Week 1: Working in the Motor City
As a sit on the couch this Wednesday night, I guess it’s finally time for me to reflect on my first week here in Detroit. This week was, of course, not without setbacks. Who else gets locked out of her apartment her second day of people here? Despite that (which happens everywhere I go, actually), I’m enjoying my time here so far. This city is different, but beautiful. If I were to use more poetic words to describe its state, I would describe it as a tall flower, just strong enough to hold itself up, but not yet bloomed. Detroit is experiencing its own little revitalization and the people that ran away in the cars that the Motor City created for them are finally starting to tip-toe back in.
This week at work was a nice one. I saw people who were passionate about what they do and worked hard to make sure that their passion was fueled. I’ve gotten to know a lot of people who have made Michigan their forever home, and do what they love without leaving the people they love – it’s interesting how different people’s paths can be, really! I’m also making friends with people who are my age, which is kind of weird for me, but when in Intern land, I guess that’s okay, haha!
On Saturday, I went to Eastern Market with a group of current MAIP fellows and a few MAIP alumni who were gracious enough to give us their time and space in their cars to show us a piece of Detroit that I had been hoping to see since I started researching things to do. It was beautiful, not only because I was with a cool group of people, but because this market has so much culture and so much cheap produce – and that double whammy made ya gurl VERY happy. What made me more than happy was that I found a group of people where talks of God were not foreign, but oh so welcome. I would say about half of today’s group was unashamed of the gospel unabashed to talk about it, and that’s something I don’t get all the time. Spending a large amount of time with people who aren’t Christian really messes with your expectations, so I was happily surprised by today. Thank God for good friends, good food, and His goodness that persists despite what I think. Also, thank the Lord for wonderful barbeque and mac n’ cheese – CAN I GET AN AMEN!?