Ye olde Windy City. It's actually been quite overwhelming, as far as the city goes. I arrived here on Wednesday after saying goodbye to my parents at Albany International, switching planes and meeting a friend (fellow Jerusalem/West Bank YAGM, Michelle) in Baltimore, and flying into Chicago Midway. It was good to meeting Michelle in Baltimore, and it made travelling to the University of Chicago's campus, where we're staying this week, much less stressful.
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, we were aware that the six of us going to Jerusalem were still awaiting our visas to be approved, and we received an email on Monday acknowledging that even after the visas had been approved it would be another 1-2 weeks until the visas arrived in Chicago at the consulate where we could get them in our passports. So I knew upon leaving home that I was going to be in Chicago a little longer than the original one-week orientation. We met as a group, as the other countries had or will, with the wonderful director of YAGM, Heidi, who did her best to assure us that they had plans for us to learn Arabic, start readings on our country's history/current events, and otherwise start our Global Mission experience. Yet, I left the meeting feeling a little more than bummed that, to be honest, we didn't know when the visas would be approved or if the wait would cause us to go home in the stead.
The days have been gently filled with presentations, so far on the Accompaniment Model (more on that in a later post) and Cross-cultural Competencies, time to socialize with our fellow YAGMS, both in small group settings, as a large group, and informally during our free evenings. The programming has been really great, not only in what we've had presented to us, but also in regards to the amount of stuff we have each day. Wednesday afternoon I went to sleep shortly after our evening chapel service, and Thursday (after our meeting as a Country group and discussing our current predicament and feelings about such) I decided to stay in and re-charge with some "alone time" both because there had been a lot of extroversion and also because the news about the visa had finally started to really bum me out.
Today, however, has been fabulously better than yesterday. Perhaps the best day ever. After breakfast and our morning devotions we found out that our visas have been processed!!! It was the *best* news ever, and when Heidi told us I felt all the emotions I hadn't felt the past few days flood me: excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, relief, and joy to name a few. I felt my eyes tear up; it was finally real. We're going. Soon.
Today has progressed pretty nicely since hearing the joyous news of our visa status. This afternoon I went with a good sized group to Grant Park, in the downtown area of Chicago, for a free dance music concert. There was supposed to be cajun dancing (perhaps there was and I didn't realize), but it seemed to be mostly waltzing (which looks awfully similar to polka--I can strike that off my bucket list!). We all graced (or humiliated) the dance floor with our presence; I danced with friends and a few nice and willing (and need I say patient) teachers. It was a blast!
I'll post more tomorrow or Sunday about some of the great things I've learned in presentations this week while at the YAGM orientation, but until then, may you have patience and peace-of-soul as you give control over to God.
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, we were aware that the six of us going to Jerusalem were still awaiting our visas to be approved, and we received an email on Monday acknowledging that even after the visas had been approved it would be another 1-2 weeks until the visas arrived in Chicago at the consulate where we could get them in our passports. So I knew upon leaving home that I was going to be in Chicago a little longer than the original one-week orientation. We met as a group, as the other countries had or will, with the wonderful director of YAGM, Heidi, who did her best to assure us that they had plans for us to learn Arabic, start readings on our country's history/current events, and otherwise start our Global Mission experience. Yet, I left the meeting feeling a little more than bummed that, to be honest, we didn't know when the visas would be approved or if the wait would cause us to go home in the stead.
The days have been gently filled with presentations, so far on the Accompaniment Model (more on that in a later post) and Cross-cultural Competencies, time to socialize with our fellow YAGMS, both in small group settings, as a large group, and informally during our free evenings. The programming has been really great, not only in what we've had presented to us, but also in regards to the amount of stuff we have each day. Wednesday afternoon I went to sleep shortly after our evening chapel service, and Thursday (after our meeting as a Country group and discussing our current predicament and feelings about such) I decided to stay in and re-charge with some "alone time" both because there had been a lot of extroversion and also because the news about the visa had finally started to really bum me out.
Today, however, has been fabulously better than yesterday. Perhaps the best day ever. After breakfast and our morning devotions we found out that our visas have been processed!!! It was the *best* news ever, and when Heidi told us I felt all the emotions I hadn't felt the past few days flood me: excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, relief, and joy to name a few. I felt my eyes tear up; it was finally real. We're going. Soon.
Today has progressed pretty nicely since hearing the joyous news of our visa status. This afternoon I went with a good sized group to Grant Park, in the downtown area of Chicago, for a free dance music concert. There was supposed to be cajun dancing (perhaps there was and I didn't realize), but it seemed to be mostly waltzing (which looks awfully similar to polka--I can strike that off my bucket list!). We all graced (or humiliated) the dance floor with our presence; I danced with friends and a few nice and willing (and need I say patient) teachers. It was a blast!
I'll post more tomorrow or Sunday about some of the great things I've learned in presentations this week while at the YAGM orientation, but until then, may you have patience and peace-of-soul as you give control over to God.
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