And then there were three

Hey all, sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time, so here we go.

The last week and a half of orientation has flown by. I don't really remember all that was said or done, but I do remember it was super fun.
There is one thing at is embedded in my mind is last Friday. Dorothea and I went to the Shedd Aquarium, it was a pretty good time. I think we had more fun making fun of the fish than actually looking at them and reading about them. After the aquarium we headed to meet up with the rest of the group. We were all to meet at a restaurant called Cafe Too for our final goodbye meal as a group. Cafe Too is a restaurant that takes homeless people who qualify and train them in the cooking arts. The meal consisted of 3 courses. For the first course I had portabella and goat cheese on bread, which was exceptional. For the second course I had ribeye, which was quite possibly the best ribeye I have ever had in my life. For the last course I had a chocolate tart that had coffee beans in it, and it was amazing.
To end the night Krista took us on a walk to a mystery location. The night was cold, but we trudged on because we were anxious to see where we ended up. There had been some talk of going to the Hancock Tower, but as we continued to walk, it became apparent that the top of the Hancock tower was not our final destination. We continued to walk, we heard the crashing of waves on the shore. We climbed up a small hill and found ourselves on the shoreline. It was gorgeous. We climbed down the steps that led to the beach. Krista told us to sit, so we sat in a large circle. She proceeded to tell us that we were going to pray for each team. So each team got together and stood in the middle of the large group while the rest of the teams put their hands on the team in the middle and prayed. After each team took their turn in the middle, we circled up again and sang.
When we finished, we took some pictures, broke off into groups and headed home. My group consisted of Craig, Krista, Tyler, Lee, Becca, Kristen and myself. We walked for what seemed like ages until we finally reached the "L". At this point we were all tired and freezing, so it was a silent ride on the "L" and the walk home from the "L". We finally reached home and went to bed. The next day rolled around and I said my goodbyes to the England team again, then left with my family for the day. We didn't really have a set plan, so we found ourselves in Millennium Park, my "second home". After walking around, playing in the fountain and taking random pictures in the bean, our parking time expired, so we left with a new mission, which was to go to the Hancock Tower. We drove and drove and drove and still no Hancock Tower. We eventually found ourselves in Greektown and on a normal day that would have been fine with me, but we really wanted to go to the top of the Hancock Tower, so we followed random streets and eventually found ourselves at the base of the Hancock Tower.
We parked and headed to the lower level of the tower. We walked into the Northface store that is at the bottom of the tower. This turned out to be a bad idea because I have a strange obsession with Northface. After prying me away from the store we wandered around until we found the elevator that would take us tot he lounge on the 96th floor. We reached the top and looked around. The view was amazing, but we didn't really want to pay for food, so we went to the facilities, as it were the view in the women's washroom was beautiful.
After taking numerous pictures, we got bored and made the descent. We left and headed for our next destination, which was Navy Pier, but not before purchasing gloves and an ear warmer from the Northface store. We made it to Navy Pier and decided to eat at Bubba Gumps, which was great. After satisfying our hunger, we walked around, took tons of random pictures and decided to head back to the hotel my family was staying at. After stopping there for a short while, we headed to IKEA to get the Swedish cookies that I adore so much. For supper, we went to Mr. Greek's to get Gyros. We went back to the house and partook in the Gyros, which were delicious as usual. After that my family decided to head back to their hotel, so we made plans to meet the next morning at 11.
I went to bed satisfied and awoke the next morning and began my usual routine. It was then that I realized that sometime was different, we were missing Rachel, Kristen and Lee. It was a very strange feeling, but it was one that I would all to soon become accustom to. Any who my parents came to pick me up and we went to get deep dish at Giordano's and then got dessert at Artopolis. After we finished, I said my goodbye's to my parents and spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry and other various activities.
The next morning came about and it was time to say goodbye to the Brazil team. It was very sad to see them go, but also good because it meant that they would be beginning the next chapter in their adventure. It was during this time that it was said "And then there was 9... soon the be 3". It was then that it hit me, that after Tuesday there would only be 3 people in the house, which was a very strange thought. Any who, it was shortly after the Brazil team left, that Sam and Bethany found out that their visas had been approved, which led to a Swedish team "Happy Dance". After the dancing was over, the rest of the day was spent with the Paraguay team. That night as a final goodbye, we went to a deep dish place called Gino's, which was delicious.
The next morning was spent saying goodbye to the Paraguay team before we set out for our first service project. As soon as the Paraguay team rounded the corner, the Swede team in unison utter those 5 words... "And then there were 3". After standing there for a while we headed to Vital Bridges, which is a food pantry that helps HIV/AIDS victims. Instead of giving them random food items, they give them food that goes with their medications. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and I can't wait to go back again on Friday. When we finished around 4, we headed home and walked into an empty house. We even walked into the house and called out hello before we realized that no one was there to respond. It was the strangest feeling knowing that the house had once been full of people and is now only occupied by 3. It was kind of depressing, but we have some how found a way to manage. The rest of the night was spent at a Battlestar Galatica forum, which was very interesting.
Today, we went back to GADS Hill. It was really fun being able to play with the children again. I got to go back into the class that I had been with before. It was really exciting to see the kids again. The day went by super fast, and soon it was time to head back. We were all exhausted when we got back, but we needed to get some food so we wouldn't go hungry, so we got some food. When we got back, Sam and I crashed for a while and by the time we got up, it was supper time. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and watching movies which was really nice.

On a different note, WE ARE LEAVING FOR SWEDEN ON MONDAY AT 4:25 P.M. and we will be arriving in STOCKHOLM around 7:45 am Sweden time have a lay over there until 11:10 am and then arriving in Lulea around 12:30 and then driving for about 2 hours until we reach JOKKMOKK!!! If you can't tell I'm super excited!!

Well this is my life thus far and I will update again soon.

-alyssa

service and solitude

On a regular basis, we as a group do a thing that is known as "Dutt's Disciplines". It is during this time we discuss different areas of discipline in our lives and then practice them. 

Thursday disciplines included service and solitude. For the service aspect a group of 6 of us, Tyler, myself, Dorothea, Dan, Kristen and Sam went and helped clean a garden called the African Garden.

We arrived early, so we sat and waited for our instructor to come.  We didn't know much about the person, except for that she was a woman. When she finally arrived and stepped out of her car, I knew this was going to be a fun day. She looked like the stereotypical gardener, you know the one with the big floppy hat, special gardening gloves and the pants only one would wear while gardening.

  She introduced herself as Ellen and  gave us our assignments and we quickly got to work. I got the privilege of being able to talk with her for the first part of the day because she was working next to me.

As we talked, I set the stereotype aside and saw that God was truly working through this woman. She had retired a few years back and joined the City block gardening club of sorts. She explained that they got grants form the city to build gardens to make the neighborhoods look nicer and look more inviting. 

She informed me that she is currently works at 26 local gardens, which is insane. I saw God in her willingness to give up her spare time to work in gardens trying to make the neighborhood look nicer, even if it's not in the best part of town. I was also amazed at how dedicated she was to this "job". She says that she goes to the gardens at last once every two weeks and to the African Garden at least once a week. 

I also saw God working through a 77 year old woman named Doretha. She is the woman in charge of the African Garden. Despite her age and some physical limitations, she still tries to make it to the garden at least twice a week to make sure that everything looks good and to fix the things that need to be fixed to the best of her abilities. This woman has a true passion for gardening and trying to make the area around the African Garden a better and safer place to live. 

This takes true dedication and I hope that by the time that I'm as old and wise as she is, I've found something that I'm that dedicated to.

Solitude:

That evening the discipline was solitude. We met up with Krista Dutt in the church and she gave us the "Rules" of Solitude. These Rules included:

1. Absolutely no talking, unless of course there is an emergency.

2. No T.V., which was very hard to let go of do to the fact that the season premiere of The Office was on.

3. No computers. 

4. No ipods.

5. You may leave the house if you want, as long as you are back at a reasonable hour.

6. Be alone, basically don't be with someone from the house, unless you are a girl and you are planning on leaving the house, then you must take a buddy.

As she explained the "rules", I tried to conceal my emotions on the outside, but on the inside I was thinking, "How in the world am I going to do this? How am I going to go for roughly 15 hours without talking?"

As most of you know, I'm a people person. I love talking, laughing, smiling, joking and interacting with the people around me. The more I thought about it, the more daunting it seemed. I live in a house with 15 other people, how in the world was I going to pull this off. Then I realized that I wasn't in this alone, all of my housemates were in the same boat.

Before it reached the set "no talking time" Dorothea and I had made plans to go to a quaint little park next to the Sears Tower that I had been to previously during the week.

So we, all 16 of us, at supper in silence and then headed out. It was almost dusk when we finally reached the park. I had only been there during the day, so it took my breathe away when I saw it in the dusky light. 

It was a fantastic sight. The skyscrapers were all lit up. We made our way into the little park and took seats on the island that was in the middle of the park. I sat and listened for a while. I don't know what it was, but there was something so peaceful about sitting in the city, watching it change as night falls. I loved watching all the lights turn on and listening to the way the traffic sounds change from fast, bustling and rushing to slow, meandering and nonchalant. To me this was a whole new experience. I 'ma country girl, and have never really seen a city go from being fast paced and task oriented to chill and relaxed.

The more I sat, listened and watched, the more relaxed I felt. It was strange just being an innocent bystander, so to speak, because I'm usually one of the people bustling about trying to complete everything at a reasonable hour. 

In the end the solitude discipline turned out to be exactly what I needed. I've been so preoccupied with worrying about finishing orientation and going to Sweden, that I hadn't taken the time to sit back and chill. As it were, it turns that the task that proved so daunting at first, turned out to be so simple and the right remedy to my stress and tension.

Until next time.

-alyssa

Every little thing that I say or do

Well it's week 3 here in Chicago and I can hardly believe it. Time here has gone by so fast. This Sunday is the last Sunday here for the England team, which is crazy to think about, because this means that my team could be leaving in the near future if their visas make it soon, so I'm praying that they come within the next week.

Okay, so here is a summary of what I did this past weekend. 

Friday:

During the day, we got a visit from Gordon with MC Canada. He came to talk to the Paraguay and Brazil team about life in the South American countries that they will be living in. So the England and Sweden team had to go to the library to look up stuff about our respective countries. This was fun for a while, but then it kind of reminded me of school and once that thought popped in my mind, I lost all interest and it became really boring. After that we came back to the house and had some free time. I decided to utilize this time to the best of my abilities, so I took a nap. Around 5 we headed to a Mexican restaurant. When we got there we ordered our food. I ended up getting a massive burrito. It was amazing. Then we took a tour of the neighbor and looked at wall murals, which was really neat. All of them told different stories, which was also neat. Then we headed to a park and talked about our covenant.  

Saturday: 

This was our free time day, so during the morning Kristen and I decided to head to Target to get some supplies that we needed (aka sock, band aids, scissors and tape). So we asked Scott how to get there. Well some how some of the directions got lost in the translation, and we ended up walking over 12 blocks to Target. On the way there though, we found a book store and we each ended up getting books about traveling through Europe. All in all despite having walked over 12 blocks, we still had a good time. When we finally got back to the house, we decided what to do with the rest of our free time. We thought it would be best to wait for the some of the other girls to get back to the house, so we could do something as a group. When they got back we decided that we wanted to go to Greektown and eat a Artopolis for supper. I had an amazing sandwhich and the best Canolli known to man kind. All I can say is that the food was amazing the the waiters looked like models... After we got done eating, we decided to go to Navy Pier. Navy Pier at night is so beautiful. Dorothea and I stayed for a while, but we were both really tired, so we decided to head back early, but not before we got some Haagen-Dazs ice cream, which was excellent. On the way home though, we got incredibly lost. It was slightly scary, yet a fun adventure all in one. We finally made it home, and by this time I was so insanely tired that I made a few phone calls and headed straight for bed.

Sunday:

I spent the beginning part of my Sunday at The Living Water Church. This was a whole new and different experience for me. The music was really good, but the sermon was so different for what I'm used to. It was really short, sweet and to the point. I really enjoyed the way the pastor related the sermon to a story about a friendship that she has that has lasted for over 30 years. She also talked about how sometimes God places intentional friendships in our life.

When we got back to the house there was no one there and I had laundry to do, so I waited for a little bit, and still the rest of my housemates hadn't showed up, so I decided to go by myself. I did okay, until a fight broke out in the parking lot of the laundromat and the cops were called. It was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Everyone was outside watching and commenting as to what was going on. It sounded awful. I'm glad that I stayed inside. Other than that and the occasional funny looks that I got, everything else went fine. I made it back in one piece and found the house to be empty once again, turns out the the rest of my housemates decided to do laundry and I had just missed them. After they returned, a group of us decided to go to little Italy for supper. Well we found it without to much trouble, but as it were the only places that were opened were ones that had jags, audis and land rovers parked in front of them, so we decide not to eat there. Then we found a quaint Thai place, called the Thai bowl and Lee, Sheralynn, Sam and I decided to eat there because the prices were really reasonable. The food was great and we had a good time talking about random things. When we got back, I showed some of my new friends pictures of my family and my Iowa friends. Then we headed to bed. 

Well that's all I have for now, but I will be sure to post, sometime within the next few days.

Alyssa  

photos anyone?

 












 

      

So I finally mastered the art of adding pictures to my blog, so here are ones that sum up my life in chicago thus far. However, I do realize that half of you that read this don't know who any of these people are, and i apologize for that, but I can't figure out how to get the captions to match up with the pictures. So if you have the urge to find out who they are, just let me know.

tears, laughter, relaxation and a very happy birthday

Hey,

So week two has been going great. So here is a summary of the week so far. 

On Monday Darrell came to visit us and we were asked to journal about "What do we think faith is? "Who or what do we believe God is," and "What the church means to us." Then we shared with our map groups.  

The rest of the day was spent telling our personal stories/personal faith stories. This was a very emotional for all of us. We split up into our teams, and my team along with the Paraguay team went with Rev Dutt to the church and began telling our stories. I think that at one point all of us were in tears and at other points we were all laughing. It was very good listening to others stories. I learned so much about my house mates. It was a very good learning experience and a good bonding time. Then the rest of the night was spent playing games and watching the office.

On Tuesday  Darrell came to visit us again and we were asked to go to the local prayer labyrinth sometime during the day, so we basically had the morning free to go to it whenever we wanted. It was during this time that Dani, Becca, Bethany and I decided to go to Garfield park to chill for a while before we headed to the labyrinth. We arrived at the park and searched for a place to set up our blankets. This task proved harder that expected. It had rained a lot during the weekend, so we had to search for a dry spot.  We also had to be mindful of where the geese had been, because it would have been most unpleasant to set up our blankets in geese poo. After chilling at the park and listening to some really good music, Becca and I decided to head to the labyrinth while Dani and Bethany went food shopping for food for the house. The labyrinth was really relaxing experience. I had a lot going through my mind during this time. So I prayed about all things that had been running through my head as I headed to the middle. Once I reached the middle I felt really relieved and calm. Then I made my way back out. On my way out I had a bunch of phrases running through my head telling me that things were going to be okay. It was a really relaxing experience, I can't really explain who or what it was telling me these things, but I felt really good after I was done. Then later that night my cool Manitoban friend, Scott, and I headed to the Chicago Public library downtown. We returned what we needed to return and got some new things and then left. We decided that we wanted to walk around some more and found ourselves in Millennium Park. Millennium Park is beautiful at night. We took lots of pictures, which I hope to post soon. After that we headed home. All I can say was I had a blast! The city at night is so completely different than it is during the day. It was very peaceful. 

 

On Wednesday we did Myers Briggs tests, which was very interesting to say the least. We learned what personality types we are. I learned the I'm an ENFP, and to most of you who are reading this, these letters mean nothing to you, so I'll explain the best I can. It means that I'm an extrovert and that your very friendly and open. It also means that you're a little bit scatterbrained and I believe that is sums me up. After we spent the better part of the morning doing that, we had some free time. During this time Sam, Lee and I had a mission to take a movie back to the library. So we set off to find the library, which we thought was just a hop skip and a jump down the road. We walked around for a while, got frustrated and started to head back. Then on our way back we ran into Bethany, who gave us precise directions. So we headed back and as it were the library was about half a block away from the point in which we turn back. So we were very frustrated and it was uber hot, so that added to the frustration. Then we went to Emmaus Ministries, which is a place that helps out male prostitutes. We heard stories about some of the people that Emmaus helps. This was really interesting because it was the directors of the program sharing the stories and they told it through songs. Then when we got back we took a test that tells us how we receive love. I learned that I receive love through touch, which basically means if you want to show me love, you better do it through a hug :) After this, the rest of the night was spent out on the balcony with Becca, we discussed lots of things. It was nice having someone there to listen to all my concerns. 

Today, which is Thursday, is my birthday and it was really weird because it was my first one celebrated away from home. It started off with my family calling me at 7 to sing me Happy Birthday. Then I came down for breakfast and was wished happy birthday by everyone in the house. Then we had some one come talk to us about Anabaptism. After that we had free time, so Becca, Dorothea and I decided that we should go shopping downtown. It was a riot, I had so much fun. We danced on the train and sang random songs, all in all it was a good way to spend my afternoon. When we got back it was time to make supper, which was baked potatoes and things that are commonly eaten with them. When supper was finished cooking, I had sometime to check my emails before we sat down to eat. I was the last one down and when I got there, Bethany we like we are going to sing God is Great. So here I was all ready to sing God is Great, when my house mates burst into the Happy Birthday song. It was great and I was so surprised. As it turns out, they had made me cupcakes the night before and I couldn't help but smile. I felt so loved. 

All in all it was quite possibly one of the best birthdays I've had and I would like to thank all my new friends for making it a great and memorable one.

Until next time

-alyssa 

rainy days and festivals.

Hey all...

Sorry for not posting in a while. As I said in my last blog, life in Chicago is great! It's been fun getting to know my housemates. The past few days have gone by really fast. So, I'll give you a brief summary.

On Friday we went to a green restaurant. It's place that uses only things that will help the environment.  The food there was amazing. I had some southern fried chicken and it was amazing. 

Saturday our teams got "kidnapped" and dropped off around different parts of the city and had to find our way back to the house. It was a pretty exciting time, we got a little lost, but found our way back. As we emerged from the train, it started to pour. Sam, Bethany, and I didn't have an umbrella, so we got soaked. Later that afternoon we had some free time and a group of us decided to head to the Celtic festival. It was a rather exciting and fun time. It rained the whole time we were there, so once again I found myself drenched. We decided to try some Celtic food and decided to have a sausage roll and a scone, which was magically delicious. Then some of us went for coffee and on a quest to find me an umbrella. Then went to Millennium park, checked out the fountain, decided that it was to wet to play in and went to the bean and took some cool pictures. Then I ventured back to the Celtic fest and watched two amazing bands, The Elders and The Great Big Sea. It rained the whole time, but that didn't ruin it for us, us being Dorothea, Becca, Dan, Scott, Tyler and myself. The night was fantastic despite the rain. 

Today we went to church, which was good. I felt so welcome. The service was good and afterwards we were invited to stay for lunch. All I can say is that the food was great. After lunch David, Sam, Tyler, Lee, Bethany, Kristen, Rachel and I went and did laundry. All I can say about that is it was a good bounding time. After laundry, Sam, David, Tyler, Dan, Rachel, Kristen, Lee and I headed to a quaint little craft show. I ended up getting a necklace with a heart and a unicorn and a necklace made from an old typewriter key.

Over all the first week has been good. I'll try to post on a regular basis. 

Thanks for reading

-alyssa

CTA's, trains and aimless wandering

Hey all,

I hope that this post find you all well. As most of you know, i traveled to Chicago on Saturday with my parents so they could drop me off for orientation on Sunday. Traveling went better than expected. We made it here in about 3 1/2 hours, which was good. Then we headed downtown... and then to a quaint little Irish pub for supper. Then on Sunday we left the hotel and went to IKEA and then headed to orientation.

Orientation thus far has been interesting to say the least. On the first day I met my fellow teammates, Sam and Bethany, which was super exciting. They are both lovely people and our time in Sweden should be very fun. I also had the opportunity to meet the teams that are going to England, Brazil and Paraguay. The first day was pretty much a get to know you day... which was good. It was exciting to learn where all my fellow house mates are from and what they like to do. 

On day two we worked on our house covenant, which is basically a list of suggested rules that we should abide by while living in the house. It was a very extensive process and tiring as well. The second half of the day was basically CTA and bus route training, so we can find our way around the city when we have our free time. Then we went to the library to get our very own Chicago library cards, so if we have to urge to check out a book or movie we can. The Chicago Public Library is huge. I've never seen anything like it. The trip to the CPL wasn't the greatest because it rained the whole time, which made the walk to the train very unpleasant. After we went to CPL, we came back and my team, with the help of the Brazil team made supper. That was a very exciting experience.  I was in charge of making dessert with Sam and Dan... well one thing led to another and the oven got turned off, so we had to bake our lovely DUMP cake for another hour. The whole thing was really funny. Then I spent the rest of the night playing blokus, a very addicting game to say the least. 

Day two was spent wandering around our neighbor while using our new found mapping skills to find various locations. During this process we met some very interesting, but helpful people. The locating part was slightly stressful, but we managed, up until the point when we were suppose to return. We decided that it would be best to walk out Central Park St. and look for a bus stop. About 2 miles later however, we found ourselves at the park in which we needed to be. This was very stressful, but it also turned out to be a good learning experience because as it turns out there is no bus that runs along Central Park St. That night we went to get hotdogs and fries at a local stand. The hotdogs were okay, but the fries we so amazing that I had share another bag with my fellow housemate, Lee. After that, we headed back home and played blokus once again late into the night. After the game had ended, we watched the Office.

Day three, which was today, was spent out wandering the streets of downtown Chicago. We had yet another scavenger hunt. For this we were given new teams and mine was Craig, Sam, Dan Becca and myself. This part of the day was very exciting. Not only did we get to see the downtown area, we got to go to Lincoln park which happens to contain a zoo. After walking around the zoo with Dan, and consuming lunch, we broke up into our map team, which consisted of Scott , Sheralynn, Lee and myself. With our new quest in hand, we took to the streets of Chicago again. This was when the day became stressful. We needed to get to Division Street, so we hopped on a bus that would take us there. We rode it for about 45 minutes and still hadn't found it. So we began frantically looking out the bus windows in hopes of finding our street. Then a man sitting next to us ask me we needed any help. I said yes and told him our destination and he proceeded to tell me that the street that we were looking for was 2 miles that opposite way. So we quickly got off the bus, found the train and took it to our destination. Turns out that our mishap got us to our destination sooner than expected. At this point I was in dire need of coffee, so Lee and I took off to find some, we found it and then headed back. Once we got back our huge group headed to millennium park and and found out we were to eat with just one dollar per person in our group. It was a little weird, but in the end, it was okay. During this time, Sam, Bethany and I walked around for a while, got our food and went back to our house

So this concluded my extremely long blog. I will hopefully update tomorrow.