As I was saying...
Whew! The drugs are worn off and now I can actually type.
Anyway, I went to Arkansas with Ichthus (my campus ministry group). The drive down was a fun day. I got up at 5am (which is crazy for me, but maybe not for some of you), and drove to Kansas city with Allie, Brian (from my fraternity), Katie (from Ichthus), and Nate (from TBC). I took two of my leftover decongestant pills to keep me awake. THey worked, all too well. After meeting everyone else in KC, we hit the road, and got to Little Rock around 5 or so in the afternoon.
We stayed in a large, abandoned Catholic orphanage. Think "The Shining," with without the hedge maze. It was pretty spooky. The basement's coal room and the attice were especially eerie. In the attic we found a 32-year-old Glamour magazine, with fun adds like "Want to get ahead in your career? Take this speed-writing class." Yeah. For your job as a secretary or teacher. Yay seventies.
The bathrooms are old, but functional. Definitey a learning experience for Allie, though. She's crazy germophobic, admittedly. She got used to it though, and agrees that it was a good learning experience.
It was built in 1907 I think, and has quite a story behind it. During WWI it was used for officers' quarters for the neaby army camp. After the war, it was once again used as an orphanage until the seventies, I think. Then it was a daycare until the nineties. Nowadays it's used for church groups and stuff. It is taken care of by an old nun, which only adds to the creepiness factor. After meeting her, though, she's a sweet old woman.
The first day of work, I ended up in a Bread-Basket-ish warehouse call Rice Depot. They distribute food to the old, poor, weak, etc. I spent my morning organizing 8-lb food cans according to their serial numbers (they had no labels). After that, we boxed and organized literally hundreds of packages of feminine prodcuts and bladder control underwear.
The next day, I went to the poor-area church called PromiseLand. We did some yardwork at first but then I met this woman named Pat and her husband William. They ran the childrens' ministry and needed a ton of help. She is a perfect example or having a heart in the right place but lacking the resources, educationally, financially, or otherwise. Her booking was pretty much a tool box full of receipts. We sort of organized a system to keep her books and budget in order. I've never seen anyone more thankful. There were also some old computers they wanted running. They are made for Windows 98, but they were somehow able to run XP. Unfortunately, afterwards there wasn't even room on the harddrive for word. Yay WordPad.
The next day I went back there, mostly just to get to see Pat and William again. I ended up painting a smaller church on the other side of Little Rock. Apparently, this little church was sort of the community center of this beat up old neighborhood. A ew years ago, the pastor just got up and left with all the church's money. Frustrating. They're trying to get it up and running again. So far it's looking pretty good.
On the last day (which sucked because it was only a half-day), We cleaned out a warehouse for the church and played with some of the kids. Then we had a cookout, inviting everyone we met at all the various work jobs. It was pretty tearful for a lot of people. I won't lie, I got close when saying goodbye to Pat.
Now here comes the comlication. Tuesday night I got poison ivy, without going anywhere near any plants. So, I either got it from another person or the wind blew the oil into me (I'm hyper-allergic to it; I got it through my jeans once). This has been getting progressively worse and is spreading. I'm still not sure if it's done spreading. Right now I'm wrapped and bandaged in four places, and band-aids everywhere. My entire left forewarm is engulfed, as is my belly. It's not very fun. At all. I'm trying all sorts of home-made remedies, since minor med told me they won't give me anything unless it's on my face. I took a clorox bath last night, and rubbed a salt paste on the rashes, both on cue from Stephanie Teagarden. Those are supposed to kill the poison or whatever I should call it. I think it worked. It doesn't itch too much, and it's too early to tell if it stopped the spreading. I've been taking Benadryl, which knocked me out last night (see last post). I'm going to try ging to minor med anyway today, since it's getting pretty bad. I'm hoping for a shot of something. We'll see.
Over all, the trip was wonderful. I've met SO MANY new people I can't keep them straight. They're all pretty awesome, though. On a more personal note, I was a little worried I'd end up getting sick of Allie and vice versa after spending pretty much the entire week together or at least nearby. We didn't, though, which is pretty cool. Thank god she's not allergic to Poison Ivy.
I got into Topeka yesterday evening, and, after droppin off the first Brian (there were two on the way back this time, one being in my fraternity, and the other being Brian Yates, Robyn Bramledge's boyfriend. Katie or Nate weren't there this time). Allie, Brian and I ate at McDonalds, and say a few Shawnee Heights people, went to Walgreens and say even more, and then went to DQ and, you guessed it, saw eve more, like Kyle, Spangler, and Chaz. Go figure.
Now I'm home, and itchy, with a lot of stuff to do.
Anyway, I went to Arkansas with Ichthus (my campus ministry group). The drive down was a fun day. I got up at 5am (which is crazy for me, but maybe not for some of you), and drove to Kansas city with Allie, Brian (from my fraternity), Katie (from Ichthus), and Nate (from TBC). I took two of my leftover decongestant pills to keep me awake. THey worked, all too well. After meeting everyone else in KC, we hit the road, and got to Little Rock around 5 or so in the afternoon.
We stayed in a large, abandoned Catholic orphanage. Think "The Shining," with without the hedge maze. It was pretty spooky. The basement's coal room and the attice were especially eerie. In the attic we found a 32-year-old Glamour magazine, with fun adds like "Want to get ahead in your career? Take this speed-writing class." Yeah. For your job as a secretary or teacher. Yay seventies.
The bathrooms are old, but functional. Definitey a learning experience for Allie, though. She's crazy germophobic, admittedly. She got used to it though, and agrees that it was a good learning experience.
It was built in 1907 I think, and has quite a story behind it. During WWI it was used for officers' quarters for the neaby army camp. After the war, it was once again used as an orphanage until the seventies, I think. Then it was a daycare until the nineties. Nowadays it's used for church groups and stuff. It is taken care of by an old nun, which only adds to the creepiness factor. After meeting her, though, she's a sweet old woman.
The first day of work, I ended up in a Bread-Basket-ish warehouse call Rice Depot. They distribute food to the old, poor, weak, etc. I spent my morning organizing 8-lb food cans according to their serial numbers (they had no labels). After that, we boxed and organized literally hundreds of packages of feminine prodcuts and bladder control underwear.
The next day, I went to the poor-area church called PromiseLand. We did some yardwork at first but then I met this woman named Pat and her husband William. They ran the childrens' ministry and needed a ton of help. She is a perfect example or having a heart in the right place but lacking the resources, educationally, financially, or otherwise. Her booking was pretty much a tool box full of receipts. We sort of organized a system to keep her books and budget in order. I've never seen anyone more thankful. There were also some old computers they wanted running. They are made for Windows 98, but they were somehow able to run XP. Unfortunately, afterwards there wasn't even room on the harddrive for word. Yay WordPad.
The next day I went back there, mostly just to get to see Pat and William again. I ended up painting a smaller church on the other side of Little Rock. Apparently, this little church was sort of the community center of this beat up old neighborhood. A ew years ago, the pastor just got up and left with all the church's money. Frustrating. They're trying to get it up and running again. So far it's looking pretty good.
On the last day (which sucked because it was only a half-day), We cleaned out a warehouse for the church and played with some of the kids. Then we had a cookout, inviting everyone we met at all the various work jobs. It was pretty tearful for a lot of people. I won't lie, I got close when saying goodbye to Pat.
Now here comes the comlication. Tuesday night I got poison ivy, without going anywhere near any plants. So, I either got it from another person or the wind blew the oil into me (I'm hyper-allergic to it; I got it through my jeans once). This has been getting progressively worse and is spreading. I'm still not sure if it's done spreading. Right now I'm wrapped and bandaged in four places, and band-aids everywhere. My entire left forewarm is engulfed, as is my belly. It's not very fun. At all. I'm trying all sorts of home-made remedies, since minor med told me they won't give me anything unless it's on my face. I took a clorox bath last night, and rubbed a salt paste on the rashes, both on cue from Stephanie Teagarden. Those are supposed to kill the poison or whatever I should call it. I think it worked. It doesn't itch too much, and it's too early to tell if it stopped the spreading. I've been taking Benadryl, which knocked me out last night (see last post). I'm going to try ging to minor med anyway today, since it's getting pretty bad. I'm hoping for a shot of something. We'll see.
Over all, the trip was wonderful. I've met SO MANY new people I can't keep them straight. They're all pretty awesome, though. On a more personal note, I was a little worried I'd end up getting sick of Allie and vice versa after spending pretty much the entire week together or at least nearby. We didn't, though, which is pretty cool. Thank god she's not allergic to Poison Ivy.
I got into Topeka yesterday evening, and, after droppin off the first Brian (there were two on the way back this time, one being in my fraternity, and the other being Brian Yates, Robyn Bramledge's boyfriend. Katie or Nate weren't there this time). Allie, Brian and I ate at McDonalds, and say a few Shawnee Heights people, went to Walgreens and say even more, and then went to DQ and, you guessed it, saw eve more, like Kyle, Spangler, and Chaz. Go figure.
Now I'm home, and itchy, with a lot of stuff to do.