To Do

We're back! Unfortunately, I won't be posting about the trip right now, because I'm way too tired and have too many other things to do. Hence, the title of the post. On the agenda for this week:

32: approximate number of hours I will work this week
9: number of hours I'll be in class
4.5: number of hours I'll spend in the car, commuting
1: book review left to write
120: pages left to read for aforementioned book review
180: other pages (in 3 separate books) I need to read
7: hours I'll spend in meetings/church

If I can get all of this done this week, I have a prayer of finishing all (ok, ok, most) of my schoolwork for the semester. If I slack off on the reading...I'm doomed. 34 more days.

I'll leave you with a picture from our trip:


Trying on a fur hat in the Ashgabat bazaar.

Travel Time!

We will be here on Friday:

LONDON, BABY!

Here on Saturday:

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

Here on Sunday:

The Presidential Palace in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Here the following Friday:

Bursa, Turkey

And back here for Easter:

Istanbul

The next Monday, we'll fly through here:

Rome Fiumicino Airport

And here:

JFK Airport

Finally arriving back here. Here's hoping for safe travel, fun times, and direction for our future.

55 Days Left To

read 1666 pages
write 2 5-page book reviews over 535 of those pages
write 1 journal over 301 of those pages
take 10 quizzes over the remaining pages
take 1 interview
take 2 final exams
do 1 presentation
take 1 other quiz

Actually most of these things are due by May 7th, and I'll be out of the country for 11 days. That means it's actually 31 days to do everything except take the 2 final exams and read 298 of the pages and take 3 of the quizzes. Oh, how I long to graduate.

A Glimpse of My World

This is what's been happening where I'm from:


Mt. Redoubt erupting. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

That's right, Mt. Redoubt finally blew its top. People have been predicting its eruption since January, and it finally happened. Ash is falling on my hometown as I type this. The last eruption cycle was in 1990. I was in 5th grade and I can vaguely remember the streets covered in ash and my school passing out breathing masks before we left school on one of the days it erupted.

Mt. Redoubt is located about 50 miles west of Kenai (my hometown), directly across the Cook Inlet. The current eruptions have spewed ash almost 12 miles into the air. In 1990, a Boeing 747 flying from Amsterdam was caught in the plume, all engines failed, and it had to emergency land in Anchorage. Mt. Redoubt is the highest mountain in the Aleutian Range at 10,200 feet, and is an active volcano, this being its 4th eruption cycle. Currently, it has erupted five times since Sunday evening (Alaska-time...GMT -9).


Mt. Redoubt, letting off steam on March 15th. Photo courtesy of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Some of you might be wondering what the big deal is. I mean, it's just some ash, right? No. The 1990 eruptions caused $160 million in damage. Ash can cause problems for people with respiratory problems, and can also harm skin and machine parts. This presents a problem when ash lands and is then stirred up by wind or vehicles because the ash then gets into car engines, therefore causing damage. School is probably canceled today. We never get snow-days, but we have been known to get ash-days!


A photo I took in 2005 from my hometown. Mt Redoubt is on the right.

Edit: So apparently ash didn't actually fall on Kenai...between the ash being 12 miles in the air and all the wind that they've been having, it all blew north. Guess nobody got the day off of school, after all.

Hurricanes Game

On Wednesday night, Shannon and I took a much needed break from the insanity of midterms and we went to a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game. We probably shouldn't have, since we both had a midterm the next day, and we missed small group in order to go. But...tickets were only $12 each, and I'd never been to a professional anything game, and Shannon had never seen a real hockey game. So, we got tickets for the two of us and my sister and brother-in-law (who's a hockey nut) and we went!


My and Shannon's tickets...all $24 worth! The New Jersey Devils used to have a guy from Alaska on their team...but he no longer plays for them. That was a bummer to learn!


This is the view you get for $12 a ticket!


My sister, Rachel, and I outside the RBC Center, wearing 'Canes red.


Shannon (who didn't get the memo about wearing red) and Lucas.


The 'Canes are in red and the Devils are in white...interesting since in basketball the home team wears the white uniform.

The game was fun and the Hurricanes won 4-2. There were a ton of people there, but nothing compares to the Auburn-Alabama football game that we went to back in 2007.

As far as school goes, Shannon has finished his midterms. I've taken one and have one to take tomorrow (yes, on Saturday) and one to take on Tuesday. Then I have about 70 more pages to read in order to take a quiz by Thursday. And then on Friday I'll be reading and memorizing so that when Shannon's dad and stepmom come into town next weekend we can have some fun! And then we'll be finishing up the packing and preparing to head to Turkey in April. 62 more days of insanity.

Tea Time!

Today was a fantastic day. I finally got the tea kettle that I ordered with birthday money that my mom sent me. I ordered it probably about 2 weeks ago and the estimated arrival date was mid-April. So, I was excited to see it come today!

Then, after I got the tea kettle, I ran into my friend Jonathan who said he had something for me...tea from Poland from my friend Lindsay! I was so, so excited. I think it's really funny how when you live overseas you want people to bring you stuff from America, and now that I'm back in America, I want people to bring me stuff from overseas! Anyhow, here's to many more hot cups of caramel and "taste of London" tea, with hot water from my new kettle! Thanks, Mom and Lindsay!


A new tea kettle, Dilmah caramel tea, and Lipton "Taste of London" tea, my all-time favorite.

Can You Think Of...

...six good reasons to work someplace where they host lots of weddings and you have to stand on your feet for hours on end, deal with people drinking more than they should, and deal with sometimes lazy coworkers? I can:













When the bride spends $3000 on flowers, even her family doesn't want them all!