So I forgot to write about my conference experience last week in San Antonio. Here it goes. It will probably be disjointed because I am writing as the memories are coming to me.
I left two Sundays ago. I was lucky enough to be lifting off between the second and third waves of snow storms that Wisconsin (and most of theMidwest ) was experiencing. I really hate flying, but this wasn't that bad. Which was surprising because the weather would have made the ride bumpy, but it turned out to be fine (cannot be said for the ride home...more of that later).
Texas, itself, is not too pretty (Sorry Texans, I like the greenery of Wisconsin, when its not winter, and Texas is kind of sort of brown). However the weather was pleasant. It was in the high 70's the whole time, with a nice cool gentle breeze.
I felt totally out of place while at the conference. Service coordinators made up less than 10% of the people. Of the SCs, two were men, six were people of color, and only one other girl besides me was under the age of 30'sish. Most of them were old enough to have grandkids, as I could tell from their conversations.
There was one woman who looked like the oldest she could be was mid-30's. Then she started talking about herself, and her kids. She said her oldest was 29. I said, "Wait...how old is your oldest? 29?!?" In reality I was thinking, "Who in the huh in the what now???"Puerto Rico (where she is from) must have magic water.
The first training we had was called "How to help you, help others." When I first read that, I rolled my eyes. But as it turned out the training was actually interesting, and even inspiring. Just enough to get me out of my work funk....oh wait...just lost it. Never mind. (I should also not here she used the term "trust the process" which nearly made me go into compulsions from past experiences with that term. She also told us that in order to successfully work with and for people one cannot be sarcastic. Damn, there goes my whole strategy).
I want to quickly note that while in Texas, I thought every other man was in the military, but as it turns out there was a military-type conference going on. I'm very good at noting my surroundings.
Overall the conference made me feel really inferior because apparently I don't know proper procedure and standards. I basially had a meltdown when confronted about my inconsistencies in documentation and contacts. Luckily all the other SCs were very sympathetic and willing to help me out to get on the proper track. (However as it turns out, I found out that I am doing fine and what I do is vastly different than the otherSCs due to the population I work for. No meltdown was needed).
I only really left the hotel and went downtown one night. All the other nights I was attending receptions, too exhausted or puffy-faced from the crying meltdown (sometimes I can be really really emotional). That night I went out was a night a large group of us went out (a bus was provided). We had dinner at some Mexican restaurant where a Mariachi band played right next to us. Outside they had a concert going on, Taking Back Sunday was playing.
After dinner we went to the River Walk area. TO get there you walk down the stairs from the downtown streets, and it feels like you walk into a different area. It was beautiful (not that San Antonio itself is, but River Walk is gorgeous). They had lights dangling from the branches of trees. The shops/restaurants/hotels and sidewalks were literally right next to the river. It was more narrow than I expected. Tour boats (some were even dinner boats) were constantly going up and down the river. I liked the crowd also. Over great ambiance...ick I sound like a brochure. The Alamo was...surprisingly disappointing but then again, I don't know what I was expecting.
The flight home went to fine, to slightly scary. We had a layover in Minneapolis. Up until then flight...fine. Then from there to Milwaukee...scary and annoying. We were flying with a storm, turbulence the whole way back, lots of rocking making me nauseous and the girl barfing next to me didn't help. Oh and that kid crying THE WHOLE TIME didn't help either.
Winter in Wisconsin. I LOVE IT.
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