Updateagain

Well, I have slacked on my blogging, and I've really missed it.

So I feel like a lot has happened in the past month or so... I accepted the position I was offered working at an elementary after school program. I watched 3 seasons of 24. I took up knitting and can't stop. I randomly started dating an incredible guy. I spent 12 days in Memphis. I got a reminder to daily walk in Christ's love. I had a surprise visitor for 10 days in Portland. I found a roommate. I found an affordable apartment. I took a road trip to Seattle. I started my job. I moved into my apartment. I have found some really awesome, fun friends through my job. I have already started procrastinating in work. :)

Where to begin? My job, I suppose. So I got this job offer and was really unsure about whether it was the best choice for me. To say the least, it doesn't exactly pay well. In fact, it is basically considered a volunteer position with a living allowance. I definitely know I can live on a very small amount of money, but it is tough to swallow my pride sometimes and accept not having much. It was tough knowing I could be a waitress or barista and make almost twice as much. Also, this job is a commitment through December. It made me nervous to realize I would be tied down to Portland and this position for almost a year. I guess my fear of commitment is in multiple aspects of my life... But I realized that in the grand scheme of things, 11 months to struggle with money and be in a job is not at all a huge deal... So, I started last Monday. I was incredibly excited and nervous. I walked into the room with 15 other people who were probably experiencing very similar feelings. Our first week was primarily training/orientation. I am assigned to an elementary school to teach a Youth Advisory Council and a service learning class after school. I'm still struggling to understand what that will look like (which is where my procrastination comes in, I should definitely be working on lesson plans right now). I start teaching tomorrow... I'll get around to it eventually... I have met some awesome people already. There are 14 girls and 2 boys on my team. We all come from different backgrounds and are headed toward different goals, but we are all experiencing this together. It's awesome. Already hung out with some of them twice this past weekend. It's really exciting to have some new friends and have a sense of a community with them.

Regarding my new apartment/roommate. It is a pretty sweet deal. Austin knew a pastor out here so he emailed the pastor asking if he knew of anyone who needed a roommate. The pastor sent me Charity's information so we started emailing. As soon as I got back in town from Christmas we met for coffee. We got to talk about backgrounds, living expectations, finances, etc and decided we would be a good fit for each other. About a week later we found a place about 20 blocks from Avery and Destiny and 80 blocks away from my school for an awesome price! It's a two bedroom with a nice size kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Luckily she had most everything we would need and even provided a box spring and mattress for me. It is pretty awesome. I will take pictures once we get all the way settled.

Being in Memphis was really refreshing. It was a rush and busy as crap, but awesome at the same time. I love being with my family. It was so nice to just be with them and spend some great time with all of them. It's amazing the love and comfort I feel being surrounded by them. It was also awesome getting to see some friends and catch up, as well as meet some new friends...

Which brings me to Austin. I will just give an overview of our story... Austin and I had probably met twice (none of which I remember), and were facebook friends from that. He is trying to figure out where to go to grad school and Portland State is high on his list. He saw on facebook that I had moved to Portland (and he likes to add "plus she was really cute") and decided to ask me about the city/PSU. We facebook chatted for a little bit, and I was just confused. I had no idea why this random guy was talking to me, but after extensive facebook stalking I was in no way concerned. He was far from my type. Yeah, God is funny. Anyway, talking about grad school turned into talking about passions which turned into talking about life. We ended up chatting for about 4 hours the first time we talked. At the end of the convo he asked if he could have my number and call me the next day. I was EXTREMELY hesitant, but knew I saw something special and different in him. We talked on the phone the next day and then video chatted (embarrassing, but true) for the next month before I went home for Christmas. Being in Memphis and affirming all the feelings I had felt the past month was incredible. Then while I was having an emotional breakdown because I was struggling to balance time between him, family, and friends he told me he was following me back to Portland and spending 12 days there. WHAT?! I just met this boy. (Funny story, my flight was delayed and he had to spend two days in Portland without me, including New Years Eve... It wasn't funny at the time.) Anyway, we had a phenomenal time together exploring the city, hiking, hanging with Avery and Dest and road-tripping. Unfortunately we are back to video chatting/calling for now. 

Alright, time to lesson plan.