I knew going to bed and sleeping would help. I feel much better now; things are much more in persective in the light.
I really appreciate all your encouragement...it's good to have people who will speak up.
And as far as singleness and marriage go, both have plusses and minuses. Married people don't have to worry about dating, but we singles can do things our way! So there! (haha, that is supposed to be sarcastic.)
These are some of the things that are on my mind. At 2am.
I think I'll just go to bed.
We went camping again over the weekend. We drove to Northern Colorado this time: up highway 9, though Breckenridge and over the Interstate (70) and north to Lynx Pass campground. We got there at about 9 pm, and it was still just light enough to pitch our tents. Thankfully we realized it was a later night than we originally thought, so we had eaten already and just got into our tents after pitching them.
The next day we went into Steamboat Springs where we drove up to Fish Creek Falls--but there was no parking. So we went to the Hot Springs/Swimming Pool/Water Slide instead. We thought we would just go there for an hour or so, but stayed for 4 hours!!
We hiked (walked?) up to Fish Creek Falls. It was lovely! [Why do waterfalls fascinate us? We love Niagara and Bridal Veil and so many others. People even go to Hoover Dam when the spillways are open...why?]
So then we drove to the Yampa River. Drew wanted to kayak, but we had to go back to the campsite and make dinner. We did, and had hamburgers and baked beans and cucumbers and then S'Mores!!! Yum.
The next day we got up and broke camp and had breakfast (bagels and cream cheese and ham and cheese and cucumbers and tomatoes...Latvians know how to make breakfast!) and then went to church: Yampa Bible Church. It was a wonderful service and a good sermon, enhanced by the projector and PowerPoint. Then we drove back to Breckenridge and spent the afternoon at our time share eating and playing in the pool and hot tub. It is fun to sit in the hot tub when it is raining and hailing. Don't worry, there was no lightning! After 4 hours of water-fun here too, we finally left, had dinner at a local restaurant, and eventually got home at 12:30 am. It was a really good time but tiring.
I especially enjoyed the scenery. The farther north you go in Colorado, the less the land looks like it's in the Southwest. I don't know how to explain it very well: instead of having buttes and yuccas there were mountains and sagebushes. Nothern Colorado seemed to be filled with ranchland. It's very spread out and much less touristy. Steamboat Springs itself is a ski town, but more like a normal city than a ski resort. There were no huge ski hotels and lodges like there are in other ski towns. It seemed to be a really family-friendly town.
I love pine trees and mountains. I love the way the hills near me had sagebushes on them and directly behind the sage green was deep blue-green (but not an ocean blue-green, and not a deciduous Eastern blue-green--the definite shade of pines in the arid West) of the pines on hills. And there is the blue, blue sky behind the sage and pine greens...I just cannot fill my eyes with enough of the scenery. When the sun sets the sage hills turn deeper green and the faraway piney hills and mountains become more golden. The blueness of the sky gets darker while the clouds that are puffed around the sky turn orange and pink and purple and fuscia...and suddenly drop into a deep blue that will fade into black. And then there are the stars! Those refuse to be captured by words.
And I wish I could describe it better so that others can appreciate it too, but you will have to come visit and see what we Westerners mean by Big Sky. It's really lovely, but to really know a place you have to live there and see it in all its seasons and moods.
Today is my name day.
Latvians celebrate your name like birthdays...every day has three or four assigned names and those people celebrate on that day.
'K' is 24 July. 'My sister' is 10 May. And the biggest one is on June 24: 'Janis.' (This coincides with the big big midummer celebration where you have to stay up all night and drink and sing.) All the Janises get celebrated that night: they get oak-leaf-wreaths made and wear them as crowns, and so do their mothers and wives.
So today is my name day. I got flowers and my family sang to me and I got gifts. It is great.
Don't you wish you were Latvian?
Off I go!
I am a 5th grade teacher at The School. There is a studio apartment available right across the street from the school for me, and it is a great price. The beach is a mile and a half away. And I am looking for a ticket. So far all the prices are $1000 or more. The problem is the distance: Denver to LA to Honolulu to Hilo. Yikes.
The average high and low (according to weather.com) is about 80 and about 65. I will only bring one or two of my many, many sweaters. And I can't bring my favorite: a wool sweater made in Latvia and was a gift from my cousin Ingrid (female) and Andris (her husband). It is blue with beautiful white designs on it, and traditional buttons connected by frogs. Sigh. Oh well. I can walk to work and walk to the grocery and walk to the beach.
The school day lasts from 8-2:20, except for Wednesdays, which are 8-1:30 (but then I have faculty meetings).
Whew! It's nice to finally have the decision made.
I am moving, and my parents might be moving in January, so I have been sorting through bins of old stuff. I have found high school stuff and college stuff I forgot about. It's been stressful and cool.
I found my birthday gift from Bobbo when I was dating him...a note card box with alphabet file separators and a label: K's Random Word Box. (The label is a huge Band-Aid. It's random.)
I loved it when I got it...laughed so hard! Now it's just there. But I want to list some random words:
Would you rather eat a cold movie hot dog on a hard, stale bun or a large bowl of popcorn?
I just watched the most recent episode of the Amazing Race (CBS). The big tense ending came when each of the 5 teams had to succeed in 3 tasks: shooting a bow and arrow, shooting a blowdart, and throwing a spear. They had to hit the targets before they could move on.
It was hilarious: the team of 2 professional clowns did medium well. They were persistent, though, and that was what won them first place. The gay married men also did medium-well, and were more persistant than the clowns. Then there were the Christian couple from Chattanooga who have been dating for 12 years and are still virgins. They did horrible. The man, of course, did the manly task, and the more his woman pressured him to perform, the worse he got. He finally did made the target.
There were 2 more teams: 2 straight friends who did medium-well, and the engaged/cohabitating couple--and the woman was the one who did the shooting and she was AWESOME! The whole thing was so transparently phallic: the stupid virgin man did a horrible job with the arrows and the javelin, while the best performer was the experienced woman who had made a comment at the beginning of the show about 'living in sin.'
It was really funny! At the same time, though, it was also disturbing. They are making the gay husbands to be a normal couple who communicate well, honor one another, and accept others no matter what, while the virgin Christians are bickerers who are poorly matched and kinda callow and dumb. It's food for thought. It is so subtle that it's hard to catch, but there is an agenda there. 'Desensitize people to the unusualness of seeing gay couples. Show everyone how intolerant the Christians are.'
Hmm.
Hiking up the dunes was hard! For every step forward there would be half a step back: the sand was slick. I was carrying my Nalgene with water in it, a Clif Bar (Cool Mint Chocolate), and for footwear I had socks on only.
I made it about halfway up the dunes and had to go back. Instead of traversing the ridges of the dunes, we ended up going straightup 2 really tall dunes. This killed my quads and calves. I was out of breath: we were at 9,000 feet, after all!
Anyway, as I was walking down the dunes and across a looong sand field, I had a chance to think about my hike up and down the dunes as an extended metaphor to spiritual life.
If you are in a spiritual dry spot, it helps to keep your eyes on the goal. It is coming closer, though it doesn't seem like it. You have to pace yourself, and keep people around you who will encourage you as you walk. And be sure to take water! Sometimes you are in a place with faucets and glasses and even ice, or in places with drinking fountains, or lakes full of water and pump-purifiers, but there are also times when you have to carry your water. (Without water, you will die...or at least get a headache.) So be sure to store up water while you are in a place with faucets. Be sure to trek with friends who will encourage you. Pace yourself: there was a guy who was pacing with me across the wide sand field, except he would jog and stop, jog and stop. I was just taking one slow step at a time, and I did not have to stop and catch my breath on the flat part.
And when you get back to the oasis, be sure to drink up! Sit and rest, rinse the sand off your feet, drink more water, and rest...but remember that you are not done walking. This is just a stopover, not the goal.
The administrator for the Hawaii school asked me if I would consider teaching 5th grade. At first the idea scared me, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. I really like teaching one subject and lots of kids, but lots of subjects and few kids might be neat.
One thing I have always wished I could do is read to my students...my favorite part of 5th and 6th grades is having the teacher read to us. I clearly remember The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Castle in the Attic, and Incident at Hawk's Hill.
Any input on 5th grade students? And ideas for books to read to 5th graders?
We went to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument at about 10 am last Wednesday, and commenced to hike up to the top. I made it about half-way when I turned back. It was hard! You'd really be surprised. Part of the difficulty was that the sand temperature was about 140 degrees, given that the temperature was about 89 degrees and the sun heats up the sand pretty fast!
On the way to Salida, we stopped at the Colorado Gator Farm. They have many alligators, who stay alive in the winter because of a geothermal spring that keeps their pond from freezing over. I myself did not go on the Gator Tour, but my dad and brother-in-law did. We stayed that night in a cute motel in Salida. We went to the hot springs there and chilled in the nice water after the sandy climb.
The next day we had breakfast at the Patio Pancake Place (there is no patio, though, go figure) and drove on a county road as near as possible to the Colorado Trail. That section of the trail goes up Mount Shavano, a 14er. We didn't climb the mountain but the trail took us through a beautiful aspen grove: tall, tall thin white-barked aspens with a small puff of leaves at the top, creating a canopy of leaves about 30 feet up. It was lovely and so quiet.
Stayed that night in Fairplay, at the Hand Hotel Bed and Breakfast. It was a great B&B;, and if you are ever in Fairplay, you should go there! Then this morning, after we got out of our beds, we had breakfast: what a spread! And GUESS WHAT! Next weekend (25-27 July) in Fairplay is Burro Days, where they honor the burros that worked during the gold mine heyday and have Burro Races. (The group that puts it on is the World Burro Racing Ass-ociation.)
We looked in a few shops and didn't buy anything, but drove on to Breckenridge and lounged by our time-share's pool all afternoon. That was nice! And for dinner, we went to The Dredge, the world's highest floating restaurant. We drove home, and now here we are.
I estimate we drove about 400 miles: Colorado Springs to Walsenburg, then over La Veta Pass and to the Sand Dunes, and north through Mosca and over Poncha Pass to Salida; north to Fairplay; north and over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge; south and east back over Hoosier Pass, through Fairplay, over Wilderson Pass, through Woodland Park and down Ute Pass to Colorado Springs. I also estimate that we spent about 10 hours in the car, too. And we hiked about 5 miles on normal ground and about 2 miles on sand.
A pretty eventful trip, in many ways. I learned a lot but still need to process that. Stay tuned.
If anyone reads this on a regular basis, I am going out of town till the weekend. So don't expect a blog for a while. But I will eventually post my ruminations about camping and hiking!
Where am I going? First to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, then to Salida and the hot springs, then to Fairplay and the Colorado Trail, then to Mt. Lincoln (another 14er), and then home. Basically, 2 days of hiking, a day of climbing the sand dunes, soaking in the hot springs and swimming, and hanging out is what I have to pack for.
I understand that I will hear from Hawaii tomorrow; New Jersey sent me a letter and said "We'll let you know." And Steamboat said "No." So, is it Hawaii? I still do not know. Pray for me. I want to make the right decision regarding Hawaii. I find I am excited about such a drastic change but frightened by it too.
I like my new look, Josiah. Thanks! April, I want to talk to you. Email me your phone number.
Super K
I am a bad blogger. I am tardy. But I've been busy. My sister and brother in law are here and we have been have super-family time. Today we went to Wal-Mart and mini-golfing, and had a joint birthday party for my parents. I lost the mini-golf, of course.
I was thinking about me and competitiveness. I like to win. I like to be the best. I want to be #1. But I am really not good at mini golf. But I did get a hole-in-one once. Still, I love to play, but then when I play and lose, I get mad and feel like everyone thinks I am dumb.
Why is that?
And why is so much of my self-image based on my appearance to others? Why do I want to look nice and pretty and thin? Why do I want to look as if I have it all together and am never a wreck? Why do I make fun of clothes in the mall that are obviously not made for big girls like me? Do I feel better when I put down the skinny girls?
So in the course of this job hunt I have been looking on the ACSI website for new job openings. There is one in Hawaii, one in New Jersey, and one in Steamboat Springs. The only school that has offered any glimmer of hope is Hawaii.
What a crazy thing! I think it would be kind of fun to move someplace that far away and see what would happen to me. I would also like to see the Poinsettias as big as trees. But that's not the motivation for thinking seriously of moving to Hilo. The motivation is that I need a job and they need a teacher--and all the concerns I have had have really been answered. I think this is a wonderful opportunity.
So, any ideas? Commentary? Questions? Criticisms? Please help me think through the pros and cons of this decision.
I was watching Jeopardy! last night (man, I love that show!) and the big winner reminded me uncannily of Aaron Mesh. Whoa! But not Aaron now--Aaron in, like, 10 years. It was a little bit creepy and kind of funny. Ever had that happen, where you see someone somewhere that reminds you of someone--in the future?
I also like to take the dumb quizzes on emode.com. I just found out that my movie star match is Reese Witherspoon. That's nice--I am a ditz. At least I am a nice ditz.