Raindrops Keep Falling On My Bed

Literally, the roof leaked on my bed Friday morning--great to wake up to at 5:30am. The nice part, my walk to the kitchen with my wet comforter led me to find delicious scones baked by Katie the night before! There is always a silver lining friends...

The next step of my day= getting in the pool with 6 (two new additions) RND patients to workout, stretch and relax. This was followed by a lovely bus trip across town to get to my 9:30am class.

Before class we were told to read Myth of the Welfare Queen, a true tale of the lives of mothers living off welfare checks and food stamps and how they survive in the neighborhood of Kensington in Philadelphia. Overcome by drug violence and prostitution in the neighborhood, these mothers were trying to raise their kids to eventually get out of that situation whether by education or through jobs. This book was so powerful. If it weren't out of print I would tell you to pick up a copy asap because I know it will influence your perception of our government's social systems. The best part about the day was that we got to meet some of the people from the book. We visited the economic human rights campaign office in Kensington and then got to walk around do a driving tour of the area. They are doing great things in Philly as well as close to home. I seriously encourage you to check out their website and find resources near you . After seeing the immense poverty in other areas such as Nicaragua, it astounded me that people in one of the richest countries could still experience such poverty, and even with resources to help them--are they really helping though??

That situation was momentous and continues to challenge my thoughts on how to fix it. In terms of my internship, I saw someone gets two casts put on, I got soaked in the pool cause the child thought it would be hilarious to dump water on my head, took a leisurely walk in the bright sun after work, which led me to the Philadelphia center to finish my homework before class. I also got the chance to chat with my professor Michael about my entrepreneurial idea of a bakery and he gave me some really great tips on how to make my bakery even better.

Lastly, I got home just in time to catch a ride with Jackie and Karly to go watch a showing of this movie through our church, but we ended up getting coffee instead (cause we were really late) and it was really great to hear Jackie's story and get to know her a little better. The coffee shop was also just like Lemonjellos as are many coffee shops in this area-very hipster.

In sum, I am learning a ton. About myself, interactions with others, philly, and physical therapy. I feel this is a potential place to root my love of learning and use that towards my PT degree.

Shalom

Plantains

This week has been pretty great! I still feel like I'm settling in here but with the warmth (for a few days) and with more exploring, I feel comfortable here. Sunday we went to the Art Museum where on the first Sunday of the month it is "pay what you wish". Basically, you feel really bad for only paying a couple bucks, but they have a lot of people come in so it'll even out in the end, right? Monday I skipped my class on accident because the schedule was changed from normally being Tuesdays to Monday night. Whoops. I felt like such an idiot and there was nothing I could do about it, besides say sorry which obviously didn't cut it. Besides learning that I got my foot fit for a splint at work by a grad PT who was learning to do it. It was so cool! They used this waxy material that when heated would mold right to my foot and then they would cut off the extras to allow movement. The best part--I got to keep it. As my sister says, I'm sure I'll put it to good use someday.

Later on that night I went to the cell/ Bible study meeting. It was so nice to be in a calm environment that felt like home for once. I miss being surrounded by the comfort of that. Anyways, I found out that Welcome Wagon is going to be having a concert at my church on Feb. 23rd! For those of you who don't know, they are this great music group and the lead singer, Vito, is good friends with Josh Banner, the worship director at Hope. The best part is that when he came to Hope I got to sing with him and a bunch of other random Hope students. It was really amazing, so I'm super excited that first of all, people know him here, and second of all, it'll be nice to see a familiar face. What a coincidence, or more of a sign of God working. Of all the churches I could have joined, clearly this was the right one.

Up and Coming: internship, workshop tomorrow night to create our learning plans for our internships, pizza provided by TPC, Friday I get to head the RND patients in their morning pool workout because everyone will be at a conference, then back to TPC for class in the morning and then to Project HOME to better understand the homeless population. Lastly, some Hope people are coming out this weekend that are friends with my housemates so we'll be showing them around!!

Side story: "Plantains" is the title because today I bought what looked like ripe bananas (great for banana bread), but they were plantains. Good lesson, yummy fried plantains.

Shalom

A Little Triump and a Little Truth

Oh boy, the events that have occurred between the last post and now are almost too impossible to tell...but I'll try. So we move into our home while it's still under construction, still having the floors painted, and still installing necessary appliances such as fridge and dishwasher. Not only this but our heat was not working. After building a whole new wall in the house, including a french door, and adding a grape-patterned old table cloth the the area with the heating equipment, the heat was restored. After a few shopping trips, couches being delivered, and other fixes such as getting internet and mirrors in our bathrooms, the place felt like home.

So I started my internship. It has been a wonderful learning experience and I am only at week two. I get to observe and jump in to help when they need it, or when I want to. I am trained as a physical therapy aide and have just started doing research training. Also I have been getting in the pool with some patients for their aquatic physical therapy which has been really sweet and definitely reminds me of teaching swim lessons. My favorite patient, whom I have been working really closely with, is being discharged tomorrow so I'm going in, though I technically only have to work four days a week, but my schedule's all messed up anyways. Today I got to do co-therapy with her and a music therapist and it was so much fun! We just played some drums and had her try to kneel on her own or stand up, etc. It was great. Sometimes its a little frustrating to know what "role" I am supposed to take in the place because I'm not supposed to do all of the physical therapy aide tasks, but I am asked too, which is fine, I'm just confused. So anyways, once the whole learning plan process goes through it'll be much easier to get out of it what I want, even if that compromises some of the aide duties, but that's okay.

So I went to this church called Circle of Hope with my housemate Karly and it was wonderful. It's a newly formed "branch" of a larger church that is out of Center City and it was full of college-age people. Their huge thing is being a part of a "cell" or small group/bible study as others would call it. So Karly and I went to one this week and it was really wonderful to have that connection to random people that actually knew the city and were working/going to school like we were. It made me feel more at ease about possibly having to search for this type of community at other points in my life, should I move to a different area. Anyways, I'm super excited about what God is doing through this new church, and what we can partake in for the short amount of time we are here.

I am in two classes: Entrepreneurship (for my leadership minor) and Urban Political and Social Systems (for my Political Science credit). For Entrepreneurship we are focusing a lot on whether or not talent exists, or if it is instead deliberate practice. By the end of the class I have to create a business plan for what type of product I want to make and all the details (in roughly 30 pages) of how to make that happen. Any ideas, please let me know! For Urban Political and Social Systems we are talking about Identity this week, but jumping in to the real world next week with a walk to Project H.O.M.E. so that should be exciting. Even better is that in the future we will be visiting the state penitentiary.

Other random updates: we have internet, not wireless yet. Happy Chinese New Year (the parade was last night in Chinatown, but the whole 10:30 bedtime does not suit a social life), my housemate Katie made no-bakes and white chocolate macademia cookies last night--I'm fulllll of them, tomorrow is First Fridays which means that art galleries are open for free to the public and wine and cheese is served, also a trip to the art museum is planned for Sunday (first Sunday is pay what you can).

TGIF! I'll try to post more often too!!

Awaiting the Dawn

Tomorrow more adventures begin! We are walking to go pick up our Uhaul at 8:00am and driving it back to the hotel and can only be in the hotel drive-up for 10 minutes. In this 10 minutes we have to fit as many free double size mattresses and shove luggage into the empty spaces and then be off to our apartment across town to unload. When we arrive there we have to inquire with the landlord and workers in our apartment (yea, they aren't done yet..."a few minor things like the stairs and bathroom") to come and lift our mattresses up the stairs. If they are unwilling, I will be huffing it with my comrade Katie to lift (how ever many we can fit in the Uhaul van at once) up the stairs and into the rooms that are finished. Once we have unloaded, rinse and repeat until we have officially checked out of the Holiday Inn.

More bumps in the road--our place does not exist to cable or electric companies. They literally don't have any numbers that go up to Apt. #211. It is apparently some zoning issue because the place is new and gas comes from one building and electricity from the other building nearby. It's just a whole hullabaloo. BUT we still have heat and electricity going through the apartment, so that's what matters.

Today before figuring out that our place was invisible to all utility companies, we rented a furniture package from a place called CORT. We actually got a great deal and they assured us there were no bed bug worries, etc, unlike the thrift stores ideas of past (though we did some of this). Also we got a microwave with the package which will be essential and which would be much more expensive elsewhere.

Another fun thing from today was that I met with my faculty advisor/ City Seminar teacher named Deborah. She has such an artsy personality and soft voice, she's the most social work/therapist type person you will meet. She's great and we could talk about so many things. Interesting fact--her daughter got into U of M which is her top choice!

Prayer/ positive thought requests: our adventure tomorrow, positive attitudes, timeliness, and that we can get our utility bills worked out and make our apartment exist finally!

The Tale of Apt. 211

Today we began our city seminars--mine is Urban Politics and Social Systems. This class will be great, and I know I will learn a lot already. We are focusing on the political and social issues behind homelessness, the poor, social services, the death penalty, and more. I expect my world-view to develop quite a bit more through this class, even if it is only once a week.

We signed the lease and got keys today! Unfortunately, because it is still getting finished, we have to wait till tomorrow to move in. BUT we have been thrifting a lot and gained some great purchases such as a $10 large carpet, various cute ceramic dishes, a few mugs, bowls, silverware, and pots! It's so cute! Plus we are checking out this other thrift store that delivers which is great and its so cheap! So we are hitting that up tomorrow and then we might be getting some mattresses from the hotel for free and the renting a Uhaul van(for only $20/ 4 hours) to get stuff from Ikea and deliver all of our suitcases to the apartment! That may end up happening over the course of two days as we are allowed to spend tomorrow night in the hotel as well.

So, I may end up driving a Uhaul through Philadelphia tomorrow, or maybe Saturday, but the adventures definitely continue...

Have a good night!

Things Will Change

Lesson of the day, don't assume things are always going to work out the way you want them and be open to new possibilities. It's funny how you think you have life lessons like that down, but really you don't...in other words, we didn't get the apartment on pine because we found out they were asking for a 5 month lease plus a deposit when we are only here till May. It was definitely not worth it, though the neighborhood was a little cuter. After a long search all over the city (when I was just expecting to sign a lease) and going through emotional roller coasters as places were taken from our fingertips, we found our dream loft. It will be finished with its new renovations by Saturday when we move in. It has wood floors, an all brick side wall, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a stainless steel bar/counter top area. Its style is great. The best part--$288 per month for 5 people. Utilities are around $150 so that means $30 per person extra per month. Such a good deal!

Next step is signing the lease tomorrow at 1:30. Also we have our first City Seminar which is my political science class and then some thrift and rental shopping!!

Okay, I would elaborate but I am exhausted. Have a great night!

A Rush in the Slush

As the housing process continues, we are getting to know each other much better. Today we went to 5 different places in 5 hours walking in the "wintry mix" each time. The places were all pretty nice, but it definitely got better as we went along. We checked out Chinatown, the Broad Street Mansion, Bella Vista by the Italian Market, a few on Pine and 9th as well as Pine and 21st and Locust and 20th. Lastly, I went with Leah and Sarah to the Cosmopolitan apartments on 12th and Locust. At the end of the day I was deciding between 2129 Pine Street and the Cosmopolitan apartments. Both had rent around $400 and were in great locations. The only difference was character and for me, I fell in love with 2129 Pine pretty fast. It's rustic charm just makes it so much more appealing, though you get some great benefits with Cosmopolitan apartments such as more space, newer stuff, but that's just not as fun you know? I can find apartment complex's in Michigan; a rustic apartment with a skyline-view deck is impossible to replicate. So, I decided to choose 2129 Pine street as my official Philadelphia residence!

It's crazy that by the end of a full day of apartment hunting you actually find one you like! Only a few other people have found/signed leases. I felt bad letting down some others that I may have roomed with, but overall this will be better and a little cheaper for me. I can also take the South Street bus route to the hospital every day instead of having to go up to Market St. to hop on the subway and then walk south to the hospital. My only anxieties now are how the heck am I going to lift my huge luggage up those three flights of tiny stairs and how the heck are the furniture people supposed to deliver anything to us, worse--will they?

Overall, it was a successful, yet wet, learning and bonding experience. I hope everyone else finds housing okay. There is just so much to think about!

Tomorrow will be pretty uneventful (besides signing a lease!) as I have already secured an internship whereas the other students have to browse and interview for theirs. Hopefully, I will be able to begin my internship by Jan. 31st.

Prayers/nice thoughts: weather!, that we are able to sign a lease, that the other students find suitable housing, and for breaking down the barriers between people and the homeless.

The Tension Begins

Today was the first day of orientation, as well as the first day of the housing search which is exhausting. We had the city walk today--not so tiring which means i'm developing some walking legs. We did a perimeter of the city which went from lunch to dinner, 4 hours. We were all frozen by the end of it. For lunch we went to Reading Market which has this awesome array of ethnic food all under one roof and I had some delicious Chicken Lo Mein. For dinner each group from the city walk was to come with a different ethnic food, ours was chinese. It was so delicious! I got a great mix of italian, thai, indian, chinese, middle eastern, and of course a philly cheese steak, all on one plate--love it! Seriously, I had this tomato bread that was like a cold pizza with this tomato sauce on top, which sounds like a bread stick, but it was so flavorful and ugh so good. Anyways, I definitely understand why they say that Philly knows their food.

Well enough about that--we got the lists of available housing and signed up for viewings. Our schedule tomorrow is packed with meetings at TPC in the morning and viewings every hour across the city until 5:00. Hopefully by that time we will have found a place. Tonight we checked out two places as well. Up in north philly we got the access code from the realtor to check it out and it was a cute 2 story, 3 bedroom, with one bath, close to the arts district (by the rocky steps and other museums), but we had to wait for the bus for 20 mins which is not going to work for my daily commutes to the hospital. Anyways it was cute, but the neighborhood was so quiet that it was almost creepy. Secondly we went to look at the outside of this "mansion" that we are viewing tomorrow. Apparently it can fit at most 10 people and we definitely have enough people who are interested, maybe too many in fact. I didn't really like the area. I felt safe, but it was a little more rundown and a little farther from the city life.

I'm sure tomorrow will bring many more possibilities, as well as struggles, with living arrangements. We might have too many, too little, I might not want to join in what others are doing and will be stuck. Who knows?

Tomorrow we are to dress professionally so the landlords will respect us more because we are "professional interns" and I hope that works. I hate that college student stigma. I personally feel that I don't fit that and I had the assumptions. Anyways on top of wearing professional clothes, we are going to have to trudge through this sleet storm that just hit Philly. "Winter mix" sounds so much less daunting. Thankfully we can rely on the subway for some of our routes between houses...

Things for prayer/good thoughts: the weather, where I will live, who I will live with, that my supervisors get all of my clearances, a positive attitude, and that I get the "student worker" position for the Philadelphia Center so I can get some extra money while I'm here.

A Little Chilly in Philly

This morning I said goodbye to my Dad after the continental breakfast and then met up with Laura and Heather! We got the chance to check into our room for the week which was nice so I didn't have to make the poor bell hop take care of my four bags...

Lots of walking was done today, let me tell you. First we went down to Rittenhouse Square to check out where Laura's student teaching will be at 22nd street and then took the subway up Broad street to where Heather's placement will be. Then, we decided to walk all the way back to the hotel which was long, mind you, cold. We did see Love Park and the City Hall area on the way back as well. Overall, good but long walk. Also, ending with IHOP for lunch.

After hanging out in the hotel, we met some other people that were going to be at the Philadelphia Center as well which was cool. At 4:00 our orientation to the program began and we had the original icebreaker session with some discussions on city safety and housing desires, etc.

After being fed some delicious "hoagies" or in Michigan lingo, subs, we went on a walk down South Street to check out the "night culture" so to speak. Pretty interesting, but a lot of us decided to just walk back through Old City and we were able to see what the historical side of town was like at night--haunted. It just felt creepy. Just to "prove" this, we passed one of the ghost tours which are highly advertised around town.

Tomorrow we have the city walk which takes you on a perimeter of the city--a lot more walking! Apparently this will also give us a better view of the neighborhoods we could live in. Anyways, the students are really fun and very diverse in regards to what type of internships we want. It's nice to be around people from all different schools (though Hope and Earlham are dominating with 17 and 16 vs. 1 or 3 people from other schools) and different areas of the U.S. Anyways, I'm very excited to get to know the students and the amazing faculty that seem so quirky.

I'll update you on the foot pains of tomorrow later, have a great night!

Day Number Two

Day two in this wonderful city started with some IHOP. A few eggs and pancakes later, we bought "obstructed view" seats for $20 to see Les Miserables! The rest of the afternoon consisted of multiple movies about the nation's history, plus a random lecture on the connection of Edgar Allen Poe and Ben Franklin--Philadelphia Publishing. Kind of boring, but parts of it were interesting like meeting Betsy Ross! I'm amazed at how feisty she is! Of all that happened today seeing Les Mis was by far the best. They changed parts of it, most noticeably the staging, for the 25th anniversary and it's debut was here in Philly! It was phenomenal. Definitely the best "Bring Him Home" I have seen/heard. Wow. The music will be stuck in my head for weeks.

Orientation at The Philadelphia Center begins tomorrow--I'll let you know how it goes! Hope you are having a great weekend!

First Day!

A ton happened today! Here's a list, just to keep it interesting:

1. My Dad and I left the house at 4:15am for our flight out of Flint at 6:00am. After a quick switch in Atlanta, GA (I know... a little out of the way but it was about $100 cheaper) we arrived in Philadelphia!
2. An hour later we got a shuttle service to take us and my (over by 5 lbs) luggage to the hotel.
3. For a little sustenance we went to this deli/grocery store across the street from the hotel and then we were on our way--with a cup of coffee in hand, of course.
4. Found The Philadelphia Center and proceeded to ride the elevator up to the 7th floor, walk out, see that it was closed, and take the elevator back down--exciting stuff.
5. Gazed at the epic view of City Hall from Broad Street--it's amazing to contrast the urban city to the history behind it all
6. Proceeded to walk head on into the blistering wind on Market Street, got some change and decided to use the subway instead.
7. First subway experience was a success! We rode down to University City where my internship will be at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
8. Got side tracked on our way to CHOP by the beautiful UPENN campus--apparently the first university in the nation? I did not know this. Side note--they have the "Ben Franklin reading the Constitution on a bench" statue that is in downtown Holland. (Why the heck is that even in Holland?) Second side note--UPENN does not have a PT school, sad
9. Wandered around CHOP which is the cutest hospital I've ever seen.
10. After a second round of coffee we hopped back on the subway and went over to Old City which has Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Found the National Treasure spots where they went to the bell tower and where he took the brick out to find Ben Franklin's glasses.
11. Ate a delicious Hard Rock Cafe dinner.
12. It's 7:00 pm, we are exhausted and lounging in our hotel room.

--possible ice cream adventure to come...

So far I love the city and I'm excited to become a part of it. I'm very impressed with its ability to mix Ann Arbor, Chicago and D.C. in one.

Hats off to William Penn.