Living in the Ghetto

(My room)

Wow, it's been a whirlwind week! Somehow in the past few days I've managed to move from the safety and comfort of Boyer Road in Bellingham to the unknown ghettos of the Waldock dorm at the Master's College. That's right folks, I am now living in a ghetto. Graffiti, bricks, the occasional flower in a used pop can, the whole bit.

Well, it's not exactly a ghetto, but it is decorated like one! The emphasis of my wing, and the focus of our decor, is missions, especially Africa and/or inner city. Each wing has different decor in the hallways (in Aaron's it's random sports such as Lawn Darts and Badminton), and our resident advisor (RA from henceforth and forevermore) is passionate about missions. I think she and I shall get along well! :-) We're both English majors, and love books, so that was an immediate point of agreement. On Sunday night, she, my roommate and I, another girl from our wing, and a guy who we passed on our way out, went out to coffee. That's right, we just picked up some random guy.

OK, so I guess I'm really going for shock effect in this entry or something. :-) He wasn't a random guy, but a friend of our RA, and we brought him along because it was his birthday. He doesn't even like coffee though, so I'm not sure what was up with that.

I'm loving it so far! We haven't had time to get homesick yet (I think that's the goal of all this activity), and the weather is, of course, gorgeous. My "WOW Group" and I went to the home of some TMC alumni with a pool Sunday afternoon, and it was such a perfect day for it. I think I got a little burnt though. Oh well...Audrey's expecting me to come home with a tan, so a little sun won't hurt anything.

Oh! In addition to my ghetto home and picking up random guys, I am now the proud owner of a teal Vanagon!

Well, not really, but as we were coming home from church in it, I told the guy (who's from WA, by the way) about my dad's intense dislike for Volkswagen vans. I think my dad's actual words were "I will disown you if you get one of those." I promise I won't buy it Dad, even though it IS pretty awesome. Today (Monday) we decorated it and then drove around Santa Clarita on a photo scavenger hunt. It was tons of fun! I'm beginning to feel less lost and confused and more confident. This morning, only through God's grace, I got up the courage to eat breakfast with two total strangers! You begin to realize that everyone is wishing someone would come up and talk to them, and sometimes I just have to be the one to initiate conversation. if you know me, you know how difficult that is.

I love and miss you all! I pray that God will keep you safe, and keep me resting in the truth of His eternal presence. I close with a photo of my beautiful dorm room...any guys reading this ought to feel privileged, because the sight of a member of the opposite sex's room is indeed a rare privilege! (Oh dear, I still can't figure out how to post it at the end. Oh well, you'll forgive me, right?)

P.S. Caleb B, you made me cry. Don't do that, OK? :-)