Thanksgiving & Homecoming

Happy Thanksgiving! I know, I'm a week late but I've been a bit busy. But I didn't forget about Canadian thanksgiving. I even made a pumpkin pie to celebrate. It was delicious. And, in honor of Canadian thanksgiving, we even got some days off. Okay, so that is a bit of an exaggeration. But thanksgiving weekend did happen to coincide with Tabor's fall break so I like to pretend. I did get three days off from school, which was wonderful. It was nice to sleep in. However, it was also an incredibly busy weekend. In addition to baking (and eating) the pumpkin pie, I had musical rehearsal every night (except one). It was our last weekend, so we did a couple full run throughs and some work on specific scenes. It was very exciting. I also spent the weekend babysitting some precious girls. There were three of them (ages 7, 5, and 2). We spent the weekend together hanging out and playing and going to the park (and rehearsing). It was a lot of fun but they sure did have a lot of energy!
After thanksgiving began production week. Which, you guessed it, is the week before our Oliver performance! So we did full run throughs every night adding things as we went. We added the mics and lights one night and make up and hair another and then finally, on Thursday, was our first performance. We did four in total all this past weekend, which was homecoming.
I really had no idea what homecoming was, being a Canadian, but basically its a time when alumni return to college and take part in a variety of festivities. These included reunions, an art show, the musical, and meals. One meal was vereniki (Google it if you aren't a mennonite and have no idea what it is), which was delicious. There is also a football game, which I watched (at least half of it), we lost a close one in the end.
But the majority of my homecoming weekend was spent on the musical. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Every night was sold out and the audiences really seemed to enjoy it. There were lots of laughs and applause and congratulations after it was over. I had so much fun performing and singing again (I haven't done it in awhile) and meeting new people. Though it was a lot of work, and I am still very tired, it was all worth it. Last night we had our final performance in the afternoon and then spent the rest of the day having a cast party and taking down the set. It is so sad to see it all go! I had a wonderful two months (still can't believe we got it all together in time) working hard. And now I will enjoy some time off until something new comes up. This week will be spent catching up on sleep and homework and...MOVING! That's right, I'm moving. We have decided to room with another person and so we found a house to rent that was larger and cheaper when separated three ways and so we are moving. I promise this time I will actually post pictures of it once we get in all set up!
And speaking of pictures....here is a cast picture we took after our last performance. I will post some more as soon as I get some! And yes, I am a boy in this picture as I was for the majority of the musical. (Photo credit: Joshua Paulus)

Culture Shock

Yes, every now and then I still get culture shock here in the middle of no where Kansas. A couple of weeks ago we had a speaker in chapel and he was talking about his move to Kansas several years earlier and about how strange everything was and how different everything was from the large city he had lived in before. It was very funny. One of the funniest things was when he was talking about living in the city and being afraid of being robbed or whatever and he was said "Now I am afraid of nothing because nothing happens here". It was funny...you probably had to be there.
But it is funny how different things are here. We never lock our doors. I lock in when I am sleeping and that is about it. You really don't have to be afraid. The other night I walked home at 2AM alone. I would never do that at home (I do live in Surrey after all). In one of my classes we were talking about homelessness and my prof was talking about where she lived (in a nearby town a little bigger than Hillsboro) where they had "one resident homeless guy". I thought to myself, "ONE?! that's it?" Can you imagine Vancouver with just one homeless guy? It was so strange to me. Or think about entertainment. The nearest mall is an hour away. Same with the Starbucks. There is a movie theater half an hour away. What do college students do for entertainment here? We go to Wal-Mart or a late night donut shop that opens at 11:30PM (best donuts ever). And it is all half an hour away. There is so much that is amusing. They call cutlery silverware. Even plastic cutlery is silverware. If you ask for cutlery at a restaurant they will look at you like you are crazy. Believe me, I've done it. And don't call the bathroom a washroom. They will also give you that crazy look. They make fun of me for how I say certain words...flag, bag. Pasta is the best. You know how we all have the debate on the correct way to say pasta? No debate here...say it wrong and they think you are saying pastor with a strange accent.
But I do love it here. The community, the friends, the safety, the weather (I mean, it is almost October and it is still in the high 20s!), the school, the education. It's a good place. I'm enjoying it. Despite my instances of culture shock.

Musicals, State Fairs, and other things

Wow, it has been a busy couple of weeks here. Has it really only been three weeks? I already have exams in all of my classes and there are you Canadians just finishing your first week of school. So what have I been up to? Mostly the musical. We started rehearsals the first week of school and have not stopped since. The musical we are doing is Oliver, and I am in the chorus. As part of the chorus I am both an orphan and in a gang of pick-pocketers. It is a lot of fun. My scenes have lots of kids in them with other Tabor students to help out. We have been doing a lot of choreographing and memorizing music. My roommate gets very annoyed at my singing constantly, but I have to get the songs memorized so it's not my fault. We rehearse about 3 days a week - sometimes more. It is very busy, but is worth it. I have gotten to know a bunch of new people and have a lot of fun. It will likely get even more busy as we only have about one more month! Ahh!
On Saturday, I went to my first State Fair! It was quite exciting (at least for me, a newbie at state fairs). We went on come crazy rides - the kind that flip you upside down and spin you in circles. It has been a long time since I have been on roller coaster rides, so it was cool. Other than the rides we walked around a lot to see various exhibits, which was mostly of farm things. There were giant pumpkins and squashes and watermelons and anything else you can think of. We ate cotton candy and other 'fair' food...it was delicious. And we got henna tattoos, just for fun. It was a very fun day and a wonderful break from my school/homework/work/rehearsal schedule.
A couple of weeks ago we also babysat Whitney's cousin's kids. They are three beautiful girls under the age of 7. They stayed over for the night and we made them forts to sleep in and played barbies and lego and baked cookies and brought them to church. They are very precious girls and we are going to offer to take them some more once both of our schedules are less crazy.
And that is about it! Today begins another week of school and homework and exams and rehearsals and work! Now to get back to studying....

Take Two

Well here I am once again. On Thursday I packed my life (or really just clothes) into two suitcases and headed for the airport. And then I landed once more in Hillsboro, Kansas. This time when I stepped off the plane it was warmer (at 10 o'clock at night) then it had been all summer in Vancouver. What great weather we get eh? Anyways, it has continued to be that hot since then, reaching as high as 112 degrees (which for us Canadians means about 45...). I'm still at the point where I enjoy the warmth that was absent for much of my summer, so I'm not complaining. Plus, we have A/C so there is always a place to go for relief. Wow...why do I always talk about the weather?
In other news...this year is going to look much different than last semester did. First of all, I moved off campus! Although just barely. I live like a block of campus so I can still walk every where which is great. And I live with my best friend, who works at Tabor in admissions, which will make it very fun. So I have moved into a basement suite and have been getting settled waiting for school to start...tomorrow!
Which brings me to the second thing that will be different...I am finally taking classes in my major! Since transferring from SFU to Tabor and then switching majors I have not taken a single class that is in my program, just classes that Tabor requires, and so I am very much looking forward to my classes this semester. I am taking one psychology class and two social work classes (and then two that are Tabor requirements) and they all seem really interesting and geared towards what I want to do. Both my social work classes are taught by my advisor, which I am also looking forward to. In the few interactions I have had with her, she seems very nice and open and engaging. It will be nice to get to know her and get taught by her this semester. And probably every other semester from now on. Many of my classes are intro course, which I am not so excited about. There just seems to be something wrong with a senior (aka fourth year) taking intro classes. But that is what you get for transferring half way through your junior year.
The third change for this year is my work situation. Last semester I was doing some on call catering, which was fun but did not give me very many hours. This year I have (kind of) three jobs. I will remain on call doing catering as well as get regular hours in the cafeteria (two nights a week at the moment). And then I will also be working in admissions doing student calling (I will tell you more about it when I know more about it). Between these three jobs I should get a minimum of 10 hours a week, which should be good.
As if 15 credit hours and three jobs weren't enough I am also doing the fall play this year. I mentioned it before, and still don't know much about it, but I am looking forward to it a lot. The play will be happening in the middle of October, so it will be lots of work until then. But it should be lots of fun!
Well, summer is over. But what a wonderful summer it was. I made some great friends working at the church and had some great times with the adorable children that were there. It was great having some of the same kids every week because we really got to know them and they got to know us. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. I miss both the staff and the kids!!
Well that is all for now. I shall try to be better at these updates in the future! Hope you all had wonderful summers!

Summer Time

I know, I know, I really need to get better at this whole blogging thing. I'm working on it. Being July the school the year is obviously over and I survived my first semester at Tabor College. God willing I will be returning in just seven short weeks.
But before I get to that I shall talk about the end of the semester which was perhaps the best of my time at Tabor. I finally got used to being there and began enjoying it a lot more. I hung out with lots of friends, watched as many playoff games as possible (I even brainwashed several friends into enjoying hockey and being Canuck fans), tried out for the for school musical (and got in!), and of course wrote final papers and exams. The school year ended on a high note as I got to watch my best friend graduate from college and get a job (lucky for me, at Tabor college). I am very much looking forward to going back in mid-August and moving towards my degree completion (in two years!).
So what am I doing this summer? Well what any college student should be doing: working. I got a job at Richmond Chinese United Church helping run their day camp program, along with three other people. For me it is a dream come true. I love camps, as many of you know, and am so grateful that I can spend another summer working with kids and telling them about God. And to get paid to do what I love is even better. I just finished our first week of camp which was a bit of a gong show but we got our feet underneath us by the end of the week. The kids are amazing. They all speak English which was a huge relief for me as my Chinese is (obviously) lacking. They are between 7-12, though we may get a 5 year old soon. They are wonderful kids, with lots of energy which we are working on channeling into appropriate things, but I think it is going very well. I'll let you know how the rest of the summer goes...only five more weeks of it! Other than working, not much is happening in my life, which is just fine with me. I hang out with friends, work, relax, and enjoy the summer as it won't last long and then it will be time to learn again.

Spring Break and other things

Wow, it has been awhile since I have written! Sorry! So what has been going on?
Well, two weeks ago it was spring break, which was fantastic! At SFU we never got breaks until the 2 week Olympic break last year. I am told that now that have a reading break, but all through my years there we never got breaks. So spring break was wonderful. For the first half of spring break I went back to Nashville for a couple of days. We went as tourists this time, not volunteers. We went camping at state park about 45 minutes from Nashville and it was lovely. The weather was so nice...it was 80 degrees the entire time we were there and sunny so it was good tenting weather. The park we stayed at had a lot of grandparent types, which was fun. They were all very nice to us and worried about us 3 college girls and whether we could survive in our tent. We had offers to help cut wood for our fire, to give us food, to give us coffee. One couple even gave us all their contact information in case we needed help on our drive. Southern people seem to be very hospitable like that.
While in Nashville we spent a lot of time relaxing at our campsite, playing card games, going on walks, and learning how to cook on a campfire. The park had horseback riding, so we did that for an hour one day which was fun. I don't think I have ridden horses since I was like 10 or something! We also spent one day in the city...we went to some of the places we had gone when we were working in Nashville but spent a little bit more time touring them and taking pictures. We also went back to the Samaritan's Purse headquarters to see the people we had worked with while we were there, which was so good. The supervisors were so good to us when we worked there and we brought them some Tabor wear to remember us by. They let us stay for dinner which was wonderful as always. It was good to see them all again.
After that I got on a plane and made my way back to B.C. (the best place on earth). I have often missed the mountains, and ocean, and mountain air. And of course my family, and friends, and home cooked meals. So that is what I spent my week at home doing: being lazy around the house, hanging out with my family, seeing friends, eating good home cooked food, watching some good hockey, and catching up on everything. It was wonderful to be home. At the end of the week I flew back to Kansas and back to school.
I now have about six weeks left I believe...school starts later here so it ends later than schools in BC. I should be back in BC at the end of May - ready to work!
That is all for now - hopefully I will update more consistently!