Monday I was finally coming down with this cold I've been mostly holding off since Boston, so I slept in while Emma went to work and spent the morning blogging. It ended up working out well since she was worried about her heater and I was there to let the repair guy in to check it out. After he left, I went out to lunch with Mini! College nicknames never really go away, they just lurk, mostly forgotten, until you see someone who spent so long calling you by that name that they have to pause for a moment to remember what the rest of the world calls you.
Sarah was my coxswain for two years, not only skilled at the whole "making sure the boat doesn't crash" part, but also really encouraging and enthusiastic about helping us work together to be a fast boat. She worked at an admissions department at a college in North Carolina for a little bit after graduating, and now she's working at Temple University in downtown Philly, taking classes and looking to get her masters and keep working her way up in Admissions. It was fun to talk to her and her co-workers, especially learning so much about the differences in admission policies between small schools and bigger universities. In a school like this with tens of thousands of applicants, she is the sole person to look at the applications that are assigned to her but really has very little leeway in her decision of admittance or not - a certain score is needed to be admitted, rejected, or placed on the hold list, and 100 of the 110 points are determined by GPA, class rank (if available), and SAT scores. That's it. She gets 10 subjective points to award based on the essay and the recommendation letter, but it doesn't make much of a difference unless someone is on the cusp - a very big difference from smaller schools with admission committees that really strive to evaluate applicants holistically.
She had to go back to work, so I said goodbye and went to go find a coffee shop near center city where I was going to meet up with Clara, another crew friend, after she got home from work. Parking was a bear, but I finally settled in at OCF Coffee, enjoying a cup of tea and some wifi until it was time to go find Clara. It was so good to see her! Speaking of forgotten nicknames - I was walking up the street staring at my phone, trying to figure out where her apartment was, when I heard "Mama Jess!" from across the street and looked up to see a familiar bespectacled figure jogging across the street towards me, both of our arms already open and knees braced for a big hug. (I was sort of an unofficial team mom in crew, hence the nickname that I still hear mostly from the novice group that started my junior year). I was sad that I didn't get to see Allie - she's in law school and was in an exam (I hope it went well!) but I did get to see their super cute apartment and walk with Clara over to her friend's house so that she could do laundry in anticipation of their Thanksgiving trip to Martha's Vineyard. Clara has been working at all kinds of jobs (including some awesome freelance journalism), and is currently settling in doing logistics and organization with a company that does sports advertising (they're the people that will broker your deal to be the sponsor of a new stadium to get your company logo on the side of the building, for example).
I said goodbye and started heading out across the river to Moorestown, NJ to stay with my mother's cousins, Will and Louise. The last time I got to visit their house was three years ago, the night before I met up with my training group before leaving for Burkina - a still memorable sushi dinner with wonderful company before leaping into a new unknown. I hadn't realized that so much of the extended family that I only see at our annual reunions lived in the very near vicinity - I would have spent more time visiting! Their son is Will and his son Rollie had already arrived - I stayed with him, his wife Angie, and their two kids when I was in St. Louis. I hadn't expected to see them again so soon, but it was such a great surprise, especially getting to see the kids again.
Tuesday was a family day! Quilla and I played tag in the yard for a while, then moved down in the basement to delight in all of the toys that her dad and aunts played with when they were kids. Uncle Will went off to work, Aunt Louise was getting food ready for the next few days, Will and Angie took the kids over to his sister Beth's house back on the PA side of the river, and I chipped away at my applications for a bit before following them over that direction. I've never seen this part of my family outside of reunions - it was so much fun to spend time with so many people without being overwhelmed by trying to catch up with all 50 adults and kids that usually make it to reunions. Will and Louise have three kids - Will, Beth, and Kate - who are all married and have 2, 3, and 2.5 kids respectively (one is 7 and the rest are 4 or younger) - it made for a busy house but we all had a really good time eating and laughing and watching the tumbling mass of children rumble around the house. I was an unexpected addition but they all took the extra person in stride ;)
After dinner I headed a little north to stay with my friend JK. Another Peace Corps friend, we were in the same training group and actually lived fairly close together - I passed through her village of Yilou on the bus ride from my village to the capital. She's working as a volunteer coordinator at the St. James's School, a new neighborhood school associated with the Episcopal diocese that puts motivated local kids into an intensive learning environment with the goal of getting them ready for future academic success. It sounds like a pretty complex job, especially because the school and program is so new that she's essentially writing her job as she goes along, but it does seem like she enjoys the challenge of the work and feeling like it's having a directly useful impact on the lives of all these students. She lives next to the school in a communal house with about 8 of her coworkers, which conveniently has a little guest room where I could stay!
We hung around the house for a while trying to get in touch with her friends around town, but on a Tuesday night just two days before a holiday no one was really interested in going out, so we hopped in the car and drove downtown to Tabu, a bar in center city. We agreed that we tend to feel this innate bond with the people we served with but that neither of us actually got to know more than a handful of people on more than a pretty superficial level. She and I had opportunities to hang out and chat throughout our service, more than with some others who lived very far away and we never saw except at trainings, but it was nice to get to sit and just ask questions about her life pre- and post- PC - I learned a lot, and shared a lot, which is always a great experience. We ended up staying until they kicked us out at closing, then headed back home to bed.
Cool street art near Temple University
With Clara!
Quilla and Aunt Louise cleaning off some old toys in the basement (like the child's plastic record player)
The Ben Franklin bridge over to Beth's house
Will with his nephew Ben (L) and son Rollie (R)
Aunt Louise trying to corral kids towards a photo
Angie, Beth, and Will with Rollie and Ben - currently the two youngest cousins
Uncle Will was bravely performing as "Poppy the Horse" for a good long while
Living room full of kids and adults - such a great place to be Thanksgiving week!
When kids decide what game we're going to play...this is Charlie with his mom, Kate
At the kids table! Quilla, Abby, Charlie, Annie, and Connor
Beth, Ben, and Uncle Will
Rollie observing the bustle from across the room
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