Integrit-izzle

So today was a hard day. I stayed up late working on my clinical write-up and it was really frustrating and I don’t know if I even did that well on it. Then I had to wake up early this morning because it is my long day of classes on campus. By the time I got ready and got my paper all printed and ready, I left a little later than I normally do, and so I had to basically run up to campus and from where I live it normally takes me at least 10 minutes or 15 to get to this class, but today I made it in 7 because I was really cruising.
And I am almost always (like 99% of the time) on time for class anyway, but I know I always have to be on time to this class in particular because they have quizzes about every other time and you don’t get to take it unless you are there right on time and they won’t give you the powerpoint handouts (the notes) for the class either unless you are on time.
So I was feeling pretty good when I ran in with a whole minute to spare. Aubrey was saving me a seat and I slid into it and sure enough, we were having a quiz. Now usually, these quizzes are basically just attendance-based and so as long as you are there and take it, it doesn’t matter how many points you actually get, they just give you 100%, but not today. And because I was Indianapolis last week, I didn’t read and I haven’t gotten caught up yet and so I still haven’t read the material for last week (which is what the quiz was on) plus I hadn’t reviewed over my notes or anything since class a week ago, and blah blah blah.
Anyway, the point is when I looked at the questions I knew I was in trouble. There were 5 and I only really knew 2. And that is exactly how many I got right. 2. 2 out of 5. 4 out of 10 points. Which 6 points no big deal, but that is how many points I missed on my first EXAM and now I just missed that many points again within a matter of seconds over a stupid little quiz. And I didn’t do so well on my second exam in that class and so I could have really used the points. And this is my ICU class and there just really aren’t a lot of points that you can miss. Also I was bummed because I almost put the right answer on 2 of them but I second-guessed myself.
I tell this story because I was pretty disappointed, in fact I almost cried (I think that was just because I am just SO tired though and it was frustrating) but also because it could have turned out another way.

When I didn’t know the answers, I was really tempted to look down on either side of me at Taniel’s or Aubrey’s papers. They are both smart girls, and although they were kind of whining that they didn’t really know either, I was pretty sure they knew better than me on this one. But I didn’t look. I thought, “you know, this is a really BIG deal right now, but in the grand scheme of things, it definitely is not worth cheating for.”

I don’t write about this to pat myself on the back, because honestly I am appalled that I even really considered looking at either of their papers, but because after the class I was feeling REALLY discouraged about getting a 4, and Aubrey and I went over to the auditorium in the basement of the Art Museum to watch the devotional like we normally do.
Elder Jon Huntsman spoke. I think the main focus of his talk was about how God didn’t set us up to fail in this life which I totally believe, but he started his talk out by saying “Without integrity nothing else matters and with integrity nothing else matters.” and then he said it at least 2 more times throughout his talk. And I instantly was SO grateful that I had made the right decision that morning to miss a few little stupid points but keep my integrity because I know that really is what matters. If I hadn’t I cannot even imagine how I would have felt when I heard him say that. I probably would have wanted to crawl under my chair and bury my head into the sick nasty floor and hide.
I hope you won’t think less of me that I even considered cheating (because I know probably most of you never would have) but I don’t really care, because I didn’t do it, and boy am I so grateful and I think or at least hope that it won’t ever be such a strong temptation again, because I already know what I am going to do (or not do) now.

cheating has apparently gotten a little more high-tech these days?!

Horrific but Hillarious

Check this out!!
All I can say is "OH MY GOSH!!"
Incredible.

Halloween in Indy

Yep, three posts in one day. It's Sunday so I'm not doing homework, and I am in Indianapolis so there aren't any sick or afflicted people I know around that I should be visiting.

So last night was Halloween. Possibly one of the most uneventful Halloween nights of my entire life, EXCEPT for the fact that on our way home from eating at the famous Irish Pub (notice I said EATING, not drinking; and we were with our 2 BYU PROFESSORS) across the street from our hotel, we passed a bar that had a security guard standing outside dressed in probably the most UN-PC Halloween costume I have ever seen!

He was dressed up all in Middle-Eastern attire, turban and all, and then had like 20 sticks of DYNAMITE strapped to his stomach!

I am not saying that I am the most PC person ever, and am actually probably far from being such. However, even I was somewhat appalled or at least found his little get-up quite jaw-dropping. I wonder what Mr. Obama would say. Tsk. Tsk.

You Might be a Recluse if. . .

. . . you don't mind eating in a sit-down restaurant all by yourself.

Two posts in one day!! No I am not bored, but I wanted to share another experience with you from my trip. So tonight Christie Sue was out at her brother's house and my professors had something else which left little not-so-old me "home" alone with no one to go to dinner with. I think some people might have just ordered take-out or room service, or waited until 9:30 pm when Christie Sue got back and had already eaten dinner but asked her to go anyway, not me.

Finding myself in this situation, I thought, I can sit here and be hungry or I can treat myself to a night out on the town. Okay so I didn't quite treat myself to a "night out on the town" because being in a somewhat of a strange city and it being dark, I didn't really dare venture out farther than across the street, which put me at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Said restaurant is not exactly my FAVORITE restaurant by any means, but it did the job nicely.

The hostess sat me at this cute little table with luxurious tall wing-backed comfy chairs. My waitress was very kind and gave prompt service, and I have to say that I overall, I quite enjoyed myself. At first I was kicking myself for not bringing my planner or something to keep me busy, but I now am glad that I didn't.

I am not saying that I would rather go out to dinner by myself every time instead of with friends. I much prefer the dinner with good friends option. I am simply wanting to say, that instead of being a TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD experience, it was actually quite liberating and refreshing. I think I quite enjoy my own company.

That is all.

Windy Indy

Here I am reporting in from Indianapolis. Who knew it would take getting out of Provo to get me to start writing on here again. "Why Indianapolis?" you ask? Well you see there is some big biennial Sigma Theta Tau International (an international honor society) conference that I got chosen to go to. And lest you start thinking that I am super cool, the only reason I really got chosen is because my name was drawn out of a hat of like 5 eligible people, so don't go off thinking I am too wonderful. :)
Anyway, I came here along with one other student who I went to Ecuador with and two of our professors. We presented a research project that was conducted about using student nurses in global health efforts (Ecuador). It was pretty cool because we are like two of probably 15 students at this conference of probably more than 500 people and then we actually presented. There were probably only 30 people that attended our presentation, but when I started our presentation by introducing us as students, you could just hear the awe pass over the room. It was pretty cool.
We probably weren't the most professional presentation in the conference, but I can say that at least out of the group of the three presentations that we presented with we were probably the most fun and interesting to listen too. Not to pat myself on the back or anything. . . :) It just seemed like everyone else was so caught up in using sophisticated terms and everything that you just kind of got lost in the details, instead of leaving with a good overall picture of what they were saying. One cute lady in the front of the room even gave us a little standing ovation. It was so adorable.
The whole experience has been interesting, and it makes me want to always continue learning, but I also have realized how much I like being on the practical side of things. So many of the nurses here have not actually worked as a nurse on the floors of the hospitals in YEARS, they are all professors or nurse educators, etc. which are very important, I just don't know if I ever want to be on that side of things. I think much prefer the patient interaction.
Today we watched our chapter get its first key award. Don't ask me what that means exactly, but apparently it is kind of a big deal. Then we went to the Spanish branch. It was so fun. We got there a little late because we got a little lost, well not actually lost, but it took us longer than it should have because we had to drive around the football (Colts vs. 49ers) traffic to get there. Anyway, we walked in with a little family that even as they were hopping out of their car I thought to myself, "I bet they are investigators or new members" because they just seemed a little nervous. We walked in with them, and showed them to the chapel where an elder came out to meet them.
Luckily we sat just a few rows behind them and it was just so fun because it so took me back to mission days as I watched them try to figure out how to follow along and sing the hymns. I wanted to tap the elder and tell him that they needed help, but I couldn't reach him nor them. She figured it out though by the last verse of the closing hymn. Anyway it took me back. Also the fact that it was fast and testimony meeting and I remember always praying as a missionary that none of the members would say anything too weird. :)
After church, Christie Sue (the other student), took off to see her brother who lives pretty nearby, and the rest of us went back to the conference. I only went to one more set of breakout sessions and then Sheri and I, took off back towards the hotel but ended up just walking around the historical center of the city. It is so pretty. I guess I just never really thought of Indianapolis as a place with a lot of history but we saw the Civil War monument and then even went inside the World War II history museum (which really had stuff from nearly every war that the U.S. has been involved in, not just World War II) and that was pretty neat because with everyone being at the Colts game, we were the ONLY ones in the museum.
Then we headed home and here I am now. Anyway, I was pretty bummed about missing Halloween with all of the friends peeps, but it has been a pretty fun weekend and I have appreciated having Christie Sue here with me who keeps reminding me that we are on "VACATION" every time I get stressed about not going to all of the conference or about taking a nap or relaxing.
Overall, my first time to Indianapolis has turned out to be a real treat. I still think I would rather end up in Boston than here, but it is a lot prettier and has more history than I would have thought.
I will try to post a few pics of the trip when I get home.

PS If you ever want to feel REALLY PRETTY just walk around downtown Indianapolis after the football game got out and all of the drunken fans are heading home. FUN!

Hello School, Goodbye Blog

I know some of you are very disappointed kate's blog viewers these days due to the lack of "postage" that has been happening as of late. I really have written half of my summer wrap-up entry and have all sorts of hopes for finishing it someday soon, but until then, just know that school is back in. I am studying psychiatric and critical care unit nursing this semester and a humanities class and actually am enjoying it all quite a bit, but it takes up most of my life.
Busy and happy,
kate

What She Said

Dear Blog,

Sorry I suck at updating you. I will nurture you more later. But a soon later. . .(probably)Thats all

~me

I might even suck even more than the person who wrote this, my friend, Andrea, because I didn't even write it myself, I ripped it off of her.
I can promise though that a summer summary is coming soon.

Remembering

Hi. I know I have kind of neglected this blog for a while. I promise to post a summer wrap-up post this weekend, but for today being 9/11 I thought I would post this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkWc_EKLs4E
Check it out. It's worth it.

at least it's out of the way

I ran 12 miles this morning. That is the longest run I am going to do before the race and BOY am I glad. 10 wasn't really hard, but today almost killed me.
PS Thank you Tanner Family from me and Stephanie, we were dying and needed water and stopped by but no one answered so we helped ourselves to the hose out back. Hope that was okay! ;)

FHE Music Video

This is a music video we made with our FHE group for the ward music activity. Enjoy!

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/5383499/14184416

PS I ran 10 miles this morning and am feeling pretty good about myself! (Not to pat myself on the back or anything. . . just throwing it out there so you all can. ;) )

Home is Where the Parents Are

That's right! I went "home" to Seattle this past week. It was kind of weird because when people found out that I was going out of town, and would ask where I was going and I would say to visit my parents in Seattle, and they would always say, "but I thought you were from Provo!"

At the same time though, I kind of like it because it's like I am now having the "real" college experience of actually not just living outside of my home during college but actually more than 2 miles AWAY from "home."

Anyway, it was a good week. It's always good to see my parents. As they could or most likely already have told many of you, I'm not the best phone talker, and I never have been really with ANYONE, so it really is a treat to just be able to go and hang out with them for a little while. They may be a little "older," but they are definitely some of my best friends.

Let me tell you though, it was no relaxing vay-cay as I might have guessed or expected. I don't know why I actually thought it would be though seeing as I have had how many years growing up with my action-packed-trips-planner father. (I think that the Wimmers and any other family friends can definitely testify with me on this one)

I won't bore you to death with all of the details, but here are a few of the highlights:

SPIRITUAL

• Getting to see my parents teach their institue classes on the living prophets and a marriage prep class (okay that one, might have mostly just been pretty entertaining! PS You'll have to ask my Dad or the institute kids about the "Dating Stimulus Package" he has set up.)
• Going to TWO wards on Sunday. I being the little diablita (devil) that I am, sweet talked my dad out of attending the THIRD one that day.

EDUCATIONAL

• My parents took me on a little U-dub campus tour. Their campus is beautiful! I especially liked the library. They have a study hall inside that looks like something out of Hogwarts.

PHYSICAL

• There is a sweet running trail right next to my parents apartment so that made it easy to keep up with my training for the half-marathon (that and my parents bought me some really nice new and PINK running shoes). I ran 7 miles one of the days which is more than I had ever run before in my entire life! In high school I only ever ran up to six miles at once for basketball. So I felt pretty good about myself.


• Also, my parents (including DAD) have become pretty avid evening speed-walkers, and so I got to do 2-a-days a couple of times trying to keep up with them at night after having run in the morning.

DELICIOUSNESS

• We hit up the local Pho (pronounced Fuh) hot spot on campus. It was delicious! I guess all you need to know when ordering Pho, in the Seattle area at least, is to get a number 1 or number 2. The kids there say it doesn't matter which restaurant, it's always the same thing. It was delicious.
• Gelato. There is this place--the Botega--has the absolute BEST gelato I have ever had since coming home from Italy. Our favorite is the pear one. If you're ever in Seattle, it is an absolute must-try.
• On my last night, we went to probably one of my favorite restaurants of ALL time--Maggiano's. Gnocchi with pesto--enough said.
• Mom's delicious Sunday dinner--turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and homemade rolls. I got spoiled big time.

TRAVELING

With it being the 4th of July weekend, not many of the kids were going to be around Thursday and the institute was closed Friday and Saturday, so Mom and Dad got permission to take a little trip with me for a few days.

• San Juan Islands. They were beautiful. We rented scooters and rode around the whole island of Friday Harbor. We made stops along the way at the lilac farm, a lighthouse where we got to watch basically a parade of orcas swim by. It was the first time I had ever seen a whale outside of Sea World so it was pretty exciting and there were so many of them and they were pretty close to us too. We also got to stopped to see the American and English soldiers' camps. I somehow managed to get stung by a bee TWICE though during our little scooter adventure. The first time it was just on my shoulder and didn't hurt too bad, but the second one flew right in over the top of my sunglasses and started buzzing between my glasses and my eye and of course in the process managed to give me a huge sting. Keep in mind, that I was also at this moment trying to keep from crashing myself off of the side of the island down the rocks and into the water. Yep, I'm pretty lucky I guess to be able to get stung twice in one day.

This picture doesn't do the bee's work justice. I woke up the next morning with my eye swollen half-shut!

• O Canada. We got stamps in our passports as we crossed the border into Victoria. We stayed at a beautiful hotel there for the two nights. We went to Buchart gardens on Friday morning and then in the afternoon hit up the museum and the National Geographic IMAX theater. It was a good day.

• 
  


• Port Angeles, Forks and La Push. On our way home on Saturday, we swung through Port Angeles, and the famous Twilight towns of Forks and La Push. We didn't manage to see any vampires or werewolves though so it was a little bit of a bust.

• Last but not least, we found this "troll" under the freeway bridge. If you look close, you can see that he has a VW bug in one of his hands. Random, but cool.
  

It was a fun trip, and Mom is already scheming trying to plan my next one out there. I haven't given her any firm dates yet, but I am sure that it will be sooner rather than later. Thanks for the fun week Mom and Dad, or "Elder and Sister Thornton!"

Summer Plans

It's 1:23 am, but I can't sleep so what better else to do than write on my blog and let you all know about my plans for the summer.

First of all, I don't think that I ever wrote on here that I have started to work at the MTC. I started right before I left for Ecuador, met my district for 1 day and then I left and they had a teacher sub in my place for the month I was gone and then I came back and they were in their 5th week. I like it a lot. It stretches me and makes me almost feel like I am back out in the field because I find myself stressing and thinking about them all day even when I am not at work just like we do with investigators. It will be good though.

I also am still doing some work for the Vein Center. I just have a hard time leaving that place. Everyone is just so good to me, they are really flexible with my hours and they have killer bonuses and kick backs. I will have to quit in the fall. Actually, I don't know if I will officially quit, maybe just stay on prn, but I won't be able to handle working at both during the school year. It was a hard decision to "leave" just because I do like them so much, but I figure that I will be able to do medical stuff for the rest of my life if I choose, and working at the MTC is kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I also started working at the Provo Temple a couple of weeks ago. It has been in the plans since I got home from the mission, but it takes a while for everything to be processed, to schedule an interview with President Bateman (yeah that was cool) and by that time I was about to go to Ecuador, so I decided to wait to start until after I got back. I work Monday mornings from 6 to 11, so if any of you want to come in during that time I would love to see you. I have really loved it so far. First of all, I feel like I have 30 new grandmas. The first day, they all were calling me Kathy (not really sure why), but then one of them read my nametag last time and realized that it was Katie, and quickly spread the word to the other ladies. So cute. Second of all, I think that it will really help me take the time to ponder and meditate a little more which is something I have really been missing lately. So that is exciting.

If that isn't enough to keep me busy, I finally decided to go ahead and sign up for the Provo Canyon half-marathon on August 8th. I had been wanting to do it for a while, but wouldn't ever commit myself, but I paid on Monday and so there is no turning back. I don't really have a time goal or anything, just a goal to run the whole time. I convinced three of my other roommates to do it with me, so that will be fun. I have a lot of work to do to work up to 13 miles, but it will be good.

Travel plans:

I am going to go up to Seattle again and visit my parents at the end of June when my missionaries leave for the field.

My friend Eleanor and I are planning on putting together a roadtrip out to Mount Rushmore sometime this summer which should be really fun (there are still spots available on this one, so if you are interested, let me know. . . ).

My cousin Becca and I are planning on travelling out of the country for her birthday, August 14. We still don't have firm dates or even a destination yet, just that we will leave after I run on August 8th and make sure that we are gone over her birthday. Becca is in Africa right now, so she's kind of left it up to me to choose our destination with the sole request being that it be a country she's never been to before which doesn't sound too hard until you see her list: USA(born and raised), Australia, Canada(2 times), United Kingdom(3 times), Ireland, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Argentina(2 times), China/Hong Kong, Guatemala(4 times), Honduras, Mexico(3 times),Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Holland(2 times), Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Thailand, France(2 times), Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Belgium, Ethiopia, Kenya, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Paraguay, Brazil (3 times), Costa Rica, and Belize(2 times). Ridiculous. The girl even has plans to go to Anarctica this January or February! Jealous. I think the top contenders right now are: Switzerland, Greece and Denmark, but we'll see.

And sometime before the summer ends, I will also need to go on a couple overnight camping trips or something random and fun.

So yeah. My Grandma Fern summed it up best when I was talking to her the other day on the phone. She said, "Well at least you don't have to worry about waking up in the morning and not knowing what to do with yourself." She is right, and it should be fun.

I hate when I do stupid things

So I am sick today. I have actually been sick with a nasty cough and congestion for over a week, but refused to let it really slow me down. I didn't feel too bad this morning--tired, but not bad. I got up and ran, came back, showered and headed over to the parents' place to do some work for them. I haven't had much of an appetite all week but especially not today. I only had eaten like two little oatmeal cookies and a string cheese by 3 o'clock when I left my parents' house. Driving home, I found myself falling asleep at the wheel (it's only like 1 mile I know!). I was supposed to be at work at the MTC at 5 so I showered, and after, I was so tired that I decided to lay down for a few minutes. I only was able to sleep for like 15 minutes and then I decided I had better get up and get something to eat and finish getting ready before I had to take off.
So I went out to the kitchen, put some water on to boil, talked to my roommate Shar for a minute and then headed back to the bathroom to dry my hair. At this point, I started to get really light headed and I couldn't even stand in one place to dry my hair without swaying around like I was about to pass out or fall over. I didn't have a lot of time so I just kept trying to dry my hair. Next thing I know, I am running into the bathroom and am sitting on the floor and emptying what little I had eaten throughout the day. I had to call in sick obviously to the MTC which I felt SUPER bad about because my missionaries have already had subs almost every day this week for their other teacher, but there was no way I could go, so what are you going to do.
Anyway, the point is: I hate when I do stupid things. I don't know if any of you remember or read the post I put up about http://doihavetheswineflu.com/ only to come home and find that my own workplace was inundated with real cases of the H1N1 itself. I don't really think that I have the swine flu, especially because I haven't ever had a fever, and am actually running a low temp but it still makes me regret and feel stupid about mocking the swine flu when now I myself am somewhat wondering if I will become a victim to it. I hope that someday I will learn not to mock silly things because they always seem to come back and bite me in the end.

final post of Ecuador

check out the 27th!!!

TGIF

Friday the 22nd is up

Feeling Expensive

So today I woke up around 7 am and laid in bed in and out of sleep until 9--my favorite. I love waking up to my own body and the sun and not an abnoxious alarm. We then all mosied on down for the breakfast buffet. So good. We all ate way too much. The hot chocolate reminded me of the kind we used to treat ourselves to once a transfer in Spain. Super rich and delicious.

After breakfast, we went to the Casa de Cultura--a museum Allie had found online. We asked the concierge if it would be possible to find a taxi for 6 people, and told us about the bus that was just around the corner and went straight there. Feeling adventurous, we agreed. The bus was fun. We held our bags close to us the whole time and giggled the whole way there just loving the spontaneity of this whole last day excursion.

The museum was way cool. They had art and artifacts dating back from approx. 12,000 BC until the present time. I was amazed at how well preserved most of the pieces were. It was incredible. My favorite piece of the whole museum was a painting on wood of Christ and His mother, Mary. It was just so intimate. It only really showed their faces, but you could tell that He was lying in her arms after being crucified. The thing I loved was all of the emotion that was in the painting without Christ looking so weak and helpless or Mary looking hopeless. It was stunning. Of course the artist was unknown and they didn't have a print of it or anything down in the gift shop, so I will tell you about so that I won't forget the beauty of it.

I loved the museum. We haven't done a lot of artsy things on this trip, and so it was great. I was missing my Erin though. I know it would have been even better had you been there to explain how fantastic everything there was and the symbolism to me.

After the museum, we came home but were still too full to eat so we lounged around until about 2 o'clock and then headed down for another delicious free meal. Lunch did not disappoint either. It was probably one of the most delicious meals I have had on this trip. What am I saying? It DEFINITELY was the most delicious meal I have had on this trip. They served us ceviche as an appetizer. It is a shrimp/salsa thing that Ecuador is famous for. Neither Allie or I like shrimp that much, but didn't want to pass up the free opportunity to try it, so we shared a bowl. I tried it. It actually wasn't even that bad. The salsa is good, and I could barely taste the shrimp. Maybe someday I won't be such a new-food-pansy. There was a dessert bar and I chose a chocolate cake thing with whip cream and raspberry sauce. Most of the desserts down here have always looked a lot better than they have actually tasted, but that was not the case with this one. Chocolate goodness.

Now, it is 3:30 and we are heading up to the pool they have here and will swim in the pool, sit in the hot tub, enjoy the sauna and steam room and just relax. This is good for me. ;) Our only plans for the rest of the evening are to shower, pack, eat dinner, and take some sweet pics of our new place before we take off for the airport at 8. This is the best act of service I have ever performed. Thank you Delta Airlines.

Megan summed today up best when she said, "I just feel so expensive right now." Sad part is, we definitely do not look expensive, especially because none of us have ANY clean or nice clothes left. So we will try not to embarrass the hotel too much.

I just made $400 in 2 minutes!

So my flight for the U. S. of A. is leaving in 37 minutes, but I will NOT be on it! Why? $400 in Delta vouchers, a one-night stay in a 5-star hotel, free food and transportation is why!
I got the offer first and Allie was checking in at the same time and I asked her if she would do it with me. She had some plans back on the homefront so she faltered, so I turned to Sonya, related her the details, after thinking about it for a minute, she was in. Then Allie seeing us all excited decided to ditch her plans and join us for the party. Three more girls decided to join us. Two of the boys called their wives but when they heard the sadness of their wives about the 24-hour delay it was a no go. Oh the joys of being single and unattached!
I'll be arriving Saturday morning at 10:25 am! See you then!

Allie & I living it up in the posh. Yep those are REAL roses. BEAUTIFUL!

Slippers party!

Ecuador Excursion

So today we did some of this

And this

It was definitely one of the most fun days of the trip. Zip-lining was exhilarating! We got to do 13 different runs for only $8!! I love Ecuador! There were super fast ones, one where they bounced the cable up and down so you were springing around just trying not to catch your neck on the cable, and one SUPER long one. Loved it. They also let us do tricks with the guides. I got to do Superman twice. I will attach a video of that so you can see it.

The other trick I got to do was “mariposa” (butterfly). Basically you are attached to the guide and I guess somehow to the cable, not really sure about that actually (hmmm. . . that’s kind of scary now that I think about it), and you are hanging upside down in like a big X (almost like a butterfly, hence the name). The butterfly one was a little scarier and more thrilling, but I liked Superman better because you got to just look down and around you and you really felt like you were flying. Awesome.
The best part was that after we were done, I realized that they never even had us sign a waiver or anything. Things are just so much simpler down here. I love it.
I was ready to do it all again, along with the majority of the students after we were finished, but we had a waterfall hike already planned so we jumped into the back of these trucks (that is kind of the mode of transportation it seems when going out into the mountains or out of the major city).
We took a tram ride over to the other side of this valley thing to start our hike. The “tram” was actually scarier than the ziplines! I think that it was probably at least 100 years old or something. Well, maybe it was not actually 100 years old, but it definitely looked like it was.





Then we hiked around through the Amazons for a couple of hours. The waterfalls were beautiful. It all just seems like a movie or a dream now because it just doesn’t seem real that there are actually places like this in the real world and not just in the movies. I loved it. Hiking back up and out we started getting a little bored, so of course we had to sing a few girls camp songs. Poor boys.

After the adventures, we had a 2 ½-hour ride home back through the jungle and pretty mountains and hills. I snuggled up to the window and listened to Screwtape Letters on my iPod. My favorite. It was a perfect set-up to contemplate my tiny little life and the universes. All in all, I would say it was a pretty darn good day.

A friend we picked up along the way

Okay the smile MAY be a little fake. . . because gross!!

Highway Robbery & Drug Smuggling

We left Guayaquil today. As we packed up last night I felt like I was leaving home again. We made so many friends there, even within the hotel—Angel and Ronald the doormen; Papi (don’t know his real name, we just called him that because we always had to ask him for the sheet to sign out whenever we left the hotel so our instructors would know where we were, and he liked the name); Freddy was our favorite guy at breakfast; and of course our girls that helped us clean our room: Teresa, Lady and Nelly.
We arrived in Quito around 11:30 am today. It is TOTALLY different than Guayaquil. It is super green and the streets are a lot cleaner, and it just seems a little less third-worldish. I have to remember though that we did basically only see the airport and then we drove through the town on our way out to Otovalo. Even though it is cleaner and nicer looking though, Guayaquil will always have a very special place in my heart because of the friends I met and was hopefully able to serve there and maybe even because it wasn’t so nice looking.
We did have an experience at the airport that didn’t leave the best taste in our mouths of Quito though. As a group of 22 people, and even worse, 22 American people, getting around is sometimes a little bit of a circus. After we got off the plane, we went down and got all of our bags at the baggage claim no problem. We then in herd-like fashion started exiting the airport looking for our Quito/Otovalo tour guide, Ornela, and the bus we would be getting on to go out to Otovalo. We found Ornela as soon as we exited the airport and she waved the bus over to get us. As we were walking out to the bus, all of these people started swarming us, some asking for money, others asking to take our bags. Thanks to my mom, I have awesome luggage, that sticks out so that it is easy to find and all chains together really well, so it is super easy to manage and so I just kept telling them, “No. I’ve got it, thanks.”
So we all form this line to get our luggage put under the bus and still there are like 4 people helping put the luggage in. We knew after, that really we only had one bus driver that probably should have been helping. Where the other people came from, I have no idea. Luckily though, I just stood there until I had handed them each piece of my luggage and watched them load them each into the bus. I then got on the bus.
Anyway, there were six of us on the bus—me, my two roommates (Allie and Mykel), Jarom (one of the 3 boys on the trip with us), Marie and Tricia. Allie and I just sat down and were putting ourselves together—arranging bags, sweaters, etc. Then I notice that there is this woman walking down the aisle of the bus. I think nothing of it, except I poke Allie and say, “Hey look at those girl’s sunglasses! They are super cute!” Allie agreed and we kept on doing whatever we were doing (which was nothing). Next thing I know, there is someone tapping on the other side of the bus and talking to Marie, I look over there to see who it is, just as a man dressed in really nice clothes, comes and taps on our side of the bus and starts talking to Jerome. He says, “Where are you from?” As if it isn’t obvious?! We are like a walking American flag everywhere we go. I don’t really pay attention to anything else the man says, but can’t help but notice the big cheesy grin the guy is sporting. It was almost like he was playing the permasmile game himself. Eventually the tappers of both sides of the bus leave and then Tricia is frantically searching for her backpack.
The story is that some man in a white button-up official looking shirt got on the bus and asked Jerome if he could help him with his backpack, and Jerome said no. He then moved on to my roommate Mykel and was able to talk her into giving him her carry-on bag but not her backpack. He put it above her head and then moved it down towards the front of the bus. She noticed and said, “No! Aqui.” (pointing for him to bring it back above her head) and so he did. Unfortunately Tricia was not as lucky. He asked for her bag and she let him put it up on the shelf above her head, and then as far as we can guess, he slid it to the front of the bus with him as he walked off and was able to take off with it while the people were tapping on the sides of the bus! It had everything in it—her computer (with pictures of her and her fiancé that she was going to put in her wedding video), her iPod, her camera and $150 cash. So sad. We all pitched in $10 or whatever, but even still that barely even covered her lost cash! Sondra (one of the professors) said that we could use the leftover money we have from the trip to help her out too, which will hopefully help a little more, but still, such a bummer! We are super lucky though that they didn’t get more bags. It could have been way worse. I still am puzzled as to why they didn’t even ask Allie or I. I know that I probably would have been dumb enough to give them my bag too. He just looked like he belonged to the bus crew! I never would have guessed that someone would have the guts to get on the bus and do that if they weren’t a part of the bus staff or whatever. We know better now I guess.

Taniel, one of my friends here, randomly took a picture of the bus at the precise moment when the distractions were happening. You can’t see any faces, but you can see the man’s shadow in the bus. Freaky. Our tour guide made Tricia go through the whole process of reporting it and everything which took forever and even Tricia herself didn’t want to do it, because she knew that she would never see any of her stuff again regardless, but whatevs. We all are going to be a lot more cautious from now on, even with our own tour guide because there are some reasons for suspicion of her possible involvement, not that we will ever find out for sure, so I will try not to false accuse.
After getting through that mess, we had a 2-hour bus ride to Otovalo to the prettiest little hotel on the lake. Here is the link to it and you can check it out yourselves. http://www.puertolago.com/

Our room is the top window on the farthest left

It was a fun change up from the city. Everything is a lot greener and prettier here. It is like a new country. Beautiful. I still love Guayaquil though. The rooms here are more like cabins and we also don’t have the best internet service or whatever so that is kind of a downer especially for the married and engaged peeps on the trip, but it is really nice and relaxing here. It has a kind of Tahoe-like feel. Love it.

Just chilling on the dock looking at the Andes

We went out to the Ponchos Fair right after check-in and we stayed there for almost 4 hours finding and buying lots of cool stuff and lots of stuff that we didn’t need. J I bought a bunch of finger puppets for my cousin Lucy, some fun jewelry and another pretty nativity. I am a sucker for nativities. I also discovered a new favorite shopping partner, Allie. Like I have mentioned before, I am not the best at loving to shop and it was great to have another person who knows how to move through the “stores” with me and not linger too long. We probably missed out on a lot of good deals because we didn’t take time to look at everything, (not to mention because also I suck at bargaining! I just hate to feel like you are taking advantage of them just to save a few cents that they could use more than you. I didn’t ever pay the first price they asked though, so don’t be too ashamed).

Then we went out to eat at this restaurant our tour guide had picked out for us. It was really good. We had these like cheesey/meat crepe things that I wouldn’t have normally ordered for myself, but loved them. Then we went back to the hotel, had a quick devotional, and then girls night in our room. Of course we had to watch She’s the Man because what else would be more appropriate for girls night? Fun. If you are wondering why I look so stinking wide-eyed and alert in this picture, it is because I looked half doped-up in the one before and tried to make up for it in the second picture, but apparently overshot the mark.
After the other girls left, I was unpacking my suitcases a little, and when I opened my smaller suitcase I was met with an interesting surprise! I had a ton of extra room in that suitcase (because I had to bring a bunch of medical supplies over here that we had used in Guayaquil) so I had put everything in the suitcase, and then laid a black garbage bag over it and strapped everything down so it wouldn’t be floating around everywhere during the flight. Well when I opened my suitcase, I wasn’t surprised to see that a few of my things had wiggled their way out on top of the garbage bag, but what did surprise me was that there were several packages of medications that were ripped open laying on top of my bag.


We all freaked out for a minute and then called our professors to come over and check it out. Sondra and Cheryl were so good and quickly came over. Sondra put on latex gloves (yes, only nursing students probably pack latex gloves with them) and inspected it. It turned out just to be some topical anti-fungal medication and some vitamins. It was funny because as she dug into the box that had been ripped open, there was a piece of paper in there and she was like, “It’s a note!” Of course we all gasped, and then laughed when it turned out to be a prescription for the drugs.
I am still not really sure how those ended up in my bag, one of the creams must have also been opened too because I have some cream on my pajama bottoms and on a few other things, but overall, not too bad. It just added to the creepy day. Another girl on the trip, also found drugs in her bag in the same condition—ripped open boxes, just laid on the top of her stuff. Weird. Our guide is supposedly going to try to get the medications back to the person they were prescribed to, but we’ll see if she actually is able to. I hope so, the receipt said it was like $25 or something, which is a lot down here. Creepy, yet very pretty day.

4-wheeling, lunch, love & fun

Last day in Guayaquil. We were all scheduled to go to a final meeting with Hogar de Cristo to talk with them about the things we found in screening the kids and just do a wrap-up. We had an opening meeting with them though our first day here and it was interesting, but I really didn’t feel like we ALL needed to be there for it, so when my professor, Cheryl, asked me if I wanted to go out into the community with her again and do some more interviews I was totally on board.
We met some amazing women. One of the women was just SO excited about being a mom. She already had two children, but she was just still so excited and euphoric about the whole thing. It was really just an incredible experience getting to hear her talk about everything. She didn’t say anything particularly new or fascinating, but the sense of sheer enchantment with being a mom in her voice was contagious. Okay now I sound cheesy, I will stop now.

Wilson, one of the guys from Hogar de Cristo came to pick us up from the subcentro after the meeting at the office was done. Two of the boys from the group were with him and I wondered, “why did they come out? That’s weird.” As it turned out, they had convinced Wilson to take us all digging a little bit on our way back to the office in the ambulance (aka Land Rover). It was super fun. I’m so glad that sometimes boys don’t ever seem to grow up.
We met up with the rest of the group and headed back into town to meet with the Junta because they were providing a lunch for us. It was at a really nice restaurant right off the Malecón (the boardwalk). They had Spanish Tortilla on their menu and so I ordered it as my appetizer. But it was bad news. It definitely was not as good as Hermana Moreno’s or anyone else’s in Spain for that matter and actually made me more homesick for Spain than anything. Oh well. I guess I will just have to go back and visit! ;) Anybody up for a fun run to Spain?
After lunch we went home to blog, pack, and relax! For our final evening in Guayaquil, we got batidos (smoothies) at a little corner fruit shop and played love-odometer. This is basically a glorified game of MASH with playing cards. We had fun predicting each other’s future lives (husband, number of kids, wealth, etc.) and having girl talk. I love all the girls here. We seriously have so much fun together. Here’s the fortune telling crew with one of our awesome instructors- Cheryl.
The night was spent packing up all our gear, although we did have a little fun. Allie had a random idea earlier in the week to make a movie like we were Spiderman scaling the wall because our elevator had an open side that would pass by while we were going up. Anyway, we decided we should definitely make these videos we had talked about. We were exhausted and delirious so this probably was a lot funnier to us than it will be to you but enjoy!

Okay I am now seriously questioning my reasoning and sanity in putting out this incredibly embarrassing video of myself, but hopefully it will at least lighten someone's day or at least let you know that there are people in the world more easily entertained than you.

If you want another taste, you can check out Allie's Spiderman vid at http://alliejoyce.blogspot.com/2009/05/today-was-little-bittersweet.html

Interviews, Smiles, Ice Cream & Missionary Work

Today I went out to the subcentros again to do interviews. This time though I went with Allie because Cheryl had to stay with the other students at the hospital. It was so fun. The woman that took us around at this subcentro wasn’t as outgoing and didn’t seem to know the people as well, so she kept saying, “I don’t know of anyone else who has recently given birth.” And I would say, “Well, why don’t we ask these women sitting here on the corner if they know of anyone?” She would say, “I don’t even know them!” And this is where I would be so glad that I had served a mission, because during that year and a half of going up and starting conversations multiple upon multiple times a day with people that you had no idea who they were, I definitely got over the feeling awkward about it stage. Also, asking them if they knew of anyone who had recently had a baby is usually a whole lot easier than diving into something deep and asking them to change their lives. (Not quite as fulfilling, but easier.)

In asking around, we were able to find 2 women who had recently given birth and were able to do interviews with them. When we got back to the subcentro, the ambulance still wasn’t there to pick us up and there was a woman coming out who had just had a baby and she allowed us to follow us to her house and interview her there. When we got there, she took off her shoes before entering the house and so we did the same. She told us that we didn’t need to or whatever, but of course, if she herself did it and from the looks of the number of shoes on the porch, also made her children do it, how were we not going to do it. It was just a crazy feeling though to take off our shoes to enter the house when it really just seems like everybody is just always camping out here.




When we returned again to the subcentro, the head volunteer lady came out and apologized that she hadn’t been able to take us out to find women because she had been in a meeting and invited me to come back the next day. I told her that I would have to talk to my professors and see if it would be possible, but I would love to.
After clinical, the nursing program at the University of Guayaquil had invited us to come and tour their school. We went and toured the school which was actually incredibly like our own school back at the SWKT, except for one thing that they have that we all wish we had. Instead of using mannequins, they have their own “clinic” where real people come in to get checks and help and they are able to learn using real people. A little scary (on both sides) but cool. We also got to just chat with several of the students. It still amazes me sometimes how similar all of our concerns, complaints (about busy work), hopes and dreams are.

Driving home from the university, we were all a little tired and some were a little grouchy, so my friend Casey and I somehow came up with the “Permasmile game.” The rules were that you had to permasmile the whole way home. You could talk and do basically anything you wanted, as long as you were able to keep the permasmile on your face. We got almost the whole van involved. Let me tell you though, that after 20 minutes of all out grinning, our face muscles were absolutely quivering by the time we got home. It was a good dorky fun game though and it seemed to lighten everyone’s mood a little.

After burning off all of those calories exercising our faces, we decided that we needed to treat ourselves to ice cream at Fragolis, and not just their regular ice cream cones (which are incredible), but their famous stretched and chocolate dipped cones. See picture below. Good times.
Then we got showered and all pretty to go perform at a musical fireside. The missionaries who came to our ward on Sunday when we sang in sacrament had apparently spoken with their mission president and the other missionaries of their district and decided to do a musical fireside for their investigators and asked us to help them. So we sang Joseph Smith’s First Prayer again and some other song that I can’t remember right now. Yay for fun missionary experiences!