UPDATED!

Hi! I am still alive and well.

Third segment came and passed in a whirl-wind and last week was "contemplative week." We practiced silence in the mornings and had morning, afternoon and evening prayer. It was quite emotional, but nice. Things are going really well here, although I don't have nearly enough time to update this. I will have many stories and more pictures to share when I get home. Okay? Okay!


Playing frisbee.


Matt and Rosanna in San Fransisco at a Mexican restraunt. The burritos were really spicy.


My professor, Greg, climbing on a giant chair at The Exploratorium in San Fran.

Greg, Matt and I as cartoon characters.

Thanksgiving! My professor Nancy, Sara, Chance, my professor John and my arm.

Chance and Patrick. Supa-cute!

Elise, Me, Chance. BFF's.

Long time, no post.

Oops. Sorry. Here's a bunch of pictures.


Backpacking trip. Kasey, me, Rachel.


Backpacking.


A bird eating pineapple off my tummy.

Rachel and I by a MOUNTAIN.

Backpacking.

The waterfall Mike and I found after a 10 HOUR HIKE.

My laundry. It looks nice.

Making toast on a wood stove.

Dungeons and Dragons with Chance, Rosanna and Patrick.

The books I used for my first project.

A really, really big tree.

Oregon Ocean.

Making a sand castle.

The sand castle.

Chance and Matt playing kelp trumpets.

Internet two days in a row?

Tomorrow begins the backpacking trip!

I chose to go with the lazy group, so we are spending an extra day in town (which is why I'm on the internet) and then tormorrow we are heading to the Three Sisters mountain... uh... range? I don't really know what it's called. I packed up all my wool clothing in hopes that I don't get hypothermia and all the dried fruit and ramen I can possibly hold. We are hiking up to a campsite tomorrow and then spending the week there. We will hopefully have a chance to do some reading, fishing, campfire-ing, day hiking, story telling... etc. Hooray! I've been learning some Greek this semester as well, so this will be a good chance to work on it since my Greek teacher is the leader of our hike. He is hilarious and ridiculous.

Here are some random pictures.


Our produce-filled refrigerator.


My cabinmate, Rosanna, after our group porch sleep-out. We had "breakfast in bag" that morning.


Our tour of the Yamsi Ranch.


Tippy and I.


Kasey and I, wearing our "booties" for the backpacking trip.

I climbed a mountain!

Yes, a real live mountain. 9,500 ft elevation. 11 miles there and back! It was rough, but amazing.

Whoo!

Oregon Extension

Classes are great! I love it here!

My daily schedule goes something like this:

8:00 Morning hike. I hike for about 20 minutes and then head back down. I usually go in my pj's and it's a great way to wake up in the morning. I usually see at least one deer, if not more.

8:30ish Breakfast and teeth brush time.

9:00 Lecture begins. We start every day with a different poem, and then one of the professors gives a lecture that somehow ties in to the reading we've been doing. The lectures have been great so far, and really thought provoking.

10:30 Break time. We usually go back to the cabin and have some fruit or coffee or something. On Fridays we have an organized break and the registrar makes us cake or cookies and coffee or tea. It's always wonderful.

11:00 Small group discussion time. We have groups of four students and one professor and we just talk about the reading. Sometimes it relates, sometimes we go off topic, but it's always a rewarding conversation. On Fridays we do something called "memos" too. We all write a one-page, single-spaced paper about ANYTHING. Literally, whatever we want. And then we share it with the group. It can be really deep, really personal or really silly. It's so awesome.

Then the rest of the day is up to us. (Except Friday. We do chores from 1:30-4:00 which usually include something with lumber.) We usually have around 120 pages of reading and note taking that has to be done (which is pretty time consuming) but we've still had more than enough time to get in a couple ultimate frisbee games, board games (Settlers of Catan!), group pot lucks, dance parties, hiking trips (including a group night hike), Greek lessons, letter writing, cabin bonding and plenty of other wonderful things. On the weekends we go to Ashland and hang out in coffee shops and do our grocery shopping. Tomorrow we're climbing a mountain and Sunday we're taking a group field trip to Klamath.

Everything here is fantastic. Even when I feel "stressed" with intense reading assignments, it's a good stress. The whole place is calm and beautiful. The professors are real and really into learning. Hooray!

I love and miss you all.

Pictures.

It has been a lovely week in California.

San Fransisco, Santa Cruz, Santana Row, Downtown San Jose and much more! The weather here has been beauitful, the company has been great and I cannot wait to return.


San Fransisco- Pier 39

Lombard Street.

Katlynn's Mom, Katlynn and I on the cable car.


On the pier at Santa Cruz beach.


Shopping at Santana Row.


Day two at the beach.


Santa Cruz coastline.


Boats coming in at sunset.

So much to say!

Flight.

Not only were both of my flights wonderful, but I also got to see my sister between flights! Together with her Youth Encounter crew, we picked up a couple people from the airport (one of whom I knew, the second from Bowie, MD!) and had lunch. It was nice to see her.
















While waiting to pick up one of the teamers, I saw this girl walk by and thought to myself, "She looks like a teamer!" She had a cool headband and a lot of bracelets and just seemed like the teamer type, but then reminded myself, "I shouldn't stereotype. Just because she has a cool headband doesn't mean she did team."

BUT THEN Kara and Christian started talking about the Youth Encounter office and how training was going. The girl walked over to us and said, "Are you talking about Youth Encounter? Because I was on Cross Fire in 07-08." It was crazy! And totally confirmed my stereotyping.

The flight to California was fantastic. The rows had three seats in them, but whoever was in the middle seat in my row didn't show and left me and my row buddy some extra space. I always bring my bracelet stuff on flights, and it usually becomes a good coversation started. People always ask me what I'm doing, how I make them etc. This time was no exception. My row buddy was an older woman who, I found out later, was originally from Taiwan and actually lived in Davenport for awhile. She seemed interested in the bracelet I was making, so once I finished it I told her she could just have it. She was really excited, and after digging around in her purse, gave me a small little charm-thing from Taiwan.






























As the flight went on, I started working on another bracelet. The man across the aisle handed me a piece of paper that said, "I have a three year old daughter who loves pink. Do you sell your bracelets?" I looked up and the guy sitting by the window on the other side of the plane waved. "Like this one?" I asked, since it was pink and purple, and he gave me a thumbs up.

I was planning on just giving it to him for his daughter since I was only making the bracelets to keep myself occupied, but when we got off the plane he handed me five dollars and said something about needing to keep the amount of money he spends on his daughter and his son equal. He then went on to tell me that he knows a woman who owns a craft/ jewelry business and who might be interested in selling my bracelets. He gave me his business card and I'm e-mailing him today. Maybe I can get my jewelry business going yet!

So, there you have it. Sweet charms and bracelet sales.