My Life Is Now Definitely NOT Boring

Wow, so many things have happened...Gosh, it's so hard to do all the things I need to do when I finally have free time! In fact, instead of finally unpacking, writing, reading, doing laundry, etc, on my first free evening (this one), I watched two movies with some of the girls. It's so nice that I'm not the only one feeling this way. The other girls also thought that it's so weird that we don't have to do anything and right now we DON'T want to do anything. It was pretty funny how we were just sitting around with tired faces. And this afternoon, during our first class, it was SO hard for me to keep my eyes open and I had to keep changing positions on the uncomfortable chairs we have to make sure that I'd stay awake (yesterday I fell asleep in class...that's the first time that's ever happened in my life!) and then I started looking around me and saw that there were many other people who were also bobbing their heads and others I think were sleeping. We've been going and going for two weeks now! I can't believe that I can sleep in tomorrow and that I have the whole day free!

Ok, here's some info for you all...
ORIENTATION
I arrived in Chicago Friday Sept 14. The flight went well. The next morning, I had to wake up early and leave with the rest of Project 12 for Bushnell for orientation. For those who don't know, Bushnell is where Cornerstone takes place and that is also where JPUSA people tend to go on vacation. My time there was SO awesome and I had never thought that that place could be SO beautiful! I had a wonderful time with the people in Project 12, God, and nature. It was so nice and relaxing to always hear crickets, the wind and the geese. The sunsets on the lake were always astounding and it was so so nice to see all the green before coming to the city! We also would hear coyotes howling at night which was weird and kind of freaky for me. I really wanted to see one, but as soon as they hear you get close to where they are they run away so it's really hard to see one =( I did, however see deer one night in the woods in front of our trailer and I'd obviously see squirrels during the day. They are so cute!
One thing that wasn't fun at all was that I was sick almost the whole time, but fortunately it wasn't REALLY bad and it wasn't a big distraction for me.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The community of Jesus People USA is in the ruff neighborhood of Uptown Chicago. I've never seen anything like this neighborhood before! Here's a description of it for you:
_This is the area where you can find people from all kinds of different cultures and races and hear different languages. The one I've heard the most is Spanish.
_You hear sirens all the time. One reason is because the Police department and the fire department (and I guess the hospital, too) are near by, and secondly, because this neighborhood is messed up
_Right across the street is a Christian ministry for male prostitutes called Emmaus
_Three people have been killed here by gangs in the last month
_There is a gay street near by with rainbow flags all over
_There is a Buddhist temple near by
_The lake is near by, too. To me, that's more a sea! I've never seen a lake with a big sandy beach, waves and a horizon. Usually, you're supposed to be able to see the other side of the lake!
Now, with that description, you might be worried about me and there are some people here, too, who aren't too at ease with this place. However, I strangely feel at peace about living here and I'm not worried about anything and not afraid to go out by myself, even though I WAS when I lived in the small town of Salo' in Italy! I think it's very much influenced by the fact that Ami (the Project 12 women's coordinator...I love her!!) told me not to worry, that no person from JPUSA has ever been hurt, that there's no problem going around by yourself during the day, just don't go out at night. I also, strangely, feel very safe. Maybe it's like when my mom lived in Amsterdam YWAM for 3 months when she was 19.

THE COMMUNITY
The community is crazy and it's pretty big (It used to be a hotel). Each person/ roommates/ family has one room and a bathroom. I have a loft bed, a couch, a "library", a desk and a tv. Well, it's all my roommate's, who is Grace, a girl I already new before. She is now in Italy for a three month missions trip. Isn't that funny?
Technically, I'm sharing my bathroom with my neighbor, but since she's 3 years old, she doesn't use it. She's SO cute! Her name is Isabeau and every time she meets me in the hallway she starts talking to me like crazy....Unfortunately, I can't really understand her when she talks cuz she doesn't really pronounce words very well. It was so cute how, when I told her my name, she started saying "Oooh! Juss like Peeo Pan! When dey fly an den sing Wew fawoin de leeo de leeo de leeo...". A lot of people think I say Wendi instead of Whitney...I guess it's cuz I have a cold and I mumble...
I live on the 6th floor (and am trying to use the stairs as much as possible so I'm doing some kind of work out =P). I really like my floor. There are a bunch of people living on this floor that are in Project 12 and that I already knew!

PROJECT 12
I am the youngest of Project 12 right now. The oldest guy is in his 40s. I think it's funny that we're both missionary kids (He grew up in Peru). Most of the people in the class are in their 20s and 30s and everyone is so different, but we pretty much all get along and I feel so good with this group of people. It's really awesome! =)

My schedule is more or less this: in the morning I have to have breakfast with Project 12 people at 7:30, then we have devotionals and then we each have a job to do till lunch time (I work in the office at JPUSA's homeless shelter down the street). Then, in the afternoon, we have one class at 3pm and another at 4pm. We then have dinner together at 5pm and afterwards we have activities.
Each of us is assigned to a family, a one on one mentor, and a buddy....I still don't know what any of my assigned people are, but I hope I'll find out tomorrow or sometime soon. I hope I get along with them!
Since this is only the second year, at the moment, Project 12 is still kind of disorganized, but, living my whole life in Italy, I'm used to it =P I also find it funny how JPUSA time is very much like Southern Europe time haha. I love all the classes we've done so far and love all the people on staff and teachers.

In conclusion to this very long report of my first weeks of my adventure at JPUSA, I'd like to add that it's obvious that this is where I'm supposed to be right now and I feel so good about it. I'm really happy!

Thanks so much for your support!
As soon as I can get pictures from the other girls I'll post a slideshow with all our pictures!
Hope all of you are doing well!
Love,
Whitney =)

P.S. Today, after lunch, I went jogging for the first time! Me and Hannah have decided that we are going to do it twice a week. I felt really bad cuz Hannah is a really good runner and I needed to take walk breaks a lot cuz I'm so out of shape and because of my asthma, but that's why I need to start doing this regularly!
Aren't you all proud of me? =D
P.P.S. So sorry for this being SO long! ....