Evan and Amanda, sittin in a tree.....

We're Baaaaaack!

2010-12-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

So we'll see how long this lasts because we all know how crappy I am at consistently blogging! But maybe I'll be better this time. Maybe not. Who knows.

Just wanted to get y'all excited at the prospect of the return of the blog! We'll update soon!

Why I love my class.

2009-10-10T09:52:00.002-06:00

There are many reasons I love my class this year. I love my classes every year (even year #1 with 18 boys) but this year has been amazing so far. Let me count the ways:

#1- Their reading scores. Yes, that's right. I ended up with a very smart class this year. They are almost all at grade level. And they can work independently.

#2- Jonathan. Jonathan is a portly little Mexican boy who speaks English so quickly that most of the time he could probably speak to me in his native Spanish and I would have just about the same idea of what he's saying to me. One day he was telling me a story at a mile a minute to me and I was doing the classic "Teacher Smile and Nod" and all of the sudden he started barking. Full volume. "Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff!" I just started laughing because I had NO idea what he was talking about!

#3- Orlando. If you knew about my class last year, you knew about Krishawn. Well, Orlando is Krishawn's kind of brother. Completely different parents but the mom of one and the dad of the other are together. Orlando is the total playa. He rocks the chains and already has a swagga to rival the biggest gangstas in the biz. Maybe he gets it from his dad "country Chris." A local rapper. (Utah has a rap scene??)

#4- Elena, Angelica, Jaquie, Abigail. My band of girls who all look similar, act similar, and have similar names. Really cute girls who are all really quiet and I get them mixed up all the time.

#5- Hunter. Oh a day is never fully started or ended without tears from Hunter. He cries if I wont let him sharpen his pencil. He cries if I wont let him hold the door. He cries if I don't let him pass out papers. He cries if it rains. He cries if its too hot. He cries. All. The. Time. And then he'll come up to me with a big smile and say (in his speech-impedimented voice) "Miss Jackson! I'm happy now!"

#6- Julian. A teensy tinsy little guy who has the biggest face ever. HUGE eyes. HUGE teeth. And the funniest smile I've ever seen. On his birthday he wouldn't answer to anything but "King Julian" all day. Even to me. I had to call him King Julian. He's also says "muchas gracias, maestra" whenever I hand him anything. One day I was doing a puzzle with his reading group and every time he'd put in a piece he'd high-five me. So when he put in the last piece I put my hand up to high five and he totally "Psyched" me! He wasn't even ALIVE when psych! was invented.

So really, my class is great. Its going to be a good year for Miss Jackson.

Home......

2009-07-24T07:23:00.003-06:00

Okay. I am home, I am well rested, I am not on a funky French keyboard, and I am not paying a Euro for every 30 minutes of internet use, so now I will finish out the trip. And actually I just realized my last post wasn't deleted and it saved somewhere on my blog so let me just copy and paste! YAAAAAY!

So I have rented a VW Golf and am driving around France. And its a stick shift. And Hertz didn't give us the cord to plug in our GPS and so the battery died and we don't have it any more. After an hour of crying thinking I was going to be lost in the wilderness, I decided to embrace the adventure. And I'm going to write a thank you note to the road sign planners of France because they have done a superb job of not getting me lost. Plus I pretty much rock at driving in foreign countries, apparently.

So yes, I am in a killer blue Golf. we left Paris and after the meltdown over the GPS in Rouen we drove to Giverney to see the gardens of Monet. I tell you what those gardens could turn anyone into a famous painter because they are amazing. The waterlily pond is incredible and I could have stayed there forever. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I thought of Grandma Jackson the whole time because it looked like someplace she would have just adored. It was truly fantastic. Then we drove to some beach resort town on the English channel and had a picnic on the beach, ran down and put our feet in the water. It was really really windy but the water wasn't too bad! We had a good picnic just sitting on the boardwalk and trying to anchor down our food from the wind. On our way back we were treated to quite the break dance show from a bunch of Asian kids dancing to Black Eyed Peas. Again, lots of pelvic thrusts!

After that we drove on to Honfleur to find a place to stay for the night. Honfleur is a gorgeous town filled with lots of water and lots of boats. We kept finding intensly expensive hotels so we drove a little bit out of town and found a chain hotel called Premiere Classe. Oh boy. we got a room for 3 people but they wouldn't let us look at it before we checked in so we took our chances. We opened the door and simultaneously all 3 of us burst out laughing. It was 9 by 13 and we had to turn sideways to walk around the bed between the wall. the bathroom strongly resembled a bathroom on a trailer and the shower and the toilet were all up in each others space. We had one queen bed and one bed like bunk bed style up top. We quickly got out of there and headed to Honfleur to cruise the shops and the main street. It was an incredible town.

The next morning we left the classy Premiere Classe and drove on to the town of Arromanches, which is a good starting point for the American D Day sights. This city is absolutely amazing. We got a room in a little chateau up the hill and walked down to the main street that parallels the English channel. It has been cold and foggy, but we managed to find a crepe shop and eat outside. We walked around and then got books and read on the pier. It really was quite the French experience. These little towns have memorials all over the place. Every where you look there are American and French flags, paintings, sculptures, etc. Arromanches had soldiers painted on the buildings of the visitors center!

The next morning we did a tour of the D day sights which naturally means that I cried for about 6 straight hours. We started in the theatre at Arromanches and watched a movie that paralleled what Normandy looks like now and images and videos from the war. Then we drove to Longues sur Mer to see the German gun battery that still sits up on the coast. You can see the cliffs that the soldiers climbed and you can see the huge holes in these massive gun shelters where the Germans were bombed. The whole thing sits in this beautiful field of wildflowers right on the coast. Then we drove to the American Cemetery and Omaha beach. Oh wow. They showed a great movie about the stories of the soldiers and interviewed their families and then walked us through a museum showing the supplies and replicas of the ships and stuff. Then they had pictures of soldiers and told about how they had sacrificed and saved other lives, then you walk out into the cemetery with rolling hills of white marble crosses for the soldiers. It was incredibly moving. After that we drove to the town of St. Mere Eglais which is the town where a lot of the paratroopers landed and is the place of the story of the paratrooper who got stuck on the cathedral and played dead. In the cathedral they have amazing stained glass windows with paratroopers in them and messages to the soldiers who helped free the city. They also had the paratroopers museum with personal stories and letters. It really was an incredible day.

We dried our tears, hopped in the Golf and started driving until we could see the looming presence of Mt. St. Michel in the distance. Mt. St. Michel, which is about the biggest, creepiest old church Ever. It used to be an island but now there's just a big road out to it surrounded by quick sand. Yes, quick sand. According to our Rick Steves travel book. We got out there (luckily at low tide so our car didn't get swept away) and walked up the streets lined with gift shops staffed by Asian people until we finally reached the Abbey. Creepy McCreepster. We went for the night tour so they had on all of these dim lights and had live musicians playing in rooms throughout. They also had added in sound effects, like the sound of hearts beating in the room with the altars. Sketchy. we walked up all these winding staircases and were faced with signs about the dungeons and the prisons. That is not just the peaceful church its cracked up to be! There was also a giant room with the sounds of a clock ticking that had a giant hour glass in the middle so who knows what happens when that thing runs out. But dont go running to your Bishop just yet because it looked like we still have a while.

We drove on to Dinan and checked in to the Ibis hotel which was the best yet. Rick Steves just raved about Dinan but I was unimpressed for sure!! The best part was that i ordered a crepe with ice cream, yes ice cream, for breakfast. We left for this huge drive through straight fields of hay to find some valley of castles and after realizing how much driving made us want to take to the Golf with a set of golf clubs we changed our course and are now in Chartres which is a little bit outside of Paris. We slept in a cute little hotel and walked around the town. We must be getting more into city life and out of country life because that whole town just feels sketchy. There are weird people here! We ate some pancakes for dinner (French food is kind of the bomb) and walked around but decided to head inside the safety of our hotel after a while. The next morning we toured the cathedral (awesome. Love me some cathedrals) and then climbed up the 300+ stairs up the north bell tower. That is not a place for someone who doesn't like tiny winding staircases with no way out but climbing 300+ steep stairs. The view from the top was amazing and well worth it. Until we realized the only way down was back down the tiny stairway. Yea, people going up AND down definitely didn't fit and we had to get up close and personal a few times with some other tourists. They liked it.

We drove on to Versaille to go to the castle there. Wow. That is some big useless house. The hall of mirrors was awesome but it was just gold. Everywhere. The gardens were also pretty cool, but were a tad pathetic compared to Monet's garden. I was fairly unimpressed with the whole thing. It was impressive, but it wasn't my favorite stop. I did, however, love renting the golf cart and jetting around the gardens. And when I say "jetting" I mean "driving at almost the same speed as walking." They take no chances with those things. I also loved Marie Antoinettes house on the property. It was probably my favorite. I need to find myself a husband who will let me build my own house on the property and do whatever I want with it. It was beautiful and I loved those gardens a lot. We sadly returned the golf cart after almost losing the map, taking the wrong road and having the golf cart turn off, AND dropping my camera off the back (its just a little airborn! Its still good! Its still good!). We headed back to the REAL golf and started the most terrifying part of the trip:

Driving the Golf through Paris to return it to the airport.

I think I didn't exhale for about an hour and a half. Paris drivers are CRAZY. Luckily it was bumper to bumper traffic which was good for not getting lost because you can stare at road signs for about 20 minutes, but bad for driving a stick. Now I remember why I don't like those. We made it after getting lost in the terminal and having to reverse down an entire street. The nice Hertz man refunded my GPS after I kindly explained to him that his company was almost responsible for my untimely death if I would have gotten lost in the wilderness and eaten by French bears and that I was absolutely NOT about to pay the 65 Euro for a worthless NeverLost system that sat in the trunk. He was nice about it.

We caught a shuttle and checked into HEAVEN. Or the Marriott. Everyone spoke English, the room was monsterous, the sheets were clean, and I didn't feel like I needed to blockade the door with my suitcases in case the sketchy front desk people had a spare key. We rode into Paris to yet another rainstorm and ran for shelter in the nearest restaurant and dined on Pizza while watching people run through the rain. We walked down to the Latin quarter, window shopped, watch all of the drunk people table dance, and ended at the Notre Dame. Seriously, this city is absolutely amazing. I should live there. We got our last scoops of pistachio ice cream and headed back to HEAVEN for the best night's sleep in a very long time.

We flew out the next morning and I am home! It was an incredible experience and I am so thankful I got to see so much. It was incredible but it feels so good to be home! I'll put up pictures soon!

BAHHHHH

2009-07-21T12:11:00.001-06:00

so i just typed this massive blog about the last 4 days of driving and it all got erased!!! So i will write it again soon but i wanted to let everyone know i am alive despite the fact that i am driving a rented stick shift vw golf all over france with a gps with a dead battery and no cord to charge it. i will re write either tomorrow before i fly home or after i get back on thursday. Vive le france!

Paris is for lovers.... And I am in love!

2009-07-17T01:49:00.002-06:00

But not in love with a dirty Frenchman. Just in love with the city!

We left Bucharest at the crack of dawn and flew into Paris. While we have been travelling, I decided to extend my ticket to stay the 5 more days with a few people in my group to go up and see Normandy and Northern France. So when we landed I marched myself right over to the Air France counter. Oh wait, my flight is operated by Delta so I need to march myself to the Delta ticket counter in the next terminal which seems like roughly 68 kilometers away. I find myself face to face with Pasqual. A gay Frenchman who has been working for Delta for 20 years ("Can you beeeeleeeeeve I even look zat ooooold? I neeeeed to head to Loz Angeleeeez for some siiiiiilicone."). He tells me zat Air Frooonce has beeeen giving heeem headaches all morning and heeeez head is going to explode. I head to Air France who tells me no, Delta needs to take care of it. So I head back to Pasqual who looks up at us and says "Zey sent you back??? Lets go, girls. Iiit iiis too bad I cut my nails yesterday. MEOW!" Nope, not kidding about Pasqual. He takes over my marching and takes us right back to Air France to get us taken care of. Love heeeeem!

We headed in a taxi and got into this totally charming hotel. Its tucked away on a street about 2 blocks from The Tower and is right next to all of these fantastic bakeries and restaurants. We check in and immediately get started. First we headed to the Musee D'Orsee (far too lazy to look up correct spellings) and it was fantastic. It is so cool to see all of these things youve seen and studied in every Freshman art history class in real life. I loved this museum and it just added to the ambiance that it is in a train station. I loved it. We headed after that to stock up at a grocery store to have lunches for the next week and came back to our hotel for a picnic.

After a good nap we walked over to the tower. Now heres the deal with July 14. Its Bastille Day. The French Independence Day. So millions and millions of people all make the trek to the Tower for free concerts and apparently the most amazing fireworks show on the planet. We fight through the mobs of crazies and find ourselves a spot on the lawn. Right next to a group of people who have brought in the makings of a full service bar, including cutting board and knives to get limes in the drinks. And they also brought about an acre field worth of pot. So we had quite the show! People get quite passionately patriotic with that much help. We sat on the grass and listened to the music and were completely enchanted with people watching. There are some crazies in this city.

The sun set behind the Eiffel Tower, it lit up and started sparkling, and then it started. The most incredible fireworks show on the planet. They had projected scenes up on the tower and set it all to music and it seriously was amazing. I cant even explain how amazing it was! After the show the masses all started moving and we were lucky to get out alive and even luckier to find our way back to our hotel!

The next morning (Wednesday? I think?) we headed out to the Louvre for the morning. Oh wow. Priceless works of art EVERYWHERE. Overload. Totally amazing. The Mona Lisa room looked like the fireworks scene the night before. Mobs and Mobs of people all clicking away and shoving and yelling to see it. We wandered around, got lost a few times and probably only saw about ten percent in the 3 hours we were there.

I cant for the life of me remember what we did after the Louvre so hopefully it will come back to me...

Later that night we walked over to get some fantastic crepes made by a lady with flaming red hair on a side street about a block from our hotel. We ate with the other ladies in our hotel and the headed out to the Pompediu (again, sorry for the spelling) to see that. We got there after the main exhibit had closed and only got to see the Kandinsky gallery but it was awesome.

We left there and headed to the Tower to go to the top. We couldnt go all the way because it was closed but we got up there and got to see the breathtaking view of Paris at night. It is so awesome to see everything lit up and the lights off the Seine. Amazing. Offset by the group of Brittish teens on a school trip who were screaming at each other. With the Brittish accents you cant really take any of them seriously and keep expecting someone to pull out a wand and conjure up some spells Harry Potter style.

Thursday morning we SLEPT IN. It was definitely needed. We took the metro to the Arc D Triomphe and then walked down the Champs de Elysees to do some shopping. Oh the shopping is amazing. Billion dollar items line the streets like glittering beacons constantly reminding me that I chose to teach school instead of choosing to be a billionaire. Sigh. Fortunately for us we came right in the middle of summer sales so we picked up a few things from the back of the sales rack so we could claim "shopping in Paris."

We then had decided to to a bike tour of Paris so we hooked up with the Fat Tire Bike company at the Tower and walked over to their office to pick up some bikes. Its run by American college students and we had a group of about 20 of us with our fearless Captain Rohan to navigate us through the city. We started out on the bikes and I am telling you that is the way to see Paris. We rode past so many amazing landmarks and saw so many beautiful sights all while pedalling along on my red Beach Cruiser. We ended on an hour boat tour on the Seine, complete with wine (or Cokes and Sprite for the 3 Utah girls and the 2 underaged boys). We are on the boat and start to notice clouds rolling in and lightning behind the Tower which added to the whole ambiance. When it started to rain we were talking to Captain Rohan and stayed outside to brave the elements. The rain steadily got heavier and we were soaking it all in as part of the experience when QUARTER SIZED HAIL STONES STARTED PELTING US!!! Then we decided it was time to take cover. The problem is that everyone else decided to take cover round about the first rain drop so there was no room in the inn for us. We huddled by the wall and as soon as the hail went away we decided to make the most of it and be the only people out on the deck in the torrential downpour. We took pictures and danced and got completly soaked. Our boat docked right as the rain stopped.

We road our now very clean bikes back to the shop, said our goodbyes to Captain Rohan, and walked home...

So much to say using a weird French keyboard...

2009-07-15T01:11:00.003-06:00

I apologize in advance for spelling and grammatical errors, but I cant really figure out this keyboard but I have much to discuss!

We left Barlad with a bang. We finished our shopping and then met a rollerblader on the streets named Florin. He followed us for a while, crashed into a tree, and then came and talked to us because he could tell we were Americans. In our ten minute encounter we learned the following: Florin hates Barlad, wants a Japanese girlfriend, is trying to grow his hair out like the Japanese guys so he can get a Japanese girlfriend, he thinks I am incredibly old but luckily dont look that old. He also almost walked us into a dark alley and almost walked us into the gypsy neighborhoods. Luckily we made it back to the hotel without too much sketchiness.

We ate dinner with the foundation guys, slept, and headed to the train station where the guys were there to see us off. I gave them my Michael Jackson People magazine and you would have thought it was pure gold for them. We arrived in Bucharest 4 hours later and were met by the missionaries with the mission van to take us to the hotel. We had Sister Lundberg, the mission presidents wife with us, so it wasnt as sketchy as it sounds. Those missionaries have definitely bailed me out a time or two! Our hotel was amazing. Not to knock Hotel Moldova because its served me well over the years, but this hotel was the Plaza compared to it. We unloaded our stuff and headed out to the Peasant Museum. This museum is awesome. It had art, clothing, inventions, dishes, and a bunch of other stuff that has been made by the peasants of romania. While we were eating lunch at the museum, I got bit by a mosquito on my lip. If you remember what happened to my ear, picture that on my lips. No need for lip injections for me! I took a Benadryl for the swelling to go down and then promptly fell asleep leaning against the wall of the museum.

We had dinner at the mission home with the Lundbergs and I cant even begin to tell you how much I loved having actual home cooked food. It was incredible.

The next day we went to church in Bucharest and had missionaries translate for us. And by translate I mean they translated while I slept. We had an English Sunday school with the guy who runs the CES program over there and then went to relief society. After church we went to a baptism of a new member in the ward and then left for the hotel. We boarded a train and headed to the town of Brasov, which is like the Park City of romania. It was absolutely beautiful. Our hotel was kinda weird but we had excellent views of the city. It was raining like mad but the hotel let us borrow some umbrellas to take out on the town. I had only packed flip flops and the rain was turning my shoes into ice skates, so I was thaankful that the Nike store stayed open late so I could stop skating around the main street! We ate dinner in this absolutely amazing restaurant called Bella Musica which was this underground cave thing. What madi it even better? Mexican food. Nothing says romania like a sizzlin fajita.

The next morning we awoke to more rain and more things to see. We saw the black church, whivh is a cool color of black thanks to a fire in like the 1600s, and did some more shopping. We took awesome pictures of us jumping off the fountain but apparently they dont take pictures like that often because we became quite the spectacle for those romanians in the town! It was incredible and we were sad to see it go but we boarded yet another train back to Buch.

Back in Buch we did some more shopping in this super super sketchy market place and then made the best decision of the trip. Hard Rock Cafe! Everyone spoke English, the menu was in English, I had actual ice in my drink and the meal took less than an hour and a half. Absolutely unheard of in Romania. Not to mention they had MJs red jacket from Thriller on the wall. Our taxi driver almost killed us multiple times on the way home and insisted he take us out to find Romanian boyfriends before we left because we all have very rich parents back in the states. Yea.

I am getting very sick of typing on this and I have a hot date with the Louvre in about 12 minutes so I will catch you up on Paris later. I love you all!

Dumbo...

2009-07-10T07:01:00.002-06:00

So yesterday started with a whole lot of Sorin's legs, went with some modern ballet from an orphan manchild and ended with an oversized ear.

Sorin is the director of the foundation here and has been since it started. He's in his early 40's probably and is a large Romanian man. Incredibly nice, constantly cranky, but hilarious. We love him. So yesterday morning Heather and I decided to walk to the park so we wouldn't have to take 2 trips in the car. We were about a block away and only a few minutes late when Sorin drives up in his Octavia and says to get in, he needs to run into the bank but he will be out shortly. So Heather and I wait in his car while he goes in the bank. He jogs on out and gets in the car and drives a block in the opposite direction and tells us he needs to stop at the Supermarket to buy cups and water for the kids at camp. Again, Heather and I wait in the car. He comes out and we are now half hour late and 2 blocks away. He jogs to the car while on his phone and says that Roxana needs some supplies from the foundation and we have to go now. While camp has started. The foundation is on the other side of Barlad. While we're driving he offers us some gum. I put it in the cup holder but he dropped it on the mat under his feet. I was a little surprised when he asked me to retrieve it for him... While he's driving a stick shift. Uh... Okay. So I quickly realize just how flexible I'm going to have to be to and take off my seatbelt. While he's driving about 50 miles an hour (wearing shorts, mind you) I have to maneuver myself under his legs (while one is punching on the clutch) and pull out the gum. Please tell me you have the visual representation of what this must have looked like to Heather in the back seat.

When we FINALLY got to camp things went really well. I'm blogging for the foundation so if you want those stories check out romaniabridge.blogspot.com because I don't want to retype everything!

After that we visited the artist guy again (who still hasn't forgiven me for accidentally calling him Mr. Cheese in Romanian back in '06) and then headed to the Elena Farago center. Our boys in our program live there so we usually go to check it out. Now, we have this guy who hangs out with our boys who's name is Constantin. He's been telling us about how he's a very good ballet dancer and he wants to go to Bucharest to study ballet. He's a character for sure. So while we're there we asked him to dance. Oh. Wow. After finding the perfect Michael Jackson song, he proceded to show us the mother of all ROmanian Modern Ballets. Please, if you will, picture the flowing blonde hair, tight jeans, pelvic thrusts, and jazz hands set to the soundtrack of MJ's "Heal the World." That is forever burned into my mind.

That night we took the staff out to dinner and I absolutely love them. They are incredible, again check the other blog for details.

So you all know that I get eaten by mosquitos. And some of you probably know that my mosquito bites swell and blister to the point where I look like I have some form of leprosy. So how about the fact that some special mosquito found his way to my ear. First it itched. Then it burned. Then it swelled. Then it was about twice the size of my other ear, blistered, burning, and itching. I have pictures.

I am currently being told by Sorin that it is time for me to hurry so I guess that means I'm done for the day. I love you all and am heading out to Bucharest tomorrow so I don't know how much I will be able to blog. Buh Bye!~

Jackpot!

2009-07-08T05:24:00.002-06:00

Okay, I apologize for the lazy post last time! I'll try and spice it up a bit to make you think its very exotic over here. So Tuesday we unloaded boxes. 19 of them, each is 50 pounds. That is a whole lot of supplies. We brought birthday presents, Christmas presents, blankets, pajamas, school supplies, backpacks, new clothes, etc. It is truly amazing to me how we got everything here and just how many people are willing to donate to these kids without knowing them. They are amazing and are being so blessed through the goodwill of complete strangers. Without getting too sappy, it really is touching how much STUFF we had to bring to them.

After that we ate at the best pizza joint in Birlad. Alonas. Mmmmmmmmm. We went back to the hotel and watched a little bit of the Michael Jackson funeral (enough to see him being compared to MLK Jr...... hmmmm....) and then we watched a Chucky movie. Yes, you read that right, Chucky. In English. With Romanian subtitles. But our dear sweet Heather had the remote and kept freaking out and flipping rapidly back and forth between that and a cell phone commercial. So it was like cell phone, knife, cell phone, freaky doll, cell phone, decapitation, cell phone, rolling head, cell phone, blood. We were alternating between laughing and screaming about as fast as she was pushing buttons.

After a good sleep (and 3, yes 3 middle of the night phone calls from Comcast) we woke up and got ready for the first day of camp. We have some sweet shirts that say the theme of the camp, which is Curaj! (It means courage. With less vowel patterns.) And the kids looked so cute in them! We rotated between a theatre station and two craft stations. They had a blast and it was SO good to see them again. They are getting so old!

We at lunch at Happy Time (mmmmmmmm) with the Bridge to Success teens and had 2 of them come back from college in Iasi to see us. We hung out for a while and talked music (MJ and Rhianna are personal favorites) and learned the moonwalk in the middle of the restaurant from Claudiu.

The rest of the day should have a few more visits of the Special Needs orphanage and a few home visits. We're having a good time.

Love and miss you all!

Sleep? What's that?

2009-07-07T04:14:00.002-06:00

I am here! Finally! We were delayed an hour out of Salt Lake City and weren't super smart in planning and only gave us an hour to make our connecting flight in Paris and we definitely didn't get there in time. So they couldn't get us on a flight until 7 at night instead of 12:30! So we sat in Paris (and sat and sat and sat) until we left. Flights were good, we made it into Bucharest around 11:00 and then boarded the bus (along with 19 boxes of supplies) and drove the 4 hours to Barlad. Hotel Moldova was a welcome sight and even more welcome was the air conditioner in the room. We checked in and slept for a few hours and are now faced with the daunting task of unpacking and organizing the 19 boxes! Wish us luck!

Love you!

Back Street's Back... ALRIGHT!

2009-06-29T13:29:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the Backstreet Boys had a good comeback, but mine will be better. BLOG COMEBACK '09! Although don't call it a comeback... I've been here for years... And... I'm done with the music references for now. So in 6 days I'll be heading back on a plane back to the city of Barlad to see my kiddos again. Very excited. But I thought I'd give an update on my life so my faithful blog readers out there will feel connected to me on a very personal, online level.

I'm still teaching first grade at David Gourley Elementary. Well, I will be in August. I am currently teaching summer school at the same place but I am teaching a room full of 4th and 5th grade boys. They are hilarious and I've had a blast but I'll be glad to get back to my first graders again.

While teaching summer school, I've been attending summer school classes as well. I got into the Elementary Ed. Master's program through Utah State and have been cramming classes into every spare minute of my day to get it done. I think I put more effort into one of these classes than I did into most of my undergrad work. Apparently you can't BS as easily this time around! I'm learning a lot and I'm excited to teach one I know all of these things.

I live in Sugarhouse with some girls in a house. We love the house and are happy nothing has broken or dumped poisonous gasses into our house yet. Its beautiful and we get to stay in our awesome ward, so we're happy girls.

I have travelled a ton already this year. In February I went with my Mom for a week to Hawaii. It was incredible. We sat on the beach and read about 10 books between the two of us. I went whale watching (by myself and made friends with a nice Boat Captain named Brian) and we both went on a helicopter ride over the island. It was so fun to spend time with my mom and we had a great time just lounging around and relaxing. It was a great trip.

In March I got T-boned by a truck and my Mazda didn't make it. I bought myself a new Mitsubishi Outlander and I love her just as much.

In April, Laura and Tricia and I went on a road trip to San Diego and got on the Carnival Elation for a quick cruise to Mexico. It rained and rained and rained and we were the only 3 sober people on the high seas, but we still had a great time. Especially when I realized that my good friend Ali was a worker on the boat! We loved getting away and the cruise was definitely a great experience. The highlight was seeing Tricia judge a hairy chest contest.

Other than that, life is just rollin along as it tends to do. Busy as always. I'll be sure to be checking in from Romania and Paris to give everyone the Biz of what's going on. I'm excited to get there!!

I need a cold shower...

2008-11-12T21:23:00.002-07:00

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.

TAGGED!

2008-11-03T18:07:00.002-07:00

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!

2 in one day! I need a life...

2008-10-16T22:09:00.002-06:00

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...

2008-10-16T19:47:00.006-06:00

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.

We're the Warriors from Taylorsville High!

2008-10-12T12:32:00.004-06:00

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!

See Amanda Calm...

2008-09-21T20:18:00.002-06:00

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.

See Amanda stress.

2008-09-05T17:04:00.002-06:00

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.

My Lovely Lady Lumps....

2008-08-22T00:18:00.002-06:00

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.

Galatz of Fun!

2008-08-04T10:29:00.002-06:00

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!

Camp Champ!

2008-07-31T04:24:00.003-06:00

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!

Death. To. Flights.

2008-07-30T11:57:00.002-06:00

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!

I Corazon Madrid

2008-07-25T11:24:00.002-06:00

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!

Ciao, Roma....

2008-07-22T12:40:00.002-06:00

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!

Church it up!

2008-07-20T07:55:00.003-06:00

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!

Rome if you want toooo-ooooo!

2008-07-18T13:21:00.002-06:00

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

When in Rome...

2008-07-17T09:56:00.002-06:00

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

Pamplona=Foul

2008-07-15T06:33:00.003-06:00

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

BARF-elona!

2008-07-11T09:45:00.002-06:00

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!)

Spain is neat!

2008-07-09T00:25:00.002-06:00

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!

I promise I'm not dead!

2008-07-05T19:48:00.006-06:00

Helloooooooo Friends! I really am not dead. I didn't get my hands cut off, either. I have just been extremely busy/lazy (you can be both!) lately and haven't gotten to much blogging! It's been a very eventful 2 months since my birthday so let's recap, shall we?? I'll throw up a bunch of pictures and you will just have to guess which ones go where.

Vegas and St. George: For Tricia's b-day a few of us ladies headed down south for the weekend. Much shopping, much playing, a little unsuccessful gambling, some plastic grillz, and an intense game of Bingo. We had a great time.

BBQ: Most of the high school girls got together for some good times at Ashley's house! We ended up busting out Ashley's box of pictures from elementary, jr. high, and high school and it was probably one of the single most embarassing moments of my life! I was not cool until I hit about 22. I'm STILL not that cool, but a lot cooler than I was!

End of School: (Yea, these are pure out of order) I ended my first year of teaching with an all-out dance party with my third graders. We had a few days of cleaning, moving my boxes (I'm teaching first grade next year), field day, and assemblies. I played my kids a slide show and at the end of the day I played them the part of High School Musical 3 where they sing the song about Summer at the very beginning and we had a big dance party to end the year! Yea, I'm the best teacher ever. I know. It was really kinda sad to see those kids go. I had a BLAST this year and probably had the hardest year of my life at the same time. Some of those kids came a long way this year and I had a lot of mixed emotions about the end of the year!

Taylorsville Days: Is the bomb. Every year. No battle. And this year was no exception. The Neil Diamond cover band was the perfect addition to this year's festivities!

4th of July: I went with my fam to the cabin and can I tell you I have the best family ever? We have a blast. I love being around them and it was just fantastic.

Other: (Real creative category name!) I've been to a few Bees games, a few other BBQ's (and worn the yellow BBQ shirt a lot!), saw Kanye West and LeAnn Rimes in concert (not together, that would be weird) and they were both AWESOME, seen a few movies (Hancock = thumbs down), even made the obligatory yearly fantastic trip to the Drive-in!

Summer has been great. I am loving having a profession that provides the summers off! FANTASTIC! I don't know why everyone doesn't do this whole "summer vacation" idea.

Well, my friends, I take off on Monday for a month in Europe. Right now I'm a little stressed, a little terrified, and EXTREMELY excited. I'm spending a few days here and there in Madrid, a few days in Barcelona, a few days in Pamplona to see the Running of the Bulls, a week in Rome, and ending with the yearly Romania trip, which is only a week this year! So stay with me, I promise this blog is going to be KICKIN as soon as I get there. I've been Boring McBoringster lately, but I'm back like y'all have never seen!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2008-05-01T20:45:00.004-06:00

So this week was my birthday. And yes, I do celebrate for a full week. Longer, if I can get people to go along with it! So, here's the recap of my birthday celebration! Get ready for lots of pictures (if I can figure out how to get them on here without ridiculous amounts of cuss-words.)

It all started last Friday when Tricia had the AWESOME idea to hit up the Fun Bus to Wendover. We had a few of us going, but pretty sure it turned into JUST me and Tricia. It was romantic. So we caught the bus at Valley Fair Mall (I told y'all I was ghetto fab) with about 6 other passengers (none were under 50 or spoke English. Not that there's anything wrong with that...) and started on the road to our middle-aged bus driver making lame jokes about lap dancing. We both made the mistake of loading in the Diet Coke by the truckload before leaving and both had to pee by the time we hit down town SLC. At the next stop, the bus loaded up and Tricia recognized a bunch of guys a few rows in front of us who had gone to Utah State with her (they'll be important later) and we spend the bus ride playing Bingo and having to pee real bad.

When we got there we jumped (literally) off at the first casino and then headed off to the buffet. We looked pretty awesome with just us two and kept trying to talk the couple across from us into giving us their tickets to Wayne Newton. After that we hit the slots and lost. I was shocked and ticked. The billboard promised me more wins! The flashing lights are decieving... We met up with Tricia's friends and headed to the Red Garter (yes, I realize this post is doing NOTHING for my reputation and character) and played roulette and Black Jack. Okay... Why didn't anyone tell me about black jack! Cards? Quick addition with small numbers? That game was MADE for me. I played for like 2 hours. Once again, didn't win anything, but didn't lose anything either so I count it as a victory!

The bus picked us up and we started home at about 2 am. The ride home? Well... Ask me if you want the FULL story... But it was a good time.

Then on SATURDAY Laura and I went to the Dierks Bently concert. Okay. LOVE him. We were like 10 feet away from the stage and I swear we had a moment. He's incredible. And you know how sometimes people SUCK live? He is not one of those. He was awesome start to finish. And hot. Bucky Covington on the other hand? Scares the crap out of me. He reminds me of the over-eager female squirrel on the old Disney Sword in the Stone movie. Super jumpy and really creepy. But the concert was amazing and the cuisine at Arby's before? Phenomenal. I went on lots of romantic dates with girls this weekend.

Sunday I slept. LOTS. To make up for the 5 a.m. bed time after the Fun Bus excursion.

Monday started CRT's for my class. Arg. I'm skipping that day.

Tuesday my fantastic parents took me to Tepanyaki (heaven on earth) for dinner. LOVE that place. Teriyaki Salmon? Oh yea. Load it in by the truck load. Our chef was awesome, although our "table sharers" were incredibly dull. I did pretty awesome when he started flinging shrimp, although I suggested this game that Emily (my sis) and I used to play at dinner called "Cleavage-Ball" but he didn't seem interested in playing. After that my mom and I went and bought new cell phones (okay SHE bought. Thanks to AT&T's Mother's Day deal. I got the free one!) and I've only dropped mine ONCE since then! This one might last me longer than 6 months if I'm lucky!

Wednesday was ACTUALLY my birthday! I got a great midnight text (exactly on the dot. Good timing, friend!) and a 1 a.m. phone call (not so great timing, friend!) and then I slept in until about 7 (big oops!) and got to school kinda late AND my hair was looking a little bit like Bucky Covington's so it was not off to a great start! My good friend Miss Larson and her 6th graders had made a kickin poster to hang on my door that had adjectives that described me all over it. Hotness was my favorite. And the most truthful. So my class was super good for me and we started our day with a nice session of CRT's (arg) and then pretty much that was the most productive thing we did all day. We read the last two chapters of Charlotte's Web and had recess and read about 15 minutes of our reading book and then my dad came and read to my class.

After lunch my good friend Ben brought pizza to my class. They earned their pizza party a few weeks ago and I talked them into holding out to have it on the day we got to watch Charlotte's Web (after finishing the book) so we could have one big day of laziness. And then we did it on my birthday. The best part was the room set up. We just got a new projector in my room and I think every boy in my class was spooning each other during the movie. Then I had little pockets of girls here and there. But nope, one big boy spoon. Loved it! Presents from my kids were the bomb. Bath and Body lotion, Easter pencils, a box of strawberries, a Hawaiian necklace, a Marshallese Marriage Necklace (from a 6th grade boy... uh... yikes), and a cube. Yes, a cube. Danial made 6 different sides of poems, stories, and pictures, taped them into a cube, and stuffed it with newspaper. It. Is. AWESOME.

That night all of my friends came over! (not all, but lots!) I had college friends, high school friends, elementary friends, new friends, and people I didn't even know! It was so fun. I LOVED it and I LOVED seeing everyone. We played some MAD Mario Kart, told some AWESOMELY AWKWARD kissing stories, and made birthday cards for me (mine has a picture of Spence's bum!), Abe, and Jason. I seriously have the best friends ever. No battle.

Tonight has been my crash night. I took a bath and a nap on my couch! I need like a week to recover!

Okay, here goes the picture attempt. Pray for Mojo.

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!

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-22T22:57:00.002-06:00

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.

Sign on my head...

2008-04-18T19:35:00.003-06:00

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!

Makeout Music

2008-04-13T19:01:00.002-06:00

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...

TAGGED AGAIN! (Shaking my fist at Ashley this time!)

2008-04-06T20:30:00.006-06:00

7 Facts about ME!

1. I teach 3rd grade. Big surprise! It's probably the funniest job in the world. I sincerely doubt my kids are learning much, but I love them. We have a great time.

2. I absolutely LOVE french fries. I could eat them all day, every day. The best fries are definitely from B & D Burgers (by the U of U campus) or Crown Burger. Add lots of Fry Sauce and I am a happy girl!

3. I think I'm closer to my family than a lot of people. I absolutely love them and might die without them! I think my nieces and nephews are FAR cooler than anyone else.

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.

5. I secretly think I'm one of the most awkward people in the world. I will say or do things around other people and be shocked that they still want to socialize with me. I think I'm seriously socially retarded.

6. If I went on America's Next Top Model, I would win. I think I've seen more episodes than Tyra herself and I can rock the Fierce-ness like it's nobody's business.

7. As much as I hate living out of a suitcase, I could travel for the rest of my life. If I were independently wealthy, I'd be outta here and going everywhere and anywhere I can. Road trips, flying, weekends at Bear Lake, you name it and I'd rather be doing that.

Now I taggggggg..... Greg, The Beth, and Meredith.

TAGGED! (Shaking my fist at Greg)

2008-04-05T19:29:00.002-06:00

Another Tag. This time it's a movie survey, here goes...

Favorite movies you have to be "in the mood" for in order to enjoy:

(Ooh! What kind of "mood"??)

1. Tommy Boy

2. West Side Story

Favorite movies that make you laugh out loud no matter how many times you have watched them

1. Mean Girls

2. Orange County

Your favorite "Guilty Pleasures"

1. John Tucker Must Die

2. 2 Fast 2 Furious (I only wish I were kidding.)

Favorite movies you have seen so many times, you can recite all the lines

1. Shag

2. West Side Story

Movies that "Opened your eyes."

1. Life is Beautiful

2. ... Apparently I don't watch enough "Eye-opening" movies...

Most Overrated

1. Across The Universe

What were the last 2 movies you watched

1. X-Men: The Last Stand

2. Across The Universe (that was weird)

Favorite "smart" movies

1. Thomas Crown Affair

2. Bourne Trilogy

Your spouse's/significant other's favorites

1. Yea, rub it in.

Your all time favorites:

How can you pick just one?? I'll go with genres.

1. Superhero movies

2. Sports movies (Remember the Titans, Invincible, etc)

I tag the married couples! Ash and Chad, Meg and Mitch, and Erika and Just.

Saint Diego

2008-03-28T10:44:00.002-06:00

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

Dangerous Minds 2: Gourley Elementary

2008-03-17T20:20:00.003-06:00

Yes, I teach in the ghetto. And don't hate, but it's much better than any snotty east side school. So today I had my kids write with absolutely no boundaries. I didn't care what they wrote about or how long it was, I just let them write about whatever. I just wanted to share some of the results some of them will be long, but I promise it's worth it...

Cheyenne wrote:
Once upon a time there was this lady who lived in this swamp. She was holding this purse and she took something out if it. The cops were watching her to see what was in the purse. It was a dead baby. She was rocking it to sleep but it didn't go to sleep so she cut off it's head.

Karter wrote:
My dad just got out of Jell (jail) so I get to see him and he'll buy me lots of video games.

Michael wrote:
(A big long story about jumping into a volcano...) So me and Christian got axes and started hitting the ground and the lava came out. We tried to run away but we got burned really bad by the lava. Then we died.

Ashley wrote:
(A big long story about ghosts...) She got sad when she got back to the haunted house because her brother had his head chopped off. Then 200 ghosts came and the moms head got chopped off too.

Todd wrote:
Do you know what's a Mawgwa? It's a Gremlin. But it has 3 very important rules. 1. Do not get it wet. I will multiply. 2. Do not put it in light. It hates light and will die. 3. No matter how much it begs or cries never ever feed it after midnight. They will change.

And now for my favorites...

Andre wrote:
I've been to Mexico. When you want to go somewhere you either have to walk or ride a donkey even with heavy heavy stuff. My friends dad has a 22. A 22 is a hand gun and my friend has a bb gun.

Isaac wrote:
In Mexico my dad bought me a gun. A 22 hand gun. He has a 45 caliber.

NICE. I teach in the ghetto. I'm going to start playing Gangsta's Paradise on my way to school. Pray for me!

Elimin-08 GOUT!

2008-03-16T16:37:00.013-06:00

So my dear friend Tricia had the Gout her freshman year of college. So in honor of being Gout Free she throws a party every year. I was lucky enough to be on the guest list and we decided to make shirts, which of course were AWESOME. So here are a few of the pictures...

The Elimin-08 T-shirts!

Me and the brave Gout survivor.

The Foot Cake

"Give Gout the BOOT!" Pinata

Megann giving us some surprising facts about GOUT!

Chris giving us a presentation with gout facts

Laura and I

Oh, Grandpa...

2008-03-09T18:17:00.002-06:00

So my 92 year old Grandpa Jackson has been spending the weekend with us. He can't really stay home by himself, so he stays with my aunt during the week and the rest of us kind of pass him around on the weekends. So he got here Friday and will leave in a few hours.

Now, I love my Grandpa. He was an architect for the LDS church and has traveled all over the world building church buildings and has written a book and is EXTREMELY intelligent. However he is 92 years old and is starting to lose it just a little bit. Here was our dinner conversation tonight:

My Dad: So, Amanda, are you excited to travel this summer? (And then explains to Grandpa the Romania trips.)

Me: Yea, it will be fun! I just wish I new more of the language.

Grandpa: I can count to 10 in 10 different languages! (And then proves it.)

Me: Very impressive, Grandpa!

Grandpa: Yea, when they called me to go to Holland.... (tells story)

Me: Wow. What an experience. Hey, dad, nice job on the pork!

Dad: Thanks! I did somethi.....

Grandpa: I can count to 10 in 10 languages! Finnish is the hardest (again, counts to 10.)

Dad: That's great!

Grandpa: Well, it became helpful when they called me to Holland.... (same story)

Mom: Do you think you'll try to pick up some more Romanian before you go?

Grandpa: All you need to know is how to count to 10! I can count to 10 in 10 languages! (Proves it.)

Me: Cool! I can count to 10 in Romanian, do you want to learn?

Grandpa: No! I can count to 10 in 10 languages already and I promise that it's not harder than Finnish... See? (Proves it.)

This was all in about the first 20 minutes of dinner. Then my dad started making fun of the Finnish 1-10 (one of the numbers is the word Feces. I'm not kidding.) And my Grandpa counted about 17 more times. He cracks me up. He also told the Holland story about 17 more times. (He was called on an architectural mission there and moved the entire family for like 3 years.) He really has done a lot with his life, but I swear all he does is count to 10 now.

He also has about zero tact now. When you ask him how he's doing he says "Everyone I can!" which cracks us all up. Also, Saturday morning I went to talk to him right after I woke up and he said "Wow, you're sure a lot prettier when you're all dolled up for a night out!" Thanks, Gramps. Granted, that is true, but still. Do you have to say it like that?

But hey, did you guys know I can count to 10 in 3 languages?? I'm on my way!

(P.S.- as soon as my camera charges, there will be Gout Party pictures! So check back soon!)

My trials and tribulations...

2008-03-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

I just want to preface this by saying that I think Relief Society in a student ward is great. I love that the lessons aren't "Teaching your Children" every week, which is the schedule in my home ward. I love that it's single women in the Church all in roughly the same phase of life teaching and helping each other. I think it's great.

HOWEVER

When you have lessons on "Dating and the Eternal Perspective" things get a little (lot) irritating.

I seem to have an older ward. I think I'm on the younger end. So they start talking about keeping an Eternal perspective and getting married on the Lord's time, which is all good advice and they had some great quotes to back it up. Then women start making comments.

Wow. They were along the lines of:

"I know all of us are thinking we're not married because we're fat and ugly and there's something wrong with us."

(Um... Actually no, I don't think that. Not even a little bit.)

"I needed that little ray of hope that there really might be someone out there for me."

(Seriously?? You're that worried??)

"We need to make ourselves better so that we can find more perfect men."

(So bettering yourself has nothing to do with you and your own life and goals, but it has to do with finding someone better.)

And my personal favorite...
"I feel like I've been given this trial for a reason."

HONESTLY?? Since when did being single become a TRIAL? When most people talk about getting trials for a reason they're meaning terminal illness. Or tragic accidents. But BEING SINGLE?? How is that a trial?

I don't think there is anything wrong with being single and I get frustrated that whatever Utah or LDS culture (probably just "Utah Mormon" culture) says that there is something wrong with you if you aren't married by 25 or 23 or whatever. No where else will you find females who are thinking it's a burden to not be married in their early or mid 20's. Life isn't over! There is so much to do! Keep going to school! Travel! That's stuff that may not happen when you get older. LIVE IT UP!

I also struggle with this idea that the reason we need to better ourselves is to find a better husband. I hate that women feel like their whole identity is with a husband. That their worth is centered around what kind of husband they get. Give me a break!

I don't know if it's because of how I was raised or what, but I have never once felt that being single is a trial. I am really happy in my life right now and I've had some amazing experiences that I don't think I ever would have had if I would have married early. I feel pity for women who feel that way because there are so many doors open for single intelligent women that weren't there 50 years ago. Or even 20 years ago!

I just couldn't stop laughing at the "Trial for a reason" comment. Oh goodness. Never a dull moment in the student ward!

Sad, sorry truth...

2008-02-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

So I realized the truth about myself today. It started in our Math and Literature class when I couldn't pay attention and was playing with math manipulatives. I had made a huge tower when it crashed and everyone looked at me. Not a big deal, but I had gone ballistic on a student about 4 hours before that for doing the same thing while I was teaching. Then I looked around and realized that I had spilled Diet Coke on my shirt, I had dropped a dry-erase marker on my pants, and I had actually STAPLED MY HAND a few hours earlier.

This is what lead me to my epiphany... I'm a moron.

Yes, I'm smart. I feel like I was raised to be an intelligent woman. But seriously, there is no correlation between my book-smarts and my self-smarts. Further evidence:

- I trip over EVERYTHING. One day I tripped over a student and actually gave him a bloody nose.

- I spill everything. My chest (which unfortunately sometimes counter-acts as a shelf) CONSTANTLY has food on it because I can't get it from my plate to my mouth.

-I say stupid things. No explanation needed. You all are aware of this.

-I STAPLED MY HAND TODAY.

-I lose things. One day before I left school I searched my classroom for about 5 minutes looking for my phone before I left. Oh, wait, I was TALKING ON MY PHONE.

-I don't think before I speak. While creating new jobs for my class this week I actually started to name one BORDER PATROL (to clean the outer edges of my room) when my class is 50% Mexican and probably are or have parents who are illegal.

-I signed up, and paid $100-ish for the PRAXIS test and then FORGOT to show up to take it. So I had to pay again.

-Most of my history at Snow College (Legacy 2 boys, the boys from Northern Idaho College, burning my lab partner, etc.)

-I get tangled up in my own feet while playing Dance Dance Revolution and actually fall over.

-I have managed to get a golf club SO LODGED in my bra while twirling it like a baton (and I was on a blind date) that it actually just swung there until I could stop laughing and pull it out. (Remember that, Ash??)

-I smacked myself in the eye with my work badge this week in front of a woman who already thinks I'm a moron and she couldn't stop laughing.

-I was cheering SO HARD as an Echelon at the (Granger? Maybe?) Football game that I punched myself in the face. Really, really hard.

I'm sure you all came to this realization, oh, about 10 minutes after meeting me, but I always thought I was super awesome. But today I was compared to a fairly incompetent fellow teacher and started thinking that I kind of struggle sometimes!

I even discussed this with my brother tonight who summed it up with his infinite wisdom:

Sometimes I'm such a COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS moron, it makes me kind of awesome.

Thank you.

Oops! Got a little ahead of myself...

2008-02-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was SO EXCITED to post my first blog that I got a little story-happy with last night. So let me just preface this by saying that I DO NOT have an exciting life. I teach 3rd grade and it has consumed pretty much all of my time, money, energy, and sanity. I LOVE my class. I teach in the heart of Kearns and my kids are thugs and headed on a path to crime, but I love them. Most of my posts will be about them.

I'm also single, which is also consuming the remaining part of my energy and sanity. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the way my life is right now. I'm perfectly happy. However, I omit some pheromone that ONLY attracts crazies. I only wish I were joking. So I hope you enjoy, but keep your expectations low for entertainment value!

You can find me in the club... bottle full of bub.

2008-02-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

Driving home. NOT happy.
This was at like 7:30, so still VERY happy!

The view from our table.

Oh mercy. Clubs.

So Misti (Miss Larson) from work and I bought tickets to go see the one and only Tyrese. Yes, Tyrese. Think back to 9th grade promotion and region dances and chances are you danced with a hottie to the song Sweet Lady. He also played in the cinema masterpiece that was 2 Fast 2 Furious, which, don't hate, is one of my guilty pleasures. So we've been pumped about this for weeks. All day Friday when I'd come in from recess duty there would be a note on my white board with the countdown until the show. (Good think most of my kids can't read to save their lives.) I had to go to class that night, but I busted out at 6:30 and headed to Misti's to change out of my hoodie I'd worn to work (yes, I do wear hoodies. Go public education!) and redo my makeup to go to the show.

We got to The Depot at about 7, but the doors didn't open until about 8. So we waited outside until some dude let us wait in the lobby. Yes, we were 3rd in line. The line starts getting PACKED with the skankiest girls I've seen in my life. Honey, it's FEBRUARY. A mini-skirt and tube top? Not a good choice. Mist and I were wearing DOUBLE the clothing of every other girl in there.

A few minutes before 8, the dude says that Tyrese got in late and wanted to do a sound check so we had to wait until 8:30. They let us in at about 8:45. We headed in and got a table (oh yes, I thought a skank was trying to race me to a table so I ran. Oh how I ran.) RIGHT NEXT TO THE STAGE!!! Oh yes. Have you seen Tyrese? I would have paid to just let him stand there. So we both get drinks which taste AWFUL (the lady apparently made some comment that if I would add alcohol to my Diet Coke it would probably take the taste away of the bad syrup) and waited.

10 rolls around and the opening band comes out. 5 R&B artists who sing songs that sound like romance novels with Fabio on the cover. 11 rolls around and some girl wearing not much more than a bra (she did have some awesome boots on, though) came out and lip synched to something. I wasn't paying attention. The best part is that WE WERE AGAINST THE STAGE. Right there. In front. So close we could see when the drunk 50 year old woman totally grabbed the package of one of the R&B dudes. HILARIOUS.

Midnight rolls around and still no Tyrese. Misti and I have drunk Asian girls trying to get their freak on by our left side, and two drunk he/shes on our right side. And some chick DJ is trying to dance on stage and isn't realizing that she looks ridiculous and most people are making fun of her or too drunk to notice.

1 a.m. rolls around and still nothing. I break for the bathroom and when I get out I see Misti waiting by the stairs. TYRESE ISN'T EVEN AT THE CLUB. Nope, didn't show. And they didn't tell us. She found out from some 7 foot tall Amazon woman who had talked to someone she knew at the club and then asked the bouncer. No Tyrese. So we left before they announced it to the club and had to walk through the Gateway and the parking garage at 1 am to get to our car.

Now, I don't frequent the club scene. And last night was a perfect example of why not. People are disgusting. The smell of booze is disgusting. And drunk girls trying to dance with me and calling me "baby girl" is disgusting. I was happy to get home and shower, although I think I'll have to burn my copy of 2 Fast.