Home Away From Home

Sunday night, I went to New York.

Bible Study was cancelled, and Mondays are pretty free, so I decided to drive the back-roads to New Haven and take the Metro-North into the city. Chelsea was kind enough to accomodate for me last minute by letting me stay on her couch, even though she already had a guest in town. I had the opportunity to have coffee and go shopping with Ema, my supervisor from last summer, at the same Starbucks where we parted ways last July. We then went to my pastor's house where my friend Ashley was housesitting. It was wonderful just sitting around the living room and catching up with two of my favorite people, and feeling so at home. Ashley and I then went to dinner at Max Brenner, and ordered the amazing tutti fruitti waffles (probably my favorite dinner in the world... if you can call it dinner). I felt like I had never left. This trip was a definite necessity. They almost convinced me to come back next week and help with the kid's program, which I willingly volunteered to do and very plausibly could have accomplished (with the help of people back home who would pay for my plane ticket back to New Orleans), but I decided it's definitely time to get back and get things settled in the BR. I will have many many more chances to help out at Graffiti in the future.

Yesterday I drove four youth up to Boston for the day. After some last minute changes of plans, we ended up having a successful day in the city. I absolutely adore Boston, and am looking forward to being there againt his weekend for debriefing (even though sadly it means I will be saying goodbye). The kids really seemed to enjoy it. I brought along someone from the church who goes to school up there to help us get around and show us some of the "insider" things in Boston, which he willingly did. It was great to see these kids enjoy things like their first subway ride, and their first taste of Indian food (mmmmm!), along with educating them in pop-culture history (two of them had never heard of Cheers!). Through this trip, God definitely showed me how things that dont necessarily go the way they were planned can still turn out to be a great experience.

While in Boston, I recieved an email telling me my student-teaching placement. I am going to be at Westdale Middle School teaching with Mrs. Davidson. From what I gathered, I think it will be the first half of US History (yay!). So walking around Boston, it was quite neat to be observing sites I was going to be teaching about in just a month or so! Though the EBR schools system's early start date may prevent me from going to New Mexico next week (I am working on getting another place to observe the first-day-of-school), I am thoroughly excited about going back at the end of August to be there full time for the next four months.

We Made it Through the Night

Friday morning I did something I never do.

I went to bed without setting an alarm.

The idea was I was going to let myself sleep until my body woke me up. Seeing as how I love mornings, this was a tough decision, but I knew that facing me was an event that would require every bit of energy I could conjure up: the youth lock-in at Graffiti.

Since my body wakes me up super early, I had to make myself go back to sleep a couple of times. Finally, at about ten oclock, I got up and went to brunch with Ema. She and I hadn't had a chance to hang out and talk in a while, so since we were both taking the morning off, we decided to take advantage of the time. We had been talking about going to Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man, for a very long time, and let me just say, I could go there for brunch every week if I had the money. I started off with dark hot chocolate in a "hug mug," which is a mug specially designed for cupping with both hands. I then had tutti fruity waffles: waffles with chocolate syrup, piled with fresh blueberries and strawberries, with a vial of extra hot fudge sauce, toffe-bannanas, and whipped cream on the side. Can you say amazing? And for dessert (as if I needed a dessert), I got a slice of chocolate pizza. Not only is this place full of chocolate, but the music and lighting are very inviting, it's really an experience. If ever I am in New York with you, I will take you there since it is now my favorite place.

I didn't want to do anything that required energy, so I spent most of the rest of the day lounging in the windown of the Union Square Barnes and Noble with a few books about architecture, famous murders, bridges, etc.... the kinda stuff that I am amused by, but can be flipped through. Then I made my way down to SoHo in search of Tabasco Chips. It was a half success, I did find Zapps potato chips, Creole Tomato Tabasco was not one of the flavor choices. Sad times.

I soon made my way back to the association to change into something super comfortable and meet up with Ema again to head to Graffiti. This was the start of an AMAZING night.

We ended up with several girls, and three boys (which proportionatly worked out worker-wise since we only had one guy to help us). I had SOOOOOOO much fun I can't even describe. We began the night with a city-wide scavenger hunt. The girls toted us around with them to find all of their items. Things like "make a hot dog vendor smile," "become friends with a horse and buggy," "make and exchange in front of the exchange," "build a pyramid-bonus if you involve a new friend," "get something free from a food establishment," "sit on a bench at Herald's square," etc.... Talk about fun!!!!! These girls are a blast. Most of our group was about 13 or 14, which has recently become my favorite age. I really bonded with some of them, and I hope to see the ones who don't normally come to church come back around over the summer.

For the rest of the night, we played lots of games. My team didn't win a single one, but we had alot of fun trying! They were really good sports about it. We watched a Nooma video and had a short small group time, and then we watched The Others because Lorie determined it was a clean scary movie- which is true. After fighting off sleep, we made it all the way to 6, at which time we hurried the kids home so we could hurry home and go to bed. I slept until 2.

The rest of the day was enjoy New York while waiting for loads of laundry to finish so I wouldn't have to go up and down those six flights of stairs each time my clothes were done. I had a sandwich in the park, went to Barnes and Noble on 81st, went to F.A.O. Scwartz and Dylans Candy Bar, etc... I went home, watched Fried Green Tomatoes on Netflix, which I am now a member of, and went to bed at a decent hour.

Today after church I went to Queens to where everyone else lives. Kyle, Charlotte, and I went to the park down the street which I have heard them say a thousand times they were going to visit, and explored the woods, yes, the woods. There is a wildlife reserve in their neighborhood, and when you are in it, it feels more like Mississippi than New York City. It was sooooo nice. For the first time in weeks I was in a place where not a building could be seen.

I then hung out there for a while. Theresa brought home KFC, and we watched Zoolander, which I had been having the urge to watch often lately. It was a very good and relaxing day. I am now fully recovered from my thrown-off sleep pattern night.