Hey Russia, do you have a national nut?

So the other day we were just like chillin' in the Commons, eatin' Mac and Cheese (Rui's first time, SUPER funny actually cuz he was like FREAKING out as we put all the butter in. We're like, "it's a nasty American dish, just don't look. It tastes good - just don't think about it." He did end up liking it, so this is good - all I can think of is Massimo from Wedding Planner) anyways and we started discussing nuts. Why? Someone brought up hazelnuts. I LOVE hazelnuts. I was like they are a "dignified" nut. And then I'm like, "Peanuts are nasty...what would you call them?" We decided peanuts are "domesticated". And so we began to classify nuts. Cashews were just "weird" and almonds and pecans fit together in a category of "distinguished". Then we're like, "what about Brazil nuts?" I mean, what do you classify a large, foreign nut as? Danilo pipes up with, "You know, in Brazil, we don't call them Brazil nuts. We call them Para nuts because that's the state they come from." I don't think we ever actually classified them because Brian asks me, "Hey Russia, Russia, does Russia have a national nut?" (Brian has called me Russia since our first hike together when Jessica told him I was from Russia accidentally - he knows I'm not actually Russian...at least I think he does) and we're all like, well does the US have a national nut? It was decided that we should look it up and the classifying came to an end on that interesting note.

Anyways, the moral of the story is WE were really the only nuts actually in the vicinity. Take me for example: I should be working on an 8 page paper, or studying for the quiz tomorrow, or reading the rest of the assigned Bible reading or memorizing Psalm 119: 25-32 but no, I'm here writing random nonsensicalness on my blog.

Seriously though, this week is like insanely busy! Good news is...I washed my sheets today!!!! teehee, so excited to sleep in them tonight. Oh AND I bought icecream bars because, well I love icecream and it was SO HOT today and well, they were cheap. Come to think of it...I didn't eat any of them yet.

OH OH OH!!! Tomorrow is hug a vegetarian day just BTW! So, there is like, ONE vegetarian here. And so tomorrow we may all decide to partake in only vegetables  (and fruits and icecream...and other non-meat stuff) in her honour...plus then we all get hugs!!! (actually I think many people will have major issues with this idea but, well, I'll let ya know how it all goes!

Find your Inner Woman 5: the Researcher!

That's right! Today I was a researcher - not that that's something new or anything. Most of you know how I'm kinda a geek and really like research...like REALLY like research. And what better thing to research than God's Word!?!?!

We had to do a word study for our Hebrew-Greek class and I did mine on the Greek word ὑπομονή, hypomone for those of you who don't read Greek...probably all of you...and for those who can't translate that off the top of your head (me included) it means perseverance, endurance, steadfastness, things like that. I was studying specifically the reference in James 1:2-4. It was so much fun and so enlightening. I mean, I knew most of the stuff that I learned but not in like the fully clarity I discovered today. I looked up all the other places it was used in the NT and had to categorize the instances by meaning and oh man, it was tough work but so worth it. I used all these different tools including multiple translations of the Bible, dictionaries, commentaries, and Great Treasures (an awesome website! It's on the sidebar of the blog if you wanna check it out - highly recommended). Basically the whole experience was a researcher's dream. I mean, I'm really only a beginner in studying the Bible but I have learned so many new ways and have so many more tools with which to learn and study, it's just FANTASTIC. 

I know some of you may have trouble really comprehending my zeal in this post, but I think every Christian should be this interested in studying the word. I don't care if you hate research for history or science or studying old classic literature - when it comes to God's Word, there should be a completely different category for study in your brain. It's the only study, the only research, that REALLY matters. God's Word is the greatest thing we could possibly read. I mean, why aren't we more excited about this!? Shouldn't we be sitting night and day, reading, discussing, discovering all it has to say? Yet we spend most our days doing pointless things and devoting the least amount of time to the Bible as we feel we can get away with. How troubling to think of. I dunno, if you struggle with this as I do, try a couple days, nay even a couple hours of just wholeheartedly getting into the Word. (and I don't mean going to youth or church) I mean sitting down with a highlighter, a pen, a notepad, a concordance, a dictionary, a couple versions of the Bible, a couple commentaries (or a laptop as it has all this on it) and immersing yourself in the depths of this Book. You won't get bored, I guarantee it. And you'll never be finished, there is always something else to look into. This Book is inexhaustible so take advantage of it! It's not like you have to save it or ration it across your lifetime! You'll never learn it all but you can surely learn A LOT! 

Oh and this post applies to men as well. haha

What is truth?

Tonight I went to Koinonia with a bunch of other students (college-age church group) and we started the Truth Project video series. It really got me thinking because they just ask these simple questions and we know the Sunday School answer but there is so much more to them than we think. Like the question "Why did Jesus come into the world?" The professor got so many answers and though they were good answers (to save us, to set the captives free, to redeem us, etc), they were not the Biblical answer. Jesus himself tells us that he came to "testify to the truth" (John 18:37) as if "truth" was on trial. In reality, it would seem it really is, when you think about it. The whole Bible outlines this cosmic battle between the truth and lies. God is Truth, He embodies Truth, He is the source of Truth and Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He's been lying from the very beginning, perverting God's truth.

It was also interesting the answers they got to a survey of random people for the "simple" question: "What is truth?" Most were like, "Truth is...um....well it's hard to describe..." Some Unitarian lady was like: "Well it's like we are all inside this giant cathedral and there are many many windows in the cathedral, all different and the light comes in a different angles and is refracted differently and depending where you are or where you look, you see something different. That is what truth is like. It's the way you see the light" and I'm like...here's an idea: walk outside the doors of your giant cathedral of confusion and refraction and look at the source of the light! Get to the bottom line! There isn't multiple truths - there is only ONE - it's just perverted (or refracted if you put it her way!). Interestingly, a 13 year old boy had some interesting points such as: "there has to be an ABSOLUTE truth for the world to function at all." Indeed there has to be something for us to base wrong and right off of, for us to base our morals on, but who defines it? and where does it come from?

The only answer is God. God is truth and the anchor of all we believe in. More specifically, when you think of hope - what do you hope in? what do you have faith in? what do you trust in? You don't hope in HOPE or have faith in FAITH...you have to have some concrete, something to anchor yourself to and that is TRUTH and the only truth is "that which affirms reality as perceived by God".

My final point will be the same challenge as they gave us on the film:

"Do you really believe, that what you believe is really real? If so...are you living it out? From where I see it, if I truly believed EVERYTHING in God's Word, then why do I live the way I do? Why do I have so much fear and trepidation? Why am I afraid to share the Gospel with everyone I meet? Part of the problem is probably that we don't even really KNOW what it is this that we are believing. I mean, we know the Gospel and believe it and we know some theological points, but the average Christian doesn't know the half of what the Bible contains and therefore is missing core pieces of the Truth. The more I learn here at JHBC, the more my faith is affirmed and I see how it all works together. The more I learn, the more I realize that God's word is ABSOLUTE TRUTH and the truth has the power to SAVE, to REDEEM, and to set us all FREE.

The administrator is throwing lettuce...I LOVE this school!

So we started Hebrew/Greek today and it really wasn't as bad as we were all afraid it would be. Mind you it was basically just the introduction stuff this morning so...it'll probs get a lot worse. We did mostly Greek this morning and this afternoon we are doing some Hebrew. I'm scared! Hebrew is like SOOOOOO foreign. It just looks like a bunch of lines and dots!

We had like the BEST hamburgers for lunch today. There was bacon left over from breakfast, fried mushrooms - like huge mushrooms, and fat homemade burgers. SO good. They were like picture worthy, seriously I wish I had my camera! Just as we were finishing up, Stephen got a bunch of lettuce thrown at him and we found it, it was Holly only she had meant to hit Josh. bahaha, it was pretty awesome.

So anyways, I was gonna tell y'all about Yellowstone a bit. We spent 12 hours in that bus but it felt like so much less. We had an awesome tour guide who had the day off but came with us so we learned SO much. We saw Old Faithful at the 10:35 eruption (it went off at 10:45) and it was SOOO cool. I took a begillion pictures (gotta love continuous function on the camera!).

Then we headed to this HUGE hot spring place where the water just sits in pools of boiling crystal blue water and the steam blows all over and it's all warm and it doesn't even smell. The big one was called the Excelsoir Geyser Crater because it used to be a huge geyser but doesn't erupt anymore. The bacteria mats all around the springs are pretty cool too, all bright orange and awesome-looking.


Then we moved on to the mud pots which were basically hot springs with mud on them so it all like bubbles grossly and it's not really that pretty but there was some cool things to see there. Oh, the sulfur smell as pretty fab around here too. haha. Jesse (our guide) told us this story of a dog that ran into one of the hot pools and like boiled to death and a guy who jumped in to save him died as well. Sooooo gross!

We then journeyed to the falls. I don't know what they were called other than upper and lower. We went to three viewpoints: top of the upper, top of the lower and the lower from a distance. This pic is from the top of the lower. There are a couple more on the picture is from the lower falls which are bigger I believe.

So that was super cool but also irritating because we had a pretty long walk down to the falls but then, an arduous walk back up all these switchbacks and we were all having nightmarish flash-backs to our backpacking trip!

Below: Me, Kaitlyn and Josh (the RA) at the upper falls

The last main stop was the mud volcano...it wasn't very volcanic...but there was also this cool hot spring with a cave where all this steam came out and it sounded like a dragon breathing!!! pretty neat I have to say. As we left, we saw a bunch of Bison and that basically completed my day with much happiness.

The final stop, besides the one by the sign was for ice-cream and souvenirs and I got a copper bracelet and some delicious ice-cream. All-in-all it was a fabulous day and I think everyone should come see this amazing park in their lifetime. We didn't even get to the upper loop of the park so there is TONS more to see and I don't know that it would ever get old to me. God's creation is unbelievable even in its cursed state - can you imagine how amazing it would be as it was created!! No...we can't because we have these cursed, fallen minds so we can't even IMAGINE something that beautiful!

How do you climb a mountain? Better question...how do you get down????

Backpacking: Part THREE

So the second morning in the woods started with pancakes...which were ummmm well, not much like pancakes but not terrible either. At least they tasted good. We put "Bit o' Honey" in them because we had no syrup or anything. Oh and we had HAM instead of summer sausage so we were pretty stoked.

That day a group of us went up Littles Peak. It was amazing! (First of all, all we carried were day packs with enough gear to survive the night: clothes and food basically) We saw so many beautiful sights up there, it's impossible to describe. But oh my goodness, climbing the actual peak...I thought we were gonna die. Seriously, we were clambering over these rocks, avoiding the snow because you never knew how deep it was and the rocks would move and you'd have to like, jump to safety and oh man, it was scary. It was freezing cold and windy and wow...I'm surprised we made it. But wow...once we made it!!! It was all worth it.


At the top we had to put on like, all our clothes because it was so cold. Then on the way down (over more rocks but these ones were easier and more sturdy) it started to rain and so we had to put on MORE clothes (our rain gear). Then after the rain, we had to like slide down a snowy hill and then finally headed back to camp. It was quite amusing I must say and quite a hike to remember - oh WAIT!! I almost forgot! We saw a black bear! We fired at it three times before it would leave. It totally wasn't scared at ALL! (and by we, I mean Mr. Pellerin) It was a little bit after this that we realized we had fire three shots...oops. Kenton and Josh showed up on the hillside across the lake a few minutes later to come to help...we kinda felt bad. They had probably booked it up the hill all the way from camp all for nothing...oops.

That night we had steak for dinner! It was delicious! oh and we had lake trout which was fabulous as well. But the best part was the squirrel! ...just kidding... it wasn't the best but it was actually pretty good. Some guys went out hunting and that's all they could get...pretty sad I know. It was a really scrawny squirrel too.


I also washed my hair that day, just got Lish to help me by pouring water over my head. I didn't feel like running into the freezing lake at like 6pm...It felt SO good to have clean hair.

The next morning we had oatmeal and ...you guessed it. Summer sausage... EW. It was just as disgusting the second time. But luckily this was overshadowed by our excitement because we went REPELLING that day! It was SO COOL! We just basically let ourselves down over a cliff and walked down it! It was terrifying but exhilarating. I did it three times and had a blast. Even if my hands got oddly sweaty and were repulsing me in their damp grossness. (So...you probably didn't wanna hear that but it's all part of the experience!) I felt so hard core and now I can rescue us if we are ever stranded on a cliff somewhere so NEVER FEAR!!! ...of course, we'd have to have rope...and Carabiners, and harnesses would be nice...but it could work!

We had steak again that night...like A LOT of steak because we had to finish it up or take it out with us the next day when we went home. So basically we pigged out. We had more fish and Rui had more squirrel. He ordered it special...apparently he really liked it!

We all gathered and watched the sunset that night too...well most of us watched...a bunch of the guys just had a snowball fight the hole time...but it was SO pretty. Afterward we gathered around the fire for one last time and sang and sang and sang. We did that every night and it was just so amazing. Just before we went to bed, Cort suggested that we just pray so the large group of us that were still there (about 20) all stood around the fire, held hands and prayed. It was amazing. We praised God together and thanked Him until the fires burnt down to coals. This group of people God has made me a part of is really something special.

The last day we ate more pancakes and of course - summer sausage. I didn't eat any. The students did all the work that morning. I stood around the fire making pancakes and such for like 2 HOURS. We ran out of butter and ended up using the grease from the sausage to grease the pans. Yep...it was interesting.

We packed up and headed down the mountain. My pack didn't feel quite as bad and though I still had to hold it at the top, it didn't hurt to breath anymore. We walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked. It was so bizarre because, even though we went back the same way we came in, it was completely different because the snow had melted. We got to the switchbacks and oh MAN THEY WERE KILLER! They never seemed to end. Then Jen's knee like went crazy and so we had to go SO SLOW and we were like dying! After leaving the switchbacks we kept on walking FOREVER. We ran into a herd of cows which was interesting and then guess what? WE KEPT WALKING! Our feet hurt SO bad and we were SO DONE!

By the last bit, Jessica and I were at the front somehow and suddenly, we saw the CARS! We both started screaming and yelling and then we took off running. Brian (one of the drivers meeting us) gave us high fives and Holly (Jessica's mom) was videoing our wild run towards the parking lot. Then they got out a cooler of pop and M&Ms and we were in heaven. It was crazy! So good to be done.

Finally home, we all rejoiced at the sight of showers, and TOILETS and food without ash or dirt in it and eating around a table and no smoke in our eyes and WARMTH! It was so cool. And of course my package was here so I was SUPER happy!!

So ya, basically it was an awesome trip and I totally loved it and want to do a lot more hiking and backpacking (as long as I get a new pack!) but it is equally awesome to be back!

Sorry, that took so long, and that was the shortened version too! Well, I hope you all enjoyed my tale and stay tuned for details on my trip to Yellowstone today. (I took 426 pictures...oh man)

She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes

Backpacking: part TWO

So we made it up the switchbacks after much trial and tribulation. We hopped over logs and rocks, crossed streams, ducked under branches and sidetracked around fallen trees but we made it. And wow, the meadow that we came to up there was breathtaking...well not really or else we couldn't have hiked anymore and we still had like 3 hours to go...

This is where the snow really started to appear. First it was just in patches then in bigger patches anywhere from 2-4 inches deep, but luckily the path was generally clear, if not muddy. The view from our rest stop was amazing, I wish I had pictures but I haven't got them from friends yet. (The only problem with having an amazing and huge camera is you can't take it everywhere, either due to weight or the possibility of damage.) As we kept hiking, we came upon more snow until we were going up trails covered in snow or muddy from melted snow and I'm surprised we all didn't end up on our faces in it. (Actually Heather DID fall face first into the snow...I have to say, I didn't see it but still laughed when I heard it.) We saw a sign that said 1.7 miles until our destination...I'm pretty sure it was wrong. Everyone else agreed that it felt more like 3 miles.

When we finally reached the campsite around 5, everyone collapsed basically. We then had to rouse ourselves in order to set up camp. The old firepit used in previous years had to be moved due to the snow and slush everywhere. Similarly, finding tent sites was interesting. Most people just set up on the snow but Elisha, Heather and I found some prime real-estate right by the lake, pretty level and with no snow. So what if we felt like a leper colony being completely out-casted from the rest of the group and way off in the distance, at least we had a nice view and no snow!

That night we were supposed to have steak...it was still frozen solid. Yep, two days into the trip, both of them bright and sunny and we had frozen steak...therefore we had meals from a bag..."just add water!" No but really, they were actually SO good. Like, I never knew strogonoff from a bag could actually taste good but I had like, TWO helpings! It is crazy the stuff you eat in the wilderness!

In our thundering herd, we feel a lot like cattle...

Backpacking: Part ONE


Oh man, what a trip! There is so much to tell but I will just start at the beginning and keep going. (that was basically the way the trip went to! So far to go but "how do you climb a mountain? - one step at a time!")

So we set out on Sunday afternoon and it was all rather unorganized and frustrating. A friend and I both had the same pack and it was brutal because it hurt us SO bad and there was like no way to fix it. We were pretty much at the back of the line, trying to figure out how to actually survive with this thing on. I felt like such a wimp because I wasn't carrying much - just my stuff - and yet I could hardly make it. My back hurt so bad I couldn't take in a deep breath! It was NOT fun. Luckily we only went like 2 miles in that day and then set up camp.

It was so different than how we normally camp (no duh!). We had a little tent city going on there. We had this nifty fire dealio where there was like two fire rings and then they were connected in the middle for cooking. We would have fires going in both pits then drag coals into the middle to cook over. We heated water in old giant metal cans and had hot drinks and everything. It was pretty great. That night I slept pretty well, my sleeping bag was awesome but the ground was pretty hard.

The next morning was the big hike. I was not looking forward to like 5 miles of switchbacks up this mountain to our next campsite with the demon backpack on. However it's not like I was gonna stay behind! We had oatmeal that morning and it was actually REALLY good! WAY better than the summer sausage they made us eat. I mean seriously, the stuff was disgusting. It was bad enough raw but then they cooked it over the fire and it got all greasy and nasty and the grease would run down your fingers and like harden on your skin...ew. Suffice to say, I almost puked.

So we started out (after scraping grease from our fingers and oats from our cups) and after about an hour, had a quick rest, then started up the switch backs. At first they were really fun because we would all like, yell hello to each other as we turned the corners and it was so funny. People would yell out stuff like "rock", "tree", "creek", as they crossed over...supposedly warning those behind them, but really I think it was just entertaining. We tried singing songs and such but only got so far with that. Actually it as amazing how we didn't actually get that tired. Mr. Pellerin, our guide, perfectly paced us according to energy output so that we rarely were even winded. If not for the monster pack on my back, it'd have been great!

The rest will have to wait, I'm off to brunch!

Still breathing

Hey all!! I'm alive!! I have so much to tell you but I am so wiped right now so it'll have to wait till tomorrow or Saturday. Just wanted to say hey and WELCOME Uncle Dave!! So excited you're here!

Love you all and thanks always for the comments and support!!

Get Ready, Get Set...

That's right! Tomorrow is the big day! We head out into the wilderness for 5 days!!! No civilization for miles! Just me, 39 other people (quickly becoming close as family), some backpacks and a whole pile of empty land!! Talk about an ADVENTURE!!!

So after packing all my gear...and then finding out my pack was too heavy...getting a new pack...getting that readjusted....packing that one...repacking it...well I think maybe now I'm ready.

A big thanks to Mom and Dad for helping be get everything and to Jordan for my awesome knife - Mr. Pellerin (our guide) really liked it!

So I'm counting on your prayers! I'll be back Thursday or Friday, don't miss me too much! hehe

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes...

okay not really! but there IS snow on the mountains!!! It has been thundering and raining on and off all day and the mountains have been shrouded in thick clouds until now...and now the TRUTH IS REVEALED!!! SNOW!!!!!!!


So as exciting and bizarre-o as it is to have snow in SEPTEMBER I have to wonder how our backpacking trip is going to go...seeing as we are hiking and sleeping through those very mountains...yaaaaa. It shall be interesting. Maybe it will all melt or MAYBE it'll get worse!!!! Trust my year to be the year of the disaster backpacking trip! hehe

Actually I think that would be super fun. But it does amp up the nervousness even more. but the very words "backpacking trip" are a real amper-upper; they amp up the ol' nerves!

gotta go! hehe

Find your inner woman 4: the laundress

Yes, I know I am getting kind of obsessed with the 'inner woman' stuff but it just amusingly fits with so many things.

And yes, today I was a laundress. I walked into the Laundromat and immediately thought of Hairspray when Tracy's Mom tells her that her dream was to own a "coin operated laundromat!" and really, I don't see the appeal! It was all rather foreign and a little frightening: walking into this large room of whirling machines, dirty clothes, strangers, and the sweet smell of laundry detergent. There was a little confusion figuring out how to get a money card thing (some of the machines only work with the card, some are coin) and then figuring out how to go about putting a load in properly. I love how the machine can give you instructions, with PICTURES, but it's STILL confusing.

...and then of coarse, it takes like 5 different tries to get the card to WORK! but eventually, $3.15 later, you've got your load of laundry in the washer.

For the next half hour your sitting there with all these other people (luckily most of them were from JHBC) trying to entertain yourself. Most of us were attempting to read out Two Babylons book but my goodness it is a tedious read. Written in like the Dark Ages, it is hard enough to understand the English in it, never mind the theology! My head is already spinning from the laundry soup and then you add ancient Babylonian religion, the queen of the heavens, lions eating bees, the evil of wax candles etc... definitely NOT laundromat material...I got through 4 pages and ended up spending most my time just conversing with Danilo beside me on the table (yes we were sitting on the table).

Finally, the washer is done...but now you have to find a dryer open and with all the "not in service" signs everywhere, this was not so easy. But luckily snagging one quickly we get our load in. 55 cents for 15 minutes means a lot of going back and forth waiting for your clothes to dry. Talk about tedious!

While we continued to wait, some of the guys arm-wrestled which was entertaining for a bit but soon got old. Then Danilo and I started sniffing my laundry soap because we realized it had no smell...I explained to him that it was really GOOD quality stuff! and expensive; that I couldn't use cheaper stuff, only the best now...we had a good laugh as we realized what others might think of our conversation about my white powder in an old Peanut Bar jar.

Finally, 3 hours later, we headed out, stopped at the grocery store and finally got back to camp about 5:30...then I had to hang up all my clothes that I don't dryer dry (remind me again why not!?!?!?) and by then it was about dinner time. Sooooo basically it was a great day! At least I wasn't sitting around camp bored!

Find your inner woman 3: COWGIRL

okay so I'm having fun with the "find your inner woman" stuff, but it has just worked out. haha

The Rodeo last night was so much fun. It was a little disappointing because the cowboys and animals were kind of having an off night and not many people actually scored any points...however it was the last night so it wasn't even a competition anyways.

Cutest thing of the night: the little kids chasing calves around trying to get tags off of them. Man, I was that little cow, I'd be scared.

Second cutest thing of the night: mutton busters! Seriously Mom and Dad, why didn't I ever get to ride a sheep!?!?!?! One little girl got like bucked right off! luckily Jared (on staff here) caught her in midair.

There was also barrel racing which was super awesome. (my camera was dead by this time) There was this one little girl who was like 4 or 5 or 6 or something and I'm like "that is NOT responsible parenting!" She was like jostling EVERYWHERE and would have like broken her neck if she fell. She looked so tiny on the huge horse.

It was such a fun night. It felt so old-fashioned and western. Coolest thing ever, the people who run the rodeo are Christian, they go to our church here, and they started off the rodeo with a prayer! It was so neat. Then of course we sang the National Anthem because we are so proud to be American...ahem

(see photo page for more)

PS this is short cuz the last one was so long...but you should read it because I personally think it's genius. jkjk

Find your inner woman 2: the Scavenger

So today a daring few of us got up early and left by EIGHT in the morning to hit the garage sales early. Many of you have heard me tell of how the garage sales here are apparently "great for shopping" but I have to say...it was disappointing today. Don't get me wrong, it was fun but...well there just wasn't much there. I always feel so odd going through other people's junk. I mean, who KNOWS what they did with it, where they use it...ugh, just not something to think about. It makes you wonder if vultures and hyenas ever think about what their food looked like before it was half rotted and ripped to shreds. Do they ever wish they could be the first ones? Do they wish they got to choose which poor little antelope finishes it's part of the circle of life? Do they wish they could browse among the pristine specimens only known to those more agile and skilled of the wildland meat-eaters, rather than carry-out the lowly business of scavenging. Don't get me wrong, it's important work and someone has to do it but really, sometimes I think we should really take turns because I sure don't enjoy trying to always find treasures in the rough. Wait, that's diamonds isn't it? But let's face it, we aren't gonna find diamonds at a garage sale...(hence why I actually didn't buy anything until we got into town)

The best part of the morning was eating at Bubba's. Heather and I shared a full serving plate of French toast and it was AMAZING! I mean, I have NEVER had restaurant French toast that tasted THAT good! I don't know why restaurants usually have such a hard time make French toast, pancakes or even toast for that matter but coming from a family that specializes in breakfast meals, I'm usually VERY wary to buy breakfast food anywhere. (you see what you've done family!?!?!)

However the French toast, no matter how bad it could be, would definitely beat biscuits and gravy anyday! I seriously do not understand how or WHY people would eat that especially in the morning. It doesn't LOOK appetizing, it doesn't SOUND appetizing. There is no tempting aroma (except that biscuits always smell good), there is nothing there! We've already had this odious meal once for breakfast here and are SURE to have it again. Canon says I'm gonna have to try it but seriously, I think I would throw up. The Portuguese guy tried some and his reaction was in NO WAY comforting and therefore I plan NOT to try it if I can help it - that might not be possible if too many people get on my case. PLUS the cereal isn't a very appealing alternative either...ANYWAYS, back to the French toast - we also only had to pay $3.50 each. So ya, it was awesome.

Other than that, the day has been characterized by reading, trying to sleep, reading, emailing, reading and basically just being pretty bored. (I'm now listening to others downstairs expounding on how bored they are...) We are currently all waiting around to go the Rodeo which will be fabulous and I can't wait. At this moment, I think even watching rocks grow could be called exciting...actually, now that I think about it...that would be pretty cool. I mean, how often do you actually see a rock grow???

A quote by Charlotte Whitton goes like this: Boredom is like a pitiless zooming in on the epidermis of time. Every instant is dilated and magnified like the pores of the face.

...so that sounds kind of unnatural and unpleasant but beyond that...I don't really get it

(and for those of you wondering who Charlotte Whitton is my google search told me she "was one of this century's most colourful and controversial women...best remembered as Ottawa's flamboyant and outspoken mayor during the 1950s and 1960s." Also, she was a feminist. SO, I don't "best remember" her at all...I wonder what she is worst remembered for...)

(unfortunately this rodeo business probably means another late night and early morning for church...ugh)

Find your inner WOMAN: Lumber Jane

Yes, we are now all Lumber Jacks...or as Amy suggested, "Lumber Janes". I got back from a walk today and with a couple friends and we came up to all these girls whacking at the woodpile...

You see, we need firewood all winter so people go out and cut down the trees during the day (by people I mean men) and then the guys were all chopping it and being manly before dinner and don't get me wrong, it was IMPRESSIVE. So then later around 8:30 when we got back tonight, the girls were there, in the dark trying to chop (the guys were all in having a meeting, talk-thing). It was SO funny! Some were better than others but everyone tried it. We felt so hard core! And suffice to say, the guys now look MUCH more impressive!


Oh and then "Tiny" came out and laughing at us, had to show us how it's done. We were all in aw! But I just can't believe how much entertainment we have now derived from chopping wood. All the RA's are like, "I sure hope this fascination lasts!" Apparently we are all gonna be SICK of chopping wood by the end of winter...probably by the middle of winter. But for now...it's fun!

this is "Tiny"...not tiny

BTW

So I've added a few new things to the blog:

a "News" section to the right: random pieces of info such as new photos or little tidbits I don't wanna write a post about

a "Weather" section because people keep asking me! That can be found to the left right below the "About me" section

and if there is something else that you'd like me to put up here, or to keep you posted about something, let me know and I'll add it (meals, friends, wildlife sightings etc. haha)

Here comes the SNOW

Seriously, I'm not kidding. This morning we woke up to the first dusting of snow on the mountains and the smell of winter in the air! I mean, I LOVE that smell but September first??? VRAIMENT????

Anyways, all day is has been misty and drippy, like we're walking around in a deep moist cave with occasional drops falling on us but apparently the roof just caved in because it is now currently POURING! oh man this weather is going to drive me insane.

One of the RA's said today that he is actually expecting snow in TWO weeks...for all of you who haven't checked the "what's coming up" page...we are going to be backpacking in two weeks...this should be fun.