Today started with a 7 a.m. ride from Laf to the Philly airport. When we all met at the airport, our craving for a cup of coffee took over and we passed the security right away. After we bonded over coffee and other relevant (and irrelevant) topics, we proceeded with our flight and arrived to Chicago.
From there, we took the train and although Alex (our team leader) had a small heart attack when she realized that she forgot her wallet in the train, we made it to the hostel safely and in one piece. (Don’t worry she was able to get it before the door was closed). The hostel is very pretty and clean which was not anticipated by anyone of us -lucky us! Anyways, we, then, divided into 2 groups and found our rooms to settle in. As everyone was moderately tired at that point, we have decided to stay in the hostel to watch a movie about foster care. The movie initiated a comprehensive discussion about the foster care system and the effect of abuse, domestic violence etc. on the children. It also left us with many question which was also furthered when we couldn’t decide on what to eat. Finally, we all agreed on the safe choice -ordering Chinese- and that we wanted to deepen those questions during reflection.
In a nutshell, today was a great start for the Foster Hope and “bonding” could not have been any better. For me, it was promising to see that we tried and found a way to make each one of us pleased. The kids or teenagers that we will work with throughout the week have already been through approxiametly 10 losses. I believe that our best shot for this trip to be meaningful and beneficial is through our positive energy and unity. And, I am thrilled to announce that we have it…