Spring Fling

It has been an exciting couple of weeks here in Hillsboro, KS which should explain why I have not blogged in a long time!
Let's start with Spring Break. Whitney and I spent the week in Dallas, TX doing a variety of tourist type things. We stayed in a hotel down town Dallas for the first couple of nights, which was really cool. The hotel was really modern and colorful. While downtown, we checked out the sights. First we went to the JFK museum and the Grassy Knoll area. It was really cool, especially because we never learn much about it in school in Canada. So I learned a lot and it was really eerie but interesting. And then we were standing by the Grassy Knoll and got a conspiracy tour by a conspiracy theorist. It was really funny, but really interesting. The whole story is on my facebook album if you want to learn more. We also went to to an Aquarium, Thanksgiving Square (which has a really cool stain glass ceiling in the chapel), and Dallas history museum. Then we had to leave down town and we stayed the rest of the week outside of the city, where we relaxed, went shopping, got manicures, saw Hunger Games. We also went to a Stars vs. Canucks game...which was so much fun! We won, which was awesome and played great. And then we spent our last day at Six Flags going on crazy thriller rides, standing in long lines, and getting a wee bit sunburned. Then, as all vacations must come to an end, we had to return home. But it was a great vacation and a great time off from school doing new things.
And then a few weeks later came my birthday. I knew Whitney was planning something (she told me it was going to be a surprise) but I could not for the life of me figure out what she was planning. I ask a million questions and got a million different answers. But I found nothing out and had to wait until the Friday before my birthday before I could find anything out. So you can imagine my surprise when I go to work and work for about 15 minutes and then get called into the reception area and then I round the corner and BAMM there are my parents. In Hillsboro, KS. When they are supposed to be in Surrey, BC. It was so crazy. Everyone in the office knew, which was really funny and I was surprised everyone could keep a secret from me. Especially Whitney. But it was so great! They cooked me my favorite birthday meal, got to see the town I live in the majority of the year (they had never been to Hillsboro before). We went and saw the Salt Museum, which is a museum 650 feet under ground. We went out for dinner and hung out a lot. And then alas, they also had to go home. But it was a fantastic weekend and it was so great to have them here and get to see them again after so long. Thanks for coming out mom and dad! (I hope you are reading this).
This past weekend was Easter, as I am sure you all know. I spent some time with Whitney's family, relaxing, doing lots of homework, and relaxing. So yes, it has been a really fun couple of weeks here. And in just over a month, I shall return to Surrey for the summer, hopefully employed. So if you here of any job opportunities...let me know!

Storm Chasing

So, contrary to the title of this blog, I have not in fact done any storm chasing (you can breathe easy again). However, as perhaps the news has told you, there has been some tornado activity. For us, it happened last Tuesday. The weather has said there would be a thunder storm, which only materialized in the evening. I was on my way to class when I asked Whitney if this was tornado weather (I can never tell) and she said possibly. Then a tornado watch was issued - which means conditions may possibly create a tornado. While in class, that changed to a tornado warning which means funnels have been spotted in the area. I later learned that at night warnings are issued more easily because it is more difficult to see funnels. Shortly after the warning, people were told to go to storm shelters. Tabor events were cancelled (including basketball games and dorm events). My class was in a storm shelter so we kept on making things (it was pottery class) while the winds raged on and hail came and thunder and lighting was constant. And then it all ended. No sirens went off, no tornado touched down in our area. And the excitement was over.
Though the storm excitement was over, some more fun things happened. The day after the tornado drama, my social work policy class went on a field trip to Topeka, the capital city of Kansas. It was National Social Work day in Kansas, so there was a conference in one of the universities in Topeka. It included several social works who spoke on different things - such as health care reform, large scale advocacy, and social policy changes. As well as a member of the republican and democrat policies - they were significantly less interested and basically just told us to write letters to our representatives and vote. In the afternoon, our class got the chance to talk to a Kansas Senator who is the senate majority leader here in Kansas which was really exciting. He gave us 45 minutes to just ask a bunch of questions about how policies are changing, how it may impact us, and what we should do to help our communities/clients deal with the inevitable cuts in social programs. It was a great experience and great to have a senator take so much time with us.

Me at the Kansas Capitol Building

To cap off the week, the weather became fantastic and seeing as spring is beginning, we did some gardening! If you remember from my previous post with house pictures in it, we have two garden beds on either side of our front porch. We discovered that each of them are lined with peonies which should bloom in May. We also found some flowers called Naked Ladies growing in our backyard and transplanted them to the front. and we planted some daises along that house in the back of the garden bed. We have not tackled the back yard yet, but we did discover that we have a blueberry tree! Needless to say, we are very excited for all the possible things we can do with blueberries...and I was naturally saddened by the fact that they will bloom while I am back in Canada.
Anyways, it was a very exciting week here in Kansas. And in two weeks it will be spring break! Definitely looking forward to it! Spring break plans are coming together...I tell you all in a little bit!

And it begins again...

Well, it has been awhile. Mostly because nothing too exciting has happened over here but I will tell you all about it anyways.
I finished interterm about two weeks ago. For those of you who don't remember, interterm is when you take one class for 2-3 weeks every day. I took helping relationships (which is part of my major) which was really fun. It was a very hands on class as we learned and practiced important skills that we will need to know if we go into that field. We did a lot of role playing - pretending to have conflicts with each other while another person mediated that conflict. It was a great class!
Once interterm was done, I had a week and a half off until the spring semester started. I did not do a whole lot during the break - just relaxed, read, and worked. I started a new job (again). This is a day job in admissions, answering the phone and doing paper work. I also still do student calling, but this way I get some more hours. So far I really enjoy the job - it has been fun and the office camaraderie is great.
On Tuesday spring semester started. I have now had every class once. I am taking 4 classes - biology, social work practice, social work policy, and ceramics (yes pottery). It should be really busy semester. The two social work classes are upper level classes so they are very involved. Biology is, well, biology and is probably my least favorite subject of all possible subjects, but it was required for my major so I had to take it. We will see how it goes...and then there is ceramics, which will be my nice get away and relax class. the only bad thing about it is that it is a night class. So twice a week I have to go to class at night which is no fun.
So that is my life. Now two random side notes:
(1) I started another blog. This one is with my roommates. We have decided to try out some new recipes and write about in on a blog (sounds familiar eh?). So if you are interested check it out...perhaps you can learn something knew too :) here is a link: http://www.mennonitegirls.blogspot.com/
(2) Ever heard of groupon? If not you should sign up here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu11372181. We bought a groupon to get some professional pictures done. It was $25 for a one hour session and all the photos on a disc. We had a lot of fun and we love the pictures. All photo credit goes to Shotwell photography (http://www.shotwellphotos.com/)...here are a bunch:

One Year

Wow, can you believe it has been a whole year? It was around a year ago today that I arrived in Kansas and I cannot believe how much has happened since then or how much I have learned and experienced. I went to Nashville and learned how to rebuild houses, I have taken 10 classes over two semesters which included everything from health concepts to english to social work and this semester even some biology (eek!) and ceramics (yes, like pottery). I have worked several jobs, and will be starting another new one this semester so I can get some more hours.
Well, enough reminiscing...you can just look through my previous posts for more of that. What have I been up to since my last post? Well, I finished my finals, packed, and flew home for my three week Christmas break. It was so great to be off school and to be able to be lazy and enjoy time with friends and family. I spent some of my break driving my grandfather around, which was fun and kept me busy for a bit. And then there was a lot of nothing. Or everything. Hanging out with friends I hadn't seen in months, reading lots of books, hanging out with my family (at least when they didn't have other things to do...apparently not everyone gets Christmas breaks...) and of course enjoying many Christmas dinners. At the end of it all I realized in just over a month I had six turkey dinners (3 at American thanksgiving, three at Christmas). That is a lot of turkey! Good thing it is so delicious. But alas, Christmas break had to come to an end and earlier this week I made my way back to Kansas, perhaps flying for the last time as I am hoping to drive my car down next August when I come back. January is its own semester here at Tabor (called interterm) and I have just one class every morning from 8:30-11:30. It is going to get very busy soon as it is only a two week class, but it has been very interesting. And only three semesters left! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Years are going well!

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

It is time for house photos! And since it is Christmas and one of my roommates loves to decorate for holidays, everything looks rather Christmasy. Enjoy :)

The outside of our house

This is our living room, complete with a real Christmas tree :)

The View from the other side, looking into the kitchen

The kitchen, that's our new stove (the original one had a rat's nest in it) and there is a large pantry in that closet

And from the other side, our kitchen table looking out the window and our limited counter space

Whitney's and I bedroom...these are our bunk beds...I sleep on the top :S

Another view of our room, that's our closet door

And the dresser, it was Whitney's Grandfathers

One of the bathrooms, there is a lot of storage in this one

And this is the shower

This is the other bathroom (all mine)...this is the shower

The sink

And the bathroom cabinet (Julia had it, now I get to use it)

And last, but not least, the laundry room.

And that is my new house! It is going very well, we all enjoy not having to worry about landlords or neighbors in the next apartment. We all get along well and have created a routine. I do lots of homework, they read and watch TV a lot. We eat lunch together most days and almost always have dinners. We haven't had too many weekends all together, but we have movie nights and game nights. It is all very fun! And now in just 4 short days I will be back in Canada! :) See you all soon!

Turkey Day

Well, as you may or may not know, it was American thanksgiving this past weekend. I ate lots and lots of turkey to make up for not getting any turkey on Canadian thanksgiving. Which, by the way, I learned Americans don't think we have. I can't tell you how many people asked me "do you have thanksgiving?" to which I would say "yes, but it is in October" to which they would say "really? Why? and what is thanksgiving to you Canadians? To us its about the pilgrims" (to which I would think, I know, I've been told 20 times) but I would respond, "I have no idea." then I would be asked "what do you eat?" to which I would say "everything you eat. Yep, we really aren't that different than you". That was an exciting conversation wasn't it? Also, I have discovered that apparently Canadian thanksgiving was an enfranchised holiday before American thanksgiving and that the whole American-pilgrim-Indian meal thing is actually just a story someone made up.
But back to turkey...I got two thanksgiving meals with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, and pumpkin pie. It was great. I went to Whitney's families thanksgiving, which was fun. Her family is fun to hang out with. One of her grandparents enjoy staying up late and playing cards so we often get invited to hang out with them which is fun. I also got to see and play with the girls that I have mentioned before, which was also fun for me.
And of course, American thanksgiving would not be complete without some black Friday shopping. Which I did for the first time in my life. We shopped all night, started at 10PM and getting to bed at 5AM. It was a long night. I can tell you I had no idea what to expect but it was insane. There were SO many people shopping and pushing and shoving and it was crazy. The lineups were insane. We went to Target and stood in a line that wrapped around the entire store. The checkout lineup took as at least an hour. I did not buy too much, but my friend bought a bunch of DVDs (they were like 1-10 dollars each) and some other random clothes. It was a fun experience...not sure if it is one I will feel the need to repeat but it was fun nonetheless.
Now it is back to classes for one more week and then a week of exams and then home sweet home! See you soon Canada!!

Main Street Ministries

So for my social work class we had to get 15 hours of volunteer experience to start feeling out what the profession is all about. I am doing mine at a place called Main Street Ministries which is a local organization that gives low income housing to single mother families. It is a Christian organization and it requires all the women to sign a contract and go to counseling, be in a bible study, go to a church, and a variety of other things as well. I have had a chance to do several different things while there. The social worker who works there just got off maternity leave (which is significantly shorter here) and so I have spent some time with her, watching her adorable new born and two other kids so she can get some work done. Though this is not actually in the social work field, it is interesting because she gives me random tidbits about what happens at Main Street, some of the struggles she has, and some of the struggles the women and children have. I feel like I have learned a lot from these times. Plus I get to have newborns fall asleep in my arms....win win I think.
My favorite thing to do, of course, is to work with the kids. I have had the opportunity to babysit some of them twice. The first time was watching a large group of kids while the mom's were in a group meeting of some sort. The kids ranged in age from 6 months to 12 years old. I was surprised that they all seemed extremely well adjusted. I had expected kids in desperate need of love and attention and help but instead these kids were all extremely friendly, happy, and excited to meet someone new. It was a great experience. These kids lack a lot, but they also have a lot. It was great to shower them with attention and play games with them and get to know some of them. But it was equally great to see that these kids were doing okay, despite a less then perfect situation. The second time I baby sat was for a mom who had to have surgery. I watched her 18 month old (approximate age) for four hours one morning, and again it was just a wonderful chance to love on a little child and play with her. She is a cutie and she was quite amused by my phone which I used to take a bunch of pictures of her and some movies during which she would laugh hysterically.
I also had the chance to work at the Food Bank twice. The food bank is open every Saturday from 9-12 and it is the only one in a large area of town. A lot of people go there for some help with groceries every week. The amount of groceries each family gets depends on the size of their family. Each family gets one or two bags of box foods (which includes things like cereal, hamburger helper, baked goods, pasta, etc.) and one or two backs of canned foods (which includes fruits, vegetables, soups, canned meat, etc.) and some potatoes and some frozen meat. Families can also get toiletries and laundry items if they request it. The first time I helped was just after the youth groups in Hillsboro went around town for "trick or treat so others can eat" which was an event that collected food from the people in the community. It was great to see so much food and fill the cupboards. I didn't get to talk to too many people getting food. Most of them are embarrassed about it and it is hard for them to ask for help, but it is definitely nice to be able to help them in a little way.
The final thing that I did at Main Street was help one mom with some housekeeping. The point of this was both to help her get rid of some things and clean her house up but also to give her company and talk with her. It was really great to talk to her and hear parts of her story. Her mom is actually from Canada, so it was fun to talk about that. She told me she didn't think I had a Canadian accent. But she is just working really hard to get her life on track and be close to God. It was great to hear her talk about it, talk about how she worked through her struggles with various things. I didn't find out how she ended up at Main Street, but she seems to have grown and become much more stable.
That is my time at Main Street. I think I just wrote the paper I have to write about it :P