A typical week....

I usually get a little nervous when I use words like "typical" because I'm never really sure what counts as "typical" for my life. But, putting that analytical thinking aside, I thought that this week, I should blog about what my life looks like during a "typical" (ah - there it is again!:) week in MA.
Work happens between the hours of 7:15 AM (when I start my 45 min. commute) and 2 PM (when I arrive home). While at the center, I teach one group of kids English grammar and then switch after 2 hours in order to teach a second group of kids American culture. One of these groups is super fun and easy to work with. The other group? Well, I find them quite high maintenance in that they really have no qualms about talking when someone else is talking - whether it's me or another student. Needless to say, we do a lot of stopping and waiting, which is frustrating, but I'm hoping that over time they'll get as sick of doing that as I already am.... and talk less as a result of their extreme dislike for waiting. I only work four days a week, which is super great. Though I don't get the same day off during the week from week to week, it's nice to have a "Saturday" in the midst of my regular week. My time after I come home consists of a fair amount of planning for the next class period, doing little projects around the house, and hanging out with Bernard. Which brings me to what I normally do in the evenings.
For starters, Bernard and I are very different in the sense that I love schedules and he's more of a "go with it as it comes" type of person. This summer, we've reached a nice compromise in that we keep a flexible and skeletal schedule. Here's what I mean....
On Monday - We go on some kind of date (It was "Toy Story 3" last night! What a great movie! I did cry during parts, but is that really atypical for me to do during any movie?)
Tuesday - We do something active together (So far it's consisted of playing tennis and having to come up with "special" rules for ourselves just so that we can actually play. One rule was, "It can bounce as many times on your side as necessary but if it stops bouncing, the other person gets a point. First person to 11 wins." We're hoping to one day graduate to the real rules.;))
Wednesday - I make him dinner and bring it to the library at WPI. We eat together and then he works on homework for his summer class while I do other things like write letters or label pictures. I love this night! Thus far, the weather's been nice enough that we've been able to stay outside the entire time. It's also great that Bernard isn't a picky eater. The first meal that I made for him was kind of a rough (Eggplant spaghetti), but he ate it like a champ!
Thursday - Bernard goes to class, and I do one of the many projects I brought with me from NC.
Friday - Sunday - Free (We don't want to be overly scheduled here.;))

The schedule is flexible in that we can easily switch Tuesday night activities for Wednesday night activities if needed or completely delete or add something from the schedule, and it's skeletal in the sense that we come up with the specifics as we go along. I'm loving it! It's working well in the sense that we're both able to get the things done that we need and want to while spending quality time with each other.
So, there it is... my "typical" week.;)

Oh, DC....

A couple of days ago (July 1st - July 5th), a group of four of us (yes, there are four of us in this picture), traveled from Worcester, MA to Washington DC. We left late on Thursday night so that we would have the entire day on Friday to sight-see around the area. While it was a great idea to travel through the night in that we did have the extra day, I think we all underestimated how tired we would be the next day from not sleeping at all or sleeping in small cat naps. Though we were able to take a three hour nap at Betty's Bed and Breakfast (what Mara's mom likes to call her house) prior to hitting the sights, the day was slow and consisted of a lot of moseying around and checking out the "structural soundness" of different monuments - as seen below.


Later that night, Gladman and Nate headed back to Betty's B&B for crab cakes with Mara's family and a chance to play ladder golf while Bernard and I headed off to the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in order to watch "Mary Poppins" (a birthday present for me). We ate dinner at Watergate, which is really just a place we picked because it was located right behind the Kennedy Center. I think that the best part of the dinner came at the end when Bernard was trying to pay and there were several mix-ups with the waiter, bill, and whether or not Bernard had actually paid. (Don't worry, he did!:) I actually had to go to the bathroom at one point because I was laughing so hard about it.
After dinner, we headed over to "Mary Poppins", which was Bernard's "first play in English". (Evidently he's seen one other one in Russian.) Though Bernard had a hard time getting over the fact that you can't take pictures in the actual theater, once the play actually started, we both really enjoyed it. Both of us thought that the most impressive parts were the different stage "special effects" that they had including Mary Poppins ascending from the stage to the second floor of the building and Bert climbing the theater walls while singing. Needless to say, it was a great show and the perfect birthday present!
Bernard and I took the metro back to Betty's B&B that night, which was yet another funny experience as we both had no idea what we were doing regarding buying tickets and figuring out what platform to stand on, etc. It was quite obvious that we were the "country folk" who had come to the "big city" for a day of traveling. Mara and Char picked us up from our metro stop (they had driven in from Raleigh that night) and completed our journey by returning us all to Betty's B&B.
On Saturday, all six of us spent some more time sight-seeing, visiting different museums (The National Building Museum, the Air and Space Museum, and the National Museum of Natural History), and we ended the night by stumbling upon a rehearsal right in front of the Capital Building for the big Fourth of July concert that would be held on Sunday.


Sunday consisted of going to Capital Hill Baptist Church in DC and then heading from there for some more exploring in DC. On this day, we went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and attended the fireworks in the Mall Area. (We were literally sitting about 200 feet away from the Washington Monument when the fireworks went off.) I think that this was my favorite day because we were generally well-rested and the Holocaust Museum was really interesting as well as thought-provoking. Though we had 1 1/2 hours at the museum, I only made it through one exhibit about Nazi propaganda and how it enabled Hitler to achieve power and the support of the German people as quickly as he did. Over dinner, Char brought up some her thoughts from the time in the museum, and evidently a guy named Andrew was listening to us respond to her. Andrew quickly joined the conversation, and through our discussion, we were able to talk with him about Christ and how we need Him for any kind of lasting heart change. The supper discussion with Andrew went for about an hour, and he ended up coming with us to the fireworks display. I just loved how God caused that whole conversation to unfold in a very natural way and that we got an opportunity to converse about Christ with someone who is not His follower.
As we all watched the fireworks go off over our heads, I couldn't help but be thankful. I think that this is the first year that I distinctly remember feeling ridiculously grateful that I live in the country that I do, God sustaining it even though we are capable of such evil (remember the genocide we just had reviewed in the Holocaust Memorial Museum), and the fact that God has given me the ability to know Him personally. So, DC, filled with all kinds of monuments and people was such a good reminder for me that while this world is not our lasting home, our lives touch others and we will all leave some sort of memorial. What kind of memorial am I currently leaving?

Busy, busy, busy

Life - wow! What a whirlwind it's been recently! In the past 3 weeks, I've been able to see more people that I love and participate in more unusual activities than I have in probably the last 3 months combined - seriously. Let me try to give you a summarized version of all of the wonderful people I've seen and things I've been up to as of late.

On June 11th, I ended my 4th year of working as a teacher/teacher assistant and went straight to my parents' home to celebrate my dad's 57th birthday. I was able to spend about 5 days with my family, which was great! We spent some time at the lake, during which Otter, Bethany and Dustin's dog, had his first swimming lesson. Obviously, he didn't like it.;)

After returning to Raleigh from my parents' home, I went to a former student's house for an authentic Mexican dinner. The meal was complete with macaroni and cheese made from spaghetti noodles, velveeta cheese, and topped with ham. Needless to say, it was a tasty and cultural experience.
The next thing on the agenda was a wedding on the beach. It was a two day event during which I got to take a long run on the beach, swim in the waves, and fight selfishness.
Yeah, nothing like a wedding to expose stuff in your heart.
Immediately after the wedding was a trip to WI where I got to meet my new second cousin, Joey, and catch up with some old family friends.

After a couple of days in WI with the relatives, I took an Amtrak train down to IL. I was quite nervous about my first training experience, but I passed with flying colors - well, except for when I almost got out at the wrong stop simply because we were at that particular station when I was supposed to be arriving at my station - which was really another 15 minutes down the track. The best part of training you might ask? You get to read while you wait for your destination to creep around the corner. While in IL, I got to visit these guys. We spent some quality time together eating icecream, sewing, and playing bean bag baseball. (Who knew it could be so hard to get a bean bag in a hole that's less than 10 feet away?!:))
I flew back to Raleigh on Saturday, June 26th, and got to go to Char's going away party.While it's a bummer that she's moving to Richmond, I know how much she loves her job so there are big pieces of me that are excited for her too.
On Sunday, June 27th, I participated in the BASF Smile Train Sprint Triathlon and met my goal of completing it in 1 1/2 hours, which was super exciting since it was so hot! It was really fun to compete in with Kristin and Candace in that it was their first ones, and they both did so well! Candace came in about 5 minutes after me and Kristin came in two minutes ahead of me!


Shortly after completing the race, it was off to church and then Bethany and Dustin's house for dinner prior to leaving for the airport for my summer in Massachusetts. Bethany and Dustin had a wonderful surprise up their sleeves by decorating their house for my birthday, making a great dinner, and inviting Mom and Dad along for the fun. Mom and Dad drove about 5 hours round trip in order to see me for an hour prior to me boarding the plane. It was such a special surprise, and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present! (They even sent me off with flowers.;))

And now.... I'm in Massachusetts living the high life of having my possessions in a closet and a dresser. I even have a shelf in the fridge and pantry.... oh, the beauty of "belonging" somewhere after so much traveling! This is my sweet little room complete with two beds - just in case anyone wants to visit.;) Though, I promise, I'm okay by myself too. I have been able to see Bernard every day since coming to Mass. which has definitely been the highlight of my time.

So, yeah, it's been busy, but, wow, it's been good. I'm thankful that I've been able to see as many people as I have who I love so much and that I've been able to be a part of so many fun things. And, I'm thankful that I'm here in Massachusetts now. To think, I have six weeks of getting to hang out with Bernard.... among many other fun things. Now, that's what I call "summer"!:)