the economy... it's so depressing...

I hope you all caught the humor of my title. If not, you're in too deep.

I know the economy has been something that has been plastered all over the news, but I feel like I've seen the effects of the economy all over everything lately. My internship is with a housing agency, and over the past year in our part of the city, foreclosures have increased by over 1,000. That doesn't include the people who have missed just a couple payments, people who have lost their jobs, etc. You can literally walk up and down the streets and see for sale signs and vacant, boarded up houses.

Not only that, but you can see massive amounts of homeless people. My heart wrenches every time I see a homeless person, and I want to buy them coffee, talk with them, and then invite them home so they have a dry place to sleep. I know that this is not feasible for a variety of reasons, but I feel so helpless because I don't even know what resources to point someone to. I know that many of these people struggle with mental illness, or they have families, or whatever, and I have no clue what is even in the area to help them. Curse my social work instinct; it kind of makes me want to be back in Jackson so that I know how to help people. My worst fear is that I will become apathetic towards these people. I can't imagine how awful it would be to beg, first of all, and then to have people ignore you on top of that is even worse. It's dehumanizing. I don't want to be that dehumanizer, and I'm pretty certain that is not what Christ wants either.

Seeing all of this, though, does make me long for Christ more in my heart. I want to be more like him, and living here in the city makes me wonder even more how I can do that. I've been stuck in James, which tells me that if I ask for wisdom from God, He will grant it if I do not doubt. It's so easy to be distracted by any number of things here in the city, and sitting down and listening for wisdom from God is not easy. As my friend Erin reminded me the other day, the waves are still there even when the ice seems to be covering them up... you just have to listen closely.

More soon... until then, peace.

week three begins...

Bits of knowledge to pass on about the Windy City:

1. Mostly English speaking people ride the El. Mostly non-English speaking people ride the bus.
2. Politics here are split: you either love your alderman or you hate him (Chicago is split up into "wards"... aldermans are their representatives). Slightly more people tend to love their alderman, it seems, because I don't remember the last alderman I heard about who had been in office for less than twenty years.
3. Being aware of your surroundings is key. Otherwise, you go south three blocks when you were supposed to go north, and you end up walking nine blocks instead of three.
4. No, your waiter is not always sober.
5. Yes, your bus driver is yelling out the stops because the thing that tells you the stops is broken.
6. Yes, this is a problem if you are deaf.
7. If you see shoes tied together and thrown over a telephone line, run the other direction... you are in gang territory.
8. There are tunnels under Lakeshore Drive that will take you to the beach. They are creepy.
9. Navy Pier is beautiful at sunset.
10. Visit the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier and watch the crazy water fountains... they're fun.

Things have been good... it's been a full week since I've posted, so sorry about the wait (all two adoring fans that read this, haha). I have been adventuring a lot, and by adventuring, I mean working at my internship and commuting ridiculus amounts. Taking 18 credits was probably a poor life choice, but I'm sure that I'll learn plenty from it (like don't overbook, and don't give the elderly your cell phone number). Overall, I'm having a great time.

And no, I have not been mugged/beaten/raped/swindled/paid to make this statement.

Missing you from Chicago - Love, Katie

On culture and ice cream

There's a new experience every day here in Chicago! Yesterday (Sunday) I went with some CS friends to the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown. I must say, it is a bit of a culture shock, going from my small town parade to a big city parade. Normally, the parade in my home town is done in less than half an hour. People stand and walk along the main street from the old firehouse to about the funeral home (probably less than a quarter mile), and watch kids on bikes and tractors go by. This parade had three high school marching bands, dozens of floats, people dressed in dragon costumes, dignitaries and politicians, and even dancers. We stood outside for about two hours - one while we were waiting for the parade to happen and another while the parade actually happened. There were hundreds of people there (probably more than that, but it's hard for me to tell), bunched into a couple of city blocks. And despite the fact that we ended up like popsicles, frozen in the city streets, a good time was had by all.

In one of my classes today, we talked a little bit about Chinatown culture. Apparently, the original Chicago Chinatown was located more north on VanBuren. Chinatown has mostly been inhabited by poor Chinese from a certain area of China, and became famous for its chop suey, which was Americanized to make it more marketable to the Chicago people. I also found out that many of the people who moved to Chinatown later were unable to speak to the original inhabitants - they came from a different part of China and didn't speak the same language. In fact, many of them could only communicate using English!

I just had to throw this picture in... Yes, there were Irish men in kilts with bagpipes playing at the Chinese New Year celebration. Why? I have yet to figure it out.

In other news, I think I'm starting to finally grasp the idea that I am living in Chicago. I'm starting to meet people who live in the city - we went to a Superbowl party at a friend of a friend's apartment, which was a lot of fun (except for the part where the Cardinals lost, sad day), and today one of my roommates and I went out on an ice cream run. We walked all through Uptown after dark without getting mugged... go us! Sadly, we had to walk half a mile for good ice cream, but that's because we were picky and the stores were crowded. Meh.

Settled? Well, at least a little.

I hope I don't end up being one of those bloggers who posts every detail of their every day on the internet. But I guess I haven't posted for a couple days, so I feel better about life.

I started my internship... it's going really great. I've been amazed at how many social work skills I have used so far, two days into it. I've been able to meet some amazing people and have really enjoyed getting to know the people I'll be working with. Not only that, but I found a place that will serve me coffee for 35 cents a cup, with free refills for as long as I am there. Score one for me.

Yesterday we went to see Improvised Shakespeare at the IO Theater near Wrigley Field. Holy cow was that funny! Basically, they ask someone from the audience to give them a title to work from, and these six or seven men perform an improvised play, in the style and wording of Shakespeare. Ours was "Rod has a Bad Day." Several characters were Scottish and sounded suspiciously like something one would find on a McDonald's menu. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end orientation.

And today we moved into our apartment! My parents came up and helped bring all of my stuff, and after many hours of unpacking and attempting to organize, I am pretty much settled, at least as far as I can be. Since then I've just been hanging out with the roomies that are here. Not only that, but we discovered that the Mexican place down the street is AWESOME. Best burrito ever.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year, so I'll be sure to post on that. We're going to a giant parade in Chinatown, and I am looking forward to seeing all the craziness.

Fun times!

living and love (in the form of chocolate)

I signed my lease today and got a sneak preview of my apartment! It's huge and awesome, and I am very excited to live there. It is a three bedroom, two bath, fully stocked and furnished apartment that makes me very happy every time I think about it :) Be jealous, very jealous. Plus, it's down the street from one of Al Capone's old hang outs, which makes me feel pretty gangster. I want to wear a pinstripe suit, sit in a dark corner, and order a big tall glass of milk just for kicks.

In other adventures, I went with a couple of friends to the Ghirardelli chocolate place off of Michigan Avenue today. Yum. It was super fun, and I pretty much paid $5 to drink a cup of straight up liquid fudge. It was great fun... the chocolate was so thick that I couldn't even finish it!
Tomorrow I start my internship, which I'm pretty stoked about, and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. I just hope I can get there in time and not get lost!

I'm here!

Okay, so there was a few things I probably should have known before I

came to do this program.

1. Just because someone says they know where a street is, doesn't mean they do. Apparently you can live in Chicago your entire life and have no clue how to get to Randalph from Union Station.

2. Be not afraid to hail a taxi.

3. Everyone in this program is Dutch. I am not. I am learning a lot.

There is a lot of really good stuff going on here though. It has been culture shock though... to come from a town of a thousand people, and from a Christian college that is hardly on the map, and be dumped in Chicago is to truly experience change.

Yesterday was my first day. I rode Amtrak in to Union Station (which I had never been to before), which is absolutely a gorgeous piece of architecture. I walked into the Great Hall and felt so... small. You could see all the travelers in there, but you could also see the homeless people sitting there trying to get warm.

Then I walked outside. My plan was to use my GPS and just walk to the hotel, but for some reason it wasn't connecting with the satellite. I sat there, stupified on the street, trying to figure out where to go, when I homeless man walked up to me and asked me where I wanted to go... I told him what street I wanted, and he told me to follow him. He told me a little bit about himself... his name was Antwon, he took people where they were going for a living, and I was going to tip him, right? Because the last guy didn't tip him. It was pretty entertaining talking to Antwon, especially when he missed the street I was supposed to be on three times, and then put me in a cab so that I would be able to get where I was supposed to be. And I made it! Hotel Allegro!

My time here so far has been really... overwhelming. It's hard to believe I'm here, first of all, because I never thought I would actually make it. Second, it seems like I'm being overloaded with information. For the past two days, we've been in seminars about safety, housing, transportation, internships, and anything else they could think of. I hardly know how to handle it. I can't wait until we are done being "orientated" so that the fun can start!

A few final words - I do have an apartment in Uptown. I do have an internship. So basically all I have to figure out is how to get around without being assaulted, which shouldn't be too bad. If you're worried, don't be. I was just joking about being assaulted.

More later!

An attempt to keep the panicking to a minimum...

Just a little over a week! I can't believe it's sneaking up on me so soon!

While I'm not completely freaked out, I know this next week is going to be pretty eventful. I'm at school for another few days, working and waiting for a lot of my friends to get back from their cross-cultural trips to Guatamala, Costa Rica, South Africa, and everywhere else in the world. It'll be pretty great to see them one last time before I head out for my adventure!

Thursday I leave SAU, and I likely won't be spending much quality time here again until I graduate in May... it's kind of sad to think that something I have grown so familiar with will soon be a part of my past, but on the other hand, the end of one thing is only the beginning of another.

I just have a few minor details to take care of before I hit the city... packing, a train ticket, etc. For the most part, I'm ready to take the city by storm.

Mostly, I'm just trying to remain upbeat while I try not to panic!