First Week in California

I'm sitting in my fluffy pink chair with my feet propped up in its matching fluffy pink footrest. I bummed them off a girl who lived across the hall from me in my dorm last semester. She wanted to get rid of it, and I didn't know whether or not I'd need furniture in the near future. I love stumbling upon free stuff like that! It's certainly coming in handy in my new room in Pasadena. I've been here almost a week already, with hardly a spare minute. But now, even though it's very late (1:00 a.m.) I can't not give another update. So much has happened in so little time!

Heather and I moved my stuff into my new home on Saturday afternoon. I live in a house in Pasadena, a city about 20 minutes out of LA. It's an adorable old house with lots of character, and several characters inside as well :) Good characters, though, I must add. The owners rent out the rooms of the house, so there are four other tenants besides my roommate and me. On Saturday night Heather and I headed over to Chino to visit my college friend, Nicole, who graduated last December. We got some In-N-Out for dinner then headed to Santa Monica so Heather could get at least a little time in LA. It was so good to see Nicole again!

On Sunday morning Heather flew out of LAX, barely making her plane. We spent about half an hour driving around the parking garages. It's the craziest airport I've ever been in! Then I returned to my house in Pasadena and met up with my new roommate, Rita. We went shopping for paint for our room and painting one of the walls green. It looks nice 'n fresh and brightens up the already happy room (I say it's happy because it gets lots of natural light from the bay windows, which I LOVE.)

Rita and I are still finishing up settling into our new place. We started work on Tuesday and have remained very busy making it hard to get everything unpacked and put away, but it finally looks like a room now! We are loving it.

On Monday I got to attend a Labor Day picnic on a lake with the church at Exposition Park, where I hung out frequently last summer. It was so good to hang out with people I hadn't seen since last summer, and they've really helped me to feel more comfortable moving out here. I can't believe I get to live near them now!

Then there's Door of Hope... the reason I'm out here :) I've been in training all this week, but I still met several of the kids and moms and even got to do night duty last night (stay overnight at the shelter in case of emergencies... thankfully I had none). I can already see how this is going to be an extremely challenging, rewarding, and growing experience for me in the coming year. The staff have welcomed me and the other new TechMission worker with open arms. Tomorrow we leave for a weekend staff retreat in Arizona... so my first whole weekend in California won't be in California! It figures :)

That's an overview of my week... I wish I could've made it a little more interesting, but my brain is hardly working at the moment. Yeah, I definitely need to go to bed. But while I'm thinking of it, I wanted to say something about driving, because driving here is an experience all in itself. My car has given me plenty to be concerned about, from nearly losing my breaks in the mountains of Colorado, to overheating at a gas station in San Bernardino, to one of the backseat reading lights refusing to turn off. But amazingly enough, it hasn't left me stranded yet, praise God. He provides, for sure. Unknown to me, while I was fuming about my car not wanting to start at the gas station, a man named Ronnie was on his way to another gas station but felt like he needed to go to the particular one where I was at. He had been a mechanic for over 40 years, and every once in a while would happen upon some poor soul who had broken down and needed his skills, and he was grateful to God for such opportunities to help. This particular day he happened upon me, and I know God sent him to me. It was pretty cool.

We'll see how long my luck lasts with my car. I take a wrong exit and get lost almost every single time I venture somewhere new. There's just too many roads! I'm learning lots of new stuff about driving/parking/pedestrians. Yesterday as I was leaving Door of Hope, I had to cross an intersection to get to my car on the other side of the street. It was a four-way stop with no lights, and I had no idea that pedestrians have the right-of-way. So I waited for like three whole minutes as cars kept passing, until finally someone honked at me, and I figured out that I was supposed to just cross. I felt pretty silly. I wonder if I'll ever get used to being honked at, because that happens almost every day, too. Either California drivers are very friendly or they hate me. It's a miracle I haven't wrecked yet, because I seem to be good at driving down one-way streets, pulling out in front of people at the wrong time... it's just hard because sometimes you just HAVE to! How am I supposed to know?! Besides, there's just too many vehicles! Grrrr!!