Curveball on a 3-2 Count

This weekend has been INCREDIBLE.

Saturday... We woke up (after I slept for 12 hours, it was the BEST) and got ready to head out at 11. From there, we went up to Fisherman's Wharf and had crepes for lunch. It was DELICIOUS and so fun to just be super touristy and walk around. From there we headed over to the boat on our way to Alcatraz! It was seriously so great. I was pretty skeptical about Alcatraz just because I am not a history person by any means, but I figured that I'm in San Francisco so I might as well go, plus my dad probably would have killed me if I hadn't. We took the audio tour inside the main cell house building and it ended up being so interesting. If nothing else, the view of the city from the island and boat was more than worth it! It was warm, gorgeous, and just a perfect afternoon.

The real loop in my weekend came while I was at lunch on Saturday. My dream for next year is to work abroad in Africa and I have been looking into working with a school called Faith Roots International Academy in Doryumu, Ghana, where my best friend from high school Anna interned during her time in Ghana last spring. Well, Anna called me around 12 and left me a frantic voicemail telling me that FRIA was having an open house about an hour away from me on Sunday (today) because the principal of the school is home for Christmas break and she is from Redwood City, CA. I quickly stole Liz's iPhone to look up if it would even be possible for me to make it to... Turns out I could take the CalTrain (California's equivalent of Seattle's Sounder train) right into Redwood City and I would be two miles away from the church where the open house was being held. As Callie Gordon later described it, "this is divine." There's no way this should have just worked out... But it did.

So I e-mailed the principal last night telling her that I was coming (I was in contact some with her last spring but have not talked to her since then, though Anna has continued to 'name drop' me to her) and at 12:15 today I left Grace Cathedral (where our group went to church today... It was a gorgeous building, though Catholic mass totally intimidates me) and headed on an adventure! The trip was actually super easy, beside the fact that I wasted half an hour because I thought I was walking in the wrong direction when I was actually going the right way the whole time (thank you Starbucks free wifi!). But I made it to the church and was able to talk with both the principal of the school as well as the couple that started the grassroots organization that the school is connected with. It was a really incredible semi-interview opportunity to just get more information about them, where they come from, and what my role in their school could look like. I am applying to work as a special education teacher, but my role could be kind of an intervention specialist as well depending on what their school population looks like next year! I would be happy doing either, as long as I am with kids :) And there is a Children's Home on site where many of the children who have been orphaned live, so I would most definitely be getting my daily small child fix and then some!

At this point, I am praying that I can financially figure out how to spend September to May or June in Ghana, hopefully coming home for Christmas (there is about a month long break). Since I will be a volunteer teacher, I will have to work and fundraise to pay my way there as well as pay my living expenses in the country. I wish that money didn't have to be such a large factor, but it will be. I'm not sure exactly what my cost of living would be there, but as John kept saying today, "God is so good!" and if things are meant to be, I will find a way to make this all work!

So although today turned out totally different than I how ever expected my weekend in San Francisco, I am so thankful for what it meant for me. Praying that this seed continues to grow into one big adventure!