"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on"- FDR

This quote very much categorizes my life the last few months! Change is hard, and it kind of sucks sometimes. I don't feel like I was adaquately prepared for life after graduation. I mean, we spent 4 years supposedly becoming more educated, yet no one told me that transitioning out of college was going to be so hard. We truly were hidden behind the "pinecone curtain", as some call it, our wonderful little heaven called Whitworth.

I am almost 3 months in to this AmeriCorps thing, which means I am almost 1/3 done! There are a few positive things to report: Street Behaviors at Mt. Tahoma HS has not started, but I have started working 3 days a week at Stadium High School and Hunt Middle School. I am not doing anything like I thought I would be doing (or was hired) to do, however I am enjoying it. Tuesday and Thursdays I am at Stadium, working with the Guidance and Counseling Office. I have a caseload of about 35 students, who are identified as "at-risk" due to attendence, behavior, truancy, failing, medical conditions, etc... I have a wide range of students. My job is to track them down (easier said than done), check in, make sure things are going okay, and try and develop a practical plan for reaching graduation goals (or maybe just passing!). At Hunt MS I am assisting on Wednesdays with PE Classes (which is basically just baby-sitting for an hour at a time...) Not quite something I thought I would be doing, but it's fun to say "give me 10 push-ups" and the kids have to listen! haha! Overall, I would give my "job satisfaction rating" a 3 out of 10, but that's better than a 0 about a month ago!

I am also about 2 weeks away from being done with my first quarter of grad school! That is pretty exciting, just to have that milestone done. This quarter has been interesting, not too much learning, but a lot of work! Last week I had presentations in both of my classes, and now I just have one more paper (no finals!), and then I am done. Tonight I get to go to class and just sit and listen, which will be nice. Although, what would be nicer would be if I didn't have to go to class at all...

One thing I am loving about being here, is the scenery. I didn't really realize how much I missed the water and the mountains until I get to see it everyday. I know most of you are tired of hearing about how pretty it is over here, blah, blah, blah, but I really just love being able to drive down the street and see the beautiful mountain smiling at me! And then look to the left (west), and see the Olympic range, and the puget sound. I love this time of year when it's all cold and crisp and I can wear a scarf. I will miss getting snow, although I won't miss driving in it!

Well, that's all for now. I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving, whether you are in Spokane, New Zealand, or Spain (or anywhere else)! Love you all.

ha ha ha!

Today I was at the gym after work, and I was running on the treadmill. I was about 20 minutes into my run, and the guy who was running a few treadmills over came up next to me. I had my iPod on, so I took my earphones out. This was our exact conversation:

Mystery guy: “Can I tell you something?”
Me: “okay” (while sweating profusely and still running)
Mystery guy: “Just in case you ever forget this, you’re really beautiful. Like— hot.”
Me: “thank you” (still running/sweating/can’t really breathe)…

HAHAHA! Oh man, I am just not good at this kind of thing. I obviously should have said something else, but 1- he wasn’t really my type, and 2- I was RUNNING! What was I supposed to do?! So I finished the last 10 minutes of my run and went to the elliptical, and of course he was riding a bike like 15 feet away. And to make matters more awkward, when I went up to the weight room he was in there too… AGH, so awkward!! But come on, how can you possibly hit on someone in a gym. You’re all sweaty and gross…

Anyway, just thought I would share that story. It kind of made me smile, and kind of made me cringe a little. I just hope I don’t see him again…

a little trip and a good week

This week I ventured over to the other side of the mountains to Spokane for a few days. I left on Sunday morning and came back on Wednesday. I had an amazing time, and didn't really want to leave! I stayed with Shanon and Kyle, and it was so much fun to see them and their cute little married life. Also, it was so great to finally catch up (in person) with her and not have something in the way (like a phone or facebook wall). I also got to see Mallorie, Kevin, people from my old job in student accounts (where the craziness never ends!)... I went to a sociology class and talked about grad school (per the request of one of my old professors!), and got to go to DANCE CLASS and actually dance with them. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip-- nothing has changed! I could just jump right in to warm-ups and choreography like the last 4 months never happened. I miss dance so much- it's like a part of my heart is gone, and dancing again sort of put it back together.

Yesterday Kelsey and I went to the zoo! Yep, that's right! We had a great time, saw all of the cute little animals (I covered my eyes when we went past the snakes), and enjoyed a beautiful day in the pacific northwest. It was actually a really great week, because after I got back from Spokane I only had to work 2 days and they were not at all stressful, and then had a great day at the zoo. I wish every week could be like that!

Another piece of *sort of* exciting news-- I finally get to go into the schools this week. I'm going to be working at Stadium High School on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with at-risk students identified through the Guidance and Counseling Office. I am so excited to get out of the office and get into the schools, where I thought I would be all along. It's only for 3 or 4 hours each of those days, but that's better than nothing.

School this week is going to be crazy. We turned in our major paper for the semester last Thursday, but this T/Th I have my huge presentations in both classes. Once those are done, though, then I only have one more paper to turn in for the whole quarter, which is good. I just have to make it through this week!

Well, i'm off to work on my debate presentation. Thanks for reading, hope you all are well!

yes we can!

This week has definitely been full of highs and lows.

Monday I had a meeting with my supervisor, and really was honest with her about how I was feeling about my position. It was good to talk to her and just be blatantly honest and tell her that I was thinking about leaving-- how can I go for 8 more months like this! It's so emotionally draining and not fulfilling and I'm not doing anything!... So we came up with a little plan, and I'm staying until the end of November and then we're going to re-evaluate. Instead of waiting for the school district to finalize the contract, we've partnered with a guidance counselor at Stadium High School and we're going to start working with some at-risk freshman their next week. So I have a glimmer of hope that things will get better, however I'm not overly optimistic.

Tuesday was obviously a great day-- the election! What an amazing day! Like most of you, i'm sure you felt the same undescribable moments that I did- we were a part of history. I felt so proud casting my ballot for Obama and being part of that moment in our country's history. Unfortunately, I had class Tuesday night, but our professor was gracious and let us watch the electoral map as votes came in, and we also watched Obama's speech. Watching Obama's party in Grant Park (where I visited while in Chicago), and watching people sobbing all over the country, made me really understand what this means to the black population. It's significant to whites also, I think, but it really is a huge symbol for 1/3 of our population. In no way does this mean that we are "beyond race," however it is a huge first step in shattering the glass ceiling for blacks.

Wednesday was also an awesome day, because we got to learn that Sarah Palin didn't even know that Africa was a continent (she thought it was a country, she didn't know that their are multiple countries in Africa). The only bad thing about the Obama win is that we don't get to see Tina Fey on SNL anymore, being amazing as Sarah Palin.

Tonight is the NLF Fundraising Gala, and we get to dress up and be pretty and hopefully raise lots of money. It is going to go LATE, though, and I am driving to Spokane tomorrow, so I am hoping I can get a decent amount of sleep.

Well, that's all for now. I am off to finish my laundry, vacuum my mom's house, and then get ready for the Gala!

Rainy Sunday

It's Sunday, and it's raining. Now, I know most of you will say, "of course it's raining, Jessica, you are living in Western WA in November!" Well, I have been spoiled the past 4 years, and now must re-adjust to this thing called never ending rain! I guess it's good, the fall colors are beautiful here, wow what I missed the last 4 years!

The past couple weeks have been a huge emotional roller coaster. It has been a challenging last few months, and it has just all caught up to me now. I spent three days this week in Wenatchee with NLF's AmeriCorps team for a SERVES conference, which was a good bonding experience with the team. It was good to get away from the stress and confusion of my job, and hang out with new friends. I had to miss my Tuesday night class, which wasn't so good, though. I have a big paper due Tuesday, which I am procrastinating on right now while writing this blog!

Right now I am on the couch at my mom's house, listening to her practice her Hebrew. It's quite entertaining, to say the least. I bet she's going to be mad that I wrote about that in here! Haha! But the next time you see her, you should ask her to say some words in Hebrew, it sounds pretty amazing.

I have nothing too exciting to say, and probably should get back to writing my paper. Have an enjoyable Sunday, and thanks for reading!