I'm famous!

Ok, not really, but there's an article about me going into the Peace Corps in the Spokesman Review (Spokane newspaper).  Check it out:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jul/30/gonzaga-grad-student-combines-studies-peace-corps-/

Done!

Today was our presentation day for the language camps.  It was so exciting to see all of the kids performing things that they learned over the past 3 weeks.  I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but our summer program is a big English camp funded by the public school district here.  Gonzaga hosts it and we had around 240 kids attending.  Most of the students are immigrants and refugees and many people in Spokane do not realize the diversity present in their own city.  It was amazing to see all the kids today and 27 languages represented. Wow! 

Now let me take a few minutes to brag about our Spanish camp kids... I'm so proud of our students (all 14 of them).  We had a great Spanish camp and enjoyed learning together.  Today our kids sang "De Colores", a traditional Spanish song that's loved by many.  We chose the Raffi version which brought back wonderful memories from my childhood :)  The kids did such a great job & my friend recorded it on my camera so I'm excited to watch it again!  This was the first year for a Spanish camp and Gonzaga and I hope it won't be the last.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to teach it next year, but I'm excited for someone else to continue the legacy haha

I also finished my summer class and we had a little graduation, certificates and all.  This has been quite a crazy day and it's only 3:30pm.  We had a mini TESL conference this morning and I got a call from a Peace Corps lady telling me that a Spokane newspaper reporter would be contacting me today for an interview and a photographer would be coming to the performance.  This was exciting, but crazy with everything else going on.  Then, I got an email from PC about staging, telling me the details about my hotel in DC & that I need to call to arrange a flight, etc. so that got me all excited.  Basically, I had a million things on my mind!  So the reporter called me and I thought she was coming to interview me, but instead did a phone interview--makes me so nervous!!  I think it went well though.  Then the photographer was there at our performance and he took lots of pictures and then we walked around on campus and took pictures around there too.  I felt like a celebrity of course haha no, not really!

Now, I'm taking a little time to relax before heading over for the teacher party at a brewery.  Then out to celebrate my birthday with friends.  I've been having so much fun these past weeks and I'm sad for it to end.  But, I'm looking forward to Oregon so much and finally getting some rest and relaxation before heading off to Nica.  I might treat myself to a massage as a birthday present...

Oregon, here I come!  (Well, I'll be there Sunday)

Getting closer!

I had a wonderful "going away" party at my friends' place (Erin & Drew).  They are a great couple & I love them for taking care of me :)  We had amazing food and so many people came to celebrate.  Because the theme was fiesta, we had plenty of sombreros to go around and of course a pinata.  No party of ours could be complete without karaoke, so did karaoke as well.  Gotta love it!  I have to say that I'm really going to miss these people!  At my party, we had a scrapbook table for people to make pages for me to take a small scrapbook to Nicaragua with me.  It turned out beautiful!  I love looking through the pages and it almost makes me cry--my friends are so sweet :)

Anyway, after all the enchiladas and tropical mojitos, it was back to class & teaching for me.  However, we only have 2 more official days of these so I am oh so excited to almost be DONE!!  I can't believe it went by sooo fast, but I'm really glad that it has because I'm anxiously awaiting my trip to Oregon.

I got an email today from Peace Corps staff with some updated packing info and reminding us of our approaching staging date (as if I had forgotten...I'm so excited I can't stop thinking about it haha) and I found out for sure that I'll be going to Washington DC!  Woo!  I'm so excited about that because I have never been there before :)  Of course I won't have time to walk around and see all the landmarks, but hopefully I'll at least get to see the White House.  Staging is only a day long, just to fill out paperwork, meet others, and possibly get some shots? Ouch!  I'm not sure if I'll be leaving early morning that day and arrive to DC in the later afternoon, or if they'll fly me in the night before??  I'm hoping the night before so I can scope out some things, but I'm not entirely sure what will happen.  They said we'll be receiving more info "in the near future"--any day now?  It's just a funny waiting game and if you know me, I don't really like to wait! haha  I'm learning to be more patient with these kinds of things...

The countdown for Oregon is now 5 days...I'll be there on Sunday!!

The countdown for Nicaragua is 36 days!  Oh my gosh I can't believe it!  Breathe in; breathe out...deep breaths.  !Ay caramba!  I'm getting so nervous/anxious/excited and so many other adjectives.  Part of my bounciness could be from the Moolatte I just drank in 5minutes, but I really am looking forward to so many things coming up soon!  Yay :)

See you Oregonians sooooooon!

P.S.  If you want to add something to my scrapbook and you won't be in Oregon this next month, you can send something to me via snail mail.  The pages in my scrapbook are 8" x 8" and many people included a picture of themselves with me, or a picture of just them, or one of their family.  This makes it more special so I can remember what everyone looks like haha  Anyway, you probably have my address, but if you don't, I can send it to you, but I don't want to post it on here so everyone in cyberspace can have access to it.  Just make sure to mail it by August 23rd to make sure I get it before I leave.

Pictures from the party:

 Erin is such a great friend & awesome party host!

Food!

Friends :)

BFFs ;)

Scrapbooking

Pinata!

Dancing sombreros :)

Bittersweet Memories...

This day always seemed so far away.  Today I'm having a "going away" party as I'll be leaving Spokane in exactly 7 days.  Don't know where all the time went, but the days were spent well.  I've been getting excited to celebrate my adventure with friends, but now that the time approaches, I want time to creep slower than it ever has.  It's going to be very hard to say goodbye to the friends that I've made here, but I know that I'll be back to see them again.  I have been planning to go into the Peace Corps for about two years now, but saying goodbye makes it so much more real.  There's been days here that I wish could have lasted forever, times where I was lonely, weeks where I anxiously waited for my departure date, celebrations where I smiled and laughed for hours.  These are bittersweet memories, knowing that I've been blessed to experience all these things, but sad to give them all up.  I look forward to what's in store for me in the future and I can't wait to be in Nicaragua, but I'm leaving pieces of my heart that are scattered throughout Washington, Oregon, Tennessee, Arizona, Colorado, and wherever else my family and friends are.

Nerves

So I was observed today for my Spanish class.  I always get a little nervous when I'm being observed, just because I'm always thinking about what I just did wrong or if I forgot something.  Also, I'm always hoping that my students will behave well and remember what I taught them so I don't look dumb haha.  Well, I don't know why we (or I) worry about it so much because after all, we're not prefect.  However, I think it's the thought that what the observers see one day does not necessarily portray what happens every day in class, good or bad.  Not many people really like being evaluated or critiqued, except Monica Geller.

Anyway, the class went well today and my students had a lot of fun making monstruos and counting their body parts--we're working on body parts and numbers right now.  My students even remembered to say everything that I had them memorize the day before to impress my teachers...no just kidding ;)  Really though, they did a good job and they're just beginning with Spanish so I'm just glad to hear them try out new phrases and vocabulary.  I'm proud of my students :)  The only thing I regret is not having a tape recorder to capture all the funny comments that my students make.  It would be hilarious to be a fly on the wall in our class.  I love what kids come up with.  Their imaginations are unbelievable. 

Starting Off Right

So Day 1 of Week 2 is complete (class and teaching-wise) and I feel much better than last week.  The weekend went by pretty quickly, but I got a lot done and still had time to relax, watch Friends, and get to bed early.  I wanted to take a better attitude with me into this week because last week I was so frustrated with all of the confusion and everything going on between our class and teaching.  I feel a lot better and I'm hoping my good attitude will continue through these next two weeks and spill into my classes. 

It's easy to get upset about things, but we also need to let things go.  Let them roll off our shoulders.  There's been quite a few times when some students in my Spanish class have got upset (cried, pouted, left the room) when they didn't get a sticker, or didn't win a game.  I try to console them and remind them that we will play more games for stickers, but this is just for fun and it doesn't matter if you "win" or "lose".  However, everyone takes things personally.  Adults usually don't show it as much through crying or pouting (although some do) but we just do it in another way...gossip, talking behind others' backs, etc.  It's silly if you really think about it, but we let our emotions get the best of us and it changes who we are.  I wish we could be more friendly toward each other.  I wish we could give up our pride and be real with each other.  Be kind. 

I love the song "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath, because I really wish that I could borrow God's eyes to see things the way He does.  I wish that not only could I see others the way He sees them, but also see myself the way He sees me.  If we could fully comprehend the love God has for us and see ourselves and others through His eyes, we wouldn't judge others or have to be self-conscious about beauty, weight, clothes, etc.  God's eyes don't look to those things; He sees our hearts. I want to look at people through God's eyes to see how beautiful this world could be.

I know it sounds silly, but the movie Shallow Hal kind of had something on this. The main character was hypnotize and saw beauty in people from their personalities, not their actual outward appearances. People who were kind, honest, and genuine would appear very attractive to him, whereas, people who were rude, untruthful, etc. were not physically attractive. It's interesting to think about this because so much of what people initially judge others by is outward appearance and physical attraction. But these fade when a person's character emerges. What is really important is our heart & our character, because these make up who we are.

I know I'm getting a little deep here, but it's good think about these things, especially if we are working or spending a good amount of time with other people in our lives.  Being a teacher, I want to be a model of good character and I want my students to feel value, not for their academic achievement, but for their effort and integrity.  Of course we do have to measure things by standards and grades, but every day, every person should be given an abundance of love and grace.  It's only fair :)

I Love Summer!

Summertime is really the best.  Although I do like schedules and managing my time, summer is so carefree and is a nice break from all the craziness...well, I'm still taking a class and teaching, but you know what I mean.

Favorite things about summer:
-sunshine
-barefeet!!!!
-sleeping in
-beautiful sunsets
-fresh-cut grass
-blue skies with wispy clouds
-shade from trees
-flowers in bloom
-playing outside and getting dirty
-the familiar tune of the ice cream man
-bbqs (or at least the smell of one from your neighbors)
-swimming outdoors
-camping
-hiking
-picnics
-badminton
-outdoor parties
-outside light until 9:30pm
-taking pictures 


The list could go on forever... I love summer :)

Spanish Camp Week 1

Well, we finished week 1 of our Spanish camp and I felt that it went really well.  We of course were exhausted, me especially because I have my own class to go to before. 

Here's a brief description of my crazy life: Wake up around 7:30am, get ready & eat breakfast.  Go to class (starts at 8:30am)...do class stuff...try not to fall asleep!  Get out of class at 11:45am/noon.  Run home to eat lunch & get materials together for Spanish camp.  Be at Spanish camp at 12:30pm to set up--we have to move the desks everyday because other classes use the rooms :(  Teach Spanish camp 1-3pm. Debrief with Sarah & clean up classroom.  Get home around 3:45pm and unload materials.  Eat, because I'm absolutely starving because my energy has been drained!  Look through Spanish stuff and set out things for tomorrow.  Look through class binder, do homework (reading, definitions...).  Turn on computer for the first time of the day around 6pm.  Check emails...perhaps Facebook too ;)  Eat dinner. More homework & prepare for next day.  Exhaustion sets in.  Eyelids begin to close, then bounce open again.  Pick out clothes for tomorrow (this way I don't have to wake up earlier haha).  Go to bed around 10:30pm.  I hate going to bed early :(  Try to fall asleep. Wake up and do it all over again................

On Friday Sarah and I planned week 2.  A girl in my morning class will be "guest teaching" a lesson in our class on Tuesday for her degree requirements, so that will be fun to see what she brings to the class.  We are looking forward to continuing on with new things, while still reviewing what we already taught.  Our students are catching on to concepts, but we don't want to overwhelm them with too much at once.  Since our goal is not to make these kids fluent Spanish speakers in 3 weeks, we're not too worried :)  We just want them to have fun, learn some Spanish, and hopefully pique their interest so they might pursue studying Spanish or another language later. 

After I got home from planning, I spent a couple hours trying to find a song for this music assignment we have for class.  The assignment is kind of broad, and I love music so I have TONS of songs, but trying to find one that would be good to use in a classroom to teach something (anything and everything) was difficult.  I'm the kind of person who likes things to be more specific...otherwise I will be my perfectionist self and try to find the perfect song with the perfect lesson. haha Ok, I'm not that uptight ;) 

Fortunately, my friends disrupted my search and came over to watch FRIENDS.  We ate cookies and filled the living room with laughs.  That was a much better way to end my Friday night and begin the weekend.

50 DAYS!!

Just wanted to update you on the countdown...

Yes, that's right!  Only 50 days until I'm in Nicaragua.  ¡Ay caramba!

Dust Storm Blows through Spokane

It has been really nice in Spokane this past week and it hasn't rained in awhile.  However, because it hasn't rained, the dust was ready for an adventure.  It was sooo windy today, and I haven't seen many windstorms like the ones in Spokane.  (Maybe I haven't traveled that much, but that's beside the point)  Well, it was windy * dusty!  I could taste dust in my mouth and feel it in my eyes...ugh!  Just to show you a little glimpse of how dusty is was, here are some pictures.  The first one is in the midst of the dust storm--notice the gray "sky"behind the red building...

Well, here is what the dust was hiding...

Yes, the whole south hill of Spokane... It's still a little hazy in this picture, but I thought it was crazy how thick the dust was.

I had the "opportunity" of walking through this while carrying a large easel notepad...not very fun when it's windy.  The thing is awkward enough to carry on any regular day, but when it's windy, the papers fly everywhere, it's flat so the wind pushes against me even harder (imagine walking in the wind with a large piece of cardboard & trying to keep it in your hands and straight), and it almost flew away.  I bet I was funny to watch :)


Well, speaking of the awkward easel notepad...Sarah (my teacher partner) and I taught our first day of Spanish camp today!  We had a total of 14 students and that was such a blessing!  I'm so glad we had so many students, and not too many more, because 14 was enough :)  It was kind of a slow day because it was the first day with introductions, rules, etc. but we tried to make it fun.  We have some rambunctious 6 year old twin boys that like to talk!  It's quite a variety of ages in there, but we are optimistic about the rest of the camp.  We have some sweet kids in there and I'm excited to keep going!

Spanish Camp

For those of you who didn't know, I'll be teaching a Spanish language camp at Gonzaga starting Monday with one of my fellow classmates.  We will be working with elementary age students and we have 10 students registered, but possibly two more might sign up.  I am so excited because we've been planning this for quite some time now.  Yesterday, Sarah (my co-teacher) and I spent over 5 straight hours collecting materials and planning Week 1 for our camp.  It's exciting now that we're so close and I'm looking forward to meeting our students.  After what has been a pretty rough and frustrating time thinking we might have to cancel the camp due to low enrollment, we finally got more kids signed up.  Please pray for us!  Check in for details on how things go...

Oregon, Sweet, Oregon

So I went home to Oregon for a short break in between classes and it was nice being back there, especially with it being summertime :)  The flowers were blooming and the sun was shining.  I love Oregon summers!! 

Before I get into the details, I have to tell you a crazy story about the actual drive to Oregon.  So, I was about at the half way point--I had just filled up with gas in Biggs and was continuing through the Gorge--and I see billows of smoke up ahead and tapping brake lights in front of me.  Hmm... Everyone came to a stop ahead of me and the oncoming traffic stopped as well.  We were clearly not going anywhere for quite some time so I got out of my car, along with many other people, to see what was going on.  Here's what I saw:

Um, what?!  Even though there was a median, they stopped oncoming traffic because there was so much black smoke and large flames.  I still had no idea what was going on though.  It looked like there might be a large truck involved, but I wasn't sure.  I waited there for about 30 minutes while they got the fire under control. This shows some of the flames.

After waiting, and then watching the oncoming traffic pass by, along with people videotaping us from their camera phones to show how far the traffic was backed up on our side, we finally got to slowly drive past the wreckage and see what held us up for so long.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened because there was only one vehicle involved, but apparently this truck was pulling a long trailer (flatbed) which contained something explosive because the entire thing was charred.  I just hope that whoever was in the truck was able to get out before the explosion took place.  This was quite an eventful drive home.  It was a clear day, so I had a nice view of Mt. Hood.

While I was home, I spent a lot of time lounging around the house and then started feeling kind of lazy, but a good kind of lazy, if one does exist.  It was nice to not have plans and just be.  It was fun playing with our dog Stevie and spending time with my parents--catching up on their favorite shows.  There is always something on TV to watch when I go home because here in Spokane, we only have about 20 random channels, and most of them are public broadcasting.  I do every once in awhile catch Cash Cab, which is pretty funny.  Anyway, TV really isn't that important, as I have definitely realized while being in Spokane and not turning on the TV in weeks.  It's actually refreshing.  There are some fun shows, but it's not absolutely necessary to watch them.

I was actually productive when I was home, and completed about half of a Young Life t-shirt quilt that I've been working on.  I did not realize how difficult this one would be!  I made a quilt for my mom about 2 years ago, which I have to say was quite good, especially that I hadn't made a quilt before.  However, this t-shirt quilt is much more difficult for a couple reasons.  First, t-shirts stretch WAY more than regular fabric.  I have used this material as backing to help fix this, but they still stretch.  Second, the pieces are all random sizes that I have put together in a crazy design, meaning, there are straight lines, but very few.  Third, because t-shirts are stretchy, when sewing them, they often turn out weird, and not very straight, and then sometimes don't fit together with the other pieces :(  Last, I'm a perfectionist and so I've taken out A LOT of stitches and re-sewed a good amount of pieces together to make it look better.  Along these lines though, I heard from my sewing teacher a few years back that quilts are not supposed to be perfect.  The Amish would actually mess up their quilts on purpose (usually a small part) because only God is perfect.  I thought this was interesting, and it actually encouraged me when I made small (or big) mistakes with my quilt (or in life).  Here is a picture of my quilt before I started sewing, so the pieces are just laid out.  It's a collection of my Young Life t-shirts, some of my brother's, and some from friends.

One of my friends, who lives in Tennessee now with her husband, was in town and invited me to play Bingo in Salem.  Well, I of course said yes haha  My mom found her old Bingo daubers and we met Kristin and Holly at the Bingo Hall.  It was hilarious!  We had a fun time and I felt so nervous listening to them call the numbers and trying to mark the numbers on all 12 of my Bingo cards.  It was a little crazy, but Holly won $130 and we all had a good time.   The funniest part about Bingo was that everyone is silent during the game and I couldn't help but snicker and make comments the whole time.  My mom kept telling me that the people were going to come tell me to be quiet, but I guess we weren't too loud.  Apparently my mom and her friends have been shushed a couple times when they played Bingo at the casino years ago.

Besides quilting, watching TV, and playing Bingo (wow, do I feel old haha), I got to visit with friends and go fishing with my parents.  This was a fun trip, except that we had to get up so early.  If you know me well, you know that I am NOT a morning person...at all!  Well, getting up at 5am was not exactly what I was expecting when my parents asked if I wanted to go fishing, but I made it.  I slept the entire 2 hours there and 2 hours back.  We got there around 8am and we were the only ones on the lake. Well, I would say, duh, because who else would get up that early, but I guess people do get up before 8am and actually accomplish quite a lot in those hours before I wake up :)  Anyway, we had a great time and I caught the first fish, just had to put that out there.

We all ended up limiting out, which means 5 fish each--it used to be 10 some years back.  It was fun spending time with my parents (and of course our dog).

Dad and me...I was trying to be taller than him, and he didn't want that to happen :)

Here's Stevie checking out a duck.  Fortunately for the duck, he's not a water-dog.  I think the duck was taunting him though. 

Needless to say, we had a great time fishing, and ended up making it home before noon.  Wow, I didn't realize how much could be accomplished in the morning :)

The next mini-trip while in Oregon was to Eugene to visit my friend Lindsey who is working down there, and my friend Kimmie is working at Camp Harlow.  On the way there, I saw a gorgeous rainbow!  There were actually several cars parked on the side of the freeway taking pictures, and I kind of regret not pulling over too. 

The colors were so bright!  And, it turned into a full rainbow.  (there was a reflection from the car window)

I finally got to Eugene and my good friend Lindsey had some plans for us that night.  We went to Sweet Life and got some desserts to go and then went to David Minor's which is a little theater & pub.  We ended up watching the Goonies, a classic :)  It was a very fun night and I was glad to see my friend!  In the morning we went to The Vintage for brunch, and had mimosas--Lindsey hadn't had one before.

We walked around near campus (U of O...not my fav, because of course I'm an OSU fan--go BEAVS!) and then met up with Kimmie.  We browsed some thrift stores, had a light lunch, and got bubbletea :)  I didn't get to stay as long as I would have liked, but it was so fun seeing my friends. 

On the way back to Keizer, I stopped at my grandparents and we talked for an hour.  It was really nice.  I remember going to my grandparents (or any relatives' houses) when I was younger and not having much conversation, mainly listening to the adults talk.  It's great to be able to talk with my grandparents and share our lives.  I felt so grown up haha 

The fourth of July was pretty uneventful.  We didn't buy any fireworks, as we haven't for a couple years now.  I did spend some time with just my parents, which was great.  As my departure date quickly approaches, I am cherishing these moments more and more.  We sat outside under the the vines and flowers and had a small fire to make s'mores and then we watched our neighbors' fireworks.

The last night I was in town, I took Kristin over to my friends', James and Annaleah, house.  I used to lead in our church high school youth group with them, along with Chad & Jessica Harvey, who joined us, along with Melissa Kramer (who has come to our girls' nights at Annaleah's) & her boyfriend.  We relaxed, enjoyed each other's company, and spent another night by the fire. 

The next morning was kind of sad and I didn't really want to leave.  Maybe it was because the sad eyes our dog gave me after I had to tell him to get out of my car (he jumped inside when I wasn't looking).  But, maybe it was something more.  I had to tell my friend Kristin goodbye for 2 1/2 years.  I won't see her before I leave for Nicaragua and I suddenly started to realize that saying goodbye to family and friends for 2 1/2 years might be harder than I thought. I usually don't get emotional telling people goodbye because I know that I'll see them soon. I didn't get emotional talking to Kristin, but it hit me the next day. Two and a half years is a long time!  I know everyone says it will go by so fast, but I also know that there will be SLOW days, weeks, and even months. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to go to Nicaragua, but it definitely is going to be hard. This is where prayer and faith come in. I've been praying for Nicaragua for quite some time now and I have faith in God's plans for me there. I appreciate all of the prayers that have included my name & what I'll be doing in Nicaragua. I am thankful for all who have supported me so far. It is incredible to know that God has something so wonderful in store for me and He has blessed me with people in my life to intercede for me, to petition for safety and protection over me and my travels. These are things that add to my faith and encourage me in my journey. 

Thank you Lord for my trip to Oregon and thank you for your protection and guidance every step of the way.