hip hip

HORRAY!
its snowing. im at Got Coffee right now sitting in a little corner with a mug and and my laptop. it will probably stop by the time i post this, but either way, the ground is white and i love it.
and this means that the mountains are getting real snow. more snow. and that means i can go boarding tomorrow!

i hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. im missing lots of you but i am getting back into the "home" routine, and this time the routine does not include work, so i am starting to really enjoy the rest and relaxation.

the grass is always greener

well ive been back in Utah for a full week now. i love being in my house that has been transformed by Christmas decor, sleeping on my fabulous matress, seeing friends and family and eating my mom's wonderful cooking.
but during my time at home, ive had those occasional moments where i forget to focus on the christmas lights and familiar faces, and instead, am taken off guard by mr. irony.
for example, i dont like that it does not snow in Riverside. however, the grass is not greener in Utah, instead it is whitish brown, as we have yet to wake up to blankets of snow covering our world. its too cold for all of the snow to melt completely away, too cold to snow more, and too cold for me to jog outside and not have a cough for the remainder of the day when finished.
also, i hate getting up early and and going to work, especially when its cold and i am in Utah. i would rather put on sweats and drink tea or something. but i currently do not have a steady job, so instead i am doing little more than reading and cooking and eating. what a life huh? but no, i have never wanted to work more than right now.
and i really had to laugh today when my mom threatened to hide my books if i did not get off the couch. most parents would love for their kids to read instead of watch t.v. or sleep the day away. who threatens to make their child stop reading, i asked?

well, other than those momentary lapses, where i forget how lucky i am no matter if i am in Riverside with a job or in Utah with a book, i have really enjoyed the rest and time to enjoy the Christmas spirit.
and at the request of my dear friend, amy, i will leave you with a picture. would you believe our luck that THE Cinderella was in California Adventure Land last thursday evening and there was hardly even a line to take a picture with her?

Wonka's Wonderland

While this semester has not been the worst in regards to finals, ive still spent alot of time with my couch and the books in the past couple of days. Luckily, i have gotten on top of my studying early, so hopefully this week will not be too horrible. Nonetheless, by this evening i was definately getting tired of studying.
So in the spirit of Christmas, and of study breaks, lauren (tot), ryan, tim and i spent some quality time building a gingerbread house. Stater Bros had a kit! It came with the gingerbread, the frosting, the candy and directions. We put our teamwork and tender loving care into the project, and two hours later, we had this...



















horray for team specific :)

Yule

This past weekend was yule, which like a highschool dance, but without the dancing. its a banquet... Every girl plans to get ready in time, but always runs a bit late. everyone takes too many pictures standing right next to their date, and at the end of the night you wonder why it took you so long to get ready and why you were in your dress and heels for such a short time.
Luckily, it was kind of worth it this year because i didnt go all out and i actually had a really good time. I went with a friend named Aaron, and while we have hung out with a group of people many times, we have never hung out one-on-one really. This could have made for an extremely awkward situation or it could have made for a great time for conversation. Fear not, it was the latter of the two.
After dinner at the disneyland hotel, we all went into the park for a ride on space mountain and the buzz lightyear ride.
and christmas time at d-land is like double the magic!
me and aaron enjoying desert












me and my other half

half dome and hockey

As most of you know, i didnt go home for thanksgiving this year.
Instead im in Visalia, CA with some friends from school. Courtney lives here, so four of us came to spend the break with her. Thanksgiving was wonderful since i got to sleep in, go for a run in weather that was not 90 degrees (which is what is has been in Riverside for the last week), eat lots of good food, watch some football, and go see a movie.
But the best part was going to Yosemite on Friday. Barrett, Garrett, Brady, Courtney and I drove up there yesterday morning. None of us had ever been there, so we were all pretty excited. Its only two hours away, and the second hour was spent traveling through the mountains, so i was thrilled with the ride. The weather was chilly, but we got to walk around and see some huge trees, huge waterfalls, and huge rock formations. The scenery was breathtaking! i could go into detail, but ill just show you some of the pics...

me and courtney hugging a giant tree















this is what we saw as soon as we got out of a tunnel... El Capitan is on the left and Half Dome is in the distance...



after our day at Yosemite, we went to see the Fresno Falcons play hockey. It was also my first time going to a hockey game. Someone proposed to his girlfriend, two players got in a fist fight, and most importantly, the chicken was there! If you didnt know, the chicken was the mascott for San Diego, but he was so good that he started traveling. Anyway, we had a great time cheering with our jerseys on and with our obnoxious noise makers. Overall, it has been a very relaxing trip. Tomorrow we will drive back to the side by the river and prepare for our last three weeks...
ps, going to the mountains made me even more excited to come back to utah!

me and court at the game

the illness

the stuffy nose, sore throat, achy body illness is going door to door, and i unfortunately answered. i knew i was going to get sick last week and i knew it was kind of unavoidable. so here i am, breathing out of my mouth and sneezing every half and hour or so.
but, im taking vitamins, sudafed and airborne, so i should be back to normal shortly. and i thankfully only have one more week until the break, so im counting down the days....
but i do want to let you all know, ill be in Central Cali for the holiday instead of home with everyone... im trying to not get bummed out.

Beaumont Weekend 2006

This weekend was the first time in weeks that hours passed, and i never felt the urge to look at a clock. I did not have anywhere to be, and i did not have tons of homework that had to be finished by monday morning. A bunch of friends and i went to Oak Glen in the mountains, played a little flag football, frisbee, and volleyball. We tasted apple cider and bought carameled apples, and pretty much just relaxed for two days straight.
And now im back at school, doing accouting homework every time im not practicing football. I do have apple butter in the refrigerator though, so a snack break might be in order later this evening...

here's to you

i was catching up on the blogs today, and i read one of Claire's. she requested that people update, and she stressed that the blog did not have to be fancy but that people should at least post something informative. afterall, many of the people who read this do not live in the same state, so any information is good information.
i think i tend to read other people's blogs instead of blogging myself because i feel like i
a) need to be chronological, and catch people up before i fill them in on the present (but that takes effort, and there is the risk of boring my audience)
b) need pictures, because i just love blogs with pictures
or
c) do not have anything that exciting to blog about.

but here is what is new with me. i took a macroeconomics test about an hour ago, and an accounting test on wednesday. im not sure i did great on either one, since they both had lots of formulas, tables and word problems. however, im doing pretty well thus far in both classes, so i am over being stressed.
last weekend my mom came to visit, which was amazing. she watched the Fortuna Bowl (flag football) on Friday. my team lost, which was a bummer, but my roomates were on the team that beat us, so i had to move on pretty quickly. since my mom was here she slept in my bed and i actually shared a bed with hillary, the quarterback for the Fortuna Champions. My mom and i did alot of shopping, eating and talking. lovely to say the least.
im going to arizona next friday to play in a flag football tournament at ASU, so i have practice all the time, and im really really tired.
and this evening, im going to Beaumont with a ton of friends from school. a couple of friends are from Beaumont, so we are going to stay at all of their houses and go to Oak Glen tomorrow to pick apples and play some ultimate frisbee. hopefully the leaves will still be on all the trees there, as that is the closest thing i will get to fall weather.
and lastly, i completely agree with Claire, i dont like all of the reprocussions of day light savings!

bella

bella is my beautiful, baby-blue beach cruiser. normally, my pets or cars have masculine names, but my friend Drew said there is nothing "boy" about my bike. i never blogged about her cause i wanted to do her justice and post a picture the first time i introduced her. i would say she has been a friend now for nearly four weeks, since we go everywhere together and i tend to talk to her sometimes when we ride. since i have given up on my computer situation this will be a pictureless post...

she has a white basket on the front, and if i keep stuff in the basket, and petal very carefully, i can even wear a skirt when i ride. now, you would think that having a bike would be super exciting for the first few days, and then it would lose its flare. however, that has not been the case... i still get excited in the morning when i turn the numbers to get her unlocked. my roomate hillary has a blue bike too (she was part of the inspiration to finally go through with the purchase) and we have a secret club. its secret because no one knows the name or the secret move. my favorite, though, is when i wear my hair down cause the wind blows through it. and more practically, she gets me places much more quickly than before, and i have even mastered riding in heels!

last night she and i raced my friend ethan to the gym. he was on foot and i was riding. if you dont know about beach-cruisers, they do not have gears and your upper body is in a very upright, stable postition. also they dont squeeze through parked cars as well as people. therefore, racing is still a challenge for you if youre on the bike. yes, those were disclaimers, because i technically lost by three seconds. but i didnt really care because i felt so much like a little kid, speeding across the parking lots, past the palm trees and over the grass. those surreal moments where you forget that you have homework and a job and dishes are fantastic and necessary. if you havent had one of those moments for a while, i highly recommend making friends with a beach-cruiser...

cold showers

this morning i came back to my apt after my running/ jogging class. normally i have an 8 oclock methods of teaching sports class, but it was cancelled today! i got to come back, eat breakfast on the back portch and shower before my 9:30 class (if you are doing the math, yes, i run, go to a class where i play sports, and then i go to another class before i have showered or even stopped sweating, gross!)So I was doing the dishes after i ate and i kept waiting for the water to get hot, but cold water kept pouring out of the faucet. I stopped doing the dishes and walked into the bathroom to see if i would encounter the same problem there. of course, i did.
now, i played football yesterday afternoon and i ran this morning, so skipping a shower would have been a poor choice.
therefore, i started the shower again and got under the freezing cold water. now, i showered in cold water for three weeks in Africa, what was one more day, right? well my cold shower was a good reminder that my perspective has a great affect on my attitude and that i can take really fast showers if i need too!

rest

this week was crazy busy and i didnt get much sleep. two out of five nights were actually spent on the couch because i fell asleep studying. that means that two of those nights, i didnt brush my teeth or wear my retainer.
but last night, i opted to not go to Disneyland or the beach, and instead, i went out for thai food with a friend and was in bed, retainer in place, by 11:45. it was beautiful.
i woke up this morning, well rested, and i went for a run before it got hot. then a friend and i drove to the beach, where we napped on the sand, and then we came home. and that is all i have done with my weekend. no laundry, no homework, just rest. its been lovely.

you should know...

you should know that i tried to blog last sunday, and i was so proud of it... but then the internet failed so i lost it all.
the internet has been quite disappointing as of late. everytime i want to do anything on the internet, something happens. supposedly it will get "worked out" but i dont see anyone working. weve written our names on lists and talked to people about working on our apt, and still, nothing! so im sneeking blog time in at work.

but today is similar to sunday in that it is quite cool outside. to a utahn, its perfect, and to a southern californian, its a bit chilly. but i love it. and i love that i heard the bagpipe boy playing today while i ate lunch. i heard him on sunday too, and he was out on the front lawn (which is my backyard) with his red hair and kilt. today he didnt sport the kilt, but he was just walking around playing. our lunch table got in a long conversation about how it is such an interesting instrument, how none of us are educated enough about the bagpipe and its sound to ever know if the kid is really all that good, and how he sometimes plays late at night with his trench coat on, making the mood really eerie. all in all, though, i like bagepipe boy and his bagpipe.

well i am off work, but i have taken a couple of pictures of the apt so i can give you all a tour when my normal internet works... claire always sparks those good blog topics/ ideas, so i always copy :)

spring fever in september

many of the people im close to have it...

target

i like target, and i love supertarget. such stores are designed for a college student. they have a variety of cute yet practical items, and their prices are extremely affordable. i think i enjoy a purchase from target almost daily.

this morning i enjoyed the pillows that i got on sale for $7 a piece! i woke up to my cell phone buzzing under my pillow and my roommate looking out our window so that she could decide what to wear today. i snuggled under the warmth of my covers and rolled over onto the pillows that line the right side of my bed. i thought about how i should not have stayed up until 2:30 watching greys anatomy with my roomies, but i almost simultaneously thought about how i had probably never been more comfortable in my life. granted, i think that thought a couple of times a week, but the pillows and our central air conditioning never fail to be some of the most fabulous aspects of my days. and there is my proof that target is a source of bliss.

well, brittany picked out a very classy pair of jeans, black heals and a long sleeve red shirt because its a bit overcast today. we both know it is too early to rain in riverside (hence the heals), but we were excited that the weather would be bearable and, dare i say, pleasant. i, on the other hand, chose a gray pullover sweater, capris and a pair of flip-slops. not quite as put-together as britt (which is never a shocker) but much more comfortable than the outfits that i have to wear for my tuesday/thursday job. hopefully i will get off work early today and will either visit the beach or Dland this weekend... ill probably go to target as well :)

FOCUS

if you didnt know, i am a FOCUS Leader. technically, it is a job, as i do get paid, but i am pretty sure i only get about ten cents an hour if you even everything out. In general, the Focus Leaders help run the student orientation for freshman and transfers (which happens a week before school starts) and we teach an orientation class once a week. Every leader has a partner, and the partners are in charge of a group of freshman. I am focus group V and my partner is Daniel.
Being a good focus leader has more stipulations that one might assume...
1. Be cheerful, especially when you are moving people into the 3rd floor of the dorms in 107 degree weather, when you are with them all day long for a week straight, or any other time you see them on campus.
2. Be willing to start or invade conversations.
3. Bake or buy treats so that your class will pay attention to you.
4. Remember the names of all your focus students, their friends, roommates, crushes, boyfriends/ girlfriends, and ex-boyfriends/ girlfriends.
5. Visit your students in their rooms, eat lunch with them or invite them to your apt. so that you can get to know them better and hear all of the stories about their friends, roommates, crushes, boyfriends/ girlfriends, and ex-boyfriends/ girlfriends.
6. Plan fun events that will entice every person in your group (note: events that are expensive or slightly dangerous seem to be most commonly suggested by the average student).

Being sarcastic does not always make you the best focus leader, but it is definately necessary sometimes during this process. Focus really has been such a great experience, though. I have been able to meet tons of new people and the position is a great ministry opportunity. However, the position is extremely time consuming, so please make me keep in touch with at least the blogging world during this semester. accountability is key.

drab...

i have started three entries, but have deleted every attemt to entertain or enlighten you... im boring.
i have a 7 am running class on tuesdays and thursdays, i got a job in graduate admissions today, i spend 2 1/2 hours on accounting homework this afternoon, i did the dishes 1/2 hour ago, and the only thing i have left to look forward to is reading for macroeconomics.
im starting to chuckle to myself because i sound so pathtic... i really am in a fine mood, and my day wasnt bad... im just rather annoyed that i have nothing of interest to write about. i think i am going to go read everyone else's blogs. maybe ill get ideas for an entry tomorrow.

the first day...

im back in cali, as you all know, it is blazing hot ,and today is the first day of school. i will update you all on what has been going on, but during these few minutes that i have between classes, i would like to express my gratitude for the new sushi bar in our caf. i know it sounds sketch, but our caf is actually really really good, and you watch them make the california rolls...its all fresh!
hopefully i will get better at using chopsticks ;)

deer heads and chocolate fountains

i love summer.
i love having time to spend with friends instead of with mr library, and i love warm nights and ice cream and being busy becuase of fun things.

last weekend i went to Bear Lake and went boating with some friends. we did a little wake-boarding, listened to some music and just relaxed on the boat.
pic: sarah grosgebauer and me taking a break after being in the water...







sunday i went to lunch with the gerstheimers and ahrenstorffs, and then to Weber State to save a spot for that evening's event... Pioneer Day Fireworks! its a pretty big deal here, as the 24th of July is the day that the Mormons found utah (or something of the sort). well im not too concerned with the history, i just think its hilarious that the fireworks are better than on the 4th and people seriously plan for this holiday. but dont think im poking fun, i love it too. now i dont set out blankets the night before, that is for the truly committed, but i definately set one out early, bake cupcakes, and arrive at least three hours before the show starts. this year we were able to watch the firework display on Claire's lovely blanket. i should have gotten a close up shot so that you could fully appreciate the moose/ deer heads that are all over the thing.
pic: whitney, claire, and kelly, looking excited about the deer and fireworks







and this week was full of wedding fun. one of my best friends, naomi, got married yesterday, at the top of Snowbasin. bachelorette party, rehersal dinner, and a full day of prom hair and pictures (and a chocolate fountain, horray!) it was pretty amazing if i do say so myself. she looked beautiful, i didnt trip in my heels, i didnt get stung by the bees that were swarming those of us holding boquets of real flowers, and the groomsmen werent so bad either ;)
pic: sarah, me, liz and emily right before the ceremony







ill post more pics when i get them, but im pretty impressed with the variety of visual aids in this post if i do say so myself...

shopping spree

my mom, sister, and i ran some errands today, and sarah and i found these sweet visors.
it was extremely warm and sunny today, so we thought it would be a practical buy...




i know, when got back to our air conditioned home and looked in the mirror, we were just as shocked as you are that we paid money for those things.

prep for the big day

i decided i have not enjoyed blogging as much because i dont have pictures. i mean, part of the reason is cause i am slightly boring. i go to bed early, i go to work, and then i take a nap. even pictures couldnt make that exciting.
but i am going to try to take pictures of the slightly entertaining things that i am doing with my summer, after all, i am a visual learner. for now, though, ill just keep explaining events...
for example, today i learned about the air conditioner. a lady i worked with told me that she would be a little weirded out by my job because she doesnt understand the parts, and i have to do alot of communication with the techs and our "parts" guy regarding the pieces of an a/c. really though, i am full of B.S. i know tons of parts that your cooling and heating units need, and i know the basic issues and warning signs for problems, but... i get the condensor and the compressor mixed up all the time, i just found out a week ago that orfices are small screw looking things (which i for some reason pictured them to be larger circular structures), and the only reason i can explain things to customers is because i listen to what the techs say and i just parrot their responses. like i said, visual learner. so today Rich and Mark showed me a couple of air conditioners, a furnace and their parts so that i knew what everything looked like.

also, on a completely different subject, i played speed scrabble on the 4th because it was stormy, and i had so much fun. it is much more riviting and fast paced that the normal game of scrabble. maybe im a dork, but i stayed entertained for hours.

and im in a wedding in two weeks. i have to wear brown, strappy, kitten heeled footwear. i dont have feet that fit comfortably in such shoes, so to try and ease possible pain on the big day, i am wearing the shoes during my free time so that they will stretch out and mold to my feet. this is one thing i will never take a picture of because i look like a lunatic walking around in the kitchen wearing sweats or jeans or soccer shorts and my pretty brown heels. but i heard that if you shower in your heels, it can really help break them in and make them more comfortable... who knew?

its a he

i clocked over 50 hours this week.
i have taken evening naps two days in a row and still been able to fall alseep later without any hesitation.
i dont have to work tuesday (fingers crossed).
congratulations to kimmy, whose boyfriend flew to California from Turkey to propose to her... i believe the correct term is "romantic."
and, we have a new addition to our family... a toyota camry... HE has a sun roof.

ok thank you

i know i know, ive been embarrassingly pathetic about blogging, but i have been repremanded a couple of times, so i figured i would update.
well as you know, in the last month i have been in Africa, California, Colorado and Utah.
it would take too long to sum up what all has happened, so i think ill just let you in on the current.
as you may know, i work at a heating and air conditioning company as a dispatcher. it sounds super serious, as if i am dispatching coppers that are saving peoples lives or something, but its not that eternally influential. however, as angry as some customers get when you dont meet their agenda, price range, and schedule, you would think that keeping their house at a comfortable 76 degrees is a life or death matter.
and though on occasion, i do get told where to go when i die, i also get to deal with alot of really nice people. i work with jeremy bair's sister (i know, small world), some hilarious technicians, and some customers that are quite polite and/ or comical.
my personal favorites are the old ones. every couple of days i get to talk to older gentlemen that call me "missy" or "sweetie" and tell me how nice i am and what a great job i am doing (hey we all need a little affirmation sometimes). and then i get to talk to the ones that are utterly deaf. i can tell when they switch the phone to the other ear thinking that they will be able to hear out of that one better. but they dont. they ask me to repeat things a million times, and when they get tired of that, they just say "ok thank you" over and over and try to hang up. i end up having to basically yell while everyone in the office gets a kick out of my inability to communicate the fact that i will have a technician to the customer's house between 1 and 3 pm!
im sure this is not very funny to you, but if you could see/ hear me, im sure you would laugh; everyone else does. and if you were the only one in the office with three people on hold at 7:30 am, you would be writing about the fact that conversations with the elderly are the highlights of your day :)

im it

o i think i got tagged a while back (or i just read about other people getting tagged and now i am crashing the game) but here are some random facts, not in great detail, but important nonetheless...

1. when i get in bed at night, i start out laying on my left side. then when i flip over to my right side, i know sleep is in the near future...

2. i really hate using body wash. i only feel clean if i use actual soap. im pretty sure most body washes say nothing about killing germs, so i just feel more safe using soap.

3. ummm im bad at the game of tag... im more of a hide-and-seek girl (which explains why most of my random facts are lame).

4. i dont like cats. i really dont like their hair that gets all over, or their creepy eyes or the way they smell. i usually just appease people because telling someone you dont like their cat is like telling them you think they have an ugly child. just know that i will never own a cat.

5. i hate using a nail file. i get the chills when i use one, and i dont like the white dust from my nails. therefore, i just would rather have uneven, unattractive nails.

6. i think tomatoes are disgusting, but i will eat ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce etc. i just think that regular plain tomatoes (texture, taste and smell) are repulsive. but i do like a nice banana :)

the real world

im not completely back in the real world yet. i am still not sleeping in a bed that is mine, i have been living out of a suitcase for over a month, i am not working and getting paid, and in the real world, i am a faithful blogger. i mean, i dont always blog or even comment, but i do read blogs regularly... daily. and i am so out of the loop. not only have i not seen peoples faces, but i also dont know what is going on in the real world.
ill be home (the utah one) on Monday. so can i please see my favorite bloggers asap!

reverse culture shock

so i didnt really get that o my heavens i cant handle africa and the people and the food and the bugs and i need to go home right now feeling ( i had a second of, my focus is not here, but definately no tears and panic breathing).
coming back though is more when i got the "culture shock." it was not too dramatic, but i landed and was not excited to be back in America, much less the fast paced, traffic filled (and dare i say less attractive) state we call California. thank goodness for my ipod, cause i was able to listen to some favorites while driving back to school. o i missed my ipod! i love music.
k that was random, but i am doing much better today. i love erika and have adjusted to having fast, easily accessible internet, a hot shower, a sink to brush my teeth with, an abundance of cold drinking water and erikas fabulous bed that does not creek!
so just give me some time to get caught up on the blogs and phone calls (cause i am still in the k lets relax for a second mode). i love you all and cant wait to see/ talk to you!
o big blessing, did really sleep at all on the way back, so i dont have jet lag. i did have really swollen feet and ankles though.

"the sun keeps looking at me" -- Pacs

Thank you for the comments. i got a little teary, but it was definately a good thing.

well, praise, im feeling alot better. still a bit stuffy in the mornings, but my head doesnt hurt anymore and i have more energy. i think that not feeling well was a big factor in the longing for home (or at least a nice shower and bed). i spent some good time with God saturday and sunday, and of course, in his faithfulness, he has helped me be completely in Rwanda. it is seriously so beautiful here, and those of you who know me (especially the me in Utah), know i love nature and gods creation. well he is so evident and glorified in his creation here! today Christie and i were taking a break standing outside in the sun, eating the figs we had picked, looking at the banana trees and clouds, and i only wanted to be here, in Africa. that is the quickest example i have of being content, but the last few days have been particularly enjoyable.

we are doing different stuff at the house now, such as painting and painting. its really nice to have a change though. the paint splatters all over us, so now we get even ,ore stares when we walk to lunch or back home. the kids are always facinated with our white skin, and they realized a week ago that the white could not be rubbed off, but we have gone back to being petted, as they all try to rub off the paint. im going to miss the kids... Our relationships witht the workers are growing each day as well.

im not sure i mentioned this, but it is not really that hot here ( i mean its hot, but not unbearable) but i am developing a nice farmers tan. i also might have forgoten to say that they are really modest here, so we definately are not wearing tank tops. the other day though, Christie (aka Pacs) and i were getting hot while painting and she just stopped and exclaimed in annoyance that the sun kept looking at her. i thought it was really funny, and it could have just been the paint fumes, but i was amused. and laughter like that is very important when you are in a foreign country.

sorry for the randomness, i have so much that i want to tell you but so much needs more background info and more internet time. i do want you to know how muchs it means to hear that you are praying for us. i have been learning alot about prayer. and even though i know that we pray for one another all the time, it is particularly co,forting when you are half a world away from the world you love.
prayer requests:
no one else gets sick (a few people have had stomach aches and Christie did actually throw up a couple of times this past weekend... shes feeling better though)

lots of energy so that we can get alot of work done in the next two days

o my heavens, two days (one more cold shower) and we are going back to kigali... so weird... it will be alot more difficult than the cold shower. pray for our hearts then i guess

and just travel safety in general...we fly back sunday.

"the point"

its been a week since i last posted but the time kind of seems to run together. That is partly because we do (and eat) pretty much the same things every day and because of the way life is here. people have said that "Americans have watches but Africans have time." People arent as rushed here; they are not as bound by strict time limits or schedules ( examples: church is 4 hours long and dinner is served when the people here finish preparing it). But the week has been good.
We went to a Pentecostql church last sunday and today. Ill have to devote a post to that later, but you might like to know that the 3 inch wide piece of wood that we sat on today was less slanted than last weeks; therefore it was slightly more comfortable.
As for the week, we continued to work at the house, doing lots of digging, cleaning, hoeing, and planting. on tuesday we basically finished the transformation of a vertical dirt wall into a set of stairs. it was really exciting to see all of us, white, black, child, teen and adult, walk up and down the steps a few times to break them in.
Then on Friday, we got to go to the opening of an art museum and to see the Kings Palace.We were really blessed to see a "ballet" which was basically traditional African dancing (soooo cool!), art, the palace (which is a neat grass hut), get food (including goat)... all for free!
As you can see, the trip, thus far, has been very amazing and rewarding, but there were also times this week where i kind of flirted with "the point." Its thqt place where my attention is not completely focused on the moment, on the task for the day. See, im not fully over my cold, sleep is usually interrupted by weird dreams or a creeky, uncomfortable bed, we take very cold showers, and my food usually tastes best when all mixed together. K, i sound really negative, but lets be honest, there are moments where those facts invade my thoughts. Thankfully, God, my team, and Rwanda are fabulous. So even though I have been at the point once or twice, I am still in Africa. I have no desire to fly home tomorrow, and I am learning and loving differently every day.
I do, hwever, want to tell Jenni and Robin that they are wonderful, i miss them, and I will be praying for them while they are in Turkey. I would like to tell anyone who will see me with in about two weeks of my return to the US that i have no great desire to eat spaghetti, white rice, plain potatoes, or cooked bananas. I will welcome a fresh salad, cereal, and ice cream, though.
keep leaving comments (cause they make me really excited, and Christie is beating me), check out her site (shes a good writer and has the school s link to the ISP update page), and if you think about it ever, call my phone and leave me a message ( i would love to hear your voices and blessings when i get back).
thank you for your prayers... I am so blessed!

communication

the email thing is very flakey, so im just going to use this to say, Happy Mothers Day mom! just know that i love you and i think about you when i look at the beautiful flowers and greenery here... you would love it. i hope you have a wonderful day. you are amazing!

actually the communication thing in general is tricky. most of you know that im attatched to my phone and i love to blog. it has been weird to not be able to talk to people or even text them little inside jokes or let them know what im thinking or feeling. i cant call people and my team is teasing ,e because i write down everything (including planned blog titles) so that i dont forget. warning: i will blog about this like crazy when i have fast internet and a normal keyboard. on top of being slightly out of touch i also dont know either of the two main languages here... o by the way... but im learning.

okay, ill fill you in a bit on the daily routine here in Gitarama. we are staying at a shelter: hostile type place. we walk to work and everyone stares at us. we are building a house and it wILL be used as a shelter/ training center for Muslim converts. we mix cement, carry buckets of water and have cleared ground for a garden. all of those are alot of hard work and we are feeling it. i love our assignment though. a bunch of children watch us work and play with us during breaks. they love to just touch our skin, hair and my nose ring. they are soooo beautiful. we have been trying to teach each other our languages, which has been very fun ahd helpful.

yesterdqy it poured rain on the way home but i think the people that stare at us everyday when we walk to the restaurant for meals and then to work got a bit of respect for us as they watched us walk home soaking wet (normally people come outside to see us and we hear them blatantly just call us white people, and though its a different language, we were smart enough to figure that one out). its just a cultural thing though because they are very friendly and nice for the most part.

blogging is hard because i have so ,uch to tell you. ill just give you a short list of some of the thoughts ive had while being here...

i wish i at least knew French

i wish i could adopt

i wish i never had to use the restroom

i wish i didnt constantly smell of a mixture of purell and deet (occasionally i mx it up with some sweat though)

i wish all the images that are being stored in my had could be transmitted to film

i wish you were here so you wouldnt have to see film to understand

i wish i could carry massive baskets on ,y head

i wish there were more old people here... i wish there was no genocide...

i wish i was not out of internet time

well thanks for reading and praying. check out my friend and teammates blog at
www.christieinrwanda@blogspot.com

dinosaurs

you know when people type but dont know where all the letters are, so they finger peck... yeah the keyboards are different here so i look like a raptor when i type. youll have to forgive me for the typos because i am staring at the keyboard and trying to not run out of time.
i have so ,uch to tell you and not nearly enough time (or patience for this process, which is extremely ironic considering the people and culture are very laid back).
it took us two days to get here with the layovers. i hardly slept, which actually helped me adjust to the time difference (which is nine hours ahead of cali, eight for utah). we stayed in kigali, the capital, for two days with everyone (thats about fifty five white people...) now its just me and my team in gitaramq.
ill post ,ore later, but for now just know that it is a beautiful country with beautiful people.
i would email if i could but its not working, so until then... i love you

Africa

so i leave today for Africa. it sounds so weird.
ill try to blog while im there, so check it every once in a while.
pray for us...

sit on it

i might have to do a little "forcing" if i want the suitcase to close, because though im trying to condense and bring only necessities, its not too much space ( i just took a trial run).

one at a time

at summer camp, everyone leaves at basically the same time on the same day. tears flow, addresses are exchanged and then you go back to the same life you were living the previous week.
college is nothing like that. we are a bit more mature about the moving on process, but its hard to be really upset when you have to just hug one person goodbye, and then in a few hours do the same for another, and then in a few days, still be in the process of saying goodbye to people. its not very real at all to me. not until i sit in my room with all the white walls and boxes and think about what that hug and goodbye just meant. its a bit more emotional then...
i think its tricky too becuase im not going to my other place of familiarity (the place that i havent seen for 4 months that is). instead i will put stuff in the mail, put stuff in storage, and take my backpack and small, carry-on size suitecase that hold my life for the next 3 weeks to the front of campus on sunday.

i just said goodnight to the boys that live across the street the same way that we do everytime we hang out in the lobby until 2 am. i just wont do it again for 4 months.

while i sound completely depressed, i am quite the contrary (but i was a bit 24 hours ago...). i am so excited that finals are over and that i was able to actually sleep for more than 2 hours last night. yes, due to my procrastination and desire to see people before they left, i pulled an all-nighter... even after the 7/11 night. i got an A on the project though. 10 (not consecutive, not between the hours of 9am-1am) hours of sleep in 3 days ladies and gentlemen. i think i am close to having everything packed, and i am going to spend time with 3 of my favorite people tomorrow, so im looking forward to that as well.
sooooo... 2 more days, and then im going to peace out...

one starbucks and one 7/11 trip later...

im going to bed now...
alarm set to go off at 7:45... i can hardly wait.

its like a new world

thats what you will see if you clean your glasses with the super sweet "complimentary" cleaner and cloth that are provided when you purchase the eyewear. i tried it tonight for the second time since having these glasses (ive had them for a while).
...
can you tell im avoiding the paper?

last sunday brunch

after church we sat at brunch on the patio, enjoying the pineapple and talking about the repercussions of legalizing drugs, which, according to word on the street, such a thing has been done by our neighbors, the Mexicans (o dont worry, though cocaine and heroine are now legal for personal use, only in small quantities...). on a lighter note, we just have to finish a few finals, pack up and go to the beach one last time before we all go our separate ways.
a week from right now i will be on a flight to London, England, where i will spend 8 hours in the airport before getting on my second flight to Nairobi, Kenya, where i will sit for another ungodly amount of time before flying to Kigali, Rwanda. probably wont be eating pinapple next sunday, just a guess though.
sadly that is sounding quite nice compared to writing a paper, finishing my travel poster, studying for American Government final, and finishing the last project for microeconomics. luckily, i have started all of those things... well all except for that packing thing that i mentioned before... but our Focus team is going on a hike this evening, so i only have to be dilligent for a few hours now.

horses and pigs

friday night a few of us went on the courts to play a little b-ball. tot and i knew that it would be embarrassing, but we decided to give it a shot... k that was unnecessary, but anyway, we wanted to keep it simple and fair, so we just stuck with some friendly games of horse or pig. they were usually made plural so that we can prolong our attempts to improve our game.
i went back out last night to play again, which is the reason im posting for the world to see, because i made a shot while sitting on the ground and i made a three pointer, even though the guys had no confidence that i could do such things. im pretty sure that i also made a free throw, but everyone behind me (all male) did not make the same shot. for those of you who are not quite as experienced as i now am, that means that i helped someone get a letter, which is bad for them. so if any of you folks in utah are up for the challenge, i would be very willing to shot around this summer...

im over it...

the brilliant words of tot. wish i could say that honestly...

randomness

i had so much running through my head today.
i am not sure how many hours of sleep i got, because i looked at the clock at 3, the lights were still on and so was my computer. i woke up to kinsley turning off the lamp at 6:30 am, and me rolling over on the couch wanting so badly to sleep for 5 more hours.
blessing: she and i went to breakfast, and i like her
i sat in the doctors office for 2 freakin hours waiting to get polio. 2 hours for them to throw off my breathing, stick a needle in my arm and decorate it with a hello kitty band-aid! it didnt even take 2 hours for my body to start to ache (which it still is achy in case you were wondering).
blessing: the very gracious and patient hilary went with me, and we bonded over our love for Alias, sarcasm and laughter.
tonight was my last Rwanda meeting, and i am so not ready...
blessing: tonight was my last Rwanda meeting
i have alot of homework that i need to be working on so that i dont have suicidal thoughts next week.
blessing: its not next week yet.

Claire had a post about this dance that she recommends... im not going to dance because my body hurts, but i have these pictures.

















last weekend, after our mens volleyball team won nationals, we all went to apt 9 and had dessert. one thing lead to another, and before the end of the night, Jared was chasing me with a handful of chocolate cake. its all over my face (and kinsleys). one of those, wow im a dork and i need to not take myself and my schedule so seriously kind of reminders.

we miss you!

yeah you know who you are...

The Fam

this is very tardy. i started it but never finished because my life started back up...
Well for the last part of spring break some of the family came down to visit, more specifically, my mom and sarah. when they got here friday it was rainy and cold, but we made due. Saturday we decided to shop, since it probably would not have been the greatest beach day. though shopping was very tiring, it was extremely rewarding, as we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner... yummmmm!
For easter we were pagans and went to Disneyland. the weather cleared up and we pretty much had a wonderful day. I was a bit worn out at the end because i am not used to going in the morning and staying till late at night. i like to refer to those days as "death by Disneyland." we did get to ride all of the fun rides, including space mountain twice (thank you fast-pass) and splash mountain etc. we also saw a load of disney characters, my personal favorite being belle!

we didnt actually buy these glasses, but we thought they were pretty sweet.


















me and the madre at the top of tarzans jungle house.
















then on monday we took the long anticipated trip to the beach. it was a bit breezy, but clear skies, and heck, we got to spend the day at the beach; plus we had fish tacos, yummm! and the way to end any beach trip was with dinner at BJs. its go great pizza and pazookies!

budget meals

while some of the meals during spring break have been quite nice, others have been a bit on the creative/ cheap side. dining experiences to say the least.
wednesday night tot and i made a trip to bakers for some budget meal quesadillas...
















when we got back, we decided to add a little tuna salad to the mix, for protein of course!



then thursday, tot and i went to the beach cause we couldnt waste such beautiful weather by just sitting and doing homework, but this made me very hungry, of course, so andy and i made potatoes and chili. he made chicken. i made a salad. but he insisted on eating a carrot to get his fill of veggies... the grape juice in skeleton heads is a nice touch if you ask me. we thought it was appetizing. (really they were some of the only clean cups, clean being very relative)

California Girls

The Very Best of The Beach Boys tunes are currently filling the room, window very illegally open, and sun shine finally coming in.
my dad gave me this cd the day before i moved out here, sweet huh? "sounds of summer" is on the cover. well its almost here right?

goliath

that was the last roller coaster we went on at six flags due to the rain. it had sprinkled on and off during the day, but the boys were positive that it would hold out for us. we should have known not to trust their judgement considering the movie they had picked the night before, but its all in the past... despite the rain, we had alot of fun. picked up a little in-n-out before heading into the park, and then we went on as many rides as we could. a friend, fox, works there, so he took us on a few short cuts and even got us on a ride without having to wait in line. ironically, that was the ride that had throw-up all over the steps that we walked up to cut in line. luckily, none of us were that unfortunate during the day, and our worst ailments were a few butterflys in the stomach.
though six flags is no disneyland, the roller coasters are a good time. we tried to ride "X" but by then the rain was running off of our faces and the boys (who didnt bring jackets or sweatshirts, like i said, its a judgement thing) were very very cold. the rain actually hurt when we were on goliath cause it felt like little rocks hitting our faces. they were pretty good sports though and let me snap a picture before leaving.
garrett, tot, brady, and barrett









on the ride home we played the Q&A game and brady gave us some dancing tips. then tot and i showered before dinner in her room and a nap in her bed. i love this break thing, but i do need to start homework sometime soon...

a bit tight

since i dont get to fly home for spring break i decided to take a little ride in the albertsons chopper. tight squeeze to say the least!

"i think i might pee my pants!"

thats pretty much how excited i was before leaving for Disneyland on friday. some people think that the season pass takes the magic out of disneyland, which might be true in some aspects, but i might argue that it adds a bit to the experience. when you have a season pass, you can go after dinner, walk through the tortilla making factory at California Adventure with your friends, go on tower of terror, which i highly recommend, buy a carameled apple and watch the fireworks while singing along to the songs. then you can ride the jungle tour ride and go home cause you are sleepy, just for example.

robin and i had a wonderful time eating an apple pie carameled apple (caramel, white chocolate, cinnamin sugar and gram) and riding the jungle safari ride together. as you can see from the pics, big mouth to laugh with, big eyes to do the "look back" with, and a bootie that she knows how to use pretty well also... i pretty much like her...


















after d-land we went to Kinsley's dad house, which is about five minutes from the beach... fabulous. it was so nice to sleep in, and just sit on the couch watching a Harry Potter which drinking fresh fruit smoothies that her dad made for us. basically it was good food, good people, and good scenery, which adds up to a wonderful weekend. now im in the dorms, which are pretty much empty, and im blasting gavin degraw...
ill leave you with this

nothing

that is all i want to do right now. absolutely nothing.
that is not exactly going to happen, but for good reason. soon ill be on my way to the fabulous Disneyland with some of the girls, and afterwards we are going to spend the weekend in Huntington Beach at Kinsley's dads house. this should sound pretty amazing, and it is, but it will be even more amazing because of how unamazing the week has been.
okay, it wasnt quite that horrible, but it was pretty crazy. i had ISP stuff, Focus, stressful housing decisions, presentations, papers, tests, and not nearly enough sleep. normally, i work pretty okay without much sleep, but i didnt exercise everyday, and i had alot on my mind, so i had a really rough time not wanting to crawl in a hole when i watched 3 o'clock roll around every morning.
but last night i was able to go to an intermural basketball game for a while and hang out with people, and then i was kidnapped and taken to get Boba ( its a drink with these balls of boba in the bottom, very interesting and hard to describe, but very tasty). though i didnt study very much for my last test that i had this morning, it was a nice way to start winding down the week. now its spring break, i know our school is lame and its ridiculously late, but ill take what i can get. and right now i get to go see mickey, and tomorrow i plan on spending much of the day on the beach or on a couch watching a movie... im not going to be too picky.
hopefully your fridays are going beautifully as well... Spring Break here i come.

shocker

i am posting this blog at 9:24 pm on wednesday evening (the time on my blog thing is kind of off), which means that i am back in my room and have stopped to talk to the people that i pass on the way to my room, which is at the very end of the hall.
this is completely abnormal, first of all because i am posting, which i have been pretty lame about, i am posting at a time that most people are still awake, and i am in my room at my computer. normally on wednesday nights i have Rwanda meetings. though they are supposed to only last for 3 hours, yes i said only, mine almost never get out on time. we have been known to go for 4 hours.
most of my friends know this by now, so at 8:45 when they saw me and my friend/ teammate/ sarcasm buddy, Pacs (Christie), they were completely shocked. i have stopped by the apts., visited tot, left someone a note, and gone to the bathroom before 10 on a wednesday night!

hope'n and wish'n and pray'n

to not see 3:45 am again today. makin good time thus far.

in your grill

today was my friend josh's birthday, so a bunch of us went to the beach in Balboa for a little while. i love the way that the buildings look when you get closer to the beach. i love the shops and the houses and the lighting. it sounds weird, but i just get the excited feeling.
i love the beach too! i cant decide if i like the sound or the sight of the water better, but they are both pretty amazing. tonight it was really cloudy, but the moon's light glowed behind the clouds.
we untwisted hangers to make marshmellow roasting utensils. i got the marshmellow all over my face at one point, but the smore was dang good! the one thing that i dont love about the beach, especially at night, is that its nearly impossible to take a good picture.
okay, this one i cant blame so much on the sea breeze, humidity, and flash... mostly its just cause i was messy. according to tot, i had the marshmellow all up in my grill.





















these are my cold feet (with chipped nail polish) chillin in the sand...



and lastly, sarah and me, with sick beach hair. it actually began to rain shortly after, but i kind of enjoyed it.


then we came back to apt 9 for some banana and chocolate chip pancakes and fun on the lawn.

puddle jumpers

last night it rained. not the normal rain where it sprinkles for about 20 minutes, and the pavement is wet for only about an hour afterward. i mean, "its coming down out there," we could hear it on the windows, rain.
Kinsley loves the rain, and she always talks about playing in it... but this winter it has been all talk and no rain. i had homework as usual, and i was diligently doing it in tot's room last night (eh semi diligently-- we had some visitors) but kinsley came running over and just asked if i was ready. so i hopped off the bed and changed into sweats, no questions asked.
o we puddle jumped i tell you. it got in my mouth. yeah that was a bit gross, but so fun. we laid on the pavement, closed our eyes and got officially soaked for about 10 mintues before we went back to our rooms and kept on with the work. it was a nice little break though.

FO PAR

i am not sure that i have let you all in on the fact that i am going to be a FOCUS leader next year. basically i get paid very little to teach one of the freshman orientation classes during fall semester. alot more is involved, which actually makes the job very worth while, as Focus leaders run freshman orientation, and they basically get to make sure new students get comfortable and acquainted with school.
the team is such a great group of people, and tonight was the night where we found out who our focus partners are going to be for next year. everyone is given a partner and the partners will be given a group of students to pray for, care for and teach next year. some people have all girl groups (our ratio pretty much sucks) and some have a mix (all depending on whether you get a girl partner or a boy)... my "fo par" is mr. daniel reyes. really neat guy, and if i had to describe him, one of the first words that comes to mind is "bro." (this term is used commonly in cali, but i may have to have a post dedicated to educating you on the terms/ styles of "bros" and their "hoes"). however, he is a really cool (definately does not act like a bro), and i think it will be a great experience.
over all, finding out your partner is about a two hour ordeal, since we have been getting clues for a week and they send us all over tricking us about who the person really is.
but speaking of long ordeals, i have a paper to work on, and it is definately approaching 3:00. lame.

tee shirts and tan lines

lauren (pokey), naomi, lauren (tot).

this weekend, i had a fabulous visitor, but the weather could not really be described as such. it was cloudy and it rained more than one time! it was pretty chilly (some might even say "freezing" as i think the temperature dropped below 50 at one point)...so much for the getting the "california experience."

most people here were in full complaint mode because "winter" has been here for around 2 months, and they have had enough. i was completely prepared for about one more week maybe. but wait no longer! the weather has been beautiful for the past two days. and so has our view. the snow from the cold weekend covered the mountains, but here, it was all sun and palm trees. yesterday i irresponsibly sat on the quad for an hour before work, basking in the rays and chatting with friends. i consequently lost some sleep last night and gained some freckles and a tan line, but it was completely worth it! we even ate dinner on the patio tonight, wearing only a light sweater.

take my hand

this should have been posted last night, but surprise, surprise, i got distracted and never finished...

mr shawn mcdonald lead worship at harvest tonight. harvest is a really large church down the street that has six services and its own bookstore. it is not exactly the church i attend regularly, but i was definately in a pew tonight. he ended with the song "take my hand," which is one of my personal favorites. love his voice and the cello.

though he was pretty good, this was not even the highlight of my weekend. the soon to be mrs. naomi few out for a short visit. it was not really planned, and neither were many of the other things that we did, but it was fabulous to spend time with her, chat over coffee and just have her experience this second life that i live. she left at an ungodly hour this morning (i was awake to see that it is actually light outside and 5:40 in the morning!) it was so worth it though. i love her bunches!

hope everyone is enjoying the snow in utah; appreciate it for me please

when she smiles...

erika truly is a great friend when she smiles... usually we both are grinning, as we make each other laugh until, say, i spit water out all over my desk (hey, its been known to happen).
however, i just got a stern talking to about how she is not too pleased with the fact that the same post has been up for days. she definately wasnt smiling. it probably would not have made her any more pleased had i asked her if i could take a picture of her face to show you all, but no fear! i have many pictures of her serious face. she does it all the time when i try to take a nice, smily, sunday afternoon picnic in the park sort of picture. i smile and she just looks terribly annoyed that i would even consider capturing the moment.
prime example of what i just encountered...

the cooks...

last night kinsley, janelle, and i made dinner for a bunch of friends. we all have different friends, so it was kind of a random mix of people, but it was fun, delicious, and super hot between the stove, oven, and apt. full of like 20 people.
the menu: 7 layer dip, salsa and cream cheese with chips, homemade enchiladas and tacos, with cookies and ice cream to top it off.
everything went smoothly for the most part, till we started getting a little lazy at the end. kins and i kept dropping things on the ground and counter... okay mostly i kept dropping things... but the winner had to have been when i got impatient with a bag of cake mix that would not open. i pulled a bit too hard and it went all over. but you know what? what can you do? take a picture and move on is what i say...
so here is the evidence











kins and me, a bit rosy after slaving in the kitchen, he he














tot (also know as lauren) giving me a little love







i would like to mention that we did miss a few members of apt 9 who were not able to make it (eh hem, robin, ash and ruth) but a lot of food, lot of people, lot of music, and a little dance party were some pretty nice ways to fill the evening.

panic buddies

should i panic while overseas, these are the people that will have to deal with me...
we are all very different, but it has been extremely fun getting to know one another (as most of us were introduced for the first time when we found out we would be living together for three weeks). from left to right: erika, ben, alisha, me, john, christie, and brett.

the nerves

did you know that if you hold a scorpion in your hand it can't sting you? well excuse my language, but how the hell would i get one in my hand in order to protect myself from getting stung?

this is the question i was asking myself on saturday, as i was sitting in a room trying to keep my eyes open. the man speaking made that a bit easier when he passed out a sheet of health risks that we might face when in Africa. like i said, the weekend was fabulous, and while i was definately reminded how unworthy and unnecessary i am for the Lord's ministry, i was also blessed to see that he is still choosing to use and humble me. the weekend was not making me scared, it was just making me more realistic about how tiring and challenging living in Rwanda for three weeks could be. its just three weeks though right? well thats what i thought until a man who has lived in Africa before came and handed out that stupid sheet. the nerves started kicking in, and i realized that for basically the month of May i will be covered in deet and sunscreen at all times while wearing some attractive skirts and tennis shoes. okay, not so bad i guess, but let me also clue you in on a few of the possible aspects of the culture that could be more uncomfortable:

- the aids rate is very high in Rwanda. Avoid contact with all body fluids.

- hepatitis can infect from dry, cold blood.

- mosquito nets must stay tucked under your mattress at all locations, no holes!

- mosquitos can give you Dengue Fever.

- Jiggers live in the dust on the ground and on the floor.

- fly bites can leave you with a worm growing under your skin.

- crushing insects may leave you with nasty burns. (apparently second degree burns are possible due to the poison that is in the bugs)

- get in the habit of emptying your shoes before you slide your feet into them. (this is about the time that he started talking about scorpions, and about that same time poor Christie had to deal with my panic face and faster breathing)

- this one is a kicker... millipedes, centipedes and caterpillars often have toxic poison in their feet and hair, you can see where they walked on you and you will itch where touched... apparently they crawl into clothes etc and then, naturally, have to crawl on you to get out if you put the clothes on...

- learn how to take a bath in a bucket of hot water

- and just in case we didnt know, we must leave snakes and spiders alone.

this is not even the entire list folks! umm, excuse me, how are people in other countries still even living?
i just have to keep reminding myself (and mom please start doing this as well, as im sure you have the symptoms for panic face and heavy breathing as well right now)

these are possibilities but the probabilities are another issue.

back from Ispland

so the font that i have but cant change makes my title look like it should read "lisp-land" but really it is "isp"-land...

We had a big training weekend for our International Service Project trip (ISP). We couldn't bring cell phones, we had to basically be able to carry what we packed, and when we arrived at our meeting point on friday evening, we were walking into the unknown. after all, how many of you have been to ispland? yeah, we went in blind.

ok maybe blind is not appropriate, but mute is. our first instructions were to go to the James building on campus, but we were told that we were no longer able to verbally communicate with our team. we had to go through customs etc, but total it took us 2 hours to get to the fourth floor, as we kept getting stopped or seperate or taken to rooms and interrogated etc. though it was extreme, they were trying to show us some of the things that could happen to us while traveling.
once on the fourth floor, we put our stuff on the floor. these were our sleeping quarters. the word sleep is being used loosely, as the only thing that seperated my hip bones from the cement base was a thin layer of hard, ugly, carpet and my sleeping bag. the first night was worse than the second because by saturday night i was dead tired.

and believe me, tired is also used losely becasue i was drained emotionally, physically, and mentally by sunday. i didnt think it would be bad at all, but we were definately challenged in alot of ways.

we did a ton of things but ill just brief you on a couple of them. we had to barter for food, we visited a nursing home that had people who were just old and could not walk, along with people who could do nothing but lay in bed with their mouths open and move their eyes back and forth. we watched movies about Rwanda, we ate food that i had never tried before, we prayer walked, we had underground churches, and we learned alot about the Islamic religion and culture (learned about and simiulated, which was alot more intense than i can even describe).

overall it was really humbling. that is the best word for it all. each session or activity taught me different things, but i think that was the feeling that made me a bit teary during our last meeting together as Kristen gave us time to pray. i had many more emotions and thoughts that i can share later, but most of them are not that important in the grand scheme of things.

sorry that this is just alot of general descriptions and alot of words, combined with absolutely no visual aids, but we were banned from having anything with an "on" switch, which unfortunately meant the camera was out...

the vest

i went shopping today and saw a full rack of these vests. okay, i wore a vest like that about 12 years ago. im not sure it was cool then, and i dont think it should be now. uhhh. why? why are they trying to bring those back. the rack was full for a reason; no one really wants to wear that sort of vest. Rumor has it that Abercrombie is bringing back the vest as well. o brother

rebellion

everyone has to do it once in a while. i gave in to trendiness.
last week i made the call that most parents probably dread but semi-expect to get when their daughter moves away to college.
"mom, can i get a tatoo?"
okay, i didnt ask that question, but i did ask about a piercing.
i would just like all of you to know, that it was well thought through, as i am still the same old practical, analytical julie. if you are strongly opposed, you can call me and i will give you my list of reasons.
it doesnt show up that noticeably in pictures with this sort of light anyway












--do i like it: yes

--did it hurt: it pinched when the needle went through, but other than that, it was cake

--is it hard to blow my nose now that i am conveniently sick: not a hard as i thought it would be

i cant believe i spent time on this, i love you girls

Four jobs I've had:
1- DCA
2- Barlow
3- Modern Language & Lit Dept
4- Political Science & Criminal Justice Dept

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1- Return to Me (i do watch over and over...)
2- The Wedding Planner
3- Entrapment
4- Italian Job

Four places I've lived:
1- Navajo Dr.
2- Waco Dr.
3- Magnolia Ave.
4- ... to be announced

Four TV shows that I love:
1- Alias
2- Law & Order
3- ummm, ER for lack of a better answer
4- Gauntlet, monday nights with the girls, 231 B

Four places I've vacationed:
1- Washington DC
2- Washington State
3- Paris, France
4- Barcelona, Spain

Four of my favorite dishes:
1- Chicken from the grill with rice
2- Mole
3- Barbecue Chicken Pizza
4- Salmon Sandwhich, no tomatoes

Four sites I visit daily:
1- BBC
2- for the sake of space, mels blog, and elsewhere
3- kimmysun's blog
4- www.calbaptist.edu

Four places I would rather be right now:
1- at the beach
2- sleeping in my bed in Utah
3- getting a massage
4- snowboarding at Basin

Four people who must now do this survey:
1-i wont make any of you do this
2-half of you reading this
3-have already
4-done it anyway

Big Bear

Big Bear is a little town that is up in the San Bernardino mountains, along the lines of Eden/ Liberty area. it takes about 1 hr and 45 min to get there if you go in the afternoon and about 1 hr to get back at night. i have heard alot about it cause everyone has told me how quaint and cold it is up there...

yesterday morning i walked outside to go for my morning jog and i saw my friend Brooke, who decided to join me (she actually already had run, but since she trained for a stinking half marathon, she is in good enough shape to tag along with me as well). The mountains looked so beautiful cause it snowed this weekend (not in the city though, of course) and she just said, well what are you doing this afternoon-- lets go!
so i left a class early, so i could go to work early, so i could get off early and so we drove to the mountains! we just walked down the main street, went to dinner and drove home, but it was so fun! Brooke is amazing so it was nice just to really hang out for a while and talk. Plus, i got to see snow, get some use out of the beanie i brought back to school, and best of all, i got to see the stars. They were seriously fabulous. There were no street lights or anything, and there was no smog! i usually can count the number of stars i can see in the sky (no joke), so the blanket of stars and the 30 degree air just took my breath away. it was a pretty great way to spend a Tuesday night if you ask me.

fun dips

you know that candy that you had when you were little and it is basically pure sugar. it turns your mouth colors and gives you a bit of energy.
well a friend on my hall had a bunch of valentines fun dips, so we all started eating them around midnight on monday. im not sure what really happened in between eating the sugar and busting out the sharpies, but shannon, krista, courney and i ended up giving each other tatoos. we started with some very tasteful ones on the ankles, but eventually things got a bit out of control and we ended up signing the bottoms of one anothers feet. there is really no way to explain all that and make the situation sound normal or sane. but we had quite a few laughs ( mostly because we are all pretty ticklish!)

the road to recovery

as you all know, i am recovering from a black eye. i guess i would not really call it black anymore though. now it looks like someone with a really big mouth just kissed me on the eye because it is only a little maroon below my eye and on the lid.

a kiss sounds nice, but i did not look "kissed" at all last week. i looked more on the battered side. saturday, you saw, and i was snowboarding so most people just thought i had done some crazy trick and wasnt so lucky with the landing (however, there is still respect for trying).

sunday it looked like this...



i tried makeup that day, but it hurt to put on, and i ended up crying it all away. i would walk outside and have to squint or wind would blow and my eye would water.
i kind of banked on the fact that it looked like a birth mark, so people didnt really ask questions at church.



monday was a different story though. i opted for no makeup cause it hurt to put on, i dont like the feeling of makeup, and it all would come off anyway.



i got alot of questions that day, but the thing that was worse than being asked "what happened" over and over again and having to tell people that i was playing catch and didnt catch it, was the fact that i had counseling that night. yes i have counseling every monday night. im supposed to go for a class i have. i got the most blatant stares the second i walked in the place. i wanted to wear a sign around my neck that said "ill break up with him tomorrow."



here are the pictures of tuesday, and you can see that i still definately had a black eye (i thought it would have been healing a bit better by then). my cheek was the part of my face that actually got hit with the ball, which is made more evident by that lovely yellow tint. i think the blood in the eye has a nice effect also.






















finally, on wednesday i was able to use makeup. and things have just gone uphill from there.



you know what, it wasnt so bad. my face hurt, would be really swollen in the mornings, and i got stared at alot, but i totally got used to the fact that the left side of my face looked a little droopy. but really, its kind of fun and now i have a good story and pictures