Sunday, I left Chapel Hill for Richmond. It was a nice drive. My dad and I fixed my car's air conditioning the week before, so it was nice and cold. I arrived a little early, so I went to a park that overlooked the city and snapped the photo you see here.

Shortly after that, I met my host family and my roommate, and moved in. We quickly shuffled off to church, East End Fellowship, which meets at 4 on Sundays. The service was great even though I was tired from travel, and afterwards we ate dinner there.


Monday was the start of orientation. We talked about what to expect over the coming weeks and got some history of the community and CHAT. Since it was Memorial Day, we also helped with a CHAT hosted cook out, which was lots of fun. There was face painting, a bounce castle, some basketball, popcorn, and, of course, hamburgers and hot dogs. It gave me an opportunity to take lots of great photos early on.

Tuesday was planned to help us get a feel for the neighborhood through a bike scavenger hunt. It lasted for most of the morning and afternoon. It was another great opportunity to take photos. At one point, another intern, Jeff, took a nasty fall on his bike and had to get stitches. After I knew he okay, I took some pictures of that too - so beware that there are some bloody photos in this facebook album. It was great to bond with the interns and see the neighborhood, but it was exhausting. After the scavenger hunt, I went and tutored high school students for about an hour, and then headed home. That night I fell asleep at 9.

Wednesday was a work project day. CHAT was able to get a bunch of free furniture for their school building, which is a great blessing, and the interns made a day of moving it into a storage warehouse while the building is being renovated. That night, we had dinner with a family in the community and learned a little bit more about the history of the church (East End Fellowship). There were also lots of adorable kids there (see photo on the left.) From there, many of the interns went and watched a movie together and bonded a little bit more. (Yet another facebook album.)

Thursday was much more restful. In the morning, we took a bus tour around the neighborhood and were able to learn more about the things we had seen biking around on Tuesday. But the rest of the day was left open to us. I spent most of it sorting and uploading a lot of the pictures from the above albums, and then had dinner with my host family and another couple from their community group. Their community group plays a lot of the game Dominion, so after dinner, they taught me how to play. It's very strategy based, so I think it's a ton fun. (And I just paused writing this blog to go play another game with them, actually. And then a game online. I like it a lot.)

Friday morning we went to Leigh Street Baptist church for graduation practice, and that afternoon we talked about what our specific jobs for the summer will be. I will be working with Nehemiah's Workshop. It will be me and two students doing carpentry. We'll choose what products to make, make them, and sell them. I'm really looking forward to it.


Friday night, the interns decided to hang out together and make a big pasta dinner. We made our own delicious alfredo sauce with some pasta shells, broccoli, and chicken (for the non-vegetarians). We also made chocolate strawberry cookie dough things. Basically, you cut out the top of a strawberry, fill it with cookie dough, dip it in chocolate, and then let it harden. They were wonderful. The interns just hung out inside because it was storming, and we played lots of random games.

Saturday was the actual Church Hill Academy Graduation. It's their second graduating class, with five students. All of the interns had various jobs helping out, and I got to take photos. It was awesome to see the community come out to support these students as they step forward into a new chapter of life.

All in all, it has been a very full week, but a very rewarding and exciting week. Even with everything in my recap, I've missed many things. (Like how adorable Hosea, the one-year old I live with, is and how much he likes me already. But don't worry, there will probably be a whole facebook album of photos of him by summer's end.)