"Followers"

In the community where I teach, there is a religious group, which most of us know next to nothing about, called "Followers." Basically, the only thing most of us know about them are that they have very large families and are not allowed to go to the doctor. That's right, they do not seek professional medical care. As you can imagine, this leads to an unreasonably high amount of unnecessary deaths. That is actually what prompted me to write this blog.
A girl in my first period class was not here this morning, and I'm not sure that she'll be back to take care of her finals this week. When I asked why, I was told that her dad passed away. Well, she belongs to one of the families that is known to belong to this particular religious group. Because of that, they'll never really know why he died. But, that's not the worst of it. Last week she was telling me that her dad wasn't doing too well. She went into some of the problems he was having - things that would have been easily treated by a doctor. But I knew that wasn't an option for them, so I didn't even ask if he had been to see anyone about the symptoms he was experiencing. What a shame, though, to have medical problems and not be able to get them treated. Now, the ironic thing is that they will take their animals to the vet. Hmmm....
So, I decided to look into this a little further. Here's what I found... an article from the Oregonian in 1998: http://www.rickross.com/reference/foc/foc1.html Another website states, "A series by the Oregonian newspaper announced that of 78 minors buried in the graveyard over 35 years, 21 "probably would have lived with medical intervention, often as simple as antibiotics." If so, the cemetery may represent one of the largest concentrations of faith-healing-related fatalities in decades."
Apparently this is a religious sect/cult that has been around for a number of years. That doesn't surprise me as much as finding out that it's real big in Oregon City! That's right. Who knew!?
Well, this is something that comes up every now and then among the staff here, but since none of us belong and the students we feel we can talk to about it don't know why they do what they do, we don't really get any answers.
Has anyone else ever heard of this?

Boot Camp

So, I started an extreme work out a few weeks ago at a gym in Boise. The workout is so extreme that they call it Boot Camp. The girls (both of whom are younger than all of the boot campers - lol) in charge have whistles and if we don't move quickly enough from one station to the next, they'll blow their whistles and make us do push-ups. It's kinda funny. Actually, the whole thing is pretty fun because it's about 7 women who are all in about the same shape. What? Round is a shape - lol. No, I don't think I'm round... just curvy :) Anyhoo, so it's nice because it's not like there's anyone who's blowing the rest of us out of the water. Oh, so I finished one session of boot camp. Each session is 4 weeks, every Saturday morning. And today I started another one. I really wasn't originally planning on doing this one, but I really felt the benefits from the last one, so I decided to bite the bullet and do this one, too.

I look sick?

Since when is it OK to tell someone they look sick? I mean, I know that when I'm sick, I look sick, but why can't we just leave it at that? Why do people who hardly know me think it's OK to tell me that? Yesterday I was sick... well, I still am today. So, my students last night at my class decided that everyone needed to tell me I either looked sick or tired. Let me tell you, I got sick and tired real quick of hearing that. I think that the only time I would say something to someone was if I knew them real well. And even then, it would be something more like, "You look like you're not feeling too well." Is this a cultural thing, since everyone who's said something is Hispanic? No, I take that back, one was an African-American guy. I think the reason it bugs me so much is that I already feel like crap, and now people are telling me I look like crap, too. I know that's not necessarily what they mean, but that's how it comes across. Is all of this normal?

My Art

A couple of years ago, my friend Angela invited me to go to a pottery painting place with her one night. I wasn't particularly excited about it, but didn't want to stay home and be bored that night, so we went. I painted a plate with chili peppers on it, to go with a theme I had started in my kitchen. It turned out so well that I could hardly wait to go again. I think the next time I went was with my favorite cousin and his wife. Is that right, guys? That was also real fun.

Welp, since then, I've done quite a bit more in the whole pottery painting area. Made presents for some of you... many of you. And I've made a set of 4 plates and 4 bowls for myself. These are the bowls I made.

Check out the "zebra" on this one. Lol. Have you ever seen those poor donkeys in Tijuana that they paint like zebras? I hadn't until last summer when I spent a month down there. I went to TJ with Rosa - the pastor's wife - and she pointed them out to me. I kinda felt sorry for them, but it must not bother them too much. And apparently it's kind of a tradition - a stupid tourist tradition, but a tradition nonetheless to get your pic with one of these zebra painted donkeys while in Tijuana. Craziness. Don't ever let me pay money to get my pic on a donkey painted like a zebra. Anyhoo, that's why this one has the little zebra on it - lol!

I just wanted to show of how I spend some of my spare time. I know... I need a new hobby - lol.

Dia de Los Muertos

So, one of the fun things I do in my classroom each year is a cultural celebration of Dia de Los Muertos - or Day of the Dead. At first, all the kids think it sounds really morbid, but I explain to them that that's because of how our culture views death. In Latin America, they honor their loved ones who have passed away each year on November 1 and 2. The 1st is to remember the children who have died, and the 2nd is for everyone else.

This year, I thought I'd share some of the pics of things my students have done in class for the cultural celebration. Each class has a different project: skeletons for Spanish 2, altars for Spanish Cultures, and papel picado (latin american paper cutting art) for Spanish 1.

How do you like these? Fun, huh?

Long time, no... nothing

Hi everyone. I really just wanted to write to say hi. Ok, that's all. Talk to you later.

Just kidding. It's been a while, huh?
Well, I'm back home for a while now. I start back to school next Monday, the 13th, and the kids'll be back the following Monday, the 20th. So early, some say. But the cool thing is that we get out pretty early, too. :)

So, I'm not ready for school yet, and that kind of freaks me out. I know I will be once it's actually here though, so I'm not panicking or anything.

Let's see... what's going on here? Oh, that's right... nothing. I've subbed a couple times at BSU, done some exploring of Idaho (to Shoshone and Thousand Springs Falls with Carisa and to Silver City with Stephanie), painted some more pottery (bowls this time - for me), and done quite a bit of sleeping to finish my summer off right. If I can get them from the other girls, I'll see if I can get some pics posted on here from my explorations. I'm not as good as Sara and Shawn - posting as soon as stuff happens. Maybe someday I can be like them - if only in my dreams! Lol.

Welp, over and out for now. Just kinda wanted to let everyone know I'm still alive. Sorry I've been away for a while.

AMBER

the trip comes to an end

Yes, on the tail end of our trip, we got to ride a dinosaur. Below you can see that Erin was missing the affection she's used to, so she had to resort to kissing a dinosaur. No worries, though, she left me alone. I guess the dinosaur love got her through her lonely times without Zane.
Well, we're home now. I think I speak for Erin, and Zane, too when I say that we had a good trip. Yeah, we had a couple snags along the way, but overall it was good. We got home on Thursday evening and Friday morning I took off again to come to another wedding in Oregon. It was almost like my house was just another stop on my trip. Lol. Oh well. I love travelling. I'll be back in Idaho, to stay for a while, on Tuesday evening.

random pics

Here's the damage that was done to the car in our infamous fender bender - or as my dad called it: bumper thumper.
This is Keri's hubby, Amaraabatra Bud - or just Amaraa. Nice guy.
These are the kids whose family we stayed with in Fort Collins. They're Zane's cousin's kids. What does that make them to me? Um, I guess they're my friends' relatives, huh?
Here Erin and I are somewhere around the Colorado/Utah border. We thought the mountains behind us were super pretty. We should have waited a little for a better shot, but this'll do.

One more day...

We're in SLC for the night before heading home tomorrow. Today was a looooong day. Do they plan to do ALL of the road construction on the same day? Seriously. We could have done without all of that. Oh well. Today we travelled a LOT and saw some beautiful scenery. I should be writing this and posting pictures with it, but I don't have them in here. I'll really try hard to get them on here tomorrow.
G'night for now.

from KC MO

Sorry it's been a couple days. We didn't have wireless at the last couple places we stayed. Now we're at a rest area in KS that has wireless. This cracks me up. We should get these in ID and OR.
Well, we’ve had an eventful couple of days… Last I wrote, we had broken down and were hoping to get the car fixed the next morning. Well, it was done by noon on Saturday. Thank God for a shop that was open on Saturday, huh? So, we got White Castle for lunch and left town. Have you ever had White Castle? It’s pretty good. They serve tiny little hamburgers – like we ate 4 each. Yum! So, a couple hours down the road, we were on one of those highways that goes through town, stop lights and all, and I stalled the car at a light. Well, the guy behind me saw that everyone was moving, but as he reached down to grab his cell phone, he didn’t realize that I wasn’t moving. So, he bumped our bumper, denting it, but not harming Erin or me. Erin, being pregnant, wanted to get the baby checked out, though, so we spent a few hours in a local women’s hospital. When we finally left the hospital, it was 9:00. But since we hadn’t had a real rough day, we took off for St. Louis and spent the night there. Next morning we rode the funky elevators up to the top of the arch. Then we went to the Route 66 museum. We had gotten this brochure that built up the museum and park and everything, but when we got there, it was seriously just a room with a bunch of memorabilia from Route 66 and a town near where the museum was that had been flooded about 20 years ago and is now just a big park. Weird. Disappointing. Whatever. But I liked the arch.
Anyhoo, now we’re in Kansas City with Erin’s family – dad, sister Keri, and brother-in-law Amaraa. We got to meet Keri’s husband for the first time. He’s really nice. But he’s just starting to learn English, so we haven’t really been able to bond with him or anything. But he’ll be cool to have in the family. And Keri really seems happy with him. So that’s good.
This morning we left KC and are driving to Fort Collins, CO. I think it’s supposed to be about a 10 hour drive. Then we’re on to Salt Lake City and then on to home on Thursday.
So, that’s kinda where we’re at. If we get some more pics I’ll be sure to post some highlights. So keep checking back.
Later…

Here's a shot of both of us at Mammoth Cave. Apparently we decided to be twins today, so we're wearing the same colors. Oh, and we had 3 different people ask us if we were sisters today. Wierd.
Well, this was the end of our travels today. We set off from Mammoth to Nashville. Nashville or bust, right? Well, we busted. Short story is that the car pooped out only 40 miles from Nashville. :( I was going to get to go to 2 new states today, but I only got one - Kentucky - and I'm still here. We're spending the night in Bowling Green and we have an appointment to get the car looked at tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Hopefully, it doesn't cost too much and hopefully they're able to do it quickly.
Oh, good news. Not at all related to the trip. I got the results from the test I took to get my ESL endorsement for teaching, and I passed! Yeah! I'm not super-surprised because I didn't have too hard of a time on it, but I'm still pleased. Still waiting on the medical test results, though.

Today we had a lot of really funny times. First we found out that Erin's aunt, who is 81, had gone parasailing when she was like 70. That was a funny image. Then, we left town, headed for Mammoth Cave, and then Nashville. We went throught this town called Gnaw Bone. What kind of name is that for a town? We found it hilarious. So, we took a picture.
Then, the dumb GPS navigated us the longest possible route to Mammoth Cave. I mean, it was a pretty drive, but we actually had to stop and ask for directions. What's the point of the GPS if we have to go into a little cafe called something like Lincoln's Birthplace Cafe. It was in a super podunk place. So, the highlight of the drive revolved around a sign that said "Road Ends in Water in 1 mile" We weren't sure what to think. I mean, does the road actually end or is that only in specific weather conditions or what? But we hadn't gotten to the caves yet, so we forged on.
Well, the road actually ended in water - just like the sign said. There was a little ferry - little, like it only holds 2 cars at a time - to take us across. No charge, just a little float across Green River. I really had to wonder if that was actually more cost effective than just building a bridge.

Well, we eventually made it to Mammoth Cave. Have you ever been to Mammoth Cave? It's in southern Kentucky. It's the longest cave system in the world! We went on a guided tour with a guide named Emily. She was a really good guide. So, while we were down there, Erin wanted to take a picture - you know, one of those pictures where you just hold the camera out and do a pic of the 2 of you? So, she held it out... we put our heads together... and she took a pic - of me. We about lost it. Poor Emily was over there, doing her thing, and we were cracking up. Anyhoo, we did get a good one, but I thought this pic was funny, so I wanted to show you guys. Just me.
OK, so the last part of the day isn't really as funny, but we had to have a sense of humor about it or it would just be really bad. Well, apparently I only know how to get 4 pictures on one blog, so I'm going to do another one and put another pic on there.

Today we had a private tour of the capitol building with a guy we went to college with. It was pretty cool. We saw pretty much everything. Apparently you really can't tour the capitol without being with a guide. So, we got hooked up because we've got connections. I really liked the tour, but my feet stinkin' hurt! And they still do - because we walked all over downtown DC after the tour. So, one of the highlights of my day was going up in the Wahshington Monument. When I was here last - in high school - it was closed for renovations, so we couldn't go in it. And then we were supposed to go up yesterday, but the weather had a different idea. But we had a couple of good park workers in our elevator rides up and down. The guy on the way up says, "hi, my name is Park Ranger," and I started giggling... apparently it was distracting to him, so he kept laughing and losing his place in what he was supposed to be saying. It was pretty funny.
Anyhoo, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning - really early - and we'll be staying at Erin's aunt's house tomorrow night, so I won't be able to post. I hope you won't miss me too much.
Later, taters...

Today started off super hot. It was over 80 degrees before we even left the house at 7:30. So in this first pic, we're pretty much shiny already and we had only gotten off the metro like 15 minutes prior to this pic. In case you can't see it so well, that's the White House behind us. There was a lot of excitement around there this morning. We saw what we believe was the President's helicopter land and then take off on the White House lawn. We also saw a couple of motorcades, one this morning and one later on in the afternoon. Erin and I have little exprience with that type of thing, so we just assumed that any motorcade is the President. Appparently that's not true, but it sure made our day more exciting to believe that. Gotta love blissful ignorance, huh?
After a super hot morning, the sky exploded and rained - no, make that dumped - on us. Well, us and everyone else who was out in downtown DC. Fortunately, we were savvy enough to stop by a museum gift shop where we had seen rain ponchos. I know, super touristy, but at least we stayed a little bit dry. I say a little bit because our legs were still completely drenched. you can see in this picture that my legs are soaked up to my thighs. Fortunately these are the same type of pants I was wearing last week when I had my water in the lap incident and they are surprisingly fast-drying.
Tonight we went to dinner with my cousin Shawn and his wife Sara. It was nice to be able to spend time with them - as always. Since Angela and Erin know them too, they came along. Good times. I figured it would be silly to get all the way over here and not see them. Thanks for seeing us guys :)
So, tomorrow we're off to downtown again for more touristing. Is that a word? Anyhoo, we've got a tour of the Capitol set up, and we hope to go up in the Washington Monument, and visit the Vietnam Memorial and Arlington Cemetary. Should be fun!

Our first Smithsonian - Museum of Natural History. We only saw the section with the stones. Yeah, they were cool, but I think I didn't realize that there was a section of animals. Had I known that, I probably would have flown through the stone section to see the Hope Diamond, and gone over to the animal part. Oh well, I didn't. But I did learn that rubies and saphires both come from the same stone, they just have different impurities (or something) that give them different colors. At least I got to see the massive elephant you see behind us here in the photo.
Outside the museum, on our way back to the car, we saw this car. Erin and I were totally tourist about it, crossing the street, taking pictures, etc., while Angela and David stayed on the other side of the street and waited for us. I think Idaho's gotten to me. I can still hold my own in a big city, but I've become quite the tourist at times.
Monday, Angela took the day off and we went to Monticello - the home of Thomas Jefferson. It was pretty cool. Really, the reason we went was because Erin wanted to see the "dumbwaiter." I told her we could just go to a restaurant to see one, but that didn't seem to be sufficient for her. So, we went. I'm really glad we did. I love that kind of stuff. I love to see where people have lived and worked. Not just like last year, but historical people. So, we saw the main level of the house, the dependencies (the stables, cellars, ice house, kitchen, etc.), and his grave.
After seeing the main stuff, we went down the hill to Michie Tavern. It's an old tavern you can tour, but you can also eat (an incredibly expensive) lunch there. So we did. It was a fun experience. They have authentic looking plates and cups (that we're toasting with in this picture) and the people all wear period comstumes.
So, that's our last couple of days. We're still having fun sight-seeing. We have a Capitol tour scheduled for Wednesday morning, so that should be fun. I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had probably the prettiest drive so far. We started out in Fort Wayne(ish), Indiana, and went through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia - again, Maryland, and then into Virginia, where we are staying with our friend Angela for the next few days. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Green, hilly, old buildings. Loved it. And we're actually going back out the same way, so we get to see it again. And we'll have a little bit more time, so we'll stop and see Antietam, and some scenic overlook type things.
Anyhoo, here are a couple pics from along the way today. Me with a bear because I miss my dog. The bear was surprisingly soft - andwell behaved. And then just me goofing off because the sign says to smile. Maybe I should have posted the one of Erin, too, because she stood right behind the sign and it looks like she doesn't have any clothes on. But I don't want to have too many pics on here. You can just imagine that one.
What else? Well, we saw about 6 dead deer, 2 birds of prey hovering low over their lunch (actually, one of them was on the ground with it's wings spread wide... it looked like some sort of ceremony they were performing before eating), I attempted to eat a foot long hot dog for lunch, we found out what a pike is (as in a turn pike road), we listened to a radio station called "the Pickle," and we saw our first Amish people of the trip.
So, we're off to church. More about sight-seeing in Washington, DC later.

Vote 2008

OK, America, it's your turn. One of your rights - and responsibilities - as Americans is to vote. Vote for your favorite candidate. Vote for who you think will do a better job representing you. Vote for who you believe in. Vote - like your life depended on it. OK, so this is not that big of a deal. But this is one of our feats of strength and we need you to decide who wins. We're making funny faces and we want you to tell us which is funnier. Go ahead and post your vote as a comment.
Thank you for your votes.

Tales from the Rest Area

OK, so we're at a rest area in the middle of Iowa. Not going to type too much because we do need to get on the road. I just wanted to say hi from a rest area. I think it's hilarious. They have wireless internet at all of the rest areas here and they actually advertise it on those blue signs telling how far till the next one. Crazy. Why? Do they think people are really going to spend that much time on the toilets?
Anyhoo, Zane is no longer with us. We left him at his grandparents house this morning, and Erin and I are doing the rest of the trip just the 2 of us. However, we will be doing at least one more feat of strength. But we'll need your help. All of you. We're going to post some pics on here later on today and we'll need you to vote on which is the funniest. So, check back tonight. Every vote counts!
Toodles for now

AMBER

Here Erin and I are at the Mall of America - one of the main things I wanted to see on this trip. It was a blast. I think we walked over 2 miles today... just strolling around the mall. We went once around the first floor, once around the second, and a little on the third. My funny story about today is that at lunch I spilled about 10 ounces of water on me. Right into my lap. And then, well, you know me, I didn't want to call attention to myself by getting up and walking around to the restroom, so I sat there and let it dry. Fortunately, we still had about an hour of sitting and chatting left in us, so we sat, my pants dried, and then we left. I felt like a dork. It's been a long time since I've spilt water on myself.
Here we are at Minnesota State University with Mike and Mary, who we stayed with last night and will be with again tonight. We had a barbeque and then watched the fireworks (and then the parking lot show of cars trying to get out and the dumb drivers being impatient). The fireworks were pretty good, but nothing compares with Fort Vancouver's show as far as I'm concerned.
Anyhoo, other than the water in my pants, I had a good 4th of July. I hope you all did too.

Zane's Feats of Strength

We didn't have a super-exciting day today, so I thought I'd tell about something else we've been doing to amuse ourselves along the way. Yeah, because with sight-seeing, driving, rest stops, gas stops, visiting friends and family, etc., we don't have enough to keep us busy. So, Zane was thinking about this ahead of time and thought maybe it would be fun to have some sort of activity to amuse us at rest stops. Something to challenge us and... yeah. Oh, and it could be physical, mental, spiritual strength, etc. And he calls his idea "Zane's Feats of Strength."
So, the first one was to pick as many wild flowers as we could find in 5 minutes and bring them back to the starting point. Erin won. The second was to see who could blow their belly out the most (Erin's idea). So, we measured a before and after for each of us and compared the difference. Zane won. Go figure. The 3rd, my turn to give the idea, was a word game (big surprise). Using the words "Yellowstone National Park" we had 4 minutes to find as many words as we could. Again, Erin won. Yes, I was dissappointed with myself. Next was a mime contest where we had to act out what we anticipated was going to be our favorite part of the trip. I acted out shopping at the Mall of America (lol). And our last one, so far, was to unwrap a Starburst candy in our mouths, without using our hands. Yes, my idea again. But Zane won. What!?! That one was supposed to be mine. Oh well. There's nothing for the winner. Just the satisfaction of knowing you won.
So yeah, that's our extra fun on the road. Erin's got a fun idea for the next feat of strength. It should be fun. Maybe tomorrow I'll put some pics on here to show you some of our dorkiness.

Day 3 we hit Devil's Tower and Mt. Rushmore, and landed for the night in Pierre, SD, with my Aunt Cheri and Uncle Gale. So, here we are at Mt. Rushmore. So, you know the whole thing with asking some random stranger to take your pic? Yeah, we asked this lady to take one of the 3 of us and you know what she did? She didn't get the presidents in the background! I mean, we're at stinkin' Mt. Rushmore. If we wanted a picture of just the 3 of us with some hill in the background, we would have foregone the $8 parking fee and stopped along the side of the road somewhere. Anyhoo, fortunately Zane was savvy enough to check out how it looked before just thanking her and moving on. Yeah, so we asked her to do another and maybe try to get the main attraction in it. Isn't that crazy?
I really think Devil's Tower is pretty amazing! And really a great place to climb around on those rocks. It reminds me of when my brothers and I used to scramble all around on rocks when we were kids, with mom standing on the ground watching us... clenching her fists... not wanting to watch for fear of seeing us bite it, but wanting to make sure we were ok. We always were because dad helped us and well, because we were kids - fearless, surefooted kids. Well, may I just say, I'm not quite the gazelle I used to be. I did venture up to this rock, just not quite up to the top of it. My feet had already started bothering me for the day.
And speaking of my feet and legs, they are doing much better. In fact, they almost look normal! If you've seen me in the past few months, you've probably seen my hugely swollen legs. I mean, you can't help but see them. So, yeah, they're workin' it out. Still haven't heard from my doctor, but I'll be sure to let everyone know when I do.
Peace out.

Road Trip - Day 1 & 2

Our road trip has started out just fine. We left Nampa Saturday morning. Here are a couple pics from our first couple days - at Yellowstone. The first one is Erin and I in front of Old Faithful (obviously). The second is us with Zane, Erin's hubby, with the Upper Falls on the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in the background. I remember a lot about our family visits to Yellowstone when I was a kid, but I don't remember the Grand Canyon. It's amazing!!!
So, tonight we were supposed to be camping at Devil's Tower, but we spent a lot more time in Yellowstone this morning, so we were running way late. So, we're staying in Moorcroft, WY, instead at this cute little motel. Tomorrow, our sight-seeing will include Devil's Tower, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wall Drug (lol), and my aunt and uncle :)
Yep, we're having a good time. Getting a bunch of sun. Driving tons! Hiking quite a bit. Good times.
More later...

AMBER