I can't believe that I have been too busy to blog this past week! I will try and summarize the past 5 days as best I can:
Wednesday Oct. 12
It was Patricia's (my roommate) birthday!! Julia slept in after a late night of listening to karaoke so Patricia and I went to school as normal. School seemed to go by pretty fast from what I remember. Once school was over, we headed back to the apartment so we could get ready to go out to eat for her birthday. Julia had gone shopping during the day and bought herself a pretty dress (although she might not admit it) to wear that night! The four of us went to a sushi restaurant in downtown Hollywood. I had not had completely raw fish before but I was hungry and feeling adventurous. Amanda and I split a dinner that had raw salmon, tuna, and snapper and it really was pretty good. It did not taste slimy or fishy at all. Julia and Patricia got some really good rolls and we all split. Oh, Amanda also insisted that we try sake and I will just tell you that it is not my cup of tea. After we finished eating, Amanda snuck back to the bathroom to pull Patricia's cupcake out and light the candle. She came back with it lit and we all sang her "Happy Birthday". The ladies that worked at the restaurant even gave us free dessert since it was her birthday. They also gave her some cookies to take back with us! After we left there, we walked down to an art circle that was the center of a roundabout not too far. It had some neat art in it as well as a drum circle that we listened to. We took some pictures together down there and then decided to walk to a Spanish place that Amanda had mentioned before. We walked all the way to the other end of the street and realized it was not open that night. Another time. The four of us walked around a little more but eventually decided that we wanted some sleep that night so we headed back to go to bed.
Thurs. Oct. 13
Julia decided to stay back from school again and finish up some souvenir shopping that she had forgotten about the night before. At school, my students had an assembly to start selling chocolate as a fundraiser for the school. I did not realize it was such a big deal until that assembly. The students were all sorts of excited. School went by fairly quickly that day and I wished it hadn't because I had to drive Julia to the airport after school. Patricia and I got back from school and I hopped into my car so Julia could get to the airport on time. I drove her there with plenty of time to spare. We gave each other big hugs and then she headed to go check in. I was very sad to see her go home and part of me wished I could have gone with her but Thanksgiving is just around the corner. When I got back to the apartment, I caught up on all the things I had put off during the week. I also had to pack because I was going to Orlando for the weekend.
Fri. Oct. 14
School started off with Mass which was what I needed. I had a student asking me why I went up for Communion and told me he wanted to do that as well. As briefly and quietly as I could during Mass, I explained to him what I was receiving and that he could do that when he was in third grade. After Mass, the day just went by. The students had their normal tests and all the specials that they do on Friday. My class is going to pen pals with a second grade class at St. Elizabeth (where I went to school) and I am very excited for it! I am actually working with my old 1st grade teacher to make this work and I'm so grateful she said 'yes' to this idea. My class started writing a few sentences of their letter that day. They cannot quite wrap their head around the concept yet which makes me laugh but eventually they will understand why we write letters. With yet another quick afternoon, school was over. I had not finished packing the night before so I had to do some quick packing for the weekend. Finally, I hit the road to pick Amanda up from service in Ft. Lauderdale and we headed to Orlando. We got into the city around 8:30 and once I dropped Amanda off at her friend's, I headed to the volunteer's apartment that I was staying at. We were both pretty exhausted and fell asleep pretty shortly after I arrived.
Sat. Oct. 15
I think I slept almost 11 hours that night because I was so worn out from the week. I did a little bit of grading before I finally got around. Nicole, the volunteer I was staying with, and her sister had wanted to go shopping so I finished getting ready and then we headed out for a little bit. Myself and three other volunteers were helping at a benefit dinner for an assisted living residence for the mentally handicap so I had to finish getting ready once we got back. I even straightened my hair! Candace, a volunteer that lives in Tampa, and I finished getting ready and before we knew it, it was time to head to the dinner. We met the other two there at the hotel where the event was being held. For the rest of the night, we were in charge of the silent auction, live auction, and making sure the high schoolers that were helping stayed on task. It was a lot of fun to interact with all the different people that had come out for the event. Some were on the board for Bishop Grady, others lived at Bishop Grady, and some were parents of the residents. After the silent auction was over, they let us join everyone else for the dinner so we got to eat well that night! After a delicious dinner and little wine, we had to help out with the live auction. They had five different items up for bid, one of them including a dinner cooked by the bishop and three other priests in the diocese. This dinner ended up being the highest sold item at over $6,000 and they sold two of them because two people kept bidding! $12,000 for dinner with the bishop!! Bishop Grady will greatly benefit from that money though. They had a dance after the auction was over so naturally, we all went to dance and have some more fun. After all the dancing, we were exhausted but not ready to be done for the night. It was only 10 PM so we walked to a sports bar not too far away and hung out there for a little while with a few people we had met that night. Nich, the volunteer that serves at Bishop Grady, lives with two CVIF alumni, one of which now works at Bishop Grady, so we stayed with them the rest of the night. We went back to Nich's, Kieran's, and Michael's apartment after awhile and discovered that those boys have some great rapping skills. So great that they were playing a rapping game on the X-Box til 4 in the morning!! Needless to say I was definitely sleepy and ready to get some shuteye. We finally headed back to Nicole's apartment and got to sleep very fast.
Sun. Oct. 16
Finally I'm all caught up! Today I woke up and realized that I had a lot to do, including drive back to Hollywood so I packed my things, drove Candace to her car, and went to pick Amanda up to head back. We got back here a little after 4. I sat and relaxed for a little bit and then got ready for Mass. It had been pouring since we got to Ft. Lauderdale and was starting to flood the streets. Lots of water everywhere! I was able to arrive at Mass early and just sit for awhile and think about everything that has happened in my life lately which was nice. I like being able to reflect and just have not given myself the time to do that. I went to a church that I have been to before but am not particularly fond of. The homily didn't really speak to me but I wanted to be in Mass and just spending time with God so that's all I really cared about. After Mass, I haven't really done much else. I still have lessons to write and unpacking to do but the baseball game is on so....I have to make sure St. Louis makes it to the World Series! This Thursday we have a retreat up in Fruitland Park which is north of Orlando with all the volunteers so I have to get lots done before that sneaks up on me.
I will try to live a less exciting life so I'm not slacking on writing on here anymore but I wish everyone a great start to their week!
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