Last post of this semester

Cheeshandak ts’à’ shizheh gwats’à’ ihshyàa łyâa yįįhthan. (I'm tired and I really want to go home)

At the time of writing this, I'm doing my ultimate studying for my two finals tomorrow, and my one final on Thursday.  Tomorrow I begin with Economics, then go to Gwich'in.  After that, I might go to the gym to unwind, then begin my packing process.  I'll also have to rent a vacuum for my floor and some Clorox wipes for my surfaces.  Before doing that though, I'll need to cull my papers and see what I might need next semester and what can be thrown out.  After all that I'll pack my clothes I intend to bring home in a suitcase and then go to bed.  In the morning I get up, eat breakfast, and take my Linguistics final.  I'll turn in my textbooks and grab a bite to eat, then pack my electronics and get taken to the airport.   It'll be a long day, from 2;20 pm Alaska time to 12:05 am Mountain time.  I go to Anchorage first, then to Seattle, then home.  I'll definitely get a lot of Game of Thrones read though.

Then I can finally be home with my mom, my friends and my cats.

Thanksgiving

I had thanksgiving at the UCM leader's house.  The night before some of us got together and made some of the dishes early so that they only needed to be warmed up the next day, which freed up the oven.  I made the green bean casserole and chocolate cake while others sliced potatoes or prepared yams or baked pies.

At noon of the 27th we were driven to the leader's house where we ate green bean casserole, turkey, ham, yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, biscuits, and gravy.  We drank sparkling grapes and apples. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, cherry pie, and chocolate pie, the second of which proved to be my favorite.  

Then three played a game of Scrabble in which I barely came in second.  Then, a lot of us rested or conversed and I read some Game of Thrones.  The leader's wife then enticed us with some Phase 10 which we played for quite a while.  During the game some of the people had to go, and others needed to be picked up, so the leader drove around a bit to get people where they needed to be.  

Once he was back, we played a bit more Phase 10 until we were ready to eat dinner.  I didn't eat as much as I did for lunch as I was still a bit full, but the food was still enjoyable so I had another plate. Then four of us played Apples to Apples until the end when we  were all driven back to our dorms.

I made this (minus the baking part of it).

We ate Thanksgiving lunch and dinner on this table.

My lunch.

Game of scrabble.  On the right, you can see the intersection of BIT and SKID.  I placed an O in the corner of the T and D and ended up earning 15 points.  Compare that to the TOLUENE at the top that earned 9.

Game of Phase 10.  I was stuck on phase 3 for the longest time, and then finally skyrocketed forward, but then we had to quit for dinner.

Retreat

I went on a retreat with my friends at UCM from six o'clock on Friday to four o'clock on Saturday. We did worship, reading, eating, and throwing snowballs at each other.  It was a fun break even though the rest of the weekend was rushing to complete homework.

We made a campfire and hung out around it, talking about mostly about movies as well as making smores.

How much it snowed overnight

After breakfast we went outside and had a snowball fight.  Then, we had a short hike and at a sort of clearing at the end we made snowmen.

This was our main snowman.  I made the base.  He was destroyed in our second snowball fight, among side our smaller snowmen.

Us walking down to the lake

Same area that we had our fire at, but this is the view towards the beach.

Sign telling us where to go.

View of the beach and lake.  You can see the left is fully winter and the right is more autumn.

Beach

Me standing in the water.  It was not really that cold (if it was cold it would be solid).  I didn't want to go far in because I didn't want to get my jeans wet, but they did get a bit soaked anyway.

Lake and far side of the beach.  Most of the cabins and boats were on that section.

Mountains and clouds.

Mountains and Clouds

View to the right

Sandwiches and Cheetos/Fritos/Lays along with Hershey's or Oatmeal Cream Pies for our last meal which was Saturday's lunch.

Angel Rocks Hike

Yesterday, I went on a hike at Angel Rocks with United Campus Ministry.  It was fun but very exhausting and I felt very sore afterwords.  At least it was beautiful there.

Leaves Falling

River flowing by quickly

View from one of the rocks

Squirrel

Me on some rocks

People on a rock

Gas station known for its pies.  I ate cheesecake there.

Start to a New Year

My Gwich'in greeting:

Shozhrì’ Josh oozhii.  Boise gwats’an ihłįį.  Shahan Elisa oozhii.  Shitì’ Rodney oozhii.  Shitsuu Sally oozhii.  Shitsii Gerald Flake oozhii.

New year, new dorm, new roommate, new classes, new cafeteria.  At least this time I know my way around and am more prepared for the weather.

This year I am taking Historical Linguistics, Intro to Gwich'in, Economics, and World Literature.  It's not as many credits as I would have liked to take, but there was a mix up in my schedule right before I left home that made me redo my classes.  I am very much enjoying the first two and am excited to speak a new language, especially one that no one knows. The other two are meh.  I am only taking them because they fulfill requirements.

My old dorm was atop a hill (UAF is very hilly) that I didn't want to have to traverse.  So now I am in a dorm called Stevens that is at the bottom of that hill and is also closer to my Liberal Arts classes.  It will be amazing when it becomes snowy and I don't have to slip and slide downwards and upwards.

Stevens Hall

My new roommate seems fine.  He is much more of an outdoors person than I, but that just means I can be alone in my room that much more often.

My side of the dorm

Our cafeteria was moved from one building to a new addition to an old building.  It looks very modern and out of place.  With my old plan and the old building, I could stock up as much food as I wanted and visit as many times as I wanted.  Now I actually have to consider every item as if I go over something like an average of $13 a meal I will eventually have to use my debit rather than prepaid meal plan.  Oh well.

Outside view of the cafeteria

Leaves have changed color.

Almost Done

The grass is turning green, the snow is largely gone, people are willingly spending time outside, and as I write this at 10 o'clock it's still somewhat bright outside.  It definitely has been feeling like spring here.  Sometimes when it's at the peak of warmth at like 55 degrees I'm sweating from the heat.  For this reason I am a bit concerned about how warm it'll be back home.

The prospect of being back home with my mom and friends more than covers that worry, though.  I'm really looking forward to the tenth when I fly back to Boise.  I am nervous about finding and potentially having a summer job.  A good part of me doesn't really want a summer job anyway.  I know I need one, however, as I am in great need of the money it'd bring in.  The idea of a 40ish hour week with a boss who isn't as nice or lenient as the one I have here really does worry me.  Plus, from what I understand it's hard enough just to find employment in Boise.  Furthermore, I am hoping to take a Sociology class at CWI.  I don't yet know if the class works to fulfill one of my Perspectives on the Human Condition requirements.  If it does, I'd like to take it, as it would save some room for my semesters at UAF itself.

My English essay is done, my debate is tomorrow and it should go fine.  I changed my topic from Spanish to Turkish then settled on a language I've been interested in for a while: Finnish.  That should go well, though I don't have a lot of time left.

Towards the End of The Semester

Three main projects have given me a bit of stress and have occupied much of my time.  In linguistics, I need to research the historical reasons behind different pronunciations of /s/ in various words in Spanish. In geoscience, I will be debating in favor of the highly controversial Pebble Mine here in Alaska.  And in English, I am writing an essay about dealing with death using the short story "The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor" by Sherman Alexie.  Much to do, little time to do any of it, and little motivation.

Here's a link that shows what my group, United Campus Ministries, has been doing for the past semester.  If you don't recognize me, I might be hidden by a green Sherpa hat.

http://youtu.be/z66dOTUEq9E

Let me know if that link is broken, or if any photos require further explanation.

Prayers that I can get my projects done well and in a timely manner as well as finding a job that allows me a decent enough salary that also can bring God glory will all be appreciated.  I've got a bit of freshmanitus in addition to homesickness that's making these last few weeks rough.  I do have many things to look forward to that help me along, but so many things are making time go by quickly, which means time is starting to get the best of me.

Ice Park

Sunday night I went to the Ice Park with my fellow UCMers where we saw many sculptures made from ice. Here are a bunch of pictures I took (or a friend took when I wanted to be in the picture).  Also, Friday I leave for Anchorage where I will be until Tuesday doing volunteering, eating, and relaxing.  After that I will come home and do a bit of work (because of the winter games in Fairbanks there should be a fair amount of recycling to do) as well as catching up on some non homework things.

Me in a bear.

Friend sitting on ice throne.

Station.

Train.

Friends crawling through train.

Until I type so, all of these below are were made from a single block.

Woman playing holding a circle with a dragon inside.

Dolphin.

Demon.

Contortionist.

Never-ending Story.

Fairy.

Hands holding ball.

Angel trumpeting.

Dolphins.

Wizard making a butterfly.

Alaskan art.

Motorcycle.

Fish.

Woman and brick wall.

Progression from sphere to cube.

Man looking into forest.

Dog serpent thing.

Bird.

Dog.

Bird atop a helix.

Alaskan children looking at newborns.

Octopus.

Gymnasts.

Man making and refining ice sculptures.

From now on all of these are multi-block.

Woman holding a circle with bird.

Ice chapel.

Landscape.

Close up of deer.

Close up of the detail of the trees.

That landscape one the Multi-Block Governor's Award.

Poseidon riding a hippocamp with friend for scale.

Dance floor.

Close up of dancers. 

Cat.

Stag.

Bridge.

Close up of the dancers.

Close up of the lanterns on the ends of the bridge.  Bear in mind that those are 3D and hollow.

Peacock.

Story Time.

Boy reading.  The right side says Mongolia because the sculptors were from there, and the left says 'Adventure Book.'

Fairies.

Dragons fighting atop castles.

Ice cabin.

Relaxing.

Slides.

Bridge at night, with colors.

Landscape at night, with colors.