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.