everything is so good right now.
tomorrow im leaving for a whirlwind of a week, where Ill be driving up to albany tomorrow then to montreal for wednesday and back down to the city to make it to work by 1 so i can pick up some residents and drive them up to new paltz to come right back to work again on friday before leaving saturday morning to go home for the weekend again with the intent of returning to nyc monday night. got it?
im really excited to do all these things and to see dave and to visit mcgill for the first time as an accepted student. yayayay! my agenda for wednesday is as follows: leave albany with sister around 8am, arrive in montreal around 12 noon. check out the various housing offices to try and figure out where ill live, and depending on time explore some student neighborhoods and get lunch. meet with my field coordinator from 2-3, then with my academic advisor from 3-4, then attend the field orientation with the other students in my track from 4-5:30. drive back to albany, and arrive somewhere near 10pm. i cant wait!
back here in good ol nyc things are going swimmingly as well. tomorrow ill be going on a home visit to a resident's home for the first time, so im excited to both get out of the building and learn another aspect of the job. im taking some residents to new paltz on thursday as my shift to get them out of the house (theyre on spring break) and i really hope they have a good time.
ive had a great last two weekends with my community, going out and about in the city, astoria, and scranton PA. these weekends make up the moments i know im going to miss the most next year.
tonight for spirituality night jon lead all of the gsv's in a "pre-spirituality" night in anticipation of our last (!!) gsv retreat. its the spirituality retreat, and it will be silent. no music, no books, no cell phones.. and i dont want to be a debbie downer but it doesnt sound like much fun either. its going to be 3 days of reflection and meditation, with a mix of guided time and alone time. i am not good at that much alone time and ive never tried to be quiet for that long. i think its going to be really uncomfortable and either lead to cyclical thinking (read, worrying) and/or lots of boredom. but ill give it a shot and see what i think. even if its really difficult or terrible its only one weekend, right?
so, friends, thats where ill leave off this time. toodles!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
check-in
my name is madeline and i feel relaxed.
my goal for the evening is to stay relaxed and to continue riding the high of this weekend.
krystina can help me with that.
my goal for the evening is to stay relaxed and to continue riding the high of this weekend.
krystina can help me with that.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
progress
it's been an even busier two weeks, now that I've got a plan for next year, the weather's getting slightly nicer and some of our residents are prepairing to age out of marian hall.
work has been rough recently as many of the girls have acquired some nasty new attitudes and increased their attention seeking behaviors, but today who cares because we had some major successes!!! our oldest resident, who has been there for 6 years, struggeled through multiple stints at rehab and couldn't maintain any kind of education or vocational program GRADUATED from a cooking program and GOT A JOB!!! She called screaming with excitement for her and I was so happy and proud of her I was screaming right back at her. then, another miracle, one of our toughest girls who's been in and out of psych hospitals since age 5 actually went to a housing interview and did well enough to make it to their waiting list!!! i honestly could not believe it. i was so excited for both of them my face was hurting from smiling so much. it made me want to cry. what a day.
im also planning a bunch of fun outings to do with them soon because they have a long spring break coming up. im hoping it will help me to enjoy working and their company a little more.
im continuing to enjoy community here in astoria. we have some pretty cool community nights (this week we went to a book release - a memoir-ish type book written by a former child prostitute turned founder of GEMS, a group that works with girls in forced sexual enslavement that marian hall has sent some residents to - really great stuff!) and we do a lot of fun things on our own too. im looking forward to another fun weekend filled with exploring the city and partying-hardy =]
in terms of next years plans things are coming together really quickly. i started french lessons yesterday. it was pretty hard because the teacher only speaks to us in french so i often have no idea whats going on, but i know it will help me learn faster so im just going to have to put in a lot of effort. its a small class of nice people, so hopefully it will be a fun and enjoyable experience. also i got a day off (!!) to attend a field placement open house at mcgill at the end of the month, and some staff there were nice enough to switch their schedules around to accommodate meeting with me! im going to meet with my future academic advisor to plan my class schedule and discuss my research interests and with the field advisor to discuss possible placements for next year. im really excited to know what ill be doing and happy that they were so nice to go out of their ways to meet with me since im from so far away. it makes me hopeful that im going to have a good experience next year at mcgill =] im hoping to learn about my housing options when i go up to visit, and i should hear about the TAship and scholarships soon. so exciting!!!
work has been rough recently as many of the girls have acquired some nasty new attitudes and increased their attention seeking behaviors, but today who cares because we had some major successes!!! our oldest resident, who has been there for 6 years, struggeled through multiple stints at rehab and couldn't maintain any kind of education or vocational program GRADUATED from a cooking program and GOT A JOB!!! She called screaming with excitement for her and I was so happy and proud of her I was screaming right back at her. then, another miracle, one of our toughest girls who's been in and out of psych hospitals since age 5 actually went to a housing interview and did well enough to make it to their waiting list!!! i honestly could not believe it. i was so excited for both of them my face was hurting from smiling so much. it made me want to cry. what a day.
im also planning a bunch of fun outings to do with them soon because they have a long spring break coming up. im hoping it will help me to enjoy working and their company a little more.
im continuing to enjoy community here in astoria. we have some pretty cool community nights (this week we went to a book release - a memoir-ish type book written by a former child prostitute turned founder of GEMS, a group that works with girls in forced sexual enslavement that marian hall has sent some residents to - really great stuff!) and we do a lot of fun things on our own too. im looking forward to another fun weekend filled with exploring the city and partying-hardy =]
in terms of next years plans things are coming together really quickly. i started french lessons yesterday. it was pretty hard because the teacher only speaks to us in french so i often have no idea whats going on, but i know it will help me learn faster so im just going to have to put in a lot of effort. its a small class of nice people, so hopefully it will be a fun and enjoyable experience. also i got a day off (!!) to attend a field placement open house at mcgill at the end of the month, and some staff there were nice enough to switch their schedules around to accommodate meeting with me! im going to meet with my future academic advisor to plan my class schedule and discuss my research interests and with the field advisor to discuss possible placements for next year. im really excited to know what ill be doing and happy that they were so nice to go out of their ways to meet with me since im from so far away. it makes me hopeful that im going to have a good experience next year at mcgill =] im hoping to learn about my housing options when i go up to visit, and i should hear about the TAship and scholarships soon. so exciting!!!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Miami and McGill
Last weekend I went to Miami for a few days with Kim and Eva. We stayed with my friend Kousha in a ballin apartment and had a really good time. Here are the highlightes:
-day 1: being in the sun!!! and warm. in shorts. in March.
going out to a bar and then "skinny dipping" (us ladies kept our unders
on) in the ocean after
-day 2: beach!!!!!
-day 3: Everglades and Biscayne Bay Park
-day 4: in the airport waiting to go home to NY i got an acceptance email from
Hunter College. When we landed in NY I got an acceptance email
from McGill. What a perfect way to end a vacation =]
and some pics:
more about McGill: I was accepted into their accelerated msw program and will begin classes september 1st (I think). I'm in the running for several fellowships, scholarships, and TA ships, so hopefully I'll have enough money to eat and all that fun stuff. I'm not sure where I'll live.. I can stay in on-campus grad apartments, but it might be cheaper to get my own. im not sure that i want to do that, though, because I'll only be there for one year and I dont know if i want to get involved with a new landlord since i dont know montreal rental law or anything. well see. I'm going up to mcgill on the 20th to attend a field placement orientation and hopefully to meet with my advisor and set up a class schedule. I want to get as much information about the campus as I can then to learn about my different living and working options. funfun!
-day 1: being in the sun!!! and warm. in shorts. in March.
going out to a bar and then "skinny dipping" (us ladies kept our unders
on) in the ocean after
-day 2: beach!!!!!
-day 3: Everglades and Biscayne Bay Park
-day 4: in the airport waiting to go home to NY i got an acceptance email from
Hunter College. When we landed in NY I got an acceptance email
from McGill. What a perfect way to end a vacation =]
and some pics:
koushas balcony overlooking the ocean... and pool... and Miami skyline...
perfect turquoise/clear ocean
Kim, me and Eva
art deco
art sculpture thing
crane
gator on land!
gaots galore
more about McGill: I was accepted into their accelerated msw program and will begin classes september 1st (I think). I'm in the running for several fellowships, scholarships, and TA ships, so hopefully I'll have enough money to eat and all that fun stuff. I'm not sure where I'll live.. I can stay in on-campus grad apartments, but it might be cheaper to get my own. im not sure that i want to do that, though, because I'll only be there for one year and I dont know if i want to get involved with a new landlord since i dont know montreal rental law or anything. well see. I'm going up to mcgill on the 20th to attend a field placement orientation and hopefully to meet with my advisor and set up a class schedule. I want to get as much information about the campus as I can then to learn about my different living and working options. funfun!
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