Ah, the woes and joys of being an adult.

Because I like to be left with happy thoughts when less than joyful ones arise, I'll start off with the disastrous apartment adventure.

Last week, I went to look at a place across the street from church.  It was the perfect location, good sized kitchen, two balconies, newly finished bathroom, just perfect.  It was also a really good price, and would cut down my transportation costs since it was so close to church.  I got all of my paperwork in, it was approved and everything, and they said they'd call by Wednesday.  We didn't hear from them by this morning, so Randy stopped by after an appointment downtown.  So, he stopped in and asked.  Well, the guy ran upstairs to check with the person who had contact with the building owner; when he came back, he told Randy that since I was only renting for seven months, they wouldn't rent it to me.  Randy said "Uh, no.  She's renting for a year."  The guy ran upstairs to relay the message, and when he got back he told Randy that the owner thought the apartment was too big for one person, so he wouldn't rent to me.  Maybe this is just an American mindset, but wouldn't someone with an empty apartment want it rentd as soon as possible?  So, I'm back at square one and the longer it takes to find an apartment, the more difficult it will be because I'll be renting for a shorter time.  It's hard enough to figur out how to be an adult back home, but throw in a culture barrier, a language barrier, and my inability to perceive time and space, and bah!  But, after some consolation chocolate and a search for more locations with Sandy, let me tell you some of the joys of being an adult.

I absolutely LOVE my job.  Today, I worked from home.  This meant that as I worked, I got to watch How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days and Sabrina, not to mention spend the afternoon on a hillside working there.  Right now, I'm in the brainstorming stages of my job.  I only started yesterday, so the exact parameters haven't been determined.  I do have a few responsibilities now though.  Number one: lead the art/craft portion of the Kids Clubs that go on.  It's a monthly thing, so I have time to plan.  Today, in coming up with ideas and needed supplies, I got to spend some time on Pinterest.  Checkmate.  Responsibility number two: window art.  The church moved to a new location about a year and a half ago, so people in the neighborhood are still kind of getting used to them.  People here tend to be a bit skeptical of churches (or so I've understood) so one thing that some people at the church (myself included) do, is just sit by the door and leave it open.  Randy has been doing this for a while, and he always smiles and says hi to passersby.  It's down the street from a school, so parents will walk by to pick up and drop off their kids four times each day.  In one of the windows, there is a table with some kids Bible books and Bibles and information on the church.  People actually do stop and read the Bible that is there, so the Elders thought it would be good to change the window around. Evidently, I enjoy doing art, so I said that I could do some artwork for the windows.  Today was spent looking up Bible passages and doing some sketches for pieces that I could do once I have supplies and meet with the Elders.

So, while the technicalities of being a responsible adult may not have come to reality yet, there are things that make up for it.