1 Week...10 Days...

So in exactly a week I will be back in the state of Minnesota. In 10 days I will be done with college. It all seems to be coming so quickly! I must say that I am not ready to leave Chicago yet. I am wishing it could be warm on the weekends, instead of the crummy rainy weather we have had lately. But basically, the thing I will be missing most is the girls that I have grown so close to.
Another hard aspect of my time coming to a close is trying to fit in everything we have had on our “to do” list. The Cubs game was a blast, but it would have been even more fabulous if it didn’t feel like it was 35 degrees! Another big event we have gone to was the play “Billy Elliot”. I enjoyed it, but me being me…I did nod off a few times.
Tonight we had our going away dinner at a place called The Parthenon. It was an on going delivery of Greek food. I tried a bite of everything…eggplant lasagna stuff…not my thing. Nutmegish tasting lasagna…not my thing. Beef something in grape leaf…I ate half of it, without making a face! Chicken…wonderful; unfortunately, I am so graceful and managed to knock of the piece of something I liked and was saving for last to the floor. I was cutting my potato and it shot off the plate. Real, real bummer…it was a good chunk of meat. Tomorrow I will be ushering and then watching the Blue Man Group for free. I hope it is enjoyable! And there are still a few other things on the list that will be crossed off in the last week here; the departure will not be an easy one.
Highlight of the night…riding a new CTA train! Haha It was pretty exciting though. They are making the new trains with seating only facing the insides instead of rows facing forward or backwards. This new style is supposed to hold more standing passengers. I am not sure how I feel about this theory, but I guess it doesn’t matter. I am sure they know more than I. One of the sweet aspects about this train is the light up signs saying where you are at and what is next. Real exciting…huh?!
Another almost tragedy of the city... One of the awards given tonight was most likely to lose their CTA u-pass. I figured no doubt it would be me...heck I lost it the second day I got it. Thankfully some kind person turned it in for me. With a week and a half to go...what do I do? Lose it again. We had gone to Ed Debevic's for lunch and then walked back to our place doing a little shopping or store gazing on the way back. About half way home I realized my pass was gone! The gut wrenching feeling had returned as I thought about how stupid and expensive this was going to be for the last little bit of time. Unlike last time though, I had some hope that it could be retrieved in this large city. I got home and called all of the places I was at, and once again felt my heart flutter as I heard the voice on the other end ask what the name was on the card. I knew then they had it, and was able to entertain them with my excitement of still having my card. Yes, twice, once at the beginning and once at the end...I am one lucky girl! :)

Stop and Look Both Ways

This probably sounds familiar, but I am not talking about the crossing the street. Last Saturday we walked down to Navy Pier and found that we could not just cross the path at any time. We had to stop, look both ways, and occasionally wait for the runners or bikers to pass through. I also should probably remind myself that this is something I should continue to do when crossing the street. I generally follow the little walking light, but as I have become so familiar with my path home I forget to look sometimes. The one afternoon, I was forced to stop a story mid-sentence to ask Kelly what we were doing. We were literally in the middle of the street as a car whizzed right in front of us. But don’t worry, I have not yet been run over.

Things at school have been going well; I have come to realize how close to my heart some of these children have become, some even being the headache givers. One day one of the young girls called me, “Mean Lady Gaga”! She was trying to look at her spelling words inside of her planner so I was taking it away from her and this is the name she chose to describe how she felt about me. I did indeed laugh inside my head as she repeated again, just to make sure I knew how she felt about this situation. There is another girl that after about 3 minutes of questioning, the conversation that started out liking my hair and earrings turned into, “Do you have kids?” “Nope.” “Why not?” Well…yep that is an interesting one to describe to a 1^st grader while trying to provide an answer that won’t lead to more questioning. Even though going back after spring break was hard and waking up in the morning has become more of a struggle I am enjoying working with these kids and the joy they bring.

As for city entertainment, a few of the things I have done include a Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” (definitely a modern version), The Chicago City Orchestra (beautiful music, but not so much of a visual aspect for a tired person), Shedd Aquarium (hideous show with weird fantasy aquatic creatures), and today…going to a Cubbies game!! It should be a blast! I also have loved being able to take the trail down by the lake to go for a good run, the one super nice weekend there were so many people and I really wish I had some sporting gear to play volleyball or catch.

And one last story that happened last night coming home on the train…it was jaw dropping. As we sat down there was lady who entered our cart looking for money for some food. Not unusual, and I have also seen this lady a few times before, she has kind of been the in your face type. Well she stopped next to the one lady and proceeded to use her foot to reach for a plastic bag underneath this lady. As she pulled it out far enough she bent over to pick it up and open it. I noticed it was somebody’s left-overs, take note…not the lady sitting there. In my mind I was trying to prepare myself to witness this lady eating whatever that had been sitting there for who knows how long. Well not quite. She opened it up, picked at with her fingers and then whipped it at the lady and used some not so nice words. The food flew over this unfortunate lady and the two people behind her. Pretty sure everyone on the cart either gasped or grew large eyes as we started at the lady walking away yelling at all of us for looking at her. Yes...such a wonderful commute, I am so thankful it was not me as I am not sure how I would have handled the situation!