What? English? in Philadelphia?

Today we were introduced to the School District of Philadelphia, or SDP. We watched a documentary about six students going through their final two years, trying to make it in to college. In the end, only two got into community colleges, one ended up in jail, and another ended up pregnant.

It reminded me of my kids. It’s weird to not be in Milwaukee this summer, teaching my kids and living in the mission. It’s weird because this is the shortest amount of time I will be teaching in the summer, and it may end up being one of my smallest classes ever also. I don’t want to get over-confident though, and I feel that I need a solid dose of humility.

On the topic of Milwaukee, it’s really funny, but all of us from Wisconsin, whenever we get together, instantaneously begin to reminisce about the state, the city, and everything wisconsin. There are 5 of us from metro milwaukee, 1 from Eau Claire, 1 that went to Marquette, and 1 that went to Madison. We all miss it, too. Which is ironic, because I don’t think any of us would have said in High School that we would. Funny how that works…

 But, Institute begins in t-minus 2 days. And to be honest, I’m ready to get going.

So, day one in Penn is in the books. We had a group supper and then learned about what to expect tomorrow with job interviews. Apparently a lot of the schools that have English vacancies aren’t able to make it tomorrow, so not all of us got interviews. Fortunately, I have one job interview tomorrow, at 3:30 p.m.

I went to a church today called Spirit and Truth Fellowship. It’s located in North Philly, about 3 miles from where Shane Claiborne is. I read about it in the book, The New Conspirators, so I decided to check it out. It’s a really cool multi-racial congregation, and I really liked it. But, funny story:

 According to the website, the church has two services, one at 8:30 and one at 11:30. Since I had to check out of my hotel room by 1:00 p.m., I decided to check out the 8:30 service. I woke up at 7:10, showered, packed, moved all my stuff to storage, checked out of my room, and hopped on a bus, all by 8:03 a.m. This for me is an accomplishment. I get to the church around 8:20 a.m., and all the doors are locked. I have no idea what is going on, until a man, named Jose, appears to unlock the church. It turns out that they switched to a summer service, and start at 10:00 a.m. He was getting their early to set up the church service. I showed up an hour and a half early for my first church service!

 Lastly, I realized today how happy I am, just to be here right now. I know the next six weeks are going to be brutal, but I’m authentically happy to be in Philly, to do TFA, even to teach English. It’s good to be home.

I have officially been in Phily for over 36 hours right now. I spent today wandering around my new home, specifically between 15th and 5th on Market. Today I visited Independence Hall, and then went to the Constitution Museum, which was sweet. They had a room that had life-like statues of all of the Framers, and (Nerd Patrol) I almost cried. It was really cool. Additionally, they had a cool presentation about how the Constitution shaped our culture, and they have a really neat area with different exhibits about our Constitution. It was definitely worth the $12.

 One of the really suprising things for me was the number of homeless people I see. They seem to be everywhere in the city. I saw two to three on every block that I walked down today. It was definitely eye-opening.

 One of the people I met at my Sojourners conference told me a story. He worked in Philly for a year, and said that after September 11th, one of his friends commented that she was scared that something would happen in the city. But then, he said, “she looked around, and said “but then I realized that we had already been bombed, and no one was paying attention.” I’m beginning to understand what they meant.

Also, on the topic of creepy. At the end of my Sojourners Conference last week, as I was walking out of my hotel, I saw the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The headline was “Aspiring Teacher Killed.” It turns out that a 23 year old man from Austen, Minnesota had moved to Philly to become a teacher through the Philadelphia Teachers Fellowship, a program similar to TFA. He was shot and killed, police now believe, for his I-Pod. Now, as a soon to be 23 year old who went to college 90 minutes from Austen and is here with TFA, it was kind of a combination wake-up call and reality check. It was weird, and a reminder that but for the grace of God…

 Interviews on Monday. Induction on Tuesday. Institute in one week. TFA, here I come.

I am currently chilling with my friend Sarah in New York City. It’s been a blast, as we have covered a good portion (in my mind) of the city. Today I got to see the Statue of Liberty for the first time, which was pretty neat.

 I hit a major milestone yesterday, as I watched the last of my TFA training videos. Now I just need to finish off my pre-institute writings and I will be good to go. Also, I got my information for the Job interviews next Monday. Looks like I will need to buy a blazer between then and now.

I think travelling has been a great way to prepare me for living out here. When I was at the Sojourners conference, I got really homesick for some reason. Since then I’ve been able to sit down, look myself in the mirror, and realize that there is no turning back. I’m out here for good or ill, and I have to embrace that fact.

Only 3 days until I move to Philly.

So, today was my first day in Washington D.C. I got to the conference location around 5:00 p.m., and decided that I would use the time to tour my favorite spots in WDC. I ended up connecting with a new friend, Katie, and we wandered the city, hitting all the major landmarks. The pictures can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2138304&id=59500437

I’ll be departing Mitchell International in 9 and a half hours and arriving in Washington, D.C. in 13. I’ll be in NYC in 4 Days and Philly in 8. Institute begins in 18 days.

 Oddly, I can’t sleep tonight.

 I always get nervous before I travel. I remember before a trip my sophomore year of high school I started dry-heaving in the bathroom before I hopped on a plane. It isn’t a good quality, it really isn’t, but for some reason it always gets to me. There are so many little things that can go wrong, and there’s a lot of vulnerability in travel. You find yourself in a city you don’t know, trusting that this train or that bus will be on time. Also, with two suitcases, a carry-on, and a “laptop” bag, I feel like I am a sick zebra on the serengetti, an obvious target.

However, the travel blogging, including pictures from locations I get to, begins tomorrow. That will be fun!

I was reading on Andrew Sullivan’s blog today and noticed this quote about the primaries that we just completed and the Obama campaign:

Tomorrow I will go to the African American cemetery outside of Chicago where my great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and my mother and father are buried. And I will tell them that they were right — that if we studied hard, worked hard, kept the faith, fought for justice, prayed, that this day would come.

And it has.

In other news, I’m over halfway through my institute materials, which feels good. I’ve even been able to sneak in some other readings from time to time, a rare occurrence. I’m currently working my way through Why We Aren’t Emergent, a book by a couple of thirty-something evangelicals about the issues that they have with the emergent church, as well as Schools of Conversion: 12 Marks of Neo-Monasticism and Beyond Racial Gridlock.

In other news, my tour of the East Coast is coming up soon. In 9 days I’ll be in DC, and 20 until Philly.