With Whiz or Whizzout

After spending several wonderful days in Denver hangin' with my sis, I took off at the crack of dawn for Philadelphia. I was met there by Chris Horst from Esperanza. We cruised around town for a bit, passing by the liberty bell and Independence Hall where our forefathers signed our declaration of independence several hundred years ago. I mean, that's cool there is all of that history and stuff in Philadelphia, but I was actually more captivated by the roof of the bell tower, replaying in my mind the scenes of Nicholas Cage narrowly avoiding a barrage of gunfire behind the clock on the top of the building while saving our nations most precious documents in National Treasure. Oh, Nicholas..... Anyway, after seeing Cage's stomping grounds we went to Jim's, one of the three most famous Philly Cheesesteak restaurants. I had never felt so much pressure to order my food right. Apparently, the goodness of the cheese steak is able to substitute for good customer service. If you don't say your order followed by “whiz with” or “whiz whithout” immediately, you’re already on bad terms with them, usually receiving an unsympathetic glare and angry tone of voice for the rest of your order. One soft-spoken victim in front of me did not say his drink order loud enough and was immediately castigated, “Why don’t you speak up boy!” said the heavy set black man as he finished flipping the last of the thinly sliced meat on the huge grill in front of us.
Well, props to them for running a successful business without conforming to consumer-driven standards where the customer is worshiped this day and age. Forget customer service, just make a great sandwich. Well I made it through the congested line without too much hassle and had a great Philly Cheese Steak with onions, meat, and yes whiz cheese. It sounds a little odd, but it was great! It was good enough to go out and have another one for dinner after we had returned to the airport and picked up the other 8 interns.

We went down to Lancaster, PA (1.5 hours away) where we spent the next 3 days doing an orientation with Hope International. The group of people that work at Hope greatly surpassed my expectations. Composed of young adults (22-35ish), this group of motivated, Christian individuals have grown Hope into an incredible organization. We spent several days meeting with people from every department at Hope. Breakfast was shared together, allowing all of the interns to mingle and talk with everyone in the organization (about 25 in Lancaster). Throughout the day, speakers presented different aspects of Hope and how we can be a part of them, from Spiritual Integration to the finance and details of operating a successful MFI. More than anything I was impressed with the kindness and friendly atmosphere both in the workplace and outside of it. I mean, how often is a new intern in an organization able to BS with the president and founder (2 separate people) of an International Organization and then go play volleyball against them that night at a BBQ! There was such a fun sense of camaraderie between them, yet also a driven professionalism that stemmed from their solidarity and passion for touching the lives of the poor physically and spiritually. I’m excited to be a part of such a group in the states and also it’s counterpart, Esperanza, here in the DR.