Well, I have swine flu. That's fun. Its funny that I left the furor of H1N1 in Seattle only to find it alive and well up here... and then it got me pinned in the miserable pig pen of fever, chills, sore throat, headache and body aches. Hey, I'm just happy I don't have crap spewing out of either end, that was a possibility. (Yes, that was crude, sorry! But I just want my readers to be informed.) So, yesterday I woke up and felt gross. But, I powered through and went to work anyway. I was already shivering, though it was one of the warmest days we have had in a while (like 41-47), so I took my temp. 98.3. Oh sweet, I'm not only not sick, my temperature is extra low. I must be extra healthy! Not so, not so. I'm an idiot and probably made myself worse when I politely declined 3 (count 'em, THREE!) rides home after work. By then I knew I was sick but I am ridiculously stubborn and have made it a habit to pretty much always refuse rides home. Why? Good freaking question.
Let's just say I was cursing myself the entire walk home as my throat felt like it was corroding away and my backpack felt a million pounds. By the time I got home, I was a mess. I went straight upstairs and laid in bed for a few hours, trying to get warm. Then, I woke up and went downstairs... felt like more crap and so I went back to bed. I woke up one more time, popped some ibuprofen and drank some tea and soup and started feeling better. After a bit more time, I went to bed for the night, woke up in the morning, called my boss and went back to sleep.
Today has been one of the most boring days in the history of sick days. I can't function if I don't take some fever/pain meds but if I do take them... I get sooooo bored. I watched Little Women and Great Expectations, talked to my mom (I may have moved away... but I still need my mommy when I'm sick :) ) and slept. The interesting parts of my day have been when it is about time for another dose of ibuprofen. Then my day starts to get really good, I get to find out how crappy I am going to feel before it kicks in again. Let me tell you, its the best game. NOT.
But, before everyone starts freaking out, I'm fine. I called the clinic (aka the hospital) and they told me it will last like 3-5 days and then I will be right as rain. And, I'm already on day 2. So basically, by the time you read this, I will probably be better and one of my roomies will have gotten it. :)
Other than turning into a pig... life is good. Work is exciting, we had 4 new students start yesterday and I keep making deeper connections with the kids. I really missed work today. I even had my roommate go grab my computer from BABS today so that I could get some work done tomorrow.
As for the roommates, I have had a lot of requests for bios of my roomies. I will do my best. My roommate Ariel, aka the one I share a room with, is working at the Tundra Women's Coalition, a woman and children's shelter. She is the legal advocate there. She gets to go to court sometimes for restraining orders and such. She really enjoys singing and is involved in Unitarian Universalist religion. I don't know much about it, except it is a very open set of beliefs, people find their own path to God.
Joe is the "old" one. He is 27 and is working at the Senior Center. He used to live in Illinois where he worked in asset management but he decided that he didn't like his life's trajectory, so he changed it. He is absolutely great, quiet with a good sense of humor. He definitely contributes a lot of laughs to our group. He's got some sweet dance moves, some of which he learned from the Senior Center's "aerobics" class.
Abby is also working at TWC but she is the children's advocate. She is in charge of Teens Acting Against Violence (T.A.A.V.) a group of teens that meets a couple of weeks to combat domestic violence. She was the one that I feel like I clicked with the fastest, but now I feel like I don't see her all that much. She works a lot of nights and with my volleyball practice schedule (7-9 every weeknight) I'm not home that much. She is pretty cool though.
John is working at Bethel Community Services dispursing a really cool grant. He has chosen 10 candidates, some of whom are my students, who will spend the next year saving up to 1,000 dollars. If, at the end of the year, they have accomplished this and have attended mandatory financial education classes, BCS will match each dollar they have earned with 2 dollars. John is a great person but we are definitely two very strong willed people. We have had a few heated conversations but each one has made us closer.
Justin is the youth minister at the Catholic Church. He is easily one of the most original people I have met in my life. He is very outdoorsy, very knowldegable when it comes to all things technological. He has already proved to me that .99999 repeating actually equals 1. Fun fact, even the math teachers at BRHS can't argue that with him. He is full of all sorts of weird quirks, but it is always entertaining to hang out with him.
PJ works at the public defenders. He is in charge of prepping parents who have lost their kids to CPS to go to court. It is definitely an interesting position because it could potentially pit Abby and Ariel against PJ in the courtroom. He is great, definitely has a Boston accent and is always entertaining and laid-back. It is awesome to get Joe and PJ together. They love to rap and dance and just be ridiculous.
Overall, I spend most of my time with the boys. I have had plenty of nights filled with Sports Center, farting and dirty jokes, but I love it. So, for those of you so impatiently waiting to hear about my roomies, now you have it. And, I have killed a bit of time writing this so hopefully one of my roomies will be home soon to entertain me.
Also, for those of you anxiously awaiting my volleyball team's results, this past weekend we went 1 for 3. Its ok, we are improving. At least they didn't get beat 25-0 like they did when they were in Nome. (Yea, I didn't know it could happen, my girls were dedicated to losing!)
Ok, thats it. Love and miss you all!
Jill
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Don't freak out. Two blogs in two days. Haha. But really, this is just an update to yesterday's blog.
1. I ended up making salmon chowder and we found some B&M brown bread in a can that we baked up. It was such a good meal. Everyone was freaked out about the idea of eating canned bread but I remember eating it back in Maine and I loved it. But, by the end of dinner, there were 6 more canned bread converts.
2. I did play football yesterday and didn't break any bones, in fact, I scored two touchdowns. I was terrified at first because it was one other girl, me and then a bunch of big 20-30 year old guys. I was pretty convinced I was going to end up crawling off the field through the goose poop crying, but I held my own. In fact at Chris' surprise party (refer back to previous quote for a description of Chris) I kept being called over and compared to Hayley, the other girl that was playing. We were, of course, guarding each other (seriously, why would one of the guys need to guard a girl, obviously girls can't be good at sports, haha) but the guys decided that I got the better of her. Sweet. Haha.
3. I keep forgetting to share something really important! I have new irrational fear! Most of you should already know about my fear of umbrellas, I am convinced that one of the pokey ends is gonna stick into my eye one of these days. People are just not very careful with them. But up here in Bethel, we don't really have umbrellas so instead I am now terrified of getting a rock in my eye. I walk on dirt/gravel roads all the time and when cars drive by, the tires spray up a stream of rocks, dirt, trash, whatever. The other day a stray rock came up and hit me in the leg. What if I were bending down and tying my shoe? What if it had flown up like 3 feet higher? I would be Jill, the one-eyed girl. Not cool.
Ok, that it. Love you and miss you all!
Jill
1. I ended up making salmon chowder and we found some B&M brown bread in a can that we baked up. It was such a good meal. Everyone was freaked out about the idea of eating canned bread but I remember eating it back in Maine and I loved it. But, by the end of dinner, there were 6 more canned bread converts.
2. I did play football yesterday and didn't break any bones, in fact, I scored two touchdowns. I was terrified at first because it was one other girl, me and then a bunch of big 20-30 year old guys. I was pretty convinced I was going to end up crawling off the field through the goose poop crying, but I held my own. In fact at Chris' surprise party (refer back to previous quote for a description of Chris) I kept being called over and compared to Hayley, the other girl that was playing. We were, of course, guarding each other (seriously, why would one of the guys need to guard a girl, obviously girls can't be good at sports, haha) but the guys decided that I got the better of her. Sweet. Haha.
3. I keep forgetting to share something really important! I have new irrational fear! Most of you should already know about my fear of umbrellas, I am convinced that one of the pokey ends is gonna stick into my eye one of these days. People are just not very careful with them. But up here in Bethel, we don't really have umbrellas so instead I am now terrified of getting a rock in my eye. I walk on dirt/gravel roads all the time and when cars drive by, the tires spray up a stream of rocks, dirt, trash, whatever. The other day a stray rock came up and hit me in the leg. What if I were bending down and tying my shoe? What if it had flown up like 3 feet higher? I would be Jill, the one-eyed girl. Not cool.
Ok, that it. Love you and miss you all!
Jill
Saturday, September 19, 2009
So, we all know that I have a 40 minute walk to work in the morning, yes? It is great, it wakes me up in the morning and gives me lots of time to think. Back in Seattle, I had a 20ish minute walk to Meany in the morning (where I tutored foster kids through Treehouse). Usually I used that time to call my grandparents or Lauren. (That three hour time difference was important because I was walking at like 7:15. Then on my way back, I was always busy texting someone or another, talking to my mom or studying for that Arabic test I knew was going to kick my butt. Here, I walk to work, just listening to my ipod and thinking about big ideas like, what is going to be for lunch? What skills should we work on at volleyball practice? Did I leave the water heater on when I left? Oops. The other thing that I think about a lot is what I would tell people about my experiences here. Basically, I write my blog. But then when I actually sit down to write something, I've forgotten all the funny, clever little stories I was going to tell. Lame.
To address a huge question I have gotten a lot, I will post pictures soon. As soon as I find my camera. I think I may have left it on the Klejka's boat when we went out on Labor day, or maybe it is lost in the disaster of my side of the room. But once I do find it, BABS has a camera cord that I will be able to use, so I promise to post some soon.
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast. I am super bummed because I should be in Nome right now, coaching my girls, but my boss at BABS still won't budge. It sucks. But, on the other hand, I understand where she is coming from... a little bit. And, instead of flying to Nome yesterday, I helped out some BABS students that were preparing for a soup kitchen that is happening today. It was actually super exciting, one of the girls was like, I'm not sure I wanna go to this, will you go with me? I said yes and she was pumped. Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? My kids are starting to like me!!!! I think I gained major cool points with all of them yesterday cause I was a bit ridiculous. BABS has this super sweet thing called Fun Fridays (yes, I feel like I am back working at summer camp) and yesterday's theme was Gender Bender, aka girls dress as guys and vice versa. I wore my roommate John's flannel shirt, his baseball hat, a pair of baggy pants and used eyeliner to paint myself a moustache and goatee. I was looking pretty handsome. It was great, people didn't recognize me all day yesterday. But, I wasn't even the most dressed up, one of the other teachers, Chris, dressed up in a pink dress, wore blush and lipstick and wore cute red flats. It was perfect. His bushy beard really completed the outfit. Don't worry, there are definitely picture of this, I am going to get them emailed to me soon and those will be posted ASAP. We even took cute couple pictures, I don't wanna brag... but we look pretty good together.
So, Friday was pretty fun but this week has been harder than previous weeks. I was telling one of my roommates this earlier but I definitely feel like my heart express mailed itself back to Seattle this week. Between terrifying family stuff to just missing my life at home, it is not easy. Its funny, I feel like my life is so often filled with drama and stress but when I look back on the first half of 2009, I am so thankful for the people that were there with me. I am sure that I will look back on this experience with the same amount of nostalgia, but I still catch myself wishing I was closer to family that drives me nuts but offers me so much joy and love and friends that know me and my quirks but love me anyway.
Now, don't think that I haven't made any friends. Its not like I am back in elementary school. People seem to like me here. Haha. But seriously, there are quite a few people that I am so excited to be spending the next year living near and becoming closer with. In fact, in about an hour, I'm going to be joining a bunch of them to play touch football. My goal is to not break any more bones. (For those of you that didn't know or forgot, in the championship game of intramural football last winter, I broke my middle finger and had to have two surgeries and be in some kind of cast for like 3.5 months) I will be sure to let you know if I can accomplish my goal. :) And then after football I am going to make dinner. Since I have been coaching football, our dinner situation has seriously sucked. No one else really cooks. I have eaten more Top Ramen here than I did in all of college. Then after that, we are going to Chris (my coworker at BABS)'s surprise birthday party. Guess what? Somehow I got put on the email listserve for his party! I really am making friends! Haha. (I mean, it may have something to do with the fact that his girlfriend and her roommate just got my email on Tuesday for something else... but still!) Anyway, it is time for me to plan a real dinner and then get changed. I promise to try and find my camera and post pictures soon.
Gah, another super long post. Who wants to nominate themselves to be my blog editor and cut down on the useless info? Anyway, love you all. Miss you lots. You should call me. The chance of me answering is 1/7... it could be worse, you could be calling a pay phone in the middle of town. Then the chance would be like... 1/150. Haha. (Thats a joke people, there are almost 6000 people here!)
Ok seriously, now I'm done.
Love you,
Jill
To address a huge question I have gotten a lot, I will post pictures soon. As soon as I find my camera. I think I may have left it on the Klejka's boat when we went out on Labor day, or maybe it is lost in the disaster of my side of the room. But once I do find it, BABS has a camera cord that I will be able to use, so I promise to post some soon.
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast. I am super bummed because I should be in Nome right now, coaching my girls, but my boss at BABS still won't budge. It sucks. But, on the other hand, I understand where she is coming from... a little bit. And, instead of flying to Nome yesterday, I helped out some BABS students that were preparing for a soup kitchen that is happening today. It was actually super exciting, one of the girls was like, I'm not sure I wanna go to this, will you go with me? I said yes and she was pumped. Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? My kids are starting to like me!!!! I think I gained major cool points with all of them yesterday cause I was a bit ridiculous. BABS has this super sweet thing called Fun Fridays (yes, I feel like I am back working at summer camp) and yesterday's theme was Gender Bender, aka girls dress as guys and vice versa. I wore my roommate John's flannel shirt, his baseball hat, a pair of baggy pants and used eyeliner to paint myself a moustache and goatee. I was looking pretty handsome. It was great, people didn't recognize me all day yesterday. But, I wasn't even the most dressed up, one of the other teachers, Chris, dressed up in a pink dress, wore blush and lipstick and wore cute red flats. It was perfect. His bushy beard really completed the outfit. Don't worry, there are definitely picture of this, I am going to get them emailed to me soon and those will be posted ASAP. We even took cute couple pictures, I don't wanna brag... but we look pretty good together.
So, Friday was pretty fun but this week has been harder than previous weeks. I was telling one of my roommates this earlier but I definitely feel like my heart express mailed itself back to Seattle this week. Between terrifying family stuff to just missing my life at home, it is not easy. Its funny, I feel like my life is so often filled with drama and stress but when I look back on the first half of 2009, I am so thankful for the people that were there with me. I am sure that I will look back on this experience with the same amount of nostalgia, but I still catch myself wishing I was closer to family that drives me nuts but offers me so much joy and love and friends that know me and my quirks but love me anyway.
Now, don't think that I haven't made any friends. Its not like I am back in elementary school. People seem to like me here. Haha. But seriously, there are quite a few people that I am so excited to be spending the next year living near and becoming closer with. In fact, in about an hour, I'm going to be joining a bunch of them to play touch football. My goal is to not break any more bones. (For those of you that didn't know or forgot, in the championship game of intramural football last winter, I broke my middle finger and had to have two surgeries and be in some kind of cast for like 3.5 months) I will be sure to let you know if I can accomplish my goal. :) And then after football I am going to make dinner. Since I have been coaching football, our dinner situation has seriously sucked. No one else really cooks. I have eaten more Top Ramen here than I did in all of college. Then after that, we are going to Chris (my coworker at BABS)'s surprise birthday party. Guess what? Somehow I got put on the email listserve for his party! I really am making friends! Haha. (I mean, it may have something to do with the fact that his girlfriend and her roommate just got my email on Tuesday for something else... but still!) Anyway, it is time for me to plan a real dinner and then get changed. I promise to try and find my camera and post pictures soon.
Gah, another super long post. Who wants to nominate themselves to be my blog editor and cut down on the useless info? Anyway, love you all. Miss you lots. You should call me. The chance of me answering is 1/7... it could be worse, you could be calling a pay phone in the middle of town. Then the chance would be like... 1/150. Haha. (Thats a joke people, there are almost 6000 people here!)
Ok seriously, now I'm done.
Love you,
Jill
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Ok so, I've been really slacking on my blog updating. Sorry. I have been super busy.
Every day I leave my house around 7:40 (7:50, when I'm tired) and don't get back until around 7:30 that night. I go to work and then walk straight to volleyball practice and then head home. Some nights my roommates have dinner waiting for me, which is fantastic, other nights I scavenge and then just hang out. Volleyball is super fun and has been keeping me pretty darn busy. This weekend I helped out with two volleyball fundraisers, a car wash and a spaghetti feed. The car wash was on Saturday from 11-3 and during that time we made 1300 dollars. No joke. We also charged 20 bucks per car. Ridiculous Bethel prices. Then on Monday night (labor day) we had a spaghetti feed, all the girls brought a dessert and we made spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread and salad together. That night we made 1600 dollars. Yea, I know. That is nuts.
Speaking of Labor day, I had a great day off. I went out on the Klejka family boat. The Klejka's are a super sweet family that invites us to dinner every Sunday night (and asks us to paint their sled dog houses, nothing is free these days, haha). We went up to an abandoned Moravian Mission and walked around that and ate fried chicken (delicious. absolutely awesome. haha) Then we went and pulled over on the bank of the river and climbed about 15 feet straight up to walk around the tundra. No, I'm not joking. I was grabbing onto stray branches, feet slipping down the mud and freaking out, yelling at all the boys that this apparently came easy to. I'm sure I was a rather entertaining sight. But, once we got up to the tundra, I saw something amazing. TREES! No joke. Trees that are taller than me. Trees that some of the guys climbed. It was awesome. We walked around the tundra for a while which is a really interesting experience. Its like walking on clouds. Squishy, spongy, muddy and pothole filled clouds. Its quite a leg workout. The ground sinks beneath you and you have to keep pulling your feet up. High knees across the tundra.
After our tunra adventure, we had to climb back down. That was also an adventure. Sliding down feet first, trying to grab onto branches to slow myself down. It was actually pretty sucessful. (Yes, I know, I sound like such a city girl. Deal with it. I never spent much time outside. Let's be real, I'm more comfortable in the streets of Seattle at 2 am than I am in the wilderness. Haha) So, we climbed down and headed to the Klejka's fish camp.
A ton of people have fish camps in Bethel. Fish camps are little huts/tents/houses on the rivers that people go to to fish during the summer and fall. At the Klejka's fish camp we did some weedwacking and branch trimming so that the trail would be more visible. After working for a while, we all headed home and I headed to the spaghetti feed.
Lets see... what else would you be interested in hearing about. Oh, men. I'm a pretty hot commodity around these parts. Things I have in my favor: 1. I have a pulse. 2. I'm single. 3. I have a pulse. Wait, I already said that. But, thats probably the most important one. It is definitely a change from what I am used to at Seattle U.
The only place where the girls outnumber the boys is at BABS. My work has been kind of rough this week. Between swine flu (yes, swine flu is in Bethel) the regular flu, kids being dismissed for failing drug tests and just needing to take time off for family reasons, BABS has been in constant transition. I'm definitely feeling more at home here but its been weird with all the students coming and going. It is also stressful because a big part of my job is making sure the school is full. Lets just say I have been doing a lot of interviews for prospecitve students. (slightly frantically, haha)
Anyway, time for me to head to volleyball practice, we are starting late today so I took this break to update you all. I hope everything is great for all of you. Don't forget that just because you know what is going on in my life... I don't know what is going on in yours. Keep me updated too!
Lots of love!
Jill
Every day I leave my house around 7:40 (7:50, when I'm tired) and don't get back until around 7:30 that night. I go to work and then walk straight to volleyball practice and then head home. Some nights my roommates have dinner waiting for me, which is fantastic, other nights I scavenge and then just hang out. Volleyball is super fun and has been keeping me pretty darn busy. This weekend I helped out with two volleyball fundraisers, a car wash and a spaghetti feed. The car wash was on Saturday from 11-3 and during that time we made 1300 dollars. No joke. We also charged 20 bucks per car. Ridiculous Bethel prices. Then on Monday night (labor day) we had a spaghetti feed, all the girls brought a dessert and we made spaghetti, sauce, garlic bread and salad together. That night we made 1600 dollars. Yea, I know. That is nuts.
Speaking of Labor day, I had a great day off. I went out on the Klejka family boat. The Klejka's are a super sweet family that invites us to dinner every Sunday night (and asks us to paint their sled dog houses, nothing is free these days, haha). We went up to an abandoned Moravian Mission and walked around that and ate fried chicken (delicious. absolutely awesome. haha) Then we went and pulled over on the bank of the river and climbed about 15 feet straight up to walk around the tundra. No, I'm not joking. I was grabbing onto stray branches, feet slipping down the mud and freaking out, yelling at all the boys that this apparently came easy to. I'm sure I was a rather entertaining sight. But, once we got up to the tundra, I saw something amazing. TREES! No joke. Trees that are taller than me. Trees that some of the guys climbed. It was awesome. We walked around the tundra for a while which is a really interesting experience. Its like walking on clouds. Squishy, spongy, muddy and pothole filled clouds. Its quite a leg workout. The ground sinks beneath you and you have to keep pulling your feet up. High knees across the tundra.
After our tunra adventure, we had to climb back down. That was also an adventure. Sliding down feet first, trying to grab onto branches to slow myself down. It was actually pretty sucessful. (Yes, I know, I sound like such a city girl. Deal with it. I never spent much time outside. Let's be real, I'm more comfortable in the streets of Seattle at 2 am than I am in the wilderness. Haha) So, we climbed down and headed to the Klejka's fish camp.
A ton of people have fish camps in Bethel. Fish camps are little huts/tents/houses on the rivers that people go to to fish during the summer and fall. At the Klejka's fish camp we did some weedwacking and branch trimming so that the trail would be more visible. After working for a while, we all headed home and I headed to the spaghetti feed.
Lets see... what else would you be interested in hearing about. Oh, men. I'm a pretty hot commodity around these parts. Things I have in my favor: 1. I have a pulse. 2. I'm single. 3. I have a pulse. Wait, I already said that. But, thats probably the most important one. It is definitely a change from what I am used to at Seattle U.
The only place where the girls outnumber the boys is at BABS. My work has been kind of rough this week. Between swine flu (yes, swine flu is in Bethel) the regular flu, kids being dismissed for failing drug tests and just needing to take time off for family reasons, BABS has been in constant transition. I'm definitely feeling more at home here but its been weird with all the students coming and going. It is also stressful because a big part of my job is making sure the school is full. Lets just say I have been doing a lot of interviews for prospecitve students. (slightly frantically, haha)
Anyway, time for me to head to volleyball practice, we are starting late today so I took this break to update you all. I hope everything is great for all of you. Don't forget that just because you know what is going on in my life... I don't know what is going on in yours. Keep me updated too!
Lots of love!
Jill
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