Kayle and I enjoyed a long labor day weekend. On Saturday, Kayle went hiking with Joe, Brenda, and two other friends, mostly to "head for the hills" in escape of my girl's scrapbooking party. It sounds like he had fun on his hike but ended up going farther than they originally anticipated (they had one enthusiastic companion). My party was fun with about 5 other girls from the Microsoft 20 CF bible study and 1 friend from Notre Dame who moved out to Seattle for a year of post-grad service. We found out that Sarah (the ND friend) lives downtown only a few blocks from the school where I'll probably be tutoring. We might also give Kayle's ND football ticket to her, since he's not too "fired up" about cheering for the Irish and it'll be much more fun with a fellow Notre Dame fan. She might be going to the tv game watches with me as well...I'm pretty pleased to have someone from my dorm at school living so close! Overall, the party was really fun with fresh-baked "Hinkle cookies" (not quite as good as the originals, but we're working on it!), some scrapbooking madness, and plenty of conversation. Mostly, it was just good to get to know some other girls on a deeper level.
On Sunday, we went to Mars Hill and I had my interview for the youth/children's ministry. It sounds like the youth group for middle school/high school (called "Proxy") is sort of like Peace Youth Group as far as general order of the night (except it meets on Wednesdays, not Sundays), although Proxy takes 1 week each month for a shared meal together instead of the regular youth group game, lesson, worship, and small groups. I'm anxious to start contributing to my church, but I have to complete the membership process before getting more involved with youth. Only 9 more sermons to go...
On Labor Day, we were originally planning to go to the zoo or aquarium, since it only costs $5 each with the Microsoft discount and I was really excited to check them out. However, I was sick all day with a bad cold and pretty much stayed in bed. :( Coughing up a lung, headache, weak voice, and bellyache = no fun on Labor Day. Kayle ran to the store and got me 3 kinds of cough drops and cough syrup, and today I feel much better (though not quite back to normal). Blah...
Today was a big day for me and I woke up nervous. I had an interview scheduled at Meany Middle School at 10 am in Seattle near Capitol Hill. The major obstacle: 2 Seattle buses. Having never ridden the bus before, I took down extensive notes from the online trip planner but still felt quite nervous. We ended up leaving in a rush, afraid I was going to fail the very first test by missing the first bus into the city. But, thankfully, I made it with about 5 minutes to spare (Kayle dropped me off on the way to work). Phew! So now, I'm anxiously looking for the Montlake Blvd stop and since the driver was mumbling all the names after the bus already stopped, I could barely understand where we were let alone know if my stop was next. But again, I got off at the right stop, and with some help, found the stop to wait at next. On the next bus, the driver didn't even say the stop names at all and skipped all the ones that no one pulled the cord for. Eek! I hoped I would see a street sign BEFORE we zoomed by, and I did. Glad to be off the bus and miraculously about 1/2 hour early, I looked around and realized I could see no school. So I picked a direction and walked and, soon after, saw what appeared to be a school. God must've been with me today, because I was a lost cause (literally lost!) without some serious help! The weird event of the day was seeing a deranged squirrel that was flopping around in the street, about a 1.5 feet in the air. I guessed its head was probably run over or something, but it was pretty scary and I just hoped it didn't flop anywhere near my sidewalk (or I'd have been running fast the other way). Making it to the school, I had an interview and learned that the position is specifically to improve the literacy of the students through tutoring and I would be working closely with a literacy coach (who administers school-wide assessments to discern which students need the most help, trains teachers in literacy-improving techniques, and puts on events/special projects) and an Americorps VISTA student in charge of recruiting volunteers. Meany has an after-school program, so it should be easy to get my 1700 hours in (they said the person last year just worked 8-4 every day). They also mentioned that they encourage me to be creative, and, if I come up with a good school-wide project or event, they will try to get the funding and donations to make it happen. I guess the guy last year made a book of poems and stories written by the middle-schoolers and gave out copies to the students (who apparently were quite proud of their contributions). There's 500 students in the school overall with 85% black students and 65% on reduced/free lunch. But the school is nice and clean and the houses surrounding it are in good repair (overall, it looked like a nice surrounding neighborhood with nice houses and cars). The staff, as was told to me by the Americorps program head, all seemed very nice and supportive. Overall, it seemed like a great place to work, so I hope they call to officially offer me the position soon. For all those thinking: Oh no...now she has to make it HOME on the bus, I'll cut a long story short. I got on and off all three buses on the way home, arriving shortly after noon and spending a grand total of $2.50 for the day!
At home, I ate a quick lunch of leftovers and took a long nap (still not over that cold!). I also made an appointment with the chiropractor, since my back has been bothering me for a while and Kayle insists that one of my legs is longer than the other. (!!) The appointment is tomorrow. Overall, we're doing pretty well. I am especially thankful to be settling in here and establishing some semblance of a routine.
We miss you all!
Angie and Kayle
