Summer and Fall Updates and Stuff

Over this summer, I worked for my campus's Conference Services.  During the summer, UAF becomes a sort of hotel for guests who are here for the landscape or for conferences.  My duties included making beds, cleaning and dusting surfaces, doing laundry, washing windows, organizing cleaning supplies, and any other jobs needed for us to do.  It wasn't my favorite job, but it was fine.  I made a friend through it (whom I already knew from the linguistics department).  Most importantly, this job covered my room.  I began this job in late May, and continued until mid-August.  Halfway through the summer, I began my class called Cultures of Native Alaska.  We learned about the cultures in Alaska which were divided into sections: Aleuts/Unangan, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, Haida and Tlingit, Yup'ik, Athabascans, and Iñupiaq.  Our professor was a person famous for dancing and singing in Alaska.

After my job and class, I got to go home.  I hung out with my mom a lot, before she began teaching her students.  I also spent a few nights hanging out with my friends, eating and drinking unhealthful stuff and playing video games.  One of the most therapeutic parts of the break was my time spent with my cats.  I loved to love on them (perhaps more than they wanted to be hugged).  I kinda wish that I had been home for longer, but I need the money and need to take classes. 

Now I’m all settled in back at UAF.  I’m in a dorm I’ve never lived in before.  I’d be staying with friends, but most of them graduated or live in places I couldn’t make work.  I have a fine relationship with my current roommate, though, probably the best yet.  In my free time, I’ve been catching Pokémon around campus and taking over gyms from team Valor (Team Mystic for life!).

I’m taking five classes for fifteen credits: Spanish communication, introduction to Athabascan linguistics, Spanish seminar, cultures of Latin America, and theories of methods of second language teaching.  I’d actually be taking another class, introduction to TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages), but the professor left us.  It’s no worries, though, I’m still set to graduate in May with a double major in Spanish and Linguistics as well as a minor in TESOL.

Yesterday, Saturday the 3^rd, some friends and I went hiking up at Wickersham Dome in the White Mountains.  It was four of us and a very hyper dog.  Here are some photos of the views:

It was a really nice day, temperature and weather-wise.  Not too many insects nor too much mud.  I really like this hike because it's not too extreme in terms of steepness.

Afterwards we stopped at Hillstop truck stop for pie.  I had a slice of peanut butter pie that was very, very delicious and decadent.  My tongue appreciated it a lot more than my stomach.

Everyone seems to want to know what my plans are after graduation.  I don’t know; I’m open to most any opportunities.  Whether that be teaching English here, Idaho, Costa Rica, South Korea, or wherever, I’m open minded.  What I do know, however, is that the Spanish Club, which I am part of (kinda), is planning on a post-graduation trip to northern Spain.  Naturally, I’d have to do quite a lot of fundraising to be able to do so.  But I think I’m at the point where what I really need to fully augment my Spanish is immersion.  Prayers and or suggestions for my future are greatly appreciated.  I’m ready to finish up my final year here at UAF.

Anchorage 2016

From Friday to Tuesday, my friends and I visited Anchorage for service, food, sightseeing, and hanging out.  We got to see a lot of cool things and had many laughs.

Friday afternoon we drove in three cars from Fairbanks to Anchorage (which takes roughly 7 ~ 7 1/2 hours).  During the Anchorage trips we stay at St Johns United Methodist Church.

On Saturday, we helped with Empty Bowl.  Artists donate bowls which people can buy.  The proceeds go to Bean's Cafe, which provides food for homeless people.  Many people volunteer to help things run smoothly, and many many more patrons come to support the cause.

Bowls.  Last year, I stood in in the rectangle taking people's tickets which were redeemed for a bowl of their choosing.  This year, however, for the first part of the event I stood by the door and greeted and directed people.  For the other half, I went around taking plates and cups from people once they were done.  There were so many people there wasn't enough space, so we had to gently encourage people to get up and keep browsing.  Also, we were at the Dena'ina center this year.

Art demonstrating Native Alaskans.

Paintings

Some were ceramic, some wooden, some fabric.

Bowl of buttons

Fish bowl

So many people.  Possibly over a thousand people came in the expo throughout the day.

They asked we wear a white top, so I thought I'd go all the way and be fancy.  For about half an hour before we left Fairbanks I watched YouTube videos detailing how to tie a tie.  Out of all my friends, I was the best dressed, but I'm still glad I got to dress up a bit.

That's where we were at, with a poster presenting what Bean's Cafe is.

This year there was a bouncy obstacle course for kids.  Beyond that on the far right there was a face painting station for them too.

That night we ate pizza and salad with some former UCMers and parents.  Then some of us played Munchkins, some of us Phase 10.

Then on Sunday morning, we attended two services of SJUMC.  The second service was a more traditional service.  The third service was more modern.  In that one a friend and I read some scripture, while two different friends helped with music.  After the third service, we went to IHOP with former UCMers who were Peace Corp volunteers.  I ate pancakes.  That night we got to eat dinner with even more former UCMers (and their kids).

Monday we split up a bit.  Two of us went skiing at Alyeska.  The rest of us went on an Anchorage adventure.

Our first stop on Monday was Cabela's.  Some of us came to actually buy things, but most of us just windowshopped.  

Moose and Jonathon.  After Cabela's, we went to a comic shop for a bit.  Again, some shopped, some looked.  Then we met a friend for burgers at Tommy's Burger Stop.  They are the kind of burgers that taste really good but make you feel like a slug afterwords.  I got a really tasty blue cheese burger.  Yummy! But not healthful.

Then we went to Kincaid park to see the shore which faces the bay.

Most of the roads/pathways were like this still: snowy or icy.  For those with boots, this wasn't too much of an issue.  For those with tennis shoes, a bit more so.

View of the beech.

Gene the tree climber.

On the way to the shore, we saw a yearling bull grazing on grass.  Most of us stood at a good distance, taking pictures.  Two of us got danger close, which our Biology major strongly warned against.  It wasn't happy, but didn't really react to us.  We took a different path since he was right next to the pavement there.

After going around the bull and cutting through some devil's club, we came to the beech.

Really beautiful view of the water.

We stood up on the sand banks because down there was icy mud (not good to stand on).

Jeremiah and the mountains.

More view.  To the upper right there is apparently Fire Island.  No not that one.

Shore.

On the way back we came across the bull again.

After leaving Kincaid park we went to another comic shop.  Then we went to the mall.  I bought Mr. Penguino there.  Then we went to a chocolate store (shown above).  I got a chocolate mocha there.

I can turn him inside out to make a neck rest.

Then we went to Moose's Tooth.

Top: Buffalo chicken with ranch and carrots

Bottom: Pesto with tomatoes and raisins

Top: I completely forgot

Bottom: Gyro pizza

Then we went back to church and watched Megamind.  

Tuesday we packed up, cleaned up, and headed back.  The scary part was that it was snowing.  For folks down in the lower 48, snow makes driving real hard. On the way we got to help some Chinese tourists get their car towed out of a bank.  

Life updates:

I'm going to need to put some work into being able to pay for my senior year.  I have several scholarships I know about that I will pursue this break.  But I will need plenty more.  I also hope to take out more loans or increase my current loan.  For those who are curious, I don't know what I'm doing this summer, and I don't know when I'll know.  I was really hoping to go to the linguistics conference on campus, but for one, I wasn't awarded the fellowship I wrote, and for two, I need to make money this summer.  It may be that I do some kind of summer or tourism job up here, or it may be that I come back home and work wherever I can find a job.  I'd definitely prefer something related to libraries, teaching, or linguistics, but I'm probably going to have to take what I can get.

Prayers for opportunities would be greatly appreciated.  Also tips or heads up about jobs or scholarships or whatever helpful would be great.

:)

February Fun

English used to have a TV distinction.  'Thou' was informal, 'you' was formal.  Over time we lost 'thou' and kept the formal second person singular, 'you'.

Onto things you guys might find more fun, on Friday I went glow putting.  It's an indoor mini-golf course with lighting on the walls and on the sides of the lanes; everything else was black.

The entrance to Glow Putt.  It's in the same building as Fairbank's furniture store.

An overview of the golf course and also two of my golf-mates.

The balls glowed because they had LEDs in them.  Mine was pink.

Us waiting around for people to take their shot.  The starting point was at the bottom of this picture and the hole was behind the pillar there.

While the walls of the lanes were neon, the 'grass' itself was black.  This meant that we couldn't really see where the slopes or hills were because there were no shadows.

One of the loop-the-loops in the course. 

Us putting.

Another loop-the-loop.  There were colorful neon animals and scenery on the walls.

David putting.

Our resident math grad Tyler tallying up the scores.

After we putted, we went over to College Town Cremery to get yogurt.  We all got to sit around a table and talk together.  We talked a lot about how American fast food restaurants are different in Japan with the Japanese exchange students.  Apparently their Subways have Calamari as an option, which made me jealous.

Saturday night, David, his wife Clarice, and I went to the UAF vs NNU womens' basketball game.  It was fun, even though it's not my choice of entertainment (and also even though we lost).  I don't care for the people who get caught up in it and disrespect the referees.  I was more worried about the players getting hurt than how calls were being made.

I've been having a hard semester so far.  To take off some of my burdens, I am no longer going to Cuba, I am no longer working on my project to go to Sitka, and I am no longer taking Aikido.  I am doing much better with things off my plate, and I have gotten largely caught back up.  As it currently stands, I am still hoping to stay here for the summer.  Whether or not that will happen still hinges on me being awarded the fellowship, but I remain optimistic.

I'm confident I'll finish this semester.  I need to be looking into scholarships so as to minimize how many loans I'll be taking my senior year.  I have no idea what will happen after graduation, but I will need to begin paying back my debt soon thereafter.  Perhaps I will get some work study job that pays for grad school.  Or perhaps I may go teach English overseas with some program that will forgive my debt.  However it goes, I really want to do something that's relevant to the education I've been getting.