Chimbo Palace

I had no idea what to title this post, but then I just named it the nickname for my house. I live at Chimbo Palace, which happens to be on Chimborazo street, which is probably where it got its name.

A number of people asked me if I would continue blogging this year, and I do fully intend to. Then, I didn't know what to write for the past few weeks. The truth is that its been a lot of meetings and sessions and learning about the neighborhood and learning about CHAT (Church Hill Activities and Tutoring) and our roles within that. It's been a struggle between me feeling like I already know all the stuff and me realizing that the information is vital whether I've heard it before or not, and I certainly don't know everything and definitely need to pay attention.

The other thing people have been asking me is what I'll be doing. Great question. That's gonna be a moving target, but I also know a few things that I can share with you. I know that I will be working at the 20 Spot, which is the house of one of our staff where tutoring takes place. Monday and Tuesday afternoons, I'll be there initially doing literacy tests and eventually monitoring the volunteer tutors and their students as well as stepping in if there is a shortage of volunteers. Wednesdays, I will be helping out with an outdoors club we do with a partner organization called Blue Sky Fund as well as leading a cooking class. If anyone ever wonders what I'm going to do with my Anthropology major, I plan to make different food cultures and their respective meals. Boom. Anthropology. As my Friday elective with Church Hill Academy (CHAT's high school), I will be again partnering with Blue Sky Fund to do a rock climbing class. I'm pretty excited about that because I haven't been rock climbing since I was a kid, but I remember really loving it.

I'm also a point person for most food things CHAT related, so I will be prepping and cooking a heavy snack for tutoring days. There will be many hands involved, for which I am very thankful. I'm hoping that all the time spent at Holy Family (home church) will have sunk in, and I will be unafraid to cook for high volumes of people.

I'll have more thoughts and reflections later, but hopefully that clarifies some of what I'll be doing and what CHAT is about. Let me know if you have any questions!