73 days and dwindling...

I can't believe we're already half way through June and I can count the number of sunny days of summer on one hand! I guess I'll have plenty of sunny, hot, humid, sweaty days to come in Nicaragua...speaking of which, I leave in 73 days. I was just thinking about how I contemplated Peace Corps service 2 years ago and the days until I depart are closing in quickly. I started this process back in the summer of 2008 and began my application in the fall as I began my senior year at Western Oregon. I was getting my Bachelor's in Elementary Education and I knew that I wanted to teach, but I also wanted to travel. However, I knew that if I went off and traveled, or went into the Peace Corps for a couple years, I would not want to go back to school to get my Masters. This was inevitable though, because I would need to get my Masters to retain my teaching license. There were so many thoughts flying through my head...should I go straight to graduate school, get my Masters, and then get a teaching job? Should I look for a job and try to go to graduate school while I'm teaching? Should I try subbing for a year or two while I look for a full-time teaching job? Should I travel--oh wait, I don't have any money for that! Ha! *Enter Peace Corps*


I read stories about Peace Corps service and looked into the programs that they had, what I could possibly do in another country, where I might be able to live... Then I saw that Peace Corps has a Masters International program, where anyone can do graduate study while serving in the Peace Corps. Hmmmm....well, then the next thought was, which Masters program do I want to do? I looked into Education, but I desired to do something a little more than what my Bachelor's degree provided. I was already interested in ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) and was hopeful to work with English learners in the future, so this seemed like a good fit.


Now, what school shall I choose??? It's all about location, right? Well, I saw schools with TESOL programs in New York, DC, California, Colorado, so many places except Oregon. Even though I love Oregon, I decided that it was time to stretch my wings and try something new. I considered a school in Colorado when my friends were thinking about moving there, but that didn't happen. Then I was looking at DC and California...hello, have you seen the price tags on housing there? Yeah, right! So I figured that if I was going to have to pay for graduate school tuition (taking out loans that will be with my for the next, let's say 20 years or so) I could not afford to pay for housing in downtown DC or upscale neighborhoods of southern California, nor did I want to for that matter. The search continued for awhile, and THEN, I saw a new program open in Spokane, WA at Gonzaga University. I remember hearing of this university before with all the basketball hype, but didn't know much. Then, I realized that I had actually been to Spokane for a Christmas conference with Campus Crusade 3 years prior. Small world, I tell ya.


I requested information from Gonzaga and got the ball rollin' with the application process. I had a phone interview with my Peace Corps recruiter and emailed back and forth with the program director at Gonzaga, and by February, 2009, I was nominated for Peace Corps service and accepted in the Masters in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) program at Gonzaga. The only thing left to do was graduate from Western.


In the summer between schools, I really started looking into places that I could possibly go with the Masters in TESOL program. The options are vast, but I was desiring a Spanish-speaking country because of the population of students I have worked with in the past, and the ones I want to work with in the future, but also because the passion I have for the language. I started praying about countries that I might be sent to and for the people whom I would serve. As I browsed the list of countries where Peace Corps volunteers serve, my heart was pulled to Nicaragua. I wasn't sure why then, but I felt a nudge to pray for this country and the possibility to serve there. I printed out a map of Nicaragua, and made a prayer list: Pray for the country's needs, employment, education (English), families, leaders, current Peace Corps volunteers serving there, and then also to pray that if I would be selected to go there, that God would prepare that place for me and give me the skills I would need to serve the people there. This seemed strange to some, but my faith became stronger.


My parents drove with me up to Spokane in the end of August 2009 and I really enjoyed the heat that summer (hint hint). I started classes in a new place with entirely new people and everything was exciting and intimidating all at once. I quickly made friends and endured coursework that turned out to be enjoyable and very interesting. I knew within the first week that this was the place I was meant to be for graduate school. In this crazy thing called life, God really does have a plan for us.


Well, I made it through my first semester, then Christmas break, and on into the next year. My plan for departure was September 1, 2010, meaning that this was availability date to enter the Peace Corps (anytime after this). As I was in the middle of spring semester and sitting in the airport waiting to fly out to Denver to visit my best friend Laura, I received an email...it was from my placement coordinator, whom I had never met, stating that she saw that my availability date was September 1st and my preference was to be in a Spanish-speaking country. She had a project that she thought I would fit, but it would be leaving in August. If I was available then, I needed to let her know, otherwise, the only programs of this sort wouldn't be leaving until 2011. Sitting in the airport, I began shaking with joy, my eyes teared up, and began typing as quickly as I could to tell her that I would definitely be available in August. I was so nervous and excited to get her reply.


I did not receive a reply from her, but I did receive an email from the Peace Corps website telling me that my online toolkit (my files) had been updated. As soon as I got to a computer I found out that my invitation kit was in the mail. Sadly, this was being sent to my "current address" in Spokane, while I was going to be in Denver for 5 days, then Oregon for 5 days, before returning to Spokane. Really? This timing could not have been worse... I was going CRAZY! Ask my friend Laura :) I emailed my placement coordinator only to hear that she is not able to "divulge" the information to me and I would have to wait for my packet in the mail. Well, there's two things you have to know about me, sometimes I'm not the most patient person in the world, and I also eagerly await packages in the mail when I know they're coming, so this was so difficult for me. Oh, also, I love to know things and plan things out, so realizing that the package containing the information about my two years of life in another country was floating off to Washington leaving me far behind, was devastating. Ok, not that horrible.


Things do work out for those who wait, right? Well, my dad ended up having to go to Spokane for work and was able to stop by my place and pick up my mail, which came the day before he got there. He arrived in Oregon a day after I did and I attacked him at his car when he pulled into the driveway. I ran to a room to be alone and opened the package. "Your Assignment....Country: Nicaragua...Job Title: TEFL Teacher & Trainer...Orientation Dates: August 31, 2010...Pre-Service Training in Nicaragua: September 1-29, 2010...Service Dates: September 30, 2010-October, 2012" Ahhh! I was so excited, but felt so at peace because I had been praying for this country for over a year I knew that God had put Nicaragua on my heart for a reason. After all of the emotions and finally telling my parents, calling my brother, and some friends, I read through all the paperwork as quickly as possible and emailed Peace Corps to accept the invitation to serve.


My excitement grew as I returned to Spokane and got to share the news with my classmates and professors. I was relieved because I wouldn't have to sigh or blush when asked "So, where will you be going in the Peace Corps?" because I actually knew the answer. Phew! I continued on with classes and the Friday before yesterday, I gave a presentation on PCMI Nicaragua for our First Friday Forum here at Gonzaga. It got me excited all over again to prepare for my service.

 Presentation day

That brings us to now. I am sitting at my desk, glancing up at the map of Nicaragua tacked to my wall with the date 8/5/2009 on it. I can't believe that I will be leaving so soon, but I am really looking forward to what is in store for me. I am looking forward to sharing my experience with everyone and hopefully some inspiration too :)

Idaho trip!

Well I was texting my dad last night asking him a cooking question and he wrote "Oh, I forgot to tell you I'm in Idaho for work". Um, what?! Apparently he was in Seattle, then drove with his rep through Washington to Moscow, ID stopping at garden centers here and there. He was having a meeting this morning and then going to head back to Seattle before flying home to Oregon. So, I looked up directions to Moscow and found out that I could drive there in about an hour and forty-five minutes or so and I haven't seen my dad in a month so I thought this would be a fun trip. There's a small catch though--his meeting was scheduled for 9:30-10am, then he would be leaving around noon for Seattle. Ok, well then this meant that I would need to leave around 8am and I'm not a morning a person :( I decided to go for it anyway because I do love my dad :) So, this morning I got up around 7am, ugh!, then ate breakfast, got gas, and headed out for Moscow.





I got to Moscow in record time and actually beat my dad to the meeting. He asked if I was speeding and I said, "I just drove like my dad does" haha Anyway, I meandered around the store checking out all the hot new gardening tools...um, yeah. Fortunately, the meeting was very fast so I talked to my dad while he organized some shelves of his products in the store. We then met up with his rep and went out to lunch at an Italian restaurant. Well, at first we thought we were out of luck because the doors were locked. Apparently nobody eats lunch at 10:45am... They let us in anyway and the waiter came quickly to take drink orders as he was still putting on his name-tag.

It was so nice spending time with my dad and sharing a meal. I know my mom was a little (hmmm, maybe more than a little) jealous of me spending time with my dad without her, but I did just spend a whole weekend with her a few weeks ago, so I think that made up for it. Anyway, we had lunch and then sat around for a little while chatting before they had to get back on the road. This trip was pretty crazy, getting up way early (yes 7am is way early for me), driving an hour and a half to Moscow, then spending about an hour and a half with my dad, then driving an hour and a half back to Spokane. Even though the drive time was long and then shared time was short, it was well worth it. What I realized from this is that we never know how much time we have to see people or how much time we have here, so embrace life and take chances. Spend quality time with those you love any chance you get.

Weekend. What weekend?

Sooo, the holiday weekend went by too fast and now it's already the next weekend. I don't know how these days go by so quickly. It's just crazy! Well, to update you, my Memorial Day weekend was fairly boring until Monday when I had "brunch" with some friends. I went over to my friend Erin's house and she was making quiche and an apple tart, and then fruit, crackers with goat cheese and honey for hors d'oeuvres. Her husband Drew was there gardening and taking care of things around the house--what a great husband :) Then Piah came to join us and we dug into the delicious meal. Wow! That girl can cook ;)






Oh, and did I mention mimosas...





Yes, we let Drew join us for "girls' brunch" :)



After we were stuffed full, we decided that we would hang out in the basement/den/movie room and watch Sex and the City. Drew made us popcorn on the stove, again what a great husband Erin has :) We ended up watching Sex and the City for a couple hours and just hanging out. This was so fun and much needed! Erin & Drew's friends came over to hang out for awhile and invited us to dinner at their place, so of course we accepted. After hours of lounging, we crawled out of the dark den and returned to the daylight. Erica made us breakfast quiche and blueberry pancakes. So, we had breakfast for breakfast, breakfast for lunch (or brunch), and breakfast for dinner. I felt like the whole day was morning because we were crawling around and so lazy haha I did work out before brunch though, so I felt like I accomplished something for the day :)

Spanglish

Today was so nice and relaxing. I slept in and didn't pay attention to the alarm clock. I finally got up and stayed in my pj's for a couple more hours. I organized things in my room (yes, still some of Haidy's leftovers) and my new roommate was moving some of her things in. I really enjoyed welcoming her although it seemed like such a quick turnover from Haidy leaving. This roommate is Stephanie from Taiwan. I knew her before because she is in the same program as me at Gonzaga and she's friends with the girls upstairs. She is very sweet and I think we will get along well.

While hanging out in my room doing pretty much nothing (well I was working on a powerpoint for my program), my friend emailed me to ask what I was doing today. I had been telling him I was so busy and couldn't hang out for almost the past two weeks as I was swamped being Haidy's personal assistant, so I felt relieved to say I was doing NOTHING :) It was a little chilly to play tennis and I rain clouds were looming above, so we decided to go to Starbucks for a cafe. By the way, this friend of mine is from Mexico and he talks to me primarily in Spanish. It's definitely good practice for me. He is a seminary student at Gonzaga and he just graduated from our English Language Center (where I tutor).

Anyway, we went to Starbucks and sat and talked in Spanish for about an hour and half. It was so fun because I've always been so jealous of people in public places having conversations in languages that I couldn't understand, and now that was me! hahaha We had a good time. During our conversation, food came up and we started talking about favorite Mexican foods. I love tortas and I remembered that Isaac told me that he would make me a torta sometime. Well, as it was close to dinnertime, I suggested that he make one for me tonight. Yes, I can be a little direct haha So, we went to a Mexican grocery store and the butcher joked around with us in Spanish and we shopped for the ingredients to make our tortas. We came back to my house and started making tortas. Isaac took on the meat, while I cut up the onion (had to stop because I started crying haha) and then I cut the avocado and tomatoes. He cooked the meat and onions together and then I lightly toasted the bread in the oven, spread some mayonnaise on it, and then avocado. The meat was done so he put the meat and onions on the bread, then I put tomatoes and lettuce. Oh my gosh they were SOOOO delicious!!



We were of course full beyond belief and chatted for awhile, in Spanglish, because after talking in a second language for that long it can be very tiring!! Then I taught him a saying I like to live by: "No matter how full you are, there's always room for ice cream" :) So, we made some ice cream sundaes of course. We then parted ways because although it was a fun day, I was extremely tired! This was a good kind of tired. A tired that leaves you feeling happy and like you have accomplished a lot. After all of the crazy busy weeks I've had, this was a good kind of exhaustion. I'm really looking forward to making tortas again, so let me know if this blog made your mouth water :)

Craziness!

So I took Haidy to the airport yesterday (Thursday) morning and let me just tell you that day was a disaster! The night before Haidy decided she was going to stay up all night to finish going through the mountains of papers, clothes, books, etc. in her room & our living room. I stayed up until 5am with her & then had to get some sleep because I had to work & go to class that day so I needed to take care of myself. I slept for about 2 and 1/2 hours & then got up and realized that Haidy was far from ready to go. Two of our friends were coming by the house at 8:30am to put her bags in the car & take her to the airport. Well, in Haidy's time, we were of course late. We had to force her to get dressed and leave things behind in her room (for me to take care of later).

We got to the airport around 9:30am for her 10:30am international flight. We had called Lufthansa and Horizon before to check on baggage policies, etc. to make sure she would be able to take the most for her money. However, there was a big mis-communication. Horizon told us that they would honor any of Lufthansa's baggage policies (since she was flying from Spokane to Seattle on Horizon, then Lufthansa from Seattle to Germany, then to Egypt). Ok, that was fine; however, apparently Lufthansa changed their baggage policies in the last two days (not really--we were told the wrong information by TWO different ladies over the phone) so Haidy had to change her plans. We were told that she could bring 2 free bags, and then each additional bag would $150. If the bags were overweight or over-sized, it would be $50 for each of those conditions. The total weight could not exceed 218 pounds, meaning that we could pack on bag a little heavy & just pay $50 extra (much better than shipping through the mail). Well, apparently this was NOT correct. The Horizon lady (not very friendly) told us that only one bag was free, until we insisted that this was an international flight & Lufthansa told us 2 were free. THEN, she proceeded to tell us that each additional bag (after 2 free) would be $250! Then, the overweight bag would be $500!!! Ridiculous!

After weighing all of Haidy's bags, we found that they were ALL overweight :( We scrambled at the ticket counter, sorting through "necessities" in all four checked bags & two carry-ons. Ugh! We managed to talk Haidy out of several things because two of her friends would be taking suitcases for her in the fall to visit Egypt. Finally, we got all the bags down to 50.9 pounds (the maximum weight they allow--so strict!) and Haidy said goodbye and went to security at 10am, for her 10:30am flight. Yikes!! Did I forget to mention that it was pouring raining that morning? So, I trudged through the rain (no covered airport walkways here) with a trash bag (thanks to the airport janitor) of Haidy's belongings and drove home, rather stressed out and in dire need of sleep. On the way home all I could think about was my nice warm bed & how it was calling out to me to sleep.



I got home and realized how big of a MESS our house was even though Haidy had already left. I instinctively started cleaning, while in my head I was telling myself I needed to take a nap before having to go to work. While I was cleaning and contemplating sleep, our building manager came to check things out. She was going to shampoo the carpets that afternoon because another girl would be moving in this weekend...um, not happening! Fortunately, she is a merciful woman and she said she would come the next morning. This still left me worried because I had to work soon and then class until 7:30pm and still NO sleep :( I decided to power through and move all of Haidy's things out of her room and clean out her stuff in the bathroom. I managed to do this, but left a lot in the kitchen, my room, and the rest in the living room. I did throw SIX trash bags of donations into my car to take to my wonderful friend who works with immigrants and refugees in the area.

I went to work, then planned for a phonology clinic to work on pronunciation with some students, then class. Almost fell asleep and promised myself that I would go to bed right when I got home, after eating of course. This, however, did not quite happen. I got home, ate dinner, and then moved all of the stuff out of the kitchen and proceeded to go through Haidy's things, throwing stuff away, adding the the swelling donation pile, and recycling several bags of papers. I also tried to rearrange things in Haidy's two suitcases and add things she took out at the airport, but I had to remove a lot in order to make things fit and weigh under 50 pounds. This is difficult because they weren't my things to decide... Needless to say, the people we are donating to will be well dressed this year :) So, I finally went to bed around 11 something or close to midnight and slept until 10am. It felt truly wonderful to finally get some rest.

I got an email from Haidy's program director asking when he could pick up her car. Well, I hadn't had time to clean it out yet, so...I had to stall, but I quickly got all the trash out and made it look somewhat presentable. He came and got that (check one thing off the list for today). Then, I decided I better get to work to make sure that I got more things taken care of. Haidy had put together a box of books that she wanted me to ship to her. I got that all taped up and hauled it over to the post office. It weighed a whopping 27.3 pounds & was $120 to ship! Thankfully she had left me money for this. Then, I got home and sorted through more things. One of our friends came and picked up a couple of boxes of stuff Haidy left for her and a suitcase to take with her in the fall to Egypt. I then ran a couple other errands to take care of some things and now our living room is fairly clean. We have about 8 trash bags of donations for me to give to my friend, one suitcase for Haidy's friend to pick up someday, and a printer that another friend is coming to pick up.

I did finally get home and enjoyed a nice "skype dinner date" with my good friend from back home. Here's to a less-stressful weekend :)

Haidy, the Egyptian Princess

So my roommate (or housemate) Haidy, who is from Egypt, is leaving on Thursday to go back home after being in the states for 3 years. For the past 3 weeks or so I've been helping her get things together to leave, but now I'm starting to finally realize that she really is leaving. I'm sad to have to say goodbye because she is a really good friend and I'm not sure when I'll get to see her again. She has offered several times that I can visit her in Egypt, which I would absolutely LOVE to do after I get a paycheck ;)

The other night we seriously considered having me fly over to Egypt with her so I could take her extra suitcases (she has accumulated a large amount of things over the past 3 years)... I thought, well sure I could miss my classes for just one week and make a quick trip to Egypt to check it out, I mean she did offer to buy my plane ticket. After entering back into reality, we decided that wouldn't be the best decision, but we're going to check out some other shipping options for her luggage...cargo, media mail for her books, etc. Hope we can get everything figured out soon! Anyway, just wanted to write something about my special friend and how I'm going to really miss her. She has said that she really wants to go home and see her family, but is really sad to leave all of her friends, classmates, and students. This foreshadows what I assume I will feel after two years in Nicaragua. The bittersweet end to a beautiful journey.

Rest & Relaxation

Well, my "summer break" went by way too quickly and classes have already started again. I finished the spring semester the first week of this month and then relaxed a little, but felt more lazy than anything. I just really like having a schedule full of things to do, a plan for the day. Sometimes it is nice to decide what to do that day and just hang around the house, but I end up feeling like I haven't gotten much accomplished.

This past weekend I drove over to Washington Family Ranch (formerly Wildhorse Canyon) in central Oregon for the Women's Weekend retreat. I ended up going over there a day early to stay with my friend Sabrina, whom I had done summer staff with 3 years ago at the camp (we worked at the camp). Because I went early, I made the 6 hour trek by myself, but it was a good trip. I had a lot of time to listen to music and really think about life.

I had such a great time being back in the canyon seeing old faces and meeting new ones :) Sabrina (the marathon enthusiast) talked me into going for "just a 4 mile jog" before everyone came in for the weekend. Ugh! I could definitely feel those 2 weeks of not working out haha I pretty much dragged my body through that and barely made it back--I did pick up my pace as I passed by two unidentified snakes and the fear of a cougar jumping out of the tall grass near the road. Fortunately, I was fine and I headed back to camp. Then, my mom and some friends came to start the retreat. I had a wonderful time, but it also felt somewhat odd being at Wildhorse and only seeing women... It was certainly refreshing though. I felt comfortable being myself and enjoyed the time with my mom and her friends. We did the zip-line, big swing, walked around, sat on the little beach, had ice cream, went shopping, and other fun girl things.

I was sad that Sunday came so quickly, but I knew I had to leave the Wildhorse bubble sometime. My mom drove my car with me 2 hours of the trip before we parted way in the gorge and she went back to Keizer with her friends and I went back up to Spokane. After the long drive, I was glad to be back with my roommate Haidy. She's leaving soon and I'm really going to miss her. We've been having some fun shopping trips, getting her necessities to take back to Egypt with her since she won't be coming back (at least not for a long time). Also, as I mentioned, my summer classes have started so I've been busy with that and I have a cold :( I guess my "rest & relaxation" will just have to wait until August...