MicahJohn

I started the morning with another six mile run. I think I know the loop now well enough to run it on my own in the dark.

In the afternoon several of us went to the Franklin Institute. There were several fun exhibits there. I think I have been there before with my family, but it was long enough ago that I was able to enjoy the exhibits again.

After the Franklin Institute we went looking for a place to eat. This took WAY too long (at least if you were hungry and tired of being on your feet). We did find a nice Middle Eastern grill called the Sahara. I very much enjoyed my Kafta Kabob wrap.

I then helped someone navigate the green line for the first time. I’m not sure how much help I was. I took several wrong turns at the interchange. In walking her to her host families house we passed several beautiful houses, two made of stone in a castle form.

This morning Steve and I went out for an eleven mile run. We finished in 84 minutes. For part of the run we were in Fairmount Park. The area of the park we were in is nice because it has quarter miles marked on the path. We were running at 7:15 pace.

In the afternoon Kathy Edin gave us a lecture on the urban family. It was very informative. Her analysis of the cultural values of low-income urban families was well presented.

Following Kathy Edin was Jay Fagan on Urban fathers. His lecture was less impressive. The data he used seemed inferior, as did his presentation of it. His sampling of fathers seemed markedly unrepresentative. Only the best fathers are going to accompany the mother to the OB-GYN and agree to five classes.

I again got up insanely early to run, this time at 5:45 to be out the door by 6:00. Today we ran with Erin. During the run we talked about city running clubs and the politics surrounding them.

For the morning session (satellite) we went to city hall. There we were briefed on its history. We had a woman from the Mayor’s office give us a briefing about this mayor’s efforts for improvement of Philly. She also stayed for a rather interrogating question and answer time. We then were able to go look out from the observation deck of City Hall. It was nice. We found out that the Wanamaker building used to have a track (it was for his son Rodham that the Wanamaker mile was named) and tennis courts on its roof for the employees. Apparently there also used to be dormitories in the upper floors for his employees. (see http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/rodman.html)

This morning I got up at 6:15 to run with my host. EARLY!! We ran about six miles. He filled me in on the history of the things we ran past. After the run we ate breakfast and read the Philly Tribune and the New York Times.

We went to mass at St. Vincent’s. It was a predominantly white church. Our host family goes there both because it is fairly liberal and because it has a good kids program. Because of there was a baptism of four infants the service lasted two hours. The service was not that different. We sang several songs I know. The most differnt thing we did was ask several Saints of the past to pray for us.

This afternoon we went to the art museum with Melissa and Cheri (who live near us). In two hours we only made it through half of the second floor and a quarter of the first. I felt tired the whole time which was frustrating. We saw Marcus and Larry and found out that they live near us. We ran into Mikaya, Daniel, Sarah, and some others.

My worries about host family were needless. They are a laid back family. This morning we finished our take home exam. In the afternoon we went shopping with them at a local supermarket. Where they pointed out that we were the only white people in the place.

We spent a relaxing afternoon, had a great dinner and then went out. Josh and I had about a thirty minute wait for our trolley. While we were waiting we talked to a girl who was also waiting. She said it was her longest wait ever. We met Mikaya and Daniel in town. We walked around center city, had hot chocolate at a cosi. Several people around us were eating smores. It was funny to watch these city people roasting their marshmallows on a long toothpick over a small flame. They seemed not to know how.