Training Week (January 10th to 14th)

I'm posting this one a bit later than when I wrote it (it's now the 24th of January). I was writing this entry about training week from January 10-14, 2011 while I was on the plane to India. Uncertainty fomented feelings of anxiousness while electrical excitement surged through my mind constantly.

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January 18, 2011 – Somewhere Over Hudson Bay, En Route to London.

“It was already getting quite dark, and he felt almost frightened; something

 new was growing in him which he would have been unable to explain.”

-Dostoevsky from The Brothers Karamazov

 

I think that all of us want our lives to be like stories. They help us understand the events in our lives through an anthropomorphic lens. The incomprehensible becomes almost familiar, comforting even. A story has an arch and we sit somewhere on that arch, waiting to find out exactly where we sit. The middle? The beginning? The end? What’s our story about? Do we have a transformation awaiting us that will justify all our mistakes and strivings? Or is this just wishful thinking—romanticizing the absurdities that we find at every street corner?

I won't attempt to answer that now, but I will start this entry with my reflections about training week.

First of all, I must say that training week was an affirmation for me. Meeting the interns and staff and seeing the workings of this organization in Washington DC was refreshing. There was a lot of energy and excitement for the work and I found a sincerity in the people I talked to.

 I was also greatly encouraged by my host family. They were a couple that lived and worked on Capitol Hill in DC and were very kind to me throughout my stay. I would walk from their house to the metro stop every morning in my new suit and pea coat. I always felt so “professional.” Having never held a position before where I had to shave or dress in a suit I felt pretty sharp. I would walk out the door into the freezing streets with an orange in my hand and a scarf around my neck. At the end of the week they drove me to all of the main sights in the area before my flight back to Seattle. I got the typical but necessary picture in front of the white house and saw the library of congress. From afar I saw the congress building and the many memorials to past wars and presidents.

I found the metro to be very interesting and felt like a pro by the end of the week. Two things I noticed:

1.) Move quickly and do not get in the way of people. They’re in a hurry.

2.) When someone sits down next to you do not make eye contact, or even acknowledge their existence (otherwise I might blow my cover and seem like a tourist?)

I was fighting a cold for most of the week, but I never let it get to the point where I was distracted. Advil and lots of water did the trick. I actually found that while fighting a cold (with a sinus infection), and having to walk considerable distances in my ankle boot forced me to gradually let go of the things that I couldn’t control. This is a lesson I will have to re-learn shortly, however, because I seem to forget it all the time.

By the end of the week I felt an oddly strong camaraderie with the other interns and fellows and learned a lot through my conversations with them. I think it might be that we all have similar interests and that we are all doing something uncomfortable and new.

After coming home to Seattle for a few days to regroup I am now off again. I look forward to what awaits me when I get off this plane. Even though I expect to face some difficulties, it’s hard to express how thankful I am for this opportunity to go and serve and learn. The biggest thing I took away from last week is to trust that I am in the right place and that I will have provision (in whatever form it takes). This might end up being a strong theme during my entire trip.