workin' 9 to 5'...

I've spent the past three days at my new job! It's been so great! I'm amazed that I get paid for this - this is stuff I would do in the free time that I don't have! ------------->ready for my first day

I arrived Monday morning at my job and spent a little bit of time filling out some papers and being shown around the clinic. Then I was shown my office (that's right...MY office!) and directed towards a few things in it regarding the program and cirriculum I'll be using to teach...then I was just let loose. And so most of Monday and Tuesday was spent going through everything in my office and orienting myself slightly and also organizing and cleaning it. Today I got to begin really digging into the cirriculum and what I'm supposed to teach. I started planning out my first lesson.

It's so fun going to work at a clinic, into my own office, and basically being my own boss (sort of) and making decisions about what I want to do and how to most effectively communicate to teens about sex ed topics. I won't actually be in the classroom, probably until January. But then I'll be really busy, teaching in schools 5 periods per day, 4 days a week. Two junior high and two high schools. On Tuesday I went and met one of the high school teachers, it's actually kind of a new contact - we haven't been in that school for a few years.

in my office ;)

On another topic, Debbie, my mentor from SF,was in town for the holidays and got to stop by mi casa - which was fantastic to have her see a slice of my life here. But anyhow, we went to this place for dinner that I had rode past on my bike a few times. The food was good - but the music was amazing. There was un gringo singing in spanish, traditional Spanish songs along with his guitar. I bought his $8 CD and it's quite a work of art. I'm just reading his 32-page booklet now that came along with the CD and has some of his story...seems very interesting. I will definately go back and try to hear him again and talk to him about his story. If ya'll come visit - I will be glad to take you too!

And thankful Thanksgivings to all! I am very thankful for the wonderful and lovely people I have in my life and the beautiful things I've seen of humanity and the world. And that I'll be joining my entire family on Friday for a "day-after-Thanksgiving-Thanksgiving!"

An email from Bangkok

Sorry about the length on this, but I just need to post this. It's a letter from my friend in Bangkok, whom I was with in January.

A Prostitute's Humanity on The Bargaining Table
November 19, 2006

Dear Friends

A woman's humanity was challenged the other night because she is a prostitute. We share this journal of our latest outreach with you and ask you to please pray for Lina and all the young women trafficked as commodities to a strange land.
"She's Not Human" “She’s not a human being! She sells her body!” The fruit vendor on the street spoke with disgust and her words left me shocked. I felt anger rise up in me. She was justifying her attack of a young Uzbek woman earlier that evening.

The Attack
We were winding up our outreach where young Eastern European and Central Asian woman are trafficked for prostitution. All of the sudden, a fruit vendor on the curbside angrily threw a bucket of water at a young foreign woman. As the woman stood there dripping and in shock the vendor began attacking the woman with her plastic cooler. Again and again she went after her while a crowd of men gathered around to watch. A few laughs filled the air as the woman turned and ran into the street.

Quietly, but quickly I went after her. She was crying and disoriented. I asked if she was okay and then I saw blood gushing from her hand. I started to guide her to the nearby hotel. She panicked and said, “No, no, not there,” afraid of this hotel used so regularly for sexual services. “We need to take care of your hand. Its okay, we’ll take care of you.” In the hotel bathroom, as the water rinsed the blood from the wound she cried out in pain and shock. “Why? Why did she attack me?”

Hospital Visit
The blood would not stop and I said, “We have to take you to a doctor.” She looked frightened. “No, I no money.” “We’ll help you.” I tried to console her and explain that she had to see a doctor. We jumped in a taxi and rushed to a nearby hospital. The young woman, Lina, was frightened but tried to look composed. She said, “Okay, I okay. You go. I go.” I tried to reassure her, “You are alone. You are scared. We will help you.”

At the emergency room the nurses took down information. She is 23 years old and from Uzbekistan. This is her first trip to Thailand. They asked us for more information and we told them we don’t know anything. The doctor was puzzled. “You don’t know her?”

The doctor looked at the damage on her hand. Her finger was not broken but the tendon looked crushed. They injected the wound to numb it and she cried out in pain. She clenched my hand with her other hand which was also cut. The doctor began to stitch up her hand. Blood from the wounds on her back was seeping into the bed sheets. We turned her on her side and tried to comfort her.

Lina spoke very little English. One of our volunteers could speak a little Russian. We tried to communicate what was happening with piecemeal Russian and English, translating the doctor’s Thai. He asked if she had a tetanus shot recently. “Tetanus” was not one of the vocabulary words our volunteer knew. Lina called her friend and we tried to explain. “Has she had a tetanus shot?” “Yes she has passport!” Her friend answered. Still uncertain, the doctor said it would be safer to give the vaccine. When her hand was stitched and bandaged, they dressed her other wounds.The eyeliner that darkly outlined her beautiful brown eyes was smeared from the tears she was trying to hold back. Every now and then her shoulders quivered as she held off the cries that were building up inside.

The Arab Agent
We went to the lobby to wait for the bill. An Arab man approached. “Let’s go,” he said to her. I said, “No, she is waiting for her medicine.” He said, “We’ll get the medicine outside.” “NO!” I said strongly. “She will wait for the medicine the doctor has ordered.” One of my team began to ask questions. He became uncomfortable. “I just came to help her go back to her friend.” I tried the naive approach, “Do you live in Bangkok?” “No, I’m on vacation,” his eyes were evasive. “Where are you from?” (Dubai) “Are you enjoying Thailand?” I tried to dissolve his suspicions. The man was uneasy. He went outside for a cigarette and made a phone call. Lina answered her phone. The man disappeared and Lina changed her story. She no longer had a “boss.” She had come to Bangkok on her own. I looked her in the eyes and said, “Lina, I know. I understand about the Uzbek women coming to Bangkok. We want to help you.”

When the bill was paid, Lina thanked us. We exchanged phone numbers and the cultural three- kiss-on-the-cheek farewell. She insisted she was waiting for her friend. We said good bye and with a deep sadness, watched her walk off into the dark alone.

Humanity Devalued
Regretfully, we headed back to the area of the attack. I approached the fruit vendor and politely asked what had happened to make her so angry. The woman said, “She was hanging around here.” I asked again, “What did she do to make you angry at her?” “She’s a bad person. She sells her body!” She made an obscene gesture with her own body to illustrate. “She’s a human being,” I said. The fruit vendor rudely cut me off,“She’s not a human being. She sells her body!” The anger surged in me. “You caused her harm. Her hand was badly wounded and we had to take her to the emergency room where she had stitches and injections.” “No, that’s not true,” the woman lied. “It was a different person.” “It is true and you know it,” I retorted. “Prove it!” a man said. I got the receipt and waved it in the air before the vendors and the crowd of men. The woman replied with scorn, “This has nothing to do with you!” “It does have to do with me and with you and with all of us!” I pointed at the growing crowd. “This is about community. We must show respect for each other as human beings. We have to help one another.”

I left frustrated and angry. The woman’s attitude summed up so much of society’s attitude toward women in prostitution. “They are not humans. They sell their bodies.” From this distorted belief stems the growing exploitation of women and children around the world through prostitution and trafficking. They have been so devalued that their human identity is denied and they have become commodities available and dispensable. Trafficking in human beings is now tied for second place in illegal global crime. The attitude runs more rampant than we would like to believe. Community values have broken down. The value of a human life is up for bargain.

Humanity Affirmed
Tonight, a young Uzbek woman lay on a hospital bed, crying in fear and pain as she struggled to communicate in broken English to strangers in a foreign land. The image will haunt me. Her physical wounds were treated, but when Lina left the hospital and our care, she returned alone to another form of violence that will leave invisible scars not so easily forgotten.

Lina's humanity was denied in a violent attack. But, God in His mercy was present through us to convey to her His message. “Yes, Lina, you are a human being! Men may exploit your body and label you ‘for sale,’ but I, God, created you in my image. You are precious, and of great value to the one who knows your real name.”

Pray for Lina and for all the women who are trafficked into prostitution where their very humanity is denied. Pray that they will one day know the great price Jesus paid for them, not to exploit them but to redeem them and set them free.

Graffiti project update

It's funny how doing something as simple as an art project can run so deep. The graffiti project I talked about a couple of posts ago has uncovered a scary truth. We made the piece for a health conference, which was yesterday. It was hanging up, and one of the guys, John, on the Innerchange team (who does art and knows a ton about this neighborhood) was there. I had wanted to talk to him about what I should do regarding the boys dad who wasn't that he was spray painting. Well, John gave it one look and saw our names written at the bottom corner. The boy who had painted it with me wrote his and his friends name down in what is called "crazy writing." Many people can't read the letters of crazy writing because they're distorted. Well, John goes on to tell me that, in this neighborhood, the gangs have enveloped all of the tag teams (teams that do graffiti together.) And that each gang has a very unique and recognizable form of writing. And that the writing shown on our artwork had one of those very recognizable styles.
So what that means, is that this boy who helped me (who's only in 8th grade, is as sweet as can be, hangs out with his family, is a good kid) has somehow become familiar with one particular gang. Now, I'm quite sure he's not part of one, yet. But the fact that he was reproducing their tag-style means he either knows someone who has shown him or that he wants to emulate it. Either one is a dangerous step towards eventually being part of a gang.
I can't imagine this fantastic kid going into that life. It may be easy to look at gang guys and their destructive lives and think they're no good and never were. It's a whole other story when you know the kid before all of that. I was counseled not to confront him about this, but rather to just continue giving him opportunities to learn and experience new things. John told me that in this neighborhood the greatest deterrent to a kid joining a gang is if they have a good reason that makes them want to leave their neighborhood. Because when you're part of a gang you no longer have the freedom to do that, to go into others territories.
Yesterday through this and also through things that were being talked about at the urban health conference, I was overwhelmed by a sense of needing to pray. We have a creative God who loves us. He has "endowed us with splendor." (Is 55:5) He created us so wonderfully and living the life of gangs and living in impoverished conditions with no access to health care are not evidences of the glory of God. I believe God does want to express his glory...I see tidbits every day. Pray that it would be expressed here.

googling myself....

just an odd comment...

I was just curious to see what came up on google with "kristin" and I found the funniest things. The top is a school in New Zealand called the "Kristin School" it's funny reading that,
"Kristin is unique - it offers not only an outstanding academic programme but an exciting curriculum both in and beyond the classroom that ensures the education of the whole person." :) Then there's also a Kristin on Entertainment Tonight and a MTV show. Weird.

I also typed my whole name in and that just showed a bunch of kristin alternate universes?! I found some softball players, a lawyer...some 12,000 results...none of which (i think) are me!

yesss!!!!!!!

tada!.........I got a new *good,* *meaningful,* *exciting* JOB! I found it last week (totally by random), posted on the Los Angeles Community Clinic Association website. It is for a health educator position at Wilmington Health Clinic specifically to teach sex education to mostly junior high and some high school girls! Super exciting! The technical description of the position is: "The Community Health Educator is responsible for coordinating and implementing a pregnancy prevention program in middle and high schools as well as community agencies serving teens. The Community Health Educator will also update and/or develop education materials as needed."
S0unds exciting, huh!? I'm super excited about it! It's a 30-hour a week position, so I'll have to supplement my income a bit somehow (I do have the server gig.) And it's so exciting to finally, finally, finally have a job that I'd love to do even if I wasn't getting paid! A little bit funny that I came to LA wanting to work with prostitues...and here I am teaching kids about sexuality. ??? coincidence ??? I think not.

I told my ambulance company about the new job today (I just found out today myself). I was willing to work a shift per week...but they didn't want me...so friday will be my last day of that. Yeehaw! My new job starts Monday...updates are sure to follow!

On another subject...I got to do some graffitti art with a couple of neighborhood boys. There's 2 middle-school aged boys in my complex who are pals and who are interested in urban art. I'm super-excited they're into art and we've been having little 'art chats.' This weekend I gave them some acrylics and paper and they did some really cool pictures. I had a project that I wanted to do for this urban health conference this weekend, so thought maybe it was a good time to include them in something. So we made this peice on cardboard (it says 'life' for those who aren't fluent in graffit-writing.) One of the boys dad's walked by and I don't think he was happy that his son was spray painting though...I've got to figure out what to do about that. I know the parents of the other boy, and we had already talked about it. I think I should try to talk with them a little bit more about graffitti and how it's an art and how I hope to be able to encourage the boys some in other forms of art so that they have various avenues through which to express themselves.

It was a bit late when my parents arrived on Saturday, because they were stuck in tons of traffic! Rah! It was a good thing they hadn't bought tickets yet for the symphony we were going to go to that night. We decided instead to enjoy a nice dinner, so we checked them into their hotel and walked down to the street to this restaurant called Ciudad. The ladies that do that tv show "Two Hot Tamales" own/run it, and dinner was extremely yummy. Enjoying really good food once in a while reminds you how much creativity can go into making a normal occurance such as eating into a celebration!

The next day we set out to look at some architecture and do a little touring around LA-y types of things. We went downtown to the Bradbury Building, which is known for it's victorian-style inner atrium. It was built
in 1893 by George Wyman...who actually wasn't a trained architect when he designed it, and oddly enough he didn't go on to design anything else of note. Across the street from this was the Grand Central Market which holds all sorts of food vendors and produce market stuff. There was tons of people! There were also a couple other cool buildings and this 'hill trolley.'

And since we didn't go there the night before, we went to inspect the Walt Disney Concert Hall more closely. A super cool structure. We found out there was a garden up on top of it somewhere, and ended up walking up stairs and finding that you can basically walk around the outside roof of the entire building! Then there's a super cool garden and of course Mom got excited by some unique trees and plants. She reminds me of Grandma when she does that :)


Then we stopped by the library, both because I had CDs to return and because it really is the most fabulous library I've had the pleasure to frequent. It's the original old building that has been restored and also added onto. So there's a melding of two styles and it's really great they kept the old stuff. This picture is of the atrium ceiling that has fantastic detail.

Next we drove down to Watts, near Compton, to see one of the oddest things, called the Watts Towers. They were built by this guy Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant, over the span of 30 years. You can't see in the picture all the details, both the layers present in the tower but also all the bits of glass and tile which are embedded over everything. He built them on his own property, paying for all the materials, during his spare time! Seeing them was really a testament to the inspiration a person can be when they follow their passion. I was imagining what his neighbors thought when he began to erect these towers!

At last we got to Manhattan beach just before the sun set. It always feels good to look at the wide horizon. After dinner Mom and Dad were off to Ventura so they could see Aunt Jewel before heading home. A quick trip, but good to show them around my neighborhood a bit, see some things around LA, and of course enjoy them :) I will be going home the day after Thanksgiving, so it won't be long before we see each other again. And hopefully, I'm crossing my fingers, I can bring my Studebaker home! I'm getting excited about it again!

new steps

Well it's been another full week! Highlights of this week are: job interview, sitting on the beach, laughing, dancing, talking to new people, looking forward to my parents coming, speaking to my neighbor in Spanish, and painting!
On Thursday I had an interview at a community clinic in the area for a health educator position. I found it by chance on a community clinic association board. And the educator position is specifically for talking to junior high and high school girls about sex education/ pregnancy prevention/ etc.!! Exciting...that's right up my ally! The interview went really well - they did interview some other applicants and I'm supposed to hear on Monday if I got the job. I think the only reason I wouldn't get it is because of the possibility that I'd only be working there until next August (if I get into PA school.)
At my ambulance job, I had a couple of interesting standby's this week. One was a highschool freshman football game. There was 4 incidents! 2 were minor, 1 I just sent in with his parents, and 1 had to call 911 out and have him transported to emergency. He had a tackle and got his head snapped back and was having extreme neck pain with very little ability to move his legs. I think he'll probably be okay, but we had to immobilize him and all until they make sure he didn't brake his neck or anything like that. After he got put in the ambulance his teammates got in a huddle and some of the little guys had tears in their eyes...it was so sweet, poor fellas, worried about their teamate.
The other interesting standy was for 9 hours yesterday at a studio filming set. It was the same studio that they filmed "I Love Lucy" in, I fit right in with my red hair! It was an MTV set for this new professional wrestling show they're doing. Yesterday was their last day of rehersal, so they were mostly just working out all the camara angles and stuff. But all of the wrestlers were there and it was just so interesting! Such a random and crazy mix of people, but they were all friends, and they were also all very friendly and came over to us and said hi. I think they were surprised to have two pretty EMT's show up.
Last night I was up until the wee hours dancing the night away! It's been awhile since I've been dancing, and I've really been feeling it. A new friend of mine from work does alot of dancing, and he took me out to this latino club...I was the only white person there - it was SO interesting! I felt like it was this little secret place that I couldn't have just gone into myself. But it was so fantastic...the music, the dancing, the people!
I had to wake up early this morning for my microbiology class...but it got cancelled. So I'm really tired, but maybe I won't go back to sleep. I'm excited because my parents are arriving for a visit this afternoon. It will be good to show them around my 'new life' here in LA and also we'll be heading out for some LA sites which will be new to me too :) I will post the pictures in a couple days!

simply fabulous

On Thursday I took my GRE. The GRE is to graduate school what the SAT is to college. I was aiming for a high score to counter my not-so-high grades in the applicant pool for PA schools. So...the GRE is a 4 hour test consisting of an essay portion, a verbal section (vocabulary), and a quantitative section (math.) The verbal and quantitative sections get graded right away, because this is all done on a computer in a testing center. The essay's take a couple weeks to grade, but they don't matter to me because my schools don't consider that score important. The parts that matter each have a possible 800 points. On a national average people score 467 on the verbal and 591 on the math. For people chosen to interview at USC (a PA program I'm applying to) the average scores are 516 verbal and 635 math. And I got..............ta da da daaaaa....a 620 verbal and 710 math!
I was stunned when I got the scores! You get them at the end of the test, they just pop up on your computer screen....and you're still in the room with other people taking tests in silence. I was so happy I wanted to cry :) Okay, so I cried later. It feels so good when hard work pays off!