"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.