Life in the Office, the Y, the Museum, and the Gallery

Hello friends. We hope that wherever you are, you had as beautiful a fall day as we had here today. It truly was a magnificent day to be near the lake. Clear skies, a warm breeze, small waves and blue, blue water.

I (Mira) thought you might like to know a little bit more about my new job. Instituto del Progreso Latino is a very large organization, but the citizenship department is in a storefront office about a block away from the main Instituto building. The department enables legal permanent residents to apply for citizenship through large weekend workshops and individual appointments, and helps them prepare for their interview/exam through classes and tutoring. The clients' files are tracked during the process to be sure that they have fulfilled all the requirements and following all the steps correctly--it can be a very confusing and intimidating process!

The center is quite cozy, with one mid-size room containing the workspaces of five of us, including the Citizenship Director (though she is behind a high cubicle-like wall). Two of the staff in the room are administrative assistants and one is from a completely different organization, but has her workspace there. Also in the main space is the waiting area and table where students register for classes, take placement tests, and fill out any other paperwork. Connected to that room is a tiny room for the three staff who assist clients with N-400 Application for Naturalization.

There are about ten part-time citizenship teachers who teach the 8-week, 2-hour-a-day classes and I, as the Teacher Coordinator, supervise the teachers, schedule and coordinate classes at several sites, and track all of the student and teacher data. I will hopefully start visiting classes next week and meeting with teachers, through it seems that I will have to work hard to make those visits and meetings a priority because the administrative work has already proved to be very time-consuming. The teachers I've met so far are really great and I really like the folks who are in the office. There is always hard work being done, but there is also lots of laughter. I've met a few other non-Hispanic folks in the organization, and there is one non-Hispanic teacher, but all the other folks in the office are Hispanic. The communication is funny because people fly back and forth between Spanish and English--sometimes mid-sentence. I'm really excited about getting to speak lots of Spanish, though I still get nervous about answering the phone.

Because a couple of new citizenship classes are being created, I am, through some strange twist in the plot, in charge of hiring teachers! It's just really weird to suddenly be reading other people's cover letters--addressed to me. It's probably good that in my job search I experienced both good and bad hiring practices and communication...it will certainly impact how I interact with teacher candidates and the promptness of my correspondence.

So...I think it's going well so far. I'm learning a lot and getting to know people...and it's just nice to be employed again!

Eric and I have had a nice weekend. We joined the YMCA in Evanston on Friday and have worked out there a few times already. It's a nice facility--I'm way excited to try out the raquetball courts and kick Eric's butt (Eric here: I don't think so). Yesterday, Joey, Maiko and I enjoyed the newly remodeled Chicago History Museum at their grand (and free) re-opening. In the Chicago: Crossroads of America exhibit, we got to tour one of the very first "L" cars, learn about the history of several diverse Chicago neighborhoods, and see lots of products that were invented or pioneered in Chicago. You might not know that it was in Chicago that the Brunswick company revoluntionized the game of bowling when they developed the first ball made out of some resin (they used to be made of wood). Also, the first Crate and Barrel was in Chicago and the game "Mouse Trap" was developed here. Exciting, I know. I would definitely recommend the museum to those who live here or might visit.

Eric came downtown afterwork and we went to Josh and Deborah's, whose apartment/studio was part of the Chicago Art District's community open house. Deborah's amazing paintings were hung around their place and folks could come in and and munch on goat cheese and crackers and wine while they enjoyed the artwork...and then wind around the neighborhood to lots of other studios and galleries. We had a really fun evening with them and ended up staying at their place in Pilsen and going directly from there to church this morning.

Well, I guess it's a "work night." I should be making my lunch or something!