God Save the Queen!

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted.  It’s that terrible habit that if you miss a day, it becomes so much easier to miss many.  If I hope to keep this blog up, I need to do it every day.  (Discipline, Meredith. Discipline!)  Okay, okay! 

So, I want to talk a bit about Sunday because it was day two of our friends’ visit and we definitely took advantage of another tourist day, despite exhaustion from a full day prior. In the morning we decided to head out to Notting Hill before we searched for a place for breakfast hoping that it would save us time.  It turned out to be a great decision because we found an AMAZING bakery right when we got off the bus called Paul Rhodes Bakery (oh, and it is a new location I just noticed, when i looked up the site!).  Oh man. Delish. They had these funky milk bottle lights that reminded me strangely of the movie Runaway Bride where Julia Roberts plays an industrial designer.  Anyway  Here’s a picture of the amazing meringues (Don’t they look fantastic, Emma??):

We then walked along and I didn’t take a lot of cell phone pix, so I don’t have much for you.  I enjoyed Notting Hill and Portabella Market about as much as I did 8 years ago.  Really cute and diverse with a million things I’d buy if I didn’t have to haul them back to the States.  I came close to getting a couple fun prints, actually, but it didn’t make much sense.  If you’ve been to Notting Hill, you probably remember this one shop before you get to the market that sells a million “old fashion” (translate: weather worn) metal signs.  This one made me laugh pretty hard:

After we walked around quite a bit in the area through residential parts and such, we decided to head to Buckingham Palace before it got too late.  We grabbed a bit to eat at a pub off the Victoria Station stop and then walked through the beautiful gardens to the Palace. 

The lighting was perfect and it was nice to be in the sun most of the day.  Every day here has been cloudy basically, so it was a great break from dreary weather!  Anyway, we walked through the gardens, past geese, ducks and a few pelicans (??) to the palace itself.  So majestic.  Love.

At this point it was time to head back to our place so that Marc and Albert could get their luggage and head to the airport.  Nathan and I also had to head out to go see some family friends in the country.  It was so sad to say goodbye to Marc and Albert, but it’s okay.  We’ll see them again soon I hope.  Next time it’s Barcelona!!!!!! 

This week deserves a separate post which I will not do until tomorrow.

Random but AWESOME

I'm sure to everyone but me, this is old news, but T-Mobile has a fantastic ad campaign here in the UK using the flash mob style to promote the slogan "life's for sharing."  Here are my 2 favorite videos.  I've watched them too many times.  Haha!

London Heathrow: Terminal 5

One that's a bit older in Paddington Station. Love it.

That's all for tonight.  I'm zonked.

Pubs, Parliament and Photos

I didn’t do a “real” post yesterday and I apologize.  It was a day full of chores and some slight British hilarity/annoyance as I got locked out of my flat for an hour as the cleaning woman took the keys and couldn’t be found.  I’m not kidding.

So, last night was a blast.  We went out to a local pub for drinks and such with Arup people.  I know hanging out with a group of engineers sounds like the last thing in the world you might want to do, but let me tell you it was great fun.  It might not have been too wise to have zero to eat before heading over there (why do I always do that!?), but either way, lovely conversation and lively crowd.  Later on, like around midnight, Albert & Marc arrive from the airport!!  We grabbed dessert and had a bit of a chat before crashing to sleep at about 3am…yikes.

The Larkin

Nate playing foosball at the pub with coworkers

Today was loads of fun.  We got up for a later start and grabbed an English breakfast at Russell Square Park right near the guys’ hostel.  It was decent, but of course the company was the best.  I do love me a great English breakfast, but the eggs were definitely lacking.  Oh well.  The beans were great.  After that, we head out toward Chelsea and Manresa Rd. (at King’s Road) to see my old apartment where I lived for 5 months in 2003.  I cannot believe that it really has been about 8 years since I did my internship at TIME.  Is that possible!?  Am I really 28 years old??!  Anyway, here’s a picture of the place today.  Looks exactly the same though a tad worn.

My old building.

Good old Manresa Rd.

Then we took the number 11 bus down King’s Rd through Victoria station all the way to Westminster Abbey where we got off and hit up the Abbey (looked, didn’t pay 14 GBP to walk in…lame!), the Parliament, Big Ben, & 10 Downing Street.  We then walked through to Trafalgar Square and enjoyed walking up through the Covent Garden area to see the shops including the world’s largest (and dare I say most gorgeous) Apple Store. 

On the 11 down King's Road--my old stomping grounds!

Parliament

Apple Store: Covent Garden

We ate lunch, grabbed some coffee, as it was really chilly and windy, and then took a walk across the Waterloo Bridge just as the sun was setting.  It sets at 4pm basically, so anyway…

View of the Eye, Parliament and Big Ben

After we made it across, we walked along the Southbank until we go to the Tate Modern where we spent a bit over an hour looking at two different exhibits.  It was cool, and by the time we were finished it was pitch black out already.  Ick.  Oh, so the other day when I thought I was walking the Millennium Bridge, I was not.  I was on the Hungerford Foot Bridge.  Yeah….I’m a tad embarrassed by this, but at least I’m admitting it.  Today, I actually did cross the Millennium Bridge after we walked out of the Tate.  It was a nice walk and we then saw St. Paul’s Cathedral (designed by Sir Christopher Wren) and walked to the Tube to head back towards our flat.  I needed to do a bit of homework and we were starting to think that getting dinner before watching the Barca game would be a good idea. 

Tomorrow we will try to do Notting Hill, which I’m excited about and that might be all.  Marc & Albert leave and we will be heading out to see some family friends an hour outside the city.  Hope you enjoyed all the pix!  I’ll do my best to also post tomorrow evening, but I’m not sure of what my wifi ability will be. 

Mid-Day Photo Update

Had a little fun with a new photo app today.  Enjoy a few clips from my day of chores.

Laundry Time! (with homework and Walkers crisps of course)

A fun shot of a modern London bus on Upper Wooburn Place (our street).

Study spot.  No surprise.

The set up.  Ever had a Kit-Kat Chunky? Probably not the best name.

Start smooth... Filter Coffee = Drip

Drag Queens and the Rain

Phew!  Today was one of the most colorful days so far since being here.  This morning I woke up early and finished the assignment I was supposed to have finished last night (oops).  After emailing it in and then getting to class early (go, me!), I was told that our afternoon activity was canceled due to the rain.  Argh.  Though it would have been so annoying to be out in the rain all afternoon, I don't think next week (when it's rescheduled) will be any better.  I digress... So, I ended up in the rain most of the afternoon anyway because a couple girls from my class and I went on the hunt for an Italian place our professor recommended.  Honestly, it was not worth the 45 walk it took us to find the place.  Not horrible, but really not awesome.  I headed back to the apartment and chilled for the first time since....before Christmas.  It was nice, but short.

Tonight was the real story.  This course happens every January and they always go to a play or musical as part of the class activities.  My professor gave Nathan a ticket as well so that he could come with us, so he did!  Yay!  Though it would have been nice to go to a more typical production, we went to one that probably is more in line with our coursework than the rest.  We saw Pricilla, Queen of the Desert.  Wow.  That's all I can say.  Once the shock of the whole scene wears off, it's an incredible production.  The costumes were amazing and the 'dancing in my seat the whole musical' kind of music was fantastic as well.  I really loved it.  Probably not the best to take kids to and probably not for the sensitive or easily offended type either--but, great nonetheless.  Oh, and if you didn't know, it's a musical about three drag queens and their bus (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) as they drive across the desert of Australia to do a show at a casino.  After class, we grabbed some dinner with a few people from class.

I really love some of these people who are in the course.  I've become good pals with a drama therapy MA, a higher education administration MA, a music therapy MA and also a girl from my year who's in the mental health and wellness MA program.  There are more but I don't want to go too crazy with my list.  I am having a great time and so glad that I decided to do this class.  This weekend I'm looking forward to Marc & Albert joining us for two days of fun-filled London touring...starting tomorrow!!!  Below is a picture of the theatre.  I'm pretty sure it's the place where Les Mis used to be shown.

I guess that wasn't the most interesting post. Oh well.  I don't want to skip a day b/c otherwise who knows if I'll post again, you know? Thanks for the messages many of you are sending me telling me you're reading!  Love it and love you!  Sweet dreams.

xx

Look! There's an Emergency Exit!

  It's day five and things are starting to feel relatively normal here.  It's odd how you can just jump into another culture and just adjust.  It is possible that some of the reason I feel this way is because I've already had friends visit as well as the fact that I lived here for almost half a year back in my undergraduate days (and blogged most of it).  Either way, I love London and pretty much always have.  I wish that I took more pix on my iPhone to share with you all because today I walked through Covent Garden, to the Strand and right past my old office at Brettenham House on the way to the Waterloo Bridge.  What a rush of memories.  I commented to a classmate of mine that I am grateful that though filled with nostalgia, I'm not at all filled with regret or wishing for the past.  It was a rich time, and though filled with a fantastic mix of joy, success, and adventure, it was also a time of deep personal pain and confusion.  I even managed to get a marriage proposal in there as well. Haha! (Another story for another time...maybe.)

  So, back to the day's events.  I skipped over the fact that I went to class and it was good.  I learned more crazy stuff and have decided that taking notes is futile because all the information is mainly on the ppt anyway.  I learn more if I'm focused on the professor.  The morning walk to class was glorious and sunny (the sun was literally shining directly in my eyes the entire way) and I loved it.  I popped in my ear buds, grabbed at S'bux and made it to class early.  I even remembered to bring my clementines for break.  Yessss.  The class then headed off together to go on the London Eye.  That was the walk that took me by my old office building.  The Eye just reminds me of the Staton's engagement (NYC friends of ours), so of course I think I told their engagement story about 5 times this afternoon.  Everyone thought it was super romantic and cute.  (Props, Josh!)  The group of us all got to get our own pod in the Eye, so that was cool and basically all we did was ooohhh and ahhhhh for the full 27 minutes or whatever it took to get around.  I was just glad I didn't have to pay the 20 pounds to go on it.  It wasn't that exciting on such a grey, cloudy day.   A few people in the class are pretty scared of heights so having to quickly "jump aboard" freaked some of them out.  One guy was like "oh, good! There's an emergency exit!"  Yikes, what would that look like from the top of the world's largest ferris wheel??  Eeek!  Afterward, we walked accross the Millennium Bridge (built by Arup), crossed the Strand at Leicester Square and passed the National Gallery, which reminded me of Liz Zelie because we went there when she came to visit me in London 7 years ago.  I got some postcard stamps once we got back to the Bloomsbury area (where I'm staying) and then spent the rest of the evening doing homework and making dinner, etc.
 
  That's about it.  I did want to mention that I also had a FAB phone call from Kristi last night which was so nice.  Skype calls aren't too pricey to the UK cell we have.  Also, if you're on wifi and you're calling me on skype (username: meredithann), it's FREE!  Hope all is well with everyone.  Here are some pix of our flat.  Sorry for the poor resolution, but they were specifically requested by Heather. =)

xx

This is the main living area.  I didn't take a shot from the other side, so this is half the room.

This is the cute kitchenette.  The microwave is also a convection oven.

The loo (taken from the windowed side by the toilet).

Friends for a Decade!

    Today was a great day.  The morning started right with breakfast together and each of us off to work or school.  Nathan had a pretty good day, but I won’t be blogging his work experiences since I wasn’t there…wouldn’t make much sense to tell it second hand.  Class went well.  Today we covered some basic epidemiology of HIV and then had a guest speaker from the Mortimer Market Centre, a clinic for people who are HIV+ here in the UK.  It was a lecture specifically on the aging population of HIV+ people, specifically in the UK, though it applied to those in the US as well.  Did you know that by 2015, 50% of people with HIV will be over 50 years old?  The speaker gave great information and great perspective.  No, I probably won’t be interacting much with this population in my work as a school counselor.  I do, however, interact with this population twice a week volunteering with my church at the Bailey-Holt House in Chelsea. 

    After class, my dear friend Mike Yates met up with me and we spend a few hours catching up while eating a yummy lunch and walking the crazy shopping scene down Oxford Street.  I managed to get a cheap UK phone so if you’d like to call or text, check my fb profile for the number!  Mike and I have been friends for the last 6 years about.  Later in the afternoon, we met up with another friend who had just flown in from Nigeria on his way back to the US, Nimi!  Nimi and I have been friends now for over nine years.  We met in college through Real Life, a Christian group I was part of and later worked for in Boston (I worked with Mike Yates, which is how Mike & I met).  Over nine years...that sort of freaks me out because that’s how long ago it was when I started my freshman year (Nimi was at MIT, not NU)!  Eeep!  I can’t be nearing 30….no, not me.  Haha! It was nice to catch up for a few hours and then head to my flat and enjoy a cuppa and conversation that per usual varied from economics, world politics, faith and everything in between.  A couple pictures of this fun time should be posted soon.

Hope all is well with you, my friends!  Let me know you’re reading and leave some love.  Sorry this post is vacant of any real cultural comments. Tomorrow’s touring with my class promises many interesting things to mention in the daily blog. 

Oh, one interesting thing: what the London NYU facilities look like. =)

xx

"Did you get the other basket?" "What basket?"

It's day three and I'll try to make this update shorter.  Class went well.  It's a good group of people with wide variety of backgrounds (in life and in academic focus).  After our class (10am-1pm), we all headed to Wagamama for lunch.  Seriously yum.  Nathan and I did some grocery shopping and managed to forget half of the things we wanted to buy, in our second grocery basket...I think that we can safely blame jet lag for this one.  We then took advantage of our afternoon off and caught some exhibits at the British Museum, which is not only free, but just half a mile from our flat.  Seeing the Rosetta Stone and pieces of the Pantheon were definitely highlights.  I guess I should mention the ceiling in the Grand Hall as well, since it is architectural, artistic, and engineering feet which could best be enjoyed in daylight with some sun...of which we had none.  What was NOT a highlight: the Picasso exhibit that actually only had ONE Picasso.  Serious fail.  After that, we finished up the shopping we forgot, had a cuppa and snack then made dinner in our tiny flat, which was DELISH and much cheaper than a local restaurant.

I was given a link to a fantastic PBS program called The Age of AIDS that does a great job summarizing the pandemic from first cases in the US to current day.  If you want to be more in the know, I suggest watching.  It is in small "episodes" and could be watched over time if you don't have 250 minutes to dedicate to it. =)  Let me know if you watch and we can discuss!

Okay, time for bed.  Class tomorrow and Nathan's first day of work.

Oh, and it snowed today.  Loved it.

Reminder to Self: Voltage is Different in the UK

Well, it is day two in London.  This morning I burned my hair with my overpowered hair dryer.  I mean it..I lost two big chunks of hair.  I didn’t cry and for that, I’m proud.   Feeling a bit dumb that I didn’t pay attention to the heat setting…yikes!  We also did a bit of exploring.  We had Nando’s for lunch (yum!) and bought some quick essentials at the overpriced market, because I needed to head back home to write my paper.  We then headed off to go to an evening service at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), which was just as awesome as it was 7 years ago when I attended for 5 months.  Tim Hughes leads their worship, which is kind of hilarious.  He’s so chill and relaxed that you forget he’s sold tons of albums.  I left Nathan there and skipped off to a reception for my course (explanation below) at a local pub.  It was a full day!

I probably ought to explain why it is that Nathan and I are here.  The main reason is that I am taking a course at NYU London during our January Intersession called HIV Prevention & Counseling.  It’s going to be fantastic and draining, I can already tell you that.  My first paper is due the first day of class, tomorrow at 10am.  Since volunteering at the Bailey-Holt House in Chelsea for the past (almost) year and a half, I’ve become more and more aware of the impact HIV/AIDS has had on our culture as a whole as well as the impact it continues to have on my generation and youth in the US.  Anyway, a round about way of saying that I feel like I need to understand more and our professor is a well-respected and well-published leader in the field.  Stay tuned for more on that.  Nathan decided to ask his London-based company if he could work remotely in their London office for the two weeks I’m here.  They said yes, so here we are!  They’ve set up an itinerary for Nathan’s time here, including a couple field work visits, some presentations on his work in the NY office, and a trip to their Leeds office where a lot of wastewater engineering work takes place—an area of high interest for Nathan.  Tomorrow is a Bank Holiday so he doesn’t go to work, but I start class.  No fair! 

Okay, that was long.  Expect that from me, though.  I tend to write A LOT when I blog.  Time for sleep!  Looking forward to a fun and full week that will include class, seeing Mike Yates, seeing some Spanish friends, and also doing as much sightseeing as we can fit in!!....

xx

Made it!

We arrived without any trouble this evening at Heathrow.  All our bags were in order and it was a basically painless Underground trip to our flat where we will be staying the next two weeks.  We checked in and grabbed Indian from a place around the corner. (the only place open)  Headed to bed.  Super exhausted.  Maybe it has something to do with less than four hours of sleep last night...

Night! xx

Masters in Counseling & Guidance, Bilingual School Counseling

Wow.  A lot has happened since my last post.  It might have something to do with the fact that working full time and taking classes full time this summer took over my life.  I was at Fordham taking a full load of courses towards my Masters, since I was wait-listed at NYU. I decided to stay on the wait-list since I wasn't fully sure about Fordham.  NYU has a great program, and though on paper it's basically equal to Fordham, there isn't even a comparison in faculty.  Anyway, the short version is that the week I finished finals this summer at Fordham, I was accepted to NYU Steinhardt.  I was thrilled and torn.  I had made a couple great friends at Fordham and was getting comfortable there.  In the end, it didn't make since to turn down NYU's offer and I withdrew from Fordham and enrolled in NYU in August of this year.

Phew.  A long story.  I had a fantastic semester and especially enjoyed the diversity in my program.  My favorite class was Adolescent Development, taught by a Turkish professor who also did much of his work in Boston at Boston College.  So cool!  Many of you know that I am really excited about working with Latino high schoolers in urban schools.  I've wanted to get my bilingual extension but I thought that in order to enroll in the program, I needed to already be bilingual.  My friends in the bilingual program encouraged me to enroll because you just have to take an exam at the end of our program (in my case, May 2012.) to get the extension.  So I enrolled!  Wahoo!  I'm really excited about this, and am very motivated to get my Spanish to an advanced level.  I can understand about 90% of what's spoken to me and can respond in English.  That's not very helpful though, since I need to speak with families who don't understand English.  Haha!  Gotta get going on that.  I need an NYC based immersion program is what I need.

I'm back in the blogging world because I'm headed to London in less than 24 hours and want to keep my friends and family up to date with my adventures!  Thanks for reading and please leave some love!  I better get packing!!

Fordham it is!...for now

I've finally made a decision...sort of. Haha! Don't you just love sentences that start out like that?! But seriously, that's how I feel. Here's the scoop:

I found out at the end of March that I was wait-listed for NYU's School Counseling program. It was honestly a huge encouragement because being on a wait-list for a program that has 600+ applications for less than 100 spots (and only 35 for S.C.), it means that they actually think you can do it but don't really have room for you. For me it meant that I was/am on the right track in going for this degree. It felt like a bit of validation. Anyway, it was kind of sad, but anyway.... They explained in the info session I went to at NYU back in November, that if you're on the wait list, they cannot guarantee that you will hear back at any point. I could possibly hear the week before classes start in the fall. Eeek! Not cool...

So, in the meantime I was accepted to Fordham University's Graduate School of Education as a candidate for a MSE in School Counseling!  I'm pretty excited because that means I'm officially going to graduate school!  I went to an welcome reception for newly admitted students on Wednesday and I took the chance to meet my advisor, other newly admits, and decided to put my deposit down to attend Fordham.  Sweet.  The reason I say that I'm still not 100% on Fordham is that I could still hear back from NYU at any time and I kind of want to have a chance to decide between the two, rather than only having one option.  I have a feeling that even if I'm removed from the wait-list, Fordham is more "right" for me.  I also found out that for sure both non-matric classes I'm currently taking at NYU will count towards my Fordham core as long as I get a B or higher.  Since I'm expecting A-'s in both classes, I think I just made my life a lot easier!  Awesome!  The head of the department also shared that this year, Fordham had 400 applications for the only about 75 spots (~30 in the S.C. department) and that this year they will not be able to allow any wait listed students into the program. I do feel blessed to have gotten in to the school.

In summary, here are the next steps:

1) Take my only final at NYU on May 5th.
2) Start Summer I classes at Fordham on May 24th (Happy Birthday, Natalie!)--Research Methods in Counseling and Fundamentals of Educational and Psych Measurement.
3) Start Summer II classes at Fordham on July 6th--Introduction to Counseling I and Pre-Practicum in Counseling I
4) Start Fordham Fall term September 9 if I don't get off of NYU's wait list

So that's the big story. More life updates another time, like, Nathan and I aren't moving apartments anymore!  Awesome.

Trinity Grace Turns 4!

I really liked this video. Feel like it gives a great snapshot of our church. Enjoy. Lemme know what you think! =)

On Our Fourth Anniversary from Trinity Grace Church on Vimeo.

Back to School and God's Provision

I decided that it might be a good idea to do a quick "life update" since my facebook posts of late have caused a rucous of comments and questions.  I think that I've been keeping a lot of these things private-ish because of  my unemployment experience.  People are incredibly insensitive about unemployment.  Though I realize that most of that is completely unintentional and out of pure ignorance on the subject, it's still hard to hear the kinds of comments, suggestions and such that I've gotten in the past 10 months.  I actually feel like I can see where a good friend of mine was coming from back in NorCal.  He (I won't disclose his name, but he'll know who he is if he reads this. Haha!) was out of work for I think about a year.  Nothing was really coming through...leads, part-time projects here and there which helped ends meet a bit, and mostly a lot of NOTHING.  Lots of struggling about WHY and what in the world was God "doing" to him.  Anyway, God totally provided months and months into the job search with a situation now that is working.  I feel like this is my life, though not quite a year (almost!).  I think that I probably should have had more grace and compassion (I did have some but now I have much more) for him at the time, but now that I've been through this past year, I have AMPLE grace and compassion for anyone out of work and looking.  Haha! 

Quick background: moved to NYC last weekend in March 2009; moved into a fab apartment in BPC; went to Bolivia in mid-April; began serious job search at end of April 2009; lots of positions but LOTS of applicants for all the same jobs; feeling discouraged; running out of $$; decided to start nannying part-time (12-18 hrs/week).


In December, Nathan and I decided that we needed to make some serious adjustments to our situation in regards to finances.  We have a great budget that we need to REALLY follow.  I needed to pray about finding at LEAST 35 hrs/week of work.  We needed to move into a place that's about $1000 less/month at the end of our lease in April.  First of all, I've found the work.  The family I worked with since September placed an ad for me on one of the largest mom's online community groups.  Within one hour, I had 5 inquiries.  Within a couple days, I had about 20 inquiries.  I interviewed with many of these families and now have 3 new families plus my current which adds up to about 30/hours a week!!  Yay!!  I do have to get that extra 10 hours, but that's pretty sweet!!  Also, we've started doing some housing research and it totally looks like we're going to be able to find a place in our price range with 2 bedrooms!  Yay!!!  Obviously we need to find that "right" place, but it exists and that's a great feeling. 


This brings me to the subject of schooling.  First of all, I would like to say that my decision to go to school is very much NOT that "oh, the economy sucks and I can't find work so I should just get a Masters."  NO NO NO.  That's not it at all.  I have been able to spend a ton of time processing my life and dreams and desires in the past year.  I have been evaluating the jobs out there that I'm qualified for and the work I would be most happy doing.  I have also been praying that God would make it clear to us (Nathan and I) if we should stay in the City long term (more than a couple years) or if we should think about transitioning out sooner.  We both feel like this will be home for us for at least 5 years and for us, that's pretty long term.  That's a good feeling.  To know that we'll be around for a bit.  I feel like I can make friends, settle, decorate our place (which I've done, btw...), etc.  I also felt like if that was the case, staying in the City, I really needed to become qualified to do whatever work it is that I want.  In evaluating what I liked BEST about working at Mid-Pen back in NorCal and what I would LOVE to do most with my life, I've decided to become a School Counselor.  It's funny because now that I've decided this, it seems like the most obvious and awesome thing to do.  Why didn't I think of it earlier!?  Duh.  I hated high schoolers a few years ago.  I was hoping to big stuff in non-profits.  I studied politics.  I didn't have an  open heart or mind to education until I started working with college students in 2005.  Then, I was led to my job at Mid-Pen (which could be a very long conversation if you're interested).  Then, I fell in love with high schoolers....I want to be a School Counselor because it combines the Guidance Counseling part that I think is so so much fun with the straight up counseling side of things that I find intriguing and a great place to give back.  School Counseling balances the issues of Student-Teacher, Student-Parent, and Parent-Teacher.  LOVE IT!  As a result, I'm working toward a Masters in School Counseling.


I am currently applying to three programs in NYC and am also taking two grad school psych classes at NYU as a non-matriculated student in the Steinhardt Applied Psychology Program in order to gain some psych background before I launch into a psych program at the graduate level.  I am not accepted to the graduate program at NYU and I won't find out until March.  The other programs I'm applying to will let me know if I make it into them later in the Spring.  I will keep everyone posted on that.


So, here's the brief re-cap:
- I'm working as a nanny 30/hours a week...heading to at least 5 more hours/week
- I'm taking two classes (two nights/week) at NYU as a non-matric student
- I'm applying for my Masters in School Counseling to start either this summer 2010 or in the fall
- I'm very happy and KNOW that this is what I'm meant to do.


K...that ended up being really long.  Sorry!  More later as things shape up clearly.  Thanks for all the facebook support, people (you know who you are!).  I really appreciate it.  It's scary to be in school after 5 years out of the game.  I CANNOT wait to work with high schoolers again.  I miss my Mid-Pen kids more than anything. :'-(

Sweet Deals!

For all those looking to get to NYC (or Boston for that matter) for a low fare, now's the time to book.  Virgin America is boasting $99 each way fares if you book in the next 24 hours (by 7am, Pacific Standard Time).  It's a combined thing with Google and applies to a variety of flights (some as low as $39/way)!  Check it out!

An Encouragement to my Soul

So, I never do this, but I'm gonna do it.  This has definitely been the hardest season of my life thus far.  Moving to a city that is/was foreign, leaving a job I loved, leaving friends I feel I only just scratched the surface of knowing, and being far far away from family all over again.  It's been about 5 months of the job search and it seems like it will never pass.  God is teaching me a lot through all this.  I wrote an email to my father-in-law the other day and I'm going to share what I wrote to you can "see" into my soul for a second....

I've had the time to refine my interests and passions over the past months so it's actually becoming easier for me to look for work.  One thing that I have decided as far as direction of the search goes, is that I am not going to compromise and take just any non-profit job or just any education job.  I have a passion for high school (potentially middle school) students and I want my resume to reflect that.  I need to believe and trust God that he has the perfect plan and the right job for me, and not get all worried about it because I could just apply to be a secretary somewhere and that'd be that. You know?  Anyway, I really want to pursue a Master's in Education, emphasizing on School Counseling/Guidance Counseling.  That in mind, I'd like to work with an organization that partners with or supports local high schools in mentoring, educational support, emotional support, and parent education/encouragement, etc.  There are TONS of orgs like that here in NY, I just need to get appropriately plugged in.  I may start mentoring a high schooler through one of these orgs to get a foot in the door.  Also, I'm babysitting in the meantime to keep the $$ coming in somewhat....So there's the rundown.  I know God sees me and my struggle and the sadness and anxiety that comes with it.  I want to view this time of unemployment as I would a time of employment--doing it for the glory of God and not in a spirit of complaining or anger, etc.  I mean, He's already teaching me tons of things about myself and my desires as I'm in the search, things I may not have learned if I just jumped right in somewhere. 

So, there you have it.  My life as I know it.  I'm so so so thrilled to be going home to California this weekend.  Nathan is traveling for work so I'm going home from the 9th-16th.  It's going to be awesome, and when I get back, our friends the Sellevaags will be in the City!  We get to babysit Nicholas!  Yay!  Anyway, I'll leave you with another thing I NEVER do....and that's post some lyrics to a song that has spoken to me a lot in the past week.  I'll post more on some of the fun things that I've been up to lately when I get some time.  Babysitting and such has been consuming my free time!  Eeek!

Send me a sign
A hint, O whisper
Fill me with life
'Cause I am listening

Come break the quiet
Breathe your awakening
Bring me the light
'Cause I am fading

Surround me with the rush of angels' wings

Shine Your light so I can see You
Pull me up, I need to be near You
Hold me, I need to feel loved
Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?

You sent a sign
The hint, O whisper
Human, divine
Everyone is listening

Death laid low
Quiet in the night is stirring

All around the rush of angels

Shine Your light so I can see You
Pull me up, I need to be near You
Hold me, I need to feel loved
Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?
 

O the wonder of the greatest love has come

Shine Your light so all can see it
Lifted up, 'cause the whole world needs it
Love has come, what joy to hear it
He has overcome, He has overcome

Home for the Holidays

Yesterday, Nathan and I purchased our tickets home to California for Christmas! Yay! We're officially going to be in California from December 23-January 5! Longer story below...

The way this happened was definitely a "God-thing" as I call it. Nathan and I used his Delta Miles to be able to both fly roundtrip to SFO for his graduation. It was perfect. Just $10 for both of us to go to NorCal for like 5 days and enjoy time with family, etc. We weren't sure how things would work out for Christmas, but you take things as they come, you know? Anyway, we only had like a few thousand miles left in Nathan's account and none in mine. My miles from our Africa trip in 2008 still had not been posted. The delay was because of Delta's inane rules for name changing on SkyMiles accounts. They require all sorts of specific paperwork including a copy of our marriage license, etc, and I hadn't dealt with it 6 months after our trip (when they say posting back-dated miles expires). I finally sent the name change paperwork in a few weeks ago and decided that I could email them my request and explain the situation because honestly, there was NO WAY we could afford to get home for Christmas unless we could get a miles trip. What's the worst they could say!? No?

A day after my request, Delta posted my miles AND returned 29,000 miles they had removed earlier this month for "inactivity" of my account. Praise God, seriously. With a couple thousand miles from my dad, we purchased our tickets yesterday and are headed west to escape the winter this December.

Now....can God work some of that miracle wonder in the area of my employment!?

A Special Friend

This is a post dedicated to a friendly turtle I met on the Upper East Side last weekend. Such a cute little guy! His name is Pumpkin and he was rescued by the man in the picture below. His story is that someone decided he was a good target for pellet gun practice. Some hikers found him in distress and brought him to animal rescue. After surgery, Pumpkin was too tame to return to the wild. This man adopted him. So cute. Oh, and Pumpkin is an endangered species of turtle....

The Crazy Week

This past week has been a bit wild. I was chatting with my sister about my week today on the phone and realized even more how fully it was and how totally legit it was that I was so exhausted from it all. Haha. Anyway....

So, on Sunday of last week, the Boatwright Family arrived! Yay! Tara and Luther are some good friends from the Bay Area and they have a 10-month-old baby, Ruth. It was a ton of fun to be around them for a few days. Since the main goals were to have a relaxed visit, to catch up with each other, and maybe do a few touristy things away from big crowds, we really had a very chill visit. The fun included some Upper East Side fun at FAO Schwartz, Central Park, NY Pizza @ Gotham's (our new fav), a fun bike ride involving Red Mango, lots of home cookin', and Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...just to name a few of the fun things. Nathan took a day off so that he could hang out for an extra day with us. Sweet! They left on Wednesday. I miss them already!! I posted some pix of the fun below.

On Thursday we then had our first dinner with friends that we made while in NY! Yes, we were excited. Seriously. Haha. Anyway, it took me a while to figure out what to make because I had so many ideas and yeah. So, I made chicken with a Morrocan spice rub, brown rice, and corn on the cob with honeydew melon and ice cream sandwiches for dessert! It was a great time of chatting and getting to know e/o a little better. I think we impressed them with our NJ Views. Yeah, Jersey! Turns out that one of the guys, Chris, has a sister 16 years older than him just like me and my little Christopher! So great!

Friday proved to be a complicated but fun day. After my gym time, I headed to Newark Airport to pick up on of Nathan's childhood friends who scheduled a long enough layover on her trip back to Spain for us to all enjoy dinner together. After a PATH ride, a NJ Transit Train, and the AirTrain, I was finally at the terminal. His friend Neus and her sister joined me and we headed to Union Square for a quick stop at Whole Foods (they love American chocolate chip muffins for some reason) and then dinner at Max Brenner's Cafe (a restaurant that my friend Heather introduced me to in July). It's definitely a great place to bring out of town guests! Neus and her sister LOVED it. Pix below of our fabulous desserts, etc.

Today was very chill. Relax, relax, relax. Gym time, Sox vs. Yanks game on TV, and a yum yum shrimp scampi dinner.

Hope all is well with all of you, my blog followers. Leave some comments and let me know you're there! Tomorrow brings more fun....dinner with our friend Janet's parents! Yay!

Luther's response to having his first NY Pizza.

Ruth on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Boatwright Family!

Nathan and I with our Chocolate & Banana Pizza dessert!

Hardening chocolate!

Neus and her sister pre-eating the yummy dessert. So pretty! (the ladies AND the dessert!)

See, Neus...I didn't put this on facebook....haha... Yum!

After the dessert...nothing left! Catalonians love chocolate! Energy!

First Minor League Visit: the Staten Island Yankees

Tonight was a Stanford Young Alumni event at the Staten Island Yankees. The SI Yanks are one of the Yankees feeder teams, so even though it was totally WRONG to step foot in that stadium, we decided it was a NY experience and we'd cheer for the Auburn DoubleDays (a Blue Jays feeder team). It ended up being kinda hilarious. We first took the SI ferry to get there and then found the group section. Turns out only about 10 people from the group showed up and we had to akwardly figure out who was with Stanford and who wasn't. (for some reason we all kinda thought there'd be some Stanford Alumni Rep with a nerdy sign or something...not quite.) Haha. Here are a few things I learned about minor league games (to be fair, it's really just about the Yanks minors):

1) Attendance: Very Low. It might have been "sold out" but half the stadium was empty and it was a TINY stadium.

2) Games: Lots. And by games, I mean games in between EVERY inning. There was a Lemonheads competition to see which baby had the best pucker after drinking lemon juice; there was a family race where the families had to walk together on long skiis; there was a "Tired" out race where two guys ran around the bases wearing inflatable tires (3 of them) around their bodies; there was a 70's dance off between two guys; the mascots traded off doing dances; there was the obligatory race on the screen b/t the ferry boats (I picked green...but orange one...eek!); etc. I'm not exaggerating here.

3) Food: Bizzare. They have two huge all you can eat sections but they only involve hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, and crazy long lines. Turns out that half the stadium buys an all you can eat ticket. I say bizzare just because that was the majority of available food, and they ran out of ketchup (a sin!).

4) Bathrooms: Few. I didn't even end up using one. (shocker!)

5) Action: Very little.

Okay, enough of that. All in all, it was fun and seriously, the last inning was awesome when the DoubleDays almost came back to win it....and then didn't. The fireworks show at the end was AMAZING! A legit show! Here are a couple pix from our phones.







Here's a little video of the fireworks...and my slightly embarrassing dancing: