Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Much Awaited Update

For anyone who could not guess I have been ridiculously busy the last week. 
this is what happens when you play two games of euchre at once. 

Starting with last Thursday-Sunday
We went on retreat to the Sioux Spiritual Center to spend some time together and get ready for the year ahead. There was much guitar playing and singing and I finally learned how to play euchre and did not by any stretch of the imagination get enough sleep. 
pretty stars!

There was a meteor shower during the retreat so one night a group of us stayed up to watch the stars. I was very upset when there were clouds out covering everything the night that was supposed to be best for viewing.  Another night we also played capture the tambourine in the dark, it was great fun even though we lost all 4 games. 

Roger White Eyes, who also works at Red Cloud, pored a sweat for us one night and it was an amazing experience. It was a tight fit because the lodge was so small and there were so many of us but we were able to squish in. At first I was pretty hot but after a few minutes it was not so bad. I don't know that I would have ever considered praying in a sweat lodge before I moved but it was really and amazing and uniting experience that I'm not sure I could really explain in words. I am just very glad to have participated and hope to go to some more sweats in the future. 

By far the best part of retreat was when we decided not to o to bad the last night...but it was an accident I promise. Liz, Maria, Bryan, and myself had all stayed up to play euchre...and Bryan tried out having multiple personalities so that we could play while maria serenaded us on guitar. Once we were done it was already 4:30am so the logical thing to do was walk up the hill and watch the sun rise. (makes since right?) Well theeennn once we were up the hill we found a bunch of circles made of stones which were clearly left by witches, and when Bryan told us there was an abandoned cabin near by we had no choice but to go on a hunt to find the witches lair. 

We were told the hike was only going to take 15 minutes but I am skeptical...either way when we finally made it to the cabin we were glad that we had made the trip. The house did not seem like it had been empty that long but there was no floor so I cant imagine people had been living in it like that. There was also a broken piano in the basement that looks like it may have fallen through the floor which hurt my heart a little bit. 
                                                            (poor piano!)

When we were done at the cabin it was about 5:30  or 6 and Bryan knew of another abandoned farm house so we decided we might as well go there too. On the way we found some mountain lion tracks...but none of us were eaten.  The second house was much creepier and looked as though it had been abandoned in a hurry. We decided to scope out the inside and were a little concerned that someone might round the corner with a shot gun at any moment...but the house was pretty obviously empty, despite the mayo and mountain due left on the table. AWKWARD!  We were all very relieved when no spirits came after us and headed home soon after in time to see Father George heading home and Amanda waking up for breakfast. 

We were all able to nap for a little while before mass at 10 and then the drive home. However, we decided not to go home, but to go and see inception so that Bryan could make is reference to a comment from earlier in the night. So the four of us and Jenny piled in a car and drove to rapid, but the movie didn't start until 4 so we ran some earns and went out to lunch first. The movie was amazing...and probably made more amazing by the fact that we had not gone to bed yet. The weirdest part was when we walked out into the parking lot and I saw a car bumper sticker that said "withes do it in circles"...its like they knew everything! creepy. 
 rawer!

Moving on to this week...

Most of our time was spent in meeting and setting up my classroom. I must say...my room is pretty darn cute. I can not wait for the kids to fill it up with life. 

I had the chance to spend some time with my classroom aid, Jessie. She is a Red Cloud graduate and Americorps volunteer and absolutely amazing. We have already decided that we are Batman and Robin and plan to dress as such for Halloween. I'm pretty sure we are kindred spirits. I also had to miss a lot of time in the classroom because of bus testing as she was absolutely wonderful about helping to get stuff set up. 

On wed. Maria and I went to Rapid to take the driving portion of our bus test. I passed the walk around and the Parking but made a stupid mistake when we were driving and even though I pointed it out right away it was an automatic fail. It turns out that Bob must not have been in a good mood because both Maria and I had to come back on Thursday...but this time we brought Luke and everyone passed. HURRAY! 

Friday we went to Gordan Nebraska to spend some quality time as a house. We were at the Italian Inn and I got to eat fried pickles which was probably the highlight of my week. They were delicious. 

Saturday I let my self sleep in as long as I wanted which was fantastic! When I woke up I went to the store with Liz to finish shopping for the dinner we were cooking and then finished painting my bedroom...I LOVE IT! After I was done painting Liz and I cooked some delicious food so that we could have a thank you dinner for Bryan over at OLL. (he taught us all how to park the school bus and was awesome). For dinner we had pasta salad, sweet potato fires, corn, and BBQ (fake chicken for Hillary and Erin!). 


Dinner was fun and afterwards we watched Big Love because OLL is obsessed with polygamy. I was pretty confused by the whole thing but oddly fascinated by the show. It was nice to be able to visit and get to see a part of their life because they spend so much time coming to us. It was like watching an animal in its natural habitat. (Just kidding you guys!) 

Today I spent most of my time in the classroom setting up and writing lesson plans, school starts tomorrow so I hope that everything goes well and I can write about what a wonderful day I had! 

And now...Bed time. 


2 comments:

  1. 1. I just accidentally clicked on that picture of a spider, and I'm deathly terrified of spiders. Apparently clicking on the pictures make them the size of your screen! It was a scary experience.

    2. I miss you sooooo much! And I'm so glad you're having such a wonderful experience. I always look forward to reading your blog! I can't wait till I see you again because don't forget, we're just like fight club!!

    Love you lots!!
    -Colleen :)

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  2. Poor piano. Its a tragedy. They would have given it to me when it was in good shape.

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