Trading Spaces

Welcome back to my blog, "A Summer of Refuge." So far I've already spent a whole month here at Exodus and there still is never a dull moment!

This week, our department moved offices. Whereas before the Housing and the English programs were in the same office, we are now in separate offices. A Monday afternoon was courageously spent taking apart shelves, hauling books, and moving computers to a new and improved office space. Most people were happy about this change, mainly due to the fact that "now we will be able to get a lot more work done!" Gotta admit, I was not quite so thrilled. Smaller office, more closed off, and less people to talk to. I definitely have gotten into a habit at work of talking to whoever is in the office, probably because everyone is just so interesting. So now we have half the people, and although I really like the English people, I miss those in Housing as well. Occasionally I walk down the hall to the old office and reminisce about the old times when the housing and LCORE interns were in the office alone during staff meetings, pretending like we were the ones in charge. Sure will miss that place!

One thing this internship has taught me about myself is that I can be pretty chatty. When I'm not teaching, I'm usually in the office doing some sort of work or another, which can range from lesson plans to cutting out flashcards to laminating things to keeping track of attendance and making binders. There are just a million things to be done, and I'm very glad to be able to help out with them. And it keeps me on my toes, but it doesn't change the fact that I feel uncomfortable working in an office with several other people and not talking to them. I think I'd be a great character on "The Office." After about 5 minutes of silence, I start to become anxious and then begin to ask random questions and start conversations, even though I know that people are probably doing important things on their computers. I think for the most part people are happy to talk to me, but I should probably work on that one for the future: "Remember, Anna, people are here to work!"

Apart from the office, my students are inspiring to me, as always. And sometimes downright hilarious. One of my students told me that he was a cowboy in his home countrry. "A cowboy," I thought. Interesting...turns out he was a cow herder, but hey now, isn't that pretty much the same thing? He'll always be a cowboy in my book :)

Another thing that I have come to do at my internship is start teaching a night class. This means that I can take three hours out of my work schedule a week anywhere I want, which is pretty nice. Teaching this class also means that I have to organize the volunteers who come to teach and give a ride to some of the students who are physically unable to walk the distance. And this is where the Butzmobile (my red minivan) comes in handy. Not only can I give students rides, I can take up to 6 people! I'm sure that Exodus wishes they could make more use of my van, but alas, the sweet soccer mom vehicle shall remain mine. I keep forgetting to put up the two middle sits that I have stowed-and-goed, so I always feel terrible when I open the door for the elderly students and they have to climb all the way to the back, probably asking themselves why they didn't just walk. "Remember, Anna, to put those seats up!" Still hasn't happened, but I promise it will before the next class!

Teaching the night class is a whole different ball of wax. Currently I have about four volunteers that come to teach the different levels, but usually at least one of them is missing, so we really have to make do the best that we can. If any of you reading this are volunteers anywhere, please don't flake out! Even though you aren't getting paid and you probably deserve the occasional day off, your commitment is important as well and trust me. You are needed and depended upon way more than you think you are. So if you are thinking about volunteering at a shelter, or teaching classes or at a nursing home, that is absolutely wonderful and I wholeheartedly encourage it. Just make sure that it's something that you know you can really commit to every week. Do that for me, will ya?

Internship aside, I haven't talked a lot about what it's been like to really live on my own. It's been pleasantly very nice. I have my own room to sleep in, a kitchen to cook in, a bathroom to shower in, in a very nice part of the city. With my friends from school I like to go to Broad Ripple and either have a drink or get something to eat. I also go grocery shopping at Kroger...I feel so domestic! Cooking and ironing my work clothes and buying my own stuff all the time. Feel like a real adult. Except for one small detail: I need to learn how to budget. I thought that I was pretty good about this, but it turns out I was quite mistaken. Rent, utilities, gas, groceries, I can handle, while everything else becomes a major life decision. I'm certainly not complaining that I'm poor, but I'm just learning how to work my way around not having a lot of extra spending money. I think the first thing I need to do is learn to buy things in bulk!

Also, I've been trying to adopt a more healthy lifestyle over the summer. At the beginning, I was running almost every day until last week sometime when I pulled a muscle or a tendon in my calf, and now it hurts to run so I've been trying to lay off it for a while. My dental hygiene has also improved vastly. I'm not sure why, but not only do I brush my teeth once a day, but I also floss and use mouthwash. Now next time i go to the dentist he better not tell me I'm not doing a good enough job. Nothing's worse than the dentist criticizing you as he takes a metal pick to your teeth and gums and asks you questions that you can't answer because his tools are in your mouth. Oh, the dentist...

Another reason why I think I've been spending so much money is because I like to eat healthy food. And not in the way of calorie counting, but more in the way of fresh food that doesn't come out of a box. There are a few bad things about eating this way. The first thing is that unlike box and bag food, real food actually expires, and fast. And when I only have one mouth to feed, I can't be cost-effective when buying fruits and vegetables because if I buy too many at a time they go bad before I get the chance to eat them all. Another bad thing about eating this way is that fresh food tends to be a bit more expensive, and when you cook (literally cook) for yourself there are a lot of ingredients you have to buy. Never thought I'd be stocking my cabinets with baking powder, cornmeal, spices, and olive oil at the age of 21, but I gotta say that I enjoy cooking and want to keep at it. And now that most of the essentials are bought, hopefully in the next month I'll spend less money and be just as healthy.

Well, there you have it! Not only do you know more than you want about my work, but you also get a glimpse of what it's been like for me to live on my own. Thanks for reading and I'll post again next week!

Anna