Atlanta - Women's Issues

Early Saturday morning, we set off on a great adventure over the river and through the woods of the southern wild -- e.g. Atlanta. With our trusty drivers at the wheel, our vehicles CARlos and Robert REDford were in good hands. Many '90s songs were jammed to and much booty-shaking occurred. We discovered Nicole's secret talent: shockingly accurate rapping. DJ NICNAC IN THE HOUSE. We kept the spirits high with compliment circles and snack breaks. Our lunch break in West Frankfort, Illinois brought us to the very festive La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant (not to be confused with La Siesta) -- slogan: "Well See You Tomorrow" (depressing or encouraging, we still don't know). After a three-hour dinner mix-up in Chattanooga -- more like Chatta-SNOOZ-a since everything's closed at 9 on a Saturday night, geez -- we made our way to First Metropolitan Community Church, our home for the week.

This morning, we had the chance to meet Rev. Paul Graetz, our gracious host. He taught us about his philosophy about inclusion and service. I think Rivu summed it up pretty well when he said "we're not on different teams. We're all on the same team." After introducing us to the congregation, we scurried off to our orientation/training at Tapestri, our first agency. Our volunteer coordinator, Widline, was so friendly and enthusiastic. Widline and the other Tapestri volunteers even got us lunch -- everyone loves to feed us in the South! Anyway, after a long day of getting acquainted to life in the ATL, we're all in our pajayjays (trademark Veronica). Nighty night, we have to finish our compliment circle!