11 November 2009

me and julio down by the school yard

Okay. So I've neglected this thing for quite a while, for a number of reasons (lack of internet in my place of residence being one)...but I'll do my best to give you a bit of an update now, since a couple of people from back home have been bugging me about it. You know who you are...KYM.

So. Here we go.

Back at the end of August, my mom and sister drove with me out to Pittsburgh. It was a wonderful trip, which included stops in the Twin Cities, Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago to see family and friends, almost getting lost and/or in numerous car accidents while driving through Chicago, eating at a place called Willie's, driving in very roundabout ways to avoid the toll road, and winding through eastern Ohio/western Pennsylvania on a very small road (surprising considering how big and important it looked in the atlas). Mom and Guppy hung around for a few days and explored the city with me, which was a super fantastic time all around and included eating at two restaurants that were on TV, visiting the Heinz History Center, doing other touristy things, and having a run-in with a pretty shady pull-out bed.

And then one day, after eating a delicious dinner of burritos at Chipotle, my mom and sister departed. Mom cried (of course) and I was surprised to find that I held it together fairly well. They had a good trip back to Minnesota, or so I've been told. Apparently the Longaberger Basket headquarters somewhere in Ohio is quite the building, and they saw it up close and personal. (Go here to see what I'm talking about.)

When Mom and Guppy left, I moved from an ultra-shady hotel pull-out bed to an ultra-sweetomatic real bed as a houseguest with a family from my parish. I stayed with them for about a month. They were absolutely fantastic, and always made sure I was happy and well-fed! :)

SO THEN. After the fam left, it was down to business. As in, starting my job. Let me preface all this by saying that I LOVE MY JOB and I feel so priveleged to be given this huge responsibility. It's been such a blessing for me in so many ways, and I'm excited to find out what God is up to with this ministry! I started in the very beginning of September and have been going going going ever since! We had our big kick-off event on October 25. In all reality, it was pretty low-key: tacos, a bonfire, a super sweet foursquare tournament, nothing too structured or intimidating. But we had almost 40 high schoolers show up...which was GREAT! We've also done a photo scavenger hunt and a movie night since then, both of which were also really lovely.

So a bit over a month ago, I signed a lease on an apartment which is conveniently located right up the hill and across the street from my church. It's basically a four-minute walk to work most days, unless I'm in a hurry and running late, or I have errands to run during the day, in which case it takes all of 30 seconds to drive. It's been fun trying to furnish the place with a budget of exactly zero dollars allotted to the project. (And YES, eventually I will post pictures, as soon as I get a couch.) So other than a couch, I've got all the essentials: I splurged on a reeeeeally nice bed and bought an ultra-classy antique dresser on Craigslist...and I got a night stand, desk, kitchen table, arm chair, coffee table, numerous lamps, and a bookshelf for free--either by the generosity of parishioners or by the generosity of strangers who had no idea that my "host mom" and I were picking through their trash. (Though there seems to be an unspoken understanding around these parts about trash-picking...like, people will put things like couches and dressers and stuff out on the street the day before the garbage truck comes, and sometimes they'll even put them out super early so that trash-pickers can spot them and still have enough time to recruit a friend with a truck to come and help them pick it up before it gets hauled away--and all this with no direct conversation, as far as I can tell. Fascinating.)

Speaking of which, people in Pittsburgh are weird. But I am tired, so I shall simply end this post here and (maybe/hopefully) continue tomorrow night. So! On the menu for my next post (or maybe my next few posts...sheesh!):
1. Pittsburghese
2. Ways that I am growing (this section will be particularly amazing to those who know me fairly well)
3. My letter-writing campaign
4. Fun with Miss Pasutti, Mason Jennings, Ingrid Michaelson, and apple-potato pancakes
5. My newfound obsession with Starbucks (I KNOW...ugh)
6. How PA is different than MN--politically, religiously, culturally...
7. The fun of getting my car legal in this lovely state, and switching license plates
8. Hills and tunnels...and bridges

Jeepers, that's kind of a lot of stuff. Ah well, best be off! Hope y'all are doing well. Also, if you want to write me a letter (HINT HINT) just e-mail or Facebook me and I'll shoot you my address. I've been much better about writing letters since being here, so you can almost guarantee that I'll respond in a fairly timely manner. (Maybe because at this point I don't really have anything else to do...)

Love you all and miss you so very much...

No comments:

Post a Comment