Pleasant Surprises

I think God has been blessing me so much through this experience of being in Boston. I find myself in the company of so many people with such diverse backgrounds, yet at the same time, I also find myself in the company of fellow believers. I was able to go to Park Street Church on Sunday night with two other staff members and two students, which was a great end to a long day. I hope to get back to that church on July 12, because Joni Eareckson Tada will be speaking as part of their bicentennial celebration. I had the opportunity to meet a student from Australia, who is the child of two missionaries and used to attend the Hillsong Church. Today I was reading Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller and discovered some fellow fans of Blue Like Jazz. At dinner, we had a brief discussion about courtship versus dating, because one of the ladies on staff is reading Choosing God's Best by Don Raunikar, a book that I started but haven't finished reading yet. I haven't thought about courtship in quite a while. I think I got tired of reading about courtship and dating, since I was not involved in either one. None of it seemed very relevant. Though I still don't find it relevant to my current situation, it would be interesting to revisit those books just to see what I think of it all now. Speaking of relationships, this morning's ice breaker turned very interesting. I led our staff in a round of 20 questions, where we each write one question and answer whichever question we pick out of a hat. My question was "Where was your first kiss?" and my answer was "I will let you know when it happens." That was met by a chorus of What?!s and Cesar's suggestion of making Spin the Bottle next week's ice breaker. What a fascinating start to the day!

So far in Boston I have visited Mike's Pastry and bought two cannolis (one chocolate-covered and the other, chocolate mousse); walked through Chinatown and watched a woman verbally accost the clerk while trying to find a Prada backpack (which I later found hanging on a rack) and her coffee (which her boyfriend drank); ate lunch on a dock by the Charles River; briefly visited the Holocaust Memorial; cashed a check at a fancy private bank; traveled to various area stores; and watched teenagers at the studio demonstrate why they were accepted to study this summer at one of America's most elite programs.

The kids have been here for less than a week, and I'm looking forward to so much more.

::UPDATE:: Also in Boston I sang "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes in a Karaoke Bar (actually just a bar with a karaoke night) and didn't get booed. The older guys in the front who usually booed said "This is a good song" when it started playing, and the whole place was singing along when it got to the "Hey-ey" part. I had a lot of fun without drinking even a sip from the bar. Oh yes, it's possible.