One Month Living In Philly-A Truckload Full Of Memories

Today, August 20, marks my first month since my moving here to Philadelphia and so far I seen and experienced things I surely would not forget for a long time.

I live in a shared house on Willington St. (off Cecil B. Moore) in North Philly. This area has a significant track record of violence and other related crime. But so far, I have not seen anything that would make me re-evaluate my living here. I hope I will not experience anything like that. In fact, God had blessed me to place me where I live because my apartment is directly across the Philadelphia Police Department of 22 and 23 Districts. The police officers here are so friendly, yet understanding of the conditions here. For example, this morning after I returned from working overnight at Wal Mart (18 hours of straight work) I had trouble parallel parking in front of the police station. The three police officers were standing nearby talking, seeing that I was struggling to fit my car into a tight parking space, they came to my assistance. All three approached my car and began instructing me how to back up. I didn't ask them but they came to my assistance because they wanted to help me.

For the past two weeks, I have been living by myself in a large apartment building because my landlord is still waiting for potential occupiers to move in. My mom asked me the other day if I'm afraid of being here alone, I replied that I have nothing to fear; police station is nearby and God is with me whenever I go (plus I bought a pepper spray mace just in case). As I have been going to work, my landlord's mother, Betty along with other family members, been coming over and facing the house. Together, they have done a nice job of re-painting, floor wall, and ceiling re-modeling. Simply saying, the house looks much better that it was when I first moved here!!

Of course, when I'm in school I have to have some form of income. For this reason I transferred to a local Wal Mart, on South Columbus Blvd. Yes, I secured my job as Photo Specialist so I still develop photos, sell cameras and help out in other departments as well. What I have noticed after coming from a small-town Wal Mart is that customers here are very selfish and impatient. They want to be served now, it doesn't matter if I'm busy helping others at the time. What I love about this area is that it's the most diverse place with multi-linguistic communities who come to shop here. Some customers do not speak English so I have to try my best help out. Last week, I was able to sell a camera to a Russian traveling seaman and I sold it while speaking in Russian to him. In just a matter of one month, I have come to have a close, friendly relationship with several of my co-workers. They are really funny who make my working atmosphere fun. Soon, I will have to adjust my hours in order to balance school and work properly.
END OF PART#1