Art Fair

Today Nathan was finished after a short 5 hour shift. After a quick nap we went to the Brookside Art Fair. Brookside is the area that our church is located in. It’s an up and coming neighborhood here of young professionals. It’s really trendy and has some really cool shops. Each year they have an Art Fair. Its several booths lined up under tents that feature artists from all over America. The art is really high end (and very expensive). I saw a glass vase for $3200 . There were sculptors, woodworkers, a lot of jewelers, painters, and several photographers. There were some beautiful pieces but the walkways were so narrow and there were so many people around that you were mainly in a line walking by and window shopping and it took effort to get out of line or get back in, so we managed to see most of the shops in just over an hour. There is also a Plaza Art Fair in the late summer and that one is supposed to be much bigger and easier to walk around in. 

Shhhhhhh...

Although the blog has always been primarily about me (it's like pulling teeth to get Nathan to write - even when we were on Saba) I used to try to write about what was going on with his school, tests, etc. However, being in the hospital is completely different from being in a classroom.

When Nathan first started at the hospital (9 weeks ago) he would tell me lots of stories of what was happening, but as time has passed (and with his friend Billy being here) he has started limiting the stories he tells. It's not because I'm not interested or that he doesn't want to share, but because their is strict confidentiality at the hospital. When I did my volunteer training, I learned alot about the policies of Saint Luke's and I think we both really conscious of what is private and what is home.

On top of that, Nathan sometimes notices that he is at a disadvantage being an Internation Student and wants to make sure he toes the line wherever he can. Not that Nathan ever struggles with that, but neither one of us wants to mess up, which is why there's never any hospital stories on the blog, and since he deals with patients all day, that's the only stories I'd have to tell (for him).

I've had several people say, "why don't you work for cash under the table?" but it's along the same long as the hospital privacy. I don't want a one mistake to not allow me back to the US, or limit Nathan is getting a job later on. We have no idea where we'll end up and we're both trying to be very careful to keep our noses clean so that when the time comes, we have options.

Nathan is doing really well in the hospital. He still leaves at 6am and returns about 12 hours later, exhausted but happy. He's really flourishing being around people, problem solving, and helping others.  He's received some great feedback from his superiors and is really enjoying the hospital. He's made great connections with patients and is learning alot. Even when he's exhausted and stressed, he always talks about how muchhe loves learning and all the oppurtunities that have come with this eduation and how lucky he is to be this amazing hospital. I'm so proud of him for working so hard (for us), and he's getting better everyday.

New Rug

Our apartment here in KC is all wood floors and we have a rug in our "living room" but I wanted one for the front door. My friend Ashley sent me a website (www.stumbleupon.com) that is a great way to find new craft sites. I saw a picture of a crocheted rug and decided to try it out. I went to Maj-R- Thrift and found a 2 metre piece of brand new fabric (still had the Joanne's tag on it), ripped it into 1 1/2 inch strips, then used a large crochet hook and worked in the round until I ran out of material.

Wow, my hands got a workout from trying shifting the weight the thick fabric! I saw another picture online where the crafter used different colour sheets and made a rainbow rug for her kid's room. I absolutely loved it, and if I had somewhere to put it/someone to give it to, that would be my next job. The project only took me a couple hours to do but I really enjoyed it. and it's really easy on the tootsies.

Our church is having a garage sale for the Brookside neighborhood at the end of May and I'm thinking of maybe doing a crafts table, but I'm going to talk to one of the organizers first and see what she thinks.

Small Groups

Tonight we had our first small groups meeting at Ryan and April's house. We're working through Acts in a group of 15. It's comfortable because I've met most of the people already (through of dinner at the Pastor's house or Zumba). It was supposed to last about an hour, but it ended up taking 2, which was fine, the time passed quickly and it was worth it, but I get so stressed over time when I know that Nathan needs to be at home studying. Again, I know it's a good place to be, but it's better when we can accurately budget time.

A few of the girls are getting together on Friday morning (at 4am) to watch the Royal wedding and they invited me to come. I'nm debating whether I want to go, since I could just watch it at home in my PJ's and not stress about how Nathan will get to work. He said he would go in early so that I wouldn't have to worry about it, but I can't reason putting him out professionally for me recreationally. But we'll see....I'm excited to see Kate's dress!...oops..I mean Catherine's dress.

A Week In Review

I'm been absent for a whole week of blogging so I decided to put a week into one post.

TUESDAY
I met up with a woman from the church at her house (about 10 minutes from my house). Christa is a wonderful mother of 2 who's husband is one of the pastor's in the church. She's early 30's and really easy to talk to/relate to. It was a little uncomfortable at first because I didn't know how much our senior pastor (who set up our friend-date) had told her about the last few months, but once she told me that she knew about Michael, I could open up and be free to talk. I just think a first meeting is early to bring up such heavy material, and I know I get uncomfortable when new friends tell me their dark secrets, horrible tragedies, or personal conflicts on the first hang-out. But I think that she was a pastor's wife helped me be honest and we both had a good afternoon cry. on my drivehome, I kept thinking, I can't believe I just told a stranger so much of my intimate thoughts and cried in her kitchen on a rainy Missouri day. How did I get here?

WEDNESDAY
Today after volunteering I stopped into Walmart to get a few things and when I came out, there were several police cars parked outside. The officers were arresting 5 men who were drunkenly fighting in the parking lot. It was 1pm.

THURSDAY
Today I had my knitting group. I got there a few minutes early and no one was there so I decided to run across the street to mail a letter while I waited. When I walked toward the post office, 3 homeless men blocked my way into building and asked me for money. I never give money to the homeless but I felt intimidated because they blocke dmy way and I felt a littel surrounded. They didn't threaten me, but they were aggressive with insisting I give them money. I brushed it off that I had errands and pushed through to mail my letter. When I came out, as soon as I stepped onto the sidewalk, they were on me again. I felt really uncomfortable, so I grabbed a dollar from my coat pocket to make them leave me alone. I gave one the dollar and turned to escape when 2 business from the area (they identified themselves) began harrassing me that it was my fault that the homeless where begging because people "like me" supported them and that I was ruining their businesses by giving them money.  The homeless men heard what the business owners were saying and a mild confrontation started, with me standing between the two groups, growing more weary by the second. They were both trying to talk to me, while at the same time insulting the other group. I was really uncomfortable and told the owners that I felt intimidated and that's why I gave money, "well, then you should call the police, not give them money." He said. So I told him that he was making me just as uncomfortable as the homesless men were (that shut him up) so I quickly raced across the street and into the library. I was really shaky for the next couple hours but I know it was nothing, it just scared me a bit (homelessness is a big problem in KC).
Knitting class was small and it was nice to get to know the 5 women,who were there, a little better. Nan, one of the women who lives 2 streets away from me, even baked easter cupcakes for us. It was a small group because several of the women were travelling to visit their families for the holiday.

FRIDAY
Today was a busy day of volunteering. There weren't many of us and there were alot of jobs so at a few points I was alternating between 3 jobs. But I like being busy so it was good. Plus, when the other volunteers heard about my post office story from the day before I became a celebrity. They wanted every detail and kept encouraging me to report it to the police. Older people LOVE stories like that and I liked being the center of their attention, we had a good chat out of it.
The highlight of today was when I went to the cafeteria and as I turned the corner to sit in my spot, Nathan was there with his med-buddies! I always have to eat alone and not only did I get company but I was able to have lunch with Nathan since his noon-hour conference was cancelled.

SATURDAY
Today I went to Zumba at the church. Louisa, a chemist and super smarty pants (she's also super nice) runs the class at 11am every Sunday. I did Zumba on Saba and while this was similar, there were a few major changes. For example, instead of the typical latin/caribbean/pop dance music, she used all praise music. Also, we ended the class in prayer. It didn't make a difference to the workout, and  I was glad to be in a small group with some of the women of the church so that I could get to know them better.

When I got home there were flowers delivered to the apartment. My parents sent tulips and they look and smell amazing! I love having fresh flowers in the house and tulips are my favourite. It was a sweet surprise.

SUNDAY
After an amazing church service - our pastor's father (who is a former pastor) lead prayer, we came home and I began to prepare for our 4 guests (Billy, Lisa, Luke, and Lauren). I decided that I wanted to have a big Easter dinner. We haven't had people over yet, and even though it was BYOC (bring your own chair) I wanted to make sure we all had a good meal since we're all away from our families.
Billy had mentioned on Friday that he hadn't had pierogies since he was last in Edmonton, so I decided to buy him some for today. But I couldn't find them anywhere! So I make some from scratch and they were amazing!  And so easy (but a little time consuming). Everyone arrived at 5pm and the party didn't end until 10pm. Billy and Lisa left at 9pm but Luke and Lauren stuck around. The six of us are a really relaxed group, and even though we're all so different, we're the perfect dinner party mix so today was a big success. We all went home very full.

(Pastor John Mark took this picture of the Sunday congregation - Nathan is right in the middle, to the right of the head of the man in the stripped shirt)

Figuring it Out

I really like taking a pattern from the internet and trying to copy it (since most sites charge for their patterns). And they're usually simple patterns that just take a little creativitiy to figure out. I saw a few John Deere patterns but none that really stood out or ones that could be copied on a small scale, but I made this simple hat today and thought it looked pretty good considering it was so easy.

Relaxing Sunday

Last night, Nathan and the other men at dinner decided they wanted to meet in the park today, so Nathan got up early and did his assignment so that he wouldn't be rushed later. But Saturday night's plan didn't work come Sunday morning. Nathan had already finished his assignment and had a few hours free so we went to Loose Park to walk around for a couple of hours. the park is on the way to church and it's huge! It has a sidewalk that runs around the perimeter and it was a long walk but it wasn't overly hot today so it was relaxing. It was good to catch up with Nathan and we had fun exploring.

 

Dinner Date(s)

Tonight, our pastor (John Mark) and his wife (Jill) set up a young poeple dinner party for us at their house. There were 4 couples, plus 2 sisters, and 2 kids. So there was a full table! Jill made us dinner and it was a great night to sit and chat and get to know some of the couples in our church better. Most churches have time to shake hands and greet each other, Wornall goes one step further and has a 5 minute meet time during every service, and while that helps to get people introduced, it doesn't give much time to see compatibility, make a friend, get a number, make a plan to meet, etc. So, this was a great night for us. We got to talk about backgrounds, careers, families, it was great to go into depth with these amazing people. We're so thankful that Jill and John Mark set it up.

John Mark had just returned from Quebec (he lived there as a church planter several years ago) to visit some friends (other pastors). He spends alot of time in Quebec and brought back this flag for his house. It was strange to pull up to the house and see the flag, then to park our car with its Ontario liscense plates in the driveway. Of course, we had the Habs and Bruins game on in the background of dinner :)


We've been on a dinner party roll lately. I forgot to mention that last week we went to Lauren and Luke's house (with Billy and Lisa) for a BBQ. Luke just completed his clinical rotations and is heading to Virginia to do his residency in internal medicine. I think I mentioned it before, but Luke and Lauren were the first people we met when we arrived on Saba. Lauren was the SOS president and was at our apartment the night we got off the ferry to drop off a welcome basket for us. Now they live around the corner, and we were at their place having dinner. I know we're in the same medical school sphere but it's so nice when we keep running into people so far from home.

Volunteer Week

This week was volunteer appreciation week at the hospital, so when I volunteered on Wednesday there was a yogurt bar (great for me since I love yogurt) and today we had Ben and Jerry's ice cream delivered! I've been doing more office work and computer work during my volunteer hours, rather than the paper work or repetitive jobs that are also available. It's harder and definitely feels more like work than volunteering but I enjoy it more so it's a good compromise.

Comebacks

Today I volunteered at the hospital (after my week's vacation). I spent the early morning working on a mass-mailing with another volunteer and then went back to the Endocrinology unit. I'm starting to understand the Endo. office better so work is getting easier and faster, which is great, I feel like I'm "getting it".

I even ran into Nathan on my way into the hospital - first time! We didn't have much to say to each other but it was still nice to see him at work.

While I was working on the mailing list, one of the volunteers asked me, "so what did you do while your parents were here?" I listed off many of our adventures and then she interrupted me, "I only ask because I have a friend coming that I want to show the sights." whew...that was close...I thought you almost interested in me for a second.

After work, I went a couple streets over to mail a baby gift to my friend Becky. When I had to fill out the customers form, it asks for item type and value. I asked the teller, "What should I write for value if it's something I knit?" "Write zero." pffft.....how 'bout I write priceless. 

Do you ever have days where you're laughing in your head about all the things you want to say to people? Like how good it feels when you're in traffic or behind a bad driver and you roll up your windows and yell at them like a complete maniac? That's how I felt today.

Nathan was finished work by 4pm today and we went for a walk around our neighborhood - something we never get to do. The sun was shining, the tulips are blooming, it was such a nice date. I felt so much better after I was able to tell him about my funny day, he's such a good listener!

Cute and Funny

I finally finsihed my present for my friend who's due in a few weeks. I'm happy she's having a girl, because making girl stuff is so much mroe fun than making boy stuff. It's just not as cute. It took me awhile to finish the girft because I got sidetracked by a new, very exciting craft (hint** May 25th) that took most of my attention away. But I managed to get back on track so that I can send it out tomorrow.

I was cleaning out my purse/candy wrapper holder today (Nathan is vocal that I must keep all my receipts) and I found this penny. I "made"it while my parents and I were at the Harley factory. The machine let you crank a penny flat with the logo and I wanted to do it. I asked my mom for the 2 quarters and penny it required. I did it and showed her and started to walk away. "Aren't you going to do the same with the quarters?" I told her that I didn't get to flatten the quarters, it cost $.50 to make the penny. She looked shocked that I would take her quarters for such a silly game. I love her.

Support XOXO

When my parents came to visit they brought a stack of cards that came in the mail for us after we left. They sat on our table for awhile because Nathan and I both knew that although they would make us feel supported, that it would also be a time of great sadness. We finally mustered the strength and began reading the cards. Yes, the tears were flowing, but it was a good release. We haven't grieved together like that since the week he died. I think it was healthy and good for us both. Today, I was reading the cards again...and letting myself have a good cry... when I decided I wanted to put the cards up to have a visual reminder of the love and support we have back home. Sometimes it's easy to think that we're alone or that people have forgotten/moved on. We recieved two very special letters with the cards, the first from Nathan's aunt, Renee, who has 5 children and offered alot to our situation, and Margo, a woman in Martin and Marlene's church, who's letter was felt so deeply by us. Her experience so closely mirrored ours (and our feelings, even after many years for her and her husband) and it left Nathan and I both exhausted state. All the cards are so beautiful and the simplest sentiments touch our hearts.

Thanks again.

Parent's Visit

This week (Monday-Friday) my parents drove down to Kansas City for a visit. I know that it was really hard for my parents to try to support me (and for me to support them) when we're so far apart, yet right now we all need each other so much. I was really happy to see them, and since it's been 3 weeks since my last visitor, their arrival time was perfect.

Ahhh...what didn't we do this week? My dad acted as patient chaffeur for my mom and I seeing as much as we could fit in during 5 short days. We managed to eat at both KC's best burger (Flea Market Burgers) and BBQ (Jack Stack's) places both of which we delicious as always. We were lucky that Nathan was able to have dinner with us each night, I know my parents appreciated that he took the time out for them.

We did a ton of shopping. No one bought much, but it was fun to go to the outlet mall - Legends at Village West. It wasn't as spectacular as it was hyped to be, but still a good trip. We also went to several plazas and my mom was able to visit her favourite USA store - Kohl's.

We also managed to sneak in some Dad-friendly activities as well. On Wednesday we went to an afternoon game for the Kansas City Royals. It was the only insanely hot day of the week. We were in t-shirts and we were so hot! We all manged to get some sun too (my shoulders a little too much!) The game was amazing.It was so much fun and very relaxing, even though I started to get fidgety after the 3rd extra inning. We debated about even going to a game, but I'm so happy we did, it was the highlight of the week.Next time I'll remember to wear blue!

On Friday morning, before my parents left we travelled about 1/2 hour North to the Harley Davidson Factory. It's one of only 4 factories in the US that allows tours. It was an hour long tour and we got to walk through the whole plant and learn alot of how detailed and custom each bike is. Motorcycles scare me and I would never ride one, but were beautiful machines and it was interesting to see the culture even within the workers in the plant - I think the bald heads and goatees were as much a part of the required gear as the steel-toed boots and safety glasses.

After our tour, we headed back to the apartment (which has seemed so small the last week) to pack up. I overpacked when we came here so I had alot of clothes to send home. My parents and I had a final lunch together and they were off. The Gilbert's (family friends) son is playing ina play-off hockey game on Saturday night in Plymouth and they have 2 extra tickets so my parents are going to cap off their vacation with another sports game! I miss them already, and not just because they spoil me rotten and I feel like (and can act like) a little kid when we're here, but because they're a great support and I'm so thankful they were able to make the trip.

Creating Reality

Today I went to the J.C. Nichols fountain located in the Plaza. for the "Create Your Own Reality" event. I found a craft group online and they were having a meeting today at the fountain that invited anyone and everyone to just come and create. I brought my crocheting, others had sewing, needle point, coloring, scrapbooking, dance, and drawing (sidewalk chalk was provided). It put me so out of my element but I was so proud of myself for walking into a group where I knew no one and just made friends. I felt awkward pulling out my yarn an dhooks inthe middle of a public place, but there was no judgement and everyone was really nice. They were all super artsy, but not the stuck up university artsy, but just very open and all about creating "free-space" to be whoever you are. I went at 1pm, thinking I would stay for a bit then head home and wait for Nathan to call me to pick him up. But he called at 1:30pm so I picked him up and brought him to the event.

 One of Nathan's best qualities is that I can take him anywhere and he fits in. And if it isn't a perfect fit, he doesn't sulk, complain, or tug on my hem to go home, he participates and is relaxed in any setting. Today he even picked up some sidewalk chalk, lost his shoes, and started to draw.

At 3pm, we noticed many people walking toward the fountain with pillows, we were then informed that there was a flash mob pillow fight at 3pm. It was so fun to watch, some people were intense! Luckily no one got hurt - well, a few pillows didn't make it out of the mob, but it looked like alot of fun.

 After all the sheningans we walked through the plaza (since we never get an afternoon together to wander and the weather was stellar). We saw a cool drum-line raising money at the intersection right by the fountain, and spent some time checking out the (now-working) fountains, and playing with the animal statues that are set up for Easter!