Sunday, October 11, 2009

It's raining on my laptop because I don't get internet at home and all the coffee shops are closed and I'm sitting on a patio with a leaky roof

I have updates. I'll make them quick:

-I'm in the process of applying to two grad schools, Eastern Washington University and University of Washington. I have two and a half months until the applications are due, and I feel totally overwhelmed at times. I've forgotten how to be academic. My favorite thing is that I have to submit a 15-20 page essay to UW, in addition to my poetry sample and my admissions essay (and of course application, reference letters, GRE scores, teaching assistantship application and essay). Unfortunately, I don't have a paper that long from college (I know, is there something wrong with that?), so I get to write one now. I got a few things done tonight, but there is so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much more to do.

-I officially got accepted to teach in Thailand!! They want me there from Feb. 4 through May 18. I can't believe this life I'm living is actually mine. In a good way.

-I went to the Maui county fair with Jeanie, Jeffree, Josh, and Angela a couple weekends ago. It was fun. Much much smaller than the MN fair (to put it simply), but with the same feel--lots of crowds, food, and dumpsters. It was interesting to see seas of dark-haired heads rather than blonds.

-I've started walking on the beach every morning with Luisa, one of our Paia work trade friends. She's really different than me, which I enjoy a lot--40, used to live a glamorous NYC life as a makeup artist, a raw foodist, live-in boyfriend and 15-year-old daughter.... It's fascinating hearing her stories and perspective. I also greatly appreciate the motivation to get up a bit earlier and get some exercise in my favorite form--sun, beach, and a dip in the ocean at the end.

-Jeanie, Josh, and I went camping last night, met up with this guy Josh knows and a huge group of random people. It was a lot of fun. We did the campfire thing, walked on the beach in the dark, looked at stars through the screen of the tent as we fell asleep, swam, hiked, swam, drove, and swam again today.... It's so weird, though, most of the time I feel like something is missing because Isaac is not here, not with his friends, not doing back flips off rocks into the water, not joking or asking me challenging questions as we walk. I associate hiking and swimming with him so much now that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do either again without thinking about him.

-I started another facebook album for the LAST THREE MONTHS OF MAUI!! Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042186&id=110900370&l=f120eeb7f2

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

yay for your teaching job!

And I am jealous of early morning sunshine and dips in the ocean!!

Good luck with grad school stuff! I'm studying for an accreditation interview and I am struggling so much with finding the motivation to sit down and study! I am all studied out after 17 years of school!!!

Senia said...

That essay does not sound fun! But... at least you're in Hawaii while you write it, and not Minnesota, where we're already getting snow and scraping our windshields in the morning while you take a dip in the ocean! ;-)

Good luck! Take it one step at a time - you'll get through it (...note to self!) :-)