Beautiful Day, Great To Be Alive

This was the sky while I was waiting for the bus.  Gorgeous!

I pass this sign every day.  Have yet to see a kangaroo.

The view out my front door this morning.

Our lovely ACRS building!

This is painted on the fence I pass on the hill.  It never fails to make me smile. =)

Self-Awareness 101

I've been busy busy busy as of late.  Weekends less so, but it is a necessary respite.  Christine Gregoire, governor of this fine state, had to reduce the budget by 6.3% to compensate for shortfalls.  As part of the cuts, funding for citizenship programs was eliminated.  This means that as of December 1, there is a distinct possibility that my program will be cut and the people that I work with have to find new work.  ACRS is fighting it but there are no guarantees.  It is a stressful time for everyone but I find it coming up at odd times.  I have to think about it when I'm making copies.  Will we go through that many in a month and a half?  It is really sad.  I will still have a place because of Americorps but I won't be able to keep doing what I'm doing.  I am starting to get into the swing of things.  I've discovered some things about myself.

• I love teaching.  I always kind of knew that in some way, shape or form but now I know for sure.  My classes are the highlight of my week.  It brings me so much joy and satisfaction.
• I really am as altruistic as I always hoped I was.  I sort of told myself that I would help people when I got done with school but never had to prove it.  I'm glad that I can deliver on all of those promises I made to myself.
• I need my friends.  I hate not having them here.  I'm trying to deal without them but it isn't easy.  They are the ones who give me strength.
• I can make do on my own.  Although my friends and family are thousands of miles away, I am finding a way to cope.  Cooking feeds my soul.  Sharing the food I make amplifies the feeling.  I brought in mahi mahi curry on Monday and brownies on Thursday.  Teaching is filling a hole too.  I make a difference.  What I do is not unique.  I help people fill out forms.  That is basically what I do.  The will to do it is the rare thing.  That knowledge gives me comfort.

I will try to post more.  I know there are a few people who follow these scribblings of mine so I want to make sure there is something to look at.

Without Further Ado

Living with two guys.  Of course, the seat is up. 

For reals claw foot tub. 

Sorry!

I'm so sorry for not posting sooner.  I meant to but this week has been insane.  ESL classes started and I worked almost 50 hours this week.  Yesterday, I went to Safeway and Trader Joe's.  I got a lot of good stuff and it was all paid for by the government.  I got my EBT card and leggings in the mail on Friday.  I felt very Seattle yesterday.  Not quite hipster but looking cool in gray leggings and the blue dress that I bought in Germany with my ugly gray sweater.  I got some chai latte powder from Trader Joe's that is all kinds of delicious.  I also bought some mahi mahi chunks and will be making a curry to bring in to work on Monday.  I will post pictures later today maybe.  I know that you have heard that before.  I will do my best to follow through.

Anthony's Song

I'm moved out of Russ and Beth's!!!!  They have been so helpful beyond anything that I had any right to expect. I'm still unpacking and will post pictures tomorrow.  I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm in my new place.  Thank goodness!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I'm no longer homeless!  I found a place that is only 17 minutes by bus from work.  It's on a wicked steep hill but I only need to go up 2 block of the hill to get to the house.  Utilities are included in the rent.  I will be living with a gay guy and a straight guy.  I met the straight one today.  His name is Jim.  He has a 13 year old son that visits on the weekends.  It's one bathroom for all three of us.  The kitchen isn't that big but it's workable.  I can move in now.  I am so excited for all of the extra time that I will have in my life!  I can bring in food to share at work.  Speaking of food at work, Laura made cupcakes for me so I had roses and baked goods at my desk this morning.  That's what I call a good start to the morning.  I brought my leftover daal for lunch but the Americorps gang, minus Evan went out to the pho restaurant down the street.  They ended up paying for me even though everyone is just as poor as me.

I got all of the ESL classes filled on Friday so that was a major project completed.  I also got to be the official case manager for my first N-400 application.  It's really strange that I started less than 3 weeks ago and I'm already holding the future of someone's citizenship in my hands.  Xiangping has been leading me through the process so I definitely have a safety net but she is leaving on vacation next week so that net is leaving soon.  I also will be in charge of all the citizenship classes in the I.D.  Tomorrow, I have my citizenship class and then Talk Time which should be more fun.  It's intended to be a conversation club rather than an English class but we have too many students for it to be mostly discussion.  We are getting a volunteer which will help reduce the student:teacher ratio.  The volunteer also speaks Vietnamese which is going to be a huge help since all of the participants are from Vietnam.  Tomorrow should be a good day!

Special Delivery

I have gotten 2 boxes in two days.  The first was my new/old phone.  It's a refurb and kind of clunky.  It's intended for more of a business user but it still makes calls and sends texts so it'll get me by.  The second was a complete surprise.  Brett and Elizabeth sent me a tin of brownies!  It was very sweet of them and I just wanted to give a little public recognition.  They are intense like camping!  I was already having a pretty good day but that just made it better.  I got a lot of stuff tied up today along with another tutoring session with a student.  It's awesome that other people are seeing that I am capable and enthusiastic.  I am also getting more confident with Chinese.  Tomorrow will be kind of lame in the morning because I have an Americorps orientation "webinar."  This means that I won't be teaching my citizenship class.  That makes me sad but maybe if Xiangping talks to my students, I can get some more honest and constructive feedback on how to improve.  I also have my second Talk Time class.

After Talk Time, I have a meeting with Phong from Recovery Services to learn how to do Basic Food intakes.  On a related note, yesterday, Laura and Alex got a brush with how our clients live.  They were doing a basic food when the client disclosed he had TB.  Now, there's sort of a tizzy about getting us training on handling communicable diseases.