Well, I'm here. Michigan that is. My mom, dad, and Spencer drove from Birmingham to Detroit with me to help move all my stuff here August 17th. That's 12 hours in the car if you're counting, I was. I'm living with a former US-2, Amy Brown, who some of you might remember from BSC. She graduated in 2004 and just finished her US-2 term working with Central United Methodist Chruch, where I am now the US-2. Amy's staying in Detroit past her US-2 term to attend grad school for social work at Wayne State while she continues to work at Central part-tme.

Amy and I live in a two-story duplex where we take up residence on the second floor. The house is owned by a church member named Maggie, who allows the US-2's to live in the upstairs apartment. Our house is in a part of Detroit called Mexicantown. As you might gather, Mexicantown is heavily latino and Amy and I are two of only a handful of caucasian "amigos" on out street, which is cool. There isn't any A/C in our place so we have all the windows open while it stays warm outside. We can usually hear our neighbors' kids outside playing, latino music, and the ice cream man going up and down the street through our windows in the evening. I am extremely fortunate to have Amy here, both living and working, if only part-time, with me at Central. Amy has been invaluable both in helping me get settled in at home and at work and has introduced me to lots of people since I've been here.

During my time here as a US-2 I'll be working with a ministry of the church called the NOAH project. NOAH stands for Networking, Organizing, Advocating, for the Health of the Homeless. NOAH has two major components: social services, which are offered on Mon. through Thurs., and a bag lunch served on Mon. and Thurs. The NOAH staff consists of three caseworkers, one nurse, a counselor, and yours truly. Central is an inner city church and is one of many organizations helping to serve Detroit's large homeless population.

Pretty much I'm learning as I go. So far I've sat in on some clients with the caseworkers. The clients are almost always homeless individuals who need help with transportation, finding jobs, housing, food, clothing, basic hygeine items... you name it. People come to the case workers for all types of reasons. Most requests for assistance pertain to the items listed above. Fortunately, NOAH has a great staff and a fleet of regular volunteers, most of which were formerly homeless themselves, who help the whole operation run smoothly.

So far I'm doing pretty good getting adjusted to Detroit. Obviously, I miss home and all the people and places I'm used to seeing and going. That doesn't mean I don't like it here. I've found some really good places to jog along the Detroit River, which runs between Canada and Detroit, and I'm planning on joining a brand new YMCA that just opened up downtown, walking distance from where we work I might add. I also have been doing a lot of hanging out with married couples, which I noted last week on facebook, if you keep up with such things. I really don't know many people my own age yet besides Amy and one of our co-workers. Lots of the people I have met are members of Central (married couples) who've graciously invited me to their homes and out for meals. I've met some very nice people here who've taken the time to prepare meals for me, take me out for ice cream, and tour me aournd the city by foot so I can get a better feel for Detroit.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading. I know most of this is kind of bland material, but I wanted to use the first post to update folks on what's generally going on since I moved. Also, I'm new to this blogging business and I'm not exactly what you might call a particularly "gifted writer" or a "dazzaling story teller" or even "fully literate" so go easy on me. When I was writing that last sentence I kind of pictured Chris Farley on SNL doing the motivational speaker act. It's kind of funny when you do that. Maybe it's just me. I'm not sure how often I'll end up posting to the blog, so no promises. Oh and this thing won't let me do spell check, so sorry about that.

I hope everyone is doing well at home. If you know of anyone who might like to read this pass it on.

peace -Tyler