Jealous of my mad balance skills? My MBS?
I would just like to start this post by saying that yesterday marked the first day of my last month as a twenty year old. Also, I am back in California as of this past Wednesday and it feels like I never left. If anything, it feels as if I blinked and suddenly a month of my time here was stolen out from under me. The students will graduate from the program in two weeks and I don't believe I'm ready to see them go. I'm sure that next semester will be wonderful, but this semester was the one I grew into the community with and I'm sure I'll always have a soft spot for it.
It's well into the fall season (dare I even say the beginning of winter?) and it's frickin freezing here already. In response to all those emails/messages I've gotten since returning to California from people saying "Enjoy the sun for me!" or "It's so cold here. I'm jealous that you're in California!" Well. I am in Northern California, in the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada. The Sierra Friends Center is at a 2,500ft elevation. It is warmer at home than it is here! On top of that, I returned to find that the heat in my wing of the Stone House broke while I was gone, so Wednesday night I slept in three layers of clothes (with hat and gloves!) and under six layers of blankets. Hilary has since given me a space heater on loan, which has been a most welcome present.
The flight back was relatively painless. In an odd twist of fate, an older man behind me in line at the security checkpoint in BWI ended up being on the same path of travel as me (Baltimore to Las Vegas to Sacramento) and we had some friendly conversation along the way. He asked me if I was an "Aggie", which I imagine was obvious very quickly that I was not due to my confused face. An "Aggie" is apparently a student at UC Davis, which is a campus known for it's agricultural program. I lucked out this time and didn't sit next to anyone that trapped me into conversation! There was a small delay in Las Vegas, but I only got into Sacramento about forty-five minutes later than I was supposed to. Kathy picked me up and I was back at the SFC by four o'clock.
I've been all over the place the past few days. I played some Scrabble with Susan on Thursday, then went with Lin, Jess and Sarah to see Pulitzer prize-winning poet Gary Snyder preform in downtown Nevada City. It was a fun evening, not the least because the three of us (excluding Sarah) got into a giggly mood and were poking fun of each other all evening. Yesterday, Jess taught a short session on belly-dancing, which was fun. Afterward I went into town with her and Lin to find Jess an outfit for next weekend, when she's going with a friend to his company party. We went to a consignment shop called Sisters and had a grand old time playing dress up. It amused the shop attendant, at the very least.
Right now, I am currently sitting in the lounge of the office, where Sophie B. and Mouse were kind and/or smart enough to build a fire. Before I came to sit out here and was in the Admissions Office, I was so cold that my fingers were practically frozen. "I love how it smells in this room. It's like crappy incense." That was Mouse. He and Sophie have been squabbling in this room for about half an hour now, more like siblings than anything else, and it's really quite amusing. They are both currently doing their reading next to me for Peace Studies class (I've taken a picture of how Mouse is sitting and I'll try to remember to include it at the end of the post) and between the three of us and the fire, it's a pretty quaint scene. And in two weeks they'll be gone? It's an extremely odd thing to contemplate.
Jess Castleberry
She ended up getting this dress. Sadly, the shoes stayed behind.
Fall.
Emilie, Naomi, and Sebastian playing in a leaf pile.
Studying?
This is actually how Mouse was reading..
Fall 2007 Students.
Silly picture on the picnic tables. The serious picture wasn't nearly as amusing, so I'm not posting it.
It's good to be home. I talked to my dad today and apparently my plane ticket to the east coast is bought and paid for, so on the 19th I'll return to my other home again. All this hopping around is making it hard to keep track of where I am! Not really, but isn't that fun to say? I've been making plans for a lunch/shopping date with a few friends, then it's Christmas, followed closely after by my 21st birthday (which my parents have so kindly given me permission to throw a party for). Then a few days later Jack and I, and hopefully Dannie, will embark on our cross-country drive to California, with the pit-stop in Texas to pick up Dani. Time is certainly flying by me... but don't worry, I'm paying it all the attention it deserves.
It's well into the fall season (dare I even say the beginning of winter?) and it's frickin freezing here already. In response to all those emails/messages I've gotten since returning to California from people saying "Enjoy the sun for me!" or "It's so cold here. I'm jealous that you're in California!" Well. I am in Northern California, in the foothills of the Sierra-Nevada. The Sierra Friends Center is at a 2,500ft elevation. It is warmer at home than it is here! On top of that, I returned to find that the heat in my wing of the Stone House broke while I was gone, so Wednesday night I slept in three layers of clothes (with hat and gloves!) and under six layers of blankets. Hilary has since given me a space heater on loan, which has been a most welcome present.
The flight back was relatively painless. In an odd twist of fate, an older man behind me in line at the security checkpoint in BWI ended up being on the same path of travel as me (Baltimore to Las Vegas to Sacramento) and we had some friendly conversation along the way. He asked me if I was an "Aggie", which I imagine was obvious very quickly that I was not due to my confused face. An "Aggie" is apparently a student at UC Davis, which is a campus known for it's agricultural program. I lucked out this time and didn't sit next to anyone that trapped me into conversation! There was a small delay in Las Vegas, but I only got into Sacramento about forty-five minutes later than I was supposed to. Kathy picked me up and I was back at the SFC by four o'clock.
I've been all over the place the past few days. I played some Scrabble with Susan on Thursday, then went with Lin, Jess and Sarah to see Pulitzer prize-winning poet Gary Snyder preform in downtown Nevada City. It was a fun evening, not the least because the three of us (excluding Sarah) got into a giggly mood and were poking fun of each other all evening. Yesterday, Jess taught a short session on belly-dancing, which was fun. Afterward I went into town with her and Lin to find Jess an outfit for next weekend, when she's going with a friend to his company party. We went to a consignment shop called Sisters and had a grand old time playing dress up. It amused the shop attendant, at the very least.
Right now, I am currently sitting in the lounge of the office, where Sophie B. and Mouse were kind and/or smart enough to build a fire. Before I came to sit out here and was in the Admissions Office, I was so cold that my fingers were practically frozen. "I love how it smells in this room. It's like crappy incense." That was Mouse. He and Sophie have been squabbling in this room for about half an hour now, more like siblings than anything else, and it's really quite amusing. They are both currently doing their reading next to me for Peace Studies class (I've taken a picture of how Mouse is sitting and I'll try to remember to include it at the end of the post) and between the three of us and the fire, it's a pretty quaint scene. And in two weeks they'll be gone? It's an extremely odd thing to contemplate.
Jess Castleberry
She ended up getting this dress. Sadly, the shoes stayed behind.
Fall.
Emilie, Naomi, and Sebastian playing in a leaf pile.
Studying?
This is actually how Mouse was reading..
Fall 2007 Students.
Silly picture on the picnic tables. The serious picture wasn't nearly as amusing, so I'm not posting it.
It's good to be home. I talked to my dad today and apparently my plane ticket to the east coast is bought and paid for, so on the 19th I'll return to my other home again. All this hopping around is making it hard to keep track of where I am! Not really, but isn't that fun to say? I've been making plans for a lunch/shopping date with a few friends, then it's Christmas, followed closely after by my 21st birthday (which my parents have so kindly given me permission to throw a party for). Then a few days later Jack and I, and hopefully Dannie, will embark on our cross-country drive to California, with the pit-stop in Texas to pick up Dani. Time is certainly flying by me... but don't worry, I'm paying it all the attention it deserves.