The Yuma house has had quite the exciting week. After a long weekend, all of us girls slept in Sunday morning and woke up late. Excited for the unsuspecting boys of the 37th ward and our weekly serenade of "Easy Like Sunday Morning," we were a little disturbed by a funny smell in our basement. Convinced it was Natural Gas, Tricia called up a friend who may or may not have worked with heating who told her to turn off our gas.
At this point, we were not so concerned. We figured it was something that we could deal with after church but decided to call our friendly Questar office.
The first implication that something was wrong was when I joked with the Questar man "we may or may not smell Natural Gas in our house. Is that a bad thing??" To which he replied "You need to evacuate your house now."
Um... What? We have church soon. And we are all in various stages of showering and getting ready for church. And now we have to leave? But stay close enough for when the technician comes? Wow.
Tricia and I headed to my Grandma's and continued to get ready there. Questar man called right as we were finishing up and we headed home. Little did we know we were about to get the most inconvenient news of our entire lives....
(that was a bit dramatic. maybe just the most inconvenient news of the past few months or so)
Questar Man was Creepy McCreepster. He had weird eyes, a huge beer gut, and was about 60. Once he got down there and got started he started saying all sorts of Creepy things. He asked about 3 times if there were 4 girls who lived there. He walked into my bedroom where I had some extra props from Halloween and said "Is this your bedroom? What is that bone for, to beat your boyfriends?" So at this point Tricia was getting ready for church and I ran into her room and told her she would be punished if she left me to go to church. Then he tells us his daughter went to T-ville High so Tricia and I thought we'd have some non-creepy middle ground. Oh no. He says he's "heard about Taylorsville girls" and brings up the stat that T-ville was allegedly had the highest rate of teen pregnancy and asked if we were "one of those girls".
Then it just got funny. He couldn't find anything wrong with the heater so decided to check the water heater. He had to get a machine from his car and I think he took a shot of heroin or something in the truck because when he got back, it was over. He said the machine also doubled as a breathalizer test and made T breathe on it. Then he shoved about half the thing down his throat and started wheezing all over it but nothing was registering on the machine and he was getting genuinly ticked off. When he finally (about an hour later. We had way missed the first of church by now) got around to testing our water heater, he informed us that it had been leaking carbon monoxide into our house for who knows how long! Then he red tags our water heater and essentially tells us we'll die if we turn it back on. Fantastic. After I signed all of the "I will not sue if I die from turning it back on" papers, he finally packed up his breathalizer tester and moved on.
So we were in a bind. Our landlords live in the United Arab Emirates now so I emailed her knowing I'd get a response in about 12 hours about what to do. So the first email went out on Sunday afternoon. When I hadn't heard anything by Monday, I called a plumber who was a family friend who gave me an idea of what it would cost and when he could do it. Still no word Monday from the landlords. Email #2 went out Monday night. Still no word. Tuesday I finally call their son (who we were threatened with close to death if we called for a reason less than death) who told me to go ahead? But? He didn't really know??
Yea, encouraging. So I scheduled the plumber for Wednesday without having any idea if it was okay with them or how this would get paid for or what. Tuesday night I get a call from the son who's emailing the mom who hasn't read our emails because she forgot our names and didn't think they were important. So they decided that her husband was going to call me at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning to give me the specifics of the heater he wanted.
If you're counting, we're now on day 4 of no heater. And I have a plumber coming at 1:30, which means I made sub plans and took half of a precious personal day for this. And they want to call me with specifics at 7?? Nice. So he calls me at 7 and just wants me to ask some questions and asks if I've looked for a better deal. I call the plumber with the questions and just decided to go for it. Whatever. Screw what everyone thinks, I want a hot shower.
So I left school and the plumber came and not only do we now have steamy hot water, we have better water pressure.
Wow. That was not an important story that I was able to drag out into a huge blog! I have a gift.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I need a cold shower...
Monday, November 3, 2008
TAGGED!
I got tagged by Tricia! (I should kick you. You're about 3 feet away)..........
The rules are:
* Link to the person who tagged you (Tricia-licious. triciamerlin.blogspot.com)
*Post the rules on your blog
*Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
* Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
* Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
* Let the tagger know when your entry is posted
Okay, here goes:
1. I am really weird about things matching. Everything in my wardrobe for the day (including under-things) has to match. While I'm teaching I usually use a marker that matches what I'm wearing. I pick out colored paper to copy assignments based on what I'm wearing. I change up my purse every day to match. I used to pick my lotion based on what I'm wearing but luckily I'm not THAT crazy anymore.
2. I can't NOT finish a book. Even if I hate it, I can't leave it until its done. I'm reading a book right now that totally sucks and I'm really sick of it but I can't put it down. I read tons of books but I can't stop until they're done no matter how lame they are.
3. I sing like a maniac in my car. At the top of my lungs. And I dance. But I only do this when I'm alone and people in the cars next to me get a really good show.
4. If something gets stuck to the bottom of my foot, I FREAK out. If I step on tape or a post-it or anything gets stuck on the bottom of my foot I seriously look like I'm having a seizure because I can NOT get it off fast enough. For some reason that drives me CRAZY.
5. When I was younger I took a nose-spray medicine called Beconase and it seriously messed me up. If anything even smells remotely like it I want to die. If someone uses it in the morning I can smell it like 6 hours later. I bought mascara that slightly smelled like it and I had to throw it away to buy a new one. I can't stand it.
6. When I was younger I was deathly afraid of fire drills and sleepovers. I thought fire drills meant that everyone I loved was burning up and I thought if I slept over at someone else's house that my family would die or something while I was gone. I know. I was crazy. I finally had to have counseling in like 4th grade. It makes me laugh now but I was terrified back then!!!
I tag.... Anyone who needs to kill some time and wants to talk about themselves!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
2 in one day! I need a life...
Here are the rules:I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others.
Here are the questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? LOVESAC
2. Where is your significant other? WHO??
3. Your hair color? BROWN
4. Your mother? FUNNY
5. Your father? INTELLIGENT
6. Your favorite thing? FAMILY
7. Your dream last night? FORGETABLE
8. Your dream/goal? HAPPINESS
9. The room you're in? BASEMENT
10. Your hobby? COLLEGE-FOOTBALL
11. Your fear? SNAKES
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? TEACHING??
13. Where were you last night? HOME
14. What you're not? TIRED
15. One of your wish-list items? SHOES
16. Where you grew up? T-VILLE!
17. The last thing you did? BLOGGED
18. What are you wearing? HOODIE
19. Your TV? VH1
20. Your pet? TRICIA
21. Your computer? PINK
22. Your mood? BORED
23. Missing someone? NAH
24. Your car? MAZIE!
25. Something you're not wearing? UNDERWEAR! (JUST KIDDING. NECKLACE)
26. Favorite store? TARGET
27. Your summer? AMAZING
28. Love someone? EVERYONE
29. Your favorite color? GRAY
30. When is the last time you laughed? TODAY
31. Last time you cried? LASTWEEK (?)
Why I love First Graders...
This, my friends, is why I love first graders. Meet Ethan. Ethan makes up Kung-Fu moves during recess and then performs them for me. Ethan is probably the funniest kid ever. He writes stories in his journal about catching ghosts with heat-seeking nets. I call on him every time he raises his hand because I KNOW something good is coming out. Please enjoy the moves.
The Foo-age.
The Sneak Attack
The Slicer-Dicer
Last, but certainly not last, the Flying Bat.
Please enjoy.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
We're the Warriors from Taylorsville High!
Yes, Erika, I did steal this from you. It just was making me laugh way too hard.
1. Did you date someone from High School? Same as Erika! Yes, but not until a few years out of high school.
2. What kind of car did you drive? Oldsie! My brown and pink oldsmobile. And then the white Kia.
3. What was your most embarrasing moment in High School? Oh mercy. I have far too many to count. I think the kicker would be when I rear ended Adam Woods (Paul's older brother) on 5400 S. by the school on my way home from the baseball state championship. I was wearing my officer sweater and bawling and everyone was driving home from the game and honking at me.
4. Were you a party animal? Not especially. We did have some good times, though!
5. Were you considered a flirt? Probably not a very good one!
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Concert choir for life! Except most of us did it for the trip to San Diego and oh, it was worth it.
7. Were you a nerd? I'd like to think no, but I probably was.
8. Were you on any varsity teams? I was captain of the Varsity Awesome Team, but that's about it.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never! I don't even really remember getting in trouble.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? We're the Warriors and we're the best. We've got courage deep inside. Just look at all the things we've done and all the victories we've won, our school is #1 we say with PRIDE! We are always above the rest, and that is the reason why we'll fight for the gold, and win for the blue we're the Warriors from Taylorsville HIGH! W-A-Double R-I-O-R-S!
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. Hanks for SURE. I'd also throw in Mrs. Hyde our senior year English teacher who said the immortal words "P is for Poo. A is for what you're NOT going to get in this class. R is for Regret. T is for the Time you've wasted. Y is for You're in trouble."
12. Where did you sit during lunch? I think mostly the Commons, D-hall, Dees or Wendys. Or Jeff Porter's house.
13. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Loved it, but no.
14. What do you remember most about graduation? I mostly remember other stuff. Like Sr. Dinner Dance and how TICKED OFF Laura and I STILL are that we picked a lame theme and not NSYNC's Gone. And Sr. Breakout. But I don't remember too much about actual Graduation day. I do remember the squirrel talk and being really really hot.
15. Where did you go for Senior Skip Day? I think every day for me was Sr. Skip Day. But I distinctly remember a bunch of us at my house making a big breakfast.
16. Have you gained weight since then? Ha ha! No! I've actually LOST weight which tells you how Chubbs McGee I was in high school!
17. Who was your prom date? I only went Senior year. Derek Fulton!
18. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? (Wrong answer Ersie, You WILL go.) Oh don't worry. I'm planning on PLANNING my 10 year reunion. Blasted officers.
19. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Not much. I think you just kind of have to make it through high school once and have a good time!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
See Amanda Calm...
Okay, now that I am calmed down and settled and feeling exponentially more intelligent than my last post I thought I'd fill you in with some updates.
SCHOOL/WORK (yes, they are the same): Boo ya. Apparently staying put in first grade. This is good news considering that the thought of going back to third grade was giving me a RyanAir-Barcelona-Flight type feeling. I loved my class last year. Don't get me wrong I totally loved them, but I didn't like teaching third grade. In first grade I get to teach letters and sounds and do part of my lesson with a puppet. No, not kidding. His name is Cletus the Cowboy and my students LOVE him. Seriously. I also get kids like Ethan who makes up Karate moves (aptly named The Flying Bat, The Sneak Attack, or the Cutter Lutter) at recess. Or Krishawn who tells me my earrings are fly and when we talked about the L sound kept singing the dirty, dirty Lollipop song by Lil Wayne. First grade is where it's at, yo.
HOUSE: Awesome. No battle. We got the best possible house in the best possible location with the best possible roommates. We are having a great time. Our ward is awesome. The commute to work isn't as hellish as I thought. We all had a crush on the Comcast man only because he was the bringer of cable and internet. It's perfect. ANNOUNCEMENT: House party. Our house. Friday night. Be there or be square. It's gonna be HOT HOT HOT.
DATING: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good times, good times.
AMANDA IS A MORON UPDATE: So I went to the Utah vs. USU game last weekend and was running to hug Ashley Brems Buck and totally ate bleacher. I fell in the middle of the Aggies section and looked and felt like a total moron. Is anyone surprised??
Okay, I promise pictures will come soon. Of the house and the game and whatever else I can think of. I'm just happy life has calmed down and football season has started and I can't stop watching. Oh so happy. Nothin beats a diet coke and a good game in our wood-panelled basement.
Come to the house party.
That is all.
Friday, September 5, 2008
See Amanda stress.
I think first grade is dumbing me down. I can only think in simple sentences:
See Amanda stress.
Amanda teaches first grade.
Amanda loves her class.
Amanda has lots to do for her class.
First grade has not enough kids!
Third grade has too many kids!
What is Amanda to do?
The principal thinks Amanda might teach third grade.
This makes Amanda sad.
Amanda still teaches first grade, but could teach third grade any day.
This would take lots of work.
Amanda might cry.
See Amanda stress.
Amanda moved to a new house!
Amanda has a nice house.
Amanda loves her house.
Amanda loves her roommates.
Amanda loves her new ward.
Amanda moved during the second week of school.
What was Amanda thinking?
Amanda has no internet.
Amanda has no TV!
What is Amanda going to do?
Amanda needs to find some hobbies.
Amanda works a lot at her new house.
See Amanda stress.
Amanda always stresses at the beginning of a school year.
Amanda does lots of work.
Amanda doesn't get paid for lots of work.
Amanda should quit teaching and become a nurse.
Amanda works all day and all night.
Amanda would like a break!
See Amanda stress.
Friday, August 22, 2008
My Lovely Lady Lumps....
So yesterday started out exciting! I had meetings all day at work and then my first night of Parent Teacher Conferences which meant a full day of school and trying to act like I know what I'm doing.
Well, those plans took a SLIGHT detour when I woke up at about 4:45 with the worst possible pain I have ever felt EVER. I tried to just lay there but I knew I was going to die. So I crawled (too painful to stand) around my room until I found suitable clothing, crawled to the bathroom to vomit, crawled up the stairs to beg my dad to take me to the ER before I imploded.
We got there and checked in about an hour later (the crawling kinda took a while) and I had to explain my symptoms to about 8 different people. Intense, serious, stabbing, blinding pain in my lower abdomen. No, I don't have a damn fever just give me the morphine drip. There is more blinding pain and almost blacking out before/during/after a urine sample in the middle but it's all running together... So after one smiley doctor (I had the morphine by this point and was smiley as well!) pushed and prodded my stomach to see which spot would get the loudest cry of pain, he ordered an external AND an internal ultrasound. Yes, the internal IS as bad as it sounds, maybe worse. Prognosis? Lumps. More lumps for Amanda. I have a 5 c.m. cyst on my right ovary which either leaked or twisted or something that seriously tried to kill me from the inside out.
I have the lumpiest body ever. And not Fergie's lovely lady lumps, (although I do have some of those) and not even the cottage cheesy thigh kinda lumps (although I have those too). I'm talking internal medical lumps.
So they want to watch it for the next little bit and see what happens to it and then another doctor will decide what I should do. He says most likely it will go away on it's own but seriously if that thing twists or leaks one more time I'm just going to rip it out myself. Somehow.
Has anyone ever heard the Bryan Regan part about going to the ER? I kept thinking of that when I was there. Especially because I did say my pain was an 8 (9 belonging to childbirth and 10 belonging to broken femurs) and I indeed wanted to share the 8 with others when I was pumped full of drugs. If you haven't seen it, I perscribe that you see it soon and then this whole paragraph will make much more sense.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Galatz of Fun!
Okay, I am safely home and want to finish out the blog for the trip...
On Wednesday (I'm still talking about Romania here) we loaded a fan with a driver named For Now (that obviously wasn't the spelling but it sure sounded like it!) and headed to 2 other towns in Romania, Galatz and Baraila. Galatz is home to a center for teen mothers where after they give birth they can live there for up to a year to take care of their baby. We stopped at Metro (which is Romanian style Costco) and loaded up on food, diapers, formula and toys for the center. (I have a funny story about Sorin telling Cary "You tell those girls SERIOUSLY. This is SERIOUS." but I need to add all my funny stories later. I have about 20 of Sorin!) We got to the center in Galatz (we have Galatz of jokes about Galatz.) and unloaded the food and then totally got our Santa on and went around handing out toys to all the kids. Most of the mothers there spoke English so we got to talk to them. One mom was really young and said she had a husband and a son living on the street so she was living in the center until she could get her baby strong enough to live on the streets with them. It was a really sad story! The center is really really nice. The have nice rooms and a great staff that helps them take care of the babies and gives them a lot of counseling. It's all funded from a Lutheran church in Tennessee and was a really nice place. I'm glad they have a place to go.
After that we all loaded back up the van and headed to Braila. It was a really sketchy situation and none of us really felt comfortable there. The guy who ran it was just really shady and we saw a center for a few kids to live in but we bailed pretty fast. None of us really liked this guy.
We all got back on the van and headed back to Barlad (insert funny story about Sorin sitting by Tricia on the van...). We ate at Happy Time (best.restaurant.ever) and Tricia and I walked back to the Hotel Moldova. We went out and did some good shopping again and then we found an internet cafe where I got EATEN ALIVE by mutant mosquitos. Not even kidding I look like I have leprosy or something. One of them swelled up to about the size of a quarter. I look gross.
The next day the two other girls (Brooke and April) left in the morning to head back to Bucharest and we had our last day of camp. We had all the kids that morning and it was so much fun. We traced their bodies on the sidewalk and let them draw for a while and it looked awesome! By the time we had done all of the kids the entire sidewalk was covered with all of their drawings of themselves. After that they made these really cute hands that they wrote on each finger 5 things they liked about themselves and then all of them read them to the whole group. They are so cute! We fed them pizza (from Alona's. Yummmmm) and then gave all of the foster mothers some flowers on the way out. They are seriously the nicest women. Every single one came up to me and thanked me on the way out and gave me hugs and kisses and rattled off things in Romanian (hopefully not telling me I screwed up their kids or something) and then had their kids give me hugs and kisses. It was so good to see them all again and the progress they're all making!
After that we cleaned things up and went back to the office and got things cleaned and organized. Marylin, Tricia and I went one last time to the Special Needs Orphanage and then Tricia and I, yet again, finished up some shopping (wait until you see my purple shoes!) and then the rest of the group (Jeff, Cary, Marylin, me and T) went to dinner at the restaurant at Hotel Moldova. It was maybe the funniest dinner of my entire life. We were laughing so hard that all of us were crying and the tables around us were moving out of the way! We made a list of all of the funny one liners we'd had during the week and we were dying. The other people were so easy to get along with and we laughed the entire night. Then we made Jeff carry all of our purses across town to put them in the extra suitcase to take home. He had about 6 of them! Then we spent the rest of the night packing.
We took the morning train out of Barlad (first class is the way to go! It was so nice!) and spent some time sight seeing in Bucharest and then had dinner with the Lundbergs in the mission home and then went back to the hotel and crashed. We woke up at about 3:30 to get to the airport and had an extremely non-eventful few flights home.
So I am back! I'll get some pictures up here soon!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Camp Champ!
Okay, I have a few minutes so I will try to give you as much as an update as I can for as long as I can! Yikes.
So I made it (finally) at 4 a.m. and Tricia and I talked for a while so I got to bed it was about 5. I had to get up at 8 to get ready for the day and start going for the day on 3 hours of sleep. We are all aware that does not work for Amanda. But I got up and met the rest of the group and had a delicious (for reals) omlette from the Hotel Moldova. Then we headed up to the Foundation Office and unloaded the boxes that we had brought. One of the girls that is with us has a husband who plays for the Green Bay Packers (Brady Poppinga) and they have a foundation called Poppinga Pay it Forward that gathered a whole bunch of stuff. And when I say "Whole Bunch" I mean about 85 tons of supplies. Seriously. Clothes, toys, medical supplies, you name it. I unpacked the camp supplies and then helped them get things organized and it took a very very long time. We also had a meeting with a bunch of the staff where we introduced ourselves and went over the agenda for the week.
After that we went to the Elena Farago orphanage to see the teens. I tell you what I was a celebrity there. The boys were running at me and it was SO SO SO SO good to see them again. We talked and hung out and all of them kind of introduced themselves and talked about where they are in life and what they are doing. We also met the new director for the place and he is a great man. His eyes just totally light up and I can tell he really cares about the kids there. He has a really good heart and he made me feel really comforatble about having the boys there. They were leaving for camp the next day so that was our only night to hang out at the center.
After that a few of us went to the Children's Protection office where the painter Costica has his studio. A few of the girls bought paintings (he wouldn't sell the one I wanted, it was one of Oana's.) and we saw all of the amazing murals he's made for the kids in the Children's Protection building. It mostly houses kids in emergency situations who are being abused and it was a really nice and clean facility.
After that we headed back to the Foundation Apartment to have dinner with the Bridge to Success boys: Claudiu, Adrian, Vasile, Sorin, Danut, and Bogdan. Oh, how I love those boys so much. We ate and hung out and Brooke brought all of them tons of Packers clothes. They got brand new shoes, shirts, coats and pants all from the team and I think most of them were autographed. They were really excited even thought they have NO IDEA what American Football is. They still were pretty excited. I gave the guys a few CD's and we had a good talk (of course) about how we expect them to make good decisions and how what they decide now will really effect them and how we're so proud of the gains they've been making lately. It was so great to see them and I was so sad that they all left for camp and I wont get to see them again! They all seemed happy and healthy and I just love them so much!
The next day was the first day of camp and it was so awesome. The theme for the day was all activities that had to do with Christmas (the parents thought I was totally nuts) and we decorated Christmas trees, made ornaments out of pipe cleaners and beads, made macaroni necklaces and decorated big wooden stars. The little kids (3-5ish) came first and the older kids came later. We did the same thing for both groups and it was a blast. We had so much fun! The kids are really awesome and the moms were so supportive and so helpful with the kids! We had a lot of fun with camp.
After camp the first day we went to the special needs orphanage. It still is getting so much better! We brought bumper pads for all the cribs and got to tie them all on and hold the kids. Yes, Debbie, I got to hold Alexandra again and she is so sweet. We played frisbee with a few of the older kids there and hung out for a while. After that we did some organizations of the camp stuff and clothes stuff for a long time and then a few of us went to Happy Time for dinner. After that we totally just hit the sack. I was still trying to catch up on sleep which was about the longest process ever.
Tuesday we did camp again with the theme of Animals. We all got there and started to set up and the parents and kids all came and we were about ready to start when we realized that not one person there spoke English and Romanian. None of the staff had shown up yet. We pulled out crayons and paper to kill some time... then we needed more time to kill so we pulled out the parachute... We didn't get an interpreter there until almost an hour late! We got things going and it ended up being one of the funnest days. We had kids crawling around acting like animals and a whole bunch of pictures and masks and we did some races while acting like animals. It was probably the funnest day of camp. After that we went to the Barlad Children's Hospital and delivered a whole bunch of medical supplies and delivered toys to the kids that were there. It was so fun to be playing Santa and taking toys to all the kids. We couldn't hold any of the babies or take pictures which is probably best considering the 800 I have of Stefan from last year. These poor mothers had to deal with all of us totally invading their privacy as the nurses took us into all the rooms. It was really cool to see the therapy room there. They were doing a lot of massage therapy there with the kids and it was so interesting to see it. The room was really nice and colorful and they were doing massage therapy with a girl with muscular dystrophy and another boy with some leg problems. I had never seen that room before and it was really cool.
After me and Tricia did some mad Barlad shopping, we met all of the staff for dinner at Alona's which turned into about a 3 hour affair by the time we all ordered and ate. It was a really good time to just sit and have fun and talk to them outside of the setting with the kids. We just kind of had fun and ate a lot and sat for a long time.
Okay, I think 3 days is about all I can cover in one blog. I have so much to say about the improvements in this place. Elena Farago is incredible. The special needs center and the hospital seem so much better staffed and the kids seem so cared for. The parents are even getting so much more involved with their children. I am just so happy with the situation these kids are facing. It seems like the whole town is coming together and taking care of these kids. We talked to a lady at the hospital who said that things are looking better because parents are excited to have kids and "wishing to have children." I have been so pleased with how things are looking here and it's making me so happy for these kids.
Okay, that's enough for today. Love you all! See you soon!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Death. To. Flights.
Okay. Prepare yourself for the worst story of my lifetime! Grab a chair (this will be a long one), and some tissues because you are either going to cry for me or laugh so hard you'll cry. Depends on whether you are a jerk or not.
So the morning I was supposed to leave for Bucharest I made Megann and Mitch get up EXTRA early so we would get to the airport in plenty of time to get me to the airport. We got to the Madrid airport with PLENTY of time to get me going. I bought my ticket online and they mailed me a paper ticket (raise your hand if you've seen one of those in 10 years... anyone...?) so I wanted to make sure I had tons of time to make sure there were no problems. See, once I got to Bucharest I was meeting the rest of the travel group to take a van to Barlad. They landed a little bit before me and were going to have the van loaded and ready to go so I had to be totally ready to just jump on the van when I landed.
So I'm at the airport and the lady at the check in counter says that I need to be in some other line because of my ticket and my flight and my line will open at 9:30. I asked her if that would be a problem because my flight took off at 10:15 and that sounded like it was cutting it close, but she quickly directed us to the other line. We waited in the other line for over an hour and when the pudgy Spanish man finally waddled behind the counter and put up the flight info... It wasn't my flight. I had been in the wrong line the whole time. This is where Amanda starts to sob. Uncontrollably. In the airport. So we freak out and find some lady who was standing there who tells me I'm pretty much screwed because my flight is closed and there is no way I can get there and I need to go back to the lady that told me that in the first place. So we run to the front of her line, leaving many angry Spaniards in our frantic wake, and she admits she made the mistake and tells me to take both of my bags as carry-on luggage and run for it. She makes me a quick boarding pass and gets a speedy security stamp and tells me to run.
And run I did. I was pulling the biggest one behind me and pushing the smaller one in front of me. I get to the security line and they rush me through but I have to chuck all of my liquids. Shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash, hair spray, everything. The security guy was nice enough to run them back to Meg and Mitch. I get down some ramp and realize I have to take a train to my terminal. Then I have to go through Passport control. Then I have to run down about 15 hallways STILL sobbing like a maniac, STILL carrying a month's worth of luggage. Needless to say when I got there... No plane.
THey directed me to the counter where they were nice enough to get me on the next flight, but I was in the airport realizing that I had no way to get from Bucharest to Barlad and no way to contact the group to tell them I wasn't going to be arriving at three. So at this point I did what any girl would do... I called my daddy in the middle of the night and asked him to fix it.
My poor dad gets a hysterical phone call in the middle of the night and has no idea how to help me! We finally decided that I could get to Bucharest and find a hotel and take a train in the morning. No one in their right mind wants to spend a night in Bucharest alone! I was totally freaked out with that solution but I was out of ideas. We talked about how to get ahold of the people and my dad decided he'd call the mission home and try to get ahold of our friends the Lundbergs who are the mission presidents in Bucharest and worked with the foundation and they could give us a number to let them know I'd be late.
So my dad calls as I'm boarding the plane and says "Laurie Lundberg will pick you up at the airport. She says dont worry and she will take complete care of you." I have never heard better words in all of my days. It was the first time in about 6 hours that I actually stopped crying.
Laurie and Scott and Joshua were there when I got off the plane and I immediately started crying yet again because I was so happy to see someone that spoke my language and was a familiar face that I trusted! THey took me to the mission home and fed me dinner and had the AP's physically walk me to my seat and ask the people in my car to make sure I got off in Barlad because I'd already missed my chance to get there once and I didn't want to miss it again! My train didnt leave until 11 which means I didn't even get to Barlad until 3:30 in the morning. Wonderful Sorin from the foundation had to get out of bed in the middle of the night to haul my butt and luggage to the hotel. I'm glad it takes the full force of the Church in Bucharest to get Amanda to a destination. Mercy.
Okay, this is really long and I am SO SO SORRY that I have not written about the kids! I know a lot of you are counting on that and I promise I will write soon. I had to get this story out of the way.
THe kids are amazing. I love them. I have so much to write but I am leaving Barlad on Friday and will try to write tomorrow when camp ends. I have so many great pictures and lots of really ugly ones (one where I look like Quazimoto the Hunchback) and so much to talk about but I will leave this story in all it's glory.
Love you all!I will see you soon!
Friday, July 25, 2008
I Corazon Madrid
So tonight I am packing... Well, blogging with the intention of packing later.
Madrid has been awesome. We have gotten lots of sleep which has been definitely needed! Especially after how jam packed Rome was. The first night after we got back, Megann and I went on a romantic date to see the Flamenco Ballet. It was so awesome. There were like 12 dancers total and a live band on stage and they just rocked it. The audience was straight Americans, which really made me laugh because it was definitely geared towards tourists. The dancers were definitely spicy and Meg and I definitely loved it. It was really cool to see. After that we kinda roamed the streets (looking for a fabled Subway Restaurant we´d heard about) and ended up doing a little bit of shopping (oops! No Pradas this time, though!) and ended up eating the best chicken sandwiches ever at KFC! We´re super authentic in our food, but I hear Spanish food isn´t that great.
The next day (yesterday) I spent some time in the Thyssen Museum which is a HUGE art museum that is all one family´s private collection, which is insane. It was quite the large collection. M and M had already seen it all so I went by myself which is probably best because I´m a nerd and got like the audio tour and wandered for a while. Then we took a few Metros (I am getting deathly sick of public transportation and am pining, yes pining, for my Mazda) and ended up at an incredible park that had some tram system that takes you over a huge chunk of Madrid. It was a great way to see tons of the city without dealing with the weird Madrid-ians.
People in Madrid are so strange. Italy was full of very beautiful and extremely well dressed people. Madrid on the other hand?? Yikes. This is the land of mullets. Men, women, young, old, it doesn´t matter, you cut the mullet. And if you´re extra fancy?? Grow the back into dreads. Then add some hammer pants or skinny jeans, wear shirts from 1980 and throw in some cleavage and you are good to go! Add a cigarette just to make yourself extra authentic. It´s gross.
That was a huge detour but it needed to be said.
After the tram ride we went into the park to see this huge Egyptian temple. Yes, Egyptian temple. Apparently Spain helped Egypt with something at some point and so they donated a huge temple that they took apart and labeled each brick and then put back together in the park. It was really cool. We got there about 10 seconds after closing time so we couldn´t go in, but the outside of it was oddly cool for how out of place it looks in the middle of Madrid!
Today we spent the day at Aquopolis, which was the most ghetto water park I have ever seen! Yes, Emily, more ghetto than Roaring Springs in Meridian Idaho. It´s in the middle of nowhere built on top of a huge hay field. They have like 10 slides, but let me tell you what. Maybe it´s the lack of safety codes or something but some of those slides are AWESOME. We went on some huge blue one about 20 times by the end of the day. The other weird thing about people from Madrid (and pretty much Europeans in general) is their lack of decision making skills when it comes to swimwear. I have never seen so much anatomy in my life as I did today. And that almost includes our days at the beach. I think Megann and I were 2 of about 5 women there NOT in bikinis, which isn´t a bad thing until you factor in that many of them were large, many of the bikinis were small, and all of the slides included a strong water current. And then add in the men in Speedos or white tight swim shorts and you´ve got yourself a recipe for disaster. Or a lesson in body parts.
So tonight I pack. Little challenging due to the handbags, but it needs to be done. I am getting really excited to go to Romania. I am so excited to see those kids for now the third year in a row and see how far they´ve come in the last 2 years! I´m very excited to get there and a little bit sad to only be there for a week, but I am starting to get anxious to come home and get my classroom set up! Yikes. Well, next time I blog it will be from the lovely city of Barlad. Thanks for all of the comments, emails, etc. and keep them coming. Romania is hard on my heart every year and it was harder last year than the first year so I hope it´s not a trend.
I love you all so much! Be good while I´m gone!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ciao, Roma....
So today we said goodbye to Roma.... And what a sad day it was...
So Sunday night we went back into the city to this huge outdoor market. There was a bunch of crap for sale so we did a lot of browsing and even more people watching. The people here are so fun to watch, mostly because they are either really crazy or insanely beautiful. Italian people are so attractive. One of the waiters at the Marriott should honestly set himself up in a museum and start charging. I´d have paid for SURE but I got it for free! But I´m getting off track. After we left the market, we ate at the most amazing restaurant I have ever seen.
It was in an alley against a building covered with ivy, lit lanterns everywhere, old Italian guys playing accordians and guitars, and pasta. OH the pasta. It was unbelievable. It was seriously one of the most beautiful settings I have ever been in. I took lots of pictures but you´re going to have to wait to see them.
Monday morning we got up and went to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum. If the waiter wasn´t enough, there were a few security guys at the Vatican that could have been side exhibits. Megann had to hold me back from doing something illegal to get tackled by them. But the Sistine Chapel was incredible. Other than the workers yelling at the top of their lungs ¨Silencio! No Fotos!¨about every 8 seconds. That definitely didn´t help. I thought I´d be sneaky and take one anyways (like about half of the people in there were doing) but totally got busted by one of the yellers. He said ¨no fotos¨to me about 86 times in the course of half a minute. Even after my camera was off and in my purse! It was funny! It was really really pretty and there was so much to look at. It´s kinda funny to walk into a room where every single person is looking at the ceiling. And it´s impossible to keep your mouth closed when you´re looking up so it´s like 300 people all staring up with their mouths open when you first walk in. I started laughing and then totally joined the crowd. It was really incredible. I was just expecting the finger-touching picture (which is totally making me laugh at the Arrested Development episode but Kevin and Jen might be the only ones laughing with me. Or the Simpsons episode with Mr. Burns. One of the two) but there is so much on that ceiling. It is huge and that picture is like 1/20 of it. Wow.
After that we walked around for a bit and saw the Church of the Bones. It´s in a pretty busy part of the city by the US Embassy and looks like a normal church on the outside. It looks out of place because its surrounded by banks and huge hotels, but it looks like a very unassuming church from the outside. It´s run by a lady who sits at a desk and asks for donations and from that room, still, just looks like an innocent little church... And then you walk inside...
The church is decorated with bones. Human bones. And when I say decorated I mean like Grandma Smith style decorations. There are bones EVERYWHERE. Little vertebrae hooked together to form a border of the arch way. Skulls and pelvises hooked together and hung on the wall. Chandeliers made up of arm bones. Knee caps formed into flowers. Full skeletons hung from the ceilings. And to top it off, a sign at the end that says ¨What you are, we were. What we are now, you will be.¨ Creepiest and coolest place ever. And then they start playing this haunting organ music and it´s just creepy. There are bones nailed to the ceiling and I just knew one of them would fall and hit me in the face or something.
Probably the funniest thing about packing to get home was my unfortunate shopping habit. See, unfortunately the streets are lined with fake Prada handbags. And I may have purchased a few. Well, six. I bought six. Some of them are gifts so don´t think I´m THAT crazy, but I ended up having to carry one purse with all my stuff and another purse stuffed with other purses as my other carry-on for the flight home. I know I´m a total moron! I realize that! And I looked even cooler with my huge purses on the plane.
I´m back in Spain for a few more days and leave for Romania on Saturday. It will be nice to get some laundry done (my clothes are the stinkiest) and get some good sleep. We´re hoping to catch the Dark Knight while we´re here so don´t tell me anything about it!
Okay this has been super long. But I love you all and will see everyone soon!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Church it up!
Hello! I hope youre all enjoying this. I have failed to recieve ANY emails from hardly any of you and if I were as bitter as I was last year I would skip writing today, but as I am another year older and wiser, I will continue.
Yesterday we slept in (are you shocked??) and then went to Rome a little later in the day. We started at the Basilica di San Clemente, which is a church built on top of a temple of some sort built on top of a Roman coin mint built on top of a Pagan church. So every level you go down it changes to fit whatever purpose it was used for at the time. It was so cool. The tour guide was saying that they havent excavated everything so they really have very little idea the actual size of whatever is underground. Some of the frescoes and work dates back to like the years Christ was alive and it was just really cool to be down there and see everything. It was probably one of the cooler things weve seen so far.
After that we walked around for a while and saw a few other buildings that are old and cool and then walked down to kinda the main square and took the Night Bus around Rome. We were on the top of a double decker and it shuttled us around the city so we could see everything lit up. It was awesome! They had a place to plug in earphones and was spewing out the most random facts about the city while we were driving and looking at the sights. This city is so incredible. The colluseum looked amazing.
(Im running out of internet time so Im hurrying!)
Today we went to the LDS church that is close to the Vatican. Cool to see that its the same (and true:)) everywhere you go. After that we went over to St. Peters Basilica and walked around that and caught the noon session of mass. Hearing people sing and organs playing in that huge and gorgeous building is just beyond words. It was an incredible experience to be there even if I couldnt understand it! We also got to go down and see the tombs of the Popes. Now THAT was awesome. They still had people crying and seeing the tomb of the last Pope and writing prayers and stuff and leaving them there. The Basilica is amazing and seeing the Pieta in real life was incredible.
Internets kicking me off. Love you all!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Rome if you want toooo-ooooo!
I am running out of song titles about Rome! I gave you a lame post about Rome so I thought I would wax a little poetic here about the great city. But the keyboard is jacked so if you are shocked by my poor use of grammar its only because I cant find an apostrophe on the keyboard.
Okay, so we got to Rome and it took us 10 hours from the time we left Meg and Mitchs place in Madrid until we staggerd into our beautiful Courtyard Marriott. What we didnt really realize is that we flew into the Ciampino airport, but our hotel is at the Fiumicino airport. They are on opposite sides of the city. It took us forever to get here. When we woke up we finally realized that it would take us about 90 Euro per day to get all of us into Rome each day, so we rented a car. I think I told you that, but its awesome. The cars here are so tiny!
We started off yesterday at the Colloseum. There were these crazy Roman soliders who were taking pictures with me when suddenly one of them started saying he was going to cut off my chest and asked if they were "original or plastic" and I couldnt stop laughing at him! Then they asked me for 10 € for the pictures! I gave them 2 and the pictures are funny. I went into the Collosuem alone (M and M had already seen it) and it was so incredible. Seriously.
We had met a guy on our flight there who is an American living in Rome and working with something called the "Rome Pub Crawl" where they pretty much take tourists out drinking at like 10 different bars or something. We dont know his name so weve started lovingly referring to him as Pimpleton. So we ran into Pimpleton who for about the 50th time tried to get us to go on this Bar Crawl. It gets funnier every time because we keep telling him we dont even drink and he keeps wanting us to go with him! We ran into him at the Pantheon, too. He will be important in a minute.
We went to McDonalds for lunch (I know. We are lame.) and it was maybe the funniest 15 minutes thus far. We sat down and I said "I bet we will see Pimpleton and he will make some comment about us being in Rome and eating at McDs." Mitch starts laughing and says "here he comes!" and me and Meg start laughing becuase he must be joking! Oh no. About 4 seconds after I say that he comes strolling up the path. He turns to us and says (not kidding) "You came all the way to Rome to eat at McDonalds??" We made small talk for a minute and then about died laughing when he left. We were so far away from when we first saw him it was just totally bizarre.
Okay, I am just realizing my stories really arent that funny! The other one involves Megann telling some woman who didnt speak English that she was going to pee her pants (in an Italian accent) so she would let us in to the closed bathrooms.
The rest of the day we just walked around the city. We saw tons and tons of stuff. I was the ultimate tourist. I had this huge map and carried my camera and water all day. I felt like a total moron but it was awesome!
Today we slept in (WAY in) and then went to the beach. It was not even close to as nice as the beach in Barcelona! It was still pretty good and I got a kickin tan. It was about 45 minutes away from us and the drive was beautiful. We came back and ate some really good pasta and had probably the most attractive man in the world as a waiter. Im not even kidding you he was amazing. I was trying my best to get my groove on, until I got into the elevator and realized that the green Pesto sauce was all over my teeth! Ha ha! Yea, Im not so good at that! We went to a huge movie theatre hoping that we could see Batman, but it doesnt come out here for another week. So we will have to try to catch it in Madrid. We ended up eating gelato (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm) and then we found paradise. The biggest mall I have ever seen in my life. It had over 200 stores. I might have to make the pilgrimage tomorrow morning to do some serious time there. Mitch wasnt too interested in that tonight.
Tomorrow we are planning on sleeping in (again) and spending some time at the pool (or probably the mall) and then heading out to see Rome at night. We have a few more days here and a pretty packed schedule of things to see, but we cant get enough of sleeping in! This has been so amazing and I am loving this city. There is so much to see and so much to do.
Okay, this is getting far too long and I am getting far too tired, so I had better end for now.
Love you all!
Amanda
Thursday, July 17, 2008
When in Rome...
Rome is hands down the winner. It is the most awesomest. We got here after about 10 hours of travelling (I probably could have swam here faster) and checked into the Courtyard Marriott (BLESS their clean sheets and towels) and got some great sleep. Today we hit up the Colleseum, Pantheon, Fountain de Trevi, and a lot of other buildings you are not cool enough or cultured enough to know about! It is so beautiful. We rented a car and Mitch is being the bomb driver. Rome is amazing. I am tired. More later!
Loves!
Amanda
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Pamplona=Foul
Okay, so after the excitement of the barf story i need to give Barcelona some credit. Seriously the most beautiful city ever. The beach we went to (Setgis) was easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The water of the Mediterranian is amazing. I wish I could post pictures already because it was incredible. However, as with all European beaches, tops were definitely optional! Topless women everywhere. Old, wrinkly, saggy, topless women. That was NOT picturesque. It was quite frightening. But the beach was amazing. There was this really cool and really old church that was set against the water and I´m running out of adjectives to tell you how fantastic this place really was. The pictures will tell you when I get them up! Also the architecture is unreal. We spent one morning at Gaudi´s building La Padrera which was super cool. We also hit up the park where they did the fashion show for America´s Next Top Model (the season with Caridee and Melrose with the scary brides) and totally reinacted the fashion show. Yes, we´re morons. We realize that.
We flew home (barf-free) and pretty much turned around and headed to Pamplona.
If you think I ran out of adjectives for the beauty of Barcelona, I will easily run out for the disgustingness that was Pamplona. Our morning got off to a rough start (we BARELY made it) and when we got there we had to meet the guy who rented us the apartment and balcony. Michael Jude Murphy from Dublin. Oh, Michael. He was roughly the size of a bull and we could barely understand him, which was a good thing because I think his vocabulary is mostly made up of the F-word. So we got to our apartment and the sheets were dirty and the towels were all used and it took a lot of convincing for Michael to provide! Once we checked in we were excited to get out.
Yea, we should have stayed in. Pamplona is nothing but drunks. That Ernest Hemingway is full of crap. He must have been wasted when he wrote about the beauty of the festival. I saw more beer, urine, and blood in those 48 hours than i have ever seen in my life (which may be where he calls it "colorful")! The city is beautiful, but pretty much everything was closed up except for gift shops and bars. It was so foul. People sleeping everywhere, passed out everywhere, peeing on buildings, leaving cans and cups all over the place, seriously gross. I have some good stories but probably should wait because if my mom reads them she will make me come home. So they´ll come later.
The morning of the run was nuts. We got to Michael Murphy´s apartment and he answered the door in his bathrobe and we just kind of sat around for a bit. They close off the street to clean it so we had to be there early. We started up some conversations with him and let me tell you he is about the funniest man ever. I asked him if women ever ran and he replied "Oh yea, but only the mad bitches run." With his Irish accent it was about the funniest comment he could have said.
When the running actually starts, it´s madness. They let the runners down the street so the pansies can hide out in store fronts and still say they ran (which is totally where I would have been) and then the police form a huge line between the men and the cage that holds the bulls. Every balcony down the street was packed and then there are men (and the "mad bitches") lining the streets and right at 8 a.m. someone lights a rocket that is heard by everyone and signals the release of the bulls. At this point, all hell breaks loose. Seriously. The bulls start running. We didn´t see them until they had rounded the corner, but people start yelling, pansies start running already, bulls are charging, and the whole thing lasted about 30 seconds from what we saw! It was awesome. Unfortunatley, as Michael told us, it was a bad morning because "we only saw a few tramplins! It gets really good if some poor sucker (or F-er, we couldn´t understand him) gets gored." We did see a few tramplings and a guy ripped his pants off right under our window to show off a MASSIVE bruise that we could see from 4 stories up. It was serious madness, but so awesome. They run down our street and around a corner and into the bull ring where most of them run into their cage but a few fight back and charge some guys.
Then, the drinking resumed. We had to just hang out in the city for a while and I think kharma was in our favor when we stumbled upon the Hong Kong China Restaurant which was quiet and secluded and didn´t have a passed out drunk in sight. We ate there both days and ate enough food for an entire day. There were some incredible parts of the city and I bet when the festival is over it would be a great place to visit, but it was revolting. Vile. Foul. But a good experience!
It was good to get home and shower in a mixture of one part water, two parts Clorox to wash of the layer of film that had developed around us from the filth of the city. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to Michael, who told me on the phone that our departure time "had really F-ed him up. It´s not your fault, but you really F-ed me up." But we checked out and headed for the train.
Today we slept really late and are just now heading for Madrid. Tomorrow we leave for a week in Rome which should be amazing. I´m really excited for it! I should be able to find an internet somewhere and update you and everyone pray I don´t toss my cookies on another flight.
Love you all!
Amanda
Friday, July 11, 2008
BARF-elona!
Oh mercy. Do I have a story for you all. So we took a cheap flight from madrid to Barcelona and it was the day after I arrived. Totally jetlagged and tired and worn out and dead. So we get to the airport and I´m feeling kinda crappy so I decide to eat some fries and a Sprite to try to settle myself and get on the hour and a half flight.
Here´s where life gets interesting!
So I´m still feeling sick and getting sicker as we board the plane. We sit right in the middle and I decide if I can just fall asleep I can make it through the flight. I fall asleep immediately and am out for about 20 minutes when I wake up! What wakes me up? Myself. Vomiting. All over the place. I´m not even kidding. I´ve never thrown up in public in my entire life and here I am barfing all over the place on an airplane before it even takes off. The flight attendants were in the middle of their safety presentation so Mitch starts yelling "Vomito!" and the flight attendant finally comes running and hands me... a tissue. Yea, that´s going to do me a lot of good at this point!
So I´m shaking and crying because I´m totally embarrassed at this point but I have to do something. She finally brings me some paper towels and, without getting into too much detail, luckily the skirt I was wearing caught the bulk of it! I get partially cleaned up and the lady tells us we have to wait for an hour so they grab my suitcase (thank goodness we carried on our luggage) and I grab the first bottoms I see.
Then the problem is I have to get to a bathroom and we´re in the middle of the plane. So Megann (who deserves a medal for this) walks in front of me as I try to hide the barf that is now all down my skirt. Of course it doesn´t work and everyone is giving me the stink eye on my way back. Also, I had some of it on my shoe and am now pretty much sliding down the aisle. I get to the bathroom and wash off my shoe and my foot when they suddenly come on and say that we´re cleared for take off. Right now. So the flight attendant tells us to go sit at the very front so I can get off fast and Meg high tails it up there while I am trying to wash myself off and change all in about 3 seconds before we take off. I got to my seat and could not stop laughing and crying for the remainder of the flight. The minute we landed I was off that plane faster than you can even believe.
I have NEVER been so completely embarrassed in my life! Seriously, it was almost painful how embarrassed I was. I was completely mortified. However, I survived and the poor Laundry service at the Madanis Hotel got to deal with the rest of my skirt. Best 7 Euro I have spent thus far.
Other than that, Barcelona has been AMAZING. We spent yesterday at Setgis beach on the Mediterranian, which was so beautiful. It was incredible. The sea was so warm! Today we did lots and lots and lots of sightseeing. This city is absolutely beautiful. All of the architecture is fantastic. We went to the apartment building designed by Gaudi and it was ridiculously cool. The rooftop overlooks the entire city (including the building we´ve named "Penis Building" but you´ll see pictures later!) and you can see everything. It seriously is beautiful.
My favorite part so far is the Sagrada Familia. It was started by Gaudi but he died so they have hired different artists to build each section of the cathedral and it was so incredible. I can´t get enough of this city and I wish I had a few more days here because it really is amazing. I love it.
Okay, I really want a nap! I hope everyone is doing well back home! We´re heading to Madrid for tomorrow, so hopefully I´ll have a different staff on RyanAir or I´ll be even more embarrassed! We have one night in Madrid and then we head to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls! Should be cool! Love you all! Buenos Noches! (my español is muy bueno!)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Spain is neat!
Hello there! So I've been here about 24 hours and I already have managed to:
Fry my expensive straightener (with smoke and everything!)
Fall asleep on about every form of public transportation
Eat the best chocolate churros on the PLANET
Find the best shopping on the PLANET
It may surprise you that I have NOT managed to:
Fall. Anywhere. I seriously haven't! I'm serious!
Buy anything. Again, I'm really serious!
Spain is amazing. I haven't seen much yet but Madrid is beautiful. And I tell you, the Spanish men are no matter of temptation compared to the SHOPPING in Madrid. Once I give in to that temptation I have a feeling it's going to be out of control.
Meg and Mitch's apartment is really nice! It's in a suburb about 20 minutes (by train) outside of Madrid. It's the birthplace of the author of Don Quixote and don't worry, I already have pictures with the statue!
I'm leaving for Barcelona soon and don't know if I'll have internet there so look for lots of pictures when I get back!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
I promise I'm not dead!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Happy Birthday to ME!
Eating at the Peppermill!
My lucky Black Jack Glasses.
Row 7 of the Dierks Concert!
Have mercy.
The class spoon-fest!
Happy Birthday Miss J!
The Romantic Cake Cutting.
Birthday threesome!
YAY! PICTURES! AND NO CUSSING!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day!
So this morning I'm standing in the hallway talking to Mr. B and Ms. Post when one of my students (who is an absolute space cadet) says she has a gift for me. She hands me....
A stick.
Yes, that was her gift. A stick. So we get a good laugh about it because this girl's crazy anyways (she's the SexMaker one) and teachers are used to getting weird stuff from their students. She's friends with a group of girls who has found some tree by the playground that has some sort of fuzzy bark, which leads to lots of comments on fuzzy sticks. (Which I giggle at like a 12 year old.)
So the stick thing was funny.
After last recess, one of my other spacey girls hands me a gift from recess.
A stick.
What is with these girls? I have gotten more flora and fauna and foliage from these kids than I think any other teacher in the world! (As soon as I figure out how to get pictures off my cell phone I'll post a picture of the owl-head-planter I got for Christmas. It's phenomenal.)
So this story is NOT that funny, but the only thing we could attribute these gifts to Earth Day. And I sadly got to thinking it's a little bit of a worthless holiday. My class celebrated it by mindlessly shredding paper to make a "tear- art" sombrero to decorate the Taste of Kearns festival (no, I'm not kidding) and apparently ripping Fuzzy Sticks off trees to give to Miss J as a gift.
Happy Earth Day everybody! Do something this week that was a LITTLE more worthwhile than what Room 8 did today.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Sign on my head...
Okay, friends. It's brainstorming time. I taught a lesson this week about brainstorming and how it's great for organizing your thoughts so we're going to do a group brainstorm and here is our topic:
What is wrong with Amanda Jackson??
Okay, before you start listing rude things like "she has a big nose," "she lacks simple knowledge of personal hygene," or "she's not even close to as funny as she thinks she is," let me narrow this down for you...
Apparently, there is something wrong with me when it comes to the opposite sex. I do NOT attract normal boys. I think the last normal boy that was attracted to me... was... probaby Devin Jones in 2nd grade. I just don't get the normal ones.
Let's further explore our Background Knowledge so we can come up with a great way to answer this question...
I had someone write a poem about various body parts of mine... refering to some of them as "young roes, who are twins"
I had an on-again, off-again Booty Call for 2 years. Seriously. 2.
I've had boys send me really... strange... pictures from cell phones.
I had a date with this sequential order. First: Argue about politics. Next: Tips our waiter $1. Then: Asks me if I want to make out (I said no). Finally: He started nibbling my ear.
I had a date that, from start to finish, was 54 minutes. We ate dinner in his bedroom.
I had a fellow teacher ask me out in front of his entire class.
Okay, I think that's some pretty substancial background info. So... what's the deal? Is it a sign on my head that says "Only Crazies May Apply?" Do I emit a pheremone that repels normal, emotionally sane, relatively attractive males? Am I uglier than I think? Is my secret fear that I'm really socially awkward a true statement? You are all fairly close people to me and I think with the help of all of us we can get to the bottom of this! Or else my 4 month dating sabbatical could become permanent!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Makeout Music
So last night on the way home from a shopping excursion in Park City, a few girls and I were listing to "Songs that make us Hot." Songs that make you want to get some action. So last night I made a playlist (correctly titled "This song makes me hot") of those types of songs. Some are nasty rap songs, some are sexy love songs, it just depends on the mood. Some songs made the list due to personal experience. Here's the playlist:
1-Come On Get Higher- Matt Nathanson (If you've never heard it, find it and get some. You can thank me later.)
2- Damn Girl- Justin Timberlake
3- Your L.O.V.E- Wyclef Jean and Eve (50 First Dates soundtrack)
4- Fantasy- Ludacris (the one super naughty song!)
5- Let Me Love You- Tim McGraw
6- Rock With You- Michael Jackson
7- I Need You- Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
8- Dani California- Red Hot Chili Peppers
9- Love Song- 311
10- You Can Do It- Ice Cube
11- Get Naked- Britney Spears
12- FutureSex/LoveSounds- Justin Timberlake
13- Oh- Ciara
14- Touch My Body- Mariah Carey
15- Ayo Technology- 50 Cent
16- Your Body Is A Wonderland- John Mayer
17- Hypnotize- Notorious BIG
18- Raining on Sunday- Keith Urban
19- Sexy Can I- Ray J
20- Criminal- Fiona Apple
21- Unpredictable- Jamie Foxx
22- Addiction- Kanye West
23- Brass Bed- Josh Gracin
Apparently I'm planning on quite a long makeout!
My question to you all, blog readers, is what am I leaving out?? Are there any songs that make you want to just get lots of action? What's missing on this list? I know some of you are EXPERTS on this subject, so I want your input...
Sunday, April 6, 2008
TAGGED AGAIN! (Shaking my fist at Ashley this time!)
4. I am a little bit obsessed with College sports. Bowl Season and March Madness are about 2 of my favorite times and I go NUTS. I scream and yell at my TV regardless of which team is playing. However, if it's my UTES that are playing?? It's over for me and anyone else in the house.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
TAGGED! (Shaking my fist at Greg)
Favorite movies you have to be "in the mood" for in order to enjoy:
Friday, March 28, 2008
Saint Diego
So I'm finally getting around to discussing my muy eventful trip to San Diego for Spring Break! Me and Laura and Tricia decided we needed a break from life (and Laura and I had some days off) so we flew out to San Diego. Luckily my uncle lives out there so we had to pay for airfare but that's about it! He let us stay at his house, he gave us a car to drive and he hooked us up with his GPS system to get us around (which we literally would have driven into the ocean without it).
We got there Wednesday night and got to his house. Well, he has about a billion animals living there and I had an allergic reaction to ALL of them. My whole face swelled up and my eyes were watering and it was probably the funniest thing ever. Luckily my cousin (who's room we were staying in) had some Benadryl so my face could go back to it's original size. For all of you who remember the 2-face incidents (Ashley's sleepover and the bridal show at Kassie's), it was like that times a hundred! My face was monstorous.
The next day we got up and went to Sea World! My cousin Tricia works there so we got in for free! We decided to go on the Atlantis ride first. Hair+Humidity+Water Ride=BAD idea! We were the frizz masters the entire day. My cousin met up with us at like noon and was our personal tour guide the rest of the day. It was awesome!
Around 5 she called up my uncle and he met us there and she totally got us the hookups back stage at the Wild Arctic Exhibit where she works sometimes. So we got to go back into the holding tanks for the seals and the Belluga whales and got to feed them! We had to grab slimy frozen fish out of a bucket and chuck them to the animals. Kinda nasty! Then we got to pet the Bellugas. The seals would literally bite our hands off so we stayed away from petting them! We also got to watch them feed the Polar Bears but they would literally eat us so we had to watch from a window while the worker fed them with tongs. Way cool!
After Sea World we went down to Sea Port Village and just did some shopping and hanging out. Laura and I shared a romantic dinner and I think Tricia was jealous! And we saw a man who looked like he was the spawn of Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey! Probably the funniest looking man I've ever seen in my life and I wish I would have gotten a picture!
The next day we got up and went to La Jolla beach and it was BEAUTIFUL! The weather was incredible and the beach was amazing. We layed out and spent a little bit of time playing in the FREEZING ocean and then hit up some of the shops around there. When we got back we put down our towels in front of this group of pretty old leathery men. They had a younger guy with them who had a huge handle-bar mustache and they were checking out all the girls on the beach and talking about "mustache rides!" We couldn't stop laughing. Then they got into a discussion that girls are going bi because it doubles their chances and the mustache guy was saying that he was going to try it out to double his chances! Sickest old men ever! And straight leather skin! Hot!
After that we went home and got ready and met my aunt's brother and some of their friends at the Yacht Club because her brother Frankie has a huge boat called the WaaTooSee and we went on a bay cruise. Okay, first of all the boat was ridiculous. SO huge and so beautiful and Frankie was blasting the Chili Peppers the whole time, which only made it better. We saw these huge ugly sea lions, we had porpoises jumping right next to us on the boat, and we had the sun setting right over the city. It was amazing. There was singing, drinking (Diet Coke for us, more alcohol for everyone else!), pole dancing (that one was from us), picture taking (including the Titanic pose), and just some good times. When we got our land legs back we went to some restaurant and had Calamari (which is surprisingly not bad for squid) and really good pizza. We shared some embarassing secrets (Mostly just Tricia) and got hassled for not drinking and once everyone else had had sufficint amounts of alcohol (or Diet Coke) we left. My aunt, uncle and the girls drove up to some scenic overlook (makeout point) that was amazing.
Saturday morning we headed up to my aunt's parent's Ranch called Ranchita Margharita (named after her mom Maggie) which is in the Cleveland National Forest. We fed their animals and we went in a Jeep and a Club Car and on 4-wheelers on a tour around their 70-ish acres of land. We also shot a whole bunch of guns! I never knew I was such a sharp-shooter so you'd better watch out! I'm pretty much awesome! The Ranch was hilarious. My aunt Katie's dad Frank is a well known judge in San Diego and he is probably the least politically correct person I have ever met and I have never heard so many dirty jokes in so little time in my life! It was awesome!
Sunday morning we found a church and then drove to check out the Temple. It was so pretty! We took some pictures and talked to the cute sister from missionary who was representing Ephraim and then we went home and headed to the airport. :(
We flew from San Diego to San Francisco where we had a 3 hour layover. We had a very spiritual Easter dinner of Chinese food in the airport and took full advantage of the beds in Brookstone. While we were at the gate they offered us $600 credit on United and a free night hotel if we'd wait and fly home Monday. Laura and I didn't work on Monday so we decided to take it! We spent the night in San Fran and ate the most expensive breakfast ever (even with the vouchers!) and flew home Monday.
It was way fun and i took far too many pictures so I'll just post the link for my pictures on facebook and you can hit them up there! Here you go:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102097&l=edd4f&id=828585456
