Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Hey again to everyone reading this! (That would be very few considering I keep forgetting to e-mail everyone the address, so most of you don't even know this exists... don't worry, you will.) By the way, I've no clue why it says my last post was May 14th. Anyhow, it wasn't.

It's two days before I leave! Yes, and in a few hours I will see most of you (and maybe cry) as I go to my last youth group meeting and church event.

Well, I think a few of you have still not figured out what I am doing (despite that I've talked about it *quite* often), so for those of you who do not listen too well, please read below. Excuse me, if you are one of those from WFUBMC, Telenet, or DCCC, because I really did not get to tell most of you about all the details. I am not inferring that you are a poor listener.


Just a few DC side notes:

- no, I will *not* be living with a family
- yes, I will go to school: I will go to the House Page School and live in the House Page Dorms
- no, I am not doing an internship; I am paging which is to say that I am a modern day servant in the House (of course, that is *not* the official definition since I do not do most of the grunt work but do things like take notes, ring bells, answer the phones, etc.)
- It's true, it's not a rumor; I really will have to go to school 6:45-9:30 or 11:30 (depending upon the day) in the morning.
- yes, I will get to see the president but he is not likely to remember me because it'll be during the State of the Union Address when lots of people get to see him. Of course, if I'm lucky I could be like one of the past pages who strikes up a conversation with him in the hallway onto the Floor. ;-)
- yes, I am likely to get to know, at least, some of the congressmen/women. Some have more of a history of being friendly to pages than others, but I may eat lunch with them fairly often. Hopefully, I will, at least, get to know my sponsor, Congressman Howard Coble. It will be no surprise to come home with pictures of me with all different famous people.
- no, I am not likely to go back to the community college when I come back for my senior year of high school. I do not yet know what I am going to do, but I don't want to return my normal, er, "social life" which consists of little to nothing unless it's Sunday or Wednesday.
- yes, there is a chance I may not come home again... this may be my official exit from the nest. Some of the colleges in and around DC like Pages and try to find ways to attract them. A good way to do that is to accept them straight out of the Page Program even without a diploma. So college may be heading my way sooner than I thought.
- no, this is not like a boarding school or, at least, not in the traditional sense. Most past pages have felt it was very similar to college. I will be working a full time job, going to school full time, and allowed to go as far as the metro system -bus and subway- goes (into some of Maryland and Virginia). I will have to have another page with me at all times, though. So there goes my time alone that I usually value so much, so you could say a few prayers that I don't bite off the heads of either my roommate or whoever is with me just because I can't get alone.

Those are the basics. Other than that, I really am not sure what to expect of life. A lot depends on the roommates I get. There will be three to a room. I've been really pray for them. Also, I know we are going to have a Bible Study. Out of the 20 pages I've talked to so far, five of us are Christians. We are pretty set on starting this Bible Study. For the past two years, Pages have had a nightly Bible Study and we're getting ready to carry on this torch. Please, pray for us. God has called us to a strategic place, I believe, but I don't really understand it all.

I'll keep in touch. I'm leaving the day after tomorrow. On Sunday I move in and have orientation. I'm really excited and know this is a God thing. So just keep me in your prayers.

Love Ya,
Kara