My Job In All Of Its Glory

           Some of you have been inquiring about my new job, so I decided to put it all out there. This week was my first days at my job site. HOLY COW! I mean this is my first big girl job, but wow. Before my pre-service orientation, a week ago wenesday, Missoula was all dreamy swimming, decorating, eating, sewing, reading, etc. Then PSO was a reaaaallly LAME three days (24 hours!) of sitting while this old woman, that looked like Angela Lansbury, spouted out stereotypes about “battered women” and poor people who are poor “because they are unwilling or unable to be flexible thinkers!” Anyway, I drank a lot of coffee, drew a LOT of cartoons, and "argued" more than I ever have in my life. I came home from those three days READY for the weekend. We swam, had picnics, and read our book. We tried out this pretty alternative Catholic Church too (more on that another time). It was a really nice and relaxing weekend. And then my first week of work arrived.

My job is HARD! For the sake of honesty I will tell you that I cried Monday night, Tuesday night, AND Wednesday night. But then Thursday I didn’t. We’ll see about tonight. I felt completely overwhelmed and disappointed by my job. I mean most new things, especially jobs are hard the first day, right? Right. So, I keep reminding myself of that fact. Guess what my job is? Working heart to heart with women escaping domestic abuse? Nope. Doing their interviews and playing with their kids? Nope. My job is to build from scratch (the software) a database to record all of their personal information and the resources they used from the YWCA. There are three flavors of shelter that we offer…emergency shelter, a confidential hotel room for 55 days, and an 18 month home. Almost all of the women utilize at least two of these services. And do you know who is going to get them the funding to do that by building a database? Me. Yep, Abigail Ewing. Abigail Ewing who has trouble figuring out Gmail and saving photos from the web. Probably the kicker is that no one in the organization has ever used, or knows how to use the software that I’m using. Hilarious, right? I actually asked my supervisor why she hired me (with no background in computer stuff). She said no one else they interviewed knew either. BUT, then I watched six and a half hours of tutorials on youtube, read a TON of stuff online, and started e-mailing OCP Bill a bunch of questions. And you know what? I’m getting kind of excited. I think I maybe, possibly, could one day do this with Bill’s help. I mapped out a bunch of stuff, showed it to my supervisor, and she was shocked by my progress. So I’m ending the work week on a good note. Who knows for sure if I can do this, but I’ll try.

The rest of my job is awesome. I work with all women/men that dress like women. This is a nice change of pace. Also, no one here wears diapers(another newness). The YWCA is into this great thing called wellness. “Wellness?” You say, “Is that eating right and getting plenty of sleep.” Nope! It’s about coming to work 30 minutes late or leaving 30 minutes early every day! You can do either one of those and then use that time to do something that promotes well-being. So I bike home and take a nap! Awesome, right? Also, yesterday my job was to receive a bike tour of the city (sixish miles). It was so fun! This was mostly because it was led by my new work mate, Hattie who has lived here for a year. Our tour included a free pastry and ice cream cone!


I think I'm going to make it. I think I'll learn a ton in the process. 


Missing you guys.


Abigail

...Two weeks in...

Good Morning! (if you can't read the coffee, it says "Trout Slayer")

The newest addition to our bedroom 

Trying to break a lock :)

Nervous/excited about her first day of work!! Isn't she just lovely?

In other news, I have been looking for a job and have found a few leads.  The Missoulian (pictured above) is hiring people for delivery routes.  This would be fast, easy money.  The second is that I could get my CDL and drive school bus for the coming school year.  The benefit is that it would be a stable job and pay enough to get by on and they train, so I would have a CDL.  Another that I just found out about is at the Poverello Center.  It's basically like the OCP except they've been around for a while and they are well established as a shelter/food bank/soup kitchen/emergency clothing place.  They are hiring fill-in staff.  This would mean not stable hours, but perhaps up to 40 hours a week and at an awesome place.  So, you can pray and hope I get a job soon and can decide which would be the best option.  I have also found a pretty legitimate Ultimate Frisbee pickup group down by the river - they are pretty serious, so I'll have to step up my game.  Also, while Abigail was at her training last week, I was floating down the river with our friend, Ben Jackson.  We bought tubes, drove up the river 2 miles and got in.  So relaxing, so burny!  I got majorly burned, but it was still a good time.  We got out of the river in town and walked to our house so that we could drive back and get Ben's car.  Much fun!  On Saturday, we found out where all the markets in town are.  There are a few sizable markets that are bustling and lively.  The air is filled with chattering and aromas and music! We love the small-town feel.  That's about it for now...

Much Love,
Dietrich

Missoula!

Our family mascot...bony horse. And our plant, Clara, hanging in the window.

Our one established corner of our apartment.

The view from our front window... Sacajawea Park. 

Bathroom

Clara. We trimmed her stems down to the soil before we left. She was packed deep in the car. She emerged growing in the dark. Now she has blossoms!

This picture is for Sherry. Because she made that wrap around dress in the 60's and now we use it as an apron dress.

We live in Sacajawea's old house.

These were some of our first sights when we entered our building. The building handy man, Wes,  lives in the basement and he put up this lovely, welcoming, decor. 

I will also add that it smelled STRONGLY like a dairy barn where the cows smoke marijuana.

The gross Steps. I'll add that a good vacuuming and half a bottle of Febreze later the building was significantly better.

DOWTOWN! 

Notice the license plate in the windshield. 

I like the grizzly mural.

The "Hip Strip"

Fiestawarehouse!

The Missoula sport of leg hopping. People everywhere will be doing it in no time!

One of the great bike lanes.

The grocery store right next to our apartment. Notice anyone familiar?

Dietrich in awe.

On The Open Road, pt. 2

Wyoming

I Spy...an orange engine!

Self-explanatory

the open road

This is "how I felt"  - I would describe it as "tired of driving but excited to be in Montana"

Big Sky Country

We made it!

We're finally in missoula! We don't have any pictures of the local scene yet, so you'll have to settle for pictures from the journey. Remember, we were in the car for 55 hours so most of the pictures aren't "professional" quality.

We'll start the narrative at Sharlie Patch's apartment. She was  sweet, she had cool style, she left the apartment to us for the night, and her cat has fleas. Abigail has 29 bites to prove it. The cat had a great personality, though.

Dietrich getting his groove on. 

A rest stop mascot

?!

Colorado ended up being pretty desolate...at least the Colorado we saw.  This ancient gas station had blankets in the window, no lights, and vintage gas pumps(one of which was knocked over).

We saw an awesome storm in Colorado. 

We stayed with David and Gwen Otten in Bethoud, CO. They were really friendly and hospitable. They even made us breakfast before we hit the road.

Here they are! The only hosts we remembered to take pictures of.

So, we're here! We'll get some pictures of our house and city up soon!