March Madness!

Life is just rolling along these days. Lots of talk about wedding, jobs, medical school, and such, but mostly just work and play, like a normal person. I'm falling completely in love with DC weather. Besides the random showers, its SO NICE! Warm. 60s. Sun. Flowers blooming. Cherry blossoms! (sigh) this is real life and its lovely. Sorry Goshen, but after this, it's gonna take some major work to move me back there.

Work continues to be a balance of good, bad, and in between. We're shuffling people around and new things crop up every week, so it's definitely teaching me a lesson in flexibility and is reminding me that I like structure in my life. That said, I'm still involved with a variety of things, which is good because all of my little jobs manage to keep my attention. I'm afraid that if I only had one task that I would get burnt out pretty quickly. One of the parts that I'm most enjoying (although it can also be the most tiring and confusing) is teaching a computer class twice a week.  Helping people master the basic skills like how to turn on a computer, how to use a mouse, and how to open Word and the internet has been really empowering, both for the students and for me. I like how hands-on the class is and that there are tangible results that actually impact people's lives--even if they develop slowly over the course of a few months and with much patience and 1-on-1 assistance.

Jordan is in Denver now. Turns out long distance relationships in the same country are pretty similar to long distance relationships in foreign countries. Maybe even harder, ha! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to actually being in the same place as him and I'm ready for wedding planning to be done with. Such a headache for one day. yeah, yeah, it's a really special day and a really special celebration and yeah, great, yeah. But, i'd much rather just hang out with everyone. :)

What else is new? The Baltimore MVS unit came down for a visit this weekend. It was fun to walk around the city with them and swap stories about MVS. I played in a co-ed soccer tourney for a group of guys from the Democratic National Committee. They were as a lot like what I might stereotype them to be personality-wise and soccer skills-wise (easy going, a bit nerdy, fun, more like intramural athletes than division 1 starters). So, fun even though we lost almost all of our games? At some point last month my housemates and I went to a Georgetown basketball game (not super thrilling) and ate out at a really yummy restaurant. I also made a quick trip out to Cleveland and got to hang out with my aunt, uncle, and cousins (way fun!!) and trekked through the snow storm to see my grandparents (also pretty great). Book club was fun this month (we discussed Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides) and we're reading the Big Burn by Timothy Egan (a nonfiction book about Roosevelt and the huge fires of 1910).

 And there you have it, all the details of my life.  I'm really excited for my family to visit and for this warm weather to continue. I'd be even MORE excited if I could know what's going on with you. So write me an email, please.

I love DC!

Here is a rapid, rapid update on my life:

December I got a break from the city and visited my family in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (AWESOME.  HOT. SPANISH. CHRISTMAS). Then, once I returned to DC, some of my best girlfriends came to visit me. Thanks to their lovely help I found a wedding dress and planned tons of the wedding (or at least brainstormed). The week after they left, I took a day trip to Indianapolis for an interview that I had at the IU School of Medicine. It was pretty fun trip and I really loved the campus and people (I've yet to find out my admission status). As soon as that was over, Jordan returned from Costa Rica and spent the next two weeks in DC. We toured around different Smithsonians and planned more for the wedding and have had a grand time!  He's taking this week to see some friends and his brothers in PA, and then he's coming back to DC for the weekend, when we'll get to see Lotus play at a local club.  A few days ago I went to an open mic for storytellers (topic: envy and pride), and I'm still playing in a co-ed soccer league on the weekends. Last Saturday it was raining and there was snow on the the field; lovely outdoor weather, no? Next on the list comes a trip to Cleveland where I'll get to visit more family (yessss!) and another med school interview. And then after that, well who knows, but it seems like everything is flying by so fast.

Hope everyone is well.

December 6, 2010

We moved! Last week Bread For the City received its Certificate of Occupancy for the new office that was built next door, so this week has started off chaotic. On Friday we moved all of our equipment and admin stuff to the new space and then left for the weekend. For some reason it felt as if the organizing was going to be finished by the time I started work on Monday, but...no luck, for some strange reason. The new clinic has double the number of exam rooms and also has space to start dental and eye care as well, once we're up and running. Our old building is still being used by BFTC, but this time legal and social services will have some space to expand. Actually, right now they have closed the second floor to do construction to improve/update the building, but eventually the administration, development and finance departments will also have some new space to work in. The plan for this expansion has been in the works for a number of years now, so it's very exciting to see all of the planning come to fruition. 

So today was a little hectic as we tried to get the phones to work (which didn't really happen), tried to explain to patients the new protocol that we are using in the new clinic, and then solve a hundred other little problems that cropped up.  But it was really fun!  I don't think of myself as a person who particularly enjoys big changes like this, but I almost enjoyed myself today. It was exciting to be a part of this new change for the clinic and to roll with the punches as stuff came up. Granted, the some of the patients aren't exactly happy about the new changes, and so I had to suffer more than my fair share of complaints. Nonetheless, it's nice to be in a new space and to try to figure out how to make the new process run as smoothly as possible. Brainstorming all the time! I love it!

As far as the rest of life goes, there's not too much to update on. For Thanksgiving break, three of my housemates and I took a bus up to New York City and wandered around Manhattan for the weekend. We walked around practically all of Manhattan, saw the Macy's Day parade, plus all the typical NYC stuff (Ground Zero, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Av, Brooklyn Bridge, etc).  We were able to stay in the MVS unit's apartment there, which actually is a part of MennoHouse (so there's plenty of folks who live their full time or who are guests just passing through). This, along with walking almost everywhere, helped to make the weekend a little more cost-friendly for our meager MVS budgets :)  We had a great time, but were extremely relieved to return to DC.  It was strange, almost. NYC seemed to be "too city" for us, and DC ended up feeling like our small town that we were coming home to. DC seems a bit more relaxed and diverse (plus there are less people here!), and I was so glad to be back in my little city. ha!

I'm getting excited now for my family's trip to Bolivia to visit my brother. Santa Cruz, 95 degrees, humidity! 11-ish days and counting! I feel like I've been using my spanish enough at work that, with Joel's help, we should get along just fine down there. Plus, Anna is a little spanish machine!  I'm pumped to have a warm Christmas (strange!) and to spend some time with my family (ten days!). Can't wait.

Hope all of you have some fun holiday plans in the works, whether with close family, host families, old friends or new friends. And since I probably won't write again before it's time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Don't think that this is Twitter or anything!

I'm not trying to start "tweeting" by updating this blog so often. BUT, exciting news: Not only have I fully applied to TWO medical schools now (as in, first and secondary applications are DONE...only 3 more schools to go), but I also finished reading all of the Harry Potter books. In less than a month, I might add.

Quick trip home

Last Thursday I popped home for a visit. Thanks to some free vacation days at work, I had Thursday and Friday off and, thanks to my parents, was able to fly home for a few days. I managed to surprise Anna at one of her rehearsals for Frog and Toad, shadow an orthopedic doctor, watch two plays written by GC students, visit with my friends, AND do some wedding planning. It was a pretty epic trip considering how brief it was. It was nice to see everyone, but definitely a reminder of how much I have to miss back home. Thankfully, life in DC is pretty satisfying, too, so I'm happy where I am.

I'm in the process of finishing secondary applications, but I've lost a lot of steam/motivation. I'm more focused on finishing the seventh Harry Potter book before Courtney, Sarah, Jodi and I go to see it on Friday night!  So, that's all. Wish me luck with these applications!

It's nice to stay connected with people, so don't be afraid to write me a quick email update with what's going on in your life.

5 Fun Things

1) What: Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.  Where: The National Mall. Who: 250, 000 people, myself included. Why: No one really knows, but it was fun.  Lots of entertainment and the typical wit you'd expect of Stewart and Colbert.

2) What: Guster concert.  Where: Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall. Who: Sarah and me. Why: Jordan bought me tickets as a surprise when I got my MCAT scores back. Plus, Guster is awesome!!!!!!

3) Just found out I'm going to have a four day weekend coming up. What could be more fun than that?! Thank you Veteran's day! Thank you construction workers in the new building!

4) I'm re-reading all the Harry Potter books before the next movie comes out. I'm on the fourth and going strong! Plus I'm reading other incredibly fun and awesome books like Squirrel meets Chipmunk by David Sedaris and a Bill McKibben classic entitled Enough.

5) My housemates are going to run a 10-k together called Jingle all the Way. We get to run with bells on our shoes! It's undecided whether the run will actually be fun and jolly or if it will be miserable and annoying (because of all the bells....and the running....).

Another month down.  Here's what I'm looking forward to in November: attending my monthly book club, starting to teach a computer health literacy class at Bread for the City, going to the Big Apple for the Macy's Day parade, waiting on med school apps, watching the new Harry Potter movie, and hearing about how Anna becomes a famous Frog! Looks like it'll shape up to be a good month except that I'll miss Anna's performance and I won't be home for thanksgiving :( You win some, you lose some.

House Meal Tradition

During our house meals in college we would also share 3 things about our week: something good, something bad, and a time when we saw/felt Jesus.  Here's mine for the last week or so.

Good:  I'm living with people who I genuinely like and get along with. We find fun things to do, we like to eat together, we like to laugh together. It's been great.  I also enjoyed having a three-way skype with some of my girlfriends from college. It felt like two hours of normalcy and goodness all rolled into one excellent conversation.  ALSO, I love talking with my family. ALSO,  I'm almost done with my med school application.

Bad: Wedding planning can be annoying. Enough said. Working 9-5 and having people yell at you sucks. I'd say 1 or 2 out of 10 yell at me in a given day. It's a big downer.  Plus, I've really been struggling getting into a healthy sleep schedule. That makes the days so much longer. ALSO, I'm almost done with my med school application (and "almost" doesn't get you into med school).

Jesus: I went out for dinner with a coworker and I gave her the cliff notes version of "What is a Mennonite." Then we had some great discussion on Christianity in American society today and how awesome inter-faith dialogue and action are.  It was a good reminder for me that being a disciple for Jesus doesn't mean that actions are enough. Sometimes you need words, too.