Tigers, Picasso, and everything in between

Happy New Year! No, I am not two months late. I am talking about the Chinese New Year! Last Sunday was the first day of the Year of the Tiger. To celebrate, I went to the Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown with Sara and two other friends. I posted pics on Facebook. It was fun. There were a ton of people there and some rather interesting floats and costumes. Afterwards, we went to a Chinese gift shop and then ate at a Chinese restaurant. I ate a whole plate of peanut noodles with chopsticks! I was quite excited about my accomplishment; I have never been successful with chopsticks before.

Thursday night for our art event we went to the Art Institute's modern wing. I am not a big fan of modern art, but had an enjoyable time nonetheless. I saw a lot of Picasso's work. I plan on going back to see some of the other art later this week, since it is free all of February.

Last night there was a progressive dinner here at the apartment building. Three apartments made appetizers, three made main dishes, and four made desserts. They had a variety of good food and it was nice not to have to cook. :)

My internship has been going well. Getting up at 5:30 doesn't even phase me anymore. I am working 3 morning shifts a week and one evening shift, so I get some variety. This past week I was able to sit in on a staffing meeting for one of the clients with the case manager, therapist, foster parent, unit supervisor, and DCFS worker. That was interesting. I also got to accompany a couple of clients to appointments around town. This week was a little stressful, too, with some of the kids. They require a lot of patience. While I do enjoy the work and look forward to going in each day, I have not been convinced that this is the kind of work I want to pursue after graduation. I miss working with the elderly. I guess I have only been here for a few weeks, so perhaps I will change my mind in a month. :) It just kind of freaks me out that in <11 weeks I will be a college grad and still don't know what I want to do yet...

I have missed my friends at Dordt a lot this week. It's been hard to connect with the other students here, mainly because of all of our different schedules and interests and stuff. It is easy to get lost in the big city. I am trying to get connected at a small group at Park (the church I am attending) but it hasn't happened yet. I guess that could be something you could pray about.

I get to visit my cousin next weekend! She lives a couple of hours southwest and I get to take the train down there. :) It will be so good to see them all again. I think that is all for now. Until next week...

More Adventures in Chi-town

With TCI training behind me, I am finally working full shifts on the unit with the kids! On Monday and Friday I worked the morning shift (7-3:30). Waking up at 5:30 wasn't as bad as I feared; I almost enjoyed getting up that early (key word: almost); must be my dad's blood in me. The shifts went well; yesterday I was able to spend some 1:1 time with a couple of the kids. Now that I have been around for a couple of weeks and know the routine for the most part, I feel like my role has shifted more from observer to staff, which I am very happy about. In fact, yesterday one of the clients, who was slightly frustrated when I redirected him from what he was not supposed to be doing, commented, "Man, you are starting to sound like a staff!" I took it as a compliment. The kids are great; I am really enjoying getting to know each of them as individuals. I meet with my supervisor weekly to discuss how things are going and what else I would like to do during my time at Rice. One of the things I am doing is focusing on one kid each week, getting to know that particular kid, and doing 1:1 activities with him. I am super excited about this. :)
On Tuesday I had one last day of orientation; this time it was at the main Children's Home + Aid office (CHA is the head organization over Rice). We learned all about the history of the organization, other services that are offered, professional boundaries, and employee benefits. Most of it was rather interesting.
I had my first social work seminar and Values and Vocations classes this week. I have a feeling both with be beneficial, academically and personally. There are 5 other social work majors and an instructor in my social work seminar. Each Monday night we meet to discuss things that are going on at our particular sights, as well as other social-worky (I made up that word) stuff. In the Values and Vocations class we will be discussing the relationship between personal calling and social conscience using "insights from modern psychology, scripture, liberation theology, and the mystical traditions of the world" (quote from syllabus). I look forward to the class readings and discussions.
On Thursday night we had our first art event. Chicago Semester students had the opportunity at the beginning of the semester to sign up and pay a very cheap price for weekly art events, which I did. This week we attended two performances at the Goodman Theatre. They were both one acts on the topic of loss and reflection. I cannot honestly say I enjoyed the event this week, but it was kind of a cool experience.
Last night, one of the CS students won a party at a dueling piano bar called "Howl at the Moon" and invited all of the CS students. It was fun to hang out with the other CS students and enjoy the entertainment, free food, and cheap drinks. I ended my Friday night watching "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" with Sara. I must say, it is quite funny. If you looking for a light, unique movie that is good for both kids and adults, I would recommend it. :)
For the rest of the weekend, I must complete my Learning Contract (contract between me, my supervisor at Rice, and my field instructor on the things I want to do during my internship) and other homework for classes. I hope to do some exploring as well and attend the Chinese New Years Parade in Chinatown tomorrow. :)
Have a great weekend. :)

Week one of February

Each morning as I ride the "el" to work, with my travel coffee cup in one hand and the daily Chicago newspaper --the "Redeye"-- in the other, I find myself feeling very adult-ish. :) It is kind of weird, but I am really enjoying it. :)
All week at work I did the TCI training that I described in my last post. It ended up being rather enjoyable; the instructor and other students managed to make a 30 hour training go by very quickly. Many of the things we learned were a review of things I had learned previously in some of my social work classes (particularly Fundamentals of Social Work... thanks Prof. Olson if you are reading this!) while some were new skills that will come in handy not only in this job, but in other parts of life as well. Basically it was on listening skills, handling conflict and crises, and helping the kids learn coping skills to prevent crisis situations. We also learned a variety of restraints, but I will not be using those skills during my time at Rice since I am just an intern (which I am OK with). All of that said, we had our test on Friday and I passed. :) I am officially TCI certified, which may come in handy for future social work jobs as well as my time at Rice.
I did not have a lot of free time during the week due to the readings we had to do outside of our class times and the journaling I must do after each day of work. I spent most of my evenings at the apartment with my roommate, Sara.
However, yesterday (Saturday), we did get out and explore the city a bit! :) We went down to Millenium Park, saw the "Bean," and did some shopping. I put some of the pictures up on Facebook and will have the rest up as soon as Facebook lets me (it's been weird). We also enjoyed listening to some musicians in the subway. I love riding the "el" (short for "elevated train," though some of the trains also go underground).
This morning I attended Park Community Church, which I think I will be returning to. I enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere, the worship time, and the message, which was both convicting and thought-provoking.
Tomorrow I will have my first 7-3 shift on the unit, which means I will be up around 5:30 AM!! I am sure I will adjust. Coffee is my friend. :D Tomorrow evening I have my first social work seminar, which is a part of the Chicago Semester program. I am excited to get to know the other students in my group.
That's all I have for now.
Have a blessed week! :)

First Week in Chi-town!

What a week it has been! Monday through Wednesday were full of orientation stuff-- meeting other students and the CS staff and having classes on city safety, public transporation, roommates, and internships. Thursday and Friday were my first two days at Rice. :) After a tour of the facility, I learned more about the programs and services offered, met the staff, and spent some time on the unit getting to know the boys. There are 5 units at Rice and I will primarily be working on the unit for 10-13 year old boys. There are 9 boys on the unit. All of the kids have some type of mental illness or severe behavior problems, so I can already tell that this is going to be a challenging internship and that I am going to learn a lot. I am very much looking forward to it and am excited to learn and grow. I already like the kids and the staff I will be working with. Much of my time will be spent directly on the unit with the boys, but I will also be sitting in on group therapy, including art therapy. This coming week I will be taking Therapeutic Crisis Intervention training, which will involve learning about how to de-escalate situations when a kid is having a crisis and how to safely restrain a kid who is out of control. Hopefully it is training that I will not have to use very often.
Yesterday I finally moved into my apartment! :) I am living in a studio apartment in the Gold Coast area with one roommate. It feels good to be settled in and no longer have to live out of a suitcase. The apartment is very cozy; our closet is bigger than our kitchen and our beds fold into the wall! :) I really like where we are at--the CTA and many stores and restaurants are within walking distance and my roommate is great! It is going to be a great semester...

The beginning of a new adventure...

As a senior in high school, I was on my first college campus visit at a strange reformed school in the middle of a cornfield in northwest Iowa. I remember meeting with the head of the social work department and learning all about the program and why I should attend the Dutch school. During the meeting, I asked the man: "Are there any off-campus programs in a big city?" He told me that, in fact, the school does send students to Chicago each semester to learn and work and grow. I told myself at that time that if I chose that school, I would do the Chicago Semester.

Here I am, a little over four years later, laying in my hotel bed in Chicago after my first lond day of orientation for the 2010 spring semester of the Chicago Semester Program! :D I can't believe it is finally here! It seems like it was just a few months ago that I sat in the social work pod for the first time, learning about Dordt; but at the same time, it feels like it was lifetimes ago.

All that said, my first day in Chi-town has been long and fun, full of new people and experiences. My parents drove me here on Sunday because I had some appointments this morning for my internship. Orientation started this afternoon. I have already used the CTA several times, walked down the Magnificent Mile, eaten awesome ethnic food (Middle Eastern--really good!), and been solicited for money. I love the diversity and busyness that I have seen already.

Tomorrow is another big day of orientation stuff. The biggest thing is that we will figure out who we are living with and where. We are currently staying at a hotel and will move into our apartments on Saturday. There are 88 students participating in the program, from 12 different schools (13 students from Dordt). Wednesday we will visit our apartments, sign our leases, and finish up orientation. I start my internship on Thursday! I am very excited!

That is all for now. I will try to keep this thing updated, at least weekly. Love and Prayers.

Yes, an update...

I have recently had a couple of people ask if I was ever going to update my blog again, so I figured it was about time that I did so. It has been a couple of months, after all.

Senior year has been good. I know that seems like such a simple, nondescriptive word for last 3 1/2 months of my life, but it really is the best adjective for it. Good. I have really enjoyed my classes, which are all in the social work/sociology/psychology areas. The workload is not as heavy as last year, and I find the materials to all be quite interesting. One exciting thing in regards to acadamia: I had the opportunity to go to Indianapolis with one of the social work professors and two other students for the North American Association of Christians in Social Work Conference back in October. It was awesome! The workshops were great and very though-provoking. Most of them had to do with integrating faith and the social work profession. I learned a lot about a variety of topics and had a ton of fun.

Another exciting thing happened in October... my brother, who is in the Army and is currently stationed in South Korea, surprised us all with a visit! :) We had no idea he was coming; he literally showed up on the doorstep. He was back for about 2 weeks and spent a few days with me up at Dordt. It was great to see him again. He only has a couple of months left over there, and then he moves to Georgia (the state, not the country). I am just glad he will be on this side of the world again!

The rest of my family is doing well. Not a whole lot new with them. My sister is in high school now. Crazy. Dad still enjoys preaching, driving the bus, and feeding people. Mom somehow puts up with both Hannah and Dad and keeps things in order at home. :) She also continues to homeschool Hannah.

I only have two and half weeks left at Dordt. I can hardly believe it and am not exactly sure how I feel about it. Part of me is very excited. I am really looking forward to Chicago next semester (by the way, I am working at Rice Children's Center, a residential treatment center for children with behavioral and emotional problems... I am so excited!) yet I am also dreading saying goodbye to people. I do not want to leave my roommates or my other friends. And I am really sad about leaving the nursing home that I work at. I love the residents. Plus I have an amazing church home here. Despite the pig smell and the flatness of it, I have somehow come to love Sioux Center. Perhaps I will stay in the Siouxland area after graduation; I am not sure yet. Part of my heart is still in Denver, though, too, and Alaska, for that matter. I have thought about going onto grad school right after Dordt, where I would probably study geriatrics (working with the elderly) but I think I am ready to be done with school for a while. Still waiting for God's leading on that one. For now, I am doing my best to focus on the present, enjoying the time I have left at Dordt and trying to get all of my end-of-the-year projects done. ;)

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, I pray that we are able to continue to count our blessings. We have so many. Love and Prayers.

The Question

I am two days into my senior year at Dordt and I have already begun to hear the question, “Do you know what you want to do when you graduate in May?” To be honest, the idea of looking for a job and leaving Dordt scares me. While I think I am ready to be done with school and begin work, I do not know what I want to do yet. I am not sure what population I want to work with or even which state I will move to.
Here is the biggest issue: I am not sure I want to do “professional” social work. When I began college, I chose social work because I love people and want to serve them. More than anything, I want to live out my faith and share Christ’s love and hope with those who are hurting. I feel like social work is the most practical way I can live out my faith and follow God’s commands to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27) and “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.” (Micah 6:8) (Not that you can’t do those things in other careers; you certainly can. I just felt that this was the field I personally could best live them out.) The very core values of social work fit perfectly with what Scripture call us to: service, social justice, dignity and worth of human beings, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.
That being said, I am terrified of having the “stigma” of being a professional. Next semester, I will be doing the “Professional Semester” in Chicago. Though I am excited about it, I am also not looking forward to it. I don’t necessarily want to act (and dress) like a professional. But more than that, I also do not want the relationships I have with the people I serve to be “I am the professional and you are the client.” So I took four years of college and will have a degree—big whoop. I don’t want people to think I think I am somehow better than them because of that. Of course, I am thankful for the knowledge I have learned and the education I have received, I just am not sure how to use it in a way that does not cause a division between me and the people I work with.
This summer I really learned that what I want to do with my life is incarnational ministry—living among those I serve and being on their level. I remember how some of the family advocates at Joshua Station would talk in frustration about the way some of the social workers acted towards the residents. It seems like many of the social workers viewed the residents more like cases to be handled than beautiful, individual human beings with stories and strengths and families. My biggest fear in social work is that I will begin to see human beings—created in the image of God—as cases to be handled.
If, as a Christian, I am called to “walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6), how do I do that as a professional? Jesus was not a professional in a place of power (though He had immeasurable power as God’s Son); rather, he served and loved the people around Him in a very humble way. He ate with them, got dirty with them, and died with them. He did not have a 9-5 schedule and certain professional boundaries with the people. He did not dress in slacks and nice shirts and make appointments and refer to the people as “cases.” His service and love was a lifestyle, not a career. I guess that is what I am getting at. I don’t want social work to be my career; I want it to be my lifestyle. I do not want it to be a 9-5 job, I want it to be a 24/7 job. I don’t want to be professional; I want to be passionate.
So where will I be in 9 months? Only God knows. What do I want to do when I grow up? Love my God and serve the people He puts in my life. As for the details, I will trust God and wait.