Summer in CHICAGO!

So I was thinking about all of you today and wishing that we all kept in touch more. So I decided to come and update you all about what's been going on in my life. Since a LOT has been going on, I think I'll settle with only writing about one aspect, the most important thing I've done this last month or so.

So, back in, I think October of last year, I applied to do this summer camp for inner city girls in Chicago. After a tough application and an intense interview I was accepted and the preparation began. After two semesters of preparing CHICAGO SUMMER JAM 2009 finally came. So, you ask what I've been doing for the whole month of August? Well, tearing up Chi-Town of course! My new favorite city.

This is Grace. A 10 year old girl who is 5 foot 6 inches and could probably kick my trash anyday. She pretty much threw all of the counselors around every day. In fact right before this picture was taken, I feared for my life as she got so excited she put her arms around my neck and started squeezing. I'm telling ya I could not breathe--partly from laughing so hard. So in this picture she's still choking me but it's all in good fun, right? She was also the one that told me the very first day that she hated me and didn't want my talking at all. Everyday we had new stories about Grace. I could go on and on about her. I chose to post this picture because it says a lot more than meets the eye. Grace and her...lovely personality was classic.

This is me with all of the girls. You can barely see my head because it's being squeezed by one of the girls. But I'm in the middle, about the 2nd row from the front. All you can see is my head.

The girls that came to Summer Jam came from difficult backgrounds and difficult home lives, and did I mention this was the SOUTH side of Chicago? Yeah and when I say south side, I really mean south side. We stayed with some people from church that lived in the town, Hyde Park, and the street behind our house was...shall we say a street we were NOT allowed to go near. So anyway, these girls are tough, thick-skinned, outspoken, blunt girls. If they didn't like you, they'd let you know--oh and they did! They were the type of girls that were told never to smile or cry because you were seen as weak.
So we ran a day camp for them for two weeks. It was a chance for them to get away from their crazy hectic lives and be children again in a safe environment where they were loved. We had various activities planned throughout the day and fed them lunch--which was for some the ONLY meal they'd get that day.

When we weren't doing camp, which ended around 3, we went into the city to tour. HOLY COW! I love Chicago! It is now MY city. We went on a Segway tour (amazing!), a boat tour, went to a White Sox game, saw Cirque Shanghi, went shopping, ate Indian and Thai food, went to Chinatown and Little India--got our eyebrows threaded in Lil India!, and basically just had a good time in the city. Oh and used public transportation for everything. Intense that's all I will say. Imagine, 16 white girls all walking down the street together in a predominately black neighborhood. we got a lot of attention and as such had to act a certain way for fear of actually getting hurt. Let's just say Chicago was an interesting, wonderful, amazing experience that I will never forget. It took me out of my comfort zone and it was amazing to be able to help those wonderful, adorable girls. I won't ever forget them.