New Orleans part 1 (Friday and Saturday)

Friday, March 12

This day, we left the chapel around 3:30/4:00, in a rented 15-passenger van. There were ten of us (three guys and 7 girls), and we needed the whole 15-passenger van because we had so much luggage. I sat in the middle of the front bench seat, which was a very good spot because I could get out relatively quickly, I had access to the food/cooler, and I could see out to the front and the sides. We drove and drove and drove, finally ending up in Lake St. Louis, MO. We stayed at an ELCA Lutheran church, which, once we found it, was very comfortable and accommodating. Some of us slept in the sanctuary on the pews, which actually was a great night’s sleep for me, and some slept in the youth group’s room. I think I would have liked to be a member of the church because it was large, had a praise band, and the pastor was kind to us when we arrived.

Saturday, March 13

When we arose in the morning, the men’s group had prepared breakfast and was watching a Nooma video. As we ate the delicious sausage-egg casserole and donuts, we watched the video with them. Once the video was over there was a bit of discussion of who we were, what we were doing, and church issues relating to our generation. After a while we had to get on the road, and so we did.

There’s not much to note about the driving except for a few incidents. One incident was that we were driving in AR and a truck of drunken rednecks pulled up beside us. They didn’t harm us, and they were actually rather stupidly funny at first, but we were relieved when they finally pulled off at an exit. Another incident was stopping at a gas station in MO and finding out that MO does not have the public places smoking ban that IA does. This gas station was a real throwback and felt like stepping into “a time capsule from 1972” as one of our leaders said. Another MO incident was stopping at a Phillips 66 in the St. Louis area and finding out that A, they had no flush toilets (we ended up using a portapotty), and B, they had gone through the floods of ’93 and it had been over the door.

Anyway, now I can say I’ve been through AR, TN, and MS. Another interesting thing was to note how the road quality changed between the states. MO had great roads, but half the rest stops were closed (I assume for renovation?). AR was bumpy, but the roads were among the flattest country I have ever seen, and I fell asleep despite the bumpiness. TN was not very memorable (we did pass the Graceland exit in Memphis though!). MS was not memorable either. I heard the song “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga at least 6 times during the whole drive. I hate that song because it’s always playing.

At last we made it to LA, and the light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter. We stopped at a Shell gas station to fuel up, and there I experienced the awkwardness of being the minority. We were the only white people there, and we found ourselves joking about being “so white” and “Iowa bumpkins”. We were uncomfortable. It was not a pleasant experience, even though there was no reason to be afraid or suspicious. One thing that struck me about being there was that the place was extraordinarily clean, and it also seemed to be a “third place” (a place of social networking that isn’t school/work or home). But we were still uncomfortable. Clearly we need to travel more.

We finally found our sleeping quarters, in a former Methodist church near Elysian Fields Avenue. I found it appropriate that it was “Elysian Fields” because that is a reference to Heaven. We girls ended up in a room with 5 bunk beds. It did not feel very large, but it was a place to rest, and that’s all we really needed. The guys were in the room next door, and they had it all to themselves, three guys to a room with 4 bunk beds in it. There was another college group there. Dickenson College in PA had brought about 30 people. Later another group would join us.

We ate at a little pizza joint across the street called Pizza Milano. It was surprising that it was still open, because it was at least 9:40 pm and the other businesses in the little strip there were closed. There was only one person there to run the place, but he brought us our pizzas quickly and they tasted good to our road-weary senses. After eating we returned to our church and had a reflection meeting. Finally we got to go to bed.

Back

I'm back from New Orleans, it was a loooooong drive (from 8:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M.) but we made it back. Blog post about it to come eventually.

Watch out, New Orleans!

Because HERE WE COME! Yeah RLC alternative spring break! :D

Breathing...

I got things done today...
- laundry
- paper for New Testament
- paper for Lit
- letter for job app
- packed
- mailed off my scholarship stuff to my dad, he'll sign and mail for me.
- relaxed... just breathed...

Grandma got out of the hospital! yay!
I got meds for the plague. yay again.

God is good, friends. Friends are good, too, thank God for them :)

Feeling peaceful, finally. It's been a good hour or two of sitting, just listening to calm music, breathing... Listening to this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghZfnQxUhzQ "My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God my Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood, his mercy rains, unending love, amazing grace!"

I am extremely frustrated and stressed

The title of this post says it all.

Right now, I'm sitting here, feeling like I got run over by a truck, because my cold/allergies/whatever it is, is attacking me.

Emotionally I am trying to deal with the fact that my grandmother is in the hospital again and they don't know what's wrong with her. She thought she was having a heart attack which is why she went in, but they said she didn't.

I have two papers due tomorrow and only an opening paragraph for one of them. The other's "done" but needs to be revised, PLUS I have to write a reflection about writing the paper.

There's a deadline for my Methodist scholarships, which is Monday, and I just found out I need my dad's signature on all of them, and he's 4 hours away in Omaha, and I can't go to him to get the scholarships signed because I don't have a car.

I found out today that my Methodist scholarship that I *thought* I had received never got disbursed to Simpson, so I'm out $2k because of that.

I'm not packed up for my trip which is leaving tomorrow at 3:30 to go to New Orleans.

I just want to curl up in a ball and cry right now, but I've got to do my laundry and I've got to pack and I've got to write my paper.

foggy

This is a crazy week.

A list of what I've done just today (not in order):
- Finished a 5 page paper
- Finished a calculus assignment, even though I did a wrong problem
- Called about a job
- Wrote on a letter for the job
- Had a deep conversation with someone who wasn't entirely awake
- Said goodbye to my poor hyacinth
- Worked out
- Studied Spanish
- Wondered where the sun went (it's very very very foggy here)
- Found out that my college is now doing Direct Stafford loans, which means I have to fill out a new master promissory note because I can't use the lender I used for this year. This irritates me.
- Found out some info for the New Orleans trip, woo hoo!

I think I've run myself down this weekend, so I'm trying not to do too much, but the life of a college student requires busy-ness, does it not?

But you know, life is good. It really is.

Sliding into Saturday morning, 2 am...

Thursday I went up to ISU with a few of the RLC people to a talk called Promoting Religious Pluralism by a guy named David Fraccaro. He was an interesting fellow, a UCC pastor and former starving artist who saw 9/11 happen. He related the story of that experience and explained how it showed him that he needed to promote religious pluralism because of the hatred that arose for Islam. Religious pluralism is promoting communication and understanding between various religious factions (and atheists/agnostics too). I think I am somewhat a pluralist in the sense that I enjoy learning about and trying to understand other religions (see previous posts about Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, and Purim).

There's an organization called Interfaith Youth Core which is attempting to promote this pluralism. It's college-based and hoping to use college students to spread the message of peace. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this.

Friday I got to color in my religion class! (it was slightly spoiled by having to analyze the drawings I was coloring, but hey! Coloring in class!) I got a letter from a dear home-church friend, and it made my day even better.

I went home with one of my friends and am typing this on my laptop (they've got wireless). When I came into the house, I was amazed by just how big it was. I was expecting it to be large because her parents are both doctors, but it has 4 bathrooms, 4.5 baths, two kitchens, two studies, a sunroom, two large hang-out spaces, a dining room, an exercise room, 3-car garage, and other rooms. It's huge. The bedroom I am in has a full bathroom and a walk-in closet, and it's just one of the kids' rooms! It has a bay window and a queen-size bed, along with an easy chair and ottoman. This room is huuuuge compared to my dorm room!

Anyway, the house is gorgeous. But that's not so important as that I got to meet three of her friends, all of whom are cuckoo, but so are MY friends. :D We played what is quite possibly the best party game ever (Apples to Apples) and watched two movies- The Great Muppet Caper and Spirited Away (an animated film).

I've got homework to do, but hopefully I will be able to work on it tomorrow/later today (Saturday). I'll be heading to bed now.