Week 2 of Mission Site
The kids came on Monday, 8/22 for the first week of school. The first week was all half days (thank goodness!). Annie (my co-resource teacher) and I had time to meet with Scott (the Title 1 teacher) to try to work out a schedule. It seemed best to work around his schedule (which was pretty much set in stone) and go from there.
On Friday, I would be subbing my first class. Dana, the third grade teacher was going to California for her mother’s birthday (I think it was 75, I know it was a big one), so I observed on Thursday and subbed on Friday. The third graders were absolutely precious – well behaved, helped me when I asked what the procedure was or where Ms. Sullivan puts things, and had lots of interesting questions: why I wear ties, if it's fun to be a teacher, if I picked the purple marker to write on the whiteboard marker because it's my favorite color, if I was married, what the red mark on my face was (darned zit), if I had to shave, and where I went to college. They were truly adorable. It was fun to get back into the classroom.
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| The Resource Room! |
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| So many tapes, DVDs and books! |
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| There's Annie! |
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| My very organized bookshelf (aka magazine rack, grr) |
Community Nights
So my roommates, Stephanie and Becky and I decided on how we would split up community nights. Each week, we have four community nights: Sundays – Stephanie cooks, I wash dishes, and Becky plans and leads prayer, Mondays – I cook (oh boy), Steph plans prayer, and Becky washes dishes, Tuesdays – I plan prayer, Becky cooks, and Steph washes dishes, Wednesdays – we drive to North Lawndale to share a meal, conversation, and prayer with four Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Lisa, a former volunteer and our downstairs neighbor, joins us Mondays-Wednesdays. Every other Monday, the Dominican priests (two currently, one has been on vacation and returns soon) join us for dinner and prayer. This seems to work out really well. We also just found out tonight that a seminarian, who is studying Canon law at a nearby college, will be temporarily moving in to our guest room until one of the rooms clears out downstairs. It should be a new and exciting experience getting to know him!
Masses
So far I’ve been able to celebrate mass:
-At St. Pius – first Sunday in English (where Fr. Brendan put us on the spot in front of the congregation to introduce ourselves), second Sunday in Spanish (I understood about half of what was going on (tough for the readings and homily), and the third Sunday at the English mass with a priest from a nearby parish (LONG homily, but it was all about the hurricane out east so of course I was attentive).
-On the street – on Thursday 8/18, Fr. Brendan invited us to our first street mass. They closed down a block and said mass out on the street –inviting all the neighbors to join. It was in remembrance of a little girl who was the innocent victim of a drive by gang shooting. It was great to hear mass in Spanish and English (sometimes translating, other times just saying it in either language) and to witness the blessing of houses and the homily on peace.
-On the beach – on Saturday, 8/27, St. Pius was joining two or three other parishes at the 31st street beach (other parishes from all over Chicago were at other beaches – all praying for peace and an end to street violence). It was also in Spanish (I learn more and more each time).
Everyone has been so welcoming and hospitable!
Nights out on the Town
So besides our ventures out in Pilsen and exploring a little bit of downtown, I had realized we didn’t do much else yet. So here’s what I’ve done so far to get out of the apartment J
-Friday, 8/19 – Lisa and I went to the downtown area, north of the loop, to “What If: An International Art Gallery.” It was a really great gallery – free drinks (wine, soda, beer, water) and food (pizza, cupcakes, crab cakes) and an awesome DJ. It was centered around alternate universes – all answers to the question, “What if…” Some of my favorites included “What if the gingerbread man was sill running?,” “What if the dinosaurs deserved it?,” “What if beer was never invented?,” “What if Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by a laser gun,” and “What if all birds had to migrate south for winter?” I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much at an art gallery. Also the reception after was on the rooftop courtyard of the surrounding apartment complex. Really nice night. After that, we just walked around and happened upon a dueling piano bar called Heart and Soul. We stayed for about two and a half hours, didn’t have to spend any money on our requested waters, and listened to the very talented musicians. We realized by the number of bachelorette parties that upstairs was a male strip show on tour called “Thunder from Down Under – Straight from Australia” – hahaha.
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| During the day |
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| At dusk |
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| Courtyard reception |
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| One of the many bars set up |
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| When in doubt, dance with the runaway Gingerbread man |
-Saturday, 8/20 - Becky, Stephanie and her boyfriend Michael, Morgan (who lives in Chicago at the House of Connections, serving at Sarah’s Inn with Stephanie), and I went out to the bars in Lincoln park. Our favorite was Barleycorn’s. We had a blast! -Sunday, 8/21 – Lisa and I went to Navy Pier to view the Air and Water show – though I think we missed the better acts.
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| One of the planes (tiny I know) |
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| Good old Marilyn Monroe |
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| Beach near Navy Pier |
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| Marilyn again |
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| Magic show at Navy Pier |
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| I see London, I see France... |
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| Atrium at Navy Pier |
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| Navy Pier beautifulness |
-Wednesday, 8/24, we had about 20 people over (downstairs by the DVUSA Offices) to have some beer and pizza, meet and greet with former volunteers, sisters who shared community with us, and other supporters of the program, and most importantly, to fold the DVUSA newsletters. We had lots of fun and the current volunteers sang the Magnificat in three-part harmony, which the whole crew really enjoyed! -Saturday, 8/27 – after the beach mass for peace, my roommates and I walked from 31st street along lake Michigan all the way north for about 3.5 miles! We ended up in Millennium park, then took a bus up to Oak Street Beach, but it was colder then, so we decided to head back to Pilsen for a great Mexican lunch at Nueva Leon. That night, we went back to Millennium Park for the Celebration of Dance concert in the park. It was free, and we bought some wine to have out on the lawn. Prestigious companies, such as the NYC Ballet, The Martha Graham Dance Company, and the Geoffrey Ballet performed really beautiful pieces. They said that all were invited to a wrap party at the Intercontinental Hotel, so we headed up there, just to find out it was like $55 bucks a head, so we opted out, but the hotel was gorgeous. We walked around the downtown area at night, which was absolutely amazing.
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| Sunrise |
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| Some of the mass-goers |
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| View along the walk |
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| The Field Museum |
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| The (something with a P.) Center in Millennium Park |
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| View of the city from the lawn |
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| Our view of the dance performances |
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| The side screen showing the dancers |
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| At night |
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| Beautiful shot at night |
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| The kayakers |
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| The Chicago Tribune |
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My new city!
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The Start of Week 3 at St. Pius
I’ve gotten to visit the 7th grade class and 5th grade class for their first technology specials. I prepared a little slideshow presentation on various topics we could cover throughout the year. I then had them take a survey, asking if they had access to computer/internet at home and which of the topics I talked about that they would like to learn more about this year. It was great to see their excitement about the topics. The topics ranged from the Microsoft Office, Google Apps, and Facebook, to blogging, Twitter, Wikis, and Skype, just to name a few.
I’ve also been helping out at EE (Early Education, aka Pre-K) every morning (since the teacher and aide have a whopping 21 kids in the class! One little boy, Angel, was so scared of fire drills. On the first day he cried because he didn’t want to go to school because of the fire drills. This morning, we were going to have one, so Ms. Humphrey asked if I would stay so I could help him through it. After a lot of practicing, letting him know it’s only practice and that there would be no real danger, and holding his hand the whole time, we got through it together.
In the next blog or two I will discuss my plans for the Day of Peace, this weekend's Kermes festival, Professional Development, the Chicago Fringe Festival and I will share my Personal Mission Statement.
Thanks for reading my long winded blog!
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