Last Thursday afternoon and all day Friday saw an absence of Mashanda in my office. My boss Christina has her own office, so this meant I was alone for most of the time. One of the hardest things I have been trying to do so far is meet all of the students and try to remember their names. However, on Thursday I had the chance to watch over a study hall with two Sophomore guys. I ended up being a bad influence and talking to them half the time when they should have been doing their homework, but it was great! Anytime I get a chance to hang out with the students, it makes all of the monotonous work worth it.
So this weekend was definitely one that was full of excitement. On Friday we had our Verbum Dei staff "Luau". This was my first experience as to what an office party was like, and it was actually pretty fun. It was an afternoon event (from 4-5:30ish) so nothing too crazy happened, but it was fun interacting with the faculty/staff on a more casual level. Following the luau all of the JVs in LA (current and former) were invited to Homegirl cafe for a welcome party. Our program coordinators showed up too and it was a fun opportunity to hang out as one large JV community.
On Saturday I got to go to lunch with my cousin Zach who is in LA for the summer and his step-uncle (I think that is what he would be called....) David. David is an actor/producer who has lived in LA for around 13 years or so. He has been on Gilmore Girls, a bunch of Lifetime movies, and a lot of other things. So pretty much it was my first celeb meeting! We just hung out and chatted for probably 3 hours, and it was a blast. That night a former JV who is an attorney had a 30th glow in the dark birthday party at her apartment, so my house decided to bring the overall age of the party down and showed up.
Sunday brought plenty of LSAT studying, a free Shakespeare play in the park, and just hanging out.
Part of my job is to take all of the vans the students ride in when going to work and filling them up at the gas station down the street. Normally this is a job that I would not enjoy doing, but that all changes because of the people that I interact with. There are three main employees that I get to interact with almost every single day. Hubert and Kenny are the two guys that help with the basic upkeep/running of the station. They wipe down the machines, take down the number of the van I am filling, and always have something to talk about! Yesterday I found myself in a conversation with Hubert about his trip to Palm Springs and the Friday before I was talking to Kenny about how he doesn't like the Lakers anymore. Liz is the cashier at the station, which in this neighborhood means that there are several inches of bulletproof glass in between us. That being said, she is always kind and willing to help me out when I need it. Who would have thought that a guy from South Dakota would be making friends with gas station attendants in Watts? Probably not me, but I love that it is happening!
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