Laundry Dog and a Tragedy

Scarlett LOVES Sunday at our house because it means it is laundry day. My washer was made for dwarves so we have to do laundry every weekend and it still takes 5-6 loads to get everything clean. It's annoying, but its better than hauling everything down to a public laundromat!

I'm not sure why she loves laundry so much, but she INSISTS on curling up next to it. Her favorite is laying on her dad's clothes.... he does not find this quite so amusing.

You also have to REALLY watch her because she is obsessed with dryer sheets. If you aren't careful she'll steal them and go hide them in her box. The only way you even notice she stole them is she suddenly has meadow-fresh breath. Ugh! I hope they aren't poisonous...

On a separate note, I was going to blog an entire post on the big game yesterday. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, it didn't work out in our favor. Our hearts are very heavy today. We truly believed it was possible. But, you can't blame us for lack of enthusiasm...

Scarlett was TERRIFIED of the flag hanging in our living room. We had to barricade ourselves in the bedroom again. Some games are just too tense to watch together. I don't even want to think about the A&M v. Arkansas game in 2 weeks. Yikes! O well, Texas lost. And any day Texas loses is a good day in my book : )

An Amish Adventure

I had a rough week, a real rough week. School got pretty intense, I was stressed and very, very tired. So, on Friday, I took an entire day off and escaped from the city! Where did I go, you ask? Well, I spent the day in Ephrata, Pennsylvania... the heart of Amish country! Why, you ask? Well, it's a long story. Basically, last week was my grandmother's high school reunion. She and my grandpa attended and then rode home with her best friend Nancy and spent a week with her at her home in Ephrata, PA. Since that is only 3 hours or so from me, I definitely wanted to get to see them. It just happens that I REALLY needed to get away for a day and I have been DYING to go to Amish country. It's like it was meant to be...

Friday morning, I woke up at 5 and packed up my bag, picked up my pack of munchkins from dunkin donuts and hit the road. I just made it out of town before the traffic started up. The drive through Maryland was boring, but I really enjoyed Pennsylvania. I got to pass Hershey (as in the chocolate), Hanover (as in the pretzels), Gettysburg, and lots of roadside vendors.

I made it by about 9:15 and we headed into some of the touristy areas. First, we passed underneath a covered Amish bridge:

Next, we stopped at some local shops to do some shopping. My grandparents were very sweet and helped me pick out some artwork for our apartment as a housewarming gift.

I know the picture is small, but the first one says: "May I never wake up from the American dream," and the second one says: "He is the happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." I LOVE them!

Next, we headed to an area called Kettle Kitchen Village. We did some more shopping and had lunch. Here are some of my finds/gifts my grandparents sent back for Caleb.

Here are a few pictures of the Kitchen Kettle Village area. It was so cute! They had converted this old Amish home into a restaurant where we had lunch.

After lunch, we continued on to Intercourse, Pennsylvania. So yes, I can now say I've been to Intercourse (no jokes, please). On our drive, we saw, and were often slowed down, by lots of these:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Amish country is everything I imagined it to be and more! I can't wait to go back! During our after lunch shopping, I found my greatest treasure, a rocking chair. As Caleb will attest to, I'll I've talked about since moving up here is a) how much I want to go to Amish country and b) how all I want is an Amish-made rocking chair. I looked at them all day and at our last stop, I found it. The problem was that it was a tad bit expensive. I called and asked permission and the response was, "I'm sure the Amish will still know how to make rocking chairs when we have xx amount of money." Shot down. So, I gave up and we left to go on a tour of an Amish home. Here are just a few pics:

Very cool! It was SO hot, but we had a great time and learned a ton about the Amish. Example, girls are not allowed to wear buttons on their clothes, but boys are; they are allowed to use whatever shoes they like, including flip-flops; the reason they don't have electricity is because they don't like the idea of having a wire going into their homes that is connected to other people's homes; their church servies are 3-4 hours with 3+ sermons and are held in their homes; they do not have dietary restrictions; and we learned how to distinguish an Amish person from a Mennonite.

By then, we were completely beat, so we got drinks and went home to rest up before dinner. By this time, Caleb had called me back and told me that since my birthday is next week, I could go back and get my chair, but we were long gone from Intercourse. He felt so bad that he told me to stay later in the morning and go back and get it. So, I did!

I had to wait for the store to open at 930, so after breakfast I wandered down the road and followed this sign:



The arrows literally led me to drive straight up to an Amish family's farm where one of the kids was running a little booth. Not only did I buy the cold, fresh, homemade root beer, but I picked up a couple of homemade whoopie pies as well : )

Then, I got my chair. I love it. I think its perfect. Not only is it pretty and made by Amish people, but it is super comfortable. I think it looks great out on my balcony, what do you think?

Well, I guess that concludes my Amish adventure. I had a GREAT time and can't wait to go back. Caleb is pleased that I like the simple life so he has a chance of not living in the city forever. I also feel alot better about my bad week and I'm ready to move on to a better one this week!



Foreign Trend

I have noticed lately a trend in my school friendships. It seems to me that most friendships are being formed along political and ideological views. You have to stick together with people who think alike to survive some of these class discussions. For me, that means that I get along GREAT with all of the foreign students.... it's weird! I have 2 American friends (both with red hair...) that I get along with pretty well, but other than that they're foreign! Ivan from Bulgaria, Yezlizaveta from Russia, Efghan from Azerbaijan, Vasilios, "Bill," from Greece, Su Minh from Korea, Camilla from Uruguay, Fei (male) and Fei Fei (female) from China, and Eve from France. I'm not really sure what the deal is, but at least I do have friends! Caleb thinks it is weird but I'm curious what you guys think is the reason all of my friends at school are foreign?

Be sure to keep reading below, I've posted 3 or 4 more posts that cover last week!

Russian Lesson

A part of my MA program is a language component. I'm not allowed to graduate until I can pass a Russian exam showing that I have advanced intermediate level speaking, reading, and writing skills. Now, while I would LOVE to claim fluency, its been awhile since I used my Russian and lack of use = forgotten.

It became very quickly apparent to me during orientation that my language skills were in BIG trouble. Luckily, I have the entire 2 year program to get my skills up to snuff before I attempt the exam. Basically, that left me with 4 options:
1) Take Russian classes at GW (yah right, they cost thousands of dollars apiece...)
2) Take Russian classes at the USDA (I would, but they are offered at night, while I'm in class)
3) Try and teach myself (haha, seriously? That is highly unlikely)
4) Get a personal tutor

I did lots of research and actually got a recommendation for a professor. There is a girl, named Gulnur Valliuovna, who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. She is a native Russian. If I would be willing to ride the train to Silver Spring every Sunday afternoon, she would give me a lesson for $20. I've been doing that the last few weeks and she is AWESOME! She makes me speak in Russian, requires me to do extensive homework (grammar and vocab) during the week, makes me write a paper each week which she grades, and we are now working on listening comprehension. She's awesome but she kicks my butt, which is exactly what I need.  So, hopefully I can claim fluency soon!

Side note- I would like to especially thank Gulnur for my lesson this week because she saved me from having to watch the embarassment and humiliation that was the cowboys game. As my mom told me, I chose a good time to leave the state because they may never win again.... That may be true but I just don't know if I could become a Deadskin fan. I think I'd rather not be a fan at all...

Proof!

So I finally have proof that I went to the CIA! This is my new favorite picture EVER!

My favorite part of this picture is the security guard with his arms crossed menancingly in the back right corner. Haha

Woo Pig!

I don't think I can tell you how happy Caleb and I are that college football is back. Our Saturdays are consumed with it. Too bad I don't get to watch many/any Big "12" games. He's lucky I'm willing to spend a day watching SEC football..... This last weekend was enough to almost kill me. Did anyone else watch the Arkansas v. Georgia game? It was a GREAT game. BUT, there was a point that the atmosphere in the apartment got so intense, I had to pop popcorn and take the dog into the bedroom and leave Caleb at it alone in the living room. Whoa. All I can say is I have never been so glad for Arkansas to win. Too bad next week is going to be even more ridiculously tense.... bring on Alabama!

A Small Taste

When I started this blog, I made a promise to myself to keep it neutral- no political views, no rants, no promotions, etc. Let me just say that now that school has started, it hard.... Caleb can attest to the fact that there are certain classes when I come home extremely frustrated and just want to kick this guy, who I deem a complete moron, in the face! Other days, I come home completely inspired, I just can't get enough of what I'm studying. Anyways, all that to say, in my international security class last week, we were discussing inter vs. intra state warfare and the significance of transnational issues. We watched the following video. I am still thinking about it and wondering what others think. [note there is a short commercial before it starts]

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/08/30/world/1248068931248/a-5-year-journey-to-unknown-grave-5061.html

So, what do you think?