yep. that's about the extend of my Espanol right now. I spend 2 hours working through a Spanish grammar book and attempted to memorize some of the verbs, but by this morning, Beber (to drink) is the only one I could remember.
I know I'm blogging a lot, but that's because it's a good way for me to process this new environment. I plan on starting my communication fast next week. For those of you who didn't get that speech,
Communication Fast: Prof. Corbett's strong suggestion for domestic interns to cut themselves off from all forms of communication outside the context their working in. That means phone calls, texts messages, facebook, blogs, etc. I will only answer calls and emails from folks in Miami. I hope to do this for 2 weeks to a month.
But that's next week, and write now my head is spinning with all that's going on! it's a good thing, it's kinda overwhelming. Dr. Mask has turned me into an observation monster. There are a lot of little things that I'd love to stop and focus on, but I have to move past it. A lot of ethical and research issues have already come up that I'd like to examine, but I can't!
Mary, my supervisor and the person I'll be working the most with, is supposed to be back from her vacation today. According to Yvonne, my job is going to be making a whole lot of intentional contact with the heads of the smaller mentoring programs in the area to get this thing started.
The baseball game Monday night was very interesting. We passed out fliers about the mentoring program. One of the guys' attention grabber was to ask people "would you like to be a mentor?" It definitely worked because it was straight forward, it wasn't anything unattractive like "want to fill out a survey?" or "timeshare in Orlando?" but it got some interesting reactions. Some people were lured in by it, others were scared white by that question. I never thought that word "Mentor" would cause such humility and shame in people. I started thinking about it and realized the pressure that comes with that title. Think about someone who you consider to be your mentor, think about how flawless they look in your eyes and then think about some stranger asking you if you want to be like them. Yeah, scary!
Well, back to reading up on mentoring and trying to translate the Spanish conversations that go on here at the office.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
List of observations and specific prayer requests
I forgot to add this to my last post.
1. I'm extremely quiet when I'm nervous. I've been one-word answering as many questions as possible and I think the most I've talked about has been explaining my paper requirements for the internship.
2. I will have NO temptation whatsoever to go home to visit. Driving through the Everglades is like driving through a jungle (which is full of animals that have more road rights than you and they like crossing the street as slowly as humanly possible.).
3. Nerves + emotional exhaustion + living in a house that eats at 8am, 3pm, and 8:30pm = weird eating habits. I'm not hungry, but I know I should eat. I'll have to purchase some protein bars or something to carry with me.
4. 177th Ave = where I'll be purchasing my fruits and veggies once I move to the door house. it's FULL of local farmers selling their stuff!
5. I've got to get used to having a drum set in my room. Last night, I accidentally hit one of the cymbals with the end of my phone charger and it was a domino effect of sounds.
6. the weather: scalding hot outside. freezing cold inside. torrential down pour of rain in the afternoons. FL summers are NOT enjoyable.
7. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in the FCFC offices speaks Spanish fluently. Spanglish has been thrown between cubicles all morning. The most Spanish I spoke today was "Asi, Asi" and it was when a Hispanic staff member asked me how well I spoke Spanish.
SPECIFIC PRAYER REQUESTS:
- that I'd calm down about this. I really am not enjoying the ambiguity of my responsibilities and what I'm kind of time line I'm on. I also don't think my host completely understands the side observations and interviews I have to conduct for my papers and logs.
- That I'd adjust to my surroundings. I know I'm not experiencing any time difference, major cultural differences, or anything like that, but Miami is still a completely different place than Chattanooga and Cape Coral. The people I'm living and working with are different from Covenant students and staff. I didn't think about this before hand, but now it's something I've got to get through.
- Relationships. That I'd be able to establish good relationships with all the members of my host family and the people in the FCFC offices.
- Yeah, didn't think Spanish was a necessity, oh so COMPLETELY wrong! Pray that I can dedicate my evenings to learning it and will pick up on it quickly.
1. I'm extremely quiet when I'm nervous. I've been one-word answering as many questions as possible and I think the most I've talked about has been explaining my paper requirements for the internship.
2. I will have NO temptation whatsoever to go home to visit. Driving through the Everglades is like driving through a jungle (which is full of animals that have more road rights than you and they like crossing the street as slowly as humanly possible.).
3. Nerves + emotional exhaustion + living in a house that eats at 8am, 3pm, and 8:30pm = weird eating habits. I'm not hungry, but I know I should eat. I'll have to purchase some protein bars or something to carry with me.
4. 177th Ave = where I'll be purchasing my fruits and veggies once I move to the door house. it's FULL of local farmers selling their stuff!
5. I've got to get used to having a drum set in my room. Last night, I accidentally hit one of the cymbals with the end of my phone charger and it was a domino effect of sounds.
6. the weather: scalding hot outside. freezing cold inside. torrential down pour of rain in the afternoons. FL summers are NOT enjoyable.
7. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in the FCFC offices speaks Spanish fluently. Spanglish has been thrown between cubicles all morning. The most Spanish I spoke today was "Asi, Asi" and it was when a Hispanic staff member asked me how well I spoke Spanish.
SPECIFIC PRAYER REQUESTS:
- that I'd calm down about this. I really am not enjoying the ambiguity of my responsibilities and what I'm kind of time line I'm on. I also don't think my host completely understands the side observations and interviews I have to conduct for my papers and logs.
- That I'd adjust to my surroundings. I know I'm not experiencing any time difference, major cultural differences, or anything like that, but Miami is still a completely different place than Chattanooga and Cape Coral. The people I'm living and working with are different from Covenant students and staff. I didn't think about this before hand, but now it's something I've got to get through.
- Relationships. That I'd be able to establish good relationships with all the members of my host family and the people in the FCFC offices.
- Yeah, didn't think Spanish was a necessity, oh so COMPLETELY wrong! Pray that I can dedicate my evenings to learning it and will pick up on it quickly.
150 miles never looked so different
Well, I made it to Miami, FL yesterday at 3pm local time (what? all the international interns do it, why can't I?). The Sawyers have already been extremely generous and kind to me, making the adjustment a bit easier. They have 2 sons who are living at their house for the summer, and one more coming home next week. Last night Rick and I went to an evening service at a local church and found Paul and Heather Mannuel there. Paul use to be the assistant pastor at my home church when I was in middle school, and now he's the pastor of this PCA church in Miami. It was great seeing familiar faces in a COMPLETELY unfamiliar context.
Today, I'm at the FCFC offices doing "orientation" and filling out every piece of paperwork known to mankind so that I can go to any event FCFC runs. I've spent the past hour on www.mentoring.org to get a better idea of what's out there and the best practices and such. I did the required mentoring training for Amachi Mentoring and was excited to see the SMAART principle I learned from 310, SWOT analysis from principles of management, and almost the entire context of my interpersonal communications class present in the training material.
Tonight, I'm going to a Marlins game (yeah, baseball, nothing I know anything about), but not to watch the game. A couple of staff members from FCFC's Children of Inmates program will be there to pass out fliers about their work and how people can volunteer. No, I won't be passing out fliers, I'll be observing in order to get material for one of my required papers.
Today, I'm at the FCFC offices doing "orientation" and filling out every piece of paperwork known to mankind so that I can go to any event FCFC runs. I've spent the past hour on www.mentoring.org to get a better idea of what's out there and the best practices and such. I did the required mentoring training for Amachi Mentoring and was excited to see the SMAART principle I learned from 310, SWOT analysis from principles of management, and almost the entire context of my interpersonal communications class present in the training material.
Tonight, I'm going to a Marlins game (yeah, baseball, nothing I know anything about), but not to watch the game. A couple of staff members from FCFC's Children of Inmates program will be there to pass out fliers about their work and how people can volunteer. No, I won't be passing out fliers, I'll be observing in order to get material for one of my required papers.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Marching into the unknown
I woke up this morning, sore, tired and with a scene from "You've Got Mail" running through my head (it's my favorite movie, what can I say). The scene was when Kathleen Kelly tells her 2 female co-workers that she's closing the store that she's owned for years. One of the co-workers, Birdie, pours tea for them and replies, "Closing the store is the brave thing to do. You are daring to imagine that you could have a different life. Oh, I know it doesn't feel like that. You feel like a big fat failure now. But you're not. You are marching into the unknown armed with...Nothing.Have a sandwich."
Last night was the official start of "Panic Mode". Around 1:30am, I wasn't sure if I was correct about my end date. I thought I might have counted 12 weeks wrong. I pulled out my calender and recounted from Sunday, May 16th till Sunday, August 8th 3 times (once by the days, twice by the weeks). Do you know how long 12 weeks is? it's 84 days. 3 whole months. I'm not worried about being away from home, I did that last summer for 10 weeks and was fine. It's the fact that I'm in a very unstable position. It's short-term, I'm not from the community, and I've never done anything like this before. I'm "marching into the unknown armed with....nothing". faaannnntastic.
I even had doubts last night about being a community development major. Why did I choose this? Why did I think I'd be good at it? what was I planning on doing with it? At one point I panicked because I realized that I'd rather work for Winshape Camps again then go on this internship. For some reason, I thought that was a sin. Then I realized, Camp is something I know and understand, I can go into it armed with my past experience and knowledge of how it works.
Asset Mapping in Miami? nope. nothing. completely new to me.
Pray for peace during my last 24 hours in Cape Coral. That, although I'm armed with nothing, I may realize that God is armed with...everything. If He is for me, who can be against me?
Last night was the official start of "Panic Mode". Around 1:30am, I wasn't sure if I was correct about my end date. I thought I might have counted 12 weeks wrong. I pulled out my calender and recounted from Sunday, May 16th till Sunday, August 8th 3 times (once by the days, twice by the weeks). Do you know how long 12 weeks is? it's 84 days. 3 whole months. I'm not worried about being away from home, I did that last summer for 10 weeks and was fine. It's the fact that I'm in a very unstable position. It's short-term, I'm not from the community, and I've never done anything like this before. I'm "marching into the unknown armed with....nothing". faaannnntastic.
I even had doubts last night about being a community development major. Why did I choose this? Why did I think I'd be good at it? what was I planning on doing with it? At one point I panicked because I realized that I'd rather work for Winshape Camps again then go on this internship. For some reason, I thought that was a sin. Then I realized, Camp is something I know and understand, I can go into it armed with my past experience and knowledge of how it works.
Asset Mapping in Miami? nope. nothing. completely new to me.
Pray for peace during my last 24 hours in Cape Coral. That, although I'm armed with nothing, I may realize that God is armed with...everything. If He is for me, who can be against me?
Monday, May 10, 2010
Life needs an emergency brake!
It's officially 6 DAYS until my internship starts! I still can't grasp it. I've been preparing for this internship since the fall of 2008 and spent a lot of my free time this past semester getting things together for it. And now it's almost here. I hardly feel ready for this. I've thought about what I'm suppose to accomplish and I tell God that there's NO WAY I can do that! research and map all the mentoring programs in Miami-Dade? build relationships with everyone? in 12 weeks? alone? no no no. I remind myself of Moses, which is hopeful...and scary. Moses made a junk-load of excuses, God still commanded Him to go, Moses was used to save God's people.
I'm making a junk-load of excuses, God's still commanding me to go. I don't know if I'll be successful (however you want to define success in this job), but I know the Lord will be with me. The following passage is one of my favorites. We used it every week during my camp job last summer.
"And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
Exodus 14: 13-14
Pray that I have courage to stand firm, eyes to see His salvation, and a quiet heart to trust in His might.
I'm making a junk-load of excuses, God's still commanding me to go. I don't know if I'll be successful (however you want to define success in this job), but I know the Lord will be with me. The following passage is one of my favorites. We used it every week during my camp job last summer.
"And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
Exodus 14: 13-14
Pray that I have courage to stand firm, eyes to see His salvation, and a quiet heart to trust in His might.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Next Step
Well, that's it! I'm officially done with my Junior year at Covenant College! It's been a very difficult semester considering most of my classes were upper division and for my major. US Urban Poverty, International Microenterprise Development and Cross-Cultural Social Science Research Methods were my most difficult, but were also the one's I cared the most about.
So, now it's on to my internship! it's so hard to believe! I'm still $300 short, but I know that the Lord will provide, as He always does. Friday evening, the Community Development department had a "Send-Off" event. Our 4 professors, 2 of the Chalmers Center staff, a senior in the major along with the 12 Junior interns came together to share about our internships and prayer requests and spend time in prayer for each other. The most powerful during the during the send off was hearing everyone's prayer requests and seeing how many people nodded along in agreement or asked to add that to their list, too. Even though I will be in ii with no one I know, I don't think I'll be lonely. There's something about knowing that there's 11 other people with the same knowledge you have freaking out about messing up on their research or doing something that's more harm than help. Knowing that they're going to share similar emotions and experiences that I will and knowing that they're praying for me as I am them just brings the most miraculous peace.
To my fellow interns: May God bless your hands and feet as you seek to serve Him using the education He blessed us with and may you do EVERYTHING for his glory. (and if you survived 460, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to handle your internships ;)
So, now it's on to my internship! it's so hard to believe! I'm still $300 short, but I know that the Lord will provide, as He always does. Friday evening, the Community Development department had a "Send-Off" event. Our 4 professors, 2 of the Chalmers Center staff, a senior in the major along with the 12 Junior interns came together to share about our internships and prayer requests and spend time in prayer for each other. The most powerful during the during the send off was hearing everyone's prayer requests and seeing how many people nodded along in agreement or asked to add that to their list, too. Even though I will be in ii with no one I know, I don't think I'll be lonely. There's something about knowing that there's 11 other people with the same knowledge you have freaking out about messing up on their research or doing something that's more harm than help. Knowing that they're going to share similar emotions and experiences that I will and knowing that they're praying for me as I am them just brings the most miraculous peace.
To my fellow interns: May God bless your hands and feet as you seek to serve Him using the education He blessed us with and may you do EVERYTHING for his glory. (and if you survived 460, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to handle your internships ;)
Saturday, May 1, 2010
A place to call home
My housing has been figured out! I'll be spending the first 2 weeks with Rick and Yvonne Sawyer (the CEO of FCFC)and on June 1st, I'll be moving to this house (look at picture) with several other people who are working with urban ministries in Miami for the summer. Pray that I'll establish good relationships with those I'm living with and that we can support each other throughout our summer's of work.
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