Chicago-Women's Issues

3/26

Inhalation. Problem-solving. Excitable. Communication. Draw Something. Amateurs. Sparks. Cold. Overflow. Artsy. Rust. As we sit in the Gertrude Stein room reflecting our thoughts about the day, the previous words seem to perfectly encapsulate our emotions.

Our day started with our realization of the obstacle of a single shower shared among twelve people. Finally, after two hours of eating, waiting for the bathroom, reading and more waiting for the bathroom, we headed for downtown by way of the Pink Line. We were very excited by the Chicago skyline as we traveled into the city. Naturally, we posted several thousand photos on Instagram.

When we arrived at the station, several locals identified our group as tourists who didn't know how the ticket machine operates. We eventually prevailed, and ventured into the city. Our first stop was at the Chicago Cultural Center where we met an adorable, friendly older man who worked there. He told us all about how awesome Chicago is, and we now have a sizable collection of brochures.

We made the trek across the street to the Bean at Millennium Park where we proceeded to take photos of ourselves staring into our own reflections. Oh, the vanity.

Of course, we decided coffee would be a good idea. Amelia directed us toward Caribou Coffee where we indulged in various goodies and where Haley experienced her second cup of coffee in her life. We ventured to CVS pharmacy so Kari could buy a sweatshirt. While waiting outside, Kelsey met a friend who told her all about his life in a five minute conversation.

Inspired by our first journey into the city of Chicago, we boarded the Pink Line and returned to our home. We quickly consumed a bag of bread at lunch, and awaited Dianna's task assignments for the day. Much to our surprise, she gave us a list of duties for the entire week. We decided to break the list down day by day, and got to work.

Much of today consisted of sanding. A lot of sanding. Amelia and Mandy battled an overflowing washing machine with a few buckets and a healthy supply of perseverance. Allana, Kari and Dusty wrangled fencing while Kelsey and Hilary painted encouraging words for signs in the garden. After three solid hours of work, some of us prepared the kitchen for dinner. Another group ventured back to Aldi's, where we purchased an impressive supply of food.

We all ate copious amounts of spaghetti and burnt garlic bread for dinner. And we loved it. We have a large amount of leftover noodles and are totally planning to pull an Elf and pour ridiculous amounts of syrup on them.

Well, that's pretty much our story for the day. In the words of Amelia, we are going to drink two pots of coffee tomorrow morning because we are going to get a lot of work done!

Love and Carbs,

ASB Chicago