It is really crazy that exactly one year from the day we last wrote... I'm back here on the rez. I never realized how much I would miss it here... and how awesome I would feel coming back. I feel home. The land is just as beautiful and there is still just something indescribable about this place. It feels super weird without Lo here with me... but I'm just holding out that we can come back together someday. The school is really different... almost all the staff is new...and the dirt road leading to the school isn't a dirt road anymore... and I'm sure the kids will seem all grown up when I see them tomorrow... but, in a way I feel like nothing has changed.
I don't any major events to detail so far... but I'll try my hardest. My flight yesterday was pretty uneventful and when I got to Flag we got some groceries and headed back towards the Rez. (Lo- on the drive back I said "Land of Many Uses" for you under my breath... I never forget!) We hung out for a bit and then had a bon fire where I got to meet the girls that live in our old house and visit with our friends Kevin and Anjali. The stars were incredible... I had forgotten how amazing the sky is here. This morning we got up and went to church. It was really good for me to see some of the Hopi people we went to church with when we lived here and hear what's going on in their lives. It really reminded how I have forgotten how desperately I need to cover this place in prayer. The alcoholism is still tearing apart families, and the tribe is still having its own internal struggles... it really breaks my heart but I'm so thankful to be reminded. Today after church I went over to our old next door neighbors' house (Devon and Joilyn) and spent some time catching up on the last year. I realized how much I have really missed them and am excited to spend some time together playing games and catching up even more. Other than that... I just hung out... and spent a lot of time just staring outside at the awesome scenery that I have missed so much.
Well, I'll post some pictures and hopefully report on my reunion with the kids at school tomorrow:)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Friday, May 15, 2009
One week from today...
school will be out!
Tonight the 6th grade boys will be graduating…all four of them. Although they’ve given us a bit of trouble this year, they are a fun group of boys, who will be greatly missed. (if you’re thinking it’s odd that there’s an actual graduation for completing 6th grade..it’s okay, we think so too. But it’s the Hopi way.)Courtney and I decided to make them scrapbooks with pictures from their field trip to Phoenix. We’ve got 2 done..and 2 more to go. We’ve been trying to keep them a surprise from the 2 boys who came to school today (the other 2 decided to ditch school). But, they keep sneaking into the office and sneaking peeks!
This morning we decorated the gym with blue and white streamers for graduation tonight..and blew up a ridiculous amount of balloons, leaving us quite light headed. Then….Courtney, Miss Martin, two of the non-ditching 6th grade boys (Michael & Aaron), and I had a burping contest in their classroom. We downed a case of Diet Cream Soda..I haven’t had pop in a reallllly long time. I stopped drinking it in 8th grade. So it’s been 5 years. Boy..did it hurt going down. Apparently, the boys just wanted to see if we could bring it. I think I let them down with my peewee belches, but Courtney..she showed them how a real Hoosier handles their pop. Nevertheless, Courtney’s productions were terribly overshadowed by The Great Bambino, Michael Campus, who shook the walls of Hopi Mission School.
We’ve had one other major event today..and that involved the police. One of our students acquired marijuana from her uncle and was offering it to other kids. Yes..it’s insane. All of our kids here are under the age of 12. I believe this student will be suspended.
Last week, our dog Decatur showed up at our doorstep with a face full of porcupine quills! It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. It was leaps and bounds worse than Chance on Homeward Bound. I’m serious. She could hardly eat or drink, which wasn’t good at all, especially in this heat. We pulled a few of the quills out, but when we did, she cried & blood poured out. Obviously, this wasn’t something we could take care of on our own. I contacted her “owner” to ask if we could take her to the vet to get her treated, and he gave us permission. He also said that we could keep her for good. Apparently, he’s had plans to euthanize her for months, but she’s never around at the right time for him to take her to the vet. So, I tried to get a vet appointment. But they couldn’t fit her in. Then, I called the Hopi Rangers figuring they would just put her down. A Ranger came to assess her condition, & he immediately called the vet. He proceeded to tell me that the vet would do a house call. Tomorrow, they would pick her up, and do the procedure for free! Plus, put a microchip in her to make her officially my dog. I was amazed. But..they never showed. I called to see what the problem was, and they said they’d be here the next day. Again, they didn’t come. Decatur was getting weaker by the minute. I honestly didn’t believe that she would survive. She could hardly stand up. Finally, a week after her injury, they came to pick her up. The procedure was done in only an hour or so. I went and picked up my drowsy puppy, brought her home, fed her well, and let her sleep in our house. As of today, she is fully recovered..and I still can’t believe that she is alive! I may be bringing her home..but according to my parents..it may only be temporary, until we find someone to adopt her. But we’ll see about that….
Court’s mom, Lori, came to visit us last week. We went and met her in Phoenix and spent the night there. Then, we went to the Grand Canyon, the Little Colorado Overlook, then finally to the Cameron Trading Post. Court and her mom left mid week to join the 6th graders on their Phoenix field trip. I’ve been told they had a great time..minus the fact that it was like 105 degrees outside! I enjoyed my time here..just doing average things. I slept in the living room on an air mattress. Somehow, at the time..it seemed safer to do that. (I have issues with being alone at night.) I hung out with Stan and Beth a lot..watched Slumdog Millionaire, and one evening I spent 2 ½ hours at the gym. Oh, I almost forgot! Friday evening, the principal Betty, took myself and 3 other teachers to Flagstaff for the night. We had dinner at Black Bart’s Steakhouse..which is a dinner theater, whose performers are NAU music students. It was quite entertaining..and delicious. The next day, we woke up early to swim in the pool, ate breakfast, and headed to Sunset Crater…which turns out to be a dormant volcano. We hiked there for an hour, then went to the site of some ancient Hopi ruins, where they originated before they migrated to the mesas, where they currently reside.
Courtney is going to have a rematch with the great Michael Campus..I’m going to go watch it!
Approximately a week or so and were coming back home!
See you guys veryyyy soon!
Tonight the 6th grade boys will be graduating…all four of them. Although they’ve given us a bit of trouble this year, they are a fun group of boys, who will be greatly missed. (if you’re thinking it’s odd that there’s an actual graduation for completing 6th grade..it’s okay, we think so too. But it’s the Hopi way.)Courtney and I decided to make them scrapbooks with pictures from their field trip to Phoenix. We’ve got 2 done..and 2 more to go. We’ve been trying to keep them a surprise from the 2 boys who came to school today (the other 2 decided to ditch school). But, they keep sneaking into the office and sneaking peeks!
This morning we decorated the gym with blue and white streamers for graduation tonight..and blew up a ridiculous amount of balloons, leaving us quite light headed. Then….Courtney, Miss Martin, two of the non-ditching 6th grade boys (Michael & Aaron), and I had a burping contest in their classroom. We downed a case of Diet Cream Soda..I haven’t had pop in a reallllly long time. I stopped drinking it in 8th grade. So it’s been 5 years. Boy..did it hurt going down. Apparently, the boys just wanted to see if we could bring it. I think I let them down with my peewee belches, but Courtney..she showed them how a real Hoosier handles their pop. Nevertheless, Courtney’s productions were terribly overshadowed by The Great Bambino, Michael Campus, who shook the walls of Hopi Mission School.
We’ve had one other major event today..and that involved the police. One of our students acquired marijuana from her uncle and was offering it to other kids. Yes..it’s insane. All of our kids here are under the age of 12. I believe this student will be suspended.
Last week, our dog Decatur showed up at our doorstep with a face full of porcupine quills! It was the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. It was leaps and bounds worse than Chance on Homeward Bound. I’m serious. She could hardly eat or drink, which wasn’t good at all, especially in this heat. We pulled a few of the quills out, but when we did, she cried & blood poured out. Obviously, this wasn’t something we could take care of on our own. I contacted her “owner” to ask if we could take her to the vet to get her treated, and he gave us permission. He also said that we could keep her for good. Apparently, he’s had plans to euthanize her for months, but she’s never around at the right time for him to take her to the vet. So, I tried to get a vet appointment. But they couldn’t fit her in. Then, I called the Hopi Rangers figuring they would just put her down. A Ranger came to assess her condition, & he immediately called the vet. He proceeded to tell me that the vet would do a house call. Tomorrow, they would pick her up, and do the procedure for free! Plus, put a microchip in her to make her officially my dog. I was amazed. But..they never showed. I called to see what the problem was, and they said they’d be here the next day. Again, they didn’t come. Decatur was getting weaker by the minute. I honestly didn’t believe that she would survive. She could hardly stand up. Finally, a week after her injury, they came to pick her up. The procedure was done in only an hour or so. I went and picked up my drowsy puppy, brought her home, fed her well, and let her sleep in our house. As of today, she is fully recovered..and I still can’t believe that she is alive! I may be bringing her home..but according to my parents..it may only be temporary, until we find someone to adopt her. But we’ll see about that….
Court’s mom, Lori, came to visit us last week. We went and met her in Phoenix and spent the night there. Then, we went to the Grand Canyon, the Little Colorado Overlook, then finally to the Cameron Trading Post. Court and her mom left mid week to join the 6th graders on their Phoenix field trip. I’ve been told they had a great time..minus the fact that it was like 105 degrees outside! I enjoyed my time here..just doing average things. I slept in the living room on an air mattress. Somehow, at the time..it seemed safer to do that. (I have issues with being alone at night.) I hung out with Stan and Beth a lot..watched Slumdog Millionaire, and one evening I spent 2 ½ hours at the gym. Oh, I almost forgot! Friday evening, the principal Betty, took myself and 3 other teachers to Flagstaff for the night. We had dinner at Black Bart’s Steakhouse..which is a dinner theater, whose performers are NAU music students. It was quite entertaining..and delicious. The next day, we woke up early to swim in the pool, ate breakfast, and headed to Sunset Crater…which turns out to be a dormant volcano. We hiked there for an hour, then went to the site of some ancient Hopi ruins, where they originated before they migrated to the mesas, where they currently reside.
Courtney is going to have a rematch with the great Michael Campus..I’m going to go watch it!
Approximately a week or so and were coming back home!
See you guys veryyyy soon!
Monday, April 27, 2009
FOUR WEEKS LEFT.
As I mentioned in the title..we only have 4 weeks left.
Where has the time gone?
Were both very excited to come home..but also sad to leave. I would say Courtney is, at the moment, a little more sad about leaving than I.
Much has gone down since we last blogged.
My Grandma Dorothy and Grandma Mable & my mom both came to visit last weekish. It was really fun..we did a little bit of everything with them...Sedona, Hopi Cultural Center for Hopi Hot Beef several times, hung out with Stan and Beth, watched movies at our house, went to Levander's rodeo in the snow, discovered that Grandma Dorothy screams in her sleep (even got it on video once..im honestly not sure if ive ever heard anything more funny), went to the jewelry stores..and just spent some good quality time together.
We had an absolutely wonderful time with them. I’m so glad they came to visit!
I would venture to say that last weekend was the best ever. The school was having their big “new building dedication” celebrations, and we were informed that people would be touring our house, which meant serious cleaning time (thankfully my grandma’s and mom did a ton of cleaning for us while they were here..so it wasn’t so bad). We were told that Saturday @ 4, people would begin to tour our house. We were right on track for our deadline. We cleaned in the morning and by 12 it was all ready. Then , we both started to get ready ourselves. Court had showered first, and I was fresh out of the shower, when suddenly our doorbell rings. Niether Court or I were clothed in way that’s appropriate to answer your door, but were both scrambling to get dressed. Apparently, we weren’t fast enough. The people just came in our house. Uninvited. I heard many voices, men and women, and suddenly there was a knock at my bedroom door. I nervously screamed “Don’t come in!” I quickly locked my door. They didn’t even knock on Courtney’s door..simply walked in on her. Luckily, she had some clothes on..a skimpy tank top and short pajama shorts. Someone looked at her and said, “You know there are men here right?” And then a guy walks in her room with his video camera, and captures this painfully awkward scene. C tells them we weren’t expecting visitors for several hours. But it didn’t really faze any of them. Anyways..it was a terribly horrifying experience. We learned our lesson: Keep you door locked at all times or you will get a weird surprise.
So far this doesn’t sound like the description of the best weekend ever. It gets better. After the ceremonies, we got tricked into playing 4 on 4 with some ballas. It was surprisingly fun..I haven’t played bball since 8th grade so, it made things quite interesting. But afterwards, Courtney and I were so surprised by our own skills, that we both admitted we could probably play at college level, maybe even Division 1. Obviously, we were being ridiculous, but you have to have dreams. Our game ended on a bad note, aka Courtney and I are scrappers and got too aggressive and caused a Hopi boy to get injured. After the game, we had a giant bonfire behind our house with all the teachers. It was by far the largest fire I’ve ever seen. We laid on our backs, listened to Chris McLeod, and fixed our eyes on the giant star studded sky. After the fire died down, we went to Devon and Joilyn’s and played Apples to Apples, drank tea, and somehow I ended up giving them a crip walking lesson. Then Sunday, after church, C and I played basketball outside at school for like 3 hours. All in all, it was an amazing two days for us. Maybe it doesn’t sound so great to you..but it’s quite uneventful here.
C & I took the student council kids on a field trip to Flagstaff last Wednesday with high hopes of having a great time bowling, eating lunch, and seeing Monsters v. Aliens together. Basically..we were shot down. We knew going in to this that there would be some challenges with their behavior in public. But, the hour and a half van ride to Flag was interesting in itself. Kids critizing our driving (I’m sensitive about that), boyfriends and girlfriends passing love notes, and playdough fights. It got a little crazy. At the bowling alley things got a little worse…none of them wanted to bowl! And they all failed to tell us before we paid and got our shoes on. Thus, Court and I basically bowled for everyone…and now were ready to join to PBA tour.
We’ve had some seriously windy days lately..mixed in with beautiful sunny days. I had art outside one day, which left me out in the sun for 3 hours straight..I don’t know what I was thinking (I’m usually the sunscreen queen..but I don’t have any, which creates a problem) I got home that night and realized I was burnt to a crisp. I’ve never been more angry at myself.
This Saturday, Court’s mom is coming in for a final visit. We’re driving down to pick her up in Phoenix and then staying the night there. Most likely we’ll go to the Grand Canyon on Sunday. Then next Wednesday, Court and her mom are chaperoning the 6th grade field trip…and I have to stay here and be a secretary while they’re off riding in a hot air balloon, riding rollercoasters, swimming..basically doing all of my favorite things and things I aspire to do (hot air balloon)…yeah, if you can’t tell, it’s a sore subject. But, it’s not their fault, and I’m very thankful that they get to go…it just hurts my heart a little bit to miss out on anything fun. No biggie though.
We received some sad news this morning. Jordan will no longer be coming to visit and ride home with us in May. We’re super bummed, but it ain’t no thang. We will just have to wait a few weeks longer to see the Jordster.
I can’t express how I excited I am to come home. I need to be in Kouts like I need oxygen. I can’t survive much longer. The second I get to my house, I’m rolling in the grass and climbing a tree. I may even sleep outside the first night I’m home. Don’t get me wrong, this has been an amazing experience. I will miss the people, the mesas and mountains….but not the sand. (Court and I cleaned out her car last week…which had several gallons of garbage, sand, and apple cream pie filling inside. It looked beautiful afterwards…but someone named Lauren accidentally left a window slightly cracked. Of course, it was insanely windy that night. And...the poor car was completely filled with sand once again)
Well, I spent about 45 mins secretly writing this..and I should've been doing about 10 other things here in the office. But, this is more important today.
If I get a chance, I'll try to put up some pictures from my Gma's and Ma's visit.
28ish days!
Where has the time gone?
Were both very excited to come home..but also sad to leave. I would say Courtney is, at the moment, a little more sad about leaving than I.
Much has gone down since we last blogged.
My Grandma Dorothy and Grandma Mable & my mom both came to visit last weekish. It was really fun..we did a little bit of everything with them...Sedona, Hopi Cultural Center for Hopi Hot Beef several times, hung out with Stan and Beth, watched movies at our house, went to Levander's rodeo in the snow, discovered that Grandma Dorothy screams in her sleep (even got it on video once..im honestly not sure if ive ever heard anything more funny), went to the jewelry stores..and just spent some good quality time together.
We had an absolutely wonderful time with them. I’m so glad they came to visit!
I would venture to say that last weekend was the best ever. The school was having their big “new building dedication” celebrations, and we were informed that people would be touring our house, which meant serious cleaning time (thankfully my grandma’s and mom did a ton of cleaning for us while they were here..so it wasn’t so bad). We were told that Saturday @ 4, people would begin to tour our house. We were right on track for our deadline. We cleaned in the morning and by 12 it was all ready. Then , we both started to get ready ourselves. Court had showered first, and I was fresh out of the shower, when suddenly our doorbell rings. Niether Court or I were clothed in way that’s appropriate to answer your door, but were both scrambling to get dressed. Apparently, we weren’t fast enough. The people just came in our house. Uninvited. I heard many voices, men and women, and suddenly there was a knock at my bedroom door. I nervously screamed “Don’t come in!” I quickly locked my door. They didn’t even knock on Courtney’s door..simply walked in on her. Luckily, she had some clothes on..a skimpy tank top and short pajama shorts. Someone looked at her and said, “You know there are men here right?” And then a guy walks in her room with his video camera, and captures this painfully awkward scene. C tells them we weren’t expecting visitors for several hours. But it didn’t really faze any of them. Anyways..it was a terribly horrifying experience. We learned our lesson: Keep you door locked at all times or you will get a weird surprise.
So far this doesn’t sound like the description of the best weekend ever. It gets better. After the ceremonies, we got tricked into playing 4 on 4 with some ballas. It was surprisingly fun..I haven’t played bball since 8th grade so, it made things quite interesting. But afterwards, Courtney and I were so surprised by our own skills, that we both admitted we could probably play at college level, maybe even Division 1. Obviously, we were being ridiculous, but you have to have dreams. Our game ended on a bad note, aka Courtney and I are scrappers and got too aggressive and caused a Hopi boy to get injured. After the game, we had a giant bonfire behind our house with all the teachers. It was by far the largest fire I’ve ever seen. We laid on our backs, listened to Chris McLeod, and fixed our eyes on the giant star studded sky. After the fire died down, we went to Devon and Joilyn’s and played Apples to Apples, drank tea, and somehow I ended up giving them a crip walking lesson. Then Sunday, after church, C and I played basketball outside at school for like 3 hours. All in all, it was an amazing two days for us. Maybe it doesn’t sound so great to you..but it’s quite uneventful here.
C & I took the student council kids on a field trip to Flagstaff last Wednesday with high hopes of having a great time bowling, eating lunch, and seeing Monsters v. Aliens together. Basically..we were shot down. We knew going in to this that there would be some challenges with their behavior in public. But, the hour and a half van ride to Flag was interesting in itself. Kids critizing our driving (I’m sensitive about that), boyfriends and girlfriends passing love notes, and playdough fights. It got a little crazy. At the bowling alley things got a little worse…none of them wanted to bowl! And they all failed to tell us before we paid and got our shoes on. Thus, Court and I basically bowled for everyone…and now were ready to join to PBA tour.
We’ve had some seriously windy days lately..mixed in with beautiful sunny days. I had art outside one day, which left me out in the sun for 3 hours straight..I don’t know what I was thinking (I’m usually the sunscreen queen..but I don’t have any, which creates a problem) I got home that night and realized I was burnt to a crisp. I’ve never been more angry at myself.
This Saturday, Court’s mom is coming in for a final visit. We’re driving down to pick her up in Phoenix and then staying the night there. Most likely we’ll go to the Grand Canyon on Sunday. Then next Wednesday, Court and her mom are chaperoning the 6th grade field trip…and I have to stay here and be a secretary while they’re off riding in a hot air balloon, riding rollercoasters, swimming..basically doing all of my favorite things and things I aspire to do (hot air balloon)…yeah, if you can’t tell, it’s a sore subject. But, it’s not their fault, and I’m very thankful that they get to go…it just hurts my heart a little bit to miss out on anything fun. No biggie though.
We received some sad news this morning. Jordan will no longer be coming to visit and ride home with us in May. We’re super bummed, but it ain’t no thang. We will just have to wait a few weeks longer to see the Jordster.
I can’t express how I excited I am to come home. I need to be in Kouts like I need oxygen. I can’t survive much longer. The second I get to my house, I’m rolling in the grass and climbing a tree. I may even sleep outside the first night I’m home. Don’t get me wrong, this has been an amazing experience. I will miss the people, the mesas and mountains….but not the sand. (Court and I cleaned out her car last week…which had several gallons of garbage, sand, and apple cream pie filling inside. It looked beautiful afterwards…but someone named Lauren accidentally left a window slightly cracked. Of course, it was insanely windy that night. And...the poor car was completely filled with sand once again)
Well, I spent about 45 mins secretly writing this..and I should've been doing about 10 other things here in the office. But, this is more important today.
If I get a chance, I'll try to put up some pictures from my Gma's and Ma's visit.
28ish days!
Friday, March 27, 2009
This one goes out to you Anna Overholt!
This has been a CRAZY week. But first and foremost we need to express our extreme happiness over the fact that Jeff and Andrea had a baby girl yesterday!! I was in the shower when I heard the glorious news..and may or may not have bumped my head on the faucet when I heard. So since I KNOW that Andrea is reading this I just want to say: CONGRATS! We love you and miss you and can't wait to meet your daughter!! Perhaps this post will earn us the titles Aunt Courtney and Lauren? I'll let you think it over... no pressure. But seriously.
Now back to this crazy week. Tuesday started out pretty normal (we had Monday off.. slept in and did many loads of laundry). I was so incredibly excited to be back and snuggle with my favorite hopi (and navajo..) kids. I even woke up at 6:20 and danced around in my room to Third Eye Blind for a while before I got into the shower. It was great to be back at the school and our office was full to the brim of boxes and mail for us to sort..which happens to be my favorite activity as far as office jobs go. Then the intense part of the day came... our cook at the school who is also the mother of one of the second grade girls was no where to be found... i literally looked in closets. Unfortunately she turned up a little while later.. drunk. She ended up yelling at one of the kids and making a big scene. So she got sent home and it was a little crazy. We couldnt really send her daughter home after school so she ended up staying with Lauren and I until her grandma could come get here. The main reason I am telling this story is not for entertainment but just so you guys can have a glimpse of what life is like for these kids and these people everyday and the real stronghold alcoholism has on these people. It's not just a rumor about indian reservations..it's reality and it is so sad. So prayers for this woman and her children are much appreciated!
Later that night we went over to stan and beth's for anastasia's 5th birthday dinner. It was so nice to spend time with them since its been a while since we have all been together!
Wednesday was just as crazy but in a different way. Since we didn't have a cook.. Lauren and I were one duty and worked as lunch ladies. which was pretty crazy... now I didn't wear a hair net and orthpedic shoes... but you better believe that gloves and aprons were present. My main job was scooping peaches.. and I must say that my ice cream scooping from my Depot days came in pretty handy. After school we took the Navajo kids home as usual.. which went pretty well minus the fact that Zackery wiped snot on my shoulder. Two of the kids parents were a half hour late picking them up so we played a good ol game of kids running around the car making us chase them and in turn look like out of shape fools. Right when we got back we had to sit in on a 4 hour in service (which we missed half of.. but still... sheesh.) Then immediately headed over to the principals house for our weekly bible study and dinner.. then we FINALLY made it home at 8:30 and were totally pooped.
Thursday was pretty busy too...and right when things were getting really crazy a group from Santa Barb. CA stopped by for a tour... and guess you got thrown into the tour guide positions- me and Lo. It went pretty good until one of the guys decided to give me a weird hug abruptly infront of everyone (like the kind were you dont know if you want to... and then when you find out if you don't hug back it will be awkward for everyone..then i bobbed from side to side trying to figure out what side to put my head..then he rocked me bock and forth for a good twelve seconds also whipsering weird encouragements in y ear while all the on lookers clearly saw I was not enjoying it and stopped smiling..ahhhh I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it...). After school we went and had dinner at YWAM... no awkwardness to speak of there.. besides the friendly hugger being there and giving me a weird half sitting half standing closed eyed hug.
Friday (today) We woke up freezing our booties off. Apparently the power went off in the night and since we only have electric heating... the temperature in my bedroom was similar to that of an arctic tundra. Nevertheless we got ready and went to school... once all the kids arrived we got news that the power wasn't coming on any time soon.. so me and lauren had to ride the bus with all the kids so we could walk them to their doors and make sure a parent was home.. which started out fun until i made the mistake of sitting with a 6th grade boy who insisted on putting me in a suprisingly strong headlock of which i couldnt get out of for about 15 minutes...during which i screamed and flailed and looked like a total weirdo to the bus driver... but once that was over and I moved to some less rowdy 1st graders it was all good. We FINALLY got home at about 11.. took naps.. ate cookies... and when the power came on watched some movies. Then about 20 minutes ago we somehow got on a discussion of Kouts... and the firey passion that burns within us for that little hole in the wall... we are now currently discussing the song we will play as we pull onto mainstreet in May... sad but hey we have to entertain ourselves some how. Well- I better get going Lauren looks bored and I'm getting a crick(sp?) in my neck from sitting in this weird chair with my laptop. Love and miss you all tooooo much.
Court
Now back to this crazy week. Tuesday started out pretty normal (we had Monday off.. slept in and did many loads of laundry). I was so incredibly excited to be back and snuggle with my favorite hopi (and navajo..) kids. I even woke up at 6:20 and danced around in my room to Third Eye Blind for a while before I got into the shower. It was great to be back at the school and our office was full to the brim of boxes and mail for us to sort..which happens to be my favorite activity as far as office jobs go. Then the intense part of the day came... our cook at the school who is also the mother of one of the second grade girls was no where to be found... i literally looked in closets. Unfortunately she turned up a little while later.. drunk. She ended up yelling at one of the kids and making a big scene. So she got sent home and it was a little crazy. We couldnt really send her daughter home after school so she ended up staying with Lauren and I until her grandma could come get here. The main reason I am telling this story is not for entertainment but just so you guys can have a glimpse of what life is like for these kids and these people everyday and the real stronghold alcoholism has on these people. It's not just a rumor about indian reservations..it's reality and it is so sad. So prayers for this woman and her children are much appreciated!
Later that night we went over to stan and beth's for anastasia's 5th birthday dinner. It was so nice to spend time with them since its been a while since we have all been together!
Wednesday was just as crazy but in a different way. Since we didn't have a cook.. Lauren and I were one duty and worked as lunch ladies. which was pretty crazy... now I didn't wear a hair net and orthpedic shoes... but you better believe that gloves and aprons were present. My main job was scooping peaches.. and I must say that my ice cream scooping from my Depot days came in pretty handy. After school we took the Navajo kids home as usual.. which went pretty well minus the fact that Zackery wiped snot on my shoulder. Two of the kids parents were a half hour late picking them up so we played a good ol game of kids running around the car making us chase them and in turn look like out of shape fools. Right when we got back we had to sit in on a 4 hour in service (which we missed half of.. but still... sheesh.) Then immediately headed over to the principals house for our weekly bible study and dinner.. then we FINALLY made it home at 8:30 and were totally pooped.
Thursday was pretty busy too...and right when things were getting really crazy a group from Santa Barb. CA stopped by for a tour... and guess you got thrown into the tour guide positions- me and Lo. It went pretty good until one of the guys decided to give me a weird hug abruptly infront of everyone (like the kind were you dont know if you want to... and then when you find out if you don't hug back it will be awkward for everyone..then i bobbed from side to side trying to figure out what side to put my head..then he rocked me bock and forth for a good twelve seconds also whipsering weird encouragements in y ear while all the on lookers clearly saw I was not enjoying it and stopped smiling..ahhhh I'm gritting my teeth just thinking about it...). After school we went and had dinner at YWAM... no awkwardness to speak of there.. besides the friendly hugger being there and giving me a weird half sitting half standing closed eyed hug.
Friday (today) We woke up freezing our booties off. Apparently the power went off in the night and since we only have electric heating... the temperature in my bedroom was similar to that of an arctic tundra. Nevertheless we got ready and went to school... once all the kids arrived we got news that the power wasn't coming on any time soon.. so me and lauren had to ride the bus with all the kids so we could walk them to their doors and make sure a parent was home.. which started out fun until i made the mistake of sitting with a 6th grade boy who insisted on putting me in a suprisingly strong headlock of which i couldnt get out of for about 15 minutes...during which i screamed and flailed and looked like a total weirdo to the bus driver... but once that was over and I moved to some less rowdy 1st graders it was all good. We FINALLY got home at about 11.. took naps.. ate cookies... and when the power came on watched some movies. Then about 20 minutes ago we somehow got on a discussion of Kouts... and the firey passion that burns within us for that little hole in the wall... we are now currently discussing the song we will play as we pull onto mainstreet in May... sad but hey we have to entertain ourselves some how. Well- I better get going Lauren looks bored and I'm getting a crick(sp?) in my neck from sitting in this weird chair with my laptop. Love and miss you all tooooo much.
Court
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Cari & Jordan + Spring Break
Jordan and Cari came to visit us on the rez a few weeks ago! it was the most fun we've had in a long time. Cari came a few days before Jordan..and in that time we went to the Grand Canyon with the Pettengill's plus, Phil & Arneta Hershberger, and the Bradley brothers. It was really fun, minus the fact that it was slippery and cold at the GC.
From there, we went to Sedona..which was supposed to be a surprise..but i accidentally blurted it out..and had dinner at some steak house. We walked around a little bit and then headed back to Flagstaff to spend the night in our hotel. Monday, we got the day off school so we could take Jordan and Cari to their suprise destination. We made them close their eyes for the last 20 minutes of the drive..just to make sure they had no idea where we were headed. They were totally surprised when they opened their eyes to find that we were in Jerome! Not that they really knew what or where Jerome was..they were fully surprised! We walked around all day and looked in the fun shops and art galleries..had amazing lunch at this delicious restuarant..and took way too many pictures. Courtney had messy ice cream on a stick..and dripped it on her "casual sundress" at least 10 times.
Thennn...we went and picked up Jordan in Flag. From there, we went to Oak Creek Canyon aka "Da OCC". It was absolutely beautiful..and we walked up to the edge suddenly finding ourselves in one of those situations where you just feel the need to take anything you have and hold it over the edge or even..throw it. I'm not sure if that happens to anyone else, or maybe we're just odd. We decided that while it would be fun..we would eventually regret throwing our purses into the canyon. So, Jordan found an alternative, and started throwing huge rocks and logs down into the canyon javelin style. 
After our day in Jerome, we went back to Flagstaff...bought some groceries and headed back to the rez. Our week was spent preparing for the Student Council garage sale that Courtney and I organized..unfortunately, the sale was a total flop. We had a total of approx. 10 people buy things. We were just hoping for a little bit more. We made $150 in the end..which will go to the StuCo field trip fund. We have a few ideas for their trip but we're thinking it'll most likely be a fun day in Flagstaff...maybe see a movie, go to lunch, and then bowling. We wanted to go to Disneyland or Knott's Berry Farm..but those trips are a little to much for us to handle, especially with the group we've got. Anyway, the rest of the week was supa dupa fun with Jor and Cari. We took them to the Cultural Center for Hopi Tacos, introduced them to all the DTS people, and they even got to go see the spring in Hotevilla! It was reallllly fun having them here..and i think they enjoyed their time as well. In fact, Jordan liked it so much that she's coming back on May 16 and spending the last 2 weeks with us! She's even riding home with us in the car (were going to have to do some serious rearranging to make room for one more..on the way out here the car was packed floor to ceiling...but we'll do anything to have her come with!) We had a StuCo fun night at our house while Jordan and Cari were here. We watched Kung Fu Panda and ate pizza and ice cream. Then we went to the playground to wait for the kids to be picked up...we were playing tag..that suddenly turned into tackle tag. 6th grade boys tackling their teachers. Yes, we struggle with disciplining them..but we also have lots of fun!
Oh man..I almost forgot about this! Cari woke up to find a freaky scorpion was sleeping with her!..she thinks it pinched her, not a full on bite. It was pretty scary..but we're just glad she didn't get bit and filled with scorpion poison. Speaking of scary things..I've been having issues with feeling safe at night, simply because I can be a little bit paranoid..so now I have a really nice collection of defense weapons next to me in bed at night. I simply had a giant maglite with me for a long time..and like I said, that doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I now have a small bottle of pepper spray with me. So, I'm thinking that should suffice now. I guess the reason for my heightened state of paranoia would be the fact that a man was found dead about a mile from our house..and gang activity is on the rise. But I think we're safe here..no worries.
Now, I will update you on our trip to Florida! It was an incredible amount of fun and lots of relaxation, which we were in serious need of. We stayed with Court's Grandpa & Pat in Sarasota on Bird Key. We spent our beloved days swimming in the pool, going on bike rides (getting lost), going out to eat almost every night, enjoying the beach, shopping with Pat, cruising in the Cutlass, and simply enjoying the beautiful FL weather. We truely had a great time and are so thankful that Court's Gpa & Pat let us stay there with them! Although FL was awesome..we were ready to come back and get back to business. Can you believe we only have 2 more months here!? We've been here for 6 months..which is also completely unbelievable. It's going to be bittersweet to leave this place. We've made so many wonderful new friends..especially the kids at school & the Pettengill's. We're going to be so busy for the next 2 months..my mom, Grandma Dorothy, and Grandma Mable are all coming to visit, then a few weeks later Court's Mom will be here, and then Jordan arrives!
I hope this was a nice thorough update for you all..I know I still left out tons of details that I'll save for the next post.
One more thing! We adopted one of Ms. Roy's precious puppies for 2 days..and were sorta put into a complicated position and had to give it back to her in the end. We named her Annie..and she was the cutest thing we've ever laid eyes on. She looked like a cross between a snuggly teddy bear and the most precious dog ever. We had here for one night..she "slept" in my bed, but did very little sleeping. More crying, pooing, and barfing than anything. But that's okay..I forgave her and still loved her.
Just the sight of her face could melt your heart!Saturday, March 14, 2009
Spring Break!
Just a quick update..we're officially on Spring Break! Right now were at a hotel in Phoenix for the night..but we're currently getting our internet fix. As you can tell by the lack of new posts on here, our internet basically bit the dust on the rez. It's torture. So, whenever we get the chance, i promise we'll be blogging. Anyways, tomorrow were flying to Sarasota to visit Court's grandparents for the week. We're both so excited to relax a little bit, attempt to get a tan, and simply seeing some greenery will be nice! We have tons of fun stuff to blog about our recent visitors..Jordan and Cari..but that will have to be done at a later time.
We're going to explore Phoenix, maybe do some much needed SB 09' shopping!
We're going to explore Phoenix, maybe do some much needed SB 09' shopping!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Blizzards in the Desert & a Giraffe Kiss.
Once again, it has been a while since we've updated this. Quite alot has happened since we last blogged. My parents came for a visit about a week ago, and stayed here for a week. It was really great for my dad to see everything here, just to give him a better understanding of what its like...as for my mom, she's been here like 4 times now total, so she's an old pro. But, it's fun to expose fresh minds to the rez and all its wonders.
On the way home from Flagstaff after picking up my rents, we had a very scary experience. We were on the rez..out in the middle of pitch black nowhere on an endless curvy road, and all of the sudden a GIANT owl eerily swoops down in front of us as if to attack us or ambush us. I came painfully close to hitting it! We all screamed..even Jeffery Howard Sandberg. I'm 72% positive that owl was out to get us. Plus, to make it a little creepier, in Hopi culture an owl is often a bad omen. So, it was an awesome way to begin our trip. While my parents were here we pretty much made the rounds and saw everything there is to see...one day we went to Winslow (my dad needed to stand on the corner..like in the Eagles song). It's a really pretty drive though. It's the kind of land that just makes you want to ewear a cowboy hat, saddle up a black stallion, and ride till the sun sets. We stopped at the Little Painted Desert (a beautiful mini version of the grand canyon..sort of) The next day, we had a massive blizzard..here..in the desert! Despite the snow drifts, we decided to go to dinner with the Pettengill's at the culutral center. It wasn't too bad on the way there, but on the way home, we drove 2 mph down the scary, winding mountain road..no joke. There were at least 10 cars in the ditch..Luckily, with my dad's skillful driving, we made it home alive. We got home, got down on our knees and prayed that school would be canceled, and ten minutes later got the call that it was! We celebrated by making chocolate chip cookies and watching Dumb & Dumber. The next day we slept in, and then my parents and I built a giant snowman in our front yard. I've had a terrible craving to go sledding all winter..so I decided it was time to take care of it. The only problem was that we don't have a sled..the only thing I could think of was a garbage bag body suit. We all went out to the wash behind our house, I put on my saggy garbage bag diaper and shoes, and slid down. I had to go a few times to pack the snow down..after my 5th time down, I was absolutely exhausted from walking up that nasty steep incline. But, I sure got my sledding fix for this winter!
The rest of the week was filled with a few visits to Stan and Beth's, my dad teaching Elijah how to shoot a bow and arrow, diligently watching American Idol, a few visits to Hopi jewlery shops, and simply chilling. For our valentine's day present, the principal took all of us teacher's + my parents on a weekend getaway. We went to an amazing place called "Out of Africa." We got to hand feed a giraffe, some brave citizens even took advantage of the opportunity to actually KISS a giraffe...which is rotten and actually means standing freaky close to a giant animal and letting it coat its goopy slobber all over your pores. We got to stand a few feet away from tigers, lions, bears, ostriches, and zebras..but not in a zoo setting, it was like they were in there natural habitat in Africa. We watched a tiger show, where courageous souls played with the tigers as if they were little infant cats. After our african safari, we went to Prescott and tried to find a nice place to have dinner..on Valentine's Day. Yeah..silly idea. We went to about 5 different places (all had apporx. 2 hour waiting) and finally ended up at good old Outback. It was totally worth the wait though. The next day my parents left to go home and Court and I went on with the group to Jerome, which is an amazing, quaint, European-ish, hippie village. We spent the afternoon there looking at antiques, handmade jewelry, art galleries, and enjoying the mountain range views. Then we drove to Flag, stayed the night in a hotel, and in the morning went back to our stomping grounds. Overall, it was a great week and we enjoyed having my parents here fosho.
We've got several videos to share, but the internet here won't allow that...so, we're going over to Stan and Beth's tomorrow to use their speedy connection. Thus, you can expect another post tomorrow evening..hopefully!
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