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.