up to their room and their favorite fish was not in the tank. I looked down and it was on the carpet dead!! Their cat knocked off the lid and threw it to the floor apparently. I felt so bad, but yet I had to try so hard not to laugh. Their mom promised them a new fish and they said a little prayer over it as they flushed it down the toilet. (including asking God to get them a new fish) If you had been there, I bet you would have been amused as well. And here's a picture of Krissy next to the first dart she got in the wall (several of them followed) Notice how it is nowhere near the dart board.
Well that's all for now, hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Oh yeah..one more thing, I tried Ethiopian food for the first time last week and I loved it! I always heard it is a little weird and assumed I wouldn't like it, but it's great. I even liked the spongy bread. I went with a bunch of my coworkers and we plan to go again sometime. Especially since this Ethiopian restaurant also has a bar which becomes a salsa club on the weekends! What a great combination!

The Joy of Non-Profits

2006-03-29T00:43:00.000-08:00

Someone, who shall not be named, once asked me why in the world I would want to work in a non-profit because you always have to beg for money. I now have experience working with non-profits and realize yes, this is the case. You are always struggling for money, which you get from several different sources. These past few days I have done a lot of asking for money. On Saturday I was one of those people who stands in the middle of a street (on a median) with a little bucket collecting money. I stood in the cold in the middle of a busy street for 4 hours with a bright orange vest, shaking my little bucket in hopes that someone would roll down their window to contribute a dollar or some change. And several people did. I actually got over $100 by the end (and I was sharing the median with two other people!) I found this rather impressive. Oh, and I should mention this was for the Humane Society. If you are wondering why in the world a girl who is allergic to all animals is standing in the cold for hours collecting money for them...well it's because my friend asked me to. In addition to working with me at Americana, she also works at the Humane Society and needed volunteers to do this. So I did it. And it was actually pretty fun. I almost got hit by a few cars, but all in all it was a good time. My friend told me that last year they made $30,000 in one day doing this! (they had people stationed all over Louisville). I don't know the total for this year yet. Do you think I could fund my next trip to Europe/Asia/Africa this way? That would be awesome! And back to asking for money for real causes - the past couple days I have had to make several phone calls to places I looked up in the yellow pages about making donations to our new community garden. Oh yeah, I don't think I mentioned on here yet that Americana Community Center will soon have a community garden, which I think is exciting. My housemates and I will have a plot. I have never gardened before, so it will be a learning experience for me. It opens this Saturday! But we have a lot that still needs done, hence all the phone calls. I have decided asking for money is not all that bad, and it can be fun coming up with creative ways to raise money. It's a good thing I think this way since it is essential for the career path I am choosing. I might change my mind in a few years :)

What else...things are still good here. I really do love where I work and think it is a great place. Every day is different. You never know what is going to happen. This past weekend was good, but not much to report except next time you see someone standing on the street, consider giving them a dollar! Now that I've been there, I think I will. I saw another good play Saturday night at Actors Theatre as part of the Humana Festival that is going on there. For a month they are premiering new American plays. I saw one called "Natural Selection" which was rather amusing. One of the characters was very into blogging which made me laugh. Then I played pool for a couple hours which is apparently the new thing to do around here. I have never really played before so I'm pretty bad, but I think my skills are slightly improving after a couple times. Sunday I did therapy with Cameron for the first time all by myself for two hours. It went pretty well, although I need to check a book out on sign language and try to learn some more. And this little boy was definitely testing me since I'm new. But when I think of some of the things I have dealt with in the past, it was a breeze! However, it is still rather challenging.

Ok I need to go to bed. But one more thing. I have recently become addicted to playing Pacman. So if you would like to be addicted too, here you go: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pacman.html I don't know what it is about this game. I remember playing it when I was little at my friend's house and I thought it was so cool. This was before we had a computer at my house. And I rediscovered it a couple weeks ago when we added some new games to our kid's computer lab at work, including this one. All the kids love it too. This game is timeless!

St. Patty's Day, more visitors, & future plans

2006-03-22T23:23:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my housemate Keith & I on St. Patrick's Day. This is before I decided to put green dye in my beer which stained my lips green. Notice my nice hat which I received in London last year. Great memories! I was chased by a homeless man wearing this hat. Remember that Reba?? Anyways, we had some people over for a party at our place on St. Patty's Day. My housemate Katie went all out and made corn beef, potatoes, cabbage, and other Irish food. It was a good time. I left the party a little early with some of my coworkers/friends to go out dancing which is always a fun time.

On Saturday afternoon my parents & sister arrived. It was nice to have them here. They hadn't been here since they moved me in back in August, and they didn't see any of the city then. They stayed until Tuesday morning (my parents in a hotel, Denise on my floor - it is her spring break). It was a nice visit and it was fun to show them around and see what my life is like here. Unfortunately my dad wasn't feeling too well. My mom and sister came to the after-school program on Monday. My mom was busy the whole time helping kids with homework and Denise helped some too. They both enjoyed it and I was glad they got a taste of what I deal with every day! And I think it was good for Denise to interact with kids not as privileged as she is! Of course all the boys loved her. I must say I am still a little uncomfortable hearing boys say my little sister is hot. I don't like it at all! She's only 12!! Several of them wanted to ask her out and this one boy has been bugging me for her phone number the past couple of days. Craziness. Yeah, I don't want to repeat some of the comments I have heard regarding my baby sister!

I got my acceptance letter for the Master of Social Work Program at Ohio State yesterday. I haven't heard back from the Univeristy of Louisville yet, but I think it is safe to assume I am accepted there as well. Ohio State says I have to decide by May 1 and I am assuming U of L will be similar. So looks like I have a little over a month to decide. I don't know anything about financial aid or scholarships yet, which could possibly influence my decision. But as of now I would say I am most likely staying here. I would have someone to live with (Alisa) and I really do love where I work and want to be involved there for more than just a year. Of course moving back to Columbus and being by my family and friends again wouldn't be horrible either. Ah, decisions, decisions....

Oh have I got a story for you!

2006-03-12T20:17:00.000-08:00

I decided this story was good enough for a separate post. So when I arrived home last night around 2:30 a.m. there were three cop cars and an ambulance in the parking lot of the church next door, along with a few extra cars in our parking lot as always. Someone was being put in the ambulance on a stretcher. I didn't think much of it as I am used to seeing odd things in our parking lot. Plus I was very tired and just wanted to go to bed. Before I fell asleep I heard our phone ring and then a knock on my door, but decided to ignore it because I just wanted to sleep. Well I wish I would have gotten up to see the excitement, but only Alisa got to witness it. Around 3:30 a.m. as she was lying in bed, she heard some noises from outside her window (which faces the parking lot). She decided to look since her car window was smashed in last week (that's right, again) and therefore is a little paranoid. She saw a woman in a white tube top dress carrying a red can of gasoline. She put it in her car and drove away. And right then, an SUV sitting in our parking lot BURST INTO FLAMES! That's right, a car was lit on fire in our parking lot last night. Luckily Alisa witnessed it and called 911 and the fire was put out. After she spoke with the cops last night and the fire marshall today, I think we have figured out what happened. First someone slashed the tires of the SUV, for a reason unknown to us. The owner of the SUV then beat up the person who did this (this is the fight I saw the end of in the parking lot next door). So the wife of the person who was beat up returned to the SUV and lit it on fire! I think I got that right. The beat up SUV was still there this morning. The cops were shocked that we do not have security cameras in our parking lot. It is something that is really needed. The community center could really use them. Edgardo had me look into getting cameras after two of our computers were stolen, a few months ago but what it came down to is we do not have enough money (the joy of nonprofits!) So nothing was ever done. I think I will bring up this issue again in tomorrow's staff meeting. We need to find the money somewhere. The warmer weather has brought the return of the Bosnians (the large group of people with their loud cars and illegal activity that like to hang out in our parking lot at all hours). And I don't think I ever mentioned that a pair of tennis shoes were hung from our telephone wires again about a month ago. So I had the joy of calling LG&E again to get them removed. Since it has happened twice, I think it must mean something. (gang activity, place to get drugs, etc.) Well, despite all this, I still love our neighborhood!

The Return of Chad and Joel

2006-03-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

That's right, Chad and Joel made another trip to Louisville this weekend for a visit. So for all my friends who have yet to make it, they have been here twice! I think my housemates enjoy their company. In the picture of all of us, I am holding up a picture of Reba again, but it's a little hard to see. (we miss you!) So obviously I had an enjoyable weekend! They arrived Friday afternoon, right as the kids start arriving for the after-school program (remember I live in the same building I work). I went out to greet them in the parking lot (with a hug) and then let them into my apartment. I guess a couple of kids saw, so the new rumor going around is that Ms. Maria has two boyfriends, and Said added that I also cheat on them in front of eachother. After a mostly enjoyable "Fun Friday" at work, the weekend began. Friday was Katie's birthday, so we all went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was delicious! Saturday Chad, Joel, and I went to dinner at the Vietnam Kitchen, one of my favorites. We decided to walk because it finally stopped raining, and on the way I ran into several of the kids I work with. The rumors will still be flying tomorrow! Kids are funny. Saturday evening we went to the goatwalker at Jeff Street, and then headed to a yoga party at our friend Brian's house. That's right a yoga party. Every ten minutes or so we would all stop to do a yoga pose and see who could hold it the longest. I discovered that I can still hold a headstand for quite awhile! (not exactly yoga, but I threw it in). Once everyone was sick of yoga, it turned into a dance party. It was a fun night. In Joel's words, "well that was a very interesting party." Hopefully I will be able to post a couple pictures from it soon. And I am a little sore today. Chad & Joel departed after a wonderful church service and an enjoyable lunch at the Santa Fe Grill. I am not used to eating out so much - my stomach and wallet need a break. The rest of today was spent relaxing, reading, and cleaning. It was a great weekend.

Book & Movie Suggestions: I watched some great movies this past week. In my opinion, "Walk the Line" and "Constant Gardener" are must-sees. Especially the second one. We also ended up watching this German movie called "The Edukators" yesterday. If you like foregin films, this is a good one. And I think everyone should read "The Heart of Christianity" by Marcus Borg. We are reading it for our seminar. We are only a couple chapeters in, but so far I think it is fabulous. We had a great discussion this past Friday (I think having seminar at a coffee shop instead of our living room helped with this, I was actually awake). I am also currently reading "The Poisonwood Bible". Another great one. Isn't it great to not be in school and have time to watch movies and read for pleasure?? (well for those of you who aren't in school that is!)

My Sons and Daughters

2006-03-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

I went home this past weekend for Denise's birthday (I had to make up for missing it last year because I was in Europe - yes that's right, last year at this time I was in Paris) And exciting news, I just found out that I will most likely be making another trip to Europe next summer (in 2007) - to Switzerland and France with my family. Maybe I can make it to Bangladesh as well.... Anyways, Denise's birthday is actually today, she is 12, hard to believe! And having her first boy/girl party this Friday. Not sad I am missing that! But I had a great time at home. I didn't have to work as late on Friday so I got home at a decent time and then made the drive back Monday morning. And my mom bought me the Rent soundtrack (double disc version), so I had something to entertain me on the road. And I am listening to the music right now. And I listened to it at work today. I must admit, I am a little obsessed. I love it! Why did it take me so long to discover this musical? Well back to home...I got a chance to see my friends, even Vicki who was home from law school, so that was nice. Yeah nothing exciting, but it was a good time. I realized I have gone home every month since Thanksgiving for one reason or another, and it is a little much, just because of the long drive and gas money - it's not as easy as the trip from Bluffton! But I always enjoy my time there, so I guess it is worth it!

So you may be wondering what this has to do with my title and the answer is nothing. I will get to that now. I recently came to the realization that I am in love with several of the kids I work with. I feel like they are my children. Is this normal? One of my co-workers and I actually refer to them as our sons and daughters. For example, the other day Louise said to me "Hey, our son is here early" and I knew exactly who she was talking about. Louise and I have a few kids together now. I try very hard not to show favortism though. It wasn't so easy today. My son Jamal was crying because someone stole his CDs and I felt so bad for him! I mean he had tears streaming down his face. He showed me who took them and let's just say I was not very nice to this guy (plus, he isn't one of my sons!) He was older and claimed that Jamal stole his homework first, but I assumed he was lying. Which he probably was. But I should probably talk to my son tomorrow to make sure he isn't stealing people's homework. In addition to Jamal, I have also decided that Juma, James, Fatuma, Amina, Ibrahim, and Gesma are also my children. The list will surely grow. I haven't heard back from grad schools, so I have yet to make my decision. But my children are one reason it would be hard to leave Louisville after only a year. I have to see them grow up! Laura - do you feel this attached to the kids you teach? Maybe not since you have your own on the way, and you have to see them for longer periods of time in a very different setting.

Exercise update: Ok so I am not exercising every day like I said, but I am defnitely working out more often which is a good thing. I already feel better. I did manage to do Pilates tonight, although I think I should wait a little longer between dinner and exercising next time! That's what sucks about getting home at 7. I could get up early to work out, but you know that is never going to happen.

My First Attempt at Skiing

2006-02-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

We spent the day in Paoli yesterday. We left early to make it to the 9:30 service at the Mennonite church. I really like going up there. Everyone is so nice and welcoming. As always, all six of us were invited over to someone's house for lunch. It was the best meal I have had for a long time! (no offense to the culinary talents of my housemates). After stuffing ourselves, we went skiing at Paoli Peaks at absolutey no cost to us, thanks to those who had us for lunch (the husband works there, or he used to, or something). Luckily I wasn't the only one who had never been skiing. It was Alisa and Katie's first time too. They hooked us up with a lesson. Thank God for that because I would have been completely lost without it. I was horrible enough with the lesson! The first time off the ski lift I ran into a wall, but then I got the hang of it. After I mastered the bunny hill and figured out how to stop, the three of us decided to go down the "Family Trail", the eaisest one. Well not too far down I lost control and was rushing toward a fence that was blocking a big drop, so I forced myself to fall. And then I couldn't get up without taking off my skis. My nice housemates waited for me in a flat area. A staff person saw me fall and decided to help me. Alisa and Katie kept going, and the nice staff man tried to give me some pointers. But I wasn't doing too well and he had to keep catching me. I had another nice fall where I knocked my jaw with one of my poles. I was doing so bad he suggested I take off my skis and walk down the hill to the lift (and I couldn't even do that without falling!). He rode with me on the lift, probably thinking I couldn't do that by myself either. Then he told me I should not try that trail again. So any confidence and dignity I had left was crushed. So while all my housemates were skiing on the real trails, I went down the beginner's hill with all the kids a few more times until I was very bored and done with skiing. However I knew it would still be at least two more hours before we were going to leave. Luckily Katie & Alisa came back and kept me company. Oh yeah - another great fall of mine. On the other bunny hill, they had a conveyer belt thing (like the moving sidewalks in airports) instead of a lift. Everyone got on one by one and you were supposed to just stand there until you reached the top. However, the little kid behind me decided he wanted to walk. Since his skis were on top of mine, I had no choice but to walk as well, and keeping my skis straight while walking were another thing I was having trouble with. So of course one of them gets caught in the conveyer belt and I wipe out while doing the splits. They had to stop the belt and help me up. Stupid kid. I was slightly less embarassed when I saw that Alisa did the same thing! So although I failed horribly at skiing, I still had a lot of fun. And I am very happy it was free. Since I now know how much I suck at skiing, I don't think I could justify paying a lot of money to try it again. Looks like someone will have to pay my way to get me back on the slopes. In my opinion, I think it is one of those things that is a lot harder to learn as an adult, like a foregin language. After we were done skiing, we were invited to stop over to someone else's house. It happened to be just at dinner time, so of course they fed us. The hospitality of these people amazes me! So all and all it was a great day. And boy am I sore today.

The rest of the weekend was good too. I worked with Cameron for the first time on Saturday. Well technically I observed another therapist for two hours so I could learn his programs. It is very similar to what I did with Will, so I don't think I will have trouble catching on. However, he uses sign language, which I don't know. But I think I can catch on fast. After a couple more times with someone I think I will be comfortable by myself. And this little boy is so cute! He already started giving me hugs and holding my hand. I will enjoy working with him. And he does have some behaviors, but they seem like nothing to what I have dealt with in the past. Saturday night we went to a free concert at the public library downtown (I really love free things). The performer was Dar Williams and she was amazing! I had never heard of her before, but was assured by everyone she was wonderful, and I was not let down. I would classify her as folk/rock. She had some great songs, and told great stories in between them.

Work has been pretty fun lately. Thankfully today was easy since I am so sore! This past Friday it was my turn to plan "Fun Friday." We had a dance party and it was very successful! It was your typical middle school dance mix, complete with the YMCA, electric slide, etc. and of course some current hip-hop music (that's actually clean, had trouble finding those!) I had so much fun dancing with the kids. Let me tell you, African kids can dance! They definitely showed me up. And it was a good workout. I danced for over an hour straight and was definitely breaking a sweat. If only I could do that every day as my workout! Speaking of exercising, I have decided I am going to work out every day for at least thirty minutes and do stretches to help my back. This is quite a decision since lately I have not been working out at all! So far I have made it four days in a row. (I am counting my dance party and skiing). Because of my schedule and the fact that work often drains me (physically and emotionally), I just stopped exercising for the most part. So let's see how this goes. I need to be healthier, and maybe I wouldn't be so tired after work if I am getting my exercise. At least I hope. Or something else might be wrong with me. I am just exhausted all the time. Anyways, I thought I would share this so you guys can hold me accountable. Isn't this around the time the Bluffton Health Challenge usually started? I could really use that right now! This whole exercising thing would be easier if I had access to exercise equipment or a gym, or had a bike or liked to play sports or was able to run (a couple things prevent me from that). But I need to stop making excuses. I just have to be creative! And lots of exercise videos. Hooray for cardio salsa and Pilates. And I did Yoga for the first time tonight! Not too sure how that helped with my soreness.

Ok this has gone on for too long. I hope you enjoyed reading it :)

P.S. Abby Mo and Reba - do you realize that last year at this time we were preparing for our departure for Europe this week! Crazy huh? How fast a year goes by. And I can't believe I am already half way done with my service. It is going too fast!

Hooray for Figure Skating

2006-02-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

I guess it is time for an update. I don't want to let you down as the most consistent blogger. I am currently watching the women's free skate, hence the title. I have enjoyed watching the Olympics the past two weeks. Thanksfully NBC is our most clear channel! I feel like I have been really busy lately, so what have I been up to? Hmmm...the blurry picture is of me doing the "Macarena" in the middle of a Starbucks. My housemate Andrea had a concert there this past Saturday (she is a very talented singer/songwriter/guitair player, in case you were wondering). One of her songs was a pop medley. She used the Macarena as the chorus, and I stood up and danced along with it, however no one else decided to join me. Some other fun events from the past weekend: We saw a very amusing play called "Bad Dates" which was a one woman show, and of course, free for us. I took my "little sister" to see the movie "Curious George" (very cute). And, I went to a "classy" party with Alisa which was a fun excuse to dress up and have a good time.

So, what else is new? Oh yeah, I have a job! One that will pay me money! (just a little extra on the side) One week ago from today I met with the mom of a 7 year old son with autism. I made this connection through a lady from church. His name is Cameron, but I did not get to meet him because he was at school. He is the exact same age as Will, and looked very cute from his picture. No one can replace Will, but I think I will enjoy this job. And the therapy I will do and a lot of his behaviors are almost eerily similar to Will! (from what the mom described at least, I still haven't met him). I was supposed to meet with another one of his therapists this past Saturday to get trained on his programs, but Cameron was sick so it did not happen. I am going to go this Saturday though. And after that, I will come for 2-3 hours every weekend. So it's the perfect job for me. Very flexible (I can come whenever I want) and not a lot of time committment. And good pay.

Well that's all for now. I am going to pay more attention to the Olympics now. Oh yeah, one more update. So Salim, one of the boys who I had suspended and then randomly moved to Texas, called the center yesterday to talk to me. At first he was very angry and told me I am the reason he moved! (which I find amusing). But then he ended up apologizing and said he misses us all and hopes to come back and visit. What an intersting kid that one is! But I have to admit, life is a little easier at work without the hassles of him and his friend.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

Andrea said I should put this picture on my blog, so here you go. I had a fun Valentine's Day. I really think it is a stupid holiday, but I guess it can be fun. I wore red & pink, ate lots of chocolate, got some valentines, and went out to dinner with eight other single, beautiful ladies! (my housemates and some co-workers). We went to August Moon, a Chinese restaurant that was able to take a last minute reservation. It was very good, but nothing can compare to P.F. Chang's in my mind. And I got two unexpected roses today. One from August Moon (they gave every customer a rose) and one from Randy, the computer guy at work. He gave a red rose to all his female co-workers, which was sweet of him. Today we passed out the valentines the kids made on Friday. My favorite valentine was from Gesma. She made one for all the staff which said, "You are the nice staff I never seen." How cute.

Work will be a little extra stressful the next couple weeks which I am not particularly looking forward to. I unexpectedly found out today that it was one of the staff's last day (Keyonn for those who met him). So the after-school staff will be stretched even thinner for the next couple weeks until they hire someone to replace him. They are actually going to hire two part-time people instead of one full-time (which he was), so that should be good. I hope they can find good people. It takes a special type of person to do this job!! And if that wasn't enough, I found out Sarah is leaving us too! I will miss her. She is going to wait until they find a replacement. So three new people. They will just be thrown into the thick of things. Hope they can handle it!

This past weekend was good. We went to a church retreat, for Paoli Mennonite. Their congregation basically started this program here. It was nice to get to know some of them better. We have only been to church there a couple times since it is an hour away. The retreat was closer though, just over the river in Indiana at a Catholic retreat center. It was a nice place. Unfortunately I was still not feeling well, but luckily a few doctors go to this church and one of them took me to the pharmacy so I could get new antibiotics (the first ones did not do the job). So by Sunday I was feeling better. And I didn't have go to a doctor's office! I would say the highlight of the retreat was the hymn sing from the Mennonite hymnal, in a Catholic chapel with great acoustics. I miss those hymns! And before that, they had a talent show. Click on the following link to hear some of my oh so talented housemates performig a bluegrass medley!http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=0318332F1B01D269

Oh, and before we left for the retreat on Saturday, Andrea and I stopped by our "littles" house for cake and icecream because it was my little sister's birthday. She turned 8. I got her two presents from the dollar store and she absolutely adored them. I love easy to please kids! She is so cute. Although after every present she opened she kept saying "mine, mine, mine" and immediately hid them in her room. Her chanting reminded me of the pelicans from "Finding Nemo." We should take them out again soon. They come from an interesting family. That's all I will say about that.

Nice long weekend!

2006-02-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

This past Friday we had a fashion show during the after-school program for "Fun Friday." On the left is Alex, who decided to join the girls and put on make up. Above you can see Amela modeling on our makeshift runway. It went well, and was extremely loud (which is to be expected). Lots of the girls spent time doing hair and make-up before they walked the runway, and some dressed up. I partcipated. I wore a skirt for the first time to work, along with Alisa's cowboy boots. A lot of the girls screamed when they saw me and gave me a hug and told me how pretty I looked. They were excited that I was dressed up, which was cute. Luckily I avoided most of the boys, but Muya Muya did try to look up my skirt. And I have not been at work for the after-school program since Friday. It's been a nice few days off, for the most part. Keep reading to learn more.

I went home this past weekend and went up to Bluffton Monday evening in order to help my director Susan recruit for the urban corps program on Tuesday. As always, it was great to see my family and friends at home. I really do miss them and they always slide in comments about how I should move back to Columbus after this year is over, but I haven't made any decisions yet. (I have yet to hear back from grad schools, but I should soon, just waiting on Perry to send his letters of reccomendation!) On Saturday I spent the afternoon with Kim at a winterguard competition (colorguard without the marching band, and inside obviously). Our friend Jennilee is the colorguard instructor at one of the local high schools now, and she started her own winterguard. I was very impressed with Jenni's show! The music was from Phantom of the Opera, so of course I liked it! There were a lot of good guards there, so it was an entertaining afternoon. I can't believe I used to be in colorguard, it seems like so long ago! At the competition we ran into Erin S. who I hadn't seen for six months or so. And I also saw my old colorguard instructor (the nice one, not the psycho one) and one of my eighth grade teachers, who happened to be sitting next to us. How random. It was a little blast from the past. The rest of the weekend was good, hanging out with my family and friends. And I must say I had my fill of Italian food for awhile. Spageddies on Saturday, Macaroni Grill on Sunday, and Olive Garden on Monday.

My dad decided to come to Bluffton with me and we arrived at my grandma's house for dinner on Monday. Monday evening I got to hang out with Chad and Joel, and I figured out that Amanda had made the trip from NYC to Bluffton to recruit. So I tracked her down around midnight and got to see her for a little bit before she left the next morning. As Amanda and I were walking down the path by Ramseyer I felt like I had never left. It was weird to be back there and it made me realize I do miss my college days. Good times. I went to bed Monday night thinking what a great extended weekend I was having, but unfortunately I awoke at 3 a.m. with a slight problem. I won't go into details on my blog, but this happened to me about a year and a half ago, right after my grandpa passed away, and it was the same thing this time. No symptoms and then all the sudden I wake up in extreme discomfort and pain, and my dad ended up taking me to the Bluffton hospital at 4 a.m. There was no way I could wait for medicine. It finally kicked in around 7 and I was able to go to sleep for one hour before I had to get up. (Ok, I'll just say it, I have a urninary tract infection, which are common among women, yet the two times I have gotten them it has been absolutely horrible!! I should probably talk to a doctor or something). Somehow I made it through the day. Susan and I talked in Sue's classical theories of rhetoric class about the program and my experience. Then I sat in Marbeck for a couple hours during lunch at a booth and talked to people. It was rather surreal to be there. My dad and I left later that afternoon after visiting with my grandma more. I slept the whole car ride home. Then I relaxed a little bit at home, ate dinner with my family, and for some reason decided to make the drive back to Louisville like I had orginially planned. Let's just say it was not my brightest idea, but I made it! I had only slept two hours the night before and still wasn't feeling well, so it was a rough three and a half hours. I went to work this morning, but by 2:30 I realized there was no way I could make it through the after-school program with my fever and such. The doctor said to get plenty of rest, which I hadn't left myself do yet. So I slept all afternoon and it was wonderful. I still don't feel that great though.

Update: On Friday I was told by a few kids that Salim (one of the boys who was suspended) is going to beat me up. I was also told to "be ready." He was supposed to be back today, but I learned that he moved to Texas yesterday!! How random and out of the blue. So I guess he is not a problem anymore. But on a sadder note, his brother Juma also moved with him, and I am going to miss that kid! He was great, one of my favorites. And since Salim will no longer be at the program, Raymond said he will not come back either (the other boy who caused me problems). So I guess I don't have to worry about them anymore!

Okay, time for Lost!! I have to admit, I am addicted to Lost (anyone else see the commercial during the super bowl? it was great!)

I hate making up titles!

2006-02-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well to go along with my last entry, today was a great day at work. Things were so calm! It was amazing. And I got to spend some quality time with a few of the kids. Completely opposite of last Wednesday, which I think was the most insane day ever so far (which is saying a lot). But I don't need to go into that story. But just to make my point again, my job has its good days and its bad days, but I still really enjoy it. The first two days of this week were pretty stressful (combined with my most emotional days of the month), and I ended up staying late both days to talk about it with other staff. I found this really helps. After a crazy day at work I need to talk to someone about it, and then I feel better. It's bad to keep things inside. Update: So I brought in the picture of Adam and I last Tuesday and said he was my boyfriend. It turned into we are getting married, so I went along with it. It worked wonders the first couple days. The boys really were leaving me alone. But after this weekend they seemed to forget about it. And now the two main boys who give me trouble are suspended. Last night I went out to the parking lot to encourage the crowds of kids to go home. Raymond was fighting with some kid on a bike, and the bike was about to run into a car. As I'm trying to get them to stop Raymond keeps kising my hand as I'm yelling at him. Then Salim corners me and starts telling me how he is in love with me. Ok, so these boys are 15 & 16 and both taller than me. They never listen to me and are always harassing me. I went upstairs after these incidents and talked to my supervisor about them and burst into tears (yeah..it's that time of the month). She decided it is finally time to suspend them for a week. They have had several warnings. I realized last night that their behavior really does upset me. I try to act like it isn't a big deal and sometimes I think I shouldn't be bothered by it and maybe I'm too nice to them and that's why they take advantage of me. And then I realized, hey, just because they are high schoolers doesn't mean what they are doing to me isn't sexual harassment. And I don't have to take it! ha ha So yeah it was nice not to have them around today.

This past weekend was nice. As you can see from the picture, Andrea and I hung out with our "little sisters" again on Saturday. What a beautiful day it was! I definitely think it is the only time I have worn a short sleeve shirt outside in January! We let them see our apartment and then took them to Iroquois Park down the street and hiked up to the top where there is a nice view of the city. They loved it. They are so cute and I think it is definitely a good thing that we are getting them out of their house once and awhile. They need it. When I was taking them home Krissy asked if we could hang out again tomorrow. How cute.

I can now say that I have seen every episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." All seven seasons. Don't know if that is a thing to be proud of or not! But I have to admit that I love that show. I finished it Sunday night. So I finally know how the series ended. It's kind of sad that I don't have anymore to watch! I watched the first season for my television criticism paper back in April, and then just kept going. Thanks to everyone who let me borrow their DVDs (Gill, Vicki, & Alisa's brother). I am also all caught up with "Lost". I need another television show to get into!

Oh, I finally saw the movie "Rent" the other night. And I loved it!! I had never seen it on stage, so I didn't know much about the story. It made me cry. And I want the soundtrack!! I can add Rent to my list of musical movies I am obsessed with. What great music.

Finally, I just have to say something about Bush's State of the Union address. Now, I didn't waste my time watching it. I decided watching "Moulin Rouge" was more important. All I did was glance at a headline on CNN.com and see a quote about the defining moral standards of our country. Can someone please tell me what they are? I didn't realize America was "moral."

Ok I'm done!

Today was a good day

2006-01-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

Let me start with, yes I really enjoy my job, but at times it can be quite stressful (placing 60 refugee/immigrant children in one building tends to do this). I like going to work in the morning, but after I return from my lunch break and my role switches from facility manager to after-school program staff, I am not always as enthusiastic. If I'm tired or not feeling my best, I am not always up for the challenge, which makes the afternoon difficult. For example, I didn't feel so good at the end of last week and I returned home from work Thursday and Friday in a bad mood. Chaos erupted in the computer lab again on Thursday and Friday was just unorganized, which led to kids fighting, among other things. I was wiped out and felt like I had to force myself to be in a good mood again. I really needed this weekend to get a break and relax. I am feeling better today and started the week off optimistically, and today was a good day! Not that it was any less stressful. Today my position was at the desk in the library, where all the kids have to go first before they can get a pass to go elsewhere. On these days, I have to prepare myself to help someone with their homework while responding to ten questions at once. For example, "Miss Maria, I need a pass/this calculator doesn't work/ when will the gym open/I swear I did my homework/can you sign my reading sheet/I need a ruler/Alex hit me/I need help/where's Ms. Amy/you aren't listening to me!" all at once, all coming from different kids, while I am trying to help someone with their math. But as I said, today was a good day and I was up to the challenge. I can really have fun with these kids. Two sixth grade girls who usually give me major attitude were rather nice today. They actually did their homework, while taking breaks to style my hair and talk to me in a friendly way! How amazing (maybe it's because I gave them both $2.50 to help sponsor a school trip to Chicago - I guess they're cheap to win over!) And the two teenage boys who always give me hell were no different today, but I had fun with it. They complimented me on several features, from the color of my skin to my small mouth, and kept coming up with different scenarios to see if I would marry them in that situation. Salim admitted he likes to get under my skin, and at one point said "Miss Maria, you look like you want to slap me." And I simply told him, "I do." And he laughed. These boys are something else, and I keep trying to come up with new solutions for their behavior. This is my latest: I told them today that I do have a boyfriend (which I should have told them from the start!). They don't believe me and said they wanted to see a picture, so I am going to bring in one tomorrow of Adam and I from a few months ago. Maybe I should start wearing that fake diamond ring again and say I am engaged. I'll let you know how it goes. So anyways, although there will always be those crazy days, the good definitely outnumber the bad. I am discovering that a lot of it depends on my attitude. It's those days where I am tired or have a headache that make it difficult. I am learning every day how to balance being a friend, a mentor, and a disciplinarian. And I think the kids are learning that Ms. Maria doesn't take any crap, but I can also be fun and am always willing to help or listen (if I'm not busy with ten other things that is).

Nothing much to report from my weekend. It was good, but yet again not particularly exciting. I saw two plays back to back at Actors Theatre on Saturday. (I would not recommend this if you have a short attention span). The first one was "Intimate Apparel". It was pretty good, but definitely did not have a happy ending (a woman who doesn't find love until her thirties ends up alone after her husband cheats and then leaves her...wow, doesn't that give me hope!) And after we had just enough time to walk to the nearest fast food place and scarf down some food, we saw the play "I Am My Own Wife." Now that was an excellent, very well-written play, but yet again, not too uplifting! (it took place in Nazi Germany). It was a one-man show. The actor was very talented, playing around 40 different characters. The play has won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play. I think this brings up the grand total to 9 plays I have seen at an outstanding theatre for absolutely free! (not counting the plays put on by the apprentices, which are free to the public). Thanks Ben!

Time For An Update

2006-01-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

After a wonderful and relaxing three day weekend, I was back to work today and I got to go home early because the after-school program was closed! (the kids did not have school today). I love working with these kids, but every once and awhile I need a well-deserved break. I had my first staff evaluation today and it went really well. I heard a lot of positive feedback which is always nice. And since I have two job titles with two supervisors I still have another evaluation awaiting me. Today's was with the youth programs coordinator. Next I get to hear from the big man, Mr. Edgardo.

Anyways, back to my three day weekend. Friday was interesting. We had a group of 11 people (ten students, one teacher) from Berea College in KY stay with us. We learned of this event only a couple days before via an e-mail from our director which went something like this "oh by the way you will have a group of students staying with you Friday night." It was a January term class. They are studying different communities, and for some reason decided to study us. We were asked a lot of questions about living in community that I have never even thought about. They came for part of our seminar Friday morning and stayed until the next morning. They brought their own food and paper plates (thank God!) and cooked us dinner Friday evening. They all slept on the floor in sleeping bags. All my housemates and I went out Friday night, leaving them in our apartment which I thought was amusing. We invited them to come with us, but they had a meeting. We went to Actors Theatre for the second time that week to see a set of ten minute plays put on by the apprentices (including my housemate Ben). The plays were enjoyable, and afterwards there was a reception with lots of free food and alcohol. Can't go wrong there. I especially enjoyed the meatballs and the wine.

You may be wondering about the picture I posted. On Saturday afternoon we went to Cave Hill Cemetery here in Louisville, a "tourist attraction" we had yet to visit. I still find it odd to walk around in cemeteries, but I did enjoy it. It was really beautiful and I would like to go back in the spring. There are a few famous people buried there, and one of them is good old Col. Sanders, the founder of the "Kentucky Fried Chicken Empire" as it says on his grave. The picture is of me and some of my housemates by his grave. Notice the bust of the Colonel. Saturday night I went out dancing with a couple of my co-workers which was a lot of fun. The bars & clubs here are open until 4 a.m. and I took advantage of that for the first time.

The rest of the weekend I did not do much and I enjoyed it. I watched the movie "Crash" Sunday night. I would recommend it if you haven't seen it. Monday afternoon I had an interview at a place called Transformations. They hire contract workers to work with families that have children with disabilites. I enjoyed my job with Will, and am hoping to get a job like that here just a few hours a week for some extra money. I interviewed with the two founders of this company and I really liked them. However if I go through this place it might end up being a pretty lengthy process. It also seemed like most of the people working for them are making a career out of this. Another concern of mine is it sounded like I might be expected to go into a family and plan the programming, which I am definitely not qualified for! I did therapy with Will, but someone else was teaching me what to do before I did it. Depending on the family, I might not get that here. During this hour conversation, I realized that working in the field of autism might be a good field to go into and you can make a good living, according to my interviewer. However I still have a lot to learn! I might look into how I could incorporate this into a social work program (since I just applied to grad school!) So I have to think awhile about this before I decide what to do. They suggested that I might want to look into families that can afford private pay, which would probably work better with my situation. I stumbled upon the job with Will and I am realizing it is not usually that easy! If I go through Transformations, it might take too much of my time that I do not really have. So we'll see what happens. I have a few other contacts that I should talk to before I make a decision.

Okay I'll stop now. Time for dinner and then I think I'm going to see Harry Potter again tonight!

Not Much To Say

2006-01-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

I had a good weekend, but it was pretty uneventful. Friday night was fun. We invited a couple people over and had our first "game night -huh!" (don't ask). It consisted of cheap wine and some rowdy games of Apples to Apples and Dutch Blitz, and a not so rowdy game of Scrabble. My throat hurt the next morning because of all the yelling I did defending my card during Apples to Apples (if you have never played this game you should). Saturday was Andrea and I's first outing with our "littles", who can be seen in the picture. We took them to Art Sparks at the Speed Art Museum. It was a really neat place and they enjoyed it a lot. I had a good time. I am glad we decided to do this program. As we were leaving my "little sister" Krissy said, "well that was absolutely fun." It was cute (she's the one in the back by the way). And Denise if you are reading this, I am not replacing you :) Sunday we went to chuch and then I had a day full of rest and relaxation which was wonderful. Today the after-school program started back up at work and it went smoothly and was actually pretty low-key.

Updates: I received a $20 gift card in the mail today from that hair salon because of my last visit :) After I styled my hair myself and realized I like it, I felt pretty stupid about that whole incident. But I got 20 bucks out of it, so oh well! It was their fault (well really Becky's) that I didn't get the stylist I wanted, so I guess I deserve it huh?
Also, I have heard mostly positive reactions from our article in the paper, which was a surprise to me. But I guess from an outside perspective it doesn't sound so bad. I still think it is poorly written and do not like what she says about me. I just reread it to make sure I don't like it, and yup, still don't. Edgardo found out about the article and passed it around at the staff meeting today. Boy was I glad about that (sarcasm). So the first five minutes of the meeting was everyone joking with me about how my job makes me want to cry. I could tell Edgardo was not particularly pleased with the article, but he wasn't angry either, so that is good.

I took Abby Mo's suggestion and started reading "A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World" by Isabel Losada. What a great book! It is informative, funny, and inspirational. I think everyone should read it. I am almost done. I should finish it tonight because it needs to go back to the library (it is overdue and non-renewable). Other great books I have read lately: "Cry the Beloved Country" by Alan Paton, "Gracias" by Henri Nouwen, "Choosing Against War" by John Roth and of course Mr. Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain". I would recommend all of these, if you have some spare time to read! Well I guess I did have some stuff to say. Until next time....

Happy 2006!

2006-01-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

I am back in Kentucky now. On the drive back it felt like I had been gone a long time, but right as I was turning into our parking lot it felt like I had never left, if that makes any sense. The last couple of days at home were good. I saw another good movie, "The Producers." Oh how I love musicals. I celebrated Christmas at my grandma's house in Bluffton on New Year's Eve day. It is a strange feeling to be in Bluffton not as a college student. New Year's Eve was fun, spent at a party with my good friends Kim and Jenni. There were many people at this party who were also at the one I attended three years ago ...let's just say I will never live that one down. This year was quite different. Looking back, 2005 was a great year filled with sad endings and new beginnings. My last semester of college, a fabulous trip to Europe, graduation festivities, a vacation to the Smokey Mountains with the fam, lots of free Starbucks, my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary, and of course my move to Louisville which has so far turned out to be a great decision for me. I look forward to what 2006 has to bring. Which brings me to....

I finished my grad school applications tonight! All two of them. I basically did everything in two evenings. I had been looking into the MSW program (master of social work) at the University of Louisville, but I had not actually started any of the application materials. And after talking to my parents over break I decided to apply to the same program at The Ohio State University (go Bucks!) So yesterday at work I looked at their website for the first time and less than 48 hours later I have everything done. I think that is pretty impressive. Everything will be in the mail tomorrow. In case you are wondering, the GRE was not required for either of these programs unless your GPA is less than a 3.0. Hooray for social work. I knew I wanted to go back to school after this year, and I am glad that I have found something that seems to be a good fit. Right now I think I will most likely stay here in Louisville, but it is nice to have another option (and of course my parents like the idea of me being home). I am a little scared of the thought of making no money this year, then going straight to school where I pay thousands of dollars and make no money. Hmmm...it will all work out in the end I'm sure.

I think I mentioned awhile ago that my housemates and I decided to do the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program. Well after a two month waiting period after our interviews (it's a lengthy process apparently) I had my "match meeting" today and met my little sister! Andrea and my "littles" are sisters, so we met them together, along with their parents. Andrea's little sister is 9, and mine is 7 (her name is Kristian for future reference). Their family has been through quite a lot. They are Hurricane Katrina victims, the mom is a disabled veteran (she was in Iraq), and the parents are divorced. The girls are sweet and I am sure we will have lots of fun with them. We plan on hanging out with them a couple times a month at least. Our first outing will be this Saturday. Andrea and I are taking them to a children's art exhibit at a local museum. They both love art, so it should be a good time.

Okay this is going to make this entry very long but I have to go off about this! I mentioned in a previous entry that a local paper was going to run a story about our program. It kept getting delayed and I was looking forward to it. I thought it would be an article I would want to show to my family and friends. Well it finally came out today and let's just say it is an article I hope no one reads! The reporter who wrote the story was an intern our age and she hung out with us a few times. Basically, she took a lot of things out of context and exaggerated many things. She was a cool girl and it was easy to forget she was a reporter and not a friend hanging out with us. I am actually pretty upset about this article. Since she went to work with me a couple of times, I am discussed most often. There are a lot of quotes from me that I do not remember saying. And it really does not make me or the place I work sound good at all. I hope none of my coworkers read it, but I am sure someone will. According to the article my job makes me want to cry and I have no control over the children. It happens that the one day I did cry at work because of losing control of the kids in the computer lab, the reporter came over to "hang out." This was after we had met her a few times and the "interviews" were over. She came right when I got home from work and was still a little upset, and I told the story to her and my housemates. And then she details it in this article and makes it sound like that is what happens every day!! She referred to me as "a timid 22-year-old who's only learning how to manage discipline and make people listen." Apparently I am better at dancing with the kids to rap music and "shaking that laffy taffy." And would any of you reading this call me timid?? She also wrote that I do not always love what I am doing, but actually I do! What I actually said is my job can be difficult at times, but I really enjoy it. I also love how little off-hand comments we made went into the article. According to this, we spend most of our time watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and we are lacking in culinary talents (which is far from the truth). Oh man, I am really worried about my coworkers reading this and their reactions. I guess I will find out tomorrow. And I didn't even mention the hideous picture of me reading "Curious George" to Juma! AAAAAHHHHH! This article really makes me mad! I wish you could all read it so you would understand, but yet again, I do not want anyone to read it! Including my parents since she had to include the comment I made to her in casual conversation about how my dad is not happy about my decision to enter the social work field since I will not make any money. Moral of this story: Do not make friends with people writing stories about you!