Mardi Gras?

3/3/2012

Today I started my service placement. I don’t remember if I wrote this already, but I got switched from my previous service placement because that one wasn’t going to work with my schedule.

Before I talk about that, I should mention, that I woke up about an hour later than I wanted to, and when I did wake up, I couldn’t find my alarm clock. It was simply gone. Sometime between when I fell asleep and when I was supposed to wake up, sleepy Rachel hid it in an effort to trick me into sleeping longer. It worked. So I basically had to shower and leave. Sleepy Rachel, you've done it again. Later I found it tucked between my mattress and my headboard frame.

Anyway, now I’m working with Hillsong Street Teams. This takes place at the city campus. I got there around 8:30am where we broke up into smaller groups. My group consisted of me, a boy named Corey (from Florida), and a girl named Diana (from New Mexico). The three of us went to a low income housing apartment complex where we simply go around, knocking on doors and chatting with people. There are some regulars that always enjoy when street teams come on Saturday. A lot of the people in this building are elderly, or dealing with addictions of varying degrees.

It was really neat to go and meet these people. Some we talked to were so friendly and were so eager to share about their week with someone. One woman, Jane, was such a fun spirit. She was wearing a very brightly colored dress and went on and on about all of her bingo winnings from the last week. She had won sugar, toilet paper, and soap. She really had her eye’s on the jam, but she didn’t get it, so it must have been rigged. She was kind enough to give her soap to Corey. Apparently she thought he needed it.

That is just one example of the people we visited. After a few hours we headed back to the church to debrief about our time. Corey told me that there was a 7pm service and that afterward people tend to get together and hang out. Seeing as I need to make some friends, I thought I'd better go. I went home for a few hours to change, eat, and do some homework.

Once I went back, I was standing waiting at the bus stop and I met a very nice lady named Glenda. She is from the Philippines and is studying here as well. We ended up chatting up a storm and sitting together at church. I invited her to come out with me after the service, as I didn’t really know where I was supposed to meet up with this supposed “everyone” who goes out. But she had to work early the next morning so she politely declined. We exchanged numbers and I told her that I would most likely come back next week, so we could sit together again if she wanted. She said yes, so I think she likes me.

After service, I hunted down someone who looked like they knew what was going on. Because I was alone, people were eager to help me get connected to the right people. I first talked to Stephanie, who introduced me to Larinda. They introduced me to Andy, who helped me fine Jenna, Rose and Cecelia. Eventually that led to meeting Christina, Monica, and Michelle (I met some more but I can’t remember all of them. Cut me some slack). Christina is from Panama, Monica from Ecuador, and Michelle from Brazil. So we were chatting for a while about what we were going to do. They said that we were all going out to some pub/hotel bar. While we were chatting, Corey found me and said that him and another group were going to go to a friends apartment and watch a movie.

I felt better about going with Corey, because, I didn’t even know those other girls. And Corey and I went back at least 8 hours, so we were pretty tight. We ended up going back to his friends apartment where I met: Peter, Ian, Jesse, Haiti, Mary, Scott and probably others that I can’t remember right now. We watched the movie Warrior. I liked it.

By the time the movie was over it was around 12 and I still had to make it back to a train station to get home. Corey was a doll and helped me get a taxi to the train station. From there I was about to just hop on the train.

As it so happens, Saturday was the local “Mardi Gras” celebration (which has no connection with the American Mardi Gras whatsoever). So there were plenty of sights to be seen on public transportation. I watched a girl and her boyfriend drunkenly scream at each other at the train station. I watched a girl get off the train, take off her shoes, put the shoes back on the train and then walk away without them. I didn’t stay to watch, but I can only assume that the train doors closed and her shoes went on without her. Then on my short walk home, I witnessed a car accident. So all-in-all, a pretty eventful day.