the swear jar...

It's interesting how girls can ramble on for days in their native language, yet when something goes wrong in any minuscule way they are hot to insert an English curse word. 

We try not to condone explicits around these parts, so we've established a "Swear Jar" to collect change each time a girl uses a curse word. 

One evening I called a girl out for using a curse word. Here's the conversation that followed: 

Me: "Okay listen, I'll let it slide this time, but from now on every time you say a bad word you have to put money in the jar."

Girl: "WHAT?! You mean f*ck is a bad word!??"

Me: "Yes. It's very rude."

Girl: "Okay, okay, isn't sh*t and p*ssy the only bad words? Is d*mn a bad word?"

Me: "Yes. Those are all bad words."

i'm came in like a bowling ball...

You know what's funny? Hearing the former Hannah Montana's "Wrecking Ball" on the loudspeaker while at the bowling alley. I mean, think about it. If it's not coming to you, now envision this occurrence with eight high school girls. 

The week before school started, we took the new girls bowling on Saturday night. For some of them it was their first time bowling! Which was good news for me being the poor bowler that I am. 

Being a terrible bowler around 16-year olds is a lot more fun than being a terrible bowler around your overly-competitive friends who ruthlessly taunt you for your bad game. 

Even the girl who barely speaks any English kept our spirits high with a, "Oh, don't cry! Don't cry!" After each of us miserably missed the pins by a landslide. 

i'm a survivor...

Wowzers. Naturally, being the first week of school, this week has been crazy. I've officially made it through a week of dropping a load on textbooks, one of the girls getting lost at six in the morning on the first day of cross country practice, and running everywhere from getting a physical to out to FedEx. 

I've acquired quite an amount of stories from the RA life, so I'm now going to post them one by one for your convenience and reading pleasure. Enjoy. :) 

just call me forever the bus driver...

I'm officially back in Kansas. You know how I know this? Because the first gas station we stopped at on the way home in Kansas sold not only knives and Duck Dynasty shirts, but also red solo cup necklaces whose selling point was, "It's not just a cup, it's a lifestyle."

For those of you that still harbor doubt that I am in fact currently in Kansas, today driving to work (a 17 mile drive that took me 15 minutes, not like, 45) I passed a man wearing a cowboy hat driving a four-wheeler (I was driving on the highway). He gave me a one-handed wave, because this is customary in Kansas.

I have returned to the plains.

This summer is very quickly wrapping up. Within the first two days that I was home, I searched for a place to live, found a place to live, trained for a new job, and jumped in FULL force to said new job, which is working as an RA for a local high school that houses international students.

I've been working every day this week because the school is still in the process of hiring on staff (we have three RA's now - one who is on "I just got my wisdom-teeth removed" leave. So essentially we have two RA's working this week. Fun fact: ideally there should be six RA's on staff).

However, besides a whole day of driving ten hours for pickups, it hasn't been very crazy. We have eight girls now, and the rest of our 24 will arrive next week.

So, to recap: I spent all summer working with high school/middle schoolers and now I'm living with them.

Now, we're all aware that high schoolers are known to make some interesting observations and/or supply both wanted and unwanted comments. Take this knowledge and now insert international students from Taiwan, Kenya, Mexico, and China. In attempt to remember this year and all the observations of America from 15 year olds, I'm most likely going to dedicate this blog to their quotes.

Example: Yesterday I explained hand-sanitizer to a girl from China.

Me: "It's like soap. To clean your hands."
China: "You don't need water?"
Me: "Nope! Just put a little in your hands then rub them together"
*China's face lights up, runs to the Purell*
China: "America is awesome!"

Plus, nothing in my own life is extraordinary to document.

time flies like these flies flying around my head...

Well, today wrapped up the last day of my time at LeaderworX this summer. I can't believe how incredibly fast time has flown. It literally seems like I arrived just yesterday in New Jersey. Of course I have lots of afterthoughts, conclusions, stories to tell. But for now, all I can say is I've been incredibly blessed. And that I've been waiting for a train at Newark Penn Station for two hours. There are lots of people at the station. And flies. But I'm very excited to be traveling to see my good friend, Melinda, in New Haven! Peace!

appalachia, barf, and critters...

     Ahhhh, Appalachia. After living in New Jersey for the past month, I can't tell you how relieving it is to be spending a week in West Virginia. Few people, all of whom are friendly and have the most beautiful southern twain that I'm a complete sucker for. We planted ourselves at a campsite for the week (one that has those huge cabins with about a million bunk beds, you 're familiar with this if you've ever attended a 4-H camp). And I LOVE it. Nature, walking outside to go shower, fresh air, bugs in your room. It's fabulous. Truly you can take the girl from the country, but not the country from the girl. I've really missed my small-town people. The service we're doing this week is construction/roofing/painting type jobs. The people we're serving are so giving of all they have. At my service site we destroyed and rebuilt a front and back porch, and installed new underpinning. Terry, who owned the trailer, was beyond grateful. He had a handful of health problems, but stayed outside with us the entire day to visit and share about his life. I was humbled with how much generosity he had. Immediately when we arrived he told us if we needed to go to the bathroom to use the bedroom one, because that was the better one, then proceeded to offer us water, popsicles, and basically anything we wanted in his home. The southern hospitality we experienced was outstanding. 

     I've realized and learned several concepts about myself and other people this summer. One of these has been the deepening of my appreciation for my upraising. While we were working on Terry's home, I kept thinking about how great it would be if my grandpa were there. I certainly felt like I needed him and his carpentry expertise this week. It was nice to get back to a small town such as my own, a town where the women of the church get together to prepare a meal for complete strangers. I felt at home in this community. Not only did the actions of the community members make me proud to be from a small town, but also the students on the trip further validated my appreciation for growing up the way I did. I grew up in going to a school where drafting, welding, sewing, and small engine repair is offered; not photography, robotics, or computer coding. I grew up where kids started driving when they were 12, and we would drive pickups, tractors, and four-wheelers; not BMW's at 17. We worked with our hands, and we learned to work hard and take pride in what we did. I quickly realized my week in West Virginia I had more in common with the people we were serving than those high schoolers we were leading. One kid in my service group had not even been to a Wal-Mart in his life. I feel so blessed to have grown up in a small town. To know everyone in my high school class, and see my old teachers at church every weekend. I love the fact I can return to my home, and it's really HOME. Not a lot of people have that in life. One of my favorite things in the world is going out to my family's farm, where three generations grew up. There is no where else on the planet I feel more at peace, my soul feels fulfilled knowing that this place not only serves as my home, but for everyone else in my family as well. 

          You know where else I feel most at peace? Under pressure. It's one of the reasons I look forward to being an emergency nurse. I can keep calm and collected, and I love working quickly and fluidly. Okay, where am I going with this? Luckily, because God is great and has a dark sense of humor at times, I was placed in such a situation in Appalachia. On Friday, we all loaded the vans to make a trip up to Charleston to listen to a speaker on coal mining issues. The trip is four hours round trip, and a good majority of travel includes world famous West Virginian winding roads. Because it was a long trip, I allowed the six highschoolers in my van to watch a movie on the way there. Big mistake. Twenty minutes into the trip, several kids are complaining of feeling sick, so I put the crying girl in the front with me and we take off again. Not long after that, one of my precious passengers announces he's going to throw up and I need to pull off immediately. Before I can ask if he feels like he can wait, I hear the sound of stomach contents hitting his lap, and the smell of vomit instantly pierces my nostrils. Well, fantastic. So I pull over to take care of the barf soaked kid, and a van full of five other very unhappy kids. I get everyone out, call the team leader to explain the situation, and piece out my options. There is vomit everywhere, and not even a fast food napkin to clean any of it up. I calmly explain to my van load that we'll pull off at the nearest Wal-Mart to get towels, new clothes for this kid, and Clorox wipes. So that's exactly what we did, missing only ten minutes of the speaker we were traveling to. God always has nice ways of reminding me that He wants me to be a nurse, and I usually thank Him with a smile and trying not to throw the bird. 

creatures in the city and in the trees...

    In a matter of a week I have traveled to half a dozen states. Five of those six within three days. It's been intense and non-stop, and I love it. It's incredible the amount of diversity in the east. Coming from living in a small town in a midwest my entire life, this summer has been so eye-opening. To everything. I have not met a single person that experienced a similar upbringing that I did. Simultaneously, I have yet to meet an individual that I have nothing in common with. Solidarity. Embarrassingly enough, this is a term I've only been introduced to and deeply learn this summer. I am in love with this single word because of the meaning and significance behind it. The fact that as human beings we have all suffered, and because of this we must reach out to others and recognize them as dignified human beings. 

 As I've traveled to the many different locations this past week, this term keeps stirring in all the activity that I do and interactions around me. The world is always moving, there is really so much happening. I think we often loose sight of this, I know I do especially coming from a small town I have been familiar with my entire life. You get locked inside your own sphere, with consistent interactions with the same people, day to day tasks, and habits. I'm not saying it's a bad life, I'm just saying that sometimes we forget the world we have created for ourself is not THE world. Living in New Jersey and spending time in places like NYC and Philly, I am regularly being remind with the amount of people on this planet. I mean really, walking through central park, you think being a park and all it would be quiet and cute and everything, but this park is literally larger than my entire hometown. I remember strolling around on a sunny Saturday and thinking, "There are so many SOULS here." So, enter solidarity. This summer has changed the way I look at individuals and the way I view people as a whole. I'm trying not to view people as simple background or something going on around me, but as souls, three-dimensional characters with a life and aspirations, and fears. Just like you and me. 

      Back to what I was saying about interactions always occurring: there always is. All around you. As we were leaving Philadelphia on Independence Day among the massive swarm of people, or course there were people in the street selling something. Chocolate, light-up pacifiers, bandanas, you name it. I even saw a man selling a puppy. These were the sells that were visible to the public crowd, but I wondered what transactions were taking place that no one saw on the same street that I walked on. I don't think many people think about this. There was probably a woman my age being sold that night. 

       The next day we spent the day in NYC, a city I very much surprisingly fell in love with. Of course I wasn't going to pass up a chance to go to New York, but I never thought I would like the city as much as I did. There is so much MUCH there. I can't describe it. Always something going on. All the cities I have been to in the past have a sky line, typically made of maybe a dozen or so skyscrapers. But NYC is a different story, there is absolutely no skyline and it's one massive building after another. Sometimes I think people, including myself, view skyscrapers as one entity. We forget that there's actually human beings in these buildings. Maybe some are watching us walking the street, or maybe some are drinking coffee, or visiting with someone else inside. The interesting thing about a big city is that despite being far from home, there will always be someone from the state you live. Some friends and I were standing in the bathroom line at M&M's World (this is a huge, three-floor store dedicated to the candy-coated chocolate) and I was chatting with them about how the city is so much different than Kansas. I saw the woman behind me showing interest in my conversation as soon as I mentioned Kansas, and she piped up and said she was from Olathe. A nun I met this week is visiting a friend in Kansas this fall. This only satisfies my theory that everyone in the US has some tie to the midwest.

     This concept of connections and paths isn't just for the city. I notice this amount of tiny interactions in West Virginia as well. Just in one day of construction on a trailer house I saw at least two dozen types of bugs. There were slugs, snakes, deer in the forrest. It's amazing the amount of life that's happening around us.