From the East Side

Thanks Melanie for helping me (Shaya) figure out this site. This is my first official blog post ever. Really, ever. Right now I'm sitting at my desk in my office at the Strong Memorial Hospital's OBGYN Women's Health Practice in Rochester, NY, trying to determine how concerned I should be about the "Frankenstorm," Hurricane Sandy mixed with who knows who else, which is slamming the coast right now and supposed to hit us too. I just got an e-mail from the Hopsital's Public Relations office saying that they never close even in severe weather, so all staff are to report in, even if "the location is inaccessible." So maybe I should buy a jet ski in case the bus system shuts down (oh, life without a car).

Why am I working in a medical office with a Master of Music degree, you may ask? Well, that's a good question. A year ago I wouldn't have imagined just staying in Rochester much less becoming a research coordinator who works primarily with pregnant women. Through a long process and series of events, I felt the Lord leading me to stay here for a while longer. One reason is that it would be the first time in my life I'd be out of school and it's a good time to "detox." Secondly, I've moved all over the country in short intervals of time and am ready to belong somewhere for once in quite a while. Other reasons involve ministries and friends I want to invest more time into, vocal damage I discovered last spring that would make my life hell should I have chosen to do an opera young artists program this year (singing every day for 6+ hours in 5-7 productions and having to deal with other singers nonstop)...no thank you. Actually, opera is not the only path I could take with my degree. It's the most obvious one and it is really fun, but I'm actually not sure now that it's what I really want. Don't get me wrong--I do want to sing still--but I'm open to other directions my singing can take. I enjoy teaching, so I'm hoping to do more of that, and then who knows what else will come up.

As for working in the medical field suddenly, I was unemployed from May until August, spending most of the summer trying not to just sit at home and collecting whatever odd jobs I could find. Midway through that period, I ran into two acquaintances, Bill and Becca, (who are becoming friends of mine) that I actually met because of Dr. Reynolds. They are a married couple who met at Biola and both are Torrey alumni. He's here now getting his PhD in philosophy and ethics and she works at the hospital in research. Dr Reynolds told me about them at graduation, and I found them on facebook shortly after I moved here. We only met up once but became at least FB friends. Then I ran into them while helping a friend move from the same apt building they live in, and we started catching up. Of course my unemployment came up and Becca said there was an opening in her dept that she thought I'd be perfect for and that I should send her my resume. It was a "Clinical Research Coordinator" (fancy title!) position in the OBGYN office, whose job is to recruit women in the practice for various OB or GYN related studies. Anyway, I got an interview and it was the best interview of my life--I'd never felt so comfortable, and oddly I felt I could do this work, even though I have no medical background. Turns out they mostly wanted a people person, which was not a problem for me. So now I'm here, full time with weekends off plus benefits and vacation, and of course saving up like mad for my very imminent loan repayments.

Other than that, I'm now attending a Messianic synagogue (Jews and Gentiles who practice Christianity in a Jewish way...like Sam Rood or Karen Myers), where I teach a Davidic dance class for both adults and kids, work with preschoolers, host and co-organize after-service events, help maintain a community garden, and am going to learn to cantor (gonna learn some Hebrew for that!) :) Outside of that, I'm part of a wonderful Bible study which contains most of who I consider to be my closest friends here. I'm also trying to go swing dancing more often and am hoping to learn knitting eventually. I'm really enjoying life and God has given me some wonderful ministry opportunities at work and elsewhere, plus he's been revealing a lot of things to me lately that he wants to work on in me, which is humbling but so good.

So that's some of what I've been doing lately. It's great to see what's going on in all of your lives. I miss you all and wish I could come out and visit again. Maybe in another year if some of you are still around?

God bless!