O Christmas Tree

One of my very favorite things to do at Christmas time is to decorate the Christmas tree. I like putting up all the other Christmas decorations around the house too, but really I love looking through all the ornaments we’ve collected over the years. Every year my mom gives my brother and me each an ornament, I usually give someone in the family an ornament, and of course other friends and family etc give ornaments as well, so this makes for one giant tree filled with memories and meaning. I decided to take pictures of some of my favorite Christmas ornaments. :-)

 

I think my mom gave this Starbucks coffee cup to me our first year in Kaufman. I liked Starbucks at that time, but I had no idea how many hours I would spend in coffee shops over the next four years.

 

My dad teases my mom every Christmas because of her large quantity of snowman decorations. I should count the number of snowmen we have in our house…there are a lot. Last winter when I was studying abroad I found this snowman with shamrocks on it in a shop in Dublin. Funny how you can make anything Irish by painting a shamrock on it.

When I was four my grandma took my brother and me to Hallmark to pick out ornaments while we were on furlough in Texas. I picked out a crocodile wearing a scarf. I still think its one of the coolest ornaments on the tree. It’s a scarf wearing crocodile, AND when you twist his tail his mouth opens!

 

  

 

My parents love New Mexico, we’ve been there as a family a couple times. I think my mom bought this ornament in Taos the summer before my senior year of high school. If you have never been to New Mexico, you should go on a road trip, last New Years me and my friends drove all the way to New Mexico…basically just to play in the snow….best road trip ever!

 

We have a few very random ornaments, like this little puppy wearing a mask with antlers. His present says “from your secret pal.” Through the years we have also had barnie, barbie, startrek, leggo, coca cola ornaments, ornaments that say things like, “to my favorite granddaughter”, “best grandmother” and things of that nature. My grandma worked at Hallmark for a couple years and after Christmas they would just throw all the ornaments and christmas decorations in the dumpster, so she took boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations, hence all the random but some very cute ornaments.

 

 

 

We live in Texas, We are Texans. nuf said

 

These are two of my favorite ornaments, probably because they are from East Africa. I’m not sure who gave us the Africa ornament. I’m guessing it was one of the missionary wives in East Africa. There was a tradition that every year one missionary woman would give, often make ornaments for all the missionary kids. I got the star ornament when I was in Tanzania with the Giddens five years ago, oh how time flies!

 

Every year a couple from my parents Sunday school class give my parents an ornament from Neiman Marcus, this little shiny gold Chinese man is my favorite.

 

My parents first dog was an Airedale Terrier named Jake. I don’t remember Jake cause I was just a puppy when we had him. I found this Airedale ornament one summer and saved it for months and gave it to my mom.

 

 

Once again, we live in Texas. We are Texans. I think my mom gave these ornaments to us our second Christmas in Kaufman.

 

Just about this exact time last year I was in Bath, England, shopping at a little German Christmas market. They had so many beautiful ornaments and I got a few of these hand painted ones, I’m not sure where they are from, I’d like to imagine somewhere in Eastern Europe, but I don’t really know.

 

Last but not least, I gave this ornament to my Dad six or seven years ago. My dad loves to hunt and loves rustic things, so I knew he needed this ornament. I found it in an Ecuadorian department store, I think that’s another reason I like this ornament so much, A rustic zebra print chair with a deer head mounted on it does not seem very Ecuadorian.

Maria’s and Gloria’s

This post is dedicated to my roommate Dana, she told me to blog about Marias and Gloria’s, I think she wanted me to blog about Gloria’s, but sometimes she calls Gloria’s, Marias, so….you get both.

 

First: Marias

When I think of a non American, mostly third world kind of cookie, I think of a Maria biscuit. This is the cookie you can expect to get at any kind of tea time, as a snack at someone’s house, or at church.

“A María is a type of sweet biscuit similar to a Rich Tea biscuit.  The biscuit is round and has its name engraved into its top surface. While the Rich Tea biscuit is the most popular version of this biscuit in the United Kingdom, it is the Marie version that is most popular in most other countries, particularly Australia, India, South Africa, and Spain. Like the Rich Tea biscuit, many consider the Marie's plain flavor to make it particularly suitable for dunking in tea.”-Thanks Wikipedia :-)

Dana had never had Maria biscuits before. I randomly bought some at CVS this past week. I do not LOVE Maria biscuits, but  I was served them many a time as a child, and they are usually yummy. I bought them because I thought they were Marias with chocolate inside….they were not.  I guess that was just a suggested way to serve them….and I was tricked into buying them. But, anyway, I think Dana is a fan of the Maria biscuits, as am I, although now I’m trying to resist buying nutella so I can replicate the suggested way to serve the Maria biscuits.

THEN, Dana and I went to World Market, where they had Digestive Biscuits for sale, which are kind of like a Maria, but better, especially, when they are chocolate digestive biscuits. However the chocolate Digestives were all sold out, so I bought the plain ones, why? I don’t know, now I’ve been left with two packages of chocolateless biscuits.

 

Second: Gloria’s  

Gloria’s is a great restaurant in Addison, just about half a mile away from our apartment. Gloria’s is an El Salvadorian restaurant during the day, but at night they clear out the tables and turn it into a dance floor, with a live band, the place is always completely packed. I used to go to Gloria’s kind of frequently, but I hadn’t been in at least a year.

side note-I had a tiny realization on Saturday night, Dana and I usually decide we want to do something over the weekend, but we don’t usually make plans, which is where we were left on Saturday night, we had cabin fever and needed to get out of the house, next weekend if I want to do something maybe I’ll try to make plans before the night of.

But still I don’t know very many people in Dallas and Dana’s friends mostly had other plans. The two of us were about to go to the Gaylord Texas a giant hotel in Grapevine, just to hangout, see what we could see and find something to do, when Elizabeth saved the day and said she would to Gloria’s.  Not everyone wants to go to a salsa club, where almost all of the music is…surprise, salsa, merengue or reggaeton, but thankfully my amazing friends Dana and Elizabeth are up for just about anything. So we got all dressed up, drove down to uptown to hang out with some of Dana’s friends for awhile, and met up with Elizabeth and headed to Gloria’s. I was so excited. We danced for hours, I think we all danced with some good and not so good dancers, had a few awkward conversations, laughed and gave each other funny looks from across the dance floor, and left with sore feet. You never know who you’re going to dance with or what they may say to you, I never know if I should speak in Spanish or English or just not speak at all. Its a lot of fun though!

The start of many bad hair days

On Wednesday I finally decided to get a haircut. A couple months ago, before I had a “real” job I gave myself a haircut because I didn’t want to pay for one. I live in north Dallas, which is kind of known for being an uppity, frivolous part of the city, so i thought I’d probably have to pay more than I’d be willing to. I used to go to Bodacious, the salon in Kaufman, where my parents live, but they weren’t open the day before Thanksgiving, so I decided to go to the mall in Mesquite. I’m not very picky about haircuts, I always figure, it’ll grow back, my hair is curly, the curls can mask a bad haircut. I went to Regis, at Towneast Mall (I’m naming the mall and salon as a warning to others). There were only three people working, and a not too young lady greeted me and told me to take a seat in her chair. I briefly told her what I wanted and she started cutting. By the time I saw what she had done it was too late…I looked completely ridiculous, I was trying to be nice, but by then the manager had come over and said, “well this is bad, we’re just going to have to give you a new haircut.” He started shaking his head, made faces and cut away…by the time he was done I looked like David Bowie from the Labyrinth.

But he said that was as good as it was going to get, he wouldn’t make me pay and I could come back in a month for another free haircut. Ya cause after that experience I’d want to go back again.

I never thought I was very picky about my hair, or I really cared about haircuts until today. Now I’ve changed my mind. Thankfully my friend Ana came to stay with us for Thanksgiving break and she was going to get her haircut at a Korean salon in Dallas. I guess I should mention, Ana is Korean.

I’m not sure why, but it seems like all the Koreans in Dallas go to Korean salons to get their haircut. We went to Carrolton where there is a big Korean shopping center with everything from restaurants to a dentists office, bakeries, a yogurt shop, and H Mart, a full size grocery store with a food court inside. I was kind of amazed that all of this was here, in Dallas, and at the number of Asians that go there to buy their groceries and basically anything else one could ever need.  Almost all of the signs were in Korean, some in Korean and English. I was afraid people wouldn’t understand English, but for the most part, they did. I used to know some basic Korean phrases like, hello, good morning, my name is….days, numbers, but not anymore.

But anyway, Ana and I ran into H Mart to get some little Korean snacks and she went and got her haircut. I was very impressed, everyone was coming out of the salon, Leekaja Hair Bis, with great looking hair. I wasn’t sure if it was just their hair, or the haircuts. I showed the Yuri, the lady cutting Ana’s hair, my horrible new haircut and she said she wouldn’t let me leave the salon looking like that, and while cutting and styling four other people’s hair, she sat me down and started cutting. Thankfully, she did a much better job than Regis in Mesquite. She was able to fix the disaster Regis created, I might not love it, I may still wear my hair up with bobby pins for the next couple weeks, but at least I don’t look like an 80’s rocker anymore.

So, what I learned from this experience:

1. Unfortunately I am one of those girls who cares what my hair looks like.

2. Don’t go to Regis at Towneast 

3. Do go to Leekajahairbis salon at Old Denton Rd and the Tollway

4. If you are ever looking for a cultural experience or anything Asian, you can find it in Carrolton at…Old Denton Rd and the Tollway.

The reading spot

My first semester at Baylor I had a free period before my Swahili class in Morrison Hall each morning. I would usually leave my homework to do during the hour before class. Morrison Hall was caddy corner to Vera Martin Daniel Plaza, more often referred to as “emo park”, that’s where the “artsy, musical, hippy”, etc etc…kind of people would sit under the trees for hours talking, playing guitars, smoking, reading….. I was not one of these people, but during my first semester, that little park became my park. In the beginning I was pretty successful at getting homework done there, but after awhile it became the place I would go to relax, I started and finished many books in that park, said quite a few prayers, and had run ins and reunions with many friends and teachers. I even skipped class a few times just to lie in the grass or to just sit and pretend like I was doing homework. I think that spot was kind of like a little home for me. No matter what time of the day it was, no matter what the weather,(unless it was raining) I could go out there and collect my thoughts, breathe, enjoy the fresh air, watch the squirrels play, wait for a friend to walk by, listen to the bells of Patt Neff play “that good ol’ Baylor line.” Lately I have had the urge to drive to Waco just to go back to my little reading spot, people might look at me a little funny if they knew I was driving three hours to read on a cement step under a tree in emo park, but it might be worth it.

This was just a short little post, I’ll write more soon…maybe about my job. I think my job usually consists of trying to get little kids to count little colored bears or learn their Spanish alphabet, when something really exciting and blog worthy comes to mind I’ll post it :-)

Martians, William the Kangaroo and Special Ed

This blog is just a compilation of a few random stories from my childhood and a short update on my job.

I am still working at the school and I’m actually enjoying it! This is week four, so that in itself means something. Because of my “assertiveness” or maybe because of my “lack of flexibility” I am no longer “Special Ed TA” I am now, “ESL/Bilingual TA”.  I enjoy it so much more, and I feel like I am getting to help kids and work on my Spanish at the same time.

I think its kind of funny that I was never a star student in elementary school and now I am desperately trying to get these kids to learn and pay attention etc.

The teachers are always swapping stories in the teachers lounge about the boy that never does his homework, or the girl that always loses her work, or the kid that just doesn’t really try. I want to reassure them, “don’t worry, they’ll be fine! I never did my homework, I turned out just fine.” Well, I finally started doing my homework in the 6th grade. I had spent most of my recesses inside that year writing, “I will not lose my spelling homework” and things of that nature, over and over again. That is, until one day while we were making little science workbooks with pictures and facts about sea creatures, which I had once again, not completed, when Mrs.Sanders came over to me and quietly threatened me, “I’m sending either you or Katie to Special Ed. If you don’t start doing your work it’s going to be you.” There was NO way I was going to special ed! That was all it took, from that moment on I was motivated and I learned the importance of grades….maybe not for the right reasons, but it worked.

Being back in an elementary school around little kids has made me remember my years in elementary school. So here are two little stories of my adventures and trials. My mom says I took things very literally and sometimes just didn’t quite get things when I was little.

Growing up in Africa was an adventure in itself, add in a good imagination and being able to believe a lot of things, made for many exciting, adventurous days.

I remember being in kindergarten, well Prep 1, at Isamilo, our elementary school in Tanzania. Every day at recess my friends and I would run outside to what seemed like a giant mountain, next to the dirt soccer field. We would climb up the mountain, my friend Jasmine told us she was a witch, and we believed her. Why wouldn’t my little African friend be a witch? One recess, being led by Jasmine we inched our way across a steep part of the mountain, more like a cliff, when we found a little crack between the rocks, that formed a miniature cave, the home of a baby kangaroo. If I remember correctly he went by the name William.

Every day at recess for weeks, Jasmine the witch, would take us up the mountain and we would visit William, maybe bring him a little piece of a brownie left over from lunch, and peer into his little kangaroo home. We would tell him about our day and he would tell us kangaroo secrets, sometimes to us individually, and sometimes he would tell Jasmine and she would relay the message. I haven’t known any witches since Jasmine, and don’t know of any other miniature kangaroos living in miniature caves on African play grounds. I wonder if there are any Jasmines running around my school here in Dallas and if they have equally exciting adventures. I hope they do!

When I started first grade we moved to the big city of Nairobi. It was kind of a wake up call, I felt like kind of like I was being forced to grow up, even though I was only six. My brother and I started riding the bus, but once again, we were riding the bus to school in east Africa. Our bus stop was across the street from some kind of Somali compound, which was kind of always a mystery to me. Our bus stop was by a fruit stand, a wooden kiosk with lots of little niches, built over a ditch, covered in gunny sacks. It was the perfect place to hide and crawl and climb. I became friends with a little girl at my bus stop, but the older girls that rode on the bus…not so nice. I was terrified to find out that they were Martians. I kind of knew what a Martian was from watching episodes of My favorite Martian on one of our two TV channels. But these Martians were not like My Favorite Martian. I didn’t just have to worry about being abducted by aliens in the morning, because these girls were also in my basket weaving class after school. While the nice Kenyan ladies were teaching us how to braid and weave baskets I was worrying about becoming a pod person and being abducted by aliens.

hmm….I think I’ll say that I just had a really good imagination and there was no correlation between almost being sent to special ed and believing in Martians and miniature kangaroos.

Expect the Unexpected

My first week as a teacher assistant at Kramer Elementary has ended, and I will be back tomorrow for week two. I think that in itself says something. As life goes, things do not usually go according to plan, or maybe I should say, according to my plan. I left my apartment with plenty of time to get to the school, and also left the directions to the school sitting on the counter in the kitchen. So, I had to turn around, pick up the directions and dash to school....but not too quickly, since I just got a speeding ticket on Friday night(I do NOT think i was actually speeding, but that's another story).

The principal was not in on Monday morning, so the assistant principal kind of just sent me around to different places for the morning and just about noon told me that I would be working with the special needs students for the next couple hours....well long story short, the next couple hours turned into the rest of the day, into the rest of the week and "until further notice." This threw me off guard and caused me a great deal of confusion since my job title is bilingual ESL teacher assistant.

So, for now, I am doing my best to stick with it, its definitely not easy, but I'm learning, hopefully I will learn much more because I know nothing and have no experience what so ever working with special needs children. It's only been a week, and I can already say, its been, challenging, at times stressful, at times joyful and at times rewarding. Most of the time I've wondered what I'm supposed to be doing, where I'm supposed to be going, what I'm supposed to be saying, and not knowing what is expected of me, if I'm failing or succeeding. But kids are still kids and bring many little moments of joy to my the day. The kids at this school, from what I've seen so far really are kind, welcoming, funny and try to help me and the teachers and the special needs kids.

One absolutely wonderful thing about working at a school, the day ends at 4, Monday-Friday! No nights or weekends, no working on holidays. Which means, for this semester I can spend time with friends, have time to relax or do whatever in the evenings. Next semester, I can take night classes and hopefully have time for homework.

My last post was mainly about Patton...the crazy dog, well good news for me, Patton has a shock collar now, it hasn't been used yet, and I think it has one of those high pitched whistles on it, so maybe we wont actually have to shock him. But, I think my quality of life will be much much higher without his barking.

Yesterday I went to the State Fair. I think I could dedicate a whole blog to the state fair. It was a lot of fun! I love going to the fair! I think it was even more fun for me because we got to use public transportation and take a taxi....that's one of those kind of weird things that I love that most people do not at all enjoy. Our fair experience was complete with corn dogs and other fried foods, a picture in front of Big Tex, the car show, African acrobats, a fair ride, and a juicer demonstration. We just missed the pig race, I was a little disappointed, but there's always next year....

This time last year I was in Scotland, I think I had already gone on my trip to Dublin and was getting ready to go to Paris. ...things are a little different this year, I went to Kaufman a couple days ago, and I'm going to Italy(Texas) and Waco this afternoon. Not quite as glamorous.
Right now I'm sitting in Starbucks, in Westvillage, a little more glamorous, enough so that I felt the need to look slightly fashionable and dressed up at 9:30 in the morning to sit in Starbucks to read BBC news and write a blog. I just discovered last week that if you have a gift card you can use the Internet for free! and all these years I had been holding a grudge against Starbucks because I thought it was very rude of them to make people pay for Internet.

So, hopefully my days of, "I hate working retail and I need a job" are over! I got the job as a bilingual/ESL teacher assistant at an elementary school in Dallas. I hope that it turns out to be a great job, but even when it isnt perfect, I'm going to stick with it, at least for the children :-)

Hopefully the next time I write an actual post I will have something to talk about. Because right now, not a whole lot has been happening....a major part of the past couple weeks...my attempt, mostly failed attempt to train my roommate Dana's dog. I'm not trying to train him to be a circus dog or to be a tv star, like Wishbone, like I tried to do with my little dachshund Bob. I'm just trying to get him to stop his painfully high pitched incessant barking, and trying to teach him not to pee in the house anymore. Maybe because he isn't MY dog I don't feel a particular attachment or affection towards him. To quote someones facebook status, its a "hate hate relationship with love sprinkles on top." You may think that sounds a little harsh, but last night I turned around in the kitchen to say something to Dana and stepped in a puddle of pee, a couple days ago, I was awoken at five in the morning by his barking, and a few days before that I woke up to the sound of him throwing up on my favorite quilt that I made with my grandma. He also discovered the trashcan a few days ago, and basically any time we leave the bathroom door open, or have trash in the kitchen he manages to make a big gross mess everywhere. I might stop by the pet store and buy one of those high pitched whistles or a shock collar...or both. I wonder if this is what having children is like? I start my job on monday, I think I'll like him a lot more when we spend less time together.

He knows what He's doing

Even when things aren’t going exactly how I think they should, I am always sure that there is a reason they are going the way they are and God will use them in the future.

Sometimes, times such as the past few weeks I start to forget that there is always a reason God does what he does. And even when I remember this is true, it doesn’t mean I always or even usually like it. It does seem to be true in my life, and I think in most, that when we experience the highest highs and lowest lows that we run to God, fall at the feet of the Lord in a way we do not tend to do on a daily basis, or at times we try to turn away from Him all together. I try to live daily with God, no matter what the current circumstances, but the past couple weeks I have gone back and forth between running to the Lord in need seeking his care and protection and then trying to run away from Him and my current struggles.

But this time, maybe because of being in situations similar to these in the past, maybe from grower a little wiser over the years, and also probably because of lack of other options, lack of places to run or people to run to, I have been forced to stick in there and wait it out, wait on the Lord, and what he has for me. This has been hard for me, and I have questioned my choice a few times of staying in Dallas for the next five months and likely for the next few years, instead of going overseas. After talking to my mom and friends, and praying and thinking about the jobs that I have had over the past three weeks, I decided to quit all of them and focus solely on finding something that I feel is better suited for me than retail, hopefully some kind of job that I will enjoy, and maybe that will pay a little better than retail.
So, on Thursday I set out to apply for jobs online and to hand in my resume at a couple places in Dallas. For some reason I find job searching online and writing cover letters and all of that to be very tiring and usually a lot of work with no results, and it has been made even more difficult because my laptop does not function as a laptop and usually just does not work at all, frustrating and inconvenient.

Last week after spending some time trying to use my computer, I was writing in my prayer journal, and asked the Lord to provide a laptop for me, I didn’t know how or by whom, but tried to have faith that God could and would provide for me. After finishing with my applications, resumes and cover letters for the day I was ready to go apply for several bilingual/ESL teaching assistant positions and schools in Dallas. I did not know if anything would come of it, but I was just praying for at least a phone call or an interview. My dad had texted me a little earlier in the day asking me to call him, so before I headed over to the school office I called him. He said he had been on the phone with my grandma and she was going to give me money to buy a computer! I was amazed and so thankful, God is good, His plan is perfect and He always takes care of His children.

I went on to the school office handed in the resumes and early the next morning got a phone call from the principal of one of the elementary schools, that is only a few miles away from my apartment. The elementary school my mom had been telling me about for at least the past week. The principal asked if I could come in for an interview that afternoon, which of course I did. She said she was a Baylor graduate as well, and a political science major, something that hopefully will work to my advantage. I thought the interview went well, and she said she’d be back in contact with me in a couple days. I don’t know if I’m going to end up getting the job or not, but either way, I know it will be ok, either way, it won’t be perfect, but God will take care of me and everything will work out.

An answered prayer in the form of a laptop was the perfect reminder that the Lord knows exactly what He is doing.

Overqualified or Under motivated

I woke up this morning to General Patton barking at something in the window, he’s my roommate’s puppy, maybe the cutest dog in the world, but also probably the yappiest. I crawled out of bed and thought to myself, I feel like my life is one of those chick flicks or inspirational feel good movies, “recent college graduate moves to big city in search of job, after some struggle, some bad luck, almost giving up, she finds great job at huge corporation, finds love, befriends old wise hermit neighbor, finds meaning in life, lives happily ever after.” ….except real life is not a chick flick or inspirational movie, and right now I’m kind of just stuck in the first thirty minutes of the movie and it keeps replaying over and over again.
Today is Monday, last Saturday I quit my job at Tecomax and on Sunday I went to training at Anthropologie. On Friday, my fifth day being an Anthro employee, I got hired at Pier 1 Imports. On Sunday I had an interview at DSW. As of this afternoon I have worked at seven different retail stores, being interviewed and asked all of the same questions and giving the same obvious answers is getting old. Do you think coming to work and being on time is important? Why do you want to work for us? What does customer service mean to you? Will you be able to get people to sign up for this program or that credit card or buy more of these products? Anyone with half a brain would correctly answer these questions…but then my problem is, I get the job and don’t WANT to do these things. I’m sorry, in the grand scheme of things I honestly don’t care if we make $33,000 today instead of $38,000. After working jobs that I actually did care about and felt passionate about, with friends I loved, retail just doesn’t cut it.
Being trained to greet customers, smile, and convince them to buy more is getting old. I can’t say, yeah, I’ve got this, this is my seventh retail job and I spent the past two summers working sixty hour weeks befriending hundreds of students and parents every day, oh and by the way I graduated from college. I’m thinking maybe overqualified means, you’re probably going to have a bad attitude and think you can run this store on your own. Yeah, I think I could do it, but I don’t want to!!! and I pray I don’t stick around long enough to find out.

Are you currently price protected?-Two days as a door to door saleswoman

I’m not sure if you ever look at the F my life website, but my very favorite posting was from a girl who said, “I’m about to graduate from a very prestigious university. In three days I start working at a hot dog stand.” That’s about how I was feeling on my first day working for Reliant Energy. But I knew I was not better than anyone else sitting in that training room, we were all in the same boat, trying to make a living, pay the bills, haha, all that stuff. The first person that I had contact with at Tecomax(when I got to the interview I realized it wasn’t actually working for Reliant, but for their marketing agency) seemed like a pretty genuine, intelligent, good guy, and he said I could likely move up very quickly, which sounded good to me and the job he was potentially offering sounded great.

Day one of training was pretty good. I listened to everything and took really good notes. The only thing that was bothering me at all was how much they kept talking about the money. I mean, that is what caught my attention, and the main reason I was still there. Then, on day two of training, the director guy of the office came in to give us a little pep talk and taught us how to be successful and the art of reading people. But what I got out of it was how to get people to think you agree with them when you really don’t and distract them into buying what you’re selling. Which, I do believe reliant really is a great deal, but I don’t exactly like the mind games.
I left training on day two excited for the next day. The whole time I had been praying about the job, cause the extreme emphasis on the money was starting to bother me quite a bit. When the people in charge were saying that the only reason they were doing their jobs was to make money I wasn’t ok with that. I do not want a job solely to make money. I want to have a job that makes a difference and helps people. But I was interested in what this whole door to door thing would be like, so I went for it.

The next day I went out and knocked on 50 doors and of course, what would happen? It started pouring down rain! I got completely soaked! Looked like I had jumped in a pool kind of soaked. And I didn’t get anyone to switch to Reliant, but it ended up being a pretty rough day for everyone so I didn’t feel very bad. And I thought to myself, how much worse can it get I just walked around in the rain and in the dark for hours. I woke up the next morning and saw it was supposed to rain for the next five days….Day two didn’t go too well, it rained again, and mostly I just didn’t really enjoy the people I was working for. But thank the Lord, seriously, after MUCH prayer, at the end of the day an extremely nice couple with a beautiful little baby and german shepherds switched without a fight! I was relieved and felt successful, but not successful enough. I went in the next morning for an energetic peppy breakfast with the team at Denny’s and then I quit! Oh what a wonderful feeling, and one of the wiser decisions I’ve made in my life.

The wonderful world of retail

I'm just writing a short little blog mostly out of frustration, but don't worry I'll post another one soon that will be more upbeat and hopefully entertaining. It's 11:32 right now and I'm about to go for training at Pier 1 Imports. I should be excited about this right? or should I? This will be the third "job training" session I will be going to in the past two weeks...yes, this is my third job in two weeks. I will learn how to smile and say, "Hi, how are you doing today? What can I help you with?" I'll learn all about loss prevention and customer service and running stock and how to sign people up for credit cards, there will be lots of paper work Seriously...I don't know how people work retail on a regular basis, cause I feel like it is quickly killing my soul.(Maybe I'm a little dramatic.) I'm sitting at Panera right now, I've been searching for jobs online for the past two hours. This has become a routine the past couple weeks, search and search and seach, apply.....wait for a response....nothing. BUT when it comes to retail, apply, get called back, get hired immediately. I kind of feel like God is playing a joke on me, but I'm not finding it very funny. Oh, and I just realized I left my social security card at home, so now I have to run home get that and be late to my first day at Pier 1. perfect, haha.

The Search Begins

On September 1st I moved in to an apartment in Dallas with Dana, one of my friends from Baylor, and I was so excited. When I got to the leasing office on Sept. 1st the lady at the office was like, oh...you wanted to move in today?? but after a couple hours of filling out paper work and signing a million papers she handed over our apartment keys and we were good to go.

In the midst of moving in to my apartment, I've been desperately trying to find a job. Up until about two months ago I was not planning on moving to Dallas, I was not even planning on staying in the country. I really wanted to go back to Africa or anywhere else in the world. But after much prayer and consideration I decided to stay in the area a little longer and try to go to nursing school. I've been interested in medicine my whole life, so why not go ahead and do it? I started with craigslist and applied for seven or eight jobs that I was definitely qualified for, but didnt hear a single word from anything...which brings me to the conclusion that craigslist must be fake. What comes after craigslist???? retail jobs at the mall....I have worked my fair share of retail jobs, some good, some not so good. But I have said many a time, I hope I never have to go back to retail again. I had an interview at Anthropologie, a trendy, really fun store at the mall, and still left the store thinking, gosh I dont want to work there.

Thursday afternoon my friend Elizabeth and I were of course, looking and applying for jobs online, which I am still convinced are all fake, when I decided to look through the sunday newspaper lying on the dining room table. I found one little tiny listing for Reliant Energy, no job description at all, but I called and went in for an interview the next morning. The one thing I kept thinking to myself was, please don't let it be door to door sales. Jose, who I had spoken to on the phone did not inform me that there were going to be fifteen other people there at the same time, all to be interviewed. After sitting through the whole orientation shpeal and figuring out that yes, this was basically door to door sales, it was time for the one on one interview. the orientation shpeal did bring up the money side of the job which did sound quite good. After talking to jeremy, the recruiter I decided, why not, this will be yet another adventure. Now I can add door to door saleswoman to my long list of random jobs. Who know's maybe I'll love it, hopefully I'll be good at it, but if not, I'll know by friday.

Baylor Days

I haven’t written a blog since Scotland. I’ve sat down to write a few times, and have written a couple but I never posted them. So, here I go, for old times sake and maybe to let myself sit back and think about things for a little while. Sorry it’s a little scattered and a little long, I’ve said this about my blogs before, read part of it and come back later to finish it. J

Mom, Grandma, and Me after graduation, three generations of Baylor Bears. 

Here is my blog, dedicated to Baylor and what it was to me: memories, friendships, sleepless nights writing papers, sleepless nights with friends, challenges, road trips, new homes, regrets, letting go of regrets, laughter, hard times, goodbyes, and wondering about the future. Oh, and a lot of learning in the classroom, a lot of long papers, and the gaining of much knowledge. ;-)

 Me, Elizabeth and Nikki. Love these girls!!

It’s crazy how much can happen in a few years and how much a place can impact and shape you. I shouldn’t really be surprised. My whole life places have been changing me and permanently impacting who I am.  Almost exactly three years ago I loaded up my car and drove to Baylor University. I didn’t know what it would be like, after an ok, but not great experience my first year at DBU, I was excited about a change but worried it wouldn’t actually be that amazing. The first year did turn out to be rough, there were a few times I didn’t want to stay, but thought to myself, you cant be the girl who transferred three times…so I stuck it out. And on Saturday, almost exactly three years later, I graduated from Baylor becoming part of “that good ol’ Baylor line” ready to “fling my green and gold” throughout the world, to wherever the Lord takes me. 

 Crepes and coffee before Cole goes off to France

In May I was so ready to graduate and not very excited about spending the entire summer at Baylor, in class every single day. But as August 15 got closer I started to get a little sad about leaving, mostly because the people here at Baylor, my friends and the people I worked with, became such a big part of my life. After leaving Ecuador and moving back to the states, Baylor became my home. At Baylor, God gave me the best friends I could have ever hoped for. And now, just like leaving home after high school or anything else, I know its time to part ways, leave Baylor and the wonderful city of Waco. I think my last final exam and research paper and a few days with way too little sleep also helped me decide it was really time to graduate. Its time to see what the next adventure in store is. Leaving and starting something new is bittersweet, right now a little more bitter than sweet. I don’t know how often I’ll be back, or how often I’ll see my old Baylor friends. One thing that I’ve tried to learn over the past few years is to be thankful for the time you have with people, and for the memories made, and not to think too much about what could have been or the times that could have been spent together.

 

I have so many great memories from the past three years, too many to talk about in one blog. Even from this past summer, probably because they are fresh in my mind I have great memories. Maybe I’m easily amused, entertained, quick to find joy in little things, but that is fine with me. J Here are some little summer joys: On my birthday Richard and John baked and iced a cake for me, complete with the shape of Africa and Happy Birthday written in Swahili. The day continued with Nikki, Richard, John and I taking a swim in the Brazos River as Elizabeth kept watch from the shore. This was one of the grossest, smelliest things I have ever done, but still a lot of fun.

 Little Shop of Horrors in Fort Worth

More summer memories, I decided to start cooking again, after basically not cooking real food for the past four years. So, quite a few afternoons were spent messing around in the kitchen, and on the best of these afternoons the food would be shared with friends, usually followed by an intense game of Settlers of Cataan.

 The remains of Jonathons gutpack

This summer was full of “firsts” and “things to do before you graduate” as well. I finally went to Viteks and got a gutpack in Waco. Viteks is a little hole in the wall barbeque place where you can get something that resembles a frito pie, and would probably cause congestive heart failure if eaten more than once a year. After two years of failed attempted to float the Guadalupe, I finally had my chance. It was a great thing to do during one of the hottest summers, EVER. I think enjoyed swimming in the Guadalupe more than the actual floating in the tube…I’m sure I must have been a fish in my previous life. There were a couple more late night excursions around campus…successful excursions thanks to unlocked doors. There’s something a little mysterious and slightly enchanting about walking around campus late at night, wondering if students a hundred years ago did the same thing trying to find secret rooms or little treasures around campus.

 Independence

We went to Independence one last time, to help with Line Camp, which was a huge part of my Baylor Experience. We helped set up chairs and luminaries, climbed the columns one last time(don’t tell J)and  sang that good ol’ Baylor line as two hundred freshmen joined the Baylor family.

 

Many afternoons, but not enough, were spent sitting by the pool soaking in the sun, and enjoying probably the last summer of no real full time job or responsibilities. After two summers of orientation, line camp and welcome week, this was the perfect summer to relax, enjoy friends and make a few more Baylor memories.

 

But, speaking of memories, here are a few of my favorites from the past three years: paddling across the Brazos on a floating dock, late night excursions around campus and tree climbing, road tripping to independence to see an old friend, road tripping to New Mexico to play in the snow, a mission trip to Kenya with a group of constantly singing music majors, and late nights in the new student programs office getting ready for orientation and just those normal days of lazy afternoons with friends, avoiding the next paper to be written and test to be studied for.

 

This is just a little bit of what Baylor was to me. They say college is supposed to be the best time of your life, I hope that the best time are still ahead, but I have to say, the past few years will be hard to beat. But now, I look forward to living with an old friend from Baylor, finding a job and probably starting school again in the spring to become a nurse. Since I’ll be going new places, and meeting new people, I’ll probably try to start blogging again. And to finish this up, I’m thankful for my time at Baylor, the friends I made there, the things God taught me, the life lessons learned an the wonderful memories.