Some highlights of the past week or so

I made my first trip to Connecticut.
Aubrie and I spent a couple days in Connecticut with her friend Billy. He drove all the way to Baltimore to pick us up. On the way we stopped in Brooklyn to see a couple of their friends. We ate at this restaurant called Juniors and they supposedly have the best cheesecake anywhere. Then we traveled on to New Milford, Connecticut. Aubrie is from Texas and she had never seen snow on the ground. So the next morning we went out in the snow and we tried snowboarding. I only fell once which I thought was impressive even if it was gentle incline. So we hung out, saw the sights of New Milford, and Monday night we hit a local watering hole. It turned out to be a fun little excursion.

I worked with GEDCO.

Since Aubrie and I have a good deal of free time Sissy sent us to work with GEDCO across the street. GEDCO stands for Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation and they run outreach programs for the poor, elderly, disable, etc. So we helped stock the food pantry and I don't think I have ever seen that many cans of green beans in my life. Then Aubrie and I helped with some filing and office work. In many ways I feel like I've been on vacation and it was nice to do some work.

I received my visa to Nigeria so we can leave!

Thursday my visa came in the mail and I was really happy to have my passport back. The only bad part was that it is now official that we can stay for only six months. This was not a shock but I am still disappointed. I really wanted to spend a year in Nigeria but I keep trying to tell myself that this is part of God's plan. What was meant to be will be. So in July I can go back to the states and finish out the year in one of Notre Dame Americorp programs. However what I would really like is to spend the next six months in Kenya where the other volunteers are now. I guess I will just wait and see what happens.

Aubrie and I put up plastic insulation around the office windows.

So the NDMV headquarters/convent/volunteer house is a huge old building. And as such it is pretty drafty and cold. Sissy told us what their monthly electric bill is and I had to wince. If you are going to pay that much it should feel like a sauna in here, not an ice chest. So Sissy sent us to pick up plastic insulation. Luckily Aubrie spent the last year working in New Orleans rebuilding houses and together we managed to get the windows covered. It only took most of the day, three trips out for tape, and a couple of times getting lost around Baltimore. The good news is that it seems less drafty around here.

I met up with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brian for the weekend.

My family is kind of crazy in that we live 100 miles away but we have to travel 700 miles to see each other. It just happened that Aunt Debbie and Uncle Brian were in the area dropping my cousin Jordan off at a youth conference. So I crashed with them for the weekend. We stayed in Williamsburg, VA and saw the colonial era buildings. It turned out to be another nice weekend and I ate really well.