I am now officially blogging in OMAHA!
After waking up at 5:30 a.m. to get on the road from Wisconsin, we made it here around 1:30/2ish. Good ol' Goldy (the Buick) stuck it out through the Iowa highways and was way more reliable than normal. If you didn't read my previous posting, my parents managed to fold my mattress in half and shoved it into my backseat. A little crazy, right? I was paranoid the whole way that the mattress was going to rebel and flip open and knock me out. Obviously, that didn't happen. When we were driving through Iowa, around Ames, a torrential thunderstorm rolled in and made it almost impossible to navigate the freeway. You know what made it even harder? When people driving tan vehicles didn't turn on their lights. Really? You're not going to turn your lights on when it's POURING outside? Really? Ok. Fine.
Upon arriving in Omaha, we met my landlord: Bob. He's this super cool guy who is in-the-know about Omaha. He invited my parents to stay at his house when they visit and he's already mentioned having the roomies and myself over for dinner. Also, he's just giving us random furniture. He left a table in the house for us and is bringing chairs over at some point. In summary, he's awesome. Our house, however, is semi-sketch. It's an older townhouse, built in the 70s (I believe). It's on the edge of being in a not so great neighborhood, but I think that will give us the opportunity to really live in the community that we are serving this year. It currently has a cat smell lingering from the previous tenants but we're working to get rid of it. Our bathroom needs a little recaulking action and we need a possible rodent hole to be closed up in the kitchen. It's an old house, I get it. Life isn't perfect. I was hardcore cleaning the bathroom earlier and am now suffering from a bleach headache. Note to self, layoff the bleach.
My plan for tomorrow is to go to a church that is about 3 blocks from our house and scope it out. I know that for my own personal faith and health, I need to get involved in a spiritual community immediately. There's a possibility that I could be working in the nursery at this church on Sunday mornings, but it's not for sure yet. I'm going to rope Kelly in and make her go shopping/thrifting with me to get some random junk that would be super helpful to have (she doesn't know of these plans yet). I think that will be a pretty solid day first day in a new city.
On Monday, Bob is going to come and do some cleaning and fix random things that we have compiled on a list. Kyle is also moving in then, so hopefully we can all start to get in sync and get started on our year of service. I just want to be at my school and learn more about my kids!
Today, I'm feeling surprisingly ok with being here. My acid reflux has been flaring up due to anxiety and I've been having trouble sleeping the past few nights but I'm feeling settled right now. I'm currently sitting in the Barnes and Noble at Crossroads Mall (yes, I already ventured to the mall). I think that the more I drive around and feel things out, the more it will feel like home. No guarantees that I wont be crying later tonight, but I know I can do this! It's going to be tough to be away from my family for the next 10 months, but I know that I will come out of this stronger than ever. Keep the prayers coming my way, I definitely need them!
Dear Katie, Crossroads is sketch, be careful. People have been shot there, which is largely why there are no stores. Did you notice? Also, I was in that Barnes and Noble only three weeks ago! Sniff sniff, tear.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I once had a man ask me if I would buy him a cheeseburger there because he "bought a car earlier" and could not afford a burger? It was weird.
ReplyDeleteAlso, also, my mommy doesn't like me going there by myself. the end.
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