N e w S e a s o n

My Week at Stony Point Center in New York is one that I will never forget. Although I seriously went through some intense culture shock because of the age groups and belief systems, I still had tons of laughs and made great friends that I hope to keep in contact with until we meet again at the end of the year. It's nice to see that I am part of something so much bigger! I have really had an amazing time getting to know my roommates and I already feel like I've known them forever. I met Jenn, Britney, and Eva at Stony Point (and of course, I already knew Nathan) and we had the most amazing time getting to know each other and being in awe of how carefully our site coordinator [prayerfully] made up this new and beautiful household.

Today I woke up and I was in Hollywood. 

It's weird to even think about it. I walked outside and it was sunny and the weather was perfect. I met ben adam and Tyler last night. They too fell perfectly into our group and I can already tell that the seven of us are going to have the most amazing year. 

Our first activity was to walk to Hollywood First Presbyterian Church which owns the community house and the duplex we stay at- live in. It was a fun walk. The air was thick with a blanket of pollution and every car that passed by made it harder for me to breathe in or to even take another step, but the graffiti was a sight to see. The temperature was perfect and I think I could get used to the air. At the end of our street- about a block away- is Paramount Pictures and it is really cool to just walk past it all the time and seeing signs such as "Dr. Phill..." blah blah... Stage 24 and stuff like that. We are really in the midst of celebrity culture and it is a bit odd and shocking. We turn a corner and there we can see the Hollywood sign sitting on a hill in the distance. 

We got to the church, met the pastors and the board of directors and had some fun chatting and getting to know them and time flew by- next we knew we were already home.  

Activity number two involved grocery shopping. First time. We had to shop for two days and take into account everybody's taste. We did pretty good with the latter, but we did end up buying for more than two days. This was a no budget shopping time and it was our last chance for the rest of the year to treat ourselves with comfort food and at the same time buy what is necessary to live here in community. It was an interesting activity. 

Our third activity involved actually sitting down and going through the handbook and orientation procedures which was actually kind of nice in my opinion. Learning what we (DOOR) are here for and where we came from is a good way to start my first day in LA. Alayna lead this group activity and she has been great at it. She is a past dweller (2010-2011) and we are all grateful for her. 

Sheldon, one of the past dwellers from a few years ago cooked our dinner. She made tacos that actually looked like real tacos and not the typical american commercialized tacos from Taco (H / B)ell!  We ate outside- some community friends had come and joined us and we had a great time laughing together and sharing stories. It's been nice to speak some real Spanish with Latinos again. It actually feels like I am an Latin America- a mix of the culture, language, people, and the way the buildings look! It's like I'm in a Spanish novela on Telemundo and I am loving every moment of it. 

Some of the things I've learned today:

1) I might be a vegeterian by the end of the year with some help- let's see how this goes. 

2) I might not be a germophobe by the end of the year with the help of my roommates- again, lets see how this goes. 

3) Just because I can dance doesn't mean that I can play "Just dance" on the Wii and ever win. 

4) God is testing me. 

5) It's going to be an amazing year.