The Bittersweet Paradox

All I can say is "wow." Or maybe "holy crap" would more accurately reflect my feelings after the whirlwind of last week. I've been trying to stop saying "holy crap", but I really think it applies here.

I've been debating about giving a general overview of the week, or a complete blow-by-blow. I've decided to do the blow-by-blow. Anyone uninterested in the detailed run down can skim.

Tuesday, November 8
5:00 pm. Book it to the airport.

6:00 pm. Realize that booking it to the airport was completely unnecessary as I'm sitting in front of the gate and my plane doesn't leave for another 50 minutes. Go to the mini-food court (everything at Will Rogers airport is mini) and eat Schlotzsky's. Realize with a panic that the change from the twenty dollar bill I used for lunch at McDonald's is still sitting in the register at McDonald's. Use debit card for Schlotzsky's.

6:50 pm. Board what ended up being a $450 (round trip) flight.

8:30pm. Arrive after an uneventful flight. Go collect baggage and negotiate my way through airport to the rental car shuttles.

9:00 pm. Get rental car. This was an ordeal in itself as I am only 24 and don't have a credit card. Thankfully, Enterprise rent a car will let you use a debit card if you're not 25 yet (don't forget the under-age service charge). They may have made themselves a customer for life as I was literally unable to get a car with any other rental agency.

9:15 pm. Begin to negotiate traffic what with the I-90s and 190s and 294s and Northwest tollways...It's no small miracle that I made it anywhere at all.

9:45 pm. Get first look at church.

10:00 pm. Receive call from person's house I'm staying at. Told her that the directions I mapquested were wrong. She redirects me and I turn in the right direction.

10:15 pm. Arrive at my host home. The lady I stayed with graciously waited up for me as she usually goes to bed AT TEN. I don't blame her.

11:30 pm. Read Bible, pray fervently, go to bed.

Wednesday, November 9th
6:30 am. Wake up with a nervous knot in my stomach. No surprise there.

8:40 am. Arrive at church for my first appointment. This was with the man with whom I had an unusually intense two hour phone interview back in July. It was good to put a name with a face. He gave me my schedule and a map of the campus. It's sprawling, and, to be honest, a little confusing.

9:00 am. Don't have my first meeting until 10:00, so I did a little exploring. It was extremely cool to see the facility.

10:00 am. Have first interview with the High school ministry pastor. This went very well. He was from South Africa and had a really fun accent. We had a great conversation. I liked him a lot.

10:51 am. No interview until noon. Drive to Subway for lunch. Kill an hour and 9 minutes.

12:00 pm. Have second interview with the minister of the college-age twenty-something pastor. This was a good interview too, although maybe not as good as the first one. I felt like he gave me some good practical pointers.

12:30 pm. Kill a half hour.

1:00 pm. Here's where it gets a little weird. Now I meet with the Director of Next Gen ministries which includes college and high school age students. I got a weird vibe from this guy, and for some reason it completely freaked me out. His questions seemed prodding and critical, although I'm probably (definitely) hypersensitive. Didn't leave with such a good feeling after this one.

1:30 pm. Kill a half hour while beginning to freak out a little.

2:00 pm. Meet with the HR director. She was quite nice.

2:25 pm. Kill 35 minutes.

3:00 pm. Meet with doctoral student doing her dissertation. Yes, that's right. Someone is doing a doctoral dissertation over this internship program.

3:17 pm. Kill 43 minutes in the auditorium. I kinda sneaked in and looked out the windows in the auditorium with the trees changing and the wind blowing. It was really pretty, although I really am starting to freak out about the whole thing at this point.

4:00 pm. Meet with the internship director. Here's where it gets really freaky. He could tell from the beginning of me walking in that I was feeling overwhelmed. He begins to ask questions to purposely get to the heart of the issue, and he succeeds. I leave the interview crying. I'm not kidding. Although he told me that I was being authentic, I still really hated crying. Oh well....I guess I was just being me. I'm a crier. We decide to add one more interview to the lot of them with the junior high ministry.

4:45 pm. Hide in the bathroom hoping no one will see me since I have obviously been crying. It didn't work. The internship administrator came and sought me out and we had a good talk. She was fabulous. Funniest quote of the week:

"Let me get you some water. I wish I could get you something stronger than water." --internship administrator

5:30 pm. Go to my next interview having mostly pulled myself together, although my face is still a little blotchy. This was with a very lovely woman who reports to the elders. This one went much better and I left feeling quite encouraged.

6:15 pm. Get a snack at the coffee bar and praise God that the day from Hades is over.

7:00 pm. Enjoy immensely the Wednesday evening service. It really was great. As tired as I was, I'm sooo glad I didn't wuss out and go home.

8:30 pm. Go home praising God a little more that the day is over.

9:00 pm. Arrive home to realize that I have no way of getting in without my hostess being there. She wasn't. Call hostess, go to Walgreens and buy chocolate snowflake as a reward for surviving.

9:30 pm. Arrive home with my hostess getting there soon afterwards. We had a good chat and she gave me some good pointers.

10:30 pm. Fall into bed.

Thursday, November 10th
6:30 am. Alarm goes off. Dang it.

7:20 am. Leave home b/c I was told that 8:00 traffic is a bear. It was.

8:00 am. Arrive at my first interview of the day with the programming director of the Next Gen ministry. This interview went great. He was great, and I think we had a great talk. This was also very encouraging.

8:30 am. Kill an hour and a half reading at the little coffee shop.

10:00 am. Go to the mini fundraising seminar. Had a good talk with the internship guy from the first meeting about his experience.

12:00 pm. Have lunch with current interns. Also ate real pizza. It was stinking fabulous. The interns shared with us pointers on how they raised the funds for the internship. That's right, you read that correctly. You have to raise the money to be an intern.

1:00 pm. Continue with mini fundraising seminar.

2:00 pm. Get whisked off to my next interview. This was the late addition with the junior high ministry. It went very well. Clicked personality-wise very well with everyone I met. Leave feeling like this is easily the best prospect for the internship.

2:30 pm. Have wrap-up interview with the intership director. He tells me the weak areas he sees in me, along with the positive. He very intuitively picks up on things I knew deep-down are wrong about me and called me out. It was unnerving, but strangely good at the same time. We both agree that the only good prospect was with the junior high ministry. This means that since I didn't get to meet all the necessary people in the junior high ministry as it was kind of last minute, that I will still have to have several more phone interviews before a final decision can be rendered. Sheesh....

3:00 pm. Head back to the house to get stuff and go to airport feeling more tired than I've felt in a long time. Stop at Pier 1 and DSW Shoe Warehouse on the way home. I've missed DSW.

5:30 pm. Book it to the airport.

7:00 pm. Realize that booking it to the airport was completely unnecessary as I'm sitting in front of the gate and my plane doesn't leave for another two hours....

awesome...keep us updated.

hey alex! sounds like you did awsome. can't wait to see you and hear more!