Ah, it's good to be back. My new furniture is still a surprise to me - when I think about going home I still have that forest green futon mattress on the bare floor stuck in my mind.
Well, I have a pot of edimame boiling in the background (not like we need any more humidity in this apartment) and a cat who is very glad to see me home. Ponge, ironically, is on his way to the airport right now to go visit with a friend of his who has a layover there.
The pre-service orientation (PSO) wasn't nearly as horrid as I had anticipated. Parts of it were, mostly the big-group stuff. But our break-out sessions were actually quite interesting and helpful.
I have a much clearer picture of what I'll be doing over the next year, and more importantly the PSO aided in my mental transition. Being around people discussing strategies for resource mobilization and doing activities around defining poverty is a good mental break from people discussing all the bs that they discuss when their goals are simply to make a lot of money on any given day.
I also got to meet a bunch of people - peers and new friends, and go out and about in Chicago a little. We took the train into Chi-town (we being about 4 other people and I) and then bussed about. I really like subways/trains/whatever you want to call them. The stations I saw in Chicago were uglier than those in New York, but unlike New York they didn't completely reek. We also saw the world's largest kidney bean (in Millenium Park) and ate, what else, Chicago pizza. No human being should really consume that much cheese in one sitting. In other words, I really need to find a local pizzaria that prepares Chicago-style. Yum.
The other thing the PSO did was bring back my confidence in myself in settings where one uses one's brain. Definitly there were a lot of people with good ideas and willing to speak up, but there were also plenty who kept pretty quiet... I had forgotten that I like to respond to questions and to critique and to brainstorm and to ask questions and to be in intellectual and emotional dialogue. I wonder how many people forget that about themselves, or never learn it in the first place?
Damn, edimame are good! Here is what you do: go to your local asian foods market or co-op and buy like a pound of them (aka soy beans). Take them home and boil them for like 15 minutes, give or take. Drain and add salt if you like. You don't eat the whole thing, you suck the beans out of the pod and pull the skin off the frame with your teeth if it's soft enough. They're really meaty and delicious - kind of similar to corn in taste. They're also all kinds of good for you. They make a great, guiltless snack that you can't help but eat a lot of. I'm telling you, once you start eating them you'll be hooked. Even my cat likes them.
