Tomorrow is my last day tutoring for 2010

I can scarcely believe that tomorrow will my last day tutoring at the lovely library for the year of 2010. Although I have a smile on my face, inside I'm screaming "YES! YES! YES!" You see, while I enjoyed my time in Florida, I can't wait for a break. Two weeks of freezing cold air brushing across my face will be somewhat painful, but it will still be a break for my ears from the screaming "HELP ME!", a nice change of pace from the everyday waking up, driving to work, working all day, going home, finally eating, talking to the roommates, goofing around in my room, going to bed routine. To be frank, I need a break.

And it's coming! I can't wait to see my friends, to run screaming into their surprised arms and yelling "I missed you!" and then laughing like the true dork I am. It's going to be blissful. It's going to be amazing. And it's actually going to happen.

One of my kids said the craziest thing today. It actually took my breath away. I was truly shocked. It was one of those moments when I was totally thinking the wrong way. But I really don't think anyone can blame me.

You see, I had two children in my Homework Room at the time. It being the end of December, most of my kids get less homework the week before finals for the High School kids. The elementary kids just get a few pages of homework, easily finished with Miss Kristine in about 10 to 20 minutes if they actually pay attention and try. As a result, there were not as many kids in my room the whole day, which was nice.

The two children at this time of the day included Shamar, who was a tendency to stay all day if he can possibly find a way, and one of my new kids, Johnny. Shamar has a crush on a girl named Cindy, who comes to my tutoring occassionally. She wasn't there today, though. Shamar is always asking if Cindy is coming, and if he sees that she is signed up on the sheet, he will try to goof off so that he can stay in the Homework Room, much to my avail. Somehow the topic of Cindy came up, I think Shamar asked where she was, and I asked him if he liked her. He denied it, of course, but he was blushing and smiling. I pointed this out and he just shook his head.

At this point, Johnny, the second grader, butted in. "Cindy? Who is Cindy?" Shamar continued blushing and just said, "Some girl who comes here."

"A GIRL?" cried Johnny. "EWW! Girls have cooties!"

"What are cooties?" I asked with a smile, knowing this was going to be interesting.

There was a continued "EW" from Johnny as he looked down, then he muttered something to himself.

"What?" I asked, noticing that Shamar was still blushing. This kid had it bad.

"Sometimes girls dig in their thingie," Johnny said.

I was shocked for a second. What had this little kid just said? I looked at Shamar, who was doubled over, laughing so hard I knew he was going to fall out of his chair any second now.

"Um, what is that? How old are you again?" At this moment, I was so at a loss, I forgot what age he even was. Then I remembered.

"Thingie. You know..." he paused, and I turned to look at Shamar, laughing because it was so crazy what had just happened. Johnny tried to continue. He pointed to his nose. "Thingie. Your nose."

"Oh," I said, laughing.

"They do that so they can give us cooties. Girls are so gross!" Johnny started freaking out, jumping out of his chair and yelling "Ew! Cooties! Ew!"

Shamar continued laughing, having offically fallen out of his chair and he was now rolling on the floor. "Say that again. Thingie."

This continued for quite a while. Poor Johnny did not hear the end of it as long as Shamar was there, the fourth grader yelling "Say it again" to the confused second grader who did not really understand why it was so funny. He did, however, keep asking us not to tell other people.

"I don't want people to know I said it," he said. I just laughed. It was a little too late, since he kept repeating the whole line for Shamar to laugh at. I told him not to, that he should ignore Shamar, but after a while, it was just too funny.

Back to my rant about the kids and their homework from earlier...

On Friday (thankfully, a day I will not be at the library) they get a giant packet and are told to bring in back in two weeks, finished. So as you can see, the kids are freaking out, because they are getting this giant packet, and I won't be around for the two weeks. Awesome for me. Freaky for the kids. But really, what did they expect? They've done their homework by themselves every other year, why does this year have to be such a big year? You see, these kids have come to rely on me, to expect me to be there, and when I'm not, they freak out. "I can't do!" It's as though I've been standing on the cliff, helping them the whole time, and when they turn around, I'm gone. Suddenly, they can no longer take that plunge they've been doing everytime before.

Even so, I'm still leaving. So hopefully these kids learn to jump. Or someone will push them over anyway. Meaning they will get an F. Which, sadly, has been a norm their whole life, and wouldn't be anything new. When I come back in January, my new goal will be to change their perspective. As long as they improve their grade, even going up to a D, they have not failed. They are succeeding. After all, it's the little steps in life that finally get us to our goal. Only a lucky few get to take the taxi cab, and that's usually because they know the driver.

Okay, enough of these silly comparisons. Time to go to bed.

P.S. I don't have cooties in my thingie, if that's what you are wondering.

Holiday Rush and....Vacation?

Tiffany and I after playing frisbee

Holiday rush is all around, but it didn't feel like winter until about two days ago. Sunny Florida has now become a mild Wisconsin winter. I know that when I go home in less than two weeks, it will be freezing. (and I'll probably see snow) I'm not sure how I should feel about it, since I already hate the cold in Florida.

Weather comparision? Well, the "cold" in Florida is 61 degrees while in Wisconsin, the cold is 13 degrees and it feels like 1 degree. The wind chill is also 9mph. I am not excited to come home to winter. But I am excited to see all my friends and family. I've really missed everyone. It really makes you realize just how far distance can seperate you when you've lived mostly in the same place your whole life. But since I'm not sure what I want to do after this year, I'm really glad for this experience. Life is moving on, and it's time I got ready for it.

Now, an update on the FLORIDA life. Let's see, first off, it's been a little cold to go to the beach, but I did make it there last weekend where Tiffany, her friend Kevin, and I played frisbee on the beach. It was so awesome! Frisbee on the beach is so much more relaxing than on the grass we usually play on where if you fall in the grass, you expect a bunch of red ants to crawl up your leg. Not really the most pleasant experience.

My kids have been behaving, sort of. I had my boss come in from AmeriCorps and she gave me some suggestions and ideas on how to handle them. It worked the first day, but by the second day, they were back to their normal, craziness. However, Mr. James (he's one of the "big" handles of issues at the library) kicked out a bunch of my biggest issues and told them they weren't allowed to come back. Apparently, while I went into my office to grab a book for one of the girls, they were causing issues and hitting each other, and so now they can't come back. It's making the homework room a lot quieter. Thank you Mr. James.

Some of the kids have stopped calling me "Miss Kristine" and have instead adopted the name "Miss". I'm not sure how I feel about it, because when they get on their rants "Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss! I need help! Miss, you aren't helping me! Miss! Miss! PLEASE! Miss, why aren't you listening to me? Miss!" it starts to become a huge headace. I told them that if I'm helping someone else, they need to wait. They don't understand this, and instead continue on, "Miss! Miss! MISS!" to the point where they are SCREAMING which is not tolerated. All this makes me wonder if I was this annoying as a child. I do remember yelling "MOM! MOM!" a lot. It also makes me wonder just how badly I want children...is it worth the headace?

This past Sunday, we had to get up at 3:30 am to help with a Marathon. Being up so early ended up not being a good thing. Not only because the night before Tiffany, Kevin and I decided to go to this late night concert (after playing frisbee) that was free at the shopping center in Boca (the rich area; think NICE homes), but mostly because I had a Mountain Dew and couldn't fall asleep.

The Marathan ended up around noon; I didn't go to sleep until 10:30pm that night. What did I do all day? Caught up on a TV show I hadn't seen since I've been in Florida, while hoping I'd fall asleep. I was not feeling well either, so it wasn't a good rest of the day. And as a result, I tried to go to work on Monday, but literally couldn't fuction beacuse I still did not feel well and ended up going home and sleeping the whole day. Turns out I wasn't the only AmeriCorps girl who was sick, several other people went home sick, but one girl ended up in the hospital. She's still not feeling well, and we are all really worried about her, but have no clue what to do! She throws up all day, but even the hospital couldn't help her. I haven't been updated on the story recently, so not sure what happened as of last night.

And for Thanksgiving break, Tiffany and I went to a Danielle's grandparents house in Boca, and it was an amazing house. Huge ceilings, nice windows, gorgeous pool. The food was really good (made by Danielle), and her grandparents were really funny! We enjoyed ourselves. Everyone in AmeriCorps was invited to go, but only Tiffany and I went. We deceided everyone else missed out.

The rest of the break (we had five days off) I scrapbooked and Tiffany and I went to a drive-through safari. The safari was pretty cool, we drove around and saw lions, tigers, rhinos, and zebras. I got some cool pictures I still need to put online. It was nice having an entire apartment to myself since my roommates were GONE.

And now...time to get to work, and enjoy the cold. Only this cold is really nothing compared to the weather to come in less than two weeks...

Also, here is a copy of the Literati, which I designed and put together, with Tiffany's help on the editing.

http://www.literacypbc.org/files/Fall_Literati_final_draft.pdf

I'm off to work in a little over 10 minutes, but I figured it was time to update my blog since it's been quite a while. Life at the library has been an adventure. The kids are a little better, but only a little. I guess since they don't have a good family life at home, I have to be their parent for them. Sometimes that's really hard, because I'm not really ready to be a parent! But I'm trying. Everyday is a new adventure, with new sets of homework and new attitudes. Some of the kids are really cute, and they are so quiet and nice. Others have loud, angry mouths and attitudes the size of a mountain. They think the world revolves around them, and that I should bow down to them. No thanks. And having all these different age groups at once, well, I think that makes it even more complicated. I don't want to be a teacher, I don't think I could handle it!

On to more happy thoughts. We had a Build A Bear event at the library. It was really cute. All these kids came dressed in their PJ's and clutching their bears. The Build A Bear came and he took pictures with them, and his friend read a story about how teddy bears came to be. Then the kids went in the craft room and created a bear using papers and crayons. It was cute to see what colors they colored them. (it reminded me of the paper dolls my mom used to have) I, of course, took lots of pictures. But I'm not sure I can put them up on here, because you have to get names and stuff. So we'll see.

Halloween was lots of fun. I was Barbie, and I loved it. Everyone said that I should dye my hair because platinum looks good on me. I'd like to, but I'm scared it wouldn't turn out right and then I would have ruined my hair! Sometimes it's really tempting though.

Some of the girls in AmeriCorps wanted to dress up as the Golden Girls, so we did that too. We went around to these houses on Halloween, trick or treating for canned goods. That was really fun. I was Sophia, the oldest one (and in real life, the youngest on the show, which was fitting for our group too since I was the shortest and youngest too). I got to say mean comments, but after a while, it was too easy and I had to stop. But we all acted out our parts, which was nice. lol

This past weekend, we painted a house for a lady. We got the whole house painted in about two hours. (okay, the outside) There was a lot of us, though, and after a while, we didn't even really have something to paint! There was about ten people painted the same small area at the front of the house. I got a picture of it, and it was quite funny.

Well, I have to go to work now. Hopefully I will write more soon. Whenever I have free time, I either watch TV with my roomies (hey, we get tired), off at the beach (the waves have been huge lately, it's pretty cool), or scrapbooking (I'm still really behind!).

Cops, Books, and Children

What do cops, books and children all have in common? Well, they are all at the library! I think this is the first official public library I've been too (and the first I've worked at too) where there are cops on a normal basis. I don't think it's crazy, but everyone else does. Today, for example, there were three cops at work. I almost wish there were more, because the kids were NUTS and I was going crazy. None of the kids would behave today, and when I tried to kick certain kids out, they wouldn't listen to me! I don't know what to do, because these kids have no respect for me, and they don't mind running under the table or just being crazy monkeys. I didn't ask to be in charge of a zoo, but I certainly feel like a zoo keeper right now.

I wish I had some help at the library. I don't feel that one person should be in charge of helping so many kids at once. I'm literally running around without a break for a good five hours! I can't even go to the bathroom or get a drink of water, because if I do, the kids will freak out and cause trouble! And while there are usually eight kids in the room at once (some kids want to be in the room so bad that they will volunteer to sit on the floor or stand), there are usually three to four waiting outside for help! I can't even individually help each student, because as soon as I help one student, another is already yelling "I need help! I need help! NOW!" These kids have no patience, and no understanding that there is only one of me and way too many of them.

If you guessed I'm stressed out, you are right. I probably shouldn't write when I'm stressed out, but when I'm feeling good, I'm usually away from the computer and at the ocean or just hanging out with people. Everyone keeps reminding us that we only have one year here and we had better use it wisely or we will look back with regret. I don't want to regret anything, and I want to live my life to the fullest. So that's why I'm always trying to do something. Of course, there are defiantly times when I just plop down in front of the TV and don't do anything. That's not really a good thing, but I figure that since I work for about 8 1/2 to 9 hours a day, it's only fair. I can't believe that some people do 10 hours and it's no big deal. I just think that's nuts!

Well, this tanned Florida girl is going to say good-night. It's after midnight and tomorrow will be extra long as I have to read in the morning to little 1-3 year olds, then I have to do a lot of prep work, then I have tutoring, and then a program that runs late at night. So, all in all, it will be a busy day!

Dear author of "Marry Smart",

I'm sorry, but I do not feel that a book about a formula that will "attract" men to you is actually going to work. Yes, I do agree with you that women tend to date and settle for men who are truly not worthy of them. However, I do not feel that a silly e-book on "attracting the right man" is really going to help either. Instead, it will just help fill your pocket with a nice chunk of change, also known as $30, by each desperate, single woman who stumbles across your website. Am I going to be one of these crazy women? No. I may be single, but that does not make me desperate, angry or upset. And yes, I may be very sick of all the people who casually ask me why I don't have a boyfriend or remind me that one day, when I least expect it, someone will walk into my life. I frankly think they should shut their lovely mouths, learn to just mind their own business and walk away with their dignity still in tact. Instead, they babble on about it, making more of a fool of themselves than me. Because I'm fine with being single. I'm only 22. I do not have to be married next year, although I might be sick of being single. On the other hand, there is so much more to life and being single allows me to fully experience it without feeling guilty or wondering if I'm letting someone down by hanging out with my friends. I never miss something exciting because I'm off on a date. And I always have chances to see life happy, instead of sad and upset because some jerk just broke up with me for some other girl. And that is why, Ms. Terry MacDonald, I do not need your book. And match.com, that is why I will not use your dating website to "find the love of my life" like eHarmony claims. I may be single, but I'm confident in myself and who I am. And that's a lot more than some book can claim.

Sincerely,
A Very Happy Single Person

You would think one would be used to having police at a library on a regular visit, right? This past week, I have seen more police officers at the library than I have seen at the dorms over a year. We had eight police officers today at the library. Eight! I think that's a little insane, don't you? So what were these police officers doing, you might ask? Well, they were arresting teenagers. I guess they were suspects in a recent murder case. I thought that was a little weird, but having cops at the library has become, well, normal. Everyday, there is always a police officer. Extra ones just make you wonder, "Okay, what's the story today?"

I used to be scared to steal a cookie when I was little, these kids aren't even scared of hitting a police officer. Jail? Apparently, to these kids, "Well, some of my family is already in jail, what's the difference?" What's the difference? These kids are growing up in some other world, because I have certainly never lived in it. I still freak out when I see a cop car on the road, even though I'm not speeding.

Craziness! More detailed stories to come...

CLICK! CLICK!

Here I am at special Olympics.

All 40 of us crazy people.

Don, my church buddy, is always making the same face. What was that saying? If you make the same face over and over again, it'll soon be the only face you make? Well, if that is true, Don will look like this for the rest of his life.

Here we are, being inducted in. We drove 30 minutes, got lost for 10 minutes, waited 15 minutes for the thing to start, got inducted for 5 minutes and then left. The experience? Priceless, since we ended up on TV.

Jumping with my fun friends! The three in white are roommates. And no, they don't usually dress alike, they asked me to take "roommate" pictures.

Ah, the famous "shopping cart" pictures. Nina (the girl I drove down with) and her roommates went to the store and bought too many groceries. They took the cart with them and went back across the street with it. Then they brought it up to the apartment, and left it there. Apparently, it's really common around here to keep shopping carts at your apartment, as there were several in the hallway by the third week. One of the requirements for visiting their apartment is you have to have your picture taken in the shopping cart. Then they made a bulletin board with all the pictures. It was pretty fun.

The girls here like to make up fun outfits and have everyone come and socialize in the crazy outfits. This above was 80's night, which was fun. They also had toga night last night, actually, but I refused to wear one. lol I also didn't have anything to wear.

One of my roommates, Shawna, and I. Cheesy smile as usual.

The beach, so pretty!

I'm Back!

Hi guys! My adorable friend Andy reminded me that now that I have computer again, I have no excuse not to update my blog. I just got the new mac about three days ago, so I haven't really delayed it that long. And I've been pretty busy.

So? What has happened to Kristine since I last wrote? (and at midnight! ha ha) It's actually about 2:30pm on a Sunday here in Florida. I am planning on going to play Ultimate Frisbee soon, but I figured I'd update this before I go. I'm really not sure what it is about Florida, but I'd defiantly call it the "vacation state". Why, you might ask? Well, you see, there is something about the air (or maybe the water as in the California girls song) that makes you very "lazy". Not lazy for work (don't worry, I'm always on my toes with those kids; they make me super buzy) but just lazy for doing extra stuff after work. Let me give you a typical day here in Florida.

7:00 AM Wake up (the sun wakes me up), look at the clock, shake my head and go back to sleep. [no way am I waking up that early. You all know me and the early morning, ha ha]

8:00-9:00 AM Depending on when I went to sleep the night before (sometimes, for some reason, I can't seem to sleep here), I'll wake up in-between here. Take a shower, and then get ready. You know the usual. Oh, and make my lunch.(and Mom, all my roommates make their lunches in the morning, like me. It's really not that weird. ha ha)

10:20 AM Head out the door for the library. The library is down the street (literally) and takes about two minutes to get there while driving. I start work at 10:30, so this gives me time in case something happens between those two minutes of driving. lol

10:30 AM-1:30 PM Prep for the tutoring session (this includes looking up information, trying to decide what strategies will help them in whatever they are doing. I take notes the day before sometimes, when I have time, on what they have been working on so that I can try to help them the next day, since their homework is usually similar. Of course sometimes I have new people, and then that is really not very helpful anyway.) and other random stuff. I get to look around the library as part of this prep too. You'd be surprised, I often still find new books for the kids to read even though I looked the day before. It's crazy. Then again, it's also called a library.

*Side note: On Wednesday mornings, I go over to the Children's museum and read stories to a variety of little kids. And when I say little, I mean small. In both size and shape. No, I'm talking about myself. These are babies to about three years old, maybe four. This just started and I'll do it for about a month. You should see me reading "Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree". I have little monkey puppets on my hands and I'm trying to turn the pages, sing the song, and keep little kids happy. It's pretty amusing, I"m sure.

**One more side note. [these side notes are fun] Soon, I'll be starting a computer class in the mornings for adults. We are still trying to work out the details for it, and I haven't even figured out what I'll teach, but we will work it out soon enough. Should be fun. They'll probably be easier to teach then the professors, right Aaron? lol

1:30 PM-2:30 PM So I'm supposed to still be doing prep during this time, but sometimes I have visitors, such as my awesome bosses who are lots of fun, or I'll visit Tiffany to get advice or the librarians. I usually do that during this time, because sometimes the kids come early and so I start early too, and if I'm in my office, they don't know I'm around.

2:30 PM-7:00 PM This is when the real fun starts. The kids are supposed to sign up, but they often don't. So now we have a walk-in sheet that they have to sign, and I will only do walk-ins if the signed up session student can a) handle distractions (usually not, but often they will still say its ok) b) are friends with the other student (there is a lot of fighting, so if they hate each other or argue, I try my best not to have them in the room at the same time). I say "try" because nothing works often. I'm usually still telling them to stop bouncing in their chair, yelling at each other, or talking back to me. I used to spend more time telling the kids to behave, but now that I made a list of rules and had them sign it, it's getting easier. I also got rid of the candy. That worked the best. Some of them say they hate me and don't want to see me anymore (okay, maybe not "hate" but "dislike") but then I brought in the new "reward" system. If they earn enough stickers, they can get prizes. One sticker a day, and they can only get it if they earn it. I can, at any time, take away their sticker. Hopefully I can be mean enough to take away their sticker, as they will defiantly need to lose it before the realize the value of it.

7:00 PM-7:30PM I'm usually able to sneak out sometime around here; sometimes I have a meeting or something, but usually i get to leave. Ah, what an amazing feeling that is when you can finally get away! :)

7:30 PM-10:00 PM Depending on the day, the time, etc. I do a variety of things during this time. Number 1 is eating dinner. Notice during that tutoring time, there is NO time to eat dinner. And unlike other people, who get a break, I get no breaks either. it's non-stop craziness. I can't even leave to use the restroom, and if I do, I'm scared the whole time of what trouble the kids are probably up too. Even though I put one of the in charge when I leave (even if it's only to my office) they still manage to find a way to be super naughty. It's crazy. Was I really that bad of a kid too at some point? I shudder to think. And don't answer that JJ. I know your opinions on the matter. ha ha

Anyway, sometimes I have Bible study on Tuesdays, or I watch TV shows, or I'm so annoyed at the day (sometimes the day is really bad, such as when there were 8 police officers at the library at the same time because some fight was supposed to happen and all the kids were going nuts) then I try to find someone to go with me on a walk on the beach, but more often than not, I can't find anyone. And sadly it's dark by then, and I don't want to go alone, so then I'll scrapbook to try and relax. I often try to write letters, and now I"ll hopefully update my blog too, now that I have a computer again.

10:00 PM -12:00AM Usually I watch some TV and then go to bed, or talk to my roommates. On Mondays, we have a meeting at 9pm, and that often goes for a while too. It's a lot of stuff, we are pretty busy a lot. Weekends (like today) are more lazy, but we still have a lot to do.

So there you go. A run-down of a sort of basic day for me. Still crazy and nuts, and I often feel like I have really crazy college students still. I haven't figured out who is worse. Drunk college students or hyped up children. The children might be winning right now...

More soon. Thanks for the comments guys! They were really fun to read!

One should never start a blog if one has no plans to keep up with the blog. It's almost midnight here, so I'm a little afraid of what I'm going to type out at this time of the night. But since I've neglected this blog enough, I figured I should try to get something out there so you all know that I am still very much alive. I hope you all weren't too worried...
Anyway, since I last wrote (which was a long, long time ago), things have definatly changed. For one thing, I started actually working at the library. You might ask what I've been doing. I've been racing through the stacks, slaying monsters who are threatening to eat all the evil dragons and monsters hiding in the stacks! Ha ha, actually I've been tutoring kids. I'm called the "Homework Help" and kids come to me between the hours of 2:30pm and 7:00pm for help on ANY type of homework. I say "any" because it is literally everything! (I've only been doing it for two days now and I've gotten quite a variety) You want to know what their favorite type of homework to bring in is? MATH. And do you know how your lovely writer feels about Math? I hate math. I hate math with a very, very strong passion. Math has been evil for me ever since I can remember! Numbers and Kristine? They just don't go well with me. I hate it!
And so what decided that it wanted to follow me around for the rest of my life? Math. I thought I told it to get lost. But I guess that just didn't happen. I graduated college, expecting to never see math again. And now I'm helping children with math. I don't know why they trust me with helping them. I think they'd be better off talking to a tree. At least it'd encourage them with their wrong answers they came up with on their own, instead of coming up with creative ways to still get the wrong answer! Oh well, it's their grade. All I can do is try.
But thankfully there is this thing called Google. It's really wonderful actually. You can type in anything you want, and it will usually come with some good answers mixed in with a bunch of worthless ones. It's like searching for a needle in a haystack, but you often find several needles!
It shouldn't be too bad of a year, as long as I can survive the math. The kids are crazy, there are a lot of them, and they often don't follow the rules and six of them want help at once. They seem to forget there is only one of me, which leads to a very stressed out tutor. But it's okay, I'll gain back my energy just in time to do it all over again!
Wow, I sense an underlying tone of sassiness from me tonight. Guess that's what I get for writing this at midnight! I hope you all take it as my attempt at being funny, and not someone who is angry. I'm just really tired, and that often causes for an interesting read the next day. Ha ha.
I really love the beach here. I went for a walk yesterday with Val, another girl in the program. it was really nice, even though we got lost for a little bit. But you can't get too lost on the beach, I think. Anyway, we got back safety, and we always had each other.
Okay, well, I think my bed is calling my name. Can't you hear it? I can. Hopefully you don't all think I've lost my mind, I really haven't. But if you do, leave me a comment. It's getting really boring writing posts and then seeing "0 comments". It makes me less interested in writing again. And as you can see, I can be pretty funny when it's late at night and I had a long day!

I have Internet, FINALLY!

So if you haven't guessed, I kind of dropped off the face of the earth. We haven't had Internet for a while, and it was just too frustrating to try and get some. We could walk to the clubhouse, but then everyone can see what you are writing. And while this blog is definatly not private, I don't like people looking over my shoulder as I type. I've also been pretty busy getting to know people, going through training, and just having some fun.

I've been to the beach a couple times now. We went swimming one time, and played football in the water. It was a lot of fun. The waves were huge! Then we went to the pool and jumped in to try and get all the sand off our bodies. It's really nice having warm water to swim in. And a lot of people came, so it was a time to get to hang out with everyone.

I've always walked to the beach alone and just sat alone on it. The breeze is so nice, and it's a great time to just think, or write letters. I hope people have been getting my letters, because no one said they got one yet. That worries me. Does the mailbox have a giant hole in it and any letter being sent to Wisconsin just gets destroyed? ha ha

The guys here a lot of fun. We played frisbree twice now, and then as I said before, football at the beach. We've hung out and watched movies, played games...it's fun. The group is pretty ADD though, so we are always looking for something to do.

Overall, it's been very interesting. It's warm here, but not smoothering hot where I am dying. I think it's great. And the breeze is nice. Sometimes it's too hot, but usually it's okay. The rain is getting a little annoying...sometimes it rains for ten minutes, other times an hour. We had a really bad storm the other night with lightening and everything. That was a little crazy.

I took some pictures, so now that I have Internet, I'll be posting them up soon. I'm actually going to hang out with the apartment downstairs (I'm taking their pictures) so I have to go. I'll write more later!

It's Raining...

Today is Sunday, and it's been one of those weekends when you just shake your head and wish it was over. But first, I need to update you on what happened these past couple days, after I finally got my blog set up...

The three sites I went to Friday were...interesting. The first two were at the same place. I rode over to the site with a girl named Rachel (who is really nice and from Long Island, New York) and Nina. Rachel has a really nice car and a good sense of direction, so we didn't get lost. We drove out really far, it felt millions away from civilization. It was in the middle of a huge field. For a second, I felt as though I was back in Wisconsin. ha ha

Then we went through the playground, into this small door and then into a child's play room. It was very small, and I actually felt tall for once in my life. Then we entered into the back area and I once again felt short. We had found the "big kids" area.

The lady who interviewed us (in total, there were six of us...including my roommate Jennifer) was from the Neverlands. She had a really fun accent and she reminded me a lot of the grandmother in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She told us about the job, teaching little kids (pre-K and younger) to read, helping them with their ABC's and even reading to little babies. It sounded interesting, but then we got to the site that was grouped with the first site. I did not feel comfortable there. They explained that the AmeriCorp worker would have to help kids with their homework, especially math and be responsible for helping a certain amount of kids get their grades up. I'm not a tutor, and I don't do well with math. I was screaming in my head, "HELP".

Anyway, defiantly not choosing that site. Around 4:00 pm, a girl named Sarah and I went to the third and final site of the day. I can't really explain to you what you were doing at that site, everything went in one ear and out of the other. The lady was nice, don't get me wrong, she just rambled a lot and didn't make a lot of sense. The place was crowded with kids and everything was crazy. What I got of it was that the person would be tutoring kids and helping to catch them up on their reading, but you had to identify who the kids were and how you would help them. Sarah and I both didn't feel the site "fit us".

After that, I went back to the apartment and just chilled for a while. I needed to relax because it had been so draining going to each of the sites. I ended up reading this book I borrowed from Jennifer. After dinner, Jennifer came back from somewhere and we got ready to go down to the "house party" that one of the AmeriCorp members was holding.

First we hung out in Nina's apartment with her roommates who are really nice. Alex has a really cool room, and it's decorated really cute. I love her style. My room is still in need of some serious help-but that's mostly because I don't really have a bed or bookshelf. Once that is taken care of, I will feel a lot better.

Then we went over to the place where the party was being held. There was only about ten people there, and we all introduced ourselves and said an interesting fact (this lasted a while), then they played some card drinking game. I enjoyed my water, but this time I wasn't the only one. One of the guys was drinking water too.

Then, suddenly, a ton of people started coming in and the party just got really crazy after that. Some people just have been drinking before they came because they were just smashed. And it was so loud! But I got to talk to a variety of people, so that was fun. And then I tried water pong, and we weren't so bad, but we certainly weren't very good. Then again, I think I've maybe played three times or something like that.

Around midnight Sarah and Sabrina asked if I would take them clubbing (since I was the only sober one and I like dancing) and so the four us (Jennifer came along) went to this place called Roxy's in West Palm Beach. It was on the roof of a building, and it was so pretty out. It was a great place, and we had so much fun. The best part was that it was free to get in. However, there were some creepy people I didn't like very much. They keep trying to come by us and grab our hands. But since there were four of us, we just stuck together and ignored them. The most annoying were these really white guys in khaki pants who could not dance at all. They kept trying to come by us and we would just push them away and stick together. They bothered me so much. And one guy couldn't figure out why we thought he was creepy, he bothered me the most.

We got back around 3 am, and then had to wake up by 8am so that we could get to the thrift store with the cheap furniture by 9am. And that's when all the problems started...

We went to the furnature area, and found the couch we had reserved. But Mercedes found other couches she thought were better, so we went around looking at them. She found one that was really nice, but it was a lot more money and we weren't really sure. Then we went outside to look at tables. We found a table we liked, but before we could reserve it, someone had already bought it. So then we went back inside and someone was looking at the couch we wanted! So then we went and stood by the couch we wanted until the guy came and we purchased the couch and some cheap coffee table set we found.

Then we left and waited till we were going to meet with the girl about borrowing her truck. We met with her, but then the guy who was supposed to drive the truck for us (it's stick) wasn't around. So we then we found a girl from the group who could drive stick and so she took us to the place. They loaded up the furnature and then we brought it back to the place. Some people offered to help and we brought the couch up the elevator. But it wouldn't fit throught the door...and we spent a lot of time trying. And it was just a big mess and we were all frustrated and not sure what to do and then Jennifer was really upset and said "Just dump it" so we took the pillows and left them in the room and got rid of the couch. But it was just a huge mess. We wasted all this money and now we have nothing to show for it, and I'm pretty sure we are never getting another couch again. I don't even think any couch would fit throught that door, it's so small. What a mess.

And then we were all frustrated and angry and upset, and snapping at each other and it just wasn't good. I ended up hiding in my room and scrapbooking, but before that, I was just so upset that I ended up having some kind of panic attack and used my inhaler and laid down for a while. Everything was spinning and it just wasn't cool. I just wanted it to be the next day or something.

Around seven, we took a group trip to Walmart. I know, there again? But we all needed stuff still (such as food, etc) and we spent a good hour getting everything we all needed. I think I'm good for a couple days, ha ha.

When we got back, Jennifer and I watched Sydney White, but she ended up falling asleep and then Mercedes came out and watched the second half with me. I love that movie.

This morning, Mercedes and I went to a Baptist church around here. It was okay, but I think I'm going to keep checking out the churches. I want to find one that I will fit in, and feel comfortatble going to, for the next year.

Then we walked over to the Dollar store, because I needed a tape measure. Now, I'm typing this and around four, some of the guys and whoever else comes, are going to the park to play Ultimate Frisbree. Can't wait!

Some snapshots

My camera was starting to die, so this turned out a little too blue and the camera died minutes later.

The view here is awesome! (from the bridge you can walk on)

My wonderful mess (second day)

Here is some of my stuff in my room.

There must be a way to rotate pictures on here, but I'm not sure yet. This is the bathroom (there are two, but Jennifer and I are sharing one)

This is our living room. It's still sadly empty. (I took all these pictures the first day. Once we finish getting everything on Saturday, I'll show you the finished pictures)

This is the view from the living room into the apartment.

Here is a view of our kitchen. It's so nice!

The view as we were driving was really pretty. Check out that sky!

I'm HERE!

Today is Friday, and I have been in sunny for Florida since late Tuesday night. The reason I haven't written on this blog yet is that the wireless is a little limited at the moment. You can access it in a few areas, but it's hard to find the time, or the energy to get there.

It started on Monday. Nina got to my house around 10:00 am. I had spent all weekend trying to pack my car and get in everything I felt necessary, while also leaving an unknown amount of room for Nina. As I've mentioned before, a big problem for someone who is a pack-rat and always likes to be prepared. (now that I'm here, I know that was the best decision I ever made. Everything I brought was, and will be, useful!)

I ended up with what I felt was a reasonable amount of room for Nina, and had just finished cleaning my room for my parents, since they wanted it to look clean and tidy while I was gone. I guess a big mess wasn't really appealing to them. Nina got there with her dad, and in a little under twenty minutes, we had all her stuff in the car and were pulling out the driveway. We had to stop at the end of the driveway to fix the straps for the car-top and to make sure that Nina could sit in her chair without it sliding forward. And then we were off!

The first couple hours were good...Nina slept because she had a headache. I drove through some construction, had to turn around a couple times because for some reason, people in Wisconsin think it's more effective to make you drive all the way to spot where they cut off the road before telling you that you can't go any further. Then, when you are all frustrated, they fail to give you a detour. The GPS can only handle so much...

Anyway, we switched driving around 2:30, because we took a break at a subway somewhere and got some lunch. Then we continued on. We asked each other questions, got to know each other...it was going well.

We probably switched around 5 or so that night, stopping at creepy gas stations to use the bathroom and get gas. We didn't use as much gas as I thought we were going too. Around 10:00, we started counting down the hours till we got to Alissa's house in Georgia. The GPS had slowly been changing the time of when we get there with each stop, getting later and later. We were starting to get frustrated. Around eleven thirty, I took over driving again. It was dark, we were going around curves, and it was raining. Not fun. I was counting down until we would switch.

Around 2:30, I called Alissa and told her we would be getting there in an hour. It was late, and I was getting crabby. Nina gave me some her 5 hour energy drink, and we think it took an opposite effect. I also had some mountain dew...Nina told me to go to sleep, so I did. (I was trying not to nod off anyway)

We arrived at 3:30, and stayed at Alissa's house. It's a cute one-story house and I slept on the guestbed and Nina took the couch. Alissa is really pregnant and it's cute. It was a real shocker at first, but I've slowly adjusted.

In the morning, around 10:30, we woke up and Alissa feed us breakfast. We chatted and relaxed until about 12:30, then we took off. I drove first, and we didn't switch till around 3:00 when we stopped to get food. We made it all the way through Georgia and into Florida, which was nice. Nina napped, and I think we were starting to run out of things to talk about. Ha ha.

Then Nina drove and I read some of my book, and then we switched again. We took the Florida Tollway (I think? something like that) and only switched once more. When Nina drove into the "mini island" of Via Ventanas, we were in awe. It was pretty, huge, and we got to live there.

Jennifer, my new roommate, came down to greet us. She's a bubbly, fun girl from Florida, and she helped me move up about half my stuff to the apartment, which looks just as nice (if not better) than the pictures. It's definatly the nicest apartment I've ever seen. It reminds me of a hotel.

I needed batteries and shampoo, so we ran to Walmart. Of course. I come thousands of miles and the first store we first is Walmart. Doesn't that sound familiar? I live in small town where the closet big store is Walmart, and I come to a new place where Walmart is the big hit. Well, I am poor. ha ha

Anyway, this is post is getting long. So I'm going to catch you up to speed a little faster. I unpacked the first night, and then went to bed since we had to be up at eight o'clock. I got a call from Mercedes, our third roommate really early in the morning, so I never really got to sleep after that. Plus, the sun is really bright here, and it's hard to adjust. Our third roommate was arriving at 2:30 the next morning.

Later that morning, we had a meeting with everybody. It went for about an hour and a half, and we learned a bit about the sites we would be visiting the next couple days. Some people had been at the apartments for two weeks, so they were surprised we had just arrived. I met one guy who had just come from California, and he drove the whole way! He was disappointed that the waves didn't appear until December (he likes to surf). It seemed most people had come from the cold states. Hmm, that doesn't surprise me!

Then Nina and I went to Target since we didn't have to visit any sites. Then I unloaded the rest of my car and started unpacking some more, then I did a little exploring before my roommate got back. We ran once again to Walmart...I needed hangers and we needed food. Then we eat dinner and hung out, she went to bed early and I finished unpacking as much as possible. My closet is huge and almost everything fits in it. I called my parents and then Jennifer and I went to the beach and took a walk. It was so pretty, and the water was really warm. We saw some fishermen, but Jennifer explained that there weren't too many surfers in Florida. *sigh* Then we got back to the apartment and went to bed, because for some reason, we were both really tired.

Our third roommate arrived in the middle of the night, and I helped her get her stuff and showed her the set-up, then went to bed. Thursday was a long day. I had to be up early, in business attire, to go to my first site. It's sort of an interview, but you are also interviewing them because you have some say (not much) in what site you end up at.

I left early, but because I didn't know how far away it was, and I'm unfamilair with the area, I got a little lost. I ended up being about six minutes late, but I did try to call (no answer) and I had to talk to three different desks before I found the right one. The interview was interesting, another girl named Sarah was there and they had already started. Sarah was really nice. I loved the library, it was the most amazing library I have ever been in! The floors are almost the size of a football field, and there are over 180 computers. They have rows and rows of books, all neatly organized. The first floor of the library looks like Barnes n' Nobles with the layout, and it's so pretty. Every little detail is there. The kid's library (where I would work if I got the job) is amazing! The desk has light-up bubble tubes around it, and there are games everywhere. They have state-of-the art technology, and the chairs even turn into toys! I could on and on, but hopefully I will work there and you can see the pictures. Either way, I'm definatly getting a library card there.

I was running a little late when I picked Nina up for our second site. It was at another library, the Boynton library. This one was not as grand as the other library, but it was homely, and still very nice. The ladies interviewing us were very nice, but liked to talk so we had to cut the tour short so we could get Nina to her next interview on time. I ended up being half an hour early to my third and final site, so I ate my lunch in the car. But then I was getting hot, so I headed to the doors. I went to every door (which didn't open) and finally headed for this building next to the church. I got lucky, and some lady was just leaving. She told me to push a buzzer above a mailbox at the church. I did that, and I was soon in a long hallway. I noticed the first door was open and peeked my head in. A smiling lady ushered me in and showed me to a table. She quickly spotted my resume and was extremely excited I had website experience. When she found out I went to school for advertising, I could tell they wanted me already.

Three other people ended up coming for the interview, and one of the ladies interviewing/explaining was really nice. They didn't ask anyone else about what experience they had, which I thought was a little odd. They kept pointing at me during their talk and saying "And that's where your marketing experience would be great!" What they failed to realize was that most of what I would be doing if I chose them was working with adults and teaching them English. I don't speak Spanish, and I wanted to work with children, not adults. I was a little confused as to why I was there, especially since everyone else in the group had already interviewed at the second site that went with this option, but I didn't have it on my schedule. I hope they aren't too disappointed when I put them on my "no" list.

When I got back (which was pretty early), Jennifer and I went to the Faith Farm, where the furtaniture is extremely cheap! They go through stuff within hours of receiving it! We reserved a couch that is ugly, but super comfortable! Then we agreed to come back at 9am on Saturday morning. We called the girl in our group who said we can borrow our truck and made plans to borrow that as well.

After yet another trip to Walmart (I hope this doesn't become a really annoying theme, it reminds me of college at Whitewater), we headed back to the apartment. We had dinner, and then went for a run. Since my doctors think I have ashma, I had to try out the inhaler they gave me before we left. I think I did it wrong, because it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Yuck! I lasted about half the run (we got all the way to the beach) before I wasn't sure anymore. Jennifer wanted to run for an hour, so I went on the beach and walked along the waves. She came back in fifteen minutes (we only had one key) and that was when I ran into four other AmeriCorps members. I stayed with them and we must have talked for two hours. They were so nice! Then we walked back, and the guy in the group, Don, went to get food. The three girls and I went back to their apartment to check out their ceilings, which are really low compared to our beautiful third floor high ceiling. When I brought them up to our place, they said they were jealous. We definatly got lucky!

Well, that should bring you about up to speed. I have three more sites to visit today. I know this is a long post, and people don't like to read, but my job now is to make people ENJOY reading. So get used to it! lol. I'm going to post pictures next, for those people who always looked at pictures instead of reading.

For a small-time Wisconsin girl, going to Florida for a year is like a dream come true. Especially when you enjoy the heat, and are sick of the snow and cold. Last summer, it didn't really feel like a summer. It was warm maybe four days the whole summer! I hardly went swimming all summer and felt like I was working all summer. It was my idea to have a regular job and an unpaid internship. But at the end of the summer, I wondered what in the world I had gotten myself into.

Flash-forward to today. In less than a week and a half, I'll be in warm, sunny Florida working for AmeriCorps. All summer, I've been hanging out with friends, working 40 hours a week, packing up my dorm room, then my house room, and now packing for the trip. Even though I'm a huge pack-rat, I have to shove everything I want for a whole year in a small car with room for Nina and all of her stuff. Talk about impossible.

But impossible is not a word, it's just a reason for someone not to try. I am definatly going to make this work! I can't wait for a year of changing lives, especially my own!