My new name is Noelle Elizabeth Kelly POOP

Today was another great day. I woke up pretty early to wash clothes and clean the floors because I was beginning to fear the huge dust bunnies that were beginning to show up everywhere. I was contemplating going to the Methodist church this morning, but Alice and I decided to stay behind while John went. I finished my Single Mother project and made some notes about Nickel and Dimed and Alice introduced me to iGoogle and how I can link my Duke webmail to my Gmail account. It was very exciting. Alice and I eventually went to the gym later on in the afternoon and then went to Wal-Mart to buy the week's groceries. We plan on having Mrs. Jackie and her brother Milton over for dinner on Thursday evening so I plan on calling her tomorrow afternoon to officially invite her.

David Oberst and David Womble arrived back to the house to have dinner with us at Ming Wao's. The Japanese restaurant was ABSOLUTELY declicious. We will definitely be going back there very soon. When we came back John Luttrell and Brandon arrived soon after and we played yet another round of...MAFIA! This was again a very interesting set of games and I got to be the narrator TWICE!

After Mafia we had an interesting set of conversations concerning marriage, ethnic names, stereotypes, and a lot of other controversial topics. I really like discussing these issues in the house because I get to hear a lot of different views on interesting and controversial subjects. I think we're going to have many more in the future! Tomorrow I'm back at the Center for the Child and it should be an exciting week! I'll let you know!

Hole in One!

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, but here's a quick recap over what's happened since Thursday...

Thursday afternoon after work, Charlotte, Alice, and I joined Khadijah at Fresh Start to have a barbecue with the girls at the facility. We got to meet the girls and some of their kids, have a nice hot dog and hamburger dinner, play some games, and just give the girls a change of scenery and some new faces for a while. The girls don't get out that much and are rarely exposed to new faces, so this was something that I think they really enjoyed and appreciated. Khadijah did a really great job preparing the food and planning all of the activities. The girls at the facility seem to really like her, so I think she picked a great spot for her internship.

Friday was a pretty good day as well. At the Troy-Johnson Center, the four-year-old class had horseback riding in the morning and I got to ride...twice! Lightning (the horse) was a great horse who just walked the kids around a gated circle. The kids seemed to enjoy it a lot, and of course I had a great time. I even got the horse to canter by myself! It was really fun. And then to make the day even better, Alice, Brandon, John Luttrell, and I went to Webster's for lunch! This buffet-style restaurant is a wonderful spot located in downtown Mullins that a lot of the locals really enjoy. They are only opened for lunch on the weekdays, so we've got to find a way to get everyone there together before the summer is over. The rest of the day at work was really great, and I was kind of sad that I wasn't going to be with Mrs. Jackie at the center next week. But I am really excited to see how I can get involved in some research at the Center for the Child next week so hopefully I won't miss my other job too much. A lot of people went home for the weekend. In fact, it's only John Deans, Khadijah, Alice, and I here this weekend! When we got home, we decided what we wanted for dinner, and Alice and I went to Food Lion to pick up the ingredients. The chosen meal was turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roasted zucchini, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert! Talk about a good dinner right? The girls worked on dinner while John was at the gym and he brought back The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for us to watch after dinner. Unfortuanely, I was unable to stay awake for the entire movie (not a big surprise) and fell asleep early. Even though, I didn't quite make it through all the fun, it was really nice to have a nice evening with just a few of us. It was nice and quiet and drama-free and we all really enjoyed each other's company. :)

Today was another great day. I got up pretty early and finished reading Nickel and Dimed (finally!) and just got an early start to the day. John Deans and I went to the gym after breakfast. After we came back, we were all hoping to go the library to get our library cards and check out some new books. However, we were unaware that the library closes at 1:00 on Saturday afternoons and since we arrived at 1:08, we were not able to check out any books. :(
Despite our disappointment, we quickly became happy again when Ben Demarco and his sister Grace came to visit us! Ben had come home for the weekend and was planning to go with us to Conway/Myrtle Beach for the day. I volunteered to drive since I had the biggest car and we squeezed six of us into my little Corolla. We had a great time driving there and back and once again enjoyed each other's company. First we went to the mall to do a little window shopping and just hang out for a while. John and Ben had a great time in the arcade, while the girls checked out Victoria's Secret, Charlotte Rouse, and our other favorite spots. We also check out the massage chairs and awesome mattresses at Brookstone...lol! After the mall, we decided to check out Broadway at the Beach instead of actually going to the beach. This huge public space including lots of restaurants, shops, clothing stores, an IMAX and regular movie theater, a mini golf course, and a lot of other cool stuff. We fed some huge fish when we were on top of the bridge and saw a little boy struggling inside this plastic ball in the lake (it's kind of hard to explain but it was really funny!). We went to Amici's Italian Restaurant for dinner...I had the lasagna and it was sooooo good! I'm actually still full...lol. After dinner we headed back over to the mini golf course and decided to play a round. We quickly learned that the Demarco siblings are BEASTS at golf, with each receive at least 3 holes-in-one. John Deans also joined the hole-in-one crowd. However, I believe the rest of us were not as lucky...maybe another day. We had a really great time at Myrtle Beach and we are looking forward to more trips with the group as the summer continues! :)

HELLO

HELLO NOELLE,

JUST THOUGHT I WOULD SAY HELLO. THE SCHOOL YEAR IS WINDING DOWN AND STUDENTS ARE TAKING FINAL EXAMS AND EOG TESTS. SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. EMAIL ME YOUR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE. TAKE CARE

DADDY

I was just demolished by John Deans in checkers :(

Today was a great day. My six hours at the Troy-Johnson Center went by quite quickly as I spent most of the day in the office pretty much being Ms. Jackie's assistant. I answered phone calls, helped her with her summer program schedule, volunteered to start up a website and Facebook group for the daycare, and submitted the article I wrote to the local newspaper. I got to meet one of the older girls in her after school program today whom Ms. Jackie said really needs a role model from a young black female....kind of like me!!!!!! She seems really nice and I hope that I will be able to connect with her later in the summer. Tomorrow I'm supposed to working in the four-year-old classroom and the adult center and maybe take a child and an adult on a walk together. Many people have commented on the healing power that being around children can have on the elderly who feel useless or lonely in their current lives. I hope to see that happening in front of my eyes tomorrow. Mrs. Jackie asked a lot about the B.N. Duke and Trinity Scholarship today and I told her that Duke is putting a new scholarship in place next year that is specifically seeking students from the area where she works. Mrs. Jackie and her family are so involved in their community and I'm really hoping that they can find someone to nominate to the program. That could really make someone's dream come true....just like it did mine! :)

After work, I headed to the gym for a quick cardio workout because I thought I needed to come back home early to clean for our big dinner tonight. In turned out, however, that Charlotte and Brandon had cleaned up the kitchen and living room already so I was off the hook! I picked David Womble up from work, came back and took a shower, and then got ready for our company. The mayor's wife and daughter came by our house for dinner tonight. The mayor himself had another engagement that was already scheduled so he couldn't make it, but his family was wonderful. My favorite portions of the conversation was the debate over Jon and Kate Plus Eight's fate as a couple and a family, the upcoming release of The Sims 3, and Hailey and my conversation on Steve Madden shoes. It was really great to meet them...and they invited us to an upcoming pool party at their house!!!!!!!!!! Talk about a good night! :)

After dinner, I challenged John Deans to a game of checkers because I was feeling confident after I murdered Alice last night....but unfortunately I have to say that after a few faulty moves of mine, I was completely demolished! I have to give up my props to John Deans for his extraordinary defeat. However, I do reserve the right to post this photo that I hope will embarrass him and make him regret his performance. Take that John!!!

Today was great (again!) and I hope tomorrow will be even better. :)
Goodnight all...

Choo Choo Cha Boogie!

This morning marked my first official day at the Troy-Johnson Intergenerational Korner. Ms. Jackie greeted me warmly as I came through the door and almost immediately gave me my first assignment: taking her new phone around the entire daycare and getting the staff members to give them their phone numbers. I can't see that this was the most important or challenging task I've yet to encounter but I think I did a good job. The four-year-old class and the adults were going on a train ride as their kind of end-of-the-year celebration, and I was going to accompany them on their trip. Despite the gloomy rain outside, everything was going pretty smoothly until....the tantrum! One of the boys was misbehaving on the bus, so unfortunately he was escorted off and not allowed to come on the trip with us. Needless to say, he was not happy about it. He kicked and screamed and looked like he was physically melting in the rain. Anyway, the group had to go on without him. The kids really enjoyed the Amtrak train ride and safely made it back to the daycare center only to find their left behind friend still crying and misbehaving. To make it even worse, the kids brought back Burger King for lunch which only intesified his anger, frustration, and sadness when he saw that the other kids had toys and french fries while he had the boring school lunch (even though it looked quite appetizing!). I felt kind of bad for the kid but he definitely had it coming to him with all of his misbehaving throughout the day. After lunch, I spent the remainder of the day in Mrs. Jackie's office chatting with her about the kids, writing an article for the paper, and meeting one of her brothers (who by the way is a very cool guy). Hopefully, we'll be able to have their family over for one of our Weekly DInners with cool people from Marion (lol). They should be a very interesting group of people to have over.

John Luttrell and I headed to the gym after work today, and then we came home to have some delicious tacos for dinner. Alice, the Davids, and I took a nice walk after dinner to burn off some of that taco meat (lol again). Then we spent the rest of the evening discussing the house's fiscal policy regarding communal meals and other miscellaneous topics. Overall, today has been a pretty good day with a lot of memorable experiences. Hopefully, tomorrow will be just as great! :)

It was KHADIJAH!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!!!!!!!!

Most of us had the day of today, everyone except for John Deans, Brandon, and David Womble. Everyone else pretty much chilled at the house all day to catch up on reading, chores, and rest. I'm almost halfway done with Nickel and Dimed and so far I have mixed reviews about what I've read. I feel like Ehrenreich puts out a lot of important information about the various struggles that low-wage workers must endure on a daily basis. However, I feel that she has given herself certain advantages that a normal person actually living in her situation would never have. It's an interesting read and I'm hopeful that maybe I'll enjoy it more as I read more.

For dinner tonight we had....BREAKFAST! John Deans and I took turns manning the bacon while Khadijah killed some pancakes with our giant box of Bisquick. Alice prepared the eggs for us and we each made our own order that we preferred. I think everyone would agree that this dinner was absolutely delicious and one of the favorites so far.

After dinner I introduced a new game to the group called This Is A...., which everyone seemed to liked (except for Alice...lol) and the girls DOMINATED the guys in a round of Cranium. But the real fun came when we decided to play Mafia. I never knew that Khadijah was such a deceptive person...she completely fooled everyone! Alice and John were the two prime suspects for the mafia until the very end when Khadijah shocked us all. She had played so well and rightfully won the game.

Tomorrow is my first day at the Troy-Johnson Center. I'm excited to get involved with the kids there and compare my experiences there with those I've had so far at the Center for the Child. I'll let you know how it turns out! See ya!

Critical Reflection #1

When I first entered the Richardson Center for the Child at Francis Marion University I was extremely excited to be working at a state of the art childcare and research facility. I entered the building after passing the beautifully crafted fountain in the center of the parking lot and the line of parked mini vans and sedans that were waiting for parents to return from dropping off their children. The inside is professionally decorated with the daycare center to the right main entrance and the “academic” research portion of the facility to the left. The first person I meet is Gloria, one of the receptionists on the daycare side. She seems to be expecting me and immediately takes me to the four-year-old classroom until my supervisor, Dr. Hester, arrives. The teachers in the four-year-old classroom, Ms. Rachael and Ms. Stacy, were welcoming and friendly when I first arrived, but I have to admit that I think they were a little confused as to why I was in their classroom. Ms. Rachael was definitely more receptive and just wanted me to have fun and play with the kids. Ms. Stacy, however, was a little more curious about who I was, where I came from, and what I was doing in her room – especially when I told her I was studying biomedical engineering. I tried to be as friendly and polite as I could without acting too weird and eventually just started playing with the kids as they continued their normal schedule. There was a fairly diverse group of children in the classroom, but the majority of them were white. I had learned from Dr. Hester that about half of the kids in the four-year-old class were a part of the South Carolina CDEPP (Child Development Education Pilot Program) – a state funded pilot program for at-risk four-year-old children. Their tuition is paid for by the government so that they can receive quality childcare despite their family’s impoverished state. I stereotypically assumed that all of the black children in the class were members of this program, and after spending a week in the classroom and asking a few questions, I think I have confirmed that all of the black children – along with a few others – are indeed a part of CDEPP. I would be very interested to compare the development of the children in CDEPP and those who aren’t to see if there are any disparities concerning their readiness for Kindergarten and any other educational disparities.

Dr. Hester and I had a really great conversation when we first met on Tuesday. He seems really excited to have me at the center and really has a plan for what he wants me to learn and experience while I’m there. We discussed both of our family and educational backgrounds, and we learned that we actually come from fairly similar families. I’ll be working with him and another professor named Dr. Farrah Hughes on their current research project on parental stress among low-income parents. I think I’m really going to get a feel for how social psychology research takes place and also for the extreme difficulties that the “working poor” has to endure.

On Thursday morning I went to Mullins to meet my supervisor at the Troy-Johnson Intergenerational Korner. Ms. Jackie is a very nice lady who is extremely active in her community and does anything and everything she can to help the less fortunate in her community – including keeping her facility open anywhere between 4AM and midnight! I think the people at the Center for the Child and at Troy-Johnson may have expected that I would be white because I was a Duke student. However, Ms. Jackie was the only one who actually stated that she thought her intern would be white! I guess she was surprised when she saw me, but I actually think my race will come in handy at my job in Mullins. The vast majority of the students and staff at Ms. Jackie’s daycare are African American. Perhaps I will be able to connect more with them than those at the Center for the Child. In any case, I think it will be very interesting to compare my experiences at both center over time.

So...

I really don't feel like blogging tonight....

We went to the movies yesterday to see Star Trek and explore Florence. It was great.

Today some of us went to the Methodist Church...then I went to the gym to get my membership and work out a little. We came back and finally broke into that watermelon before heading out for dinner at Zapata's. For a second there, we thought we were going to starve because all of the restaurants were closed but we eventually found something. Then we came back to the house to watch Madea goes to Jail, eat some pound cake and inquiry about all of our strange childhood habits and past/current relationships. Lol...

Hopefully I'll have more energy to blog later. Sorry for the disappointment.

A Beautiful Evening

Tonight was a great night, but let's back track a little since I failed to inform the public about what went on yesterday...

I arrived at the Center for the Child yesterday around 8:30 as usual and headed for the four-year-old classroom. They were busy playing at their various "centers" and having a great start for the day. I was playing with some of the kids at their grocery store center where I was spending a great deal of pretend money on plastic fruits and vegetables and empty boxes of cereal, laundry detergent, and baby wipes. I wanted to see how much the kids knew about different types of foods so I asked one child in particular to identify each fruit for me as I purchased it. However, I was both amused and slightly concerned when one child repeatedly identified each item as..........Egg Salad - in the most honest and adorable four-year-old voice you've ever heard. No matter which item I chose for him to identify, it was always.........Egg Salad. I don't really know what that was about but I had to try my best not to laugh right in the kid's face. It was really funny.

After hanging out with the kids outside for a while, Dr. Hester came to get me and gave me an interesting assignment for the next week. I was to undertake the role of a single mother of two kids (2 and 7 years old) living in Marion, SC with a full-time job at McDonald's Restaurant - a minimum wage job. I had to budget my expenses for an entire year, including child care, transportation, insurance (health, auto, life, etc.), taxes, groceries, and any other necessary expenses. I also had to figure out how I could get to work while making sure my children got to school and daycare safely, for the needed amount of time, and while still receiving quality care and education. So far, I know that I have less that $14,000/year to work with so....yea....this is going to kind of tough but I'm really excited to see how I can make it work. Dr. Hester's intentions are for me to get a good picture of the kind of situation that the "working poor" is in, not only in Marion, but across the country. Single parents are obviously even at more of a disadvantage since there is only one source of income. I'm excited to take on this project and what I'm going to learn from it. I've also started ready Nickel and Dimed and I look forward to incorporating Ehrenreich's experience with my own research and experience at the center.

After work, I came back to the house, took a quick run around the neighborhood, and took a shower before David Oberst and I took a trip to Food Lion to get the ingredients for the meal we're cooking on Friday. We plan on serving Oven-Fried Chicken for the main course and garlic mashed potatoes and green beans as the sides. Sounds yummy right? Hopefully it will turn out well. The rest of the evening was pretty low key....we did a mini ab workout (Khadijah, Alice, and I) and watched the season finale of American Idol...Congratulations Kris!!!!! (just in case he reads this one day....lol).

So now I'll turn to my day today...

This morning I went to meet Ms. Jackie and the Troy-Johnson Intergenerational Learning Center in Mullins. I got a little lost on the way there but it turned out to be a pretty easy place to find so hopefully that won't happen again :) Ms. Jackie seems like she'll be a really great superviser...she and actually her whole family are really involved in the community and try to serve it as much as they can. Ms. Jackie was some of the lowest childcare rates in the area and I was amazed to hear that her hours of operation can last from 4 AM until midnight!!!! She's struggling like many other small business owners but she has a relentless committment to helping those in need in her community and even though I just met her, I can tell that she does a great job. She invited me to the four-year-old class's "graduation" this Saturday morning so I plan on attending that and I'm happy she's already seeing me as a part of the center's family. She's closed on Monday (Memorial Day) but I'll start out there on Tuesday morning and be there for the remainder of the week. The rest of my day was spent back at FMU with the kids there. I talked more with another student/teacher who works at the Center for the Child and is also a student at FMU. She seems really nice and I hope we get to know each other more over the course of the 9 weeks.


After getting back home, Khadijah, Alice, and I watched The View online because we were missing it so much...lol. Then, thanks to the generosity of Dr. Demarco, John Deans, Alice, and I went to Florence to see a benefit symphony performance. A lady in Florence diagnosed with breast cancer has lost her medical insurance and as a result declared medical bankruptcy because she cannot afford to pay for her treatment. As an accomplished flutist and musical director at her church, the local Florence Symphony Orchestra, the Masterworks Choir, the Florence Little Theatre Singers, and other musicians performed at this benefit concert to raise money for this woman and her family. It was a beautiful concert and my very first symphony that I've seen perform! This family is very much loved in their community and I wish her all of the best. The emcee reported at the end of the concert that over $31,000 had been raised for the family so far so hopefully much more will come. It was nice to get up close and personal with small town South Carolina (even though Florence is bigger than Marion) and I'm sure much more of the will come later.

Well that's about all I can do tonight...I'M TIRED!!!! Goodnight :)

Hello Noelle from Joy and Momma

Noelle, read your blogs and sounds like you're having lot of fun! I'm very proud of you! Be safe and we'll talk to you soon! I love you!

Momma

Note to Daddy

Hey Daddy, how are you? I am glad that you successfully logged on to my blog. There's a place where you can comment on the blogs without actually writing one. They're at the bottom of the posts. I hope you're enjoying reading what's going on! Hopefully, I'll write another tomorrow! Talk to you later!

Noelle

HELLO

HELLO NOELLE, AM I OFFICIALLY BLOGGING. I DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS. HAVE A GOOD DAY. I WILL BLOG YOU BACK LATER.

Those Burgers were HUGE!

So...
Work today went really well! However, there was a little mix up with carpooling this morning. I was supposed to drop off Khadijah at her job on my way to The Center for the Child. But it turns out that the two locations are exactly in the opposite direction! So we had to turn around so I could drop her back off at the house at David Oberst (live saver!) took her to work and I raced back down the highway to get to work. I was a few minutes late but it was no big deal.
When I first arrived I went straight to the four-year-old classroom to play with them and observe their morning activities. There were two staff members in the classroom responsible for the kids, Stacy and Rachel. They both seemed really nice and really seemed to enjoy the kids. More importantly, however, the kids seemed to really like the two ladies and respect them. I thought they were extremely well behaved and curious about me and all of the things around them. I will be working with Dr. Hester and another psychology professor on the research on parental stress that accompanies families dealing with poverty. I'll also be reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich which I've heard is a very good read. Overall, I think I'm going to have a great balance between having fun working/playing with the kids and babies while also learning about the impact of poverty in eastern South Carolina and how The Center for the Child is helping to assuage the problem.

Back at the house...
We kind of just hung around the house waiting for John Deans and David Womble to make dinner. While we were waiting, all of us shared our stories about our first days at work and what are plans were for the summer so far. Some highlights: David Womble got a great deal on a fishing pole and he plans to catch, clean, dress, and fry catfish for us whenever we want, David Oberst rode on the Bookmobile all over South Carolina, and I would like to be the first to announce that John Deans will be writing his first book this summer (just to name a few!). Looks like we're gonna have some awesome experiences this summer! lol...

After HOURS and HOURS of waiting for simple hot dogs and hamburgers, we FINALLY had dinner. I have to admit, however, that it was amazing. A hamburger was a size of a small rodent and the hot dogs looked as appetizing as an Oscar Meyer commericial. Salad and baked potato also accompanied the meal and my glass of milk paired quite nicely with the meal.

Overall, today was another great day and a great start to our internships!

Salad: Do-it-yourself or Pre-made?

So today was grocery shopping day.

John Deans, David Womble, and I went to Food Lion this morning to buy our personal food items. The boys applied for their MVP cards, but I didn't really see the point of buying one since they always let you borrow one. So I didn't apply for one. I guess the Food Lion trip wasn't that exciting.

But Walmart was.....

So we spent almost two hours in the supercenter buying numerous types of fruit (even a watermelon!), lunch meat, random snacks, juice, breakfast necessities, a DVD player, and a toaster. Also, the ingredients for tonight's and tomorrow's dinner were also purchased. This is where the controversy started. So....some people discussed using the pre-made in a bag for our dinners because they thought it may be cheaper and more convenient than buying the big head of lettuce and all of the toppings on the side. I guess it doesn't sound like such a big deal but apparently some people had very strong feelings about which version they preferred. Anyways!!! We decided that the two people making dinner each night could decided on which salad version they preferred and we will come up with a budget for all future dinners. See? We know how to compromise! :)

Some people also got library cards today (one of the items on our scavenger hunt of Marion). Hopefully I will be able to get mine tomorrow. We also visited the wellness center at the hospital to get our applications for membership.

Dinner was FABULOUS this evening! Alice and Khadijah made some delicious spaghetti and salad for our first dinner at home. What a success! I also rediscovered my love for milk at dinner this evening. I rarely drink milk straight out of the glass, but this evening I drank a glass with half 2% and half skim and let me tell you....it was absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I guess I forgot how much I really like milk. Anyways...dinner was overall very pleasant and enjoyable.

After dinner, we watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman together, and it would have been a great time except for John Luttrell (and David Womble at the VERY END!!!) making certain comments during the film that seemed to just ruin the moment. I'll admit some of the comments were quite funny, but I wish those who had not seen the movie before could have enjoyed it without so much interruption. Thanks a lot John!! (jk!)

Tomorrow is our first day at work! I drove to the Center for the Child this morning and it was pretty easy to find. I'm really excited about seeing the inside of the facility, meeting Dr. Hester and Bunchie, seeing the kids, and finding out more about exactly what my job will entail. It should be a blast!

By the way....

Quote of Day...

Alice: Do you guys wanna talk???
(awkward silence)
Alice: (in a sad voice) Ok.

Also...

It's just like...it's just like...a mini...mall!

Our "Communal" Home

Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Carolina Summer of Service has officially begun at 204 Blue Street in Marion, SC. My whole family drove me down to South Carolina yesterday morning to help me unpack and get comfortable. I thought I may have been the first one to arrive, but when I discovered that the back door was unlocked, and wandered inside to find Khadijah inside already unpacked and settling in. David Oberst, Alice, and John Luttrell arrived soon after and we all explored our new home together, finding an enormous and slightly creepy supply of Christmas decorations, numerous mirrors, strange pictures (Lucy Betty Blue Bloom being one of them...lol), and various other trinkets. I'm sure we'll find more fun stuff to play with during our nine weeks here. lol.

Alice, David, and I made our first venture into the great city of Marion during their annual Fox Trot Festival to see some of the carnival rides and fun foods that the people were enjoying. We are STARVING so we went looking for lunch and stumbled upon Richard's Restaurant, a greasy spoon diner that seemed like a local favorite. After grabbing our burgers, we came back to the house hoping to find the rest of our group, but we came back to find that NO ONE ELSE had arrived and we sat and ate impatiently. However, after a while all of us made it safely to the house and we excitedly introduced them to our new home. Charlotte, Khadijah, and I bunked up in the "pink room" while Alice and Lauren paired up in the "Tarheel room." John Deans, John Luttrell, and David Oberst stayed in the other bedroom, while Brandon and David Womble transformed the dining room into their own bedroom.

With everyone settled, dinnertime was approaching and we were all excited to see Minda when she arrived to take us to dinner. Pizza Hut was the location of choice and we made our first "communal" decision about which pizzas to order (we decided on one order of pepperoni, cheese, meat lovers, and veggie...btw). Next we made a stop to the local Piggly Wiggly to get some items for breakfast and lunch for this morning and afternoon. It also happened to be Lauren's birthday, so we picked up a couple of cakes and candles for her and enjoyed them once we got back to the house. The remainder of the evening was spent talking with Minda, eating cake, playing cards, Facebooking, playing the Wii, talking about random things, and eventually drifiting off to sleep. Everyone was tired from such a busy day and we were ready for a good night's sleep. :)


Sunday, May 17, 2009
Our offical BNDT Pre-Internship Retreat was today. Minda came over this morning after breakfast to discuss our expectations and goals for the summer. I thought it was a great opportunity for us to come together as a group to discuss how we were all anticipating how we wanted the summer to go and to also think about what personal goals I wanted to achieve during my nine weeks here. We also spent time as a group coming with a plan of how to we should organize the food/cooking/cleaning in the house. Some people had different ideas about if we should have "communal food" or just individual/"every-man-for-yourself food." In the end we decided on a few items that everyone will have access, while still allowing everyone to have their own private stash of specific things they like to eat or drink that's paid for by that individual. I think it will definitely be a challenge to come up with a good plan for running the house efficiently, fairly, and in a way that keeps everyone happy but I think that we are a phenomenal group of people who are extremely bright and creative so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

During our break before dinner, some of the girls had a great abs workout and even did a little cardio with the Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution. The rain prevented me from going out for a run but I feel like we had a really great workout.

Dinner tonight was on Minda again and this time we ate Mexican at Zapata's right off of Main Street. She gave us some last minute advice and information about our internships and then she was off! We are officially on our own in Marion, SC. This is going to be amazing! :)