Thanksgiving

Well, it's been awhile since I've written anything on here! I've been busy this quarter and so some of these extra things have just fallen by the wayside. I had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving break, from Wednesday to Sunday. After fight traffic with two of my friends from school, I was dropped off in Salem, Oregon on Wednesday night to spend the weekend with Nick and his family. I made sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving Day and to my delight they turned out just as I remember my mom and grandma making them! In addition to traditional Thanksgiving celebrations, I also enjoyed a little Black Friday shopping, hanging out with friends, and going swimming. Swimming at this time of the year? No, we aren't crazy; we went to the Kroc Center, a Salvation Army Community Center facility made possible by McDonald's heiress, Joan Kroc. I also played a little Rock Band with friends (pictured, although I am not in the picture).

Back at it...

I'm pleased to report that I've finally returned to Seattle and all it's rainy glory. School started this week and so far classes are going great! I am taking Christian Formation, Beginning Figure, Intro to the Fashion Industry, and Composición y Conversación. The titles are fairly self-explanatory. In Christian Formation we are not only exploring Christianity's roots but also our own personal convictions and spiritual journeys.
Beginning Figure is going to be challenging but no doubt rewarding. It's a night class and sometimes it can be difficult to draw for two hours but I know from my drawing class last year that I'll get used to it. Understanding the human body will definitely be useful in upcoming Fashion Illustration, draping, and pattern making classes. And just because you're probably wondering; no, we do not have naked models. All our models are clothed as per Seattle Pacific policy. So far, that is one of my frequently asked questions when talking about my classes to other people.
Intro to the Fashion Industry, my most interesting class so far, covers the entire fashion process- from a designer's idea all the way to the consumer. We have a big group project to do in that class where we will study fashion forecasting by promoting a line of clothing to a particular demographic. Our group has chosen to do Women's Winter 2011, working particularly in mass-merchandising. We'll meet once a week for the next seven weeks to work out the details of our promotion.
My final class, Composición y Conversación, is entirely in Spanish. So far this has presented no problems. My professor is very engaging and class always moves right along and most of it is just conversation. Our usual assignments will involve present 3-5 minute monologues and engaging in dialogues between classmates and the professor.
Last but not least is some very exciting news! I have a new job working at a daycare. I am a substitute teacher which means I will be called in as needed. It will involve working with the same age range of children that I worked with this summer. This daycare also uses the same positive discipline techniques. I won't need to adjust too much because I already spent eight weeks this summer in a similar environment.
The picture is of a squirrel that was spying on some friends and I during a picnic this summer. He was quite close to us and climbing all over the tree branches above our heads.

Cutting Edge Children's Wear

I work with children for my summer job and have noticed an interesting trend in children's wear- light up shirts. I remember light-up shoes and I can sort of understand light up backpacks but light up shirts don't make much sense. It definitely wouldn't be comfortable to wear and little LED light lighting up a princess shirt doesn't do much to enhance its aesthetic value. It is interesting to see such an impractical trend take root. It's probably a good idea to leave this one at the store and hope it doesn't last long.

Stranded in a Storm

Just a week and a half ago my cousins and I were struggling to keep afloat on the great and mighty Ross Lake. We headed out on the little fishing boat to see a waterfall and it was a beautiful, but cloudy morning. By the time we were a to the waterfall and a half hour out the weather took a drastic turn for the worse. We started back but waves were crashing over the boat and with too few lifejackets we decided we needed to stop. We stopped at a place called Little Beaver, where there are places to camp but you can only get there by boat. When we arrived there was a larger boat just leaving in the other direction who promised to call the ranger to rescue us. Shortly after a young Canadian couple in a canoe joined us to wait out the storm for 2 1/2 hours. It turned out to be a great adventure! We made a brush fire and dried our soaking wet clothes. After the storm began to calm rangers came to rescue us! We returned to our campsite across the lake shortly thereafter.

Crazy Cousins' Campout

Well, it's been awhile but that's mostly because I wasn't sure if I would be writing on the metropolitan blog if I'm currently living in the country. And also, I just don't always feeling much like doing anything besides eating and falling asleep after working all day. That may sound lame, but my cousin Janine and I wake up at 3:15am every weekday for work. Right now, I'm living with my aunt and uncle and their family plus my cousin Janine because her and I found jobs up here in Washington.
Just a few days ago the three of us girl cousin went on a campout. We went to Larrabee State Park for one night. Before we settled into our beautiful campsite for the night we met a motorcycle camper (the best kind of camper there is) who was going all the way from Florida to Alaska! He was also kind enough to exchange us quarters for dollars so we could shower in the morning. It was good to go camping and relax. It was a very nice campground for tent campers, which we were. Most of the RV and trailer spots were not as scenic and beautiful as the tent spots. Overall, I would definitely recommend the campground to you but hopefully you're a heavy sleeper because a train runs just outside the camp. I'm told that the train went by during the night but I didn't hear a sound. Our campout was complete with a campfire s'mores, a delicious breakfast, and some good campfire songs. Our favorite is:

Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

She had two hairs on the top of her head
One was alive and the other was dead.
Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

She had two eyes in the front of her head
One was green and the other was red.
Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

She had two teeth in the front of her mouth
One pointed north and the other pointed south.
Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

She had ten toes like me and you
But all ten toes were in one shoe
Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

Then one day a truck hit poor Madaline
The man had to buy a whole new machine!
Catalina Madalina, Hoopin Stina, Walla dina
Hogan, Bogan, Wogan was her name.

San Francisco and the Space Needle

I have been so amazingly busy! Over Memorial Day weekend I went on a giant road trip with about 100 other SPU women down to San Francisco. It was a service trip called Quest. On Friday we drove 18 hours in 19 cars, through the night, to San Francisco. There were several stops to use the restroom, switch drivers, eat some food, dance, etc. We finally arrived Saturday afternoon in SF. We ate lunch and had an hour or so to see what we wanted to see before we headed over to the Rescue Mission in the Tenderloin district. We spent about a day at the Tenderloin with everyone doing a variety of things- office work, cooking, organizing the donation closet, teaching Sunday school, and cleaning. We slept in the Rescue Mission on Saturday night. The most interesting thing that we did was bring meals to various apartment buildings in the district. In the apartments we went door to door offering free food and prayer to people. We also enjoyed In-N-Out while in California. A lot of people were very excited about that. Sunday night we stayed in a church gymnasium and headed back to school early Monday morning! It was quite the trip!
On a different not, this last Thursday night we had Ashton Hall Ball (the dorm where I live this year) in the Space Needle. It was a lot of fun!

Finally, in a week from Tuesday I will have completed my first year of college. So much is happening in such a short amount of time!

When the sun shines...

Seattle is so beautiful this time of year! All the rain makes everything green. It's a big difference from Southern California, for sure.

Time Well Spent

I had spring break just last week, although it already seems like it was weeks away. That's the thing about school, you go back to it and it feels as if you never left. I don't know if that's ever a good thing. In other circumstances it's good though. For example, when you see an old friend again and it's as if you were never apart.

Anyway, I actually had quite a long spring break because I was finished with exams on a Tuesday, so I had from Wednesday the 18th until Sunday a week and a half later. First I went to Salem, OR and stayed with Nick and his family. I would just say "The Brouwers" but that's a little ambiguous in this case. It was a very relaxing break once I finished a final paper I had to email in on Friday. I went paintballing for the first time there but I don't know if I really got the full experience because I didn't get any huge welts. I did actually get hit a few times of course but there was no lasting pain. It was pretty fun! I would put in a picture but unfortunately, this computer in the library lab won't let me. Maybe I'll add one later.

On Thursday, the 26th, I took the train and bus from Salem to Bellingham to see the TeVeldes! I have been so close to them all school year but I hadn't seen them yet. I got a lot of sleep there so that I could be ready to start a new quarter. I also went into Canada and got my haircut. It's now ten inches shorter and hopefully what I got cut off will make a nice wig for some child. I hadn't originally planned on sending my hair in because I didn't know how many inches I was getting cut off but I had enough! On Sunday I returned again to Seattle, to a week of rain, new classes, and hanging out with friends.

Beginning of the End and the End of the Beginning

That's pretty much where I am right now. I am in the last quarter of the year but it's only my first year of college. This quarter I'm keeping busy with Spanish, Texts and Contexts II: Medieval and Renaissance Culture (T&CII), Spreadsheets, Physics,and Intro to Family and Consumer Sciences. I'm excited for my Intro to FCS class (which is the only one I haven't had yet) because it is a class for my major and it is a prerequisite for other classes I want to take. I think that all my other classes pretty much explain what they are all about in the title. My Spanish class only has seven students in it, which my 'profesora' told us was the smallest class she has ever had. Usually a small class for that Spanish is about 15 students. Our T&CII professors seem very interesting and entertaining that that class will definitely be more interesting than it probably sounds. I know half the people in my Physics class so that should be partly fun at least. So far, there is a bright outlook for all my classes. Hopefully I haven't overdone it by taking five at once. The Spreadsheets class and the Intro to FCS class are only for half the quarter so even if it is a little busy at first it will get easier. I think it will be time to start the countdown to summer pretty soon though!

Please pass the spring!

Sunday morning I awoke early to discover it was snowing!  This wasn't really too epic because it's already snowed a few times and it usually doesn't stick at all.  But what was exciting was how much snow was coming down at once.  The snowflakes were huge! Or rather there were lots of snowflakes clumped together!  So my first thought was, "Wow, snow again!" and then I remembered, "O great, I'm taking the bus to church."  Everything worked out just fine though.  The buses were on time and I made it to church right when I was expecting to.  I did end up getting on the wrong bus once, then I was told to transfer to a bus that doesn't run downtown by the bus driver, but then I was told the right place to go.  When I got to the right stop I looked at the schedule and figured out which one I needed to take, and I still got where I needed to go.  Public transportation is sometimes confusing but it always gets me where I need to go- just not always where I want to go or how I want to get there.

The other picture is actually from the weekend before last.  I went downtown on Saturday and saw the  Seattle Central Library for the first time.  It was really cool, everything was very modern.  It has eleven floors and opened just five years ago in 2004.  If you like books or architecture, it is something you should check out next time you're passing through this great city.

And guess what else?  I'm done with Winter Quarter now!  Well not exactly--I have a paper I need to finish by Friday. But the finals are done! Two quarters down, one to go.

Countdown

The end of Winter Quarter quickly approaches and I couldn't be happier about that fact.  After Winter Quarter comes the beauty of Spring Quarter with spring break in between.  Then after my first Seattle spring I can enjoy a San Diego summer.  Tomorrow I register for my next classes, hopefully I can get the ones I want/need.  Today I gave a very persuasive speech on why students should use ratemyprofessors.com.  It can be a good resource for college students who want to avoid classes with bad professors, like professors who are not helpful, do not teach well, or any number of things.  There is a website for high school teachers as well but there is not as much flexibility in choosing classes in high school, especially not in small private Christian high schools like I attended.  And of course, there is no flexibility in choosing teachers if you are homeschooled but in that case hopefully you like your teacher because you'll have more problems then not enjoying class if you don't.   

SAM I am

Last Thursday I had the oppurtunity to join some of my classmates from my Texts and Contexts I class and one of my professor and go to the SAM, Seattle Art Museum.  It was optional to go but I thought it was worth going because it was "Free First Thursday."  There was a wide variety of art and it was very interesting.  We especially looked at the Greek artifacts and art because we are studying Greek and Roman literature in class.  There was a special exhibit of work by Edward Hopper who did the famous "Nighthawks" painting although that particular painting was not on display.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawks) Hopper was actually a little creepy if you ask me.  He would sit in cafes and wait for people to come so he could watch them.  The main subject of his paintings was always young women.  I guess that does not automatically make him strange but after seeing the exhibit you might (or not) agree too.  One of my favorite things I saw was an acrylic entitled "Double Elvis" by Andy Warhol.  I did my final project in art class senior year on Warhol and it was great to see some of his work in real life.  All in all, it was a morning well spent at the SAM.  

Lockdown

 I was sitting in class; watching the clock because class ends at 10:50 and I have to change and be at work by 11.  Right as our professor was telling his final point for the day about the new military technology used in the Peloponnesian War, someone bursts through the door say that they were told to go inside a classroom because we were in lockdown.  Our professor welcomed the newcomers and the others that followed and continued teaching.  He still had all of us there together so why not keep learning?  Meanwhile, our other professor (we have two) left the room.  It wasn't until several minutes later that I received an alert text that let us know that there was a bank robbery on campus.  The assailant was about 35, male, wearing faded blue jeans, and heading towards campus.  When we found out that the lockdown was real, we closed the blinds and kept learning!  Then another professor who had "sought shelter" in our classroom taught us about modern poetry.  A little while later we got an "all clear" text and I went to work.  It was a very interesting 25 minute lockdown, albeit unconventional and nothing like the lockdown drills that I'd been part of in the past.

White [post] Christmas!

After Christmas break, Seattle welcomed me back wonderfully with snow!  There was a couple inches on the ground when I flew in.  The whole campus was white for a day!  I wish I had taken some pictures of the snow to post on here but I didn't.  By the time I got back to my dorm on Sunday night it was late and then once I was done with classes on Monday, the snow was nearly gone.   

Classes this quarter are a little tougher than last quarter but they aren't too bad.  I have Spanish, Texts & Contexts, Public Speaking, and Career & Major Exploration.  I am also working more this quarter so I'm staying busy.  

It is nice to be back and see all my college friends.  Break went by a little fast but o well, I like it here!  And I'll be back home again in just five months.