Hello again, this time from Oak Park, Illinois! I'm here for my second three-month co-op experience, working for Green Community Connections (GCC). It's a non-profit organization that promotes sustainability and environmental education in the Oak Park and Forest Park areas, both located just outside of Chicago.
It's been six months since the last time I've written on this blog. The other day I was reading some of my past posts from my last co-op in Washington, and it was a peculiar experience - it seemed as if they were written by a completely different person. Much has changed in the past couple of quarters at Antioch, changing events that have in turn changed me in their process. It's interesting to think about the upcoming weeks' posts on this blog, my tone from the last time definitely being different. We shall see how it goes.
I drove in to the suburb of Chicago Saturday afternoon after six hours of driving by myself - probably my longest drive yet. I started to get sleepy at one point, so I shut my Farewell to Arms audiobook off, turned cold air up, and sang songs to myself. I've never been able to fall asleep sitting in the cold or while singing, so I figured I could definitely count on staying awake if I did both at once.
Anyways, I turned on the radio as I started to hit traffic near the city, and was welcomed by friendly snow flurries. It was starting to get dark when I finally arrived at my place of stay, a home and boardinghouse located a few miles away from my workplace. The couple who lives here, Margaret and Don, have spent years hosting international students who study at the Kaplan International Language School in downtown Chicago. They were willing to let me rent their basement room for an outstanding price, breakfast and dinner included. It's a very cozy place, and will definitely be nice place to have to myself at the end of the day.
That evening Margaret and Don were hosting a dinner for a couple of students who used to live with them while they were studying English at Kaplan and now live in other areas in Chicago. One was from Japan and the other was from Saudi Arabia, and they were both very kind and interesting to talk with. I also got to meet the other students who are currently living here to study English at Kaplan, a young man from South Korea, a young woman from Brazil, and another young woman from Switzerland. We shared conversation and chicken cacciatore at dinner, and continued talking through cleanup and cookies afterwards. It was interesting to hear about the different cultural customs between everyone. It was even more interesting (and perhaps even scary) to discover that the most common knowledge among us all were the topics of electronic applications and American pop culture. At the end of the night, we all played Apples to Apples together in front of a fire.
Sunday I woke up to about a foot of snow outside. Robin, a woman who volunteers for GCC came to pick me up for lunch with her and Sally, the head of GCC and my boss. Robin is an Antioch College alumna and was the liaison between the organization and the college for my job. Lunch was nice and afterwards Robin bought a book by Joanna Macy called Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We're in without Going Crazy. She also very generously bought me a copy to read. I've heard of Joanna Macy and remember her visiting Port Townsend to speak, so I'm looking forward to getting into the book. After we pulled up in front of the house, she let me know that I could come to her whenever I needed to have a presence to listen to me, which I really appreciated.
I was supposed to start my job today, Monday, with meetings and getting myself settled into my work space. But the windchill is 40 below zero, so I'll be doing work from my little cozy basement space. I'll be spending the next few days trying to figure out what my expectations are for myself while I'm here, and what I expect to gain from this experience. Perhaps I'll figure it out along the way. I have difficulty resisting from making rigid standards or set goals. I'm keeping a journal for reflection so hopefully that will help.
Hello, Oak Park, Illinois. Thank you for being gentle with me as I try to grow while letting things flow.
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