We went to play trivia at a local pub tonight. I felt more home tonight than I have since we've been here. We used to play trivia at least once a week in LaGrange. We didn't even come close to winning, but we did enjoy playing (btw, Jaroth the Goblin King was our team name for the night. 2 points for you if you know the reference).
Tomorrow I'll have my first full day of work at the Church where I'm going to start working out the plan for starting a college ministry. I'm so excited to start planning and designing and searching out God's will for GWU and The United Church.
Derek has an introductory interview today for an internship. He interviewed with the intern coordinator today and he'll be recommended to different department heads based on his skills and he'll have a second interview sometime soon. He's so ready to get this internship set up.
In other news, our new toilet is being installed right now (praise God!) and I am typing this post on my brand new netbook. It's so tiny and cute! I'm still getting used to the smaller keyboard, but it's going to be great for lugging around the city since it's only 2.5 lbs! This and the new Sharpie pens I bought made me super excited for school.
Thanks for all your support with the whole apartment issue. It's nice to have a place to vent to everyone I'd probably tell anyway without having to repeat it a million times.
Well, it's off to play with the new computer some more and think of a super awesome 2 word team name for trivia next week (there's a prize for the best one). Suggestions are welcome!
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Crash and Burn
Sorry if you've called and I haven't called you back. Or if you've wished me well on Facebook or Twitter and I haven't responded. I've been a bit preoccupied. I think the best way you could describe our move, the move I was sooooo excited about, is nightmare.
I promise you, this is the short version of the story:
We were supposed to move into our basement apartment last Saturday. 3 hours before we were supposed to pull up to our new house, we got a call from the homeowners saying it wasn't ready yet. So, we gave them another day and assumed everything would be ready when we arrived on Sunday. We spent money on a hotel. We stressed out our dogs. It wasn't ready Sunday either, but we moved in anyway. None of the baseboards were down, switches and outlets weren't covered, the stove didn't work, we had no cable or internet (even though they had it upstairs)the closet wasn't finished, there were holes in the ceiling, etc, etc, etc. Since moving in, we've found out that the washer and dryer were faulty, the plumbing was all screwed up and consequently our bathroom and kitchen flooded, the stove finally got hooked up only to find out that the reason it had been unhooked in the first place is that one of the burners is stuck to "on" and could kill us at any moment. One week after moving in, the stove still doesn't work, some of the baseboards still aren't down, there's now water under the floor in our kitchen, and right this moment we don't have a toilet. The toilet problem should be fixed tonight though.
It's been rough. If we had anywhere else to go we probably would have. I've cried quite a bit and it's certainly been stressful. Things are starting to improve but we're already counting down the months until we can move.
The only thing that has been really good is that I started work this Wednesday at The United Church, where I am the Minister to College Students and Young Adults. I get to build a college ministry from scratch which is both exciting and daunting. But the church has been incredible in the few days I've been working there. They've really embraced Derek and I and we're glad to have that connection here in this big, strange city.
We like life in DC so far though. There's so much to do and see which is always exciting. We know if we can get all of the issues with our apartment taken care of, we'll really enjoy living here.
I'll be in contact quite a bit more from now on... at least I'll try. Don't forget about me far away friends.
I promise you, this is the short version of the story:
We were supposed to move into our basement apartment last Saturday. 3 hours before we were supposed to pull up to our new house, we got a call from the homeowners saying it wasn't ready yet. So, we gave them another day and assumed everything would be ready when we arrived on Sunday. We spent money on a hotel. We stressed out our dogs. It wasn't ready Sunday either, but we moved in anyway. None of the baseboards were down, switches and outlets weren't covered, the stove didn't work, we had no cable or internet (even though they had it upstairs)the closet wasn't finished, there were holes in the ceiling, etc, etc, etc. Since moving in, we've found out that the washer and dryer were faulty, the plumbing was all screwed up and consequently our bathroom and kitchen flooded, the stove finally got hooked up only to find out that the reason it had been unhooked in the first place is that one of the burners is stuck to "on" and could kill us at any moment. One week after moving in, the stove still doesn't work, some of the baseboards still aren't down, there's now water under the floor in our kitchen, and right this moment we don't have a toilet. The toilet problem should be fixed tonight though.
It's been rough. If we had anywhere else to go we probably would have. I've cried quite a bit and it's certainly been stressful. Things are starting to improve but we're already counting down the months until we can move.
The only thing that has been really good is that I started work this Wednesday at The United Church, where I am the Minister to College Students and Young Adults. I get to build a college ministry from scratch which is both exciting and daunting. But the church has been incredible in the few days I've been working there. They've really embraced Derek and I and we're glad to have that connection here in this big, strange city.
We like life in DC so far though. There's so much to do and see which is always exciting. We know if we can get all of the issues with our apartment taken care of, we'll really enjoy living here.
I'll be in contact quite a bit more from now on... at least I'll try. Don't forget about me far away friends.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Imminent
Friday morning we will load everything we own into a U-Haul trailer. By Friday evening we'll be more than half way to our new home. Dogs in tow, Derek, my mom, my step-dad and I will start the drive that starts the new chapter in our lives.
This whole thing is a little hard to process. I'm excited, but I'm also so nervous. I'm a little scared. I am very anxious. On one hand, I get to do so many things I've always wanted to. I get to live in a city with a million things to do and see! I get to ride the Metro everyday. I get to live in a city that is full of cultural diversity. I get to go back to school and get a Master's degree. But I'll also be 12 hours away from everything and everyone that I'm familiar with. I'll probably get lost a lot. I'm scared we won't have any friends.
The next few days will be an emotional roller coaster for me. My natural instinct is to avoid situations like this. Normally, I just wouldn't think about the fact that this is the last time I'll see some people for quite some time. But I want to remember this. I want people to know how much I love and appreciate them. I'm not good at letting people know those things but I'm trying to be conscious of it this time.
So, if I haven't told you already, I'll miss you and I love you and I hope we keep in touch. Visit me. I want people to visit. Unless I don't know you and you're some stranger who reads my blog, in which case thank you for reading but please don't come to my house :)
This whole thing is a little hard to process. I'm excited, but I'm also so nervous. I'm a little scared. I am very anxious. On one hand, I get to do so many things I've always wanted to. I get to live in a city with a million things to do and see! I get to ride the Metro everyday. I get to live in a city that is full of cultural diversity. I get to go back to school and get a Master's degree. But I'll also be 12 hours away from everything and everyone that I'm familiar with. I'll probably get lost a lot. I'm scared we won't have any friends.
The next few days will be an emotional roller coaster for me. My natural instinct is to avoid situations like this. Normally, I just wouldn't think about the fact that this is the last time I'll see some people for quite some time. But I want to remember this. I want people to know how much I love and appreciate them. I'm not good at letting people know those things but I'm trying to be conscious of it this time.
So, if I haven't told you already, I'll miss you and I love you and I hope we keep in touch. Visit me. I want people to visit. Unless I don't know you and you're some stranger who reads my blog, in which case thank you for reading but please don't come to my house :)
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