Passing on the Right

So I've only been here a week, but I have already, as noted in a comment from Tuesday's blog post, noted some differences between here and home.  I've had a lot of people express interest in how things are different, so here it goes.

One of the main things that I have noticed is the driving.  People around here drive fast, are always on your tail, and are impatient.  It wasn't until today that I experienced a few "nice" drivers, and that was in the small town of Millersville, not in Lancaster.  One of the main things that I have been appalled by is noted in the title of today's blog, and that is passing on the right.  You know how in Mississippi, if someone is  turning left and there is no turn lane, drivers in Mississippi stop-behind the person!  It may hold up a line of traffic, but people stop because it's polite, and not to mention safer.  Here, if people see someone even slowing down to make a left turn, they pass them on the right!  They just zoom around them, no blinker, no slowing down, it's baffling, and to me it's rude.  One thing that I will be thankful for when I get back to Mississippi is polite drivers.

The food.  Anyone that has talked to me an extensive amount-Mama, Daddy, Charlie, and Memama-have been informed that my experiences with food here have not been that incredible, though I haven't had any local (Amish) cuisine yet.  I've been told that there are a few restaurants that serve traditional Pennsylvania Dutch, and that their food is delicious.  We will see.  I have noticed a difference in the food almost everywhere I have eaten here, except Subway and Papa John's.  The Taco Bell here does not know how to make Pico de Gallo, though I can't say I'm surprised.  I ate at Five Guys for lunch on Monday-which everyone should know is AMAZING, but here, every single local ate Malt Vinegar as a condiment.  Ew.  I also had a new sandwich this week-a Rachel.  It's beef, slaw, and thousand island on rye, like a Reuben. But not. If you know what I mean.
The meals at MIH have not been spectacular.  The salad is good.  They grow their own vegetables here, so there is always fresh lettuce and tomatoes.  However, the main dish is always interesting.  The first two nights I was here, I only ate salad, but since then, I have been adventurous.  One night, we had beefy noodles... yum.  It was spaghetti with tiny pieces of beef, and cheese melted over it.  Tonight, we had fried rice, only it wasn't fried rice.  It was plain white rice mixed with peas and chopped onions with, you guessed it, cheese melted over it.  Last night we had baked chicken and mashed potatoes, the most decent thing I have been offered while here, and it was not too bad.
I miss the food.  There have been countless times when my stomach has growled and I have thought about how much I want Abners, Oby's, or Bulldog Deli.  If anyone feels sorry for me, and wants to send me a care package, I am soliciting donations of containers of Abners sauce.

Finally, the accents.  Yes, the people here do talk funny.  No, it is not annoying.  Yes, they like to hear me talk.  And no, they don''t make fun of the way I talk.  The people that I work with in both the HOPE office, and even more so, the Keystone Custom Homes office, say that I have a beautiful southern accent.  However, when I start talking in public, somewhere outside the HOPE or Keystone office where they don't expect someone from the South, I get lots of funny looks.  I wish I had taken pictures of some of the looks I got in Subway this week.  It's hilarious.

So I guess now that I've written this much, I should tell about the end of my week.  Wednesday was pretty normal.  I continued my "internly" duties as I printed labels, stuffed envelopes, mailed letters, and worked on a call list.  Oh the joy of mailing/call lists.  They are a thorn in my side, and will be for the rest of my life.  My eyes get crossed just looking at Excel.  I've even worn my glasses this week I have looked at mailing lists so much.  Give me numbers in Excel, I'm fine.  Give me names, and they all seem to run together.  I'm pretty sure this is not just a problem with my eyesight, if you know what I mean. :)

Thursday was absolutely wonderful! I got to attend my first staff meeting at HOPE.  Though this staff meeting was a little overwhelming (There are so many things going on next week that the HOPE office will be closed because it's all hands on deck for the leadership summit, SCA training, and the intern conference.), it was a lot of fun.  Jesse Casler, who is on the HOPE executive team, and if you remember from my last blog post, I will be staying with his family this summer, went so far as to gallop around the office.
Also Thursday was my first Life Study.  A great thing about working at Keystone or HOPE is the ability to participate in things like this every week.  Life Study is a small group Bible study during lunch every Thursday.  Lunch is provided; this week it was pizza from Papa John's; and members of both the HOPE and Keystone teams can sit down to lunch together and talk about the Word.  During this time, there is a video, lately it has been a series by Andy Stanley.  After the video is over, there are a couple of questions asked, and everyone speaks up at will.  One of the great things about Life Study is the unity of HOPE and Keystone across and top to bottom.  Everyone participates from the CEO of Keystone and founder of HOPE to me, the lowly unpaid intern.  It's truly amazing!
To add to the greatness of Thursday, I began making what is called around the office a "warm call."  I was inviting local business owners to breakfasts to learn about sponsorship of the annual HOPE golf tournament.  While this did have its low point... I got hung up on :( I booked 2 people for one of the breakfasts!!!!  Jeff, the CEO, was really excited, and said he was proud.  Deirdre even sent out an email to all the people that have been involved with me since I started with HOPE.

This blog post is getting pretty long.  I apologize, but I guess I just have a lot to say.  Two more things and then I'm done.  Bear with me.  Sunday's blog will be extremely picture heavy :)

Today was an adventure.  Interns do not work on Fridays, which is a plus because it allows me to run errands, and oh did I run... far away from downtown Lancaster.  Lunch at MIH today was lentil soup.  I went to McDonald's. :-D On my list of errands to run today were to go to CVS to get passport pictures, go to the grocery store, and go to the post office to mail some cards and send my passport application.  Well, CVS and the grocery store went off without a hitch.  The post office was next.  I guess from where I was, the downtown Lancaster post office was the closest.  I knew it was a bad sign when I had to go through the equivalent of the ghetto to get to downtown Lancaster, and the streets, oh my goodness.  I did not know which way was up.  I found out later that Lancaster is kind of a city by accident.  It's downtown was not planned and squared like most of us are accustomed to.  there were one way streets, two way streets, diagonal streets, streets that just stopped, and to top it off, no parking.  I decided to get out of there as fast as I could, and go to the tiny post office in Millersville.  It's about the size of the one on State's campus.  I got there, and gt my letters mailed, but this post office only takes passport applications from 8 AM to 2 PM.  It was 2:45 PM.  Therefore, I was sent to my third post office of the day, which my GPS said was in an empty field.  After using my iPhone to look up the address and physically typing the address into my GPS, I finally got to the main post office.  However, I had the wrong passport form.  Luckily, I could fill it out right there in the office, and after 3 hours,applied for my passport.  I was reminded later that today was Friday the 13th.  Hmm... I am proud of myself though, usually after I have to go through that much trouble, I give up.  YAY FOR PERSEVERANCE!

Last thing I promise... I just want to take a minute to express how wonderful the people are that I work with here at HOPE and Keystone.  Everyone has been so nice, and have taken the time to get to know me, include me, and generally make me feel welcome.  Though HOPE and Keystone have very different missions, everyone that works in these offices are wonderful, God fearing people who desire to share the love of Christ.  So, if you are reading this and wondering how I am liking this so far.  I am loving it!  I have found it very difficult to leave work everyday this week just because I feel so welcomed, and really, at home.  If you have known me for a while, you know that in the past, every time I have started something new, I have been sick to my stomach with worry and fear.  I will have you know that I am completely at peace here.  The only time that I have been nervous about work at all this week was the day that I thought that I was going to be late because of road work.

I have never felt such peace, and I am so thankful for it.  Every day I go to work at HOPE, I am more sure that God put me here.

I miss you and love you all.