The post my mom has been waiting for

Photos of our apartment! And Ida.  She tends to follow me everywhere and finds her way in to most pictures.  It's taken me a while to get around to taking pictures, mostly because we didn't have any stuff when we moved in.  And pictures without stuff are BORING.

 

Cozy in the couch

OUTSIDE

  

Our building kind of reminds me of a hotel.  At first I wasn't sure if I would like that or not.  But it's really nothing like a hotel (except we do have a pool and free cable).

 

The courtyard area right outside our door.  It's got a couple tables, lots of chairs and a couple grills.

 Ida doing some tanning.

 The grill-we-have-never-used-but-probably-should-soon

 The fence that separates our courtyard from the awesome grocery store next door.  

 The neighbors kitty that Ida likes to bother.

INSIDE

Our apartment is basically and open area of the kitchen and living room separated by a breakfast bar.  This is the view from the kitchen of our living room and awesome reclining couch.

Ida's bed in front of the window.

 

The kitchen

Another view of the kitchen (and dishwasher!)

 

Keeping the pantry stocked courtesy of food stamps.

MY CORNER 

My sewing corner (although right now it's set up more as my work-from-home corner)

BATHROOM

 

BEDROOM

 I need to make some curtains.

 The dresser we pulled out of the trash.  It's clearly nothing special and covered in the remains of sticker adhesive but it's functional.

 My super awesome HUGE closet

 Adam's not-as-HUGE-but-still-quite-SPACIOUS closet

Goodbye September

Failed apartment hunting, sick dog, head cold, campus "shooting".  September was the pits.  Luckily it's now October and all I can think about is the changing of the seasons and how much I love Autumn.  But apparently there have been no signs that the leaves will be changing colors anytime soon or the the temperature will be any less than 90.  I miss Illinois fall.

There is a daycare attached to the Social Work building and the window above my desk looks out onto the playground.  It's nice to hear kids laughing and playing, but I'm slowly being driven insane.  In order to get the kids inside, the childcare worker sings a song.  I hear this song at least 5 times a day. Every day. Guaranteed. 

Walking, Walking (sung to Frere Jacque)

Walking, walking
Walking, walking
Yes we are, yes we are
Everybody's walking, everybody's walking
Now we stop, now we stop

My Ida baby

Saturday morning Adam and I woke up and noticed that one of Ida's back legs was swollen and enlarged.  It was a little surreal how different it looked from her other leg.  She didn't seem to be in any pain and wasn't limping or anything.  I was immediately worried because earlier in the week she had made a mess all over our roommates room, which was completely unusual.  A few days later she had puked a couple times but seemed to be getting better.  I thought maybe she just ate something in the garbage that upset her stomach, but now with her leg swollen I got really freaked out.

We spent all Saturday morning in the hospital waiting.  It was horrible.  Finally the vet came in to examine Ida and noticed that one of her lymph glands was really swollen, which was probably causing poor circulation in her leg.  She seemed really unsure of what was going on and had to consult a book.  I was really hoping we would just go in there and she would tell me Ida got bit or stung by something.  Instead I just ended up being terrified and confused.  She said there could be a variety of reasons causing her gland to swell.  Tick borne disease, bacterial infection, fungal infection or cancer.  I know she's just a dog, but when I heard the vet say "cancer" my heart sank.  She's my baby and it scares me too much to think about.

They took some blood and a cell sample and will be calling us Tuesday with the results.  I'm also going to be in San Angelo for work the next two days which just makes me feel so much more anxious and scares.  I'm hoping an praying it's not something serious because I don't think I'm strong enough to handle anything else.

My job

I should probably update this thing more. It would probably help me get a better sense of what's going on in my life, because most of the time I just feel confused and a little lost.

My first week of work was rough. I felt like I was experiencing culture shock but it was more like work shock. Working in an office and in a University was such an adjustment for me. Also the first week I was here, most everyone in the IDVSA was out of town or working from home so I spent most of my time reflecting, questioning and comparing myself. It being my first week and not having a lot to do and then not having anyone around to ask questions or get a sense of my role gave me too much time to self reflect.

I spent too much time comparing myself to everyone else and eventually realized that's not a constructive way to spend my time. I still feel intimidated by my work environment. The people I work with are all incredibly smart and focused. And they are all doing really important things that I feel my part is so minimal. But I'm trying to not focus my time on that and instead focus on learning and being more confident.

Enough of all that emotional stuff. Here's the lowdown on the stuff I'm doing as the Interpersonal Violence Education Coordinator:

1st International Conference on Human Trafficking - October 6-7, 2010
This conference is spearheaded by Texas Representative Senfronia Thompson. I'm not really involved with this conference, but I get to attend and that's really exciting to me. Also two members of the IDVSA will be panelists for the conference.

5th Liberation-Based Healing Conference - November 5-6, 2010
I will be the volunteer coordinator for this conference which seeks to bring together practitioners and therapists, community activists and organizers, educators, and faith community leaders for dialogue and inquiry focused on a system of relational healing that embraces critical consciousness, empowerment, and accountability.

Expert Witness Training - January 9-11, 2011
The training is designed for attorneys, domestic violence service providers and professionals who are interested in being considered as expert witnesses in court cases involving domestic violence. This is a big project that I am involved with, working on organizing the curriculum and programming for the event.

Statewide Sexual Assault Needs Assessment
This research project of the IDVSA is assessing and evaluating different sexual assault programs in the state. We will be interviewing police officials, district attorneys, nurses and survivors throughout the state to evaluate the different programs and approaches. I was invited to go to San Angelo next week to tag along on the trip. It's really exciting for me because research has always seemed so mysterious to me and it will be great to get some first hand experience.

There's lots of other projects going on, but that's all the room my brain has right now. I will leave you with a photo of me in my office.

Some things about Austin

1. There is no worse feeling than just missing a bus here and having to wait in the boiling sun for another 40 minutes.

2. Austin seems to be very disabled-friendly or maybe I'm just noticing more people with disabilities. There was a dwarf bartender at the bar we went to the other day. I've also seen quite a few blind people and many wheelchairs. I think it's really cool!

3. I have no idea who the homeless people are here because no one ever asks for money. Sometimes I see people that I think look homeless but I don't think they are. I think they are just hobo chic. But generally I think many homeless people and most of the weird people tend to congregate around the bus stops.

4. a. So far I am one of 3 people from Illinois that live in Austin and have a tattoo of corn. Yesterday I met the other 2. The first was Chris, who some guys on a bus last week told me about after asking if I knew him. Well now I do. The other is a guy Robert that works at a cafe I went in to. He is from Alton, IL and might know someone that knows someone that I know.
b. It seems as thought almost everyone I have met is from the Midwest. Aside from our roommate I don't know any Austinites.

5. Some people we knew from Chicago (who now live in LA) are on Food Networks new show The Great Food Truck Race. We watched the first episode on Sunday and saw that there was a team from Austin on the show. I had seen their food truck a few days before when we were out at a bar. We decided to stop by and say hi the other night. The guy who owns it was so nice and friendly and we ended up hanging out at a bar with him while he was on call for deliveries.

6. Ida and Schilling seem to be getting along better so I am happy.

We made it!

So we've been in Austin about a week, but it feels so much longer. Maybe it's the 100+ degree weather every day. It's hot, much hotter than I was prepared for but I think I'm slowly adjusting to it. And we have AC in our apartment and a pool in the complex. And we also live right by the Green Belt which has natural spring water to swim in.

For the first 3 days our roommate had his dog here. Ida and her seemed to be adjusting. But it seems like Ida doesn't like older dogs and ends up fighting them. It's been really stressful because they seem to be getting along really well then all of the sudden something snaps in both of them. I think they had finally adjusted alright and then a 3rd dog got thrown into the mix. Jesse (our roommate) was dog sitting for his girlfriend. Ida and that dog got along really well but it messed up the doggy dynamic and Ida and Schilling got into the biggest fight yet. Jesse got a small bite trying to break them up and then took the other two dogs to his mom's for the weekend. And since then Ida has gotten into a two more scuffles with geriatric dogs while walking around the complex. What gives Ida? Stop picking on the old dogs.

Aside from the stress of Ida, we've been having fun exploring the city. It's really weird to have so much free time but absolutely no idea what to do with it. I miss my friends and family, but I know I will feel better once we start making friends. I wish I was starting my job earlier because I'd love to have people to meet and things to do. Adam and I went to the UT campus the other day and I really liked it. I'm excited I will be working there.

We quickly realized that this is a city we need a car in. Our apartment isn't centrally located so we have to take at least a 30 minute bus ride to get anywhere or ride our bikes. And in the 100 degree weather bike riding isn't fun, especially with all these hills they have in Austin. I've been looking for a cheap car on Craigslist but haven't really found anything yet. I did find a guy who is selling a 87 Toyota Tercel Station Wagon. It's $600 and has a Buddha on a lily pad painted on the hood of it.

We're adjusting, slowly but surely.

My new job

Say hello to the new Interpersonal Violence Education Coordinator VISTA at the University of Texas' School of Social Work's Institute of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA). Man that is a mouthful.

Last Thursday I had a phone interview with the IDVSA, Friday morning I was offered the position. It's an AmeriCorps position so the pay is what they call a "modest" living wage. It's not much more modest than I've already been living, but at least now I have medical coverage and an awesome opportunity to be a part of the School of Social work.

Everything about this position just feels perfect for me and I really think it was meant to be. It was the last position I applied to, a month after I had already applied to 10 other positions. I had just had my first phone interview and it went awful. I was unprepared, had confused the position with one of the 10 others I had applied to, and after the interview was finished felt a little defeated. Determined to not let myself get down I looked for and new AmeriCorps positions in Texas and came across one for the UT Austin Volunteer & Service Learning Center. The description didn't interest me much, but I applied anyway. The next day the Program Coordinator contacted me and forwarded me some more information about the available positions. My jaw dropped when I read the one for the Interpersonal Violence Education Coordinator. I had recently been looking into UT's School of Social Work and was so excited and impressed to see that they are doing LOTS of research on Human Trafficking. I've been wanted to pursue something in that area but have had a really hard time finding an opportunity where I could pursue it.

This position is perfect for me. And what's even better is they seem to love and and are really impressed and excited about my own experience. I see this position as a great opportunity to connect with the school, find incredible mentors, and have a multitude of opportunities.

I recently revisited the School of Social Works website and the main feature was a story about how the school is one of the first in the nation to blend social work and oncology. You can read more about it here. I'm so impressed and absolutely have to be involved with this in some way. The position is only a year and then after that I will have Texas residency and will qualify for in-state tuition. The women I have been in touch with at the school have already told me that "they don't let good people get away" and that they would be able to help me get an assistantship.

So Adam, Ida and I are still on schedule to move to Austin at the beginning of August. We haven't been able to find a place yet and it's a little difficult without being having the money to be able to visit first. Luckily my AmeriCorps position will be giving me about $500 to relocate so that will be extremely helpful with the moving expenses. Now we just need to find a place!