Well, my promises to be more active on blogging has failed miserably.
Chicago is not much different than before but I will try and highlight a few fun events that have made life more enjoyable.
First off, not related to Chi, at Christmas time all the Krantz's were able to make it to Dallas to meet our new cousin, Collin! I also got to meet Amanda, the cutest 3 year old since Riley. It was wonderful spending time with them and the rest of the Krantz clan, we always have a good time together, no matter what we do. Our 30 empty wine bottles were proof of the fun; and memories of spoons, ice skating, family pics, and lots of eating and mojitos solidified it. Time in MN over Christmas break was wonderful as well and getting to see friends and the Schatzlein side of the fam. I also got to get in my fix of cross country skiing since I didn't bring my skis to Chicago.
Back to Chicago news, the Teen Center has been going well, we are now averaging 50-60 kids every single day, our highest was 72 kids with 4 young adult volunteers and 3 staff members!! Crazy day!
We took the kids to a UIC men's basketball game and they enjoyed getting out of McKinley Park and seeing a college sports center.
The middle schoolers from Evergreen are deep in their own basketball season and the boys team has a close to undefeated season. The girls are fighting hard for the wins they do get but enjoying every game. And of course, the basketball court at the Teen Center is occupied all 4 hours we are open. Volleyball is a daily activity as is pool and air hockey. With the cold weather kids are staying longer and have more energy, providing for some crazy times upstairs. A former Amate volunteer and Teen Center staff member, Rebecca, has been stopping by and we had a fun jump rope contest on Thursday. The most consecutive jumps was 300!!
We have been having a lot of planning meetings with Christ the King parish for our upcoming retreat in February. A lot of our kids and young adult volunteers have been attending the meetings and it should be a success!
Our Superbowl adult party fundraiser is this weekend and we are working hard to get the place ready for it. It should be fun and I hear it goes late into the morning with lots of eating, drinking, and football watching.
My house just got done with Simplicity Boot Camp week and had an urban plunge group from St. Norbert College stay with us. We also had a Dirtiest Person Contest to see who could conserve the most water by going the longest without showering. I lasted from Monday afternoon to Friday morning and had a couple workouts in there, pretty gross. Jessie won going from Sunday night to Saturday afternoon!
We had Cardinal George at our house for a community night dinner and that was a fun and educational evening, it felt like we had a celebrity over!
Weekends are usually spent relaxing and catching up on sleep and our to-do lists after busy work weeks. Last weekend however, I made a spontaneous trip home to see Sista's swim meet at St. Cloud. I also got to go to the cross country ski meet at Theodore Wirth Saturday and Sunday and it felt like old times cheering on the Johnnies and Blazers in the Minnesota cold. Watched a heartbreaking Vikings loss at KK and Dick's but was glad to be in the presence of fellow Vikes fans and family.
Well, that's all for now, as always, I will try and blog more often!
Peace, love, and Chicago winds!
-Megg1
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Pics
Making cookies at the Teen Center
(good idea? we aren't so sure...)
Some of my boys cooking tacos for everyone at the Teen
Halloween!! 
Ray, an 8th grader who designed this, is either going to be a pro basketball player or a rich artist...he will be able to do anything he sets his mind to!
Mixing up the Teen Center and Amate...just hanging out me and the guys
live, laugh, love (aka I don't know what to title this post)
Well, this seems to be the normal greeting, I am sorry that it has been so long since I have written, life is crazy here in Chi!
Here at South House we have really started getting into the swing of things. It has been an intense and stressful couple of weeks but of course still filled with fun and excitement. I have found it useful to use the analogy that the honeymoon stage has ended with our housemates and we are learning to love each other for our strengths and our weaknesses, for our attributes and our faults. I spent a little bit of time really having to adjust to this and missing family and friends from my “other” life a great deal. It has been another point of the transition phase lately trying to figure out how both my past and my present can merge as one and I can love my Chicago life without forgetting about everything I left back home. The joyous birth of my new cousin in Dallas made me homesick (or Dallas-sick) to see family, old and new.
However, I was lucky enough to get a free trip home last week to recruit at St. Ben’s/St. John’s for Amate. I spent a night in Richfield just hanging out at home and being with Mom and Popsie; gotta love being spoiled! Then I was able to see a bunch of my really close friends who are up at school and was able to do some catching up. It was strange being there on a normal school day and realizing that papers, tests, studying, class, the Link, Gorecki, O’Con’s, the dorms, were not my life any more. I made it to Magis (aka Praise in the Pub) and loved every minute of it. Spent the evening with Sarah and she sacrificed studying for a Spanish test to hang out with me (love my sista). Woke up the next morning at 5:30am to be on the road by 6:00 and after a couple pit stops for gas and coffee and some slight delays from rush hour was able to pick up Beth in St. Paul by 8:00 and made it back to Chi by 3:00…just in time for the kids to get done with school and to work until 7:00. It was a LONG day.
My job has been going well, I have been able to develop relationships with a lot of the teens and yet know I still have so much farther to go. We are constantly working on attracting more youth to the center and keeping the ones we have coming back when there are so many other distractions for them to fall into. We are trying to motivate schoolwork as a priority and have found that hot chips with cheese (flaming hot cheetos and nacho cheese on top) are the obvious reward. I love these kids and Linda and I make it a big effort to cheer them on in sports or whatever else they are interested in. We have spent many Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the park cheering on the flag football team. I am constantly asking about scores of volleyball, football, and now basketball games and who made it on to what team. Motivating has been another challenge when kids find themselves not starting on a team they were hoping to be a captain for and slipping behind upcoming freshmen and sophomores who aren’t trying nearly as hard but just seem to have natural abilities.
Community life is a huge challenge but also a beautiful blessing. Half the time I want to come home from work and collapse and not talk to anyone but know I have at least an hour of dinner and chatting with the roommates before there is a chance of escaping. The other times I come home and need an ear to listen or just a smile and a laugh to make me forget about everything else going on.
Sometimes I find that when it rains, it pours. Cancer has been popping up in so many aspects of my life, praying seems to be all I can do right now. Family, Amate, family and friends of my housemates, family of friends from school, it’s all around right now. I simply ask for your prayers for those and their family who are struggling with this cruel disease and for the doctors, nurses, and researchers fighting for recovery and a cure.
Well, this post seems to have kind of a sad undertone so I will try to end on a more positive note. We had a fun Halloween party at North House. Linda and I were graffiti walls wearing clothes spray painted and designed by actual taggers (a friend who does “legal” graffiti in Chi-town). And one of my amazingly talented 8th graders drew a sweet design on the back of my shirt. The next morning Kate and I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K race we have been training for and it went awesome. We finished around 1 hour and 25 minutes and were cheered on by 2 housemates and got to eat a feast of chocolate at the finish line (the race was sponsored by Hershey’s!) Last weekend was Becca and Tim’s birthdays so we had a big bash at South House and I think everyone had a good time. I kicked out the last guests at 3:00am and made French toast with Vince the next morning for a few who stayed the night! We certainly know how to throw a party!
This Sunday is our Amate Thanksgiving celebration. We will start with an intense football game of the current volunteers against alumni. Mass is after the game and we will then of course feast on a huge Thanksgiving dinner that will be a treat for us because we do not have to cook! This will all take place at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (the church below the Teen Center) so Linda and I get to play host because our boss, Jim, will be out of town at a Youth Minister conference in Las Vegas (lucky him!)
I hope all is going well for everyone and I apologize for the length of this post, my absence from recent blogs, and my apparent inability to keep in touch well with people back home. Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and I am working on touching base with as many as I can and love the random phone calls, texts, emails (mkrantz910@gmail.com), or facebook messages from everyone scattered across the country.
Love and miss you all,
Meg
Here at South House we have really started getting into the swing of things. It has been an intense and stressful couple of weeks but of course still filled with fun and excitement. I have found it useful to use the analogy that the honeymoon stage has ended with our housemates and we are learning to love each other for our strengths and our weaknesses, for our attributes and our faults. I spent a little bit of time really having to adjust to this and missing family and friends from my “other” life a great deal. It has been another point of the transition phase lately trying to figure out how both my past and my present can merge as one and I can love my Chicago life without forgetting about everything I left back home. The joyous birth of my new cousin in Dallas made me homesick (or Dallas-sick) to see family, old and new.
However, I was lucky enough to get a free trip home last week to recruit at St. Ben’s/St. John’s for Amate. I spent a night in Richfield just hanging out at home and being with Mom and Popsie; gotta love being spoiled! Then I was able to see a bunch of my really close friends who are up at school and was able to do some catching up. It was strange being there on a normal school day and realizing that papers, tests, studying, class, the Link, Gorecki, O’Con’s, the dorms, were not my life any more. I made it to Magis (aka Praise in the Pub) and loved every minute of it. Spent the evening with Sarah and she sacrificed studying for a Spanish test to hang out with me (love my sista). Woke up the next morning at 5:30am to be on the road by 6:00 and after a couple pit stops for gas and coffee and some slight delays from rush hour was able to pick up Beth in St. Paul by 8:00 and made it back to Chi by 3:00…just in time for the kids to get done with school and to work until 7:00. It was a LONG day.
My job has been going well, I have been able to develop relationships with a lot of the teens and yet know I still have so much farther to go. We are constantly working on attracting more youth to the center and keeping the ones we have coming back when there are so many other distractions for them to fall into. We are trying to motivate schoolwork as a priority and have found that hot chips with cheese (flaming hot cheetos and nacho cheese on top) are the obvious reward. I love these kids and Linda and I make it a big effort to cheer them on in sports or whatever else they are interested in. We have spent many Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the park cheering on the flag football team. I am constantly asking about scores of volleyball, football, and now basketball games and who made it on to what team. Motivating has been another challenge when kids find themselves not starting on a team they were hoping to be a captain for and slipping behind upcoming freshmen and sophomores who aren’t trying nearly as hard but just seem to have natural abilities.
Community life is a huge challenge but also a beautiful blessing. Half the time I want to come home from work and collapse and not talk to anyone but know I have at least an hour of dinner and chatting with the roommates before there is a chance of escaping. The other times I come home and need an ear to listen or just a smile and a laugh to make me forget about everything else going on.
Sometimes I find that when it rains, it pours. Cancer has been popping up in so many aspects of my life, praying seems to be all I can do right now. Family, Amate, family and friends of my housemates, family of friends from school, it’s all around right now. I simply ask for your prayers for those and their family who are struggling with this cruel disease and for the doctors, nurses, and researchers fighting for recovery and a cure.
Well, this post seems to have kind of a sad undertone so I will try to end on a more positive note. We had a fun Halloween party at North House. Linda and I were graffiti walls wearing clothes spray painted and designed by actual taggers (a friend who does “legal” graffiti in Chi-town). And one of my amazingly talented 8th graders drew a sweet design on the back of my shirt. The next morning Kate and I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K race we have been training for and it went awesome. We finished around 1 hour and 25 minutes and were cheered on by 2 housemates and got to eat a feast of chocolate at the finish line (the race was sponsored by Hershey’s!) Last weekend was Becca and Tim’s birthdays so we had a big bash at South House and I think everyone had a good time. I kicked out the last guests at 3:00am and made French toast with Vince the next morning for a few who stayed the night! We certainly know how to throw a party!
This Sunday is our Amate Thanksgiving celebration. We will start with an intense football game of the current volunteers against alumni. Mass is after the game and we will then of course feast on a huge Thanksgiving dinner that will be a treat for us because we do not have to cook! This will all take place at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church (the church below the Teen Center) so Linda and I get to play host because our boss, Jim, will be out of town at a Youth Minister conference in Las Vegas (lucky him!)
I hope all is going well for everyone and I apologize for the length of this post, my absence from recent blogs, and my apparent inability to keep in touch well with people back home. Know that you are in my thoughts and prayers and I am working on touching base with as many as I can and love the random phone calls, texts, emails (mkrantz910@gmail.com), or facebook messages from everyone scattered across the country.
Love and miss you all,
Meg
Monday, October 5, 2009
It's been much too long...
Hi!!! I hope this post finds everyone healthy, happy, and enjoying the beautiful fall weather!
I and the other Amate House volunteers returned yesterday afternoon from our fall retreat on the beautiful Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. It was a great weekend filled with bonding, resting, praying, reflecting, playing, eating (what retreat is complete without way too much snack food?!) and so much more. It was a great weekend to get to know each other better and to "retreat" away from our busy and stressful jobs for the weekend.
Since I haven't written in awhile I think I will just do a list form of exciting events that have taken place here in Chicago lately...
~I went and watched some of the boys from the teen center win their first flag football game!
~The Twins beat the Chicago White Sox while I was at the game to cheer them on!! (I know I already wrote about this but it was just that exciting!)
~The Twins beat the Sox AGAIN while I was there watching
~We had a great speaker for our Community Night at North House talking about Christian Sexuality
~Adam and Steph got married back in Minneapolis and I was able to make the trip home to be there!! It was an amazing night!
~Since I was home for the wedding I was able to head up to school and see lots of friends that are either still at CSB/SJU or were able to be around for the weekend! We enjoyed Applebees, hanging out in the dorms and apartments on and off campus, a Johnny Appleseed Party, dancing at Sal's bar, Lake Sag, and breakfast at the new Reef!!
~Dinner with the Minnesota Krantz clan and a delicious meal cooked by mom
~overnight 8 hour Megabus trip with lots of interesting passengers and taking the el home at 5:00 am
~alums from Amate house last year cooking us dinner!
~lots and lots of running getting ready for our 15K race Nov. 1st
~the Teen Center getting busier and busier every day
~getting to know the kids better and starting to learn more about their lives and figure out what they want at the Teen Center
~lots of math and science tutoring so I am dusting off my algebra skills
~a failed movie night at the Teen Center (at least they don't want to sit in front of a TV, not necessarily a bad thing that they were playing basketball and doing homework instead...)
~our first high school night on Sunday complete with Little Caesar's Pizza, basketball, and dodgeball
And this week the boss is gone so Linda and I have the Teen Center to ourselves, it should be an interesting challenge...keep us in your thoughts and prayers, we'll need it!!
I would love to hear from people and about how your life is going.
Sista and a few friends are visiting Chicago this weekend so the week is basically just a countdown until they get here, can't wait!!
Love and miss you all!
-Meg
I and the other Amate House volunteers returned yesterday afternoon from our fall retreat on the beautiful Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. It was a great weekend filled with bonding, resting, praying, reflecting, playing, eating (what retreat is complete without way too much snack food?!) and so much more. It was a great weekend to get to know each other better and to "retreat" away from our busy and stressful jobs for the weekend.
Since I haven't written in awhile I think I will just do a list form of exciting events that have taken place here in Chicago lately...
~I went and watched some of the boys from the teen center win their first flag football game!
~The Twins beat the Chicago White Sox while I was at the game to cheer them on!! (I know I already wrote about this but it was just that exciting!)
~The Twins beat the Sox AGAIN while I was there watching
~We had a great speaker for our Community Night at North House talking about Christian Sexuality
~Adam and Steph got married back in Minneapolis and I was able to make the trip home to be there!! It was an amazing night!
~Since I was home for the wedding I was able to head up to school and see lots of friends that are either still at CSB/SJU or were able to be around for the weekend! We enjoyed Applebees, hanging out in the dorms and apartments on and off campus, a Johnny Appleseed Party, dancing at Sal's bar, Lake Sag, and breakfast at the new Reef!!
~Dinner with the Minnesota Krantz clan and a delicious meal cooked by mom
~overnight 8 hour Megabus trip with lots of interesting passengers and taking the el home at 5:00 am
~alums from Amate house last year cooking us dinner!
~lots and lots of running getting ready for our 15K race Nov. 1st
~the Teen Center getting busier and busier every day
~getting to know the kids better and starting to learn more about their lives and figure out what they want at the Teen Center
~lots of math and science tutoring so I am dusting off my algebra skills
~a failed movie night at the Teen Center (at least they don't want to sit in front of a TV, not necessarily a bad thing that they were playing basketball and doing homework instead...)
~our first high school night on Sunday complete with Little Caesar's Pizza, basketball, and dodgeball
And this week the boss is gone so Linda and I have the Teen Center to ourselves, it should be an interesting challenge...keep us in your thoughts and prayers, we'll need it!!
I would love to hear from people and about how your life is going.
Sista and a few friends are visiting Chicago this weekend so the week is basically just a countdown until they get here, can't wait!!
Love and miss you all!
-Meg
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
go Twins!!
Just got back from my 2nd night in a row of watching the Twins beat the White Sox in Chicago!!
My boss was nice enough to give Linda and me tickets so we got to go twice!! And I had friends there tonight so fellow Twins fans to get dirty looks with me.
Gotta love keeping the Minnesota pride strong even in Chicago!!
Last night we destroyed them with a 7-0 win.
8 homeruns in the game tonight, 5 of them being from Minnesota! So we got to see 3 sets of fireworks (tradition at Sox field when they win or get a homerun) but still got a win
That's all for tonight...Go Twins!!
Oh, and I am super pumped because I am going home this weekend for Adam and Steph's wedding! It is going to be a blast and I can't wait for their special day, to see the fam, and to make a trip up to school on Saturday!
My life is all about Minnesota right now!! Yay!
My boss was nice enough to give Linda and me tickets so we got to go twice!! And I had friends there tonight so fellow Twins fans to get dirty looks with me.
Gotta love keeping the Minnesota pride strong even in Chicago!!
Last night we destroyed them with a 7-0 win.
8 homeruns in the game tonight, 5 of them being from Minnesota! So we got to see 3 sets of fireworks (tradition at Sox field when they win or get a homerun) but still got a win
That's all for tonight...Go Twins!!
Oh, and I am super pumped because I am going home this weekend for Adam and Steph's wedding! It is going to be a blast and I can't wait for their special day, to see the fam, and to make a trip up to school on Saturday!
My life is all about Minnesota right now!! Yay!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
more updates from the beautiful windy city...
I wrote this on Thursday, it is now Saturday...sorry!!
Well, life has been pretty crazy (as usual it seems for my life in Chicago) and I haven’t had time to update this, so I apologize. Last weekend we were able to stretch my birthday celebrations from Thursday to Sunday and did lots of random, fun things and hardly sleep at all. Thursday we went to a local bar and played pool and darts and then the neighborhood boys took me to a burrito place also in the area. Friday we went to a happy hour up north at a bar called Uncle Fatty’s. There were only a few Amate people brave enough to give it a try but our stories of the sand, palm trees, and live music got everyone excited for another adventure there this weekend!
During the day Saturday we bummed around, Kate and I went for a run, and then Kate, Jessie, and I tried a coffee shop in the next neighborhood over (Bridgeport). It was really cute and it was nice chatting in a smaller group and getting a chance to just chill. Saturday night was a Mexican Independence Day party at the Little Village house and we got to meet some other volunteers from MercyHome (the other place I applied to this year) so that was fun making new friends. Of course after the party the neighborhood guys were ready to hang out so they came over to my place and we chatted until way too late, especially for waking up for 9:30 mass the next morning. We also had Sunday brunch at our house which was fantastic to come home from Church to the smell of pancakes, French toast, and hash browns. Sunday afternoon Kate, Michael, Meghan (his girlfriend who was up visiting for the weekend…I am not starting to talk in 3rd person, no worries) and I explored the Celtic Fest downtown and got to watch Irish dancers, hear some Irish music and look at all the art and projects that were going on. Then Kate and I traveled farther up north to a Catholic Open House at a cute coffee shop to learn about different parishes, services, youth groups, and education opportunities available to us in the Chicago area. Of course there was free food involved and it was delicious. Sunday night I got to experience the Bears and Packers play on the big screen in the teen center, I have to say that I was only attentive to half time and then my ADD-type personality took over. It was fun eating pizza, drinking beer, and hanging out with lots of Bears fans (and one Packer fan) and seeing how into the game they got. After 4 interceptions and in the last 2 minutes the Packers secured the win and the guys’ moods became a little sour. There was talk of duct taping the nearest Packer fan (Linda) to a pole somewhere…she escaped unscathed, fear not.
This week was fun and crazy as well and all the excitement contributed to me getting sick this week. My running hasn’t been up to par but hopefully next week I’ll get back into the training. We got to go to the Cubs/Brewers game in Wrigley field on Monday. As a south-sider I wasn’t allowed to cheer for the Cubs, as a Minnesotan I wasn’t allowed to cheer for Wisconsin so I just enjoyed Wrigley field and watching baseball.
Tuesday night John Lucas, the Amate House executive director, made our house a delicious dinner. He is a really awesome guy and shared with us all about his life and all that he has done. It was really cool to hear about such a great and inspirational guy in such a down-to-earth way and feeling really comfortable around him. Linda and I get to know the staff better than our housemates because we are around in the morning because we go to work later so I have been able to talk to him but it was nice that my roommates got to interact with him as well and that he was so willing to serve us. This year has really shown me all the love that people have for others and how a year of service is not only learning to serve but also learning to accept the generosity that people want to share. I don’t always have to be the one helping people, I can accept things from people as well and that is okay.
Wednesday night we had community night at MercyHome (the friends we made on Saturday night) and got VIRTUS training, learning about protecting children from child molesters, a less than cheerful topic that left us all a little depressed and me worrying about my kids.
Tonight we had a former volunteer over for dinner and she brought us brownies! (we love having guests…but a batch of brownies is gone in under 5 minutes with the 13 of us digging in) Then we had a house event of watching “The Office” season premiere and now are just bumming around the house and one by one my roomies are heading to bed. Tomorrow is Friday (TGIF!!! It’s been a long week…) and after the radio show in the morning I’ll be on my own at the Teen Center because Linda is leaving for the weekend for a wedding. It should be interesting going at it alone but I think the guys will come and keep me company for most of the day.
The job is going well, still getting used to the kids and having fun stuff for them to do for 4 hours with all their pent up energy from sitting in school all day. They are interesting to figure out and I am trying to get inside their heads and see where the heck they get some of their ideas on school, life, and relationships. Already I have gotten really close to one of our most quiet girls. It has been intense having her share her life story with me and hearing all she has gone through after knowing her for only a couple weeks. I can’t go into details but just know that her life has been much, much different than mine. It was really nice because at their school’s open house last night she introduced me to all her teachers because her dad wasn’t there with her. She was so proud having me there and getting to show me her school and meet her teachers. It was great sharing that part of her life with her.
We got to experience a planning meeting at the middle school today and I felt more informed about what was going on and what they are doing to help the kids (rather than just hearing from the kids everything they hate about school). Linda and I decided we are going to practice our Spanish since most of the parents only speak Spanish…hopefully that will go well and it will come back to me. I’m still working on synching the databases and getting everything organized. It is going to be a long project but I have faith that next years’ volunteers will come into the job with a much better sense of what is going on. We are also starting to research grants and figure out different ways we can get money into the center. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, we need, need, need money so we can give the kids more, have a larger staff, and provide more opportunities to make the center great. I’m still working on my volleyball and pool skills but doing some homework help and I enjoy working with the kids and seeing them get stuff done and maybe learn a little (even though they will never admit it).
Linda, E-O, and I get to go to National Catholic Youth Conference in Kansas City in November! Jim is bringing some kids and was able to get enough funds for all 3 of us to go as well! I am super excited but I will talk more about that in a later post, this one has gotten much too long already and it is bedtime. Hope all is going well wherever you are reading this from and you are able to have adventures of your own. Love and miss you all, you are in my thoughts and prayers as always.
-Meg
Well, life has been pretty crazy (as usual it seems for my life in Chicago) and I haven’t had time to update this, so I apologize. Last weekend we were able to stretch my birthday celebrations from Thursday to Sunday and did lots of random, fun things and hardly sleep at all. Thursday we went to a local bar and played pool and darts and then the neighborhood boys took me to a burrito place also in the area. Friday we went to a happy hour up north at a bar called Uncle Fatty’s. There were only a few Amate people brave enough to give it a try but our stories of the sand, palm trees, and live music got everyone excited for another adventure there this weekend!
During the day Saturday we bummed around, Kate and I went for a run, and then Kate, Jessie, and I tried a coffee shop in the next neighborhood over (Bridgeport). It was really cute and it was nice chatting in a smaller group and getting a chance to just chill. Saturday night was a Mexican Independence Day party at the Little Village house and we got to meet some other volunteers from MercyHome (the other place I applied to this year) so that was fun making new friends. Of course after the party the neighborhood guys were ready to hang out so they came over to my place and we chatted until way too late, especially for waking up for 9:30 mass the next morning. We also had Sunday brunch at our house which was fantastic to come home from Church to the smell of pancakes, French toast, and hash browns. Sunday afternoon Kate, Michael, Meghan (his girlfriend who was up visiting for the weekend…I am not starting to talk in 3rd person, no worries) and I explored the Celtic Fest downtown and got to watch Irish dancers, hear some Irish music and look at all the art and projects that were going on. Then Kate and I traveled farther up north to a Catholic Open House at a cute coffee shop to learn about different parishes, services, youth groups, and education opportunities available to us in the Chicago area. Of course there was free food involved and it was delicious. Sunday night I got to experience the Bears and Packers play on the big screen in the teen center, I have to say that I was only attentive to half time and then my ADD-type personality took over. It was fun eating pizza, drinking beer, and hanging out with lots of Bears fans (and one Packer fan) and seeing how into the game they got. After 4 interceptions and in the last 2 minutes the Packers secured the win and the guys’ moods became a little sour. There was talk of duct taping the nearest Packer fan (Linda) to a pole somewhere…she escaped unscathed, fear not.
This week was fun and crazy as well and all the excitement contributed to me getting sick this week. My running hasn’t been up to par but hopefully next week I’ll get back into the training. We got to go to the Cubs/Brewers game in Wrigley field on Monday. As a south-sider I wasn’t allowed to cheer for the Cubs, as a Minnesotan I wasn’t allowed to cheer for Wisconsin so I just enjoyed Wrigley field and watching baseball.
Tuesday night John Lucas, the Amate House executive director, made our house a delicious dinner. He is a really awesome guy and shared with us all about his life and all that he has done. It was really cool to hear about such a great and inspirational guy in such a down-to-earth way and feeling really comfortable around him. Linda and I get to know the staff better than our housemates because we are around in the morning because we go to work later so I have been able to talk to him but it was nice that my roommates got to interact with him as well and that he was so willing to serve us. This year has really shown me all the love that people have for others and how a year of service is not only learning to serve but also learning to accept the generosity that people want to share. I don’t always have to be the one helping people, I can accept things from people as well and that is okay.
Wednesday night we had community night at MercyHome (the friends we made on Saturday night) and got VIRTUS training, learning about protecting children from child molesters, a less than cheerful topic that left us all a little depressed and me worrying about my kids.
Tonight we had a former volunteer over for dinner and she brought us brownies! (we love having guests…but a batch of brownies is gone in under 5 minutes with the 13 of us digging in) Then we had a house event of watching “The Office” season premiere and now are just bumming around the house and one by one my roomies are heading to bed. Tomorrow is Friday (TGIF!!! It’s been a long week…) and after the radio show in the morning I’ll be on my own at the Teen Center because Linda is leaving for the weekend for a wedding. It should be interesting going at it alone but I think the guys will come and keep me company for most of the day.
The job is going well, still getting used to the kids and having fun stuff for them to do for 4 hours with all their pent up energy from sitting in school all day. They are interesting to figure out and I am trying to get inside their heads and see where the heck they get some of their ideas on school, life, and relationships. Already I have gotten really close to one of our most quiet girls. It has been intense having her share her life story with me and hearing all she has gone through after knowing her for only a couple weeks. I can’t go into details but just know that her life has been much, much different than mine. It was really nice because at their school’s open house last night she introduced me to all her teachers because her dad wasn’t there with her. She was so proud having me there and getting to show me her school and meet her teachers. It was great sharing that part of her life with her.
We got to experience a planning meeting at the middle school today and I felt more informed about what was going on and what they are doing to help the kids (rather than just hearing from the kids everything they hate about school). Linda and I decided we are going to practice our Spanish since most of the parents only speak Spanish…hopefully that will go well and it will come back to me. I’m still working on synching the databases and getting everything organized. It is going to be a long project but I have faith that next years’ volunteers will come into the job with a much better sense of what is going on. We are also starting to research grants and figure out different ways we can get money into the center. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, we need, need, need money so we can give the kids more, have a larger staff, and provide more opportunities to make the center great. I’m still working on my volleyball and pool skills but doing some homework help and I enjoy working with the kids and seeing them get stuff done and maybe learn a little (even though they will never admit it).
Linda, E-O, and I get to go to National Catholic Youth Conference in Kansas City in November! Jim is bringing some kids and was able to get enough funds for all 3 of us to go as well! I am super excited but I will talk more about that in a later post, this one has gotten much too long already and it is bedtime. Hope all is going well wherever you are reading this from and you are able to have adventures of your own. Love and miss you all, you are in my thoughts and prayers as always.
-Meg
Thursday, September 10, 2009
birthday #23
9/10/09
Happy Birthday to me!
I woke up this morning to one of my roommates pounding on the door because she had made me breakfast in bed and a jumble of missed calls and text messages of friends saying Happy Birthday. I am going to lunch with Uncle Shawn (who lives in Washington DC) because he is in Chicago for business, I couldn’t have asked for much better of a birthday present. It’s promising to be a great day.
Since Labor Day it has been a pretty crazy week. All of Amate House got free tickets for the Chicago White Sox game versus the Oakland A’s on Tuesday evening. John Lucas (our executive director) had extra tickets so the guys from work (including Jim Kozy of course) were able to come with as well. Jim took all of us in his 15 passenger van so we didn’t have to worry about CTA or driving, what a great boss! It was a fun evening not because of the game (we were sitting about as far up in the bleachers as you can get and the Sox lost 11 to 3) but because of the company. My housemates lived up to their usual standards of being the best house by doing the most dancing, taking tons of pictures, staying longer than all the other houses, and dancing through the stadium after the game was over.
Tuesday was also the kids at the Teen Center’s first day of school so they had a lot of energy when they got to us. Don’t worry though, they are already sick of teachers, were texting in class, and didn’t want to learn anymore, it was a great first day…Seriously though, we have been slightly struggling with activities for the kids and finding stuff that they all want to do. Some love playing basketball, some like playing cards, pool and volleyball occupy them for awhile, but then there are the kids who say they’re bored but don’t want to do anything we suggest. And 4 hours is a long time to be bored or to just do one or 2 things; we’re working on a weekly schedule that will have stuff that has something for everyone throughout the day or at least sometime during the week. I think we are going to plan a big kickball game for Friday and put up signs today!
Yesterday we were only with the kids for an hour but I got to experience kicking out my first student. He had 2 warnings and still insisted that he didn’t do anything wrong and Linda and I had to call in reinforcements from Jim to get him to finally leave. It was pretty sad, I know that he causes a lot of trouble but I know that he is a good kid at heart. Jim and I were talking and the problem is that he causes us so much trouble at the center and creates so much extra work for us, but the center is exactly where he needs to be so he isn’t causing trouble on the street or at home and to get him on the right track for life. However, Jim had told me on Tuesday that this youth needs to be on a short leash and needs to know who is in charge so if we start out tough hopefully that will be better for all of us later on. Hopefully he is right, I do not like kicking kids out of the center, I want to give them all second chances. You can definitely tell that they are seeing how far they can go with us right now; I am trying hard to be their friend while still being an authority figure and not becoming a pushover.
Hopefully we will have a fun day with the kids today and then it’s tacos for dinner and hanging out for my birthday! Hope everyone has a fabulous day and end of their week. Stay in touch, I would love to hear back from you!
Keep living for the big guy upstairs!
-Meg
Happy Birthday to me!
I woke up this morning to one of my roommates pounding on the door because she had made me breakfast in bed and a jumble of missed calls and text messages of friends saying Happy Birthday. I am going to lunch with Uncle Shawn (who lives in Washington DC) because he is in Chicago for business, I couldn’t have asked for much better of a birthday present. It’s promising to be a great day.
Since Labor Day it has been a pretty crazy week. All of Amate House got free tickets for the Chicago White Sox game versus the Oakland A’s on Tuesday evening. John Lucas (our executive director) had extra tickets so the guys from work (including Jim Kozy of course) were able to come with as well. Jim took all of us in his 15 passenger van so we didn’t have to worry about CTA or driving, what a great boss! It was a fun evening not because of the game (we were sitting about as far up in the bleachers as you can get and the Sox lost 11 to 3) but because of the company. My housemates lived up to their usual standards of being the best house by doing the most dancing, taking tons of pictures, staying longer than all the other houses, and dancing through the stadium after the game was over.
Tuesday was also the kids at the Teen Center’s first day of school so they had a lot of energy when they got to us. Don’t worry though, they are already sick of teachers, were texting in class, and didn’t want to learn anymore, it was a great first day…Seriously though, we have been slightly struggling with activities for the kids and finding stuff that they all want to do. Some love playing basketball, some like playing cards, pool and volleyball occupy them for awhile, but then there are the kids who say they’re bored but don’t want to do anything we suggest. And 4 hours is a long time to be bored or to just do one or 2 things; we’re working on a weekly schedule that will have stuff that has something for everyone throughout the day or at least sometime during the week. I think we are going to plan a big kickball game for Friday and put up signs today!
Yesterday we were only with the kids for an hour but I got to experience kicking out my first student. He had 2 warnings and still insisted that he didn’t do anything wrong and Linda and I had to call in reinforcements from Jim to get him to finally leave. It was pretty sad, I know that he causes a lot of trouble but I know that he is a good kid at heart. Jim and I were talking and the problem is that he causes us so much trouble at the center and creates so much extra work for us, but the center is exactly where he needs to be so he isn’t causing trouble on the street or at home and to get him on the right track for life. However, Jim had told me on Tuesday that this youth needs to be on a short leash and needs to know who is in charge so if we start out tough hopefully that will be better for all of us later on. Hopefully he is right, I do not like kicking kids out of the center, I want to give them all second chances. You can definitely tell that they are seeing how far they can go with us right now; I am trying hard to be their friend while still being an authority figure and not becoming a pushover.
Hopefully we will have a fun day with the kids today and then it’s tacos for dinner and hanging out for my birthday! Hope everyone has a fabulous day and end of their week. Stay in touch, I would love to hear back from you!
Keep living for the big guy upstairs!
-Meg
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