A Little Taste of Home

For those of you that have been patiently waiting to hear how my midpoint eval. went...wait to longer! It went really well!  My supervisor had mostly good things to say about me which was very encouraging.  Overall I was very happy with how the meeting went.

On Thursday I went on a neighborhood visit to Humboldt Park with my Practicum Group.  We walked around the neighborhood a bit and got a very short tour with a lady from the Newlife Covenant Church.  This church has over 100 ministries and is apparently funded 100% on donations.  They have food drives, a clothing ministry, and have a home for women overcoming addictions.  I was very impressed by the amount of things this church does.  Afterwards we ate supper at a Puerto Rican restaurant, Papa's Cache Sabroso.  I had a Jibarito which is a sandwich made with fried plantains (instead of bread), a garlicy mayonnaise, chicken, cheese, and lettuce.  It was very interesting.  Definitely not my favorite meal but it wasn't bad.  As soon as supper was over we hurried (as "hurried" as you can be when depending on public transportation) back to our apartments to change.  We had our art event that evening at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where they played some music by Brahms.  The music was incredible and made for a wonderful evening.  ...Even though a fight broke out during the middle.  If you want the full story, check it out here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-chicago-symphony-orchestra-fistfight,0,6463330.story

Brian and Stacey came to visit this weekend!  Friday evening we went out to eat with Andrew and Athena (some of Brian's high school friends) at Giodano's, a pizza place.  We finished the evening by watching How to Train Your Dragon--WAY better than I thought it would be!!! Saturday morning I met them all at the Lincoln Park Zoo...because it's free ;)  We walked around there for awhile but since it's still (technically) winter, many of the animals weren't out.  Later we went to China town...by far the most interesting part of the day.  We went into a grocery store and I was pretty shocked.  You walk in the door and are greeted by a very fishy smell...literally.  They have tubs full of dried seafood...everything you can imagine is just sitting out in these open containers waiting to be picked through.  And the chickens, ducks, and quails they sell...they're whole.  Like they still have the head (including eyeballs and beak) and feet on them!  They also sell fresh seafood.  They had green, algae-filled tanks full of shrimp, crab, lobster, and fish. Oh! And turtles!  I was amazed.  It's very different than the kind of grocery stores I'm used to!       That evening we went to a dueling piano bar called Howl at the Moon.  We went partly for something to do and partly because I needed to for class.  It was kind of fun.  There were two guys playing piano that took any and every request that people from the audience had.  I was amazed at how talented these guys were.  Not only could they play the songs that were requested but they were also able to sing every word or every song.  Pretty incredible!     Overall it was really fun weekend and I was so glad to have Brian and Stacey here to visit; it felt like I had a little bit of home here with me.

As for work, things have been a little stressful.  I have been getting multiple projects handed off to me each day and sometimes I have NO idea what I'm supposed to do.  I just have to take it one day at a time and one project at a time.  Thankfully I have a pretty good friend at work.  Meredith, who has been filling in as the receptionist temporarily while the full-time receptionist is on maternity leave, has become a pretty good friend.  In fact, she invited Karla and I over for supper tonight!  She made a DELICIOUS supper--chicken and vegetables--and an equally delicious dessert--apple crisp.  Meredith, her husband Dave, Karla, and I sat around the table and ate and enjoyed each other's company.  I had a wonderful night and wish we could do it more often--both for the great food AND the great company!    My time here is much more enjoyable when I get out and do things and see people!!