october 26th - 28th

Since nothing too exciting has happened the past three days, I give you a photo-tour of my apartment (FINALLY!)

Going up! (To the 7th Floor)

Around the first corner...

Around the second corner...

but not around the third - we're not "allowed" to go to the fire escape.

So welcome! (We apologize for the mess - I wasn't motivated enough to clean too much before taking these photos)

First our living room, and our attempt at decorating (creativity with old sheets works wonders especially compared to the old poster that was hanging there)

Turn around and you're in our tiny little kitchen (with matching pillow-case decor)

And the most-important glamor shot: our view from the living room. The photo doesn't do it justice, but we can actually see the lake from our apartment! 

Then you enter the hallway...

Go straight back to our bathroom with a wonderful sea-green tub

or turn left and see our bedroom (also forgive the mess here) - nice and cozy...

and the second glamor-shot: the view from our bedroom

 Thanks for visiting!

(Now all you need is to come see it in person!)

october 22nd-25th

Alright, less than a week since I last posted... quite an improvement, I think.

Like I mentioned in the last post, Thursday we went to see Muti conduct Braham's Requiem. Apart from it being incredibly windy and rainy, it was a good night. The performance was beautiful - it's been forever since I've seen a choral/orchestra performance and I've never seen one quite at this level. It did drag on for a bit - lasting over an hour and a half, but it still was a performance I enjoyed attending.

Friday night we had a girls night out, which really meant hanging out in our apartment until 10:30 or 11 and then finally going out for a couple hours. I think we got back after 1:30 sometime to immediately crash in our beds.

But sleep went by far too quickly. Renae and I decided to sign up for the service project the next morning which meant we were headed out by 9am. For the service project we went to where another girl in our program is interning - The Rebuilding Exchange. We had no idea what we were getting into... The Rebuilding Exchange is a very new not-for-profit organization that partners with deconstruction organizations to re-sell usable doors, windows, cabinets, light fixtures, basically anything from a home instead of demolishing the home and dumping it all into the landfill. So the building is basically a warehouse filled to the brim with building supplies. Our job that morning was to reorganize the cabinetry: to pick out the pieces they decided to give away for free and move them to the other side of the warehouse to make room for the new cabinets, and then we were to tackle the stacks and stacks of cabinets. It was crazy - we had to shuffle them around like they were a giant puzzle - putting sets together and then organizing by colors. Writing it out, it sounds like a pretty basic task, but trust me, it was a lot of lifting! My arms and back are so sore today - but it was fun to hang out with some other people from CS for the day. Plus I got to play with two adorable dogs (which couldn't have made me happier - that is the thing I've missed far too much this semester... outside of family and friends, of course)  and got a free lunch out of the deal!

Saturday evening (we got back from the service project around 3:30pm) a group of us tracked down a thrift store up north hoping to find some neat stuff or ideas for halloween costumes. Sadly, it was pretty much a bust, but we found another store we might try later this week. Once we got back to the apartments we had a wonderfully lazy night of dinner, ice cream, popcorn, and watching the movie Brick. (I also knitted - finishing the first half of my pair of gloves).

This morning I had to get up a bit earlier than normal for church (well not really, but the Pastor told us we should probably get their early in order to get seats) because the worship was lead by Jaci Velasquez and her husband's band Salvador. It was a complete 90s flashback all morning! Then after lunch and a little bit of homework, Renae and I headed to the south side of Chicago to check out an art gallery that I needed to visit for a paper. It's about a 30 minute train ride, but it was a nice small gallery. The current show is an exhibition of new and emerging local artists. We only saw about half of the work because there was an artist talk in the upstairs room which was so packed people were standing half-way down the stairs to listen. The works we did see were beautiful - the artist I am writing about is Max Sansing. He has a really interesting story and is incredibly talented - google him!

Now I'm doing everything I possibly can to avoid doing more homework - updating my blog, calling home, knitting, watching a movie, doing dishes... anything... but I guess  it's time to find something else to procrastinate with since I'm pretty much done here...

Hope you are all blessed and enjoying the fall weather while it lasts!

october 7th-21st

**Note - I started writing this blog on the 15th, it's taken me that long to find time to finish it, so if it sounds oddly pieced together, that's why :) **

Wow, I knew it was going to take some work to keep on top of my blog but I didn't realize that I'd have such big gaps between writings. It's just been one of those weeks where all I want to do when I get home from my internship is sit and do nothing. But I'll try harder to motivate :)

Let's see... catching up the past few days:

The 7th was last Wednesday... a day of classes and Bible study in the evening, nothing too exciting that I can remember.

Thursday from what I can remember was a fairly average day at work and in the evening our art event was to go to the modern wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. And if you know me at all, you probably know that I loved this event and hated it at the same time! I love going to any museum or gallery, but I have such a difficult time with modern art. Every week we have to write a reflection about our art events and I spent the majority of my reflection talking about my love for art but my struggle with understanding, or more-so accepting, modern art. It's difficult to understand why something like the works of Jackson Pollock or Mark Rothko are so famed when there are hundreds of other people who could paint the same thing. I came to the conclusion that it was because even though there are a lot of talented artists in the world that could put a canvas on the ground and splatter paint all over it or take a piece of scrap wood, paint it red, and hang it from the ceiling, the fact of the matter is that they didn't. These were the artists that did it first.

That weekend I don't remember anything terribly exciting happening - but we had Monday off which was wonderful. It felt like an extremely short week because I had Monday off, went to work Tuesday, class Wednesday and then our art event - attending the Joffry Ballet to see Othello (which was absolutely beautiful! And interestingly in the auditorium where I attend church every Sunday so that made for a different experience), Thursday was another busy day of work with Bible study in the evening, and Friday I didn't go to work because we had our neighborhood visit that day. The neighborhood visits are a part of our Practicum group - each group is assigned a neighborhood to visit throughout the semester and then we are to create a presentation about it for our final project. My group was assigned Garfield Park. So Friday morning we met up with our leader, went to a gorgeous church to meet with a pastor who has been do amazing work for the community and then went out for the most delicious soul food at MacArthur's (which is apparently Obama's favorite restaurant in Chicago).

Anyways, on Friday after the neighborhood visit it was pretty much an evening of sitting on the couch and talking with friends. It was wonderfully relaxing :) we didn't even put in a movie... surprising eh?

This past weekend one of my cousins was in the area so I met up with her for lunch on Saturday. We had some delicious flatbread sandwiches, walked along the lake, explored and artists shop, and then went back to my apartment to relax. We both had plans in the evening so we just spent the afternoon catching up, she took a nap, and then played Dutch Blitz with my roommate and her sister for a good hour or two.

In the evening my roommate and I took her sister to see a play which was a blast... we went about an hour before the show to get our name on the wait list. Luckily we were the first ones there so we got our names in and then decided to take a walk to kill time. A bad idea. I don't know exactly what happened, maybe I blacked out... but while we were walking down a sidewalk I was turned to face the girls while explaining something then the next thing I know I'm flat on the ground! I felt my ankle roll but there wasn't even a second where I felt like I could try to stop myself! It was so odd, that's why I'm not sure if maybe I blacked out for a second or not. But it wasn't too bad of a fall - my roommate said I went down quite gracefully but it scared her that I had fainted or something. I hit the ground, rolled over, and then next second was up and walking. Quite a humorous thing to imagine for all of you reading this, I'm sure. It's just goes to show that the winter will definitely be a dangerous time for me with all the stairs and steps involved in subways and getting off buses :\

Sunday I went to church - well, first I waited in our apartment lobby for 20 minutes for the group that I normally go with, but no one showed up, so then I headed off by myself. I was eventually joined by a fellow Central-ite while waiting for the train. After an intense service about predestination we returned and I had a fun-filled-day of homework.

I'll try to keep this week brief... The highlight of my week was the press and staff preview of the two new exhibitions that are opening at the museum this Friday! I basically was my supervisors shadow throughout the day - assisting people with where to go, answering questions about the exhibit, meeting the designers (for anyone who knows names in jewelry I got to talk with Mish himself from Mish New York among several others)! It was so rewarding to be able to talk to news reporters and explain the history of a piece, or help them figure out exactly what makes a gem and how the gem "family tree" pieces together! It was tiring, but amazing :) I can't wait for opening on Friday (and if anyone wants to come visit, I will give you a personal tour :) hehe)

(Mish from Mish New York)

But now I'm heading out to Bible study and tomorrow we are headed to the Chicago Symphony Center to see Muti (an apparently world-renowned musician) conduct Brahm's Requiem.

Sorry for all the rambling, hopefully it makes sense and was a least interesting enough that I didn't waste your time :)
Oh, and I took pictures of the apartment so I will hopefully be putting those up in a day or two.

september 28th - october 6th

Wow, I really haven't been good at updating this lately... sorry everyone. Okay, thinking back over the past week, what was interesting?

My internship last week was quite hectic - I had a lot of projects going on all at once and one of which took up WAY too much time, but at least it got finished. I think the best part of the week at my internship was getting clearance to take a sneak peak of two of the halls that are opening in October. I should be getting my extra ID for those halls sometime this week.

Outside of my internship last week wasn't too exciting. I got sick on Tuesday and it hasn't quite gotten out of my system yet so I've been pretty lethargic after work. Thursday was our third Art event - we went to see a modern dance company. And despite how much I tried... I did not find it enjoyable or understandable. It was odd to be quite frank, there was no unifying thread throughout any section over the course of the hour and a half. There wasn't even music - it was just a bunch of street noises clanging and ringing with no detectable rhythm. I appreciated the dancers dedication and strength - especially staying in unison without any driving beat, but still I couldn't wrap my brain around the goal/meaning of the performance.

This past weekend I went with a group to Wrigleyville to a dueling piano bar followed by a midnight comedy show. They piano bar was pretty fun and we plan on going again, however I would not recommend the comedy show. But I guess you can't expect much from a show at midnight that cost only $5.

Monday was a pretty normal day, as was today. I got a handful of new projects to work on. I'm trying to think if there is any interesting stories to share from the past week...

Over the weekend I was reminded of just how interesting some of the people in Chicago can be - having really no inhibitions sometimes... and today I had the honor of witnessing a man wearing 2-inch platform sneakers on my way home from work which I found thoroughly entertaining (especially because he wasn't even short to begin with). I love seeing all the different characters of the city - the fashion choices - everything. And my exciting news of the week - I get to go to both St. Louis for a conference this winter break and to Mexico for a mission trip!!! They'll be a bit pricey, but it's an experience I just can't pass up.

Anyways, I think that will catch us up for now. Tomorrow I have class and Thursday our Art Event is to go to an art museum which I'm really looking forward to.

Hope you're all doing well!
Thanks for reading

september 26th-27th

Two more journal entries:


I love how there is always something to do in Chicago! I’m so used to the small town where my school is – where everything closes at 5pm and stays closed on Sunday (people can’t even mow their lawn on Sunday). But here, we’ve been able to find something almost every day. 

Last weekend Renae and I headed down to the loop for a couple of hours. A friend I have that attends Moody Bible Institute had told me that there was a game of "Where's Waldo in the Windy City?" so we went, determined to find him. There were boundaries set which made up an area of about 20 blocks where Waldo, Wanda, Wizard Whitebeard, Woof, and Odlaw would be hiding. We had two hours to find them and it was quite an adventure! It was a lot more fun that you would think - wandering around the city searching for a man in a red and white shirt/hat - and then the excitement when you finally find one of them – plus it was a great way to explore the city and a fun way to get a better feel for the layout of streets and buildings around the loop. 

This weekend a couple friends and I went out to the Randolph Street Market which was a little more difficult to find than it should have been, but once we got there it was a lot of fun to browse through tent after tent of antiques, art, and vintage clothing and jewelry. It was quite the experience for me because it was the first time I had ever haggled with someone to lower a price (and I’m quite proud of myself I might add, because I got a $15 ring for just $8). 

In the evening, we got back to the apartment just in time for the progressive dinner. The food was wonderful (plus it was free) and it was fun to see everyone else in the building. It’s interesting living in Canterbury since there are so many of us, but we rarely see each other. I thought it was going to be more like a dorm instead of an apartment building because of the number of people, but since our schedules are so busy and we are spread throughout the building, we only see each other when we make specific plans to meet up. It’s nice, however, because it’s kind of a bridge between dorm-life and living on my own this summer, even though when living on my own I probably won’t have as many people I know that I can run into walking down the street, riding the elevator, or while doing laundry.

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Thursday was our second Fine Arts event – we went to see History Boys at the Timeline Theater. It was an intense play, which presented very controversial topics through the story of eight boys and their daily lives at their boarding school. The actors in this play were, in my opinion, amazing at drawing the audience into their lives – the joys and the struggles – and more importantly, engraved them in our minds. Immediately after the play my roommate and I looked at each other and both said “I want to see that again!” We didn’t think we’d actually go a second time, but it ended up that we didn’t have plans Friday night, and our other roommate works at Timeline, so we managed to get some wait-list tickets and saw it a second time. Since leaving the play Thursday night, my roommate and I have discussed the play multiple times – we frequently catch ourselves thinking about the story and analyzing the characters as well as how they dealt with the many situations thrown at them.

(this isn't entirely the same cast, but just to give you the general idea)

We have to write reading responses for the “Arts in the City Class” and this week we were asked to write a little about our favorite character. I don’t think I can choose a favorite character from this play – they each had their own draws – even the characters like Crowther (the “class clown”), Rudge (the “dumb athlete”) and Lockwood (the “strong silent type”) who didn’t have very big speaking parts were still characters that stuck in my mind. Each of the actors were engulfed by their characters – I tend to find myself watching the actors who are not speaking during plays to see how they behave and react non-verbally and I was impressed with the commitment of each of these actors. I think some of my favorite parts of the play were the quieter interactions and the jokes/side comments that only those sitting closest to them could hear.

The more I dwell on it and try to pick my favorite based solely on the script, I think I would have to say Scripps (who was one of the main characters and had little narrative sections that seemed like he was reflecting back from and older age). I found his character to be very relatable. He was kind of the over-seer of the entire group, but more so, I think this character was the most intriguing because of his relationship with both Dakin (the “good-looking one”) and Posner (the “outcast”). His friendship with Posner was highly understated but there were many times I saw the two of them interacting, whether it was while they were both sitting on the piano bench, sharing a hug after the papers/interviews were over, or the moment shared when Scripps brought Posner his book bag after finishing a song. That is the moment that stick with me the most – Scripps approaches Posner with a big smile and acts as if to say “good job” but something happens (which I didn’t catch) that causes Scripps to become concerned or confused as he walks back to his desk, and even lingers with a uneasy look at Posner before sitting.

I also found this play interesting because of the way the theater was set up. We were thrown in to their lives with them living in their rooms in full character before we were seated. And with having the two halves of the audience facing each other I caught myself, once or twice, observing people on the other side of the auditorium to see how they were reacting. I think it allowed me to feel like a fellow student – just sitting off to the side – instead of a distant audience member. It forced me to really address the issues that they were addressing: what did I think of Hector (one of the boys’ teachers) or Posner or the relationship between Dakin and Irwin (another teacher)?

I’m still not entirely sure, but it has been one of the many things I have been thinking about since Thursday, wondering what brought Dakin to that point where he greatly longed to push Irwin over the edge and what made Irwin allow it to happen. The subtle transformation of Irwin’s character was intriguing as well and his inability to “draw the line between teacher and friend” in the long run. Is it all a story of a person’s innermost desire to be liked by another, the teaching and use of history as a subject, or a commentary of the confrontations of homosexuality in the 1980s? 

Though I think it is all three, I think it was also an interesting look at how we as individuals chose to use our knowledge and education. Though we will be out of school soon, it doesn’t mean that we stop being students, and of ten it is in those situations in life, like the ones these boys and teachers faced, that we learn more that we ever could in a classroom.

 

september 23rd-25th

A few more journal entries since I can't really think of what to write about after writing all day, catching up on my homework... they span the last week or so, so a few might overlap with what I've already written about... hope you find them at least a little interesting :) 

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Another element of the city that I find so interesting is just the “Go-go-go” mentality. I knew that there was the stereotype of that coming here, but to experience it brings it to a whole new level. I often wonder why everyone is in such a rush but then I realized that I’ve been getting caught up in it as well.  I walk faster, I run down the stairs, I rush through meals, and I rarely find myself just relaxing like I do back home. 

I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, but just interesting. It’s such a different environment. I assume that public transportation has something to do with it – trying to make sure you don’t miss the train or bus since you don’t always know when the next one will come by. Overall it creates an entirely different schedule, a lot of “hurry up and wait” moments too. And then when the day is done and I finally make it back to my apartment I feel like I have to keep moving so I run errands, clean, do laundry, eventually get to my homework and barely sit still until after I’ve gotten everything ready for the next morning and am about to go to sleep. 

It will be interesting to see if this is a pattern that continues throughout the semester or if it dies out once I know the schedule that will get me to work on time and basically get into a routine. I’m not sure which I’d prefer – I kind of enjoy always being busy and just the general hustle and bustle of everyone passing by on the street, but at the same time I find that I don’t take the opportunities I have to appreciate the sights, sounds, and people of the city.

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Working at the museum is an entirely new experience. I’ve had internships before, but they were so relaxed and casual – I’d find out the night before what time I needed to be in the office, and even then I was usually the first one there (by at least 45 minutes). So to be in a formal work environment where we have to wear business dress clothes and have a standard 8:30am to 4:30pm schedule it quite interesting. 

I’ve really enjoyed working at the museum so far, I’ve only actually gone the museum a couple of days, but I learn so much each time I’m there – my inner nerd is very excited about everything I get to experience and learn this semester. I’m fascinated by the exhibits – so far I’ve gotten to go exploring every day and it has been so interesting to learn about Pirates, dinosaurs, and everything else has to offer (On a side note, one fun fact about working at the museum that I learned today is that it is one of Vince Vaughn’s favorite places in the city. I found out from one of my supervisors that while I was exploring the Pirates exhibition last Friday, she was also there giving a tour to Vince Vaughn. She also told me the next time there is a big tour, she’ll see what she can do to let me go along). But something that’s just as interesting is the dynamics throughout the museum staff. 

In the exhibitions department there are a lot of different personalities and styles of thinking/communicating. And I’m slowly learning that it is part of the Project Manager’s job to observe these different personalities among team members in order to guide the group in the most productive direction for working together and communicating effectively. It’s interesting to learn about the role of Project Managers within the Exhibitions department just because they dabble in everything – as my advisor put it, “jack of all trades – master of none” because they work on both sides of the museum. They interact with the teams that put the exhibits together but also match everything up with the people who are on the public side of the museum. 

It bothers me a little bit that I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing as an intern in this department, but I’m slowly learning. Both of my advisors are very helpful and welcoming of questions…we’re just working on figuring out exactly what I will be doing this semester. They have such a broad range of work that it’s hard for them to say exactly what projects I can be involved in or what can be specifically my responsibility. But there have been hints that I will be given a big collection of projects once this week gets going so I will just have to be patient and know that they are as excited to have me as I am to be there. 

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With a few more days of my internship under my belt, I think I’m starting to feel quite a bit more comfortable at the museum. I still feel like I could get lost at any turn, but now I at least know how to get to the elevator so I don’t have to climb 5 flights of stairs at least three times a day. I’ve started receiving tasks that take a bit more time to complete so I have been able to get to work as soon as I get there instead of waiting to meet with a supervisor to find out what I’m doing for the day, which is nice. It leaves less time for exploring, but so far I’ve enjoyed the projects I’ve been working on. 

One thing about the internship that I’ve really enjoyed so far have been being able to experience such a variety of tasks and see many areas of the museum. On Thursday last week I was able to see what kind of things are done at the very beginning stages of planning a new exhibition. They are planning a new permanent exhibition for the museum about nature and conservation so we went on a fieldtrip with the majority of the people on that team to the woods along with three other places near by that focus on “living green” and the education of conservation. 

It was amazing to be able to spend the whole day outside in nature – and not that far away from the city! It was also interesting to see how all the people from the different departments took advantage of the trip: those from the design/modeling department focused a lot on the scenery, textures and colors (including collecting leaves and flowers) where as those who are in development were constantly asking questions of those who worked at each location about everything from costs to what kind of plants we were looking at to how different age groups interact with their sites. The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this day was the fact that the traffic coming back from the Skokie area was absolutely terrible so once I finally got back to Clark and Division, I had to sprint five or six blocks to make it to the bus that was taking everyone to the Art Event that night (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom).

Another thing that I’m pretty excited about with my internship is the amount I get to be involved in the new Gems and Diamonds exhibitions that are opening in October. I didn’t realize at first how involved they are letting me be, but right now I’m learning all of the information that is in all of the displays. They want me to know this information inside and out because next week I will be working with one of my supervisors to write the script that the docents will be using when they have introductions to larger tour groups. Also, I will also be working in the Diamonds exhibition before it opens, so I will get to see a lot of behind-the-scenes work.  

At first, I was excited about working at the  museum just because it is a reputable place to have an internship with a lot of perks and seem like a good fit in terms of supervisors and environment. Now, with seeing more each day, I’m starting to see working in a museum – history, science, art, or others – as a possible career path.

September 22nd

Let's change things up a bit - this is a journal entry I wrote for one of my classes... we were asked to reflect and write about how things are going this semester with no real specific guidelines so this is one that I came up with just to offer another view of what I'm experiencing in Chicago. 

Walking down the street, with my headphones in to block out the sounds of the city, I try to avoid the awkward moments of people looking at me or asking for money, or even just that moment when you are face-to-face with another on a crowded sidewalk and have to do that odd side-step dance to figure out which way the other is going. I realized today that I have found myself quite oblivious to the city around me when I’m walking – I don’t appreciate where I am. I am aware of the people, buildings, and general traffic around me, but I don’t take the time to realize that everyone here has a story – they aren’t just one of the masses, they are an individual with something to say.

I think what spurred on this train of thought was that while I was walking down the street listening to my iPod, a song called “Rich Young Ruler” by Derek Webb started playing. “Poverty is so hard to see when its only on your TV and twenty miles across town…” That phrase stuck with me all day. It’s true – that’s where I was until coming to Chicago. I live in one of the wealthier suburbs of Des Moines and poverty just isn’t really an issue that gets brought up. I’ve seen my share by traveling to an Indian Reservation every summer for the past six or seven years, and its been an eye opener every time I return and there is another house boarded up or another set of families forced to move in together to survive. However, at the same time, it’s nothing like actually living in a city where poverty is a daily encounter.

Living in Chicago for around two weeks now, I have “gotten used to” it – the panhandling, the street musicians, and even seeing the men and women sleeping in corners or on park benches. But it’s not something I want to get used to. I feel like it should be something that impacts us every day. I struggle deciding who I give money to, or if I should offer to buy the woman sitting near the bus stop a sandwich at the corner bakery.

Where do you draw the line? We are called to serve and love “the least of these” for we are all God’s children. Do we do so blindly, not worry about what the man in the subway station will buy with the two bucks you just tossed in to his guitar case, or do we try to pick out the “good ones?” I think this will become a topic that I will face every day as I frequently run into people in need, as does anyone walking around Chicago. I knew it was going to be something that I would have to learn to deal with, but I didn’t realize what a struggle I would have. I long to help each person who asks, but at the same time I despise the idea of handouts. Even back in my little suburb, we have a few men who are always there asking for money.

These men are actually quite well known in my suburb – they live under the interstate bridge and stand on the corner of the on/off ramps every day. I think these men have tainted my idea of handouts because a few years ago a few friends stopped to talk to them. According to two of the men that they met, there is a group of five men who take turns standing on the corner – usually each one has a day of the week, and these men have jobs, homes, cars, and some even have families, but they take advantage of the generous handouts they can get by wearing some old clothes and standing on the corner. Apparently at the end of each week the men would pool their large amounts of money and drink and gamble it away over the course of the weekend to just start all over again the next Monday.

I know not everyone is cheating the system in this way, but it just makes me very wary of those who appear to be in need. It’s a silly excuse, but I feel like I only have so much money, and if I’m going to give it away… I want to actually help someone – and not just help them feed an addiction or something. Maybe it’s my own pride, the fact that I don’t want to play the fool, or my own greed. I guess I don’t know for sure, but like I said before, I’m sure it will be something that I face daily over the course of the semester.