The questions that has been stirring through my head all week is... How much does my past define who I am? How much of it is me letting it define me and how much is it actually defining me? We did an activity in class, where we had notecards on our foreheads that were meant to define who we are. Four of the notecards were people that were disempowered and 2 were people that empowered. It was a strange activity, but it played greatly into the questions I asked myself. Honestly, I don't have the answer to my questions. I may never have the answers. It is something I still have to think about though.
We started the week with having a bunch of the Philly Project people coming to visit. They enjoyed a beach day and we got to enjoy dinner with them. This is us outside our house:
Halfway through the week (on the 4th of July), we had Encounter Philly come visit and a bunch of people from last years OCBP spend the day with us. We bonded on the beach all day, stopping briefly to enjoy dinner at the house. This is us on the beach:
Favorite Moment:
As you may know, this week was the 4th of July (cue fireworks, cheers, and celebration of our troops both here and overseas). For the holiday, we had a ton of guests come and visit. We even had the opportunity to host Encounter Philly for the day. (Note: Encounter Philly is another CCO sponsored summer opportunity. It is similar to OCBP, just in Philadelphia.) We had a wonderful time together from spending time by the water to worshipping on the beach and watching the fireworks together. Hopefully, we will get to spend a lot more time together. They are a wonderful crew and we were blessed to have them.
This one deserves two, mainly because one happened Saturday and one has been an all week kind of thing.
The all week kind of thing is: Many people seem concerned that I will somehow manage to find a way to get injured again and are working to prevent that from happening. While I appreciate it, I also realize that I am extremely clumsy. When I say extremely, that is an understatement. I tried to get back on the longboard on Tuesday (even though I am still healing from my longboard injury last week) because I don't want it to stop me. If I stopped doing something I wanted to try because I got injured before, I would never be able to do anything. Just think back to when you were a kid learning to walk. I'm sure that most of us don't remember that time, but bear with me. When you are learning to walk, you struggle. You fall down time and time again. The incredible part is that you get back up and you don't stop until you got it. Now, although I am grown and what I am trying to learn may seem bigger than learning to walk, the same concept still applies. I will inevitably get injured again, but I can't let it stop me every time I get injured.
The one that happened Saturday: We lost the key fob to get into the building between 6:10 am- 9:30 am. Now, I was blissfully asleep until 1:00 pm, but imagine my surprise to having to wake up to that. If we don't find it, then we have to pay to get a new one. Hopefully it shows up because we don't want to buy a new one. UPDATE: We were not the ones that lost the key fob. The Tabernacle lost it, so none of us were to blame and they got us a new one.
Featured Places of the Week:
Brown's Restaurant- This is located on the boardwalk. Now, the only food I have tried there so far is the donuts. I tried one of the cinnamon donuts and it was fantastic. It was warm, fresh, and delicious. It is a plainer donut than I was used to, but it was fantastic still the same. It reminded me a bit of Krispy Kreme, simple, but classic.
Ocean City Coffee Company- I often go here to do my reading and to get away from the house for a little bit. They sell a variety of coffee and tea. I tend to get tea when I go, but sometimes I go just to go. It's a great escape in a wonderful place filled with wonderful people (and of course free wifi).
Favorite Quotes of the Week:
-"I'll just be a Twizzler for 24 hours." -Hunter (He was a guest from Encounter Philly. He said this in response to me telling him to put on sunscreen, since he was pale and a red-head.)
-"You smell like fried chicken." -Stephen (when he went to take some pictures with Chrissy)
-"I think they spelled immigrant wrong." -Stephen (in response to reading migrant workers on his homework assignment)
What I missed back home:
This section is new, but it's something I thought I should add. Part of being here means missing things back home.
This week I will talk about my dogs. I have three dogs. All of them are part of the Cane Corso breed(a type of Italian Mastif). Chai is the oldest at 6 years old. She is in the top photo, lounging on the right side. Her daughter, Espresso (a.k.a. Essie), is 3 years old. She is in the top photo, lounging on the left side. Java is the latest addition to the family and is Espresso's 4 month old son. He is in the bottom picture. (I know, he is big.) On July 4th, he went swimming for the first time. Espresso acted like my parents were trying to purposefully drown her son. He was perfectly safe! Essie was just being an overprotective mama bear. Essie then proceeded to inadvertently cause others to worry, since my mom tried to calm her down by stating that she was not trying to drown the baby. (Although, I do understand why others nearby would be concerned by that statement. Context definitely matters.)
Who I have met with so far:
-Seirra
-Christin
-Stephen
-Abby Grace
-Lilly
-Casey
-Jamie
-Harrison
-Sarah
-Tessa
-Molli
-Noelle
-Emily
-Katie
-Mikayla
-Lydia
-Adam
-Essence
So nice to know you miss the dogs. Not your parents or the siblings...…. try to stay safe.
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