Everyone warned me that life in Bethel is really slow. They were all wrong. I have no idea how I have already reached Thanksgiving. I feel like one of those moms that look at their kids and say, “geeze, it feels like just yesterday that you were in diapers.” (While their kid, all dressed up in her college graduation gown just rolls her eyes) But recently, there has been a lot going on. I went home last weekend. I know I said that I wasn’t going to go home until January, but I guess I am a big ole’ liar. I found out that I didn’t have to work on Friday and my grandparents were flying in Thursday night and things just kind of fell into place. My mom booked a ticket the weekend before and then Thursday night, I hopped on the last plane out and headed home. The trip home was rather uneventful, I got about 2 hours of sleep the entire night and arrived at SeaTac airport at 5 am. (I left at 8:40 the night before). Then, my weekend of crazy busy-ness began. Mom and I stopped at Starbucks, where I reveled in the many beverage options, the hot weather (45 degrees!) and the whole civilization thing. Then we headed to my grandparent’s condo where we woke them up. I forgot that I was still wearing my sweatshirt hood when I walked into their bedroom, so it is no wonder they thought I was an axe murderer, but once that was all straightened out, I began narrating all of the pictures I had taken while I had a working camera.
After a while with the g-rents, I went and said hi to my dad and then my house, sighed fondly at my bed, knowing that it would be a while before I could actually lay down and sleep and then headed out to lunch with the family. (SUSHI!!!! Yum yum yum!). After that, I went home and hung out for a while before taking the bus into Seattle to meet up with a bunch of friends. First of all, I love taking the bus. I have no idea why, but I really enjoy it. It is a great people watching time and a great reflection time. As you might imagine, getting some quality alone time in Bethel is not always easy, but that was always one thing that I loved about the Seattle bus system. Once I got into downtown Seattle and ogled all the tall buildings, the trillion people and the fact that I still wasn’t wearing long underwear, I started walking up to Capitol Hill. That lasted about 30 seconds until I was seduced into the Columbia outerwear store, just to check out their cold weather gear. I seriously could have dropped 500 dollars there, easily. They had super cute clothes, crazy intense gloves and a really cute hat. Then, I had to stop and reevaluate myself for a moment. Who is this girl that is getting pumped about winter gear? Seriously, there must have been a brain swap in my body. I hated coats in Seattle and now I am actively seeking them out?!?! With that, I booked it out of the store and started my trek up the hill. It definitely took me longer than usual because I was so engrossed in soaking up this incredible place that I have called home for years. It felt so right to be walking the streets of Seattle, smiling at strangers, looking into store windows all while slightly sweating up the steep incline. Once I got to the top and met up with a bunch of friends, the wonder continued. I was so happy to see everyone that came to hang out, I was so thrilled to be drinking Elysian Pumpkin Ale and I didn’t want the night to end. One night to catch up with 15 people I love is not at all sufficient. After being out for a few hours, I went home to Shelsea’s apartment, just as my sleep deprivation was starting to catch up with me. Apparently, I was genuinely trying to have a conversation with her, but I would basically fall asleep in the middle of a sentence, but instead of stopping talking, I would continue to ramble, about nothing, until I woke up again and tried to continue our conversation. I’m sure it wasn’t pretty.
The next morning I woke up and took another of my beloved Metro transit system buses home. As soon as I got home, I went and picked up Bema (grandmother ☺) for a day of shopping and fun. We were out for a few hours before we went back home to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner (one weekend early). The rest of the evening was relaxed and fun, filled with strangers and family. It is a Bruton family tradition to take in random people on the holidays and this year the lucky ones were some of Erica’s friends. The next day, I woke up, went to Mass with Mom, Bema and Bampie, then had breakfast and boarded another plane to head back to Bethel.
Like I said, short trip. I was really worried that I was going to go home and realize that all I wanted was to be back in Seattle for good, but I was pleasantly surprised. I have no idea how this could possibly work but I am ridiculously happy/miserable in both places. I guess I just mean that there at things about living in Seattle that make me feel complete and at home as well as things that drive me nuts. In Bethel, I often find myself completely in love with this insane place and at other times, I can’t help but wish I had chosen a more “normal” place for a year of service. Somehow, in this crazy head of mine, I can be just as happy in an urban metropolis as I am in a rural itty-bitty town.
One of the reasons that I am so happy in Bethel has got to be the people. For Thanksgiving, my community made a delicious brunch of muffins, eggs, sautéed veggies, and guess what?!?! Salmon. Haha. It was delicious. Once brunch was finished, PJ and I went and played a little Thanksgiving football in the cold weather. I did lots of jumping jacks to keep warm but it was a lot of fun. Then for dinner, I went over to the Keljkas. But, before I ate, I made sure to earn my keep by helping the boys unharness the dog team. I’m still kind of useless without direction, “uh… where does this dog go? So… if this hook is stuck, is it because I am a wimp or because it is just screwed up?” (Answer: You are a wimp AND it is screwed up.) I haven’t spent a ton of time with the Keljka’s recently, but every time I do, I definitely learn a lot. So anyway, delicious dinner. Then after dinner, Joe, Ariel and I went to a gathering of a bunch of the twenty-somethings that we hang out with to eat even more delicious food.
So basically, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for an incredibly supportive family, all of my friends, in Seattle, in Bethel, in Spokane, in Baltimore, in Philadelphia… everywhere. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to explore more fully the person I want to be and the people with whom I want to be surrounded. I am also very thankful for all of you that read my blogs, writing them is often some of the best reflection on my experience here that I do.
Love you and miss you all,
Jill
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
3 months down and 12 bullet points.
I have gone too long without writing a blog; I have too many things to write about! I will just make a list of important events/realizations whatever that I have had recently.
1. I went to Anchorage for a JVC retreat. Crazy. Did you know that they have paved roads, Starbucks, streetlights, houses with foundations and basements, a mall and vegetables?!?! I realize I sound ridiculous, but those were all super exciting parts of my time there. If it were physically possible, I would’ve overdosed on vegetables during my long weekend. It isn’t that I don’t eat veggies in Bethel, but there is something different about fresh ones versus frozen or canned ones. The retreat itself was full of ups and downs. It was awesome to get to hang out with the rest of the Alaska JVs and get away from Bethel for a few days. It also brought some hard community conversations but I am happy that we got the chance to retreat together.
2. One of the tough retreat conversations ended up having some serious consequences for our community. One of my roommates was asked to leave JVC this week. He will be missed very much in our community because he brought a lot of good things, but I hope this will give him an opportunity to take care of himself and it has definitely made the rest of us concentrate more on the health of ourselves and our community. Everyone said that community would be the hardest part of JVC; so far they are totally right!
3. I have been very blessed in that even when I was having a rough time at home, I had a lot of great things going on other places. Volleyball is over, which is a bummer but it was so much fun. I am so thankful that I got to work with such a great bunch of girls. I also learned that coaching is a lot more work than it looks. I have a lot of improvement to do with my next team, but I really hope to keep coaching volleyball wherever I end up!
4. Work is awesome. I love my students and all of the awesome opportunities I have to get to know them better. The other night, I went over to the girl’s dorm and helped the girls make spam sushi and noodle soup. (Delicious :) ) After dinner, I helped one of the girls with her science homework. It was super fun.
5. I joined Curves. The owner doesn’t charge JVs, which is awesome, and since I have to try and keep getting exercise during the cold weather, I figured it was a good idea. Curves itself is hilarious. You have a bunch of machines that choose the resistance for you and then a mat between each machine. You do 30-second rotations, 30 seconds on a machine and then 30 seconds on a mat. So, what do you do on a mat? Good question. You do whatever you want. Some people dance, some people jump, some people (me) just kind of flail around and hope that the 30 seconds goes by fast. But, its super fun. I don’t feel like I’m getting the best workout of my life, but it is definitely entertaining.
6. It is getting cold. Well, that’s not totally true. We have had snow on the ground for like 2 weeks but then the past few days have been warm. It’s been like 36-38 degrees during the day (warm by Bethel standards) and gets colder at night. So basically, it gets warm and rains. Then it gets cold and ices over. Then it rains more, things melt, then freeze again. The roads are covered in ice. School was actually cancelled yesterday because of the icy roads. The buses decided they weren’t going to run, so the schools had to cancel school.
7. I’m sure you are wondering how this weather has affected my driving the school bus. Well, sad news first, they took my school bus :( There is no one to do check ups because we don’t use the bus company, so the school district made me give it back. But, I still have to pick kids up, I just don't get to use the bus. Because I am new to the whole winter driving thing, this week has been “teach Jill how to drive on ice” week. It could also be called, “scare Jill so badly that she pees her pants” week. First of all, I was driving Chris (teacher at BABS)’s car on Saturday and spun his Jeep 270 degrees, going straight into a driveway and narrowly avoiding a ditch on either side. (The avoiding of the ditch was dumb luck, not due to any talent I had) So, on Monday, Chris and I both told Starr what happened and she took me out to practice. It is a good thing that she teaches drivers ed, because anyone else may have freaked out while driving with me. But, good news to everyone that worries that I don’t pray enough. I prayed more in the 2 hours we were driving than I think I ever have before. After a while, I started getting the hang of it and I am now back in charge of driving kids around. I am the annoying driver that drives under the speed limit, but I get the kids where they need to be, without any injuries to them or the car.
8. Speaking of cold and driving, I have a couple of winter firsts to report. I wore my first pair of snow pants since like 3rd grade! I also rode on my first snow machine (snow mobile for you lower 48-ers) and I DROVE my first snow machine! And finally, I rode in my first dog sled. But, I should back up and tell the whole story. I got a phone call at work the other day and it was Jesse Klejka (one of the 7 Klejka kids, the family that feeds us almost every Sunday and has 20 dogs) he was like, Mary (a BABS student and Jesse’s friend) is coming over to get you, lets go mushing. I said yes and 5 minutes later, Mary was at BABS on a snow machine. We went speeding and bumping across the tundra and got to the Klejka’s house just as the last of the 10 dogs were being harnessed together. Mary winter geared me up with snow pants, a puffy jacket, big gloves, ect, and then we were off. I blocked the street so that the dogs could cross safely and then hopped on the back of a snow machine and followed the dog team. Less than 1 minute into the run, however, Jesse fell off and the dogs were dragging along Mary, who was in the sled, until she could get the hooks into the ground. The hooks are connected to the line that the dogs are all connected to and it is basically an anchor, it stops the dogs. Well, once that mess was straightened out, Mary didn’t want to ride in the sled anymore so everyone else generously volunteered me to be next. As soon as I got in, I peppered Jesse with questions about what I was supposed to do when he fell off. He assured me that he wasn’t going to fall off again and for the next almost ½ hour, he kept his promise. But, then a steep incline surprised Jesse and all of a sudden I was alone in a sled, being pulled by 10 dogs who had no intention of cooperating with my loud “Whoa, stop, oh god, please stop, F&*$, really!?!?! STOP!” Well, anyway, I ended up getting the hooks into the ground by lying on my side and pounding them into the ground as we sped along. It actually wasn’t that bad. Then after that was sorted out, we went for a while longer and then went back home. Back at the Klejka’s, I learned how to unharness and put dogs away. They are strong and basically try and pull you around, but I showed them who was boss (right... It was more me holding onto them as hard as I could while trying my best not to look stupid in front of all these scrawny high schoolers that were handling the dogs with ease). Anyway, good times. I’m excited to keep working with them.
9. Fun fact. I wear my Ugg boots all the time. Its pretty much guaranteed that if I am wearing shoes, they will be my Uggs. They are the only shoes, other than my intense winter boots, that keep my feet warm. My hiking boots have better traction, but my Uggs are way more comfy and warm. Yes, I am an Ugg convert. I might look like a tool, but I am a happy tool. Haha.
10. On a completely unrelated to Bethel note, I’m gonna be a bridesmaid in Christina and Josh’s wedding!!! I am so excited. For those of you who don’t know, I was an OA with Christina and Josh and then lived with Christina my junior year. Christina is easily one of my best friends and one of the people I have been able to keep in pretty good touch with since moving to Alaska. (Thanks to the miracle of gchat.) But anyway, I’m psyched. I love both of them lots and I’m super excited to be a part of their wedding party :)
11. I’m also super excited for another wedding coming my way. Amy and Chris’ wedding in January! I will be heading out to Maine a few days after Christmas to spend time with my Maine-iac family and be a bridesmaid in my cousin Amy’s wedding. It will be awesome to get to see everyone and be a part of Amy and Chris’ exciting day. I’m looking forward to Chris being a part of the family, because then my teasing can be even more merciless (right, “Precious?”).
12. Last note. After Amy and Chris’ wedding, I will be heading to Seattle for a few days, Jan 3-9. I can’t wait to see everyone I love that lives in Seattle. I don’t know how it is all going to work, I hope that I will get to see lots of people during my relatively short stay. It will be interesting to see how easily I adapt to a big city after what will be almost 6 months in Bethel. Am I gonna be a total hick by then? Well, I guess I will find out in 2ish months. I can’t believe how fast this year seems to be going. It will be August before I’ve even figured out how to fill out my Americorp monthly timesheet correctly.
Ok, that is all I can think of right now. I’m sure there is a ton more but maybe that just means you need to call me and ask me in person. I should have a bit more free time coming up since I don’t have volleyball and I still hope to do a better job of keeping in contact with people. Anyway, time to go. I will update again soon!
Love and miss you all!
Jill
1. I went to Anchorage for a JVC retreat. Crazy. Did you know that they have paved roads, Starbucks, streetlights, houses with foundations and basements, a mall and vegetables?!?! I realize I sound ridiculous, but those were all super exciting parts of my time there. If it were physically possible, I would’ve overdosed on vegetables during my long weekend. It isn’t that I don’t eat veggies in Bethel, but there is something different about fresh ones versus frozen or canned ones. The retreat itself was full of ups and downs. It was awesome to get to hang out with the rest of the Alaska JVs and get away from Bethel for a few days. It also brought some hard community conversations but I am happy that we got the chance to retreat together.
2. One of the tough retreat conversations ended up having some serious consequences for our community. One of my roommates was asked to leave JVC this week. He will be missed very much in our community because he brought a lot of good things, but I hope this will give him an opportunity to take care of himself and it has definitely made the rest of us concentrate more on the health of ourselves and our community. Everyone said that community would be the hardest part of JVC; so far they are totally right!
3. I have been very blessed in that even when I was having a rough time at home, I had a lot of great things going on other places. Volleyball is over, which is a bummer but it was so much fun. I am so thankful that I got to work with such a great bunch of girls. I also learned that coaching is a lot more work than it looks. I have a lot of improvement to do with my next team, but I really hope to keep coaching volleyball wherever I end up!
4. Work is awesome. I love my students and all of the awesome opportunities I have to get to know them better. The other night, I went over to the girl’s dorm and helped the girls make spam sushi and noodle soup. (Delicious :) ) After dinner, I helped one of the girls with her science homework. It was super fun.
5. I joined Curves. The owner doesn’t charge JVs, which is awesome, and since I have to try and keep getting exercise during the cold weather, I figured it was a good idea. Curves itself is hilarious. You have a bunch of machines that choose the resistance for you and then a mat between each machine. You do 30-second rotations, 30 seconds on a machine and then 30 seconds on a mat. So, what do you do on a mat? Good question. You do whatever you want. Some people dance, some people jump, some people (me) just kind of flail around and hope that the 30 seconds goes by fast. But, its super fun. I don’t feel like I’m getting the best workout of my life, but it is definitely entertaining.
6. It is getting cold. Well, that’s not totally true. We have had snow on the ground for like 2 weeks but then the past few days have been warm. It’s been like 36-38 degrees during the day (warm by Bethel standards) and gets colder at night. So basically, it gets warm and rains. Then it gets cold and ices over. Then it rains more, things melt, then freeze again. The roads are covered in ice. School was actually cancelled yesterday because of the icy roads. The buses decided they weren’t going to run, so the schools had to cancel school.
7. I’m sure you are wondering how this weather has affected my driving the school bus. Well, sad news first, they took my school bus :( There is no one to do check ups because we don’t use the bus company, so the school district made me give it back. But, I still have to pick kids up, I just don't get to use the bus. Because I am new to the whole winter driving thing, this week has been “teach Jill how to drive on ice” week. It could also be called, “scare Jill so badly that she pees her pants” week. First of all, I was driving Chris (teacher at BABS)’s car on Saturday and spun his Jeep 270 degrees, going straight into a driveway and narrowly avoiding a ditch on either side. (The avoiding of the ditch was dumb luck, not due to any talent I had) So, on Monday, Chris and I both told Starr what happened and she took me out to practice. It is a good thing that she teaches drivers ed, because anyone else may have freaked out while driving with me. But, good news to everyone that worries that I don’t pray enough. I prayed more in the 2 hours we were driving than I think I ever have before. After a while, I started getting the hang of it and I am now back in charge of driving kids around. I am the annoying driver that drives under the speed limit, but I get the kids where they need to be, without any injuries to them or the car.
8. Speaking of cold and driving, I have a couple of winter firsts to report. I wore my first pair of snow pants since like 3rd grade! I also rode on my first snow machine (snow mobile for you lower 48-ers) and I DROVE my first snow machine! And finally, I rode in my first dog sled. But, I should back up and tell the whole story. I got a phone call at work the other day and it was Jesse Klejka (one of the 7 Klejka kids, the family that feeds us almost every Sunday and has 20 dogs) he was like, Mary (a BABS student and Jesse’s friend) is coming over to get you, lets go mushing. I said yes and 5 minutes later, Mary was at BABS on a snow machine. We went speeding and bumping across the tundra and got to the Klejka’s house just as the last of the 10 dogs were being harnessed together. Mary winter geared me up with snow pants, a puffy jacket, big gloves, ect, and then we were off. I blocked the street so that the dogs could cross safely and then hopped on the back of a snow machine and followed the dog team. Less than 1 minute into the run, however, Jesse fell off and the dogs were dragging along Mary, who was in the sled, until she could get the hooks into the ground. The hooks are connected to the line that the dogs are all connected to and it is basically an anchor, it stops the dogs. Well, once that mess was straightened out, Mary didn’t want to ride in the sled anymore so everyone else generously volunteered me to be next. As soon as I got in, I peppered Jesse with questions about what I was supposed to do when he fell off. He assured me that he wasn’t going to fall off again and for the next almost ½ hour, he kept his promise. But, then a steep incline surprised Jesse and all of a sudden I was alone in a sled, being pulled by 10 dogs who had no intention of cooperating with my loud “Whoa, stop, oh god, please stop, F&*$, really!?!?! STOP!” Well, anyway, I ended up getting the hooks into the ground by lying on my side and pounding them into the ground as we sped along. It actually wasn’t that bad. Then after that was sorted out, we went for a while longer and then went back home. Back at the Klejka’s, I learned how to unharness and put dogs away. They are strong and basically try and pull you around, but I showed them who was boss (right... It was more me holding onto them as hard as I could while trying my best not to look stupid in front of all these scrawny high schoolers that were handling the dogs with ease). Anyway, good times. I’m excited to keep working with them.
9. Fun fact. I wear my Ugg boots all the time. Its pretty much guaranteed that if I am wearing shoes, they will be my Uggs. They are the only shoes, other than my intense winter boots, that keep my feet warm. My hiking boots have better traction, but my Uggs are way more comfy and warm. Yes, I am an Ugg convert. I might look like a tool, but I am a happy tool. Haha.
10. On a completely unrelated to Bethel note, I’m gonna be a bridesmaid in Christina and Josh’s wedding!!! I am so excited. For those of you who don’t know, I was an OA with Christina and Josh and then lived with Christina my junior year. Christina is easily one of my best friends and one of the people I have been able to keep in pretty good touch with since moving to Alaska. (Thanks to the miracle of gchat.) But anyway, I’m psyched. I love both of them lots and I’m super excited to be a part of their wedding party :)
11. I’m also super excited for another wedding coming my way. Amy and Chris’ wedding in January! I will be heading out to Maine a few days after Christmas to spend time with my Maine-iac family and be a bridesmaid in my cousin Amy’s wedding. It will be awesome to get to see everyone and be a part of Amy and Chris’ exciting day. I’m looking forward to Chris being a part of the family, because then my teasing can be even more merciless (right, “Precious?”).
12. Last note. After Amy and Chris’ wedding, I will be heading to Seattle for a few days, Jan 3-9. I can’t wait to see everyone I love that lives in Seattle. I don’t know how it is all going to work, I hope that I will get to see lots of people during my relatively short stay. It will be interesting to see how easily I adapt to a big city after what will be almost 6 months in Bethel. Am I gonna be a total hick by then? Well, I guess I will find out in 2ish months. I can’t believe how fast this year seems to be going. It will be August before I’ve even figured out how to fill out my Americorp monthly timesheet correctly.
Ok, that is all I can think of right now. I’m sure there is a ton more but maybe that just means you need to call me and ask me in person. I should have a bit more free time coming up since I don’t have volleyball and I still hope to do a better job of keeping in contact with people. Anyway, time to go. I will update again soon!
Love and miss you all!
Jill
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