the LA update

I haven't written in almost a month! That's so not like me!  I think I haven't just because I'm just now feeling comfortable in LA and the things I'm doing here.  

Maegan is the Student Advisor. She's 20 and is a junior at Oklahoma State University.  Either her or I have to be with the kids when they're not at JPL (the NASA center).  She's a riot. From Stillwater, Oklahoma- we teach her a lot of things about city-living and she teaches us funny things from a small town view!  It's rather hilarious to be around her.

Maegan and me at the Zoo

Our crazy kiddos

Our 10 kids are all 16 or 17 years old. They will be seniors in the fall. They get paid decent money to intern at JPL.  (Maegan and I get paid decently, too!) We all get activities paid for and room, board, travel, and perdiem.  It's sorta fun!  The kids are great bunch. 6 boys and 4 girls. Everyone gets along really well and seems to be enjoying it.  We're all on the same floor in the dorm and have a lounge to hang out in if we want. 

So the kids have completed 2 out of their 8 weeks here.  Here's an example of my schedule:

6:40 wake up

7:00 take the kids to breakfast on campus (we're staying at Occidental College in northeast LA)

7:30 leave for JPL

7:45 drop kids off at work!  yay!

[now it's my free time. I usually go to the gym then run errands like get the van's oil changed. I like to go shopping or walk around the area. I have a library card here!  I like naps, too. I've gone to JPL a couple times for cool tours or speakers.   I'm not quite sure where all my time goes, but I feel busy yet lazy (minus the gym!). Maegan's usually studying so it's rare if she does anything with me. I need to add to my free time list!!!!!!]

4:40 Maegan leaves to get kids

5:00 kids are off work!

6:00 kids are back from dinner on campus (I usually eat a big lunch so I don't eat dinner. Plus it's not the best...)

7:00 activity!  Mondays are surveys/abstracts, Tuesdays are a hands on engineering activity, Wednesday are fun things like bowling/laser tag, Thursdays are work-on-projects time.

8:30 wind down time

11:00 "curfew"

Rinse and repeat. Except Friday night we do fun things like go to movies and Saturdays are usually planned ahead for us to go to museums or six flags.  And Sundays we just go out to eat and do laundry here at the dorms. Our kids get every other Friday off, too!  Lucky ducks.  They had a four day weekend for the fourth of July. All but two went home for the weekend.  The two who stayed get to hang out with us all weekend!  It's been fun so far! :)  I mean, we do have Disneyland tomorrow! (but CA kids don't think it's that great because they go too much. Oh poor babies).  But the Zoo and USS Midway were definitely a treat for us all. 

I really like it here--for the summer--but couldn't see myself raising a family here. Traffic (which thankfully we only have on weekends where we're at!), crazy people, sketchy areas of town, no super target!  How do people not have a Super Target or Super Walmart? Those places rock- can't beat all-in-one shopping. And 9.25% tax! Yikes.  Everything is more expensive here.  And the road system here makes no sense.  We named our GPS "Jill" and she's helpful but sometimes frustrating, too!  :)  What happened to grid streets?  The city is just overwhelming sometimes.  And being in a big ol' van doesn't help!  

Mainly I just miss being around people my own age. I'm either with Maegan (20) or a bunch of 17 year olds. Yes, they're great and I adore them, but I miss my friends in Houston.  I did go to Church last week but didn't really get to know anyone. And you saw my schedule, I can only hang out during the day!  Don't hesitate to text or call me---I need the friend interaction!  It can get kind of boring here.