Last Saturday I went to New York with a handful of other people. We didn't do a whole lot there but it snowed which was cool for me since I hadn't had any snow here yet. The one memorable part of the trip (other than the snow and the splendid company) was a burger place that someone here at urban had recommended. It was called the burger joint and it was in this posh hotel that no one would ever expect to house a establishment of this sort. In the very back corner of the lobby of this hotel one finds a door with a sign above it that reads: Burger Joint. Entering through this door is like entering another world. All of a sudden there is the chatter and laughter that one would here in a crowded dive bar. All of the walls are scribed with the names and drawings of every former customer who happened to have a pen in their pocket. The menu consists of 1/2 pound burgers and pitchers of Sam Adams. For someone who isn't overly keen on the "Manhattan scene", this is definitely a hidden gem that needs to be checked out. We of course got a pitcher and some burgers and they were both absolutely delicious. Now that my little restaurant review is out of the way, on to the rest of my week.
This week camp went really well and I was able to get all of my kids to do their homework during the time designated for them to do homework, which was something that I needed to focus on. On Tuesday I took a group of kids to McDonald's after camp and on the drive home I saw yet another homicide crime scene. The kids don't even act as if its a big deal. They point it out casually as if its just a fender bender on the side of the highway. I asked them to pray for the family of whoever it was that was killed. When we pulled up to on of my kid's (Jeffrey's) house, I jerked my wheel and pulled my emergency brake sliding to a stop in the middle of the street. When Jeffrey got out laughing, I noticed that his neighbor was outside and that she spoke with Jeffrey before he went in. The next day I asked Jeffrey what his neighbor had said (assuming it was something along the lines of "why is that guy driving like an asshole on my street?"). He told me that she just asked why he was in the car with a white guy. He told her I worked for urban promise and she was satisfied and went back inside.
Tarre doing homework
On Thursday's we do what we call cell groups in our classes. This is where we plan some sort of lesson and talk to our kids about God. This week I decided to tell my kids a little bit about my life story and allow them to ask me questions. At first most of the questions were about what drugs I've done, what I've been arrested for, and the like, but after those were out of the way they started coming with the good ones. They asked a lot of questions like, "What made you decided to stop doing drugs and Why did you stop doing bad things". The one topic that we ended up spending a lot of time on was, "Why would you quit a job where you made decent money to come work here?" They had a lot of trouble understanding why I would do that and absolutely refused to believe me when I told them that money doesn't make you happy. Many of the good questions I was able to answer came from the street leaders (high school age workers) instead of my camp kids. The street leaders are really the age that I enjoy working with the most and it is because they are really able to connect with my experience. The issues that I've dealt with are far more relatable to the older kids. I feel like the class went really well and all of the kids got something out of it.
On Friday I went down to Harrisburg PA to hang out with a girl who goes to Messiah College that I've been talking to quite a bit. There was actually snow on the ground there which was awesome for me since I haven't really had that since coming out here (or really ever outside of the mountains). We went to dinner and then out for a few drinks and I stayed in a hotel room which meant I got to sleep in a king size bed for a night rather than my little lumpy twin that I don't even fit in (I also got to watch sports center which I often fiend for since I don't have cable here).
Saturday I drove back to Camden and took Jeffrey and Eman (one of the street leaders) to the mall in Cherry Hill. I then went to a dinner for the street leaders and afterwards three other interns and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Atlantic City. We arrived in Atlantic City at around 10pm. I was rather unimpressed with the city and its casinos but it is pretty bad ass that it is literally on the beach. The other interns decided it would be fun to play tag in the casino. At some point I was tagged and didn't immediately find someone else to tag so I went up to the bar, ordered a beer, and played some video poker while watching the Purdue Alabama game. This allowed me to enjoy myself while all the others got to believe that they were doing a tremendous job of hiding from me. When they did find me out however, they weren't overly happy. We headed back to Camden after a short stroll on the beach and got to bed in time to get a few hours of sleep before having to get up this morning.
Ceasar Agustus gettin in the holliday spirit in AC
This week camp went really well and I was able to get all of my kids to do their homework during the time designated for them to do homework, which was something that I needed to focus on. On Tuesday I took a group of kids to McDonald's after camp and on the drive home I saw yet another homicide crime scene. The kids don't even act as if its a big deal. They point it out casually as if its just a fender bender on the side of the highway. I asked them to pray for the family of whoever it was that was killed. When we pulled up to on of my kid's (Jeffrey's) house, I jerked my wheel and pulled my emergency brake sliding to a stop in the middle of the street. When Jeffrey got out laughing, I noticed that his neighbor was outside and that she spoke with Jeffrey before he went in. The next day I asked Jeffrey what his neighbor had said (assuming it was something along the lines of "why is that guy driving like an asshole on my street?"). He told me that she just asked why he was in the car with a white guy. He told her I worked for urban promise and she was satisfied and went back inside.
Tarre doing homework
On Thursday's we do what we call cell groups in our classes. This is where we plan some sort of lesson and talk to our kids about God. This week I decided to tell my kids a little bit about my life story and allow them to ask me questions. At first most of the questions were about what drugs I've done, what I've been arrested for, and the like, but after those were out of the way they started coming with the good ones. They asked a lot of questions like, "What made you decided to stop doing drugs and Why did you stop doing bad things". The one topic that we ended up spending a lot of time on was, "Why would you quit a job where you made decent money to come work here?" They had a lot of trouble understanding why I would do that and absolutely refused to believe me when I told them that money doesn't make you happy. Many of the good questions I was able to answer came from the street leaders (high school age workers) instead of my camp kids. The street leaders are really the age that I enjoy working with the most and it is because they are really able to connect with my experience. The issues that I've dealt with are far more relatable to the older kids. I feel like the class went really well and all of the kids got something out of it.
On Friday I went down to Harrisburg PA to hang out with a girl who goes to Messiah College that I've been talking to quite a bit. There was actually snow on the ground there which was awesome for me since I haven't really had that since coming out here (or really ever outside of the mountains). We went to dinner and then out for a few drinks and I stayed in a hotel room which meant I got to sleep in a king size bed for a night rather than my little lumpy twin that I don't even fit in (I also got to watch sports center which I often fiend for since I don't have cable here).
Saturday I drove back to Camden and took Jeffrey and Eman (one of the street leaders) to the mall in Cherry Hill. I then went to a dinner for the street leaders and afterwards three other interns and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Atlantic City. We arrived in Atlantic City at around 10pm. I was rather unimpressed with the city and its casinos but it is pretty bad ass that it is literally on the beach. The other interns decided it would be fun to play tag in the casino. At some point I was tagged and didn't immediately find someone else to tag so I went up to the bar, ordered a beer, and played some video poker while watching the Purdue Alabama game. This allowed me to enjoy myself while all the others got to believe that they were doing a tremendous job of hiding from me. When they did find me out however, they weren't overly happy. We headed back to Camden after a short stroll on the beach and got to bed in time to get a few hours of sleep before having to get up this morning.
Ceasar Agustus gettin in the holliday spirit in AC
This morning we got up at 7:30am and picked up about 20 kids from each after school program and took them to the Dollar Tree for a shopping spree. Each kid got ten items for their families and then we brought them back to Urban to wrap the gifts and eat pizza. After pizza, Santa came and gave all of the kids presents. It was a ton of fun helping the kids pick out gifts at the dollar store and it was definitely worth getting almost no sleep.
Me, Tarre and Angel after the shopping spree
About a month ago my mom sent me out the two skateboards that I had left in her garage. I gave one of them to one of my 8th graders (Angel) and told him that alot of other kids wanted it so he better use it often. Today I saw him with the skateboard and it was so torn up you couldn't even tell it was the same board. I said it looks like he'd been getting alot of use out of it and he said, "You told me I had to, I use it everyday". It really made me happy to see that he had been getting so much use out of it. Also some of the older kids that skateboard in the parking lot at Urban have told me that skateboarding everyday is one of the main things that keeps them from selling drugs so it is good to know that Angel now has that same activity to keep his attention.
Also the statistics from 2008 cam out and Camden NJ was ranked as the most dangerous city in the United States. This is sad news but I thought I provide the link if anyone wants to read the article. So here it is..... http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20091124/NEWS01/911240338/-1/towns04/Report-ranks-Camden-most-dangerous-U.S.-city
About a month ago my mom sent me out the two skateboards that I had left in her garage. I gave one of them to one of my 8th graders (Angel) and told him that alot of other kids wanted it so he better use it often. Today I saw him with the skateboard and it was so torn up you couldn't even tell it was the same board. I said it looks like he'd been getting alot of use out of it and he said, "You told me I had to, I use it everyday". It really made me happy to see that he had been getting so much use out of it. Also some of the older kids that skateboard in the parking lot at Urban have told me that skateboarding everyday is one of the main things that keeps them from selling drugs so it is good to know that Angel now has that same activity to keep his attention.
Also the statistics from 2008 cam out and Camden NJ was ranked as the most dangerous city in the United States. This is sad news but I thought I provide the link if anyone wants to read the article. So here it is..... http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20091124/NEWS01/911240338/-1/towns04/Report-ranks-Camden-most-dangerous-U.S.-city
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