where has all my time gone?!

I can't believe it's been a week since my last post! Time is really flying here in Chicago. We've been busy with work and a little bit of fun as well:)

This past weekend we went to Taste of Chicago which was fun, but don't worry, the Indiana State Fair is better! Taste of Chicago works like this: a bunch of local restaurants set up booths along Columbus and there are booths where you buy tickets. Then at each food booth, you can buy normal portions for so many tickets, or each booth has a "taste" portion for fewer tickets. We all got a bunch of different things are shared them. Of course I had to get a Chicago style hotdog even though I've tasted them before. I LOVE hotdogs! After the Taste, we went to see Ratatouille. Very cute. I recommend it.

While I'm talking about fun things, we also went to Chicago's big fireworks last night. They do theirs on the 3rd for some reason. The fireworks were amazing, although I've never been in such a huge crowd before. We took public transportation and while it was crowded and a bit uncomfortable, it was very easy- I love a good public transportation system. We have the day off every Wednesday and even though we've only been officially working for 2 days I was definitely ready for a lazy day.

Every morning we have a conference on something. On Mondays we have an hour of time with the highschool kids that we're mentoring. This past Monday was our first chance to really get to talk to them and it went very well. They're excited about spending time with us and although we feel inadequate to be mentors, I think that a lot of positive things will come out of this part of the project. The girl that I'm mentoring is Mayra. She is a great girl with a very positive outlook on life, but her life isn't easy. I would really appreciate your specific prayers for the time that Mayra and I spend together, and that in some way, I would be able to give her what she needs right now.

We also had another conference on Monday where we talked about the pros and cons of being a doctor in the inner city. The guy who led the conference has published a paper about a study that he did on this topic. It was a great conference.

Also on Mondays and Thursdays in the afternoons we shadow different providers at the clinic. This past Monday I was with a male nurse practitioner seeing Family Medicine patients. It wasn't anything terribly exciting, except that it's exciting to see that people are getting their basic health needs met in an affordable and caring setting as opposed to going to the ER. I did get to speak to one patient in Spanish and it was a great encouragement to keep practicing because people really appreciate a kind word in their own language.

Mondays and Thursdays are also the days that we get to have dinner at the home of someone who works in the clinic. This Monday it was the CFO/COO of the clinic. He lives in the neighborhood in a beautifully remodeled house. That's one of my favorite parts about the clinic at Lawndale- so many of the providers live right in the neighborhood and when their patients know that, it really deepens that relationship. I think this has been one of the most important parts of Lawndale's success. This guy's kids go to magnet schools with kids from the neighborhood and play on the same baseball teams. Children are often one of the biggest reasons that people don't live in the neighborhood, but this family really has a great faith that this is where they're supposed to be and that they will be taken care of. I asked them if they had ever had any scary experiences and the father said that while they were remodeling the house was broken into almost every night but that once they moved in 2 years ago, that hadn't happened. "I'm sure we'll get broken into someday," he said calmly, "It's just the reality of the situation." But the people on the block know and trust this family, and that goes a long way.

We had our first home visits yesterday and my team had kind of a frustrating day. But since this post is already long and since it was only the first day I'm going to wait until Friday after our second home visits to write about that.

More soon (and pictures!)