"Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party..."

"...'cause a Holy Ghost party don't stop!"

The kids sing and dance to this song in praise time a few times a week, and every single time, it gets stuck in my head without fail!
(As a side note, I have rarely felt so white as I do watching all these kids dance, haha!)
Anyways, welcome to the recap of week three!

Last monday was an eclectic day. We had two different missions groups in last week, so monday morning I was told to help (ahem) walk one of them through a few things Boss-man wanted done around base, both tasks I'm afraid proved rather futile, as one will likely require a professional drywaller and the other involved trying to keep an alley from flooding, which, there's no real way to do. The girls I was working with were troopers abut it all, though! In the afternoon, I went over to Inwood, the second O.E. location, and trained with the lovely Marissa (one of my roommates) for front desk duties. It was a lot to take in, but it went decently well and it was good to learn more of the actual workings of O.E. 

Apparently, when a MTW group comes in, O.E. staff is invited to meet them for dinner on monday night at Malecon, the local dominican food hotspot, for some food and good conversation. So in holding with tradition, Emma and I went with a few of the girls from Inwood, and one thing leading to another, the next I knew we were on a train downtown for frozen yogurt with the Inwood crowd. Not your typical monday night, but much, much better!

Pinkberry + great people = fantastic!

Tuesday I worked very briefly on a donorbase, and then spent most of my morning/afternoon addressing envelopes before assuming front desk duties the last half of the day. At night I got the chance to do laundry for the first time since leaving home, and boy howdy, I'll tell you, I don't think I've ever been so excited for clean clothing!

"Laundry day, see you there..."

 If we're being honest, wednesday and thursday sort of blurred together for me. I finished up the envelope addressing project, and I worked on processing a few financial aid request forms, and I know there were other projects in there, but I can't think of them to save my life, nor did I apparently find them worthy of recording in anyway, not even in the daily short-hand recap. Tragic. To make things worse, I did nothing exciting or fun at night whatsoever. I meant to go to Bible Study wednesday night, sat down to check my email, and then woke up at 8:30. Oops!

Friday I kicked off the day at work by sorting through a few more financial aid request forms, and spent most of the afternoon battling with the Boss-man against the O.E. printers, which were once again, acting up. This timing was rather unfortunate as we had to print out and assemble almost 70 pages worth of material a person for thirteen people for the following morning's board meeting. Thankfully, it all worked out just fine in the end and everyone had everything they needed!
At night I met up with Marissa and two of her friends for dinner before heading off to see Whedon's "Much Ado," which was every bit as great as I had hoped it would be. Afterwords we headed to Times Square so I could see it all lit up, then hung out in one of the girl's hotel room before finally making it home to the Heights at, wait for it, 4 AM. I never saw myself as being out until 4 AM on a friday night, NYC or no, but the company made it beyond worth it!

Favorite Shakespeare play taken on by favorite writer/director? Deal.

Saturday was, in simplest form, low-key. I only managed to get about four and a half, five hours of sleep the previous night, what with the adventurings and all, so I rolled out of bed sometime mid-morning, took a shower and lazed around the apartment with the prospect of meeting Allison and Alexa at Coney Island on the forefront of agenda, something that due to Allison and Alexa already being downtown and Emma and I being unmotivated, fell through. We opted instead to take naps, and no joke, I was actually so excited to nap I almost couldn't. We regrouped after we'd woken, then headed up a few streets to the neighborhood Goodwill to find some art to jazz up our quarters a little bit. We headed back, dropped off our findings, then took the subway out to a, quite truthfully, disappointing Target. As sad as it was, it was still Target, and it still got the job done. We went back home and spent the evening quietly decorating and skyping. It was lovely!

Cute little art fair outside of Union Square Park

Sunday I woke up at 7:45 (gasp) so I could be ready and hop on the one train in time to make it to the morning service at the downtown campus of Redeemer PCA, which was, as you'd suspect, really, really good! I suppose I'll have to see how the mood strikes me this weekend, because I'd be quite happy to return to either Redeemer or CCF. What a good problem to have, huh?
After church let out I wandered the Union Square/Flatiron district neighborhoods, and had a grand old time, doing such frivolous things as randomly going into stores based on appearance and eating a crepe for lunch before eventually making my way up yet again to Times Square and hopping on a train back home, wherein I spent a lovely evening catching up with my family!

And that's a wrap on week three!
Thanks for checkin' in.
And your prayers?
I covet them.
I'll check in with you beautiful people again soon!

The Great Water Balloon Fiasco of 2013 and other such happenings.

Warning: lengthy post with only a few pictures ahead. The easily bored and/or the ADD may wish to click away.
 
 And yet another week passes!

It's hard to believe I've been in NYC for a week and a half now. I feel both like I just got here and like I've been here forever. Your mind plays strange tricks on you when you're on trips, I've come to learn, and the longest I've ever been away is ten days. To say I'm apprehensive about my mental state at the end of the summer is perhaps an understatement, haha. 

Summer goal: get a shot of these three houses without cars in front of it.
Because they are adorable.

Anywhos, without further adieu, have a run-down of last week!

Monday (the 3rd)  was our first "official" day, and O.E.'s big annual awards banquet. We had a brief orientation meeting with the boss, and then we spent most of our day preparing for the banquet by running errands, packing things up and making decorations, before actually heading off to the banquet space and helping decorate it, serve food and clean.The craziness of the day was totally worth it! They have the banquet every year to honor the students who did exceptionally, to enforce the idea that they should be proud of themselves, because they've achieved something.They had a red carpet at the entrance to the banquet space as you came off the elevator, and then they got a bunch of the O.E. high schoolers to be "paparazzi." You should've seen some of the kids faces as they entered and all of a sudden there were people clamoring for attention and asking for autographs! It was priceless.
After the banquet we returned to the office to drop off all the things we brought with us, and then Emma and I went with Allison and Alexa, our roommates, over to their friends house to catch the last part of the Heat-Pacers game. I was so tired by the end of the day, but I loved it!

Tuesday was marking by three projects.
One, we put away the boxes and boxes of stuffs we left on the conference table in our post-banquet exhaustion.
Two, we went with Boss-man to Riverside park to pick up a permit for the then impending picnic on the 8th, and to inquire about using the pool for the summer program.
And three, we went over to Inwood, the second site location for O.E. and did their after school program with them. I got to hang out with some pretty cool first graders for three hours! Not a bad way to spend your day in the slightest.

Wednesday Emma and I took the subway downtown to attempt to pick up some subway waivers from the DYCD, which, as it turned out, were mailed out two days before. You could either look at it as two and half hours wasted, or a chance to see more the of the city. I take it as the later, myself.

Once we got back,  we did the daily afterschool program with the the Washington Heights Exodus location. I got to hang out once again with some fantastic first graders and try to explain synonyms, which of course, is always a good time!

At night I went with my roommates to a bible study a few streets over that's put on by a local church. The content and the people were both great! In fact, Bible Study ended at 9:30 or so, but it was almost 11:00 by the time we cleared out of the apartment because we were visiting, something that continued at the local favorite Mexican joint, which, as an aside, inexplicably has clocks hung on the ceiling. Next time I'm there I have to find a way to capture it for you, because it's just weird.

Thursday...thursday was fairly uneventful. I stapled together surveys, did a little office work, and then went to a very, very long three hour city meeting on oil-to-gas conversions. Not exactly exciting blog material, thursday, but as a day, it was solid and I can't complain. I even took the subway by myself and didn't get lost, so there was that small victory, anyways!

A blurry photo indicating what friday was like all day, weather-wise.

Friday we enter into the not-so-great tale that is the post title: the great water balloon fiasco of 2013.
To preface, you have to let me backtrack a little. We'd been building all week to this year-end picnic at Riverside park on saturday, and friday I was given a list of tasks pertaining to the picnic to accomplish.
No big, right?
I had it. I mean, I had it. It felt like the first project this week where I knew what I was doing. It was great feeling, however fleeting. Anyways, one of the items on my list was to buy and fill approximately 200 water balloons. So I undertook a journey in the pouring rain to a shady little dollar store that was recommended for me to go to to purchase said balloons at, eventually caving in and buying an umbrella at a drugstore on the way back because I just could not handle the freezing cold rain anymore. I got back, tore open a package of water balloons, and...they were the worst water balloons I have ever encountered. They were all already half-broken and tore if you stretched them the slightest. I had to wait until much later in the day when the Boss was back to ask him what he wanted done, and he wanted them returned and replaced ASAP. So, at 6:30 friday night, I battled my way back to the dollar store, got the money back, visited two Rite-Aid's and finally found a higher quality brand of water balloon. I went back to O.E. and started to fill them, and I got maybe 40 done when it was pointed out to me that it was 8 PM already and everyone else was clearing out. My only option was to stay by myself, fill up more balloons, then head home in the dark and rain, which was picking up further still, or to try and get them all done in the morning. I accepted defeat and headed on back to the apartment while it was light yet.

A certain phrase about the rain being the best place to cry was perhaps more then slightly applicable to me as I trudged home after work on friday. I was really, really, irrationally upset. I told myself in my head the success of a picnic celebrating a year-long program would not be contingent on water balloons being there, and yet it was really hard to push past that, mentally. In the end, it was prayer, dry clothing, and a turkey sandwich that did the trick. I calmed, relaxed, and a few hours later talked with my family for the first time in almost a week, which needless to say, was wonderful!

Saturday:

Saturday boded ill from the start.

I don't know why, it just did. You ever wake up with that "today is going to be terrible" mentality?

I woke up, got ready, and went to work as normal. Once I got in, I went to the kitchen to finish filling up the darned water balloons, and...

They were gone.

No one knew where they where. They weren't were I left them, nor where they in the staging area for the picnic stuffs. They were gone. We called the cook and the janitor, the only other two people who would have been in the kitchen in that time frame, to no avail. The balloons were missing, and so a half hour later, I was on my way to Rite-Aid yet again. I successfully procured some and spent well over an hour at the sink filling up 250-some balloons to be brought over in the second van-load to the park while all the kids and mentors headed off, as did van load number one. Which was all good and well, but that the van couldn't find a spot to park at to unload, so they, too, were running behind.
We did the only thing we could've done: we prayed, and then we loaded up a taxi with three large coolers (two of which contained the balloons), a cake, a few large boxes, two adults and three kids and headed off to an easier location for the van to pick us up at as soon as they were able. At this point there was definitely a palpable sense of panic. Nothing was going at all as it was supposed to, at all, we were behind schedule and they needed all the stuff we had with us at the park ASAP. It was nerve-wracking, and I was expecting chaos, but when we got to the park, and it was calm.
Dead calm.
The kids were all playing together well, no one was complaining, the awesome mentors and volunteers were just hanging out, and despite all the needless anxiety, everything was going swimmingly. It took a while for my heart-rate to go down, but the picnic continued to run smoothly, albeit delayed, from eating to playing to the stupid water balloon toss to the subway ride back. There was so much worry and fear in my mind about the whole ordeal, but it was lovely. It put things back in perspective, really. You can say it 10 times a day, but it's always good to remember that "God is in control." Because as cheesy and cliched as it sounds at times, it's always true.
And praise Him for that!

The harbingers of despair themselves! Be ye wary, gentle blog reader.

Sunday was my day off and it was in all truthfulness, gloriously relaxing! I slept in, then headed to CCF for a very good and much needed church service. Afterwords I headed to Ft. Tyrone Park to take in The Cloisters Museum, which was, if you'll pardon the use of web-speak, asdfghjkl;! (definition: something so cool you can't even produce words.) I moseyed back home, enjoyed the quiet and caught up on a few things before going to bed at 11. What a granny...

I love terrible tourist pictures and I'll make no attempt to hide it.

Apologies for this post both being delayed and disjointed! I'm afraid I reached a point where I could simply improve it no more, and it had to go up sometime, so...

Betsy's terrible at blogging!

Recap of last week coming at you folks sometime tomorrow (6/11.) 

Get ready!

Mid-Week Blurb

Quick pic from my walk home from work tonight.

So this is not your weekly post, nor does it even count as a secondary post.

It is merely a blurb to say I feel very blessed.

As of the other day, regardless of things still being processed, I met (actually, I've yet to total, but I believe exceeded) my fundraising goal.

I had 3 weeks to raise almost $4,000.00, y'all.

THAT'S CRAZY.

But God is so, SO good, and He always provides. And He moved so many of your hearts so generously, and I am truly, deeply thankful to Him and it all of you, for your funds, your prayers, and your words of encouragement.

This is an uphill journey, and I've barely begun.

But it's hard to think about that this evening.

Because blessings abound!

The Adventure, Thus Far

 Well.

This week has been both incredibly long and terrifyingly short, and it started like this: 

"Cut the ties that bind, man."

...with goodbyes.

By the time I said goodbye to my family Tuesday morning and hopped in line for security, I was a mess. Two months is a long time to be without my family! Thankfully, an awesome TSA agent walked with me while I waited in line and calmed me down (Terrence: you're my hero,) with the aid of the lady in line behind me. By the time I'd cleared security and left my new friends, they were calling final boarding for my flight, and I literally had to run down the hallway to my gate, where an airline employee was waiting for me with an amused grin and asked "Jurries?" to which I affirmed, yes, indeed I was. I hopped on the plane and wound up sitting in an emergency exit row and had to go through a little safety briefing, which was unfortunate as the whole circumstance was pretty akin to the opening scene of "Flight" and I was convinced I was going to die. Providentially, Denzel Washington was not flying the plane, and we landed safe and whole in Atlanta. After a few hours of waiting and a whole lot of aimless wandering, I met up with the MTW group, and after everyone had assembled, we loaded up a big old bus and headed off to Ridge Haven for pre-field training (PFT).

Behold, my ONE photo from PFT!

Our two days of PFT were chock full 'o workshops and team bonding experiences. We stood on tables lifted by balloons, tackled 12 ft walls, and discussed things like spiritual warfare, culture shock,inner-team conflict, personality dynamics, child safety, and more. It was a very fast, full two days, and it seemed like we had just barely gotten there when I blinked and it was friday morning and we were all on the bus back to Atlanta. We dispersed our separate ways and I headed off to board the prettiest fight of my life. If you've never experienced it, put "fly in over New York in a window seat" on your bucket lists!

Delta Flight 486, from Atlanta to New York!

 After some slight confusion and a few texts after landing, I grabbed a shuttle to the terminal that Emma, my fellow intern, was flying into, and once I'd caught up with her, we embarked on the great adventure that is the M60 bus line with two months worth of luggage. Allison, who works at Operation Exodus, met us on the bus and guided us to our apartment, which we share with her and two other Operation Exodus staff members. We did a little unpacking and then promptly crashed!

Saturday morning we walked up to Operation Exodus and got to experience the last regular session of their saturday morning mentoring program for the summer. Right off the bat Emma and I were given charge of the K-1st grade boys for the morning, and while it was chaotic and a wee bit stressful, it was really fun! Afterwards we went out to lunch with some of the O.E. staff and mentors to a local Dominican restaurant that we're told we're going to get used to eating at this summer. Once we were released from duties, we headed back to the apartment, and I called home and caught up while Emma went on an adventure. We didn't really do much the rest of the day beyond that but to go get some pretty darn good Mexican food, haha!

This (sunday) morning Emma and I ventured into the city to go to a Baptist Church that she worked with when she visited NYC over spring break. It wasn't really my flavor, but it's probably the only church I'll ever go to where they spontaneously break into "Lean on Me." Once the service was over we walked up a few streets so I could see Times Square (IT'S A REAL PLACE!) and Emma could pick up a much-needed new pair of sandals at the terrifyingly large forever21. We wandered back at our leisure, got some groceries, and are currently sitting in the apartment relaxing.

I couldn't not be that tourist!

Tomorrow morning we head to work! I'm really excited to get started. We've been warned that O.E. doesn't do orientation as much as they do total immersion, but hey, immersion is the fastest way to learn, right?

Thanks for reading this longish, very rambling blog post! It really has been a very good week, and I'm eager to see what this week holds, and to sink my teeth in to work and the city! Keep praying, and I'll check in again soon!
Betsy