I was able to talk with Gary yesterday about my food situation. And boy was I wrong... it wasn't a misunderstanding by my host family. It wasn't a misunderstanding by me. It was Gary! He hadn't remembered exactly what was written in my letter of appointment and hadn't realized the burden food could create when it hasn't been specified who is responsible for what. Needless to say, he was very gracious about resolving the issue. More gracious than he need be, to be honest. I had a hard time trying to get him to stick to the basics. It all boils down to me not having to worry about my food situation. Whether I have to eat dinner with Gary and Karen (which I have for the past two nights) or whether I have a small make-my-own meal - such as Campbell's soup, Chef Boyardee, Easy Mac, pasta, etc - it's taken care of. This doesn't mean that it's completely resolved or all hunky-dory. I don't have any place to store cold foods, and I have to wait until my host family is done with the kitchen before I can prepare anything for myself (I was supposed to be able to use this small kitchenette that the other tenant uses, but she seems pretty protective over her things so I'm just not going to go down that road), but at least I'm not starving.
I don't want it to seem like my host family is not considerate - they are! - but they agreed to have another "tenant" not an adopt-o-child that they have to take care of. They are very accommodating, nice, intelligent, considerate people. The wife, Helene, is interested in what I'm studying, and the husband, Mark, is always talking to me about his work and about the Midwest (he's originally from Minnesota). I still haven't spoken with Thea (short for Althea) much. She keeps to herself mostly.
Another reason I can kind of breath easier is that we're slowly figuring out what my job actually is! Don't get too excited, there is still a lot to figure out, but today Gary and found a niche that I can fill in online communications. Hawaii 4-H's current website is outdated and hard to navigate; the county agents have recently created a blogspot webpage for them to share news between counties, but don't ever use it; and many new club leaders keep searching the current websites and popular social media websites (such as Facebook and Twitter) to see if there are any upcoming events they can get their clubs involved in, but there is nothing set up to house that information. Enter Jenn! (baah-bah-bah-baaaaaaaaah!) I'm going to work to create a simple, yet user friendly, website/portal for Hawaii 4-H information to be held as well distributed to participants. It's going to include an events calendar and links to new social media pages (soon-to-be Facebook pages, possibly other social media too). This will allow the youth involved in 4-H to be more clued in to what the 4-H organization (on a larger scale than just their club) is doing, and connect with other 4-H-ers on the islands. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek! (<--girly squeal) I'm super excited! This is kind of like what I did for the two organizations I worked with while I was an AmeriCorps*VISTA, so it's right up my alley!
Again, this is just one project I'll be working on, but it's a start. It's better than what I've been doing for the past 2 weeks (which isn't much). So, things are definitely looking up. They're not perfect, but I didn't ask for perfect! I asked for some clarity, and that's what I'm getting.
In other news, I've been sick today. Some sort of stomach flu. I can't tell if it's because I caught a bug going 'round, I ate something funny, or my stomach is just reacting from my (severely) irregular eating schedule over the past week. Who knows. Adam - the graduate assistant who works in my office space - went home sick today too. I don't know what he was sick with, but I hope we don't have the same thing because he didn't look too good before he headed home. *fingers crossed*
No comments:
Post a Comment