Housing Hunt

Since Easter I've been looking for another place to live. The house I'm living in is owned by a couple who recently returned from Ecuador. That changes the ambiance here. In addition they are planning on selling the house and gave me until June 1st to move out. I have a friend who also needs to be out of her current living situation by June 1st so we began the housing hunt.

I've visited some interesting apartments. One I saw last week was billed as a two bedroom however you had to go through one of the bedrooms to get from the kitchen to the living room. That doesn't work. There are lots of older homes and brownstone apartment buildings in the area where we are looking. That can mean some tiny bedrooms (does a double bed really fit in there?) and some small closets. Those that seemed liveable often didn't have room for our 3 bikes. (I'm the one with 2.)

In early May I visited a duplex (the ground floor of an old house) that had decent sized bedrooms, large closets, a pantry off the kitchen, and a huge front closet that could hold everything that didn't fit elsewhere. It was a little dirty but a good cleaning would get it sparkling. The bedrooms were painted an awful pink or green but the owner said we could paint those. While I was in France my future housemate went to see it and liked it as well. We understood that we had a verbal agreement and I was to call when I returned from my trip. I was expecting to be painting and moving this weekend. However, the owner rented it to someone else out from under our noses. I guess we learned it is always good to put down a deposit.

Saturday we visited another apartment that we both liked. It's in a great location and there is a storeroom in the basement for our bikes. The problem is that it is owned by a rental agency and since both of us have lived overseas for at least a couple of years our "rental history" isn't exactly the classic situation. My income and my credit score aren't classic either. One of my tasks today has been to round up documentation to back up what I'm saying and to pray that God gives us favor in their eyes.

Home

A few days before I left for France a friend asked me where I was going. I managed to catch myself before I said, "home" but knew there was plenty of emotion behind that thought which needed to be processed. As I reflected on this during my trip via Chicago and Madrid, I decided that if I could call my parents' place home even though I no longer live there, I can also call France home after living there for 18 years.

During the 12 days I spent in Lyon I enjoyed summer-like temperatures, buying 10 roses for less than $14, walking familiar streets, being back in the land of small cars, quiet Sundays, formage blanc, French bread, cheese, the best ice cream in Lyon and being with friends. There was no way I could see everyone but I did try to visit as many as possible. There are only so many meals one can eat in a day especially when each one is at a different person's home. Thankfully French breakfasts are far from being hearty.  One afternoon a friend offered me a cup of tea which I declined saying I'd already had 3 that day. She graciously agreed that was enough and took me to a sidewalk café where I could drink something cold while we caught up on the events in our lives over the past year. I got to know the babies who had been born since my departure and came home with some pictures as well as a clay "container" lovingly made by a 7 year old. I spent a lovely evening with Geoffrey and Aline (the couple who got married in April and were the reason for my visit) seeing pictures and hearing stories about their wedding and their first month together.

When it came time to say good-bye in some ways it was harder than a year ago. Many of my friends commented that they were looking forward to my visit a year from now. My finances won't allow for a yearly visit and there is no wedding on the horizon to look forward to. So somehow the good-byes seemed more final. I will continue to grieve the loss of face-to-face relationships that have meant so much to me over the years. At the same time as I walked home from the light rail after being up for over 22 hours during my return trip, I was thankful for the sense that I was coming home and looking forward to seeing my new friends here. The time will come when these relationships will be deeper and meaningful like those with some of my friends living in France.

I've come to the conclusion this week that I have 3 places I call home.  No wait, it's actually 4. As one of my friends reminded me, home is where we are going, not where we come from. Minneapolis is starting to feel more like home but I'm eagerly looking forward to really being HOME one day. Come Lord Jesus, come!

2nd semester is completed

I had two comprehensive finals today. My math final began at 3:30 and I turned in my test about 5:20. One of my answers didn't check but at least I had an answer. I left a question for a formula blank (which I now remember - though I still don't think I could have figured it out.) I'm not sure I was able to show enough work to get full credit for a couple questions but hopefully I didn't make any stupid mistakes. My Chemistry final started at 5:30 and I finished up about 7:15. For the most part it wasn't too difficult. I did struggle with a series of questions on molarity even though we just covered it recently. I came up with answers that made some sense but I have no idea if they are right or not. I should know my grades by the end of the week.

I have 3 weeks before summer classes begin and they will be full. Wednesday morning I leave for two weeks in France. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of friends. Hopefully my French will come back quickly. I'm sure there will be many stories to tell.

I'm planning on moving shortly after I return. The house I'm living in will soon be put up for sale so they have asked me to be out by June 1st. It would be nice to be moved in before summer classes start on May 31st. A friend also needs a new living situation by June 1st so we are looking for a place together. Craigslist spits out lots of 2 bedroom apartments every day (though there are plenty of repeats) and I've visited several of them. Taking into account our budget and realtors who actually show up at the appointed time, the issue seems to be having a place to keep my 2 bikes inside. I've been spoiled by living in apartment buildings with storage rooms in the basement. With my being gone for 2 weeks, the actual application process will need to be done by Stacie - and she's praying it goes smoothly.

Tutoring and Tests

Yesterday I finished two months of tutoring every Saturday. I started with a group of third graders, then helped a 9th grader with Algebra and the last three weeks I served as a sub since the 9th grader could easily be put with another math group. I learned a lot through the experience.

• I thought I would like the younger kids better, but the older kids were easier to work with. Their maturity level and attention span are such that they were much better able to focus on the task at hand.
• Tutoring from 8:30 to 3:30 is a long day for all age groups.
• Being bilingual has lots of advantages, but doing well on those standardized tests isn't one of them. The bilingual kids I worked with were bright, attentive and eager to learn. At the same time they had no idea what was meant by the sentence, "Johnny stayed home from school because he was under the weather?" I was glad to be able to help them make a small step forward in gaining a better grasp of the intricacies of the English language.
• Environment matters. Both sites for the Saturday tutoring were in churches. One had a room that was used for a preschool. It was brightly colored but the tables and chairs were small and shelves of toys and games were distracting. The other was a larger drab room in the basement. There was also a small gym (about the size of a volleyball court) up a couple of flights of stairs. I was normally at the second site but spent two weeks at the first one I described. The kids were much easier to work with at the drab one. It helped to have more space between the tables, fewer distractions and a place for the kids to run and get out some of their pent-up energy.. 
• Math is easier to teach than reading - at least for me. Maybe that is because I've been immersed in math since late August so it is fresh in my mind. 

Overall it was a good experience. I hope it will help me get a tutoring job next fall. My math skills should help since lots of people forget all those algebra concepts once they are a few years out of school. An added bonus is winning the drawing for a $50 Target gift certificate for those of us who took a turn or two riding the bus. That will come in handy.

This week is the last of the semester. I have a test in each class between tomorrow and Wednesday followed by two comprehensive finals next Monday. I have my work cut out for me especially in reviewing everything we've covered in Chemistry and Math. Friday I can register for my summer school classes - including College Algebra. So far there are spots left in the traditional class. I hope it stays that ways as I do not want to take another online math class.