The sun rises in the Southeast

and sets in the Southwest.

At all points of the sunlit day, I can see the sun out of the south window of my office. That is truly bizarre to me. The sun never rises high enough to stare straight down at Chicago. In November, at any rate.

Latest news is that Yesica has scheduled Project Hope presentations at Kelly High School soon. This is a good thing, and I was excited about going, but then realized that the classes are at the same time as the HIV/AIDS training class I was going to attend for Project Hope. I was so excited about getting this training done because I've been here for three months, and have gotten to do very little of the things I will wind up doing.

So of course, the Red Cross cancelled the training classes. Maybe February, they said. Yesica and I kicked the concrete and complained loudly in that good-natured way that we both have. But I have to get trained soon for two reasons. One, Yesica does not have any trained peer educators now, which means she is managing Project Hope and giving all presentations by herself. The other peer educators will not be trained until next calendar year. Also, on a more selfish note, I'm tired of sitting in the computer lab all day and not really having anything consistent to do except for the art class, which is going well (more on that soon). So, we're taking matters into our own hands, and she is going to traing me so that I can start giving presentations, and I'll receive further training from the Red Cross later, as is possible.

Yesterday, as I was feeling sorry for myself for not having anything to do, I started grumbling about my missing art supplies. It took several weeks to get the supplies in, and then after about a week, I went downstairs to retrieve them for class, and the cabinet had a padlock on it. I talked to Sr. Angie about it, and my class made do, and time slipped by, and all I had was a general idea of "talk to Bridget Swenson". She's the Head Teacher of Dugan- one of our alternative high schools- the one I will be working with (more on that soon). She's very busy, and I've never even been over to Dugan so I didn't feel very comfortably just strolling on over in the middle of the day and saying, Hey, come take care of this for me.

So, yesterday, I went to the church receptionist office and said, "How do I go about meeting this woman?" Every time I've seen her, we've bumped into each other, but it's been two weeks since I've seen her last, and I need her help. So they got me on the phone with Dugan voicemail, and within ten minutes I was downstairs, being led to my art supplies. And I thought, it really is so much easier to take care of things yourself rather than waiting for your busy superiors to fix things for you.

Well, sometimes. Sr. Angie just came to tell me of the new projected date for my starting the computer tutoring program with the students from Dugan- Dec. 8. I have no control over whether things will actually start on this date, but then, neither does Sr. Angie. But apparently, Bridget Swenson will be receiving the training herself pretty soon, and then will pass it on to me, as well as a list of requirements for the students i will be working with. I am really excited about this starting. But this time, I won't hold my breath.

I feel like I've spent eight years waiting to get through school and everything and find a place to go do service work, only to get there, and continue to wait while things get set up for me to start. But the good news is that I get to go to the Project Hope presentations at Kelly. And soon, Yesica will train me to give such presentations. And soon, I will be working with troubled students in the alternative high school.

In the meantime, I saw two of my art students last night (well, one official student, Jaime, and Fredy, the nine-year-old who is not an official student, but who comes to classes every Monday and Friday anyway). I told them that we have our art supplies back. Jaime, who doesnt' talk much, just smiled and kind of bounced around. Fredy threw his paper down on the floor and yelled, "well it's about time!" It was hilarious.

But yeah, that's my life now... on the cusp of great things.

Still waiting.