Here at last...

We have finally reached Philadelphia, or as everyone here says "Philly". It was a long trip, taking us 2 ½ days to finally reach the city of brotherly love, and once we finally got here, none of us were really patient enough to wait for the heavy traffic to get to the community center. One of the first things we noticed was that someone had opened a fire hydrant on the corner of 8th and Cayuga. We had to drive right under the spraying water to reach the community center, which we did with a lot of shrieking and laughing – partly because it seemed so absurd, but also because it was kind of fun to use the windshield wipers for a reason other than heavy rain.
I parked our car a little ways down from the Ayuda Community Center, across from the Hunting Park Christian Academy. Molly and Joe wanted to get out and explore, but I was more concerned with getting in touch with Kate Perez, the director of the Ayuda Community Center, and Ryan Kellermeyer, the person we'd be staying with (a new development as of today). I found them talking with Cynthia, one of the employees at Ayuda, and after a bit of a chat, and her enthusiastic promises to show us everything (Philly Cheese Steak, Water Ice (?), and Penns Landing…), we jumped back into the car and headed to Ryan's house, only a few blocks away on 9th Street.
He's got a really nice house here right across from Hunting Park. From the outside, it looks exactly like all the other houses on every block around it, but the inside is nice and cozy, clean, and comfortable. He has me and Molly up in his room, and Joe is down the hall. It'll be interesting to see how this house of 4 guys adapts to an additional 2 girls and 1 guy (I'm not sure how many girls these guys have seen lately as it is…just kidding…kind of).
We headed off to the grocery store, and Ryan beat Cynthia to the punch and bought us all Water Ices. I had Key Lime, which I believe was awesome. Don't ask me to explain what "water ice" is supposed to be. Imagine a snow cone. It's pretty close to the same…and yet, so different. Then we bummed around the grocery store, and I got to know Ryan's roommate Tim. He's a pretty interesting guy, working with an organization in Philadelphia that organizes trips for missions groups. They have internships open, if anyone is interested…
We rounded off the evening with home grilled hamburgers and then karaoke. I have to say that I've never really enjoyed karaoke, but when you do it at 4441 9th St. it's a whole new kind of karaoke. Ryan is a part time DJ, and he'll frequently don the headphones and cordless mic to sing along on "Don't Speak" or "Sweet Home Alabama". And, yes, there is video.
So far, the trip has been kind of fun. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I guess it's kick boxing with the kids…? Whatever. Talk to you soon.