It shouldn't be this hard

Now that I am no longer working for Mission to the World, I have been looking for ways to stay on the international missions scene in a more direct way besides just eating at Café Instanbul and Surin every weekend. One of the opportunities that has sort of just fallen in my lap was to start teaching English to a refugee family that immigrated to Atlanta from Burundi last summer. This family was living in a refugee camp in Tanzania prior to coming to the US, and when me, Angie, and Heather met them they hardly knew any English and were just getting settled into the apartment in Clarkston. They did know Swahili, so I have been using like the 3 words I learned in Kenya with them like: Karibu Karibu! Kwaheri! Asanta sana sana!!
Anyway, we have been going over there about every week or every other week, seeking to teach some practical English to the wife, Jeannette, and her sister, Jacqueline, while the husband, Jean-Pierre was at work at a local chicken plant.

All went fairly well for the first few months. Going over there reminds me a lot of what it was like to visit homes in Kenya. There are a lot of random decorations like draperies separating the rooms, with old pictures taped up around the room of the family when they were still in Africa. The women wear African skirts and there are sometimes bugs around. Our efforts at teaching English have been coming along, and we also have loved getting to know David (6), Alphon (4) and Alice (1) and the other four kids who are often there from another family, including cute Doreen who at 4 years knows more English then any of them, but refuses to translate for us. Our reward usually is a tasty pineapple Sunkist at the end of our lesson.

Then at the beginning of Feb, we went to visit and Jean-Pierre was there and the women were not. We found out that he was hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk near his home. From what we could gather, he was in the hospital for three days, his back hurt, and he had to miss work for like 5-6 weeks. Ever since we have been trying to help the family out with filing insurance claims, helping with rent, and food cost, getting representation because he was subpoenaed to testify in court, etc. This stuff would be hard for a native American, not to mention someone who’s been here for only about eight months!

What’s been interesting to me is learning about how my attitude so often has been frustration in this situation. Not towards them, but to towards the system, towards others who want to help but are limited, to how hard it is to communicate, etc. I had a ton of patience for this when I am overseas. But now that I am in my own country and experiencing it, being able to relax and have God be in control is really hard. I keep thinking that it shouldn’t be this hard to help them, but it so is! My need to rely on God is actually the same, but it’s easier here to rely on myself, because supposedly I know the culture and the language and all the tricks supposedly to help them, and I don't want to let them down. I think we're the only Americans helping them, and we've built a good relationship with them.

So and I are going by tonight to check in on them one more time before their court date tomorrow, and to drop off February’s rent payment which folks from our small groups were so generous to donate towards. It's been really cool seeing how many people have stepped forward to help. We've gotten a lot of suggestions too, which is helpful, but sometimes I just want to take people over there for an "English lesson" so they can understand what it's like. Sometimes we're just lucky to read the kids a book or something for the love of Pete! But we'll keep trying.

Real snow

March came in like a lion here in Hotlanta, where we had actual Minnesota-sized snow that fell for about six hours yesterday. Here is a fun picture of me with my friends Christina and Jamie, as we were out enjoying the snow in Decatur. You can see more pics on Jamie's blog. It's supposed to be 70 degrees on Friday so we'll be back to normal pretty soon. I hope all my teacher friends are lovin' their snow day!!

The End of an Era

Our 1 ½ years of being a Neilsen TV ratings home abruptly came to an end, sadly, about two weeks ago, after getting this email from the local rep: "Good Evening Miss Ringsmuth,
I wanted to let you know that your household is now out of our sample which means we’re no longer getting any information on what your household watches anymore. However, there is a new study that your household is eligible for. If you decided to participate you all would still press buttons with the TV like you have been doing but we would also monitor your internet usage."

If you’ve always wondered if those Neilsen ratings are true, let me be the first to tell you, they absolutely are. I actually was sworn to secrecy doing it so most people don't know about it unless they've watched TV at my house. The homes are picked by random sample depending on your neighborhood and demographic. We were selected during the summer of 2007. I tried to avoid doing it at first because when the representative came by I thought she was selling me something, but then she complimented me on my bumper stickers and said she was a member of Georgia Right to Life, I welcomed her in with open arms.

Mainly being a Neilsen ratings home requires pressing a button when you start watching TV and then pressing a button ever 42 minutes afterwards that the TV is on. It’s not a big deal, unless you fall asleep while watching TV or leave the room for a while and come back and the 42 minute window has passed. Then the “people meter” as it’s called starts blinking like crazy. A computer stores all the information and then confidentially downloads all of it to Neilsen. When we have guests over we have to log them in as visitors. Both me and my roommate are the main people that log in. However, if the equipment suddenly stops working (like ours has several times) or you get new equipment (when Amy moved in she came with a new TV and TiVO, for example), a rep has to come out and fix it, which means you have to be home for that, etc. Luckily our Neilsen reps have been pretty awesome and flexible with our time. They also tell some crazy stories about like having to go in home with dolls like from “Children of the Corn” and stuff. And you get paid a minimal check every few months. Needless to say though, we were fine with letting it go (you can only do it for two years maximum anyway), and did not sign up for the internet sample.

In case you wanted to know what ratings we have mainly contributed to, I’ll give you some of what we have watched and you can tell me if we made a difference:
NCIS
Dancing with the Stars
Any Vikings or Nebraska game I could find
LOST
90210 (new version)
Seinfeld
Law & Order
Stormchasers
The Office
Sportscenter
Private Practice
Whatever else Jamie watched
Whatever else Amy watches
Simpsons

We are fairly active TV watchers, so I'd like to think at least most of the cool shows got some props from us over time.

Sudoku and White Windmill

One of my newly discovered work assignments as an assessment counselor has afforded me several new, unexpected opportunities. Because of the nature of the job being that I am needed at my desk throughout most of the day to answer the phone, having time off for lunch and other breaks are always much appreciated. Most of the time I bring my lunch, but the other day one of my coworkers was ranting about a place called White Windmill as an awesome lunch spot that it’s our area. Last week I had the privilege to check it out and it is sooo tasty.

Basically, White Windmill has a Panera essence to it, but with it’s own special twists. The whole place is owned by Koreans, for one, so all of the menu items are written in Korean and English. The menu fare is mostly sandwiches, soups, chips, etc but I find them to be higher quality then Panera. For example, their chicken salad sandwich is out of control good. Also, as you are waiting for your sandwich to be made, they have free samples of their breads and pastries just waiting for you to try out and I have. The atmosphere inside is soo super cute as well. I haven’t really been able to enjoy it that much because I always have to get lunch to go, but it has really neat décor and nice music.

Anyway, check it out if you’re ever near Buford Hwy and Oakliff Rd. It’s about 3 miles east of my house.

The other thing that I have learned while I have been here is Sudoku, which I play occasionally if the phones are really slow. It’s basically the only type of mind-teaser game that I can play without quitting after like the first 30 seconds (crosswords do not do it for me). A couple of weeks ago I taught my coworker, Al, and now he is totally into it. It’s sort of fun seeing an ex-biker dude like totally hunched over, crunching out the numbers. Yesterday he brought me a “surprise” which was my choice of two new Sudoku books. The one I picked ended up being considerably easier then the original book I was using, which makes me feel really awesome and smart. I can complete a puzzle on that one in only 15 minutes with no mistakes. The other one took me about 5 tries before I did a whole puzzle with no mistakes and no cheating by looking at the answers. And it took me 45 minutes. Oh yeah, I keep track. Sudoku also wards off Alzheimer’s, so double score on finding a fun game and also a brain exerciser.

Famous

Our presence at Recovery Awareness Day was captured on You Tube!! Me, Marlene and Lisa are in the front row of the balcony around minute 1:01 of the video.

Kate Morgan incident resolved

Back in November I flew to DC one weekend to visit some friends that had moved up there to start a church. The trip was a huge cheer-up for me as I was wading through the first month of despair after losing my job. However, flying there and flying back ended up being a bit of a nightmare. On the way up my Dave Ramsey envelope system wallet was either lost or stolen in the Atlanta airport, including all the cash I had in there. This made me angry on many levels.

On the way home my flight was cancelled, and I was booked on another flight that was set to take off about two hours later. The flight was still delayed though because apparently people were really slow in boarding, which literally, was what the gate agent announced over the intercom. Once we were all safely boarded, the lady sitting next to me started having a panic attack. Me and the flight attendents trying to talk her down, but to no avail. There was a call for a doctor on board to help, and no one came forward. Finally she asked to get off. We were all the way out to the tarmack by this time, waiting in line to take off. So we had to take her back and let her go. It was crazy. We also got delayed big time again once we landed in Atlanta and then I ended up missing my friend Laura D's birthday dinner. In addition (and more relevant to this blog) I ended up leaving the library book ("Breach of Faith-An account about Hurricane Katrina") on the plane.

I realized it that night and tried to call Delta to see if someone picked it up. I had just done this 4 days previous for my envelope system wallet so I was a pro. Unfortunately they could not find it. I also was at the airport again not long after this and I went to lost and found, but they didn't have it. Alas, I called the Dekalb Country library to report it lost.

Now, how much do you think a lost library book costs??

Yuuuuup, it $31.00. Flat rate. For any lost adult library book no matter how bad the book is (that book was not even that good) or in what condition it's in.

I still want to be a patron of the library, so I went there tonight to get a book I had on reserve and to face the music. When I told the dude what happened, he informed me that they also were going to charge me $1.95 in late fees, even though I had called already to report it lost and they told me just to wait and handle it when I came in, which I guess they thought I was going to do immediately. Whatev. I figured I was already making a $31 donation to this fine institution, what's another $1.95. Plus it was 7:56pm and they were about to close and I was wearing my slipper boots for shoes, which I thought at the time was a good idea but once I was in the library, I felt kind of foolish.

Whenever things are lost or stolen on trips, Kate Morgan (a ghost we came across on our Dec 07 trip to California) obviously, has been the one at fault. Christina typically had been the victim, but now I have fallen mercilessly into her clutches of doom.

Family Awesomeness

A couple of weeks ago on my day off I drove over to Rochelle's house to hang out with her and the kids for a while and run errands and play. On my way over Rochelle called to let me know that her kids were so excited about me coming over, that they were at the door yelling "Aunt Jessie!! Aunt Jessie." What I heard on the phone was "(excited random sounds)-EEEEEE!!!!!" deep in the background, but it was REALLY cool. Those kids treat me like a superhero and in real life I am way overrated for that moniker! It really warms my heart though. They've also started asking to play "tasty snack" everytime I come over now, which is when I pretend I am hungry for a tasty snack which turns out to be little kids' limbs. So they run around the house and then when they get to where I'm sitting on the couch, I try to catch them and eat them. It's pretty involved. Oh yeah, and last time I was there I also got to have a Hot Fudge Pop Tart and a Smores Pop Tart, both of which tasted sooo amazingly good. It's been a good fifteen years since I had one of those, and wow have they evolved into some tasty goodness. That is my real tasty snack...har har har.

I also got to have dinner with my Aunt Tanya that night, who was in town from Minnesota on business. Lucky for me her company sends her out my way every January for a couple of days, and we almost always have dinner at my (now also her) favorite Atlanta Thai restaurant, Surin, which was so good! She encouraged me to try a chocolate martini that night too, which should have pushed me over the edge after having the pop tarts, but I happily sipped away on my tasty beverage! I'm totally getting one of those again sometime. I love hanging out with her and just catching up and chatting about whatever is going on. It's awesome.

Recovery Awareness Day

At my job in assessments (at an addiction treatment facility) I work directly across the hall from our Director of Marketing and our Director of Fund Development. Let me tell ya, these people always have their finger on the pulse of what's going on in the addiction/recovery community. Because of them and the awesome organization I work for, I was able to join them for Recovery Awareness Day at the Georgia State Capitol last Thursday.

In all my seven and one half years of being in my state's great capital city, I've never actually been to the official building. But being the veteran Atlantan that I am, I deftly boarded MARTA and met Marlene and Lisa downtown at approximately 8:30. It was VERY important that we got on time; not only because we needed to register but I was also hoping to score one of the Recovery Awareness T-shirts that were available on a limited time basis. 

After getting our nametags and shirt (me), and after talking to a cute guy (me) who was also a counselor and NOT an addictions patient (important), we went upstairs to claim our seats in the balcony of the Georgia House of Representatives, almost running into Georgia governor Sonny Perdue on the way up. I was under orders from C-tina to tell him not to sign this new education bill that negatively affects teachers in some way (I didn't really understand it) but didn't get close enough. So we made it upstairs, and sat and sat and waited and waited. Meanwhile, the session is called to order, and random people got up to make speeches about like it being MLK's real birthday that day, or it being the 101st anniversary of some women's fraternity. Throughout which, all of the representatives are talking to each other and not listening. It was kind of weird, but I guess important? I was kind of wondering how this was going to work when our presentation was made. Hmmm...

Then Rep. Neal (not totally sure why him or what district he was from) stood up and announced our special day and asked for people to give their attention to the balcony, where we were standing by this point and pretty much filled up all the seats. Everyone started clapping, which was awesome. Then he read off some of the stats that the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association had prepared for this meeting. Here's a couple of them:

-A child who get through age 21 without using illegal drugs, smoking or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so.

-It is estimated that over 540,000 Georgians needed treatment for an alcohol problem in 2007, but did not receive it.

-That every dollar spent on addiction treatment returns a $4-$7 reduction  in the cost of drug-related crime. With some programs, the total savings can exceed costs by a 12:1 ratio. 

-Approximately 80% of Georgia's 55,500 prison inmates are alcohol or drug abusers, yet less then 10% receive treatment.

So obviously, it was pretty important and special to get to be a part of educating our legislators about addiction issues and the need for good treatment in our state! Even if it was only for about ten minutes of fame....and a T-shirt. And the capitol building was really cool. My favorite capitol building is still the one in Lincoln, NE, but alas, I digress.

Don't sign that bill Sonny....

Feelin' Shakey

Today the assessment phone has hardly rang at work. Last Friday the hospital had to cut my shift because they didn't have enough patients. Between both of my jobs, there has been hope communicated to me from the top that January is supposed to be the busy time for addiction and mental health treatment. Insurance benefits have started over, and people are more motivated to change after the holidays then before or during. It's tough though to not feel discouraged. And to start wondering about my own job security. It's probably too early to worry, but I've found it so easy to slip into that pattern lately. I'm normally not a worrier, but I normally don't have a hard time keeping down jobs. I did have another job interview last week for a 15 hr/week job at another facility. I think I have a good chance, but it's not certain they will offer it to me. But at least it's more opportunities.

My office-mate here is really awesome. She's always encouraging us by saying that when one day is slow, the next day is usually out of control busy. It's a good reminder that only God knows what tomorrow may bring and that He'll take care of it.

Our goal in our assessment center is 31 new admits, one for each day of the month. If we reach that goal, our CEO is taking us out to dinner. Let's pray to that end! I know there are folks out there that need the treatment and the help.

New Years Resolution

It doesn't really occur to me to do any kind of New Years resolution. I barely notice it's even new years except that we don't have to work on New Years Day and now I have to put 09 instead of 08 on all my notes at work. A couple of my coworkers though are doing some interesting ones. The gal who shares an office with me is doing a special fast with her church for the whole month of January in which everyone is limited to eating food that comes from a seed. January 5 was the first day she started it. She brought in the list of all the things she could and couldn't eat and we analyzed it together. It looks like she can do any kinds of fruits, veggies, grains, carbs, etc but no animal products or salt or sugar. She's doing awesome so far. She's over there eating her nice vegetable medley for lunch while I'm happily slurping on my roommates' yummy taco soup with nice ground beef in it. 

I have another coworker who's doing a fast from carbs. I'm not sure how long that's lasting. I've gotten a lot of calls too in the assessment center from people that want to stop using drugs and alcohol because of New Year. I think that's good as long as they do it by coming into treatment with us, right?? :)

After all this inspiration, I did come up with a small New Years resolution. To wear earrings. I got a ton of cool earrings from my sister-in-law for Christmas an a Target gift card from my dad, so I am pretty throughly stocked up. I've worn earrings every day this week, and they look really pretty I think and I've gotten a few compliments. I also like how they swish when I move my head. It's seeming pretty likely that this resolution will stick.

Being new

If there's one aspect of working that I've done more of this year, it's the concept of being the new employee. 

I've started three new jobs in the past eight months. Well, actually if you count the two I did part time this summer, the total is five. Wow, that's weird. 

Being a new employee isn't anyone's idea of a great time I think. It certainly isn't mine. I guess there's a bit of excitement and anticipation as you start a new job. My anticipation was so high when I started to work at Talbott. When I found out I was hired, I was with Amy Mo and Christina in the food court of the CNN Center, in the process of knocking out all the tourist destinations in my own city with all my abundant time off, when my phone rang with the Talbott HR person on the other end. I was totally shocked. Both by the fact they picked me, and about the salary. It was a dream come true. Even though the dream lasted only 91 days, I think there's some inklings of new dreams coming into place in less dramatic fashion.

Which brings me back to the being new topic. Since Christmas I have officially started my two new part-time jobs. For confidentiality sake I'm not going to post the names of where I'm working, but if you're a facebook friend you can find them on my profile. Being new when you are a substance abuse counselor means you must attempt to wedge your way into an existing team that's already used to working constantly together on behalf of clients that they feel are theirs. So being a new person is really delicate. It takes a lot of humility, a lot of watching, a lot of patience, a lot of waiting. A lot of contemplating before you make a comment about a patient, because although you might be right, it might not seem that way to that person's counselor. You also have to work with directors, clinical directors, doctors- who have their own egos, stresses, ideas of change, ideas of success. Eventually, they learn to like you. Then trust you. Then love you. Then miss you (Talbott especially :(......).

Being at these new jobs so far has been an easier transition, and for that I am grateful. Maybe this whole "being new" business is becoming second nature. I'm starting to see a lot of similarities from place to place. 

If Talbott's experience taught me anything, it's to remember how far God allowed me to come in my confidence as a counselor, in my ability to work with people with very similar and different values and personalities then me, in a very short period of time.

And that God is still God. He's still there. He knows all of this. He knows tomorrow.