saying goodbye to cubicle MA58: week 10

Goodbye sad, undecorated cubicle!

My final week of my internship felt surreal and also went by so quickly! I had quite a few projects to finish up so I was frantically finishing them, while trying to enjoy the last few days with my Chicago peeps. I worked on a background project about backpack programs for kids, finished up more with the social media audit, wrote a lesson in the gender and hunger toolkit and put some finishing touches on a few other projects I was working on. The interns also were able to have a conversation with Heidi Neumark, the author of the book we all read this summer. It was such an honor to be talking with her and to hear how her ministry has progressed since the writing of Breathing Space. (Quick plug: she has another book coming out this fall...everyone should read it!) Previously I mentioned that I was guest blogging and the first guest blog post came out this week! Read it here. It's about my experience with food and communion as someone with Crohn's disease. What an excellent, full summer! I just wish it would have slowed down a little bit. 

This week was also the ELCA's webcast of Confronting Racism, which was, I think, a good place for the greater Church to start the conversation about racism in our congregations and in the world. It's unfortunate that more of us haven't been talking about it in the past, but I suppose we need to start somewhere. I know that many people tuned in, but I wonder how many people from my congregation, or from Nebraska did.  

Robin brought Dunkin Donuts...
my first ever and now I'm hooked!

look at how huge this pieces of BBQ seitan pizza is!

I got a few dance classes in before my time in Chicago ended. And also did plenty more reading on my commute: Dad is Fat (Jim Gaffigan), Son--Giver Quartet, Book 4 (Lois Lowry) and Queen of the Road: The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own (Doreen Orion). I finished up West Wing (yes, I know both impressive and pathetic) and successfully procrastinated packing up my stuff until the very last second. 

I have much left to say and probably more to learn about my summer in Chicago. This week was one full of reflection (and resume updating!), but suffice it to say that my summer away was exactly what I needed. I'm quite sure I'll be back at some point...ELCA World Hunger can't get rid of me that easily! :) 

Elly's Pancake House: black cherry blintzes

Probably not all that unsurprising, but we celebrated the end of our (the interns) summer by going out to brunch with the whole team! I was gifted with wonderful sparkly things (one thing now decorating my new cubicle!) and a journal that says "Be Awesome" on the front. I will write more about my plans for that journal at another time--the plans are oh-so-grand! 

Furious Spoon: vegetable ramen

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream: milkiest chocolate
and salted caramel sundae

Amtrak thinks it's so fancy with it's freezer dessert
and plastic monogrammed plates. 

The Amtrak ride home itself was pretty uneventful, but I did get to see all of the little towns along the route speed past, which really got me excited to be going home. Getting to my destination was a bit of a predicament because apparently they stopped checking baggage to my destination and I had no idea what to do with my 5 huge bags. (PS a VERY special thank you to Sharon who took me to the Amtrak station! And a bigger thank you to my Mom who drove several hours to come pick me up at a station that does check bags!) I sat next to a girl who thought everyone in Omaha rode horses and it was in the middle of the country. And I stood in line with a boy who thought Nebraskans spoke some sort of Germanic language (I suppose historically he's not all wrong on this one), so I was an impromptu ambassador for the state touting all of it's wonderful qualities!

When I got home I drove all around the state for doctor's appointments and finally to Omaha to move in to my new apartment. The open skies, uninhabited roads, fields upon fields of corn, and small town Nebraska were just what I was hoping for as a "welcome back" from the big city. It's good to be home now and back to school, but I'm so thankful for my summer away.

Highway 30.
Look at how perfect those clouds are!

my how time flies: week 9

Oh, you know, tree stump art

Poop. This summer flew by. I don't know why, but I really wasn't expecting it to go this quickly. I have only one week left of the internship! Work consisted of plenty of meetings, updating information in databases, and doing a social media audit of our social media presence compared to many other organizations. I did an embarrassing amount of Facebook and Twitter stalking of non-profits and other ELCA ministries.

Stan's Donuts: cherry cheese danish donut

ELCA World Hunger gives grants to domestic programs doing anti-hunger work in areas of relief, education, community development, education, and advocacy. One site that was given a hunger grant is actually in Chicago, so the other hunger interns, myself, and two new hunger staff headed there to see what it was all about. The Friendship Center is a food pantry serving 5 large neighborhoods in Chicago. They also have connections to social services and a clothing pantry between their two locations. Our first stop was to unload the truck delivering food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Once unloaded, we organized the food (my dream job!) onto shelves for easier access later that day when the pantry would be open.

Yeah, go ELCA World Hunger Staff!
The Friendship Center

Bryn Mawr Breakfast Club: bread pudding french toast

After that, we headed to brunch (you know I loved that) at a local restaurant. And then we headed to the other location to learn more about the history of the program, their partners, their services, and to get a tour. One of my colleagues actually worked there as an intern last semester, so we got to see the fruits of his grant-writing labor as well.

Outside of work, I attended some musical theater dance classes, took naps, AND went to see the live-taping of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me... at Millennium Park! Turns out we had a record breaking crowd that night. It was a lovely night of colleague bonding, weather enjoyment, and nerding out about news and NPR. We were sure to get refreshments beforehand including a Starfruit smoothie (made with frozen Keifur) and Chicago's own gourmet popcorn from Garrett's. Such a great night!

Garrett's popcorn

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me...!

look at all those people (**nerds**)!

MP is beautiful at night!

The 606. 

 I also had the chance to walk the 606 this weekend. It's an old train line turned into green space. It's 2.7 miles in all and has walking/biking paths and parks and other green spaces. It surprise started raining as soon as I started walking (clearly I need a better weather app on my phone), but I quickly found a poncho and praised Jesus it wasn't hailing/tornado-ing like it apparently was in other parts of Chicago. I needed some sustenance in the middle of my walk, so clearly a stop at an ice cream shop was the answer. Thank you Margie's for helping me get all the way through that long journey...

Books this week were: The New Normal (Ashley Little); If You Have to Cry, Go Outside (Kelly Cutrone); and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling). Of course I continued on with my West Wing watching as well. Just can't get enough of the humor in that show!

Oh hey, surprise rainstorm.
I foiled you, I got a parka and I'm back on my way exploring the 606!

I should probably start figuring out how I'm going to get all of my belongings back to Nebraska next weekend, but that really sounds like a problem for Friday night (I leave Saturday afternoon!).

there are awesome apartments along the way

remnants from the train line

beautiful greenery

Margie's Candies: hot fudge and raspberry sundae with chocolate chip ice cream

I require sleep (post ELCA Youth Gathering hangover): week 8

Bakin' and Eggs brunch

Once I allowed myself to realize I was tired, boy did I really live-into that tiredness! Much of this week consisted of sleep and watching The West Wing. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I made an embarassing amount of progress on The West Wing this week, mostly because I couldn't pull myself from the supine position to do much of anything else.

We started the week off right with some brunch on Monday morning whilst playing hooky from work (okay...we actually had lots of over-time, but I'd rather think of it as playing hooky...makes me sound cooler). I'm so happy to have had the chance for brunch with Mikka and Gina before Gina left and before I leave in two weeks! Quality time with friends + food? Yeah, I'm down.

Bakin' and Eggs: asparagus frittata, cheesy grits & toast with jam

Bakin' and Eggs: Banana Pecan Bread French Toast

the garden out front is beautiful!

purty 'hood

Other quick highlights include lunch outside at the park on an especially nice day, delivery Thai food (cooking is hard when you're so sleepy!), a trip back the the Mexican bakery, and ice cream at a Chicago classic with a long-time friend, James. This week I read: Sh*t My Kids Ruined: An A-Z Celebration of Kid-Destruction (Julie Brophy), The Encyclopedia of an Extraordinary Life (Amy Krouse Rosenthal), Here if You Need Me (Kate Braestrup), and Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar (Kelly Oxford)--admittedly I gave up on this one and didn't like it much. I also found out this week that I got a cool scholarship for next year, but unfortunately I can't take it because I already have an equally (if not more) awesome grad assistantship. But I still feel pretty honored and excited about the scholarship nonetheless!

Margie's Candies: turtle sundaes with James!

On a sad note, this week we said goodbye to a member of our team (and also to my friend!) Gina. She finished her Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) year and is off to new adventures at her alma mater. I'm so very excited for her, but sad to not see her in the office anymore. The only appropriate sending off clearly had to include ice cream, so I ordered some from eCreamery in Omaha. This was the menu:

• Campfire Companion: S'mores ice cream
• Summer a la Mode: Berry cobbler ice cream (**this was far and away the favorite!)
• Served Best with Sunshine: Strawberry lemonade sorbet
• Summertime + Ice Cream = Love:  Chocolate malt ice cream with chocolate covered malt ball pieces
• Scoops of Thanks: Chocolate cake ice cream with fudge swirls & brownie bits (my favorite!)
• Indulge! You Deserve It!: Sea salt caramel ice cream
• Sweet Appreciation: Peanut butter ice cream with peanut butter cups & fudge swirls
• Delicious Gratitude: Vanilla ice cream with toffee crunch

Needless to say, I've converted some of the World Hunger staff to Nebraska ice cream lovers. Can't wait for everyone to come visit me in Omaha and I'll take them to the real deal! :) 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!

ELCA Youth Gathering: week 7

I planned lunches for our group and 2 dinners.
Green Dot Stables: Black bean & tempeh sliders
I also had mushroom broth soup, truffle & herb french fries,
mac & cheese (for the table), and a PB&J slider.

This week was one of the most exhausting week's of my life. But it also was extremely fun! Hopefully some of the pictures will do a bit of justice to what we experienced each day.

A bit of background first. The ELCA Youth Gathering is a triennial event where ~30,000 ELCA youth, their sponsors and volunteers descend on a city that has experienced some sort of plight. While in the city, the youth do service projects. This year we went to Detroit. The people of Detroit were so welcoming. There are many news articles you can read about how excited they were to have us there. Previous Gatherings I've attended were in New Orleans (youth group sponsor) and San Antonio (youth participant).

We stayed at a swank casino hotel & got
these delicious turn down chocolates each night!

At this Gathering, ELCA World Hunger had a 27,000 sq ft space to turn into a 1/10th mile-long track in just a matter of days. Participants would carry a 5-gallon jerry can filled with water to simulate the experience of walking to access clean water and then carrying it back with you. On average a woman in Sub-Saharan Africa walks 3.7 miles (37 times around the track) each day carrying this amount of water (~40 lbs)--or sometimes more. Along the way, there were obstacles that made sense for one of four stories they could follow on the track. Each of the stories comes from a location where ELCA World Hunger supports water-related projects. We called this the "Walk for Water.

Inside the track, we had two main areas. The first was a donations area. Besides being an educational activity, it also was quite the fundraiser. We had a goal to raise $500,000 in the three days of the event...and there's even a family within the ELCA that agreed to match that money for $1 million raised for water-related projects! We had a screen that showed synod totals (like small regions of ELCA churches) which turned it into a bit of friendly competition. I'm happy to say that Nebraska started the week out in the #1 spot! Amazingly, we raised $402,000 at the ELCA Gathering. Absolutely incredible the power of the church.

The ELCA World Hunger team + Presiding Bishop Eaton
(this is before the chaos ensued on at the start of day 1)
...look at how awesome that photo frame looks!

The other main area inside the track was called "Dive Deeper." In this space, youth could learn more about water in many aspects. We had relay races to affix malaria nets to cots, team building activities to get water through piping systems from the municipal water plant to houses (this is based on the California drought), "Price is Right"-esque games to learn about virtual water content in industrial products, food, and water consumption in homes. ELCA Advocacy connected youth to advocacy efforts around the clean water act. And we even had an area to relax at our cinema (complete with turf, camping chairs, towels to lay on and picnic tables!).

start.
Each 5-gal jug weighs ~40 lbs

obstacle #1: Heat.
Not always perfect weather for water collection...

obstacle #2: Flood.
We called this the "noodle forest"

obstacle #3: Clinic.
You were diagnosed with diarrheal disease,
worms, or malaria. When you had diarrhea you 
had to sit on the latrine and read The Lutheran 
and learn about oral rehydration therapy.

obstacle #3: Clinic.
When you had malaria, you sat on a cot for 2 mins while learning about
malaria and then took your "anti-malarial" jelly beans. 

obstacle #3: Clinic.
"anti-malarial" jelly beans

obstacle #3: Clinic.
If you had worms, you learned how to wash your hands properly
on our very own Tippy Tap (thanks Pacha Soap for the idea)
and you also learned to spot clean water. 

obstacle #3: Clinic.
spot the clean water
(hint: it's the orange-ish looking one which has been treated with iodine)

obstacle #4: Change in Elevation.
The road may have been paved with good
intentions, but it's not always smooth. 

finish line/home.
You made it! Now go under our 5
awesome balloon arches!

photo op.
featuring nothing other than a balloon arch & the photo frame!

dive deeper entrance. 

higher/lower "Price Is Right" game.
virtual water content in industry: jeans, cars, paper,
water bottles, golf courses

grocery shopping "Price is Right" game.
Using your budgeted amount of water, how many food
items can you buy based on their virtual water content?
1 cup of coffee, eggs, t-bone steaks, cheddar cheese, apples

remembrance of baptism.
We had the globe and the baptismal font
anchoring the center of our space. 

And more than that, we had balloons. So many balloons! The balloons represented a dollar amount correlating to the money that we raised, so by the end of Day 3 we had an inordinate number of balloons all over the place.

Martin Luther even came for a visit!

Each day, 10,000 youth were invited into the COBO Center (where we were stationed) to listen to music, to play games, and to connect to organizations such as ELCA World Hunger and others. I honestly am not sure how many people we had at our "booth" each day, but my guess is that it was around 2,500-3,000 daily. Youth groups were waiting an hour and half on average to walk the 15 minutes or so around the track.

That's utterly amazing to me!

I think that says something truly profound about the youth of the ELCA if they were willing to wait so long to carry a 40 lb jug around a track. I was stationed at the start line of the track and quickly lost my voice after trying to give a short orientation to the track over the rest of the noise in the COBO Center. It was so great though! If you want to hear my spiel, just let me know. I'm sure I can still recite it, no problem.

When we were done each evening, we found a quick dinner and then headed to Ford Field for the nightly programming. There we heard from inspirational (generally young adult) speakers from within the ELCA and then also others who were just phenomenal. My favorites (although I'm a bit biased) were Mikka and Rozella. I also really enjoyed spoken word from TMiller Poetry. There's music, dancing, singing and general excitement at these evening programs...so overwhelming, but also very powerful.

Mikka sharing her story on Wednesday night. 

Rozella sharing her story on Saturday night. 

the view from my seat: Wednesday

the view from my seat: Friday

the view from my seat: Sunday morning worship

My goal for the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering (in Houston) is to be cast on the Youth Gathering dance team. I don't know who I have to bribe in order for that to happen, but I've been trying to cast a wide net, early and often in hopes of my dreams coming to fruition. We shall see if it happens...

One evening, a few of us staff snuck off to Canada after the evening programming. We were headed for ice cream, but as it turns out, pretty much everything in Windsor, Ontario closes at about 10 pm. The option we were left with were McFlurries. Turns out McFlurries were invented in Canada! Who knew? AND they have different flavors than we do. I highly recommend the Rolo McFlurry.

At the very end of the week, we closed with a 2-hour long worship service at Ford Field. Getting 30,000 people through Communion is just an impressive feat, if nothing else. Presiding Bishop Eaton preached a compelling sermon, there were dancers, and much rejoicing! A great end to a great (and exhausting) week.

Want to see more photos of the experience...from the building demos in the office to setting up the space to the youth invasion? Look at our Storify!

Really the only downside of the whole experience is that my fanny pack broke on the final day and my heart is shattered with sadness. How am I supposed to keep snacks close by at all hours? Or where should I keep other necessities (like my phone, cash and ID) when I need my hands free for activities? I plan to investigate further to see if I can find a fix once I get back to Nebraska, but for now the sadness pervades...

everyone that walked or gave got a button,
respectively. For the brave handful that finished 37x's, 
they got a coveted 3.7 button!

I call this "Balloon Graveyard."

the "Spirit of Detroit" was renewed and re-excited by 30,000 youth!