St. Patrick's Day(s)!!!

This has to be the Best St. Patrick's Day celebration I have ever experienced! All the people and buildings were all decked out in GREEN! Including the Sears Tower :) It was also a great excuse to listen to my Celtic music. *melt* 
All the green actually started the Friday before the official day...
Friday during work, out of Bill's window (on the 18th floor) we could see on the bank of the river a Giant McDonald's Shamrock Shake! It was a plastic cup tipped over with the 'shake' substance 'spilling' out of it. They were putting the cherry in the structure when we saw it. Ronald McDonald was there too in all his jolliness as well. There were cameras and people looking at the structure as they passed. I think they were giving out free samples too! 

Saturday morning we went to the River as a group to see them dye the river GREEN! It was an awesome neon green! They make it green with a powder vegetable mix that looks orange-brown. The dyers dumped the powder over the edge of their boats. There was another boat that came in behind them to mix it all up so that the whole section of the river around the Michigan Ave bridge was nice and green :) That was certainly worth the wait in the cold for me! 

Every night following the dying of the river, the bars around us were busy every night! It was sometimes hard to get home through all the people on the sidewalk, but now that they are gone I appreciate the room. haha
On Wednesday for our Arts in the City class, we had a special guest, Patrick Finnegan, who plays Irish flutes and has learned all the traditional songs and how to play them. He helped start the Irish School of Music at the Old Town School of Folk Music. He played some tunes for us and taught us the difference between a jig and a reel. We even learned how to dance a little, we played some of his flutes and learned about the oral history of Irish music and how Chicago has been a big part of that history being saved. Police Chief O'Neil of  Chicago wrote down many of the tunes in the early 1900s. To this day the police force has an Irish band who play at police funerals. He was probably one of my favorite presenters for class. 
Later that night we went to the Old Town School of Folk Music to hear the students. One group of students actually competed in Ireland and came in second place! That means they are one of the best Irish bands in the world! And we got to hear them first hand!
Keeley and I left early from that concert to hear the band she's been promoting for the past few weeks, The Tossers! They were fantastic! We were 'geeking out' because we were able to tell if the songs they played were jogs or reels. They mostly played reels because those are in 4/4. The jogs tended to be slower because they are 3/4 like a waltz. And they even had the same structure of AABBAABB (or something like that) for the pattern of the tunes. They had all the same elements of the traditional band like a violin/fiddle, flutes, and a mandolin (or the Irish version of one that has a longer neck), except The Tossers also had bass and drum set where the traditional bad doesn't have much bass or harmony, but they do have those cool hand drums that you play with two sides of a stick! Love those! Overall, it was really fun to compare and contrast the experience of two seemingly different Irish bands. 

Weekend with Daniel

Daniel David Donkersloot came to visit me this weekend! It was the perfect weekend for him to come; the sun was out, it wasn't too cold, no snow or rain. But that was just the weather ;) We didn't make any solid plans, which with him is the only time I ever do that, so we explored the city. We found Navy Pier, Millenium Park and many hidden treasures including (but not limited to) piegeons, cool reflections of buildings, funny signs and interesting people and buildings. Navy Pier was my favorite. I didn't realize how much I miss the coast; being next to the water, seeing the boats, even the sea gulls! Never thought I would miss them, but they turned out to be fun to watch. One little guy in particular was landing on the water, but didn't realize it was frozen on top! That was one confused bird.

Later we met up with Rachel and Matt to go see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. It wasn't as weird as I thought it was going to be, which is why I liked it. I forgot how concrete his messages tend to be. But I did love his interpretations of the characters. Johnny Depp was excellent at being crazy but likeable. Alice was perfectly cast and you rooted for her the entire time. The other character I enjoyed was the Cheshire Cat with his blue stripes and teethy grin :D He was mystical and a comic relief. Overall, I enjoyed the escape into Wonderland.

On Sunday we went to LaSalle Street Church. It was very different for me because it was hard to idetify where they got their traditions. They are a nondominational church which allowed them a lot of freedom, but I would still consider them traditional. The sermon was about the deadly sin of greed. The pastor was able to connect the story of Lot to how our culture percieves money and wealth today. We are supposed to be ambitious, but at what cost to ourselves?

After church we found an awesome sushi place on Michigan Ave called Hot Woks, Cool Sushi. It didn't look all that impressive, but inside was very welcoming! I had an Alaskan variety of sushi with salmon and crab and fish eggs! The chopsticks were big, heavy and thick to make it easier to eat the rolls. They were very decently priced, and my tummy was so happy! I can't describe it any other way because you don't think that five little pieces are going to do you much good, but if you take your time, enjoy your company, sip your jasmine tea, then you will be full in tummy and heart. What a wonderful experience!

Daniel's time went fast, but it was quality because he got to see the city and the people that I love. All except Keeley who was gone at home due to a death in her family. Prayers for her and the family would be wonderful. She just got back tonight, it's so nice having all of us together again.

So Little Time, So Much to Do

So much has happened! I'll just highlight certain days...

Thursday Feb. 25th: We went to the Lifeline Theater to see Mrs. Caliban! It's a surreal show about a woman who has a romantic affair with a green alien. Yeah, it sounds weird, but the story is full of commentary on the human race, our relationships and how much we help and hurt one another. We had the entire theater to ourselves, so they had a Q&A Section at the end. The ultimate question was; Is Larry (the alien) real or a figment of the heroine's imagination? 0o0o0o....It was a lot of fun to escape into that world where a green alien would rather eat a cereal box than the cereal it self. So it was rather humorous, but ultimately it was very sad, open-ended play that really got us thinking and talking about  very deep things. It was a great experience! What made it more special is that a friend from the CS Program, Meredith, is interning there. So it was great to eat out with her before the show and have her show us around.

Friday Feb 26th: A group of us went out for Chicago Style Pizza around the corner at Edwardo's Natural Pizza place. the best part about waiting for the pizza was getting to decorate the coloring pages on the back of the place mats! We felt like little kids again :) After stuffing ourselves with the yummy pizza, we came back to the apartment and played some Catch Phrase and Apples to Apples! YAY! What fun! 

Sunday, Feb 28th: This morning Rachel and I went to First United Methodist Church again. I was supposed to interview someone for my Opera Encounter project, but that fell through. But we stayed downtown for lunch because we were coming back for the Gospel Choir Concert at the church. It was very spiritual and fun. It made me really miss being in choir, but gave me hope that after I graduate and settle down somewhere that maybe I can find a choir to be a part of someday. After the concert we went to the library to pick up some old movies for a movie night on Monday, our day off! Woot! That has to be the BIGGEST Library I've ever been in! It was insane with about 8 floors of books, resources, computers and other fun stuff for the public to enjoy. Rachel got a library card which I will help her take full advantage of! haha

Don't know what will happen next, but I'm ready for it!

Update on Dad: He'll be starting radiation treatments soon. Not chemo. The cancer is concentrated enough that he'll go in for regular treatments after work. The side effects will hopefully be minimal, but I'm sure he'll be careful (riiiight...haha) So thank you everyone for your prayers and support. The Lord is taking really good care of us as a family and our beloved Dad. We're just ready to take the next steps to beat this thing again! 

Prayers: My right hand is experiencing some sharp pains between the ring finger and pinky. I hope it's not tendenitus or anything, but prayers that I can figure out how to avoid the pain. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Praise! The Lord has been good about surrounding me with good people, interesting ideas and, of course, his love. I've been able to reconnect with some people that I haven't been able to talk to for some time. Most recently my friend David who's in Bath, England in graduate school. It was fun talking to him about the culture he's in and what God is revealing to him through those experiences. He's been to Chicago so we had some fun chats about the City.

Encounters: I've been struggling with how to interact with the homeless people in the city. So far I've had two very good encounters with some homeless men who have asked me how I'm doing and I respond to them and give them a smile. Both times totally changed their attitude and made me feel better too. I'm very careful about when that's ok to do; like during the day, if they ask me how I'm doing first, that sort of thing. I trust my instincts and both times it has been good. But sometimes I wonder if I'm really doing it for them or if I'm doing it to make myself feel better? Or am I being proded be the holy spirit? I don't know, but I'm listening and it's been good.

Up-Coming Events: Daniel Donkersloot is coming to visit next weekend!!! He almost came this weekend but the flights didn't work out. But that's ok. We need to go see Alice In Wonderland anyways :) (I'm sooo mean, I know haha)

More to come!

Love you all!

Nights Out!

 

This is the Modern Wing of the Art Institute! We went there with Chicago Semester. It's free to go there for the whole month so I would really like to go back again. I was really impressed with the building and most pieces in it. We had someone come to our class at CS to explain the history of the museum and some of the pieces. So it was good to have some familiar ones like Picasso. I wish we could have stayed longer but Keeley and I had to leave early to meet some of her friends at a concert. The concert was pretty sweet. The Empty Bottle, the venue, was pretty eclectic with weird decorations, fun drinks and upbeat music. We got back really late but it was worth it :) 

On our way to the Art Institute we finally visited the Infamous Bean!!! It's really a lot cooler than you would initially think. It reflects everything and warps everything. It's like a hall of mirrors on a bean! haha Check out the pictures on Facebook of us being touristy :) 

 

Last night was a great night because we went to see a band that Keeley has wanted to see for a long time, and now I see why. This is Ha Ha Tonka from southern Missouri! (not my pic, it's from thier site, but it's close to the lighting we saw them in :) They are a southern rock band. That sounds weird, but they were such great showmen! They did a lot of four-part harmonies that reminded me of the music from "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" but better! They did Black Betty as their seond finale, yeah, we, the audience were THAT pumped that we had two encores! It was a fantastic night! The other two bands were good too. Rego was a down to earth kinda hypie band with a great sound. I loved the lead singer, she was very cute and fun to interact with. The venue, called The Subterranean, was my favorite so far because it was multiple floors with cool staircases and sweet old-fashioned wall paper and lighting. You could watch the bands from either the floor the stage was on or from the balcony on the second floor. So far that was my favorite concert! What a great night!

More to come! Love you all!

GO WORLD!

I had the pleasure of watching the Olympics Opening Cerimony!!!! It was so beautiful! The pow-wow Natives, the great dancers and the special effects were all AWESOME! I loved the part with the whales swimming and spurting across the floor! What a cool stage! I loved how they represented each regeon and season. It made me really miss the West Coast...But I'll be back again! Someday....
I haven't been the most loyal watcher, but I'm enjoying what I've been watching. Tonight I saw Shawni Davis the speed skater win gold!!! What a great race! He was racing so hard and them BOOM he's waaaay ahead of the Korean skater! But I kept thinking "Colbert is there! Colbert is there!" Because I saw the episode of The Colbert Report where they raced...Shawni won...by 13 minutes I think haha That was a great episode!

Now I'm watching the women's downhill sking races. It's so intense! Three girls have already fallen! The USA is DOMINATING! My roommates are suprised how I get in to watching sports. It's a drug to me (to quote a famous Vampire :) Naw, it's just fun to get excited! I like competition, if I'm not in it haha So GO WORLD! It's great if we win, but if we lose to someone awesome, that's ok with me :) But we won this one! Go L.VONN!!! What an incredible run!

Last night was Fat Tuesday, I guess, because at around 10pm last night, Keeley and I were getting in bed (yeah, we're workin' girls now...wait...not like that, but you get the gist haha) and we hear a band playing...a Marching Band?!? They were playing jazz variations of "When the Saints" haha! We couldn't see them from our windows but aparently there were clowns with them and guys on stilts! It sounded like they were having a lot of fun :) It was nice to go to sleep with them boogieing down the street. Chicago....Only in Chicago...I <3 Chicago...

We had class again today. I would MUCH rather be at my internship, but oh well. It's nice to have a change of pace. Inspired by our books we're reading, including The Saint's Guide to Happiness by Robert Ellsberg, we did some mindful meditation in my Vocations Class. I'm not much for meditation but it was pretty nice, actually. I was able to clear my head and just breathe. It's kinda hard to slow down sometimes, so it was refreshing. Most people reacted in mental ways. I reacted physically. I was very aware of my inner strength. So Thanks Keeley for getting me to work out! My subconscious must be aware of these physical changes. Sweet! But I also started crying a bit...don't know exactly why but I have a theory....

On top of my Dad's cancer coming back, last week I was hit with another blow in that my grandpa had a major stroke that put him in the hospital. I was kind of expecting him to go but he can't yet! He doesn't know the love of Jesus! So prayers that he would be more open to Jesus would be almost impossible...almost...keehee There's always hope in the Lord :) But now he's actually doing better than he was before the stroke! How awesome is that!

UPDATE ON DAD: he went in for some tests and they found out how much cancer is in there, but they're going to do some scans to find out where it is. Chemo is deffinately his best option and he'll start as soon as he can. He should be done with all that by May so that he can get me home and go to Graduation. Praise the Lord! Thanks everyone for your support and prayers.

I love and miss you all!

Dancing, Parade and a Concert

This was an eventful weekend, to put it lightly. I could have had three seperate weekends with all that we did!

Saturday: After a lazy, yet busy Saturday day spent shopping and getting groceries we decided that we needed to get out on the town...

First, we were invited to a neighbor's for Mexican Food! Yum! Thanks Matt and Tim, it was Wonderful! It was nice just to talk, read the Red Eye paper and take the silly Valentine's Day quiz in there. Later, we went out for some margaritas and guacamole from my new favorite little place off the Harrison stop Flacos Tacos! The prices are really good and the food is even better!

After that, a few of us went to a bar closer to home off  near Rush Street called The Hunt Club. It's good for drinking before and going there after 10:30pm for the dancing upstairs. At first it was just us and an older black guy who just held his hand up and pulsed to the music (he was still going when we left! What a guy! haha), but then more couples and groups saw that we were having a good time and decided to join us. It was really fun! It was nice to have self-proclaimed 'awkward dancing guy' there to protect us gals from the occasional creeper, but nothing serious happened. We can thank Matt for that :) We all slept really well that night.

Sunday: We slept in a bit, then started our day off with a healthy dose of Fourth Presbyterian Church. Very traditional, but in all the right ways. A great choir, new (to me) hymns and some baby baptisms where one was taken done the ilse of the church to be introduced to his new family. But he was rather preoccupied by the grandure of the church building itself. And so was I! It was georgeous! Stained glass, carved wood and guildedness (I don't think that's a word, but oh well) on everything including the ceiling and chandeliers. So Beautiful! The message was very well delivered by a younger paster who had a slight lisp that reminded us of Screech from Saved By the Bell, but that didn't get in the way too much of our hearing the great message. It was rather close to my heart because he talked about how hard it is to convery certain experiences to others and how there can be such large gaps between people sometimes. I feel that way all the time when I'm trying to explain what I'm experiencing here. It's my new life and how do you explain your life to someone? Well, I'm at least trying through this because I want you to know. And if you have questions, please let me know. It's easier to answer questions than just told to tell.

After church we went to China Town to see the Chinese New Years Parade! It was so crowded we could barely move. We were shoved, pushed, pulled. Most people were nice but some were extremely annoyed at the whole situation. People were yelling out at each other like this: (among other variations)
"Hey, can people move so we can get over there!?!"
"No, man, there's no room over here! There's no way through"
"Why not?"
"Stroller!"
Through all this craziness I did get some pictures of the parade. I had to hold the carema way above my head a guess, but it was worth it.
After the parade we were starving but every place was full of people. Eventually we just decided to go home. There was a long wait at the Redline station because that's how most people had gotten there, but the CTA people handled it really well. We got home only to get ready for our next adventure....

Keeley and I went to a concert which featured one of the bands from the label she's interning at. Metal/screamo is not really my type of music, but it was fun to people watch and listen to some of the more melodic bands. The only part I didn't like was the moshing. I just don't find that attractive at all. Oh well. Thanks to Keeley we only got our toes stepped on once by some spaz.
A highlight for the evening was getting to encounter a guitarist that I formed a little bit of a crush on :) When we were heading out, we went by his bands table and he handed me a sticker! I thanked him for a good show. He was very kind. Wish I had asked for his number, but thank goodness I'm not that bold! haha

What a weekend! I'm not feeling very prepared for this week, but some sleep should help.

Blessings to you all!

Roommate Picture Time!

Here's a pic of me and my roomies! We're all so busy, so it's nice when we can just chill :) Love you two!