Rain In The City

Today is an ok day. I'm slowly getting stuff done at work. The person I need to help me figure stuff out (the caseworker for the program I do reports) isn't here today, but she's supposed to be back tomorrow.
Lunch wasn't too bad, the rain is nice, the shelter is pretty calm, and I'm not stressing about all the things that need to be done by the 10th and 18th. I have time.
My stuff is kind of spread out all over the room in different boxes, but at least the room isn't cluttered and there's light in it. I'm excited about it. Once I get my stuff all organized and Hannah and I paint the room, I think I will finally feel like I'm in MY room. The other rooms I was in were alright and I got along with my roommates, but because they had been living in there for so long and had so much stuff, I always felt like a guest in my own room. And Hannah and I are going to be great roommates =)
Ok, gotta get back to work. Hope you all are having a great day!!

P.S. Later on, it did get crazy at the shelter...I should have known better than to think that the peace would remain =P
P.P.S. I did not end up buying tea, since I do still have some. Instead, Hannah and I went to Unique (the second hand store near by) and got 3 shirts and 4 books for four dollars =)

Project 12 Orientation 2008

I'm back! I was away for about 11 days helping out at this year's Project 12 class' Orientation down in Bushnell. I always love going down there! It's so peaceful and beautiful...
I had a great time swimming, spending time alone in nature with God, getting to know the students, spending time with staff, helping out...and I got baptized!
I finally got to play watermelon football for the first time which was a lot of fun! Basically, you get some kind of melon (we got a honey dew melon) and grease it up. Then, you get two teams in the water, throw the melon in the middle, and the teams wrestle to get the melon in the opposite goal. You don't have to be athletic to play since, really, one person needs to grab the melon and be able to hold it and stay above water, while the opposite team tries to steal it from him and his own team pushes him to the goal. It's really crazy and funny! There were a couple times that some people and I would start screaming not to drown the poor person that was holding the melon. A lot of times I would end up just standing around in case the melon would get thrown out of the pit, 'cause they would end up wrestling in the deeper water and I couldn't really help since I'm short haha.
I also went rope swinging which was scary and fun. It took all of us forever to do it the first time. It was scary 'cause the rope had been there for a long time and was thin. We were also kind of worried about landing in the shallow part of the water. But everything went well. The boys did it a lot, but us girls only did it a couple of times.
I will post pictures and videos of this Orientation when I get them! =)

This Project 12 class is a lot closer in age than mine was and because of this, they have become closer as a group. Being a younger group, a lot of them are very energetic, but also kind of immature. So there are good sides and bad sides to it. I'm definitely excited for them, though!
Being on staff, I'm obviously seeing things from a different view now and I'm also seeing how I've changed in the past year. I also see my own immaturity which is annoying, but hey, I'm still young, I'm only 19.

The day I left for Bushnell (we left at 9:30pm and got there at 2:30am!), I moved to my new room. I am now living on 5th floor with Hannah!
Coming home to a different room was a little weird, but it felt good and right and I'm really happy about my choice.

God is definitely stretching me a lot right now! I have a job that I can't say would be my first choice, I am now living on the floor that I always said I could never live on, I'm living in the States for more than a year (which I always said I would never do), and the way I got baptized wasn't exactly the way I had envisioned it to be. But stretching is good and this means that God will help me come through and at the end of this time I will have been changed.

Man, I really want some hot tea....I've been trying not to drink much of the teas I have because I don't want to spend money in buying more tea...but really, I shouldn't worry about it too much. It's not like I'll be spending money on something super expensive that I'll never use....I'm so bad!
So now I'm going to make some Japanese White Tea with honey and tomorrow (if I'm able to) I'm going to go buy more tea =)

Databases, Silly Videos and Chocolates

Well, today I'm stuck doing another database training for my job. It was pretty annoying when we got here at 9am and the database wasn't working....so our trainer had to spend the whole morning trying to get it going! I wasn't too happy about wasting precious time since this past week I've been trying to get caught up with my work that piled up while I was gone and trying to figure stuff out since the person that was working with me has left and I have no idea what's going on now! Fortunately, I'm doing the training with Erica, so we've been having fun being silly =) We've been watching videos like this one

and this one (you can mute it if you want)

And just giggling like crazy. It's what we do best =)

The database finally did get going at 1pm. At least, for lunch, we decided to go to a Godiva shop and got some good chocolate to eat =)

Oh, and by the way, today is my anniversary! I've now been in the States a year! Wow, so weird.

Musicals, 4 Year Olds, And Waffles

Ever since I moved here, I've been slowly "educated" on old movies and I'm loving it. I've seen The Shop Around The Corner and In The Good Old Summertime (which are the older versions of You Got Mail), The Rope, Fiddler On The Roof, My Fair Lady, Singing In The Rain (I loved that movie!!), The Sound of Music....and tomorrow I'm watching Oliver!
I really want to see Merry Poppins again...haven't seen that one in a LONG time.

Today Betty and I babysat Eben. He's so cute! We decided to make waffles and while Betty was making them, Eben grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards his parents' room saying "Come on! I want to have some Eben and Whitney time". We have some of the most adorable pre-k boys!! We ended up watching Pirates of the Caribbean (which is no surprise since that's Eben's favorite movie).
And man, were those waffles good! Betty and I had them with strawberries and strawberry syrup. Mmmmm =)

Back From My Vacation...

It's been nice being back. I've been able to hang out with a lot of different people and it's been very nice and laid back, not overwhelming. Unfortunately, going back to work was a little overwhelming 'cause my office was a mess (people were moving stuff out of an office next to mine and trying to get things cleaned up and organized) and I got back to the completely disorganized program I do reports for....ugh.
Well, I just need to take things step by step and not stress out, and when I'm home I should just relax and spend time with my friends, but also make sure I get plenty of time alone. It's really nice how, now that I've been here for almost a year, I'm slowly starting to broaden my friendships. Before I graduated, I tended to hang out mostly with Project 12ers and with people who had to do with Project 12. But now, I'm hanging out with other couples that I've always wanted to get to know better. I'm glad =)
Ok, I better go now.

P.S. Why is it that when I have nothing to do everyone leaves me alone and when I'm crowded with work people think that I am here for they're every need and can do whatever their heart desires?!?! Ugh. This is the problem with having an open office in the entrance of the first floor at the shelter...

Salty Waters And Crazy Winds

Before I left Chicago, I told Hannah how I missed the ocean/sea. Almost every summer, my family would go on a family vacation somewhere on the ocean/sea and it made me sad that this was going to be my first summer in a long time not going to a salty beach! But fear no more, I have finally gone to the ocean this year!! My Aunt Judy and I went to Strathmere (south of Ocean City), NJ on Monday and got back Wednesday! It was so GREAT!! I LOVE the ocean =) I love the sound of the waves, I love walking in the sand, I love the smell of the salty water, I love being in the water, I love feeling the sun on my skin...aaah it's wonderful! Now I can go back to the city and live there one more year.

Going to a more serious matter regarding oceans, I'm SO glad that hurricane Gustav didn't damage New Orleans like Katrina did! Thank God!! I was really praying that that wouldn't happen...man, I feel so bad for all those people that live down there that had to evacuate! And I really loved that city so I'm really happy that it didn't get ruined any more than it already is! But now there are three more hurricanes coming!! What the heck!!

Hurricane Hannah is supposed to hit the East Coast tomorrow and that's when I'm flying out of Philadelphia!! I hope everything goes fine...

It was so nice to see Linda and Randy last night! They brought me out to dinner and we got to talk a lot. They're the only people, other than my grandparents' church, that I got to see. I kind of feel bad because there are so many people that I would have liked to see in this area, but I just didn't feel like seeing people...it's been my vacation from community, right? So, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad. Hopefully, I'll get to see my friends next time I'm back (which should be for Thanksgiving and Christmas).