I'm leaving, on a jet plane

Okay now I'm starting to freak out a little. Five days. How is it already July 13th??? I still have things to buy, things to pack, things to figure out, before I leave on Monday morning. I feel like I am abandoning numerous people by going and it makes me feel like a horrible friend. It would be so much easier to just stay here and not have to deal with leaving. But isn't life just like that? Sometimes you have to do things that are difficult. Or that once seemed like a great idea but now just seem like a pain. Sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and create new experiences for yourself. And it is always good to have these experiences. As difficult as it may be, as uncomfortable as it may feel, you can always learn something about the world, about people, about life, about yourself, that will help you become a better person when you step outside of your own little world and thus expand it.

Kayla will have her beautiful, healthy, happy baby even if I'm not there for that. Sierra won't even remember that I wasn't there for her second birthday. I will be able to keep in semi-regular contact with everyone else while I am away and won't miss out on too much in five weeks. I can wish that the timing would be better, but the timing will never be good to just leave for a month. I can wish that I could take people with me, but it wouldn't be a growing experience if I didn't have to do this on my own. I can try to figure everything out and plan every little detail of my time away, but there are always unexpected things that come up and throw a wrench in the works.

I can't wait to see Korea and experience the culture meet amazing people and fall in love with my students and learn more about myself and the world. Leaving is just going to be really hard this time around.





On a side note, just in case you want to know what Korean fashion is like (because I myself was curious), check out this site. Kind of makes me wish I was Korean.

The voices in my head.

I'm in a melancholy-ish mood right now (also, I had to look up how to spell melancholy). I don't even know why. Well, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm leaving for Korea in 11 days. A fact which I am getting quite good at ignoring. I should probably start packing. And figuring out what I need to get before I leave. But I'm just gonna go ahead and put that off a little longer.

I am excited for this trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will learn and experience so much from. Its going to be a lot of work and will be exhausting, but so worth it. In our meetings (all two of them) for this trip, they made sure to tell us how hard and uncomfortable things will be most of the time. So that has my normal "I'm-about-to-go-on-an-amazing-adventure" -ness kind of lower than normal. That, and the fact that I'll be missing my best friend having her baby, my niece's second birthday, my boyfriend (who knew one of those was going to come along when I applied for this program?), my family, a few paychecks at work, and a large part of summer in Oregon (which has FINALLY arrived. I think.).

I'll be back after five weeks and it will be like I was never gone. Then I can go on to planning my next adventure. Which may be either a while from now or something a little closer to home since I doubt any more free trips are going to come my way. The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to take trips like this, for all the reasons named above. Leaving for Spain last year was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. Praise the Lord everyone is healthy and happy this time around, but there are more things going on and more ties to people and things that make it difficult all the same. I think that's why it is hard for me to get excited about this trip. I know I will get excited when I get there and will have the time of my life, but I'm just kind of ambivalent about it at this point.

Anyway, 11 days to go! I better get to learning Korean.......maybe that will get me psyched up for the trip! Also, here's the ten-day weather forecast for the area I'll be in in Korea. Hmmm, looks like fun!

Squirrels are trying to kill me.

I thought it was summer. I thought summer meant sunshine. Not sort-of-warm but CLOUDY ALL DAY EVERY DAY. I am getting angry...I guess yesterday was mostly nice, but it was still kind of overcast for a large part of the day. I do not appreciate this!

My apartment has a little balcony on it that gets sun for about one hour every afternoon. Our "backyard" is a forest-Marquam Nature Park, to be specific. So for most of the day the trees block the sun from reaching our little two-by-ten-foot balcony. BUT, yesterday I swept off all the leaves and grossness and sat out there for a little bit when the sun was just starting to hit it.

But someone was not very happy that I was out there. There is a big ivy-covered tree about two feet away from the far end of our balcony.



And apparently a squirrel has made his (her?) home there. And he (she?) was very suspicious of my presence. At first I saw the little squirrel stealing food from our neighbor's bird feeder that is on their balcony.



Then he was running around. Then he started yelling at me. Very persistently. I heard a weird noise and looked up from my Korean soap opera (my new favorite thing, ever.) to lock eyes with the little guy. He was glaring at me. I'm pretty sure he is rabid. I scooted back a little and continued watching my show (when is she going to tell him she's a SHE, not a HE??!?!?!?!) only to look up again a few minutes later to see the squirrel still there staring and chastising me. He kept getting closer to the balcony. I was pretty sure he was going to jump on the railing and then onto me and rip my eyes out with his rabid little teeth. So, I did what any sane person would do and grabbed the closest thing to me that could be used as a weapon. Which happened to be an ice-scraper for a car windshield which for some reason was on the balcony next to a box of Blue Moon beer and Megan's chains for her car. Try attacking me now, Mr. Squirrel.




He eventually just climbed up the tree farther and continued screeching at me. I eventually left. NOT because I was scared for my life but because I went to meet Ben at the gym.

Its not over yet, little buddy. If it ever gets sunny again, we will duel it out. I'll bring more weapons next time. Just please wait until my show is over.









UPDATE: I just heard some noises coming from outside and, lo and behold, what did I see but my little friend. So I ran out to take a photo. Again, I thought I was going to die. But I captured a shot of him while he was running away to organize his squirrel friends in an attack party. Don't worry, I'm safely inside now. But I'm sure they could gnaw through the screen door if they really wanted to.....

HIS EYES ARE GLOWING!!!!

UPDATE 2: He finally found out she is a girl! And he was really mad, but now they are in love. Its adorable. And he might not leave Korea for NY after all! Oh, Coffee Prince :)

nothing better to do!

Well, I got a B last term. Stupid 16th Century Spanish Poetry. And it was a B+ at that. I'd rather have a B-, at least seems worthy of dropping my GPA for that. B+ just kind of pisses me off. Oh well, If I can go all next year with no B's then I can stay in a 3.9 GPA range. We'll see if that's possible.

The first week of summer break has been pretty great so far! I went to visit the family for a few days. Had a barbeque for dad's birthday, sang The Wheels on the Bus (or the Pants on the Bus, or the Big Truck on the Bus...whatever Sierra came up with) with my niece, ate a lot of food, and just hung out with my amazing family. It was a good time! Then I came back up to Portland and went to a tango dance class with Ben and Kevin and Helen. It was so much fun! We went to dinner first, where Kevin found out that the class requires switching partners and so he subsequently ordered another drink. Turns out, tango is hard when you've had a couple drinks as it requires a fair amount of balance. Lesson learned. We all really liked it and plan on going back. I told Ben we have to get really good at it, watching the good dancers inspired me. Although he already knows what he's doing and is good, so mostly that just means I have to figure out what's going on. Maybe I'll practice with the mop while I'm cleaning.

Today was my first day at home with literally nothing to do. I love not having to work for a couple weeks! I need to win the lottery so I can make this a permanent thing...Anyway, Annie (who just started her first real-live job with her (almost) masters degree in Nutrition-and its an awesome one-working at WIC! Yay, congrats!!!) and I went to the gym and then to sushi. And then to Rite Aid to do some coupon shopping. I don't even wear lipstick but I bought ("bought" being used loosely as I didn't have to pay for it after coupons) four tubes of it. So silly. Now I just spent like the last two hours looking at recipes online. Ben's mom also gave me a cookbook that I'm pretty excited to use, so I'm going to have to just cook up a storm in this next week!

I also found out today that my friend Carly (the same one who told me about the program in Costa Rica-and who is going there this summer!) is moving downtown in a couple weeks! She's a super sweet and fun girl and we know each other from PSU-we had Spanish together every day last summer and have taken classes together since then. So that will be fun! I'm trying to get her a job at the gym so maybe we'll even be able to work together!

One month til Korea! So crazy, I can't even believe its happening. I spent way too much money last week on clothes to take with me and stocked up on protein bars and other snacks to take since I'm convinced I won't like the food. Probably not a good attitude to go over there with. But at least I won't die of starvation if it turns out to be the case. My flight leaves at 8am on Monday, July 18th. PDX to Seattle, then straight to Seoul! 11 hours later I'll be there...can't wait! Kind of.

Also I have a baby shower to throw in a couple weeks! Kayla is due in a couple months and I, the terrible friend that I am, will not be here when the baby is due. So unless baby comes a month early, I won't see her until after she's born. So I'm planning to throw the world's greatest baby shower before I leave to make up for it. Yikes, I'm definitely setting myself up for failure with that statement! But hopefully it will be a fun shower :) I promise I'll bring you back something cool, little Ila Rae!

If Oregon believed in summer I would probably be outside right now soaking up the sun. Actually, I probably wouldn't be since I always get too hot after sitting in the sun for about 15 minutes. But still, I'd like the option. So instead I'm sitting inside. I better go.......do......something else.......eat a(nother) cupcake from Aunt Shirley, perhaps?

squashy homework hit-and-run

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....almost done with the term! Half of a paper left to write and lots of studying to do, then it will be summer! I got a text from my boss today asking if I wanted to work in another club while we close down for the remodel. I didn't answer. Not sure what I'm gonna do about that. I definitely want two weeks off, but could use the money....oh well, I'll figure it out :) (I wrote this yesterday but am posting it today...I told her I want the time off...hehehe)

On another note, I got home from class earlier this week to quite a surprise. I noticed there was a car parked halfway on the sidewalk. I thought that was kind of odd so kept looking as I got closer. Then I realized that it was parked there because it had been hit and pushed up onto the sidewalk. Then I got closer still and realized it was my poor roommate's car. And she was in CA for a bachelorette party. I didn't want to have to ruin her vacation with the news, but the police said they had to talk to her to file a report, so I had to break the news to her. Anyway, the seem to think they can fix the car, so that's good I guess. I think the garbage man is the culprit, but I'm not sure if we'll ever find out.

Wednesdays are usually pretty good days for me since I have most of the day off to get stuff done. This was no exception, I feel like I accomplished so much today! I finished two papers that I had been working on and wrote one and a half papers for another class. So close! Plus I did a little cooking. I have shared on numerous occasions my love for the Pioneer Woman. But today I ventured out on my own. I had gone to Trader Joe's with Annie earlier to get a few groceries and picked up a bag of cubed butternut squash. I thought I'd make some sort of pasta or something with it. Well I couldn't really find a recipe I liked, so I just threw a bunch of stuff together. I'm gonna go ahead and brag, it was pretty amazing. I cooked the squash in some butter (this was not a low-fat recipe, sorry) and then added in some pine nuts and some chicken. Then I made a little roux (added flour to the butter for thickening) and poured in some milk til it seemed like a good consistency. I had some ricotta cheese that needed used up, so I threw in some of that and some sage, plus salt and pepper. Then I poured in some cooked penne pasta and stirred it all up. I decided I'd bake it for a bit, so put it in a pan with some cheese sprinkled on top.

YUM. The sage worked really well with the squash. I can't take credit for that idea, I had seen a recipe for sage browned butter sauce with butternut squash pasta somewhere, so decided that would probably be good to add! Anyway, I'd probably do a little less sauce next time since it kind of overpowered the squash. But it still is quite delicious! And I have enough to last a week. Or to last my roommates and I a few days anyway. So if you're hungry, come on over!

I took a picture of the finished product but it doesn't look too exciting. So I'm going to be lazy and not bother putting it on here. You'll just have to imagine it.

SUUUUMMMMMMMMER.

Three more weeks. I can make it. I just have to write four papers, do numerous homework assignments and study for four finals. But then it will be SUMMER!!!!! I originally registered to take a summer class-Teaching Everyday Science (one of the requirements for my Elementary Ed minor). Buut, I dropped it. Since I'm no longer going to pursue a Special Ed teaching certificate, there are a few classes that I no longer have to take which will free my schedule up a little next year. So I don't have to take classes this summer. It would still be good to do, but I just need a break.

So, when my finals are all over with, I will have a real-live summer this year! The gym is closing down for two weeks for a remodel, which means I'll have some time off without even having to work (unless they want me to work in other locations...which I may or may not agree to)! Although my poor bank account won't appreciate that, my brain will enjoy it. Then I will be in Korea for five weeks. I plan on doing a whole lot of nothing this summer. Reading (any recommendations?), cooking, sunbathing (ish, since I don't really like doing that but like the idea of it), hanging out with a certain guy (what?!?!) and family and friends...It's gonna be a good summer!

Now, if only the weather will cooperate...

annyong!

Sooooo....guess who's going to KOREA?!!?!?!?! (It's me, just in case you couldn't figure that out). (South Korea, not North, just in case you were confused).

After waiting for FOREVER to hear back from them, I found out last night that I got accepted into the program I applied for. So I'll be leaving July 18th for five weeks in Korea! The first week there, we spend training for the camps. Then there is a week-long camp where we will be teaching classes. We have a week off after that, then another class. Then a few days of sightseeing and back home!

The week we have off in between classes should be quite interesting. We have three options: stay with a host family, stay in a bed and breakfast near a beach, or stay in a Buddhist temple. I'll give you one guess as to which option I chose. (I chose the Buddhist temple, just in case...)

I'm assuming it will be like the temple in Eat, Pray, Love. And that Javier Bardem will be there to be my tour guide. I'll be awfully disappointed if this isn't the case.


Sooo, who wants to teach me Korean????