Be flexible...

Peace Corps Guinea has been cancelled, so I am now waiting for a reassignment to another program (should know by Friday). No idea where I'll be assigned or when I'll leave, stay tuned.

Thanksgiving update

I definitely forgot to update recently so here's a quick post to tell you what's going on. I finished up my job in Ohio last week, it was definitely a fun time but short. I felt like I had just unpacked. I packed up my car once again and headed out on a road trip with Audrey. The highlights of the trip were the Cleveland art museum (awesome art and free- definitely recommend it!) and Niagara Falls.

This week was Thanksgiving. I spent it with family in Massachusetts. We had a full house- my dad and step-mom hosted all five kids plus 2 significant others. We had another 6 for the Thanksgiving meal as well as various step-cousins/aunts/uncles who came in and out on other days. It's been a fun week but definitely tiring.

I am preparing to go to Africa, I am supposed to leave for a Peace Corps assignment in Guinea on January 13. They just had an election with results being announced Dec. 1, so after that I will have a conference call to give me more info. I'll be in MA for a few more weeks and then head down to NC for Christmas with my mom and sisters. In the mean time, I'll try to keep everyone posted.

Bits and pieces

This blog post is brought to you by the sugar high that comes with a bag of M&Ms. Let's see if it can get me through this update, there's a lot to cover.

Last week ended well, my group was the best I've had so far. They really enjoyed everything and followed directions. Also, the teachers and parents came and were enthusiastic about the program; that's always nice to see. It was freezing all week (think defrosting the car in the morning), lots of layers were necessary to keep warm!

Meredith came to visit this past weekend. Visitors are always fun and it was really great to hang out with Meredith (as always). We headed to Cincinnati for the weekend. It was a good time but we both agreed that it was kind of a weird city. It seemed like we never found a central "downtown" type area. Every sight we went to see was in a different area and almost all of them seemed a little run down. The sprawl didn't really surprise me because it seems to be an Ohio thing. Columbus is much the same. Tons of businesses with a Columbus address are actually in what I would consider the suburbs. Also, it seems like you just need to drive about 5 minutes on any major road in Ohio to find a strip mall or two. But that's another story.

In Cincinnati we visited the Krohn Conservatory, which is an indoor botanical garden. It was very small but nice. They had a lot of tropical plants. It sort of made me miss Florida even though those weren't at all the species I saw in Florida. Krohn Conservatory is in Mount Adams, an area that overlooks the city. The views were really neat, you could see the Ohio River from above. After that we visited Findlay Market. It was a public market with indoor and outdoor stands selling all kinds of food and produce. Kind of a giant farmers market/grocery/restaurant area. We got some really great food there including delicious Ohio cheese! We definitely ate well on our trip. Besides the market we ate at an Indian restaurant and had brunch at a fancy vegetarian place.

Sunday morning I ran in a half marathon. I was a little worried about it but it ended up being a good time (as good as running 13 miles can be). There were some nice people in the race and also cheering, I was also really grateful to have Meredith there on the course cheering. I was sore afterwards but it was nice to say that I did it!

This week is the last week of teaching. We have a very small group, less than 20 kids. Quite a change after the over 40 we had last week! Also, the weather has turned warmer for us (highs in the 60s all week) which makes work much more pleasant. This is the only group that has opted to stay for the Thursday evening portion of our program. This means we will be taking them to see all the farm animals and actually have our camp fire at night. It should be fun to do some new activities with the kids as well.

Next week is just cleaning up and will only be a half week, so I probably need to start thinking about packing up my things soon. It's crazy to think 2 months have flown by so fast- I just got here! Once I pack up I am headed to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving, then down to NC. I'll try to keep you posted on what's going on and get some more pictures up soon. Until next time!

Mid-week update, Week 4

I'll start with a funny tidbit. This week we have a group from a Catholic school. One of our activities is "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." At the beginning I ask the kids to guess who's coming to dinner (they all are... it's a game where they are wolves trying to catch a mouse). The longer you wait to tell them what's going to happen, the crazier the guesses get. This week one of the guesses was "God." Followed shortly by, "No! This isn't Bible camp, this is Hippie camp." It's so funny to me that kids born in the year 2000 still know about hippies.

This is probably the largest group of kids yet but they are incredibly well behaved. We finally have enough teachers/parents to have a chaperone with each group. The parents don't really get involved in discipline at all because they aren't needed, but I think having them there is helpful in itself. I don't know if its the 3 weeks of experience or the group I have but they are finally doing what they are asked (for the most part). This is the first week everyone has sat down in their Magic Spots! (According to the other crew leaders this is actually not uncommon. So maybe it is me) It's incredibly amazing to actually have 10-15 minutes of the afternoon to sit and relax instead of watching them all like a hawk.

The funniest thing about this group is their hunger. The schedule this week has had a couple days of late lunch and this is just not something they want to deal with. You would think their parents never fed them. However, it also works as great discipline tool to tell them if they don't listen or do an activity there will be no lunch. Working with kids makes you great at bartering and bribes.

I feel like I have been incredibly busy lately and I'm beginning to think that maybe once I should actually finish something in the allotted time period. In other words, I am working on finishing up 2 previous research papers which probably should have been done forever ago. Having no deadlines is terrible. Also, I am preparing for my upcoming move by combing through my possessions. There will definitely be some trips to Goodwill and other stuff will be given away to friends/family that can use the items I don't use. It's nice to get rid of things like that but it actually takes quite a bit of planning. Anyone want some used stuff?

On a final note, I am collecting addresses and other contact info. If you like to get letters and want to hear from me, please let me know what your address is!