it's been a long time

sorry.

so. im at my new site, korostyshiv... and i live wonderfull/yhellaciously close to kiev.

this is good because:

-everyone comes to the main office (in kiev) so i get to see people all the time

-kiev kicks ass. it's got lots of shopping, theatre, things to do, good food... etc

this is bad because:

-kiev is expensive on a peace corps budget... im diving into my own bling, y'all

-that's pretty much it

for new years i met up with some volunteers from other groups, mainly youth development and had some swell friends. we drank a lot and spoke in english. we stayed at a nice apartment and made amazing burritos. that's something unique... in the states, after a night of drinking we just go and get greasy CICi's pizza for 4.35 but here we hit up the grocery store (since we are kiev they actually have grocery store) and spend 3 hours cooking together. cute, huh?

we also had christmas yesterday. we are on the gregorian calendar. our xmas is two weeks after the julian calendar. dont feel like an idiot if you didnt know this.. i was like- what the hell are you talking about two different calendars? but, christmas basically is eating food. all the time. i honestly boycotted food yesterday after the fact i had 3 meals by 3pm. i said my stomach hurt and watched episodes of 'the office' in my room.

i am going to l'viv (one of ukraine's HOTTEST cities) for my friend's birthday. im organizing the trip and having a blast doing it... oohoohoho i love it. i want to go a bathhouse where they beat you with birch. although i think they just do that to the men. which is LAME. i miss that equality thing. well, just in birch beatin' i suppose.

a cute story: the russian word for bitch is quite similiar to bag. or purse. and i was telling my host mom to put something in my bag... but i accidentally said: here, bitch! instead. im sure she found it oh so endearing.

what else...

ive been doing yoga alot to not go stir crazy and my host dad walked in on me in downward dog. that was hard to explain.

i severely need a bath. it's been about 5 days.

ive been going on long walks everyday to get to know my town. today i found an adorable little park. but people dont believe in trashcans here... so.. it's quite messy. vodka bottles everywhere.

that's all for now.

i miss you!

on leaving day first with my host mom and then with my cluster

this is me playing my uke for the kiddies.

my cluster and the PCV from our town

this man wanted to take a picture with us on... our camera.

above is my language teacher and below i am lusting for the goods.

my cluster selling goods at the local bazaar

on Friday was our community project. let me back up.

peace corps makes us do a project that benefits the community in some way which involves at least three different entities/organizations. so. we surveyed around 150 people (out of 15,000) to see what they thought we should do. this is not as easy as it may sound. nor as fun. because first we had to make out the survey in UKRAINIAN and ask people to fill it out… IN UKRAINIAN. then we tallied the UKRAINIAN survies and compiled that people wanted:

bake sale

concert

we went to the local “creativity center” (basically a place for talented kiddos to be trained after school) and found out they were putting on a concert..so, we latched onto that like a leech to a leper. ooh. lot’s of L’s in that Last sentence. mm. nice.

we wanted to fundraise. but they wouldn’t let us publicize the event as they didn’t have enough space and there aren’t ample choices nearby. also, they opted against charging a nominal entrance fee (also known as a TICKET) because… well, just because.

so, that left us with the bake sale. American dessert bake sale to be exact. but, I guess that’s just pretty much a bake sale. anyway, I made chocolate chip cookies; Sonia made brownies; Melissa made granola bars; Chris made pumpkin pie. we got a table at the Bazaar (open air market where Ukrainians buy their fresh food) and made some signs and got a-sellin’. we did pretty well. especially when my cluster made me run home and get my ukulele and start jamming out. (note: the uke actually neither helped or decreased our sales but did stir some interest in the actual instrument)

so, then we went to the Creativity Center and sold some more of our chow. Then during the concert, we taught the children two line dances: Electric Slide and Bunny Hop. The Bunny Hop was particularly adorable because it is a hip hop line dance and watching Ukrainian kiddies bounce is… really fantastic. I recommend it. Highly.

oh, and our Country Director came. we found out the night before.

everything went well though..we had a great time and raised over 300 hrvns. which is a significant amount. we are using that money to buy supplies for the Center.

at least it’s over.

The other morning I was the only one home. I got to sleep in a little (well, the rooster’s always wake me but it’s becoming easier and easier to tune them out) and my fam was already off to school and work when I headed downstairs for some tea and breakfast (worth noting: Ukrainians do not believe it breakfast food. all those years of restricted sugar intake are completely forgotten here in Eat Some Chocolate For Breakfast Land, seriously. they eat dinner for breakfast too. but im totally not complaining. it’s pretty fantastic)

anyway

so I am in the kitchen; after I dine, I notice that the faucet is working (it was broken for 2 days) and head over to tidy up my plate.

Problem 1: the faucet wouldn’t turn off.

Problem 2: the knob fell off completely

Problem 3: water is coming out of both the faucet and where the knob once was Problem 4: I am already late

Problem 5: my family seriously was not home

I run to call my language facilitator (LCF) Andriy, leaving the faucet in a precarious “posish” but I have to and he tells me to turn off the water. Nice one, like I didn’t try that FIRST. and guess what, there is no knob under the sink. in fact, there’s nothing under the sink… except a trashbag. then I follow the pipes to the cloakroom and turn the water off there.

ooh. crisis avoided! or, NOT! when I saunter back in the kitchen I couldn’t help but notice the complete INCH of standing water on 3/4s of the floor. this wouldn’t have been so bad, had there been a mop. oh no such luck. I begin using my Quik dry towel to soak up the water and wring it over a large bucket. which I ended up having to empty 3 times. the kicker is that after I was all done, a bit sweaty but feeling accomplished, I pushed on the floor and realized…. jesus.. it’s underneath. I pushed with my hand against the floor to the opening at the wall when a TSUNAMI rushes over my drying floor.

I had to do it all over again.

but. everything ended up okay in the end.

lesson to be learned: faucets are not always friends.

on Friday was our community project. let me back up.

peace corps makes us do a project that benefits the community in some way which involves at least three different entities/organizations. so. we surveyed around 150 people (out of 15,000) to see what they thought we should do. this is not as easy as it may sound. nor as fun. because first we had to make out the survey in UKRAINIAN and ask people to fill it out… IN UKRAINIAN. then we tallied the UKRAINIAN survies and compiled that people wanted:

bake sale

concert

we went to the local “creativity center” (basically a place for talented kiddos to be trained after school) and found out they were putting on a concert..so, we latched onto that like a leech to a leper. ooh. lot’s of L’s in that Last sentence. mm. nice.

we wanted to fundraise. but they wouldn’t let us publicize the event as they didn’t have enough space and there aren’t ample choices nearby. also, they opted against charging a nominal entrance fee (also known as a TICKET) because… well, just because.

so, that left us with the bake sale. American dessert bake sale to be exact. but, I guess that’s just pretty much a bake sale. anyway, I made chocolate chip cookies; Sonia made brownies; Melissa made granola bars; Chris made pumpkin pie. we got a table at the Bazaar (open air market where Ukrainians buy their fresh food) and made some signs and got a-sellin’. we did pretty well. especially when my cluster made me run home and get my ukulele and start jamming out. (note: the uke actually neither helped or decreased our sales but did stir some interest in the actual instrument)

so, then we went to the Creativity Center and sold some more of our chow. Then during the concert, we taught the children two line dances: Electric Slide and Bunny Hop. The Bunny Hop was particularly adorable because it is a hip hop line dance and watching Ukrainian kiddies bounce is… really fantastic. I recommend it. Highly.

oh, and our Country Director came. we found out the night before.

everything went well though..we had a great time and raised over 300 hrvns. which is a significant amount. we are using that money to buy supplies for the Center.

at least it’s over.

November 25th

I learned to make vareynki today. my host mom is adamant about me learning Ukrainian style cooking and I cant say I mind. I love being domestic. I’m almost to the point where I am agreeing with gender roles. weird. but is it wrong to want to knit a sweater for your man, ladies? maybe not!

so we (h-mom and h-sis yulia) are chatting, cooking and feeling like women. so, we do what comes natural: sing! sing so loud and songs in every language. and my favorite moment was yulia lunging on one knee with her fist as a microphone and singing on the top of her lungs as her mom was the chorus in the background shaking her pot and boiling varenkyi in tempo.

good times!

my language teacher.... he's perfect

too. much. food.

the thanksgiving festivities...

our skinny bird.

my NEW city... the culture center

my new apt.

the window.

lucifer. my new cat. be afraid.

it's been awhile.happy thanksgiving, friends/fam.so, i went to my new site that i will move to after december 22nd (aka when i go from being a peace corps trainee to a peace corps volunteer). it's called Korostyshiv. and it took me a few days to be able to say it fast. now i can say it about 54 times and backwards, but hey, whatever. a really good little site of info on my town: http://www.fluidlight.com/collins/kor_memorial_plaza.htm  i've already got an apartment that ill move into after my mandatory stay with a host family for one month... so, by january 23rd, im on my own. when i am with my host family in Tarashcha, I feel like i understand what is going on and we can actually communicate. They know what verbs I know, etc. but i am starting completely over in Korostyshiv.However, Peace Corps completely listened to me when I did my request form because I'm the second closest volunteer to Kiev and very, very close to Zhytomyr (the oblast capital).  And my fam has hot water,a  toliet inside, etc. It's very nice. i even will have INTERNET at my apt. so, there's that.      peace corps promoted me to teaching at a college level which is like our community colleges in the states. The students in my college seem unmotivated but, whatever, at least I have a challenge.   i just am slightly nervous about what ill do when im by myself and the days are short and cold. i guess read? maybe write a new song on my uke? who knows.   i am also nervous about the fact i think my new host family's cat is lucifer incarnate. you should see its spiky horn puffs of furr. eeeeeery.  today, i also saw that my host family had a new brand of toothpaste so i squirted some on my toothbrush and the first stroke i thought, oooh natural brand! this is fun! and then on the second stroke it tasted pretty damn awful. then i looked at the tube and it said mens shaving foam IN ENGLISH. i stuck my head under the faucet, gargling and spitting and making matters worse. i ended up wiping my tongue on the nearest towel.crisis avoided.   we are having a little turkey day feast at one of my clustermates homes. it should be nice. my host fam gave me a really nice welcome home yesterday. i just kind of want the sun to come out.anywaythats it for nowmiss you guys.   

in kiev for the second (and soon to be third) time this week alone.

came on sunday for a break to hang with other peace corps friendsies. we went to the world press photo exhibit which showed the most moving press photos from all over the world. http://en.for-ua.com/news/2006/10/20/174031.html

it was like getting kicked in the stomach by a graceful ballerina! it hurt. a lot. but with such lovely grace you couldnt be upset. i mean, i did pay for the "ballerina" to kick me.

i felt very lucky to be in kiev.

today im learning how the train stations work. sleeper cars, different classes, etc. it's insanity.

and sunday i come back because im going to Prolisoc to find out my future site that i'll live and work at for 2 years and then i go visit for about a week.

we are trying to figure out what we are doing for our community project and have sent out surveys. the problem is we also have to tabulate them and write our grant proposal by saturday. did i mention i am planning 3 lessons for tomorrow? yeah.

one of our clustermates is sick and has missed 3 language lessons. i worry for her as we do SO much in a day. and she's not the strongest in the group if you know what i mean.

it snowed for a few days. i am the WORST at walking in snow. i slip and slide like it's a dance move. except without rhythm. but MAN do i FEEL it. esp. when i fall. oh well.

so ukrainians amaze me. they manage to dress like warm sluts. like, completely clothed and warm, but somehow still sexy. and i dont understand it. it's a goal of mine. step one: new coat. and ive done step one.

step two.... im not sure yet. i am not ready for the intense heely boots yet. sigh.

my host sister yulia (15 yrs old0 got bit in the face by our dog. she was okay in the end. a little bloody, but they dog is gone. they said it was going to a big farm... but i keep worrying it got Old Yeller style in the woods.

my teachers and host fam call me "loritska" it's a little nickname for laura and i kind of love it.

well, that's all for now.

my cluster was invited to teach the communicative method of teaching at a conference. we presented on listening, reading, speaking and writing. And for the topic? THANKSGIVING!

i've got to say- i was slightly disgusted with the gross inaccuracy about the orgin of the holiday (from local books). i mean. it painted the picture that the indians and americans held hands oveer a big fire and danced with turkey friends.

however, it also made me a little homesick. ill miss being around the fam for the holidays. the kid's table isn't looking so bad now!

the other day, i completed one song on my uke and ive got to say- im pretty impressed with myself. it's got verses and a chorus and even a bridge! it's about how when i dont know someone but think they are interesting i make up details about their life. but sometimes the person i invent is more interesting than they turn out to be.

but, i try to play my uke at LEAST 45 mns a day. and it's really helped. i go over little exercises in the book to improve my strumming. and it's so fun. the ukrainians dig it too.

not much else is going on. it snowed today... it's tried to snow a few times but the the ground isnt having it yet. im not quite ready to play do you trust it with the ice on the lake. i do want to go ice fishing. or maybe polar bear swimming. though i might end up half dying.

coming to kiev tomorrow to see the world press photo exhibit. top 100 in the world are being showed in my neck of the woods! exciting!

went to kiev again

no teaching this week. the kiddies are on VACA!

hm, we are presenting at a conference tomorrow on the hit holiday Thanksgivin'.

had an interview with the training manager as to check up on how we are doing, etc. it sounds more significant than it was? kind of boring.

hm. besides that. playing the uke a lot. 30mns a day and i'm working it. i wrote a song! wooo! my family loves me singing it to them.

anyway. i want more emails. email me? lauralynne.w@gmail.com

i miss you.

hi-yo

the weathers a little warmer right now. maybe around 40 degrees?

anyway

this week has been LONG.

let me bring you through a typical day:

6am- wake up to rooster crows.

7:15-leave home for school ( one or two lesson(s) plan prepared)

8am- give lesson and observe a class or two.

12pm- walk to language lesson

12:30pm- arrive at language lesson

5pm- end language lesson, walk home (weekly tutoring from 5-6pm)

6pm- arrive home

6:30pm- begin homework, lesson planning and hanging out with host fam

8pm- dinner

9:30/10pm- sleep

it's alot.

my language teacher told me today that he can tell i dont work as hard as i should. he told me i am smart and pick everything up with ease...and if i just tried a LITTLE harder... sigh

welcome to my entire school career....

but. i am going to try harder. i definitely can. i just work so hard all day, the last thing i want is more working when i get home. but this IS training. not supposed to be simple pants.

anywho.

my language teacher (LCF) is going to a new cluster this saturday. it's a "switch-a-roo" i call it. everyone gets a new LCF.

but this week hasnt been BAD. im just TIRED, my friend. tired. im going to watch Xmen 2 and study. well, after my hour long trot home!

hugs!

yesterday was my host sister's wedding.

ukrainian weddings are very different from american ones. let me explain....

it all started early in the morn. i was awoken by loads of family flooding the house with flowers, gifts, make up and hairspray. jesus there was so much hairspray, i could have thought fog was in the home. a fog that would combust with a match.

everyone got ready.. and as i pulled out my BCBG dress to wear, i asked my other host sister what she was wearing. she pulled out a pair of black jeans and a tee shirt. "hmm." i said and put my BCBG wonder away.

then the groom showed up with a posse and had to literally "buy" Inna (my host sister). The men from my home kept making him throw out more money. and finally said enough. Then Inna came out to the decorated car which was sort of similiar but not really. the decorations werent as crass

next was the actual "ceremony" which was at a government building, not a church. the bridal party (only bride, groom and best man and maid of honor) had grain and candy thrown on them. the ceremony had the couple standing on a ceremonial cloth together, eating bread together, drinking wine. then the guest gave them flowers and offered congratsies.

after, the bride and groom walk allllll over town taking photos with any kind of landmark. not very interesting. we then all got in random cars and drove to the woods and drank loads of champagne. i still dont know why we drove so far. no one knew what was going on.

then we got to the restaurant. and the table.... seemed to be 50 yards of striaght up chow. delicious, tasty chow. we drank much wine, samahone (homemade vodka) and had toasts. after toats, everyone cheers for the bride and groom to kiss... but they completely makeout. lots of tongue. for at least 25seconds while the crowd counts. (it helped me with my numbers at least) they drink from a glass connected by a red ribbon

so, after about an hour and a half of drinking and eating... we dance! dance we do to polka music. so much. we did circle dances and bounces.. and taps... it was awesome. and then we ate and toasted more. and then we danced. and then one last eating and dancing session.

the wedding lasted from 11am until 11:30pm.

and that was a short one.

choice observations:

*one guy ripped his shirt off whilst dancin...twice.

*the best mand took a short of wodka from the bride's shoe

*men have to pour women drinks

*at one point the best man and maid of honor walk around with baby clothes that are pink (girl) and blue (boy) and people put money in as a bet for the first child

*they have the whole tossing the bouquet thing but apparently its stolen from States.

-----

i also went to kiev and cant really get into how much i love it. some other time, yes? but i do know it's a tourist paradise. this is totally the posh corps.

so, i am a teacher.

last week i taught three lessons, and this coming week i teach three more. the students are very sweet but it's hard to adapt to the ukrainian style of teaching. it's very. very. strict. and another thing, you aren't supposed to point at people. you are supposed to extend your entire hand. which is actually fun. i, obviously, really enjoy talking in front of people. the classes i have taught are quite young, 5th grade (or form they call it here) and they barely understand a word i say. but hey, i've been told there are NO bad language lessons.

some funny things:

- i ate a chicken from my family's yard. my dad killed it.

- my fam was all eating little black things and offered me some. being hospitable, i graciously took their offer, a huge handful of the little things.... i threw them in my mouth and chewed. it was crunchy. so crunchy. and my whole family looked horrified.

then i realized.... they were sunflower seeds. ass. ASS! and it was embarassing but i thought we kind of secretly decided to never talk about it again. until, 15mns later when my language instructor came over nad the first thing out of my host mom's mouth "oooh laura ate a bunch of sunflower seeds whole! HAHAHA" the entire room laughed. oh well, whatever.

wedding tomorrow!

woooo!

saddest thing first:

my favorite friend, luke, who was living in the town next to mine... quit on monday. it was very sad. i mean... he didnt want to be here so what can you do, right? he has alot going back home that he needs to tend to... he DID give me his cell phone which was awesome... so, if you want my number and don't have it.. send me an email.

my birthday came and went and it was one of the best i've had in a long time.

one thing i've had to learn is that if i leave anywhere with my host sisters... i will be late. not 5 mns or 10mns but more like 35-50mns. and that's something i've learned. but this particular time (my bday) we were trying to leave for the discotheque.. and already about 15mns late and had to go pick up one of her friends.

well, the friend's dad was a little wasted and couldnt see me and asked if i was my host sister's boyfriend.

"ni."i said. Ya Amerekanka." which means "i'm an american girl!" (i really love saying this because not only is it true, it's adorable to say)

anyway. he freeeeaked out and yelled to his wife that an american was here. the mom starts yelling for me to come inside but my host sister kept yelling that we needed to leave! the mom literally came and pulled me into the home.. the friend telling about their home in broken english. the father kept speaking to me in russian which mean i could not understand much at all. he ended up kissing me all over my face and said something about it being a ukrainian tradition.... hm... i dont know.. they did give me a birthday card which was nice. finally, when the parents weren't looking...my host sister pulled me out in the street where there are no street lights. the family kept yelling for me. but my sister wouldnt let me answer. i laughed. and laughed and laughed. she said in english "it is not funny!" but it SO was.

my host fam got me a cake, slippers (which i very much needed). my friends all went to DISCOTHEQE with other volunteers who were visiting. there were 12 yr olds that got kicked out by the town's miltia (police)

tomorrow i get to go to KIEV!!!!! the capital. we are going to go around the city and have some good food. the rest of my group will get cellular devices.

and on sunday my host sister is getting married! but then she moves out which is so sad!!! i will miss her.. we are almost the same age and bond alot.

my language is coming along. slowly but surely. i can have conversations. i make mistakes in the conversations... but ,hey, whatever.

the food is awesome. i am not sick of potatoes yet.

or bread

or carrots.

life as a fetus.

that is my life.

it's interesting how many inflections i can use to help me in my lack of ukrainian lexicon and grammar. and the fact i did a weeeeee bit of theatre definitely was on my side.

so today i met my host family's two pigs, loads of chickens and roosters (who crow their head's off at all hours. seriously, all over tarascha you can hear crowing. all the time. all. the. time.), two dogs and a cat.

my host family: svetlana (mom), viloda (tato/dad), misha (boy, 12), inna (22, girl) and yulia (15, girl). they are so. so. so. fun

we (host sisters, clustermates and the PCV) went to the discotheque last friday. woah. there were 12yr olds there drinking beer and dancing it up to techno. i felt a bit out of place since i am used to "krunk" nawlins rapsie-rap. we got home around 2am after some after partying at the other PCV's flat. good times. except that some people's host mom's could SMELL the vodka. they are good at that. mine didnt care because i was with my host sisters! holla!

the food's good. loads of potatoes. um. they don't really like taking bones out of fish...lots of bread, borsch is pretty delicious. i enjoy it for the most part. i try not to notice how much butter they put on a sausage and cheese sandwich.. try not to notice.

and i should have brought a light coat. i neglected the season of autumn and packed hardcore snowfest clothing. it's around 50 degrees. pleasant. chilly morning though.

it's about a 3 mile walk to my language trainer. i don't mind yet. im really enjoying the 'laura time' in the morning with my i-pod. ohh i pod. i love you.

i went to church with my family and my friend christopher and his family. it was the longest service ive ever been to. they are protestant and it was their "thanksgiving". leaves were all over the ground. pumpkins, flowers, watermelons and food galore was drapped over the floor. we had about an hour of singing (including such hits as"Shout to the Lord!" in russian!) and then. TWO. TWWWWOO sermons. one would have sufficed.

seriously.

i'll be teaching english at Gymnasia. It's the nicer of two schools. I teach my first lesson next week. they are learning with mainly british tapes "mum, where's moy bag??" cute.

oh, and apparently... there's no word for cute in ukrainian. there goes 36% of my adjectives.

i'm getting a little sick because of my "cluster mates" is sick and it's spreeeeading. SPREADING, i say! i can feel it growing. growwwwing. growing.

that's it for now.

life is good!

my training was in prolisok, ukraine. which is a little "vacation" area for local workers. it was nice. we met our clusters. my cluster is: melissa, chris, lexi and sunny. good times. we found out we'd all be in Tarasha, Ukraine. a town with about 15,000 people... a movie theatre, internet cafe, several restaurants, a few little stores, a bazaar every friday, two schools and a small uni. it's an adorable town.

my favorite thing so far about ukraine are the stray dogs. they are everywhere. but they aren't roadkill. no way. and it's not typical scary strays like in the states. think of really cute, adorable middle to small sized dogs and then imagine them on the street. those are ukrainian strays. so. freakin. cute.

and also my host sisters (ages 15, 21) singing american songs- rihanna - "i dont wanna do this anymoreeee... i dont wanna be the reason whyyy" and my humps! by black eyed peas "they think im really sexy the boys they wanna" and so on. bu they missay the words... obviously.

my ukrainian is coming along. but it's still quite. um. a different language. i observe my second english class monday. wooo hooo. and i teach in about two weeks.

today i went to visit to another "cluster group" (5 trainees) in a nearby town rokitna. so, - i live the farest away. and on our way back i saw- ahah- i'll be home in an hour!!! ohhh... jokes on me, dove. i got lost. i kept thinking, ohh.. this garden looks familiar.. hmm.. and then. i realized.. this factory doesn't. this random field.. looks.. random. and before i knew it....i had to pee. i had to pee so badly. it was "crossing your legs and stopping to control it" having to pee. i ended up having to pee in a wheat field. how's that for a visual?? EH?? and then i got lost again. on the way back.

i've been eating a whole lot of potatoes and wearing loads of makeup. it's pretty awesome.

life is good.

it's not too cold yet. only about...hmmm.. 55 degrees maybe? warmer at times. nice nice nice.

email me! i miss you!

so.

whenever i get about to leave for an extended period of time... this is where i begin to freak out. about a week before throwing the deuce.

it's getting hard- russian lessons, buying a completely new wardrobe (because ukraine is COLD and louisieaaana is HAWT, y'all), seeing my friends, family, packing.... it's just a lot.

then yesterday my car broke down! sweet! smoke puffing out of my hood on the interstate!

and honestly, i can't wait to meet my new peace corps friends because they are going to be the only ones who understand that giving away your stuff is HARD. and WEIRD. leaving for two years is absolutely insane and for the first time.. i'm realizing that.

i know this week will go by like that (i snapped for the sound effect)... and it's like pulling off a wax strip on your leg s-l-o-w-l-y to rip every. single. hair. out. at the root.

it hurts.

but you've got to do it.

8/17/06 - christchurch, nz

so i wanted to call my fam fam when i was at a layover in sydney. but.... i have absolutely no signal. not there not here in christchurch. not one BAR! my phone still thinks it's los angeles time. awww poor little thing has jet lag!!!! awww...

anyway

the flight was quite possibly the longest time ive ever been on a plane in my life. around 22 hours cumulatively i believe. but i got in with no problem.

my first night in we went to an authentic chinese restaurant. i dont generally like chinese.. but it was incredible. then we did karaoke. not american style. but the private rooms style. where you have a couch and a television and two micro phones. very asian. they only had a few songs from america. chinese pop is amazing. allison's friend jung ho sang us a few ballads.. all of the american ditties had really hilarious videos. like. not the actual music video. "We are the world" had people getting ready to go white water rafting. seriously.

today we shopped around christchurch and had some yummy gnochhi and then the best indian food ive ever experienced. we also went to julie's (allisons husbands mom) bar that she owns. it's brazilian! iee iee!

8/20/06 christchurch

i did it

i hugged a baby lamb only five days old

it was ADORABLE.

i even fed it some warm milk.

the back story on this particular "poppet" as the man called it... was that its mum sheep had twinsies lambs but only wanted the other one. luckily for this lamb it wouldnt be butchered one day. it was a drysdale. for clothing. a new coat to be sheared every 6 months. woah. speaking of sheared... we saw another sheep get sheared. not as CUTE, perchance, but equally as exhilerating. the shearer assured me that a good sheep shearer could shear a sheep (hahah that sentence is a DOUSIE!) in 40secs. but he did it in 3mns to show us the... skill? he gave us samples of the wool... allison's has curious brown matter on her's. im thinking it's a dingleberry aka feces.

in kaiokoura, we saw seals on the shore... climbed up a hill and saw the MOST incredible view. went to a winery and sampled the goods. it's called a fioreland because the mountains come right up to the shoreline. beautiful. breathtaking.

we also went to hamner springs. had a little motel (all hotels and motels have kitchens). they have natural hot springs. allison and i sat in a 40 degree celcius sulfphur spring that smelled a bit like rotten egg. we also got some massages. mmm delish. and sat in a steam room. ive never been in a steam room. just a sauna. it was the hottest little box ive ever experienced. the pools were kind of weird because you werent allowed to sit your head underneath the water because of the chemicals.....so people just sat. in the warm water. and stared at you. but the view, again, was tops.

i bought a furry ram animal that i deemed fedrick mucherson. i like to call him munch. he's precious.....

we also saw the kiwi bird. the indigenous bird that is now endangered. they are insane! check them out on the internet. weird little fluffs.

bad news though is that i may have lice. apparently its really easy to get here? or something. but i might just have a dry scalp. we'll see tomorrow. i dont know how i escaped the lice plague at camp but they snagged me over in the NZ!!! AAAGH!!!

me. all summer. exactly what i looked like everyday. and while i write this.

PaintBALL!

Missy was "freezing" at Sand Beach. I was quite comfortable, myself.

me and my momma when we went to Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor!

camp best friendsies: Penny, Mollie, Me, Kat

Charlotte, Meredith all gathered at Smalls Falls.

even rest stops are beautiful in Maine.

As I finish the end of my 3rd summer at Camp Matoaka in Smithfield, Maine... I just want to edit and recap some of my lovely moments!

6/7/06

I am taking a much needed break from attempting to rent inflatables for our 4th of July carnival (of hell and despair). Anyway. So busy with planning everything. But I love everything I am planning it’s just a lot to get ahold of at once. I fully dived into the 70’s themed party we are having the first night of orientation. All I am saying is disco ball, huge arch with peace signs and smiley faces…. And so on. SOIREE, I tell you.

The weather is kind of bleugh. It’s cold. Wet. It just keeps raining. And raining. And raining and again. Things should turn up for the weekend. Hooopefully.

The first night was hilarious. I forgot to go to sleep the night before. Well, not really forgot as much as I simply couldn’t. Just so much was going on… anyway I got in to Portland, Maine around 2pm and to camp around 5pm. We showered and were whisked away to the closest boy camp- Manitou. We played beer pong. And at first I was worried. I had never played. And I was paired (randomly) with the only gay male staff at Manitou… needless to say, we were instant friends and also somehow INCREDIBLE at beer pong. We blew away every opponent, and finally lost in semi finals overtime.

But during all of this, I was chugging beer (which I don’t drink), playing flippy cup (more chuggin of which I don't do), drinking my regular strong vodka/sprite (easy on the sprite) combo and the occasional jell-o shot.

However…. A dear office friend was walking me to a car to place me in, simply because I was DONE. And on the way, I projectile vomited. And I’ve only vomited two other times in my life from drinking. I also fell on my ass running for a ping pong ball and called my office mate Chad the entire evening. His name is Dan.

6/19/06

I went paintballin’. I learned that i am an amazing sniper. I can detect motion and movement like NO tomorrow. But also got shot in the HAND. Who shots someone in the hand? Honestly! But i wore the bruise like a badge of honor.

My cabin has spiders. Lots of them. That does not bug me as much as the fact that the congregate over the door. And that not as much as the fact that they like to jump on your head. Catapult really. It’s not very fun for me. And it’s probably not fun for them when I freak out and smash their guts out.

For orientation , we had a huge competition against counselors that mimicked “college league”. It was a huge relay race. My element was army crawling on a sandy pit with a net on top of me. It was much harder than it sounds…. TRUST me. And it was a scorcher today. I was runnin around like a mad woman! But I wore sunscreen and drank proper amounts of water. And then we had a huge Jeopardy game to re-inforce camp rules.

Today? Ropes course and date with CARIBOU!!!!! Mmmm TJ’s pool hall. Should be called TJ’s COOL hall. j/k Tomorrow is the much anticipated SMALLS FALLS! Bet you remember THAT day. Haha. I think about 98% of the staff is going. There is a lot of unity this year.

We had to fire a counselor yesterday. Being in administration we find out about it sooner and myself and my desk mate were chosen to esort the freshly fired counselor to the bus station. But. Um. She is planning on hanging around and meeting us in town and stuff. And she just doesn’t get the hint that she… needs to go home. People have already forgotten about her, you know? Camp forgets people really quick. It just happens, man.

6/21

I think Goths are just getting popular up in Maine. But it’s kind of lost in translation along the way. As in, ive seen way angst ridden teens, but they aren’t quite goth.. more like dark clothes from Wal-Mart. It’s pretty hilarious because they couldn’t think they are more hardcore.

6/27/06

Team Fitness- started last year by me and my CBFF (camp best friend forevah) mollie to not get ridiculously fat from the delicious camp food. They love giving you fried cheese sticks which are my WEAKNESS. I love them. I love cheese. And frying things makes everything amazing. Even, like, liver. I would guess. At least. But anyway, Mollie and I are still Team Fitness. And we go mountain biking, play tennis, run or practice our handstands during rest hours. And MY! How it’s catching! People want to join Team Fitness like no tomorrow! I’ll say something about it they’ll say, ‘OMG, you’re on Team Fitness!??! Can I join?” seriously. I’m popular like that. Last night was a basketball game, since TF has expanded, and weight conditioning. It was awesome. We have plans for kayaking today.

6/28/06

Earlier today was very frustrating. We have a “buddy” day in which all the campers/counselors pick another ones name from a jar and leave them cute little notes, presents and hints to who they are. Well, yesterday morning I give the lists to one of the secretaries… and tell her a new plan to make sure everyone gets a buddy. The plan is, instead of standing outside the rec hall with a few jars, to count how many people are at certain tables (seating is assigned) and but that many slips in a bag. Apparently this idea was too dense for the 19 year old secretary to understand and after loads of questions and re-explanations she didn’t complete it. Which I didn’t know until this morning. So, I tell her to just put everything in 5 jars which I distributed to members of the office staff. One of the jars vanishes and no one owns up to it. I finally figure out, Dan. He had a jar. Walked to the office and saw his jar was gone when he got back then (without wondering or asking WHERE the jar went) took someone elses. Now, there are approximately 50 campers without buddies. Gug. I was so angry. I had to go take a time out and cry and write in my journal. It makes ME look like I don’t know what I am doing, you know?

Anyway

That’s my long boring story

6/29/06

My day is packed. They are always packed. Whenever it rains I have to put aside EVERYTHING I am doing and plan an activity. And.. let’s just say it’s the 5th day of camp now and I’ve already had to plan 2. I don’t like those odds.

7/5/06

Actually I am still kind of drunk from last night because everyone dressed 80’s and went to….

PETE AND LARRYS!!!!!!!!!

Oh the "Main"e hot spot for fun. Except… us southern girls were much disappointed in the LACK of bass throbbing booty music that they usually play. They played like 80’s hair bands and a little pop. Wah! I ended up talking a lot to this really absolutely adorable boy from new Zealand (caribou). We had played pool together at the orientation Camp Matoaka/caribou love fest. But, he was 18. Turning 19 in august. All of caribou’s boys are ridiculously young this year. In fact, Meredith "talked" with this cute boy who said he was 20. she found out from another counselor at his camp he was a C- I –f*ing – T!!!! 17!!!!!!

Then one of our mean machine ripped half of my toe nail off on the dance floor. I am going to give him hell. My toe is a bloody mess. And I am not trying to be cute with british jargon. It’s BLOODY.

7/11/06

The 4th o' july was AWESOME!!!! We had a dunk tank, gladiator joust, bungee run and pony rides. In the food tent was popcorn (which was delish, actually but probably would have been more so had you been there siiiighhh) snow cones, cotton candy, FRIED DOUGH and pretzels. Each bunk got to decorate their cabins (we handed out decorations) and their booths, but there were quite a few additions: spin art, astrology readings, karaoke booth, uncle sam relay race, etc. and hot jams were being pumped out of the loud speaker. The clouds loomed the entire day and we feared rain many a time, but the weather held up and spirits were HIGH! High like the AMERICAN FLAG! It was a great day!

7/12/06

Lately I’ve been doing insane (pour moi), but fun things. I have been doing the ropes course at camp, including the high elements. I climbed up a 20 ft pole and jumped off. It was insanely scarier than I thought. Especially when I had to STAND on the top and jump off. It freaking WOBBLED! I’ve also been kayaking a lot and loving it. So peaceful. And a day off I jumped off a HUGE 40ft cliff into the water. On the jump down I thought I hadn’t jumped far enough and my soul was dead. Then, another day I went on a wonderful hike up a mountainous hill in this amazing national park. The view…. Nothing describes it.

7/18/06

Tonight is an art show and our “hollywood” dinner. I planned for video/photo/drama departments to stand at the opening to the dining hall where red carpet will be placed (like at a real premiere) and as the campers come in the staff will take pictures of them, scream like adoring fans and ask for interviews! I hope it goes well. Other than that things are going wonderfully. The summer’s heated up a bit, but nothing like there- I’m sure!

8/5/06

I had my last day off and we went to Montréal Thursday evening. It was incredible. Mollie and I drove up using back roads so not only was it way gorgeous (I understand the wanting to sing the America the Beautiful once or twice. I actually kept singing – I’m thirty two for a moment… when you’ve only got a hundred years to live… da da da”) but it was also shorter. We got a sweet hotel on priceline smack in the middle of downtown that had a sauna and pool (both of which we utilized). We went shopping, to cathedrals, the casino, old Montréal, and had a crepe! We walked everywhere and saw almost everything we wanted to. It’s just an amazing city. I loved being in a francophone (French speaking) country. I really know a lot more that I realized. I could really live there!

However, we got lost on the way back and a 4 hour trip took 9. We got back at 4am. And I woke up at 6:30am. Zow.