This is the start of a new beginning

classes are over and I only have 2 tests and a paper

then I am finished

I am going home for the first time in a year

and I am SOOO EXCITED

so in honor of me not being as busy (or as lazy) as I have been in previous months

I am going to start posting pictures of all my art/craft/cooking/baking projects

because I am not typically a crafty/artsy/chef-like person

and I am pretty proud of some of the things I have been doing lately

so get excited folks, as Zac and Vanessa would say, this is the start of something new!

and good.

My new favorite thing is going to be omelette night at Cafe West

Sounds super classy right?

Well it isn't

It is the Provo hospital cafeteria and they have the BEST omelettes EVER

this is not a joke people

from the gigantic omelette for $3.50 to the chef making fun of Emily, and Liz, and me

it was the best night this week

please please please, if you live in Provo, find out when the next one is and GO!

It may just change your life

Let's hope that this...

doesn't keep me from this...

Hopefully the weather will cooperate tomorrow!

Well People, here it is

the one you have all been waiting for

My post about that one time I went to the Dominican Republic

for 6 weeks

and taught a robotics class

and got sick

and went to the temple

and fell in love with the people there

and found out what the ocean was

Basically I am trying to say that I loved it, and hated it

and at this moment I am wanting to go back

all of the students in my class

our driver Monsey

he is the most legit Dominican I know

he had a gun in his car and sometimes we would find half empty bottles of alcohol in his car

but I felt more safe driving with him than with anyone else

My Dominican mother

we could not communicate

and she watched soap operas all day

and made delicious food

I have a billion pictures like this

all the girls wanted pictures with mr. wright

One of my little church friends

the most adorable girl I have ever seen

We walked to school with cows

Annita, Me and Amberita

One of the creatures we found living in our home

Some of the others included crabs, acrobatic spiders and flying cockroaches

I bought almond type things from this kid

but he didn't know the conversion rates

and I only had american money

so I am pretty sure I got ripped off

but it was like maybe 3 dollars

so I let it go

The whole crew the first time we went to the beach

On the plane, just barely leaving the states!

Andreina, one of my students, painting my nails on the last day

All of our little church friends

they were much better behaved during sacrament meeting before we arrived

in my defense, it is hard to sit through 3 hours of church when you don't understand anything

When I found out what passion fruit really was and that I loved it

When I was so sick I thought I was going to die in the DR

and Anna comforted me

and spoon fed me soup

Turns out this is where Cashews come from

Who knew!

A very common sight

pretty much where we ended up for SEVERAL hours every day

The BEAUTIFUL Santo Domingo Temple

definitely one of the highlights of the trip was doing baptisms here

hot hot hot

Movie night in little America

basically we set up a bed in one fo the spare rooms to watch movies in

it got pretty hot in there but was a fun experience

any place that had some kind of advancement that the other rooms did not became a

"little America"

Eventually we got a hold of some speakers and used the projector to have amazing movie nights

complete with popcorn

I realize this is just a glimpse for you all into what was a very amazing experience for me

I am sure you will hear more as time goes on

but I hope this satisfies for now

I do not understand people

I was reading the comments section of a popular youtube video

which just happend to be made by some BYU students

and there are so many crazy, ridiculous, and outrageous people out there

I am not sure I am ever going to be ready to face the real world

but the sad thing is, there are some of those crazies here in Provo with me

you just can't win

here's the video, in case you haven't seen it, which I highly doubt

I would NOT recommend reading the comments

This is definitely going on my christmas wish list...

All I wanna do is...

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

and take your money

I was a mime again this year

Lame, I know, but I just really didn't want to put time and energy into my costume

and I had everything from that time I was a mime in a movie

Then I was a fairy randomly, since I did not want to put my mime face on for the second night in a row,

and that was what we had stuff for

and then I went and saw Despicable Me by myself with fairy glitter and makeup on my face

It was great

I am LOVING Kate Nash these days. SO much. I would like to thank Deeds for showing me how wonderful she is. My current favorite is this song. Perfect timing too since this video is very halloween-esque even if the song isn't.

because it is october

and

because it is almost halloween

and

because liz has good ideas

we went to the pumpkin patch

and picked us out some pumpkins

(they are all currently just sitting on our counter,

not really sure what is going to happen with them)

(SO photogenic)

(Riz working her pumpkins)

(The lovely ladies and their pumpkins)

A glorious thing happened today

2 of my classes ended

that's right

2 block classes - OVER!

There is so much joy in my heart right now due to this

and because I get to babysit my nephew on wednesday

and because there are ridiculous, and some great, pictures of me and the roomies up on fbook

Yes my heading is one of them

One sunday we had a picnic up the canyon

and maybe did a little roommate photoshoot as well

and here are some more, just for your viewing pleasure

Thanks to Jenna for taking these great gems

(Our attempt at a cheesy pose, that actually turned out)

(typical)

There are 3 new girls at work. For those of you who are not aware, I work with a lot of males and typically am the only girl on my shift. Essentially it is like I have a billion brothers, and it is great most of the time. So back to the new girls. They all seem really nice but unfortunately I don't work with them a lot. But recently I have been hearing how most of the guys in the NOC think these new girls are so attractive and they all want to ask them out. Well let me just tell you that the numbers do not really work out. 3 girls, and about 10, or more, guys. This could be some good drama, which I will love to watch. Should be interesting to see how this all works out.

Unfortunately Conference Weekend was not as great as I wanted it to be. I missed both of the saturday sessions and had a hard time staying awake on sunday... oops! I will be repenting and watching all of the sessions again. BUT I did get to go to Temple Square, which I love, and spend time with some of my favorite people, including Miss Morgan Wood, who came all the way from Arizona to play with me. (okay she really came for conference, but I like to pretend it was for me)

I hate that she can wear her hair in an asian bun and still be adorable

My dad's cousin Jason, who was in town from Virginia for a book signing

I also got to see my parents this weekend, which is always enjoyable

And Melanie came to play with Morgan so I got to see her as well and I am glad she came

In 2 weeks 2 of my classes are going to be over and I cannot wait

my mondays and wednesdays are about to be glorious

I should really start writing my papers earlier than an hour before they are due...

Lady Gag me

She is a freak show, and...

as much as I love some of her music I feel like this article is very good.

Thanks to Andrea for having it open on her computer.

I am three weeks into the semester and still alive

I don't love all of my classes, in fact I dislike most of them

But... I am hanging in there

I am loving my job

and my roommates

We had a party last weekend and it was AMAZING

Thanks to everyone who came to see my new house and party with me

Special shout-out to G&G Bohn who came all the way from Nevada (maybe not specifically for my party but they still put in a special appearance)

Thanks to my AWESOME roommates that I love

Life is so great living with them

I LOVE work these days. I am on a new shift and I thought that was going to be super hard since I was very attached to my previous shift

But I kind of like this new one

I have great student supervisors and a lot of the people from my old shift came to my new one with me

I just love all my NOC boys

They are my boys

and they are good

seriously

Wish me luck this weekend as my 3 favorite roomies are going up north

and leaving me all alone

school starts on monday

i haven't bought books

or paid tuition

or done anything to prepare

BUT

i did finish mockingjay

it's a small world after all...

Back in February Emily, Sac and I woke up one morning quite early to help build a house. This mostly consisted of us standing around not really knowing what we were supposed to be doing and mostly being useless because there were SO many people there to help and no one was prepared for that. There was some sort of concrete pouring involved and lots of cold weather. Because we did that, however, we were given a free day pass to Disneyland.

Fast forward to August 16th, almost exactly 6 months later. Emily, Rachel, Liz and I are waking up super early once again. But not to build a house. This time, it was to party at Disneyland for 16 hours.

(On the tram to Disneyland)

My history with Disneyland is a sad one indeed. My first visit happened when I was only 18 months old and therefore is not remembered, other than the video I have seen of it that I sometimes pretend is my memory of it. My second visit was many years later, when I was 18 and about to graduate from high school. My school orchestra went and for some reason this was not a very memorable experience for either, other than being a good time. I did not remember specifics and had neutral feelings towards Disneyland. Now, I only have the happiest feelings in the world for that place.When we got to Disneyland we upgraded our passes to park hopper passes so we could visit California Adventure as well. Best $25 I have EVER spent. Seriously.
The day consisted of us bopping around Disneyland for awhile and then hitting up California Adventure and nothing disappointed. The Tower of Terror is AMAZING. I never knew. Other honorable mentions go to California Screamin', Space Mountain, and Thunder Mountain, particularly at night.

I have rediscovered my love of my stomach being in the wrong place and quick beating of my heart. I wanted to spend days there. There were churros, corn dogs, turkey legs, foccacia bread sandwiches, great people watching, and great company. Even when my legs felt like they were going to fall off I was still loving life and wanting more. Disneyland has proven to me that it really is the happiest place on earth. Well done Walt, well done.

(First ride of the day)

(Emily, just doing her thing)

daisy dukes, bikinis on top

I am back from California

every moment spent there was so joyous, even when I thought my legs were falling off
more posts and pictures about this adventure to come
for now enjoy this little gem


and I promise I will blog and post pictures from the Dominican
there are just a lot of things to go through
thanks for your patience

# 1 reason why I was fine with Inception being two and a half hours long...

I got to look at this. a lot.
no complaints here

I am headed to California tomorrow with the girls (Emily, Liz, Rach)
apparently 6 weeks in a different country was not enough of an escape from Provo
and I have to get away again
but this is the last time before school starts
and I worked hard in the Dominican, so I deserve this, right?
and it is Disneyland
who can say no to that?
not this girl

Why American spiders are better than Dominican ones

Even the big ones in my apartment are smaller than the ones in la republica dominicana

They move slower, so they are easier to kill/trap/spray with stuff until they die

They don't jump from wall to wall like spider man, or Dominican spiders

They only appear in my bathroom and not in my bedroom (cross fingers, knock on wood)

They don't cling to the bottoms of doors, making it nearly impossible to kill them

It is good to be back in the states

PHAT

So apparently I was huge before I left for the Dominican Republic, because everyone keeps asking me if I lost weight and telling me I look like I have lost weight. I guess that is better than the first week in the DR when a man asked me if I was pregnant...

Guess I just have to take what I can get.

Well after 2 Emergency Room visits, 5 prescriptions and 2 weeks, I am finally feeling better.
And let me just tell you the Dominican Republic is so much more enjoyable when you are not sick.

I am loving my time here, usually.
The hardest thing is not having power consistently. If we had power, and therefore fans, all the time then the heat would be more bearable.

I love my students SO much. They are so entertaining and such hard workers. I can tell they really want to be there and that makes teaching so much easier. My co-teacher, and my translator, has been sick the last couple days so I have been in the class by myself... Yikes. It has been quite the adventure but luckily I have just given them assignments to work on and they have been very patient with me and the language barrier. Surprisingly a lot of my students speak and understand a little english so that has helped a lot as well. I really really love them and I will miss them when I leave in 2 weeks.

I am kind of excited to come home and it is hard to not think of all the great things I will have once we get back, like consistent power and water I can drink out of the tap, and not as many bugs. I can't wait for my legs to return to their former glory. Seriously, they are hideous and bumpy and they itch most of my life.

We went to the Temple for the 3rd time yesterday and I am sad that it will be closing on monday. The Temple was such a good reminder of the eternal perspective and I have loved seeing all of the Dominican people at the Temple. It is such a beautiful building and truly a haven.

We went to a market last weekend and that was quite the experience. All of the salespeople were yelling at us, "special price for you!" It just made me laugh and then it kind of got old. I was able to get some pretty cool stuff though.

Tomorrow we are going to an art market thing. I don't really know what that means but it should be interesting.

There has been so much rain lately, bringing out all the mosquitoes. But the rain is nice because then it is cool and we don't sweat so much. These people need to figure out the whole A/C thing. They could really benefit from that.

Well that's all I have for today. Peace and love

Dominican Republic

Well folks, I made it.
A week ago actually, but that doesn't really matter.
I have very limited Internet access and even when I do have access it is not very reliable.
The convent, yes, i live in a convent, is interesting. It is very large and a majority of it is not used so there are just a bunch of bedrooms inhabited by various creatures and insects. We have seen so many bugs and critters, and some that are VERY LARGE. No me gusta.
We have gone to the ward in Heina twice now and the people there are so kind. There is a little 5 year old, Carla, who loves us Americans. She will always sneak out of primary and come find us in Relief Society and sit on our laps and play with our hair. Anna has decided we are sneaking her home with us.
We went to the beach last weekend and we are going again this weekend and I can't wait. Who knew this was what I was missing all this time!
The food is actually very good. We have a cook and she is great. She takes great care of us. We eat lunch at school with the ninos and they ALWAYS eat rice and beans for lunch with some kind of meat. Usually it is really good, sometimes the meat is a little weird. They have great juices here. They are so thick, like nectar. And they have these great cookies that are like E.L. Fudge cookies but bigger. Yeah, amazing. I have also been getting my fill of mangoes. Love those. Well i think I am about to loose internet so I am going to go. Peace and love!

You are a Radar Detector

My manager during my last week before I leave for the DR:

"Marci, will you do me a favor? Don't go to any bars and don't play poker while you are out of the country. That's what the two girls who got killed were doing. I know they caught the guy, but just in case..."

I'm kind of going to miss this place.

But I am VERY excited for Friday :)

came to you for answers, left confused

We are down to single digits folks
yeah
9 days
freak

I know you can't stay but I wish you would

I'm beginning to think Tracy Jordan is right

Celebrities do die in groups of three

It all started in 1959 with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the "Big Bopper"

then Janice Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix and Jim Morrison in 1970

then Brad Renfro, Suzanne Pleshette and Heath Ledger in 2008

then it was Michael, Farrah and Ed in 2009

This time it started with Gary Coleman, then Dennis Hopper

I wonder who is going to round out the latest trio...

I'm a Survivor, I'm gonna make it...

So many good things happened at this Karaoke party and I hope to have many more in the future. Thanks to everyone who came and partied with us! Next time eat more dessert so I don't have to take so much home! Thanks!

Jeff really feeling the music

All my boys from the Noc. Love them

This picture brings so much joy to my heart

Mitchell and Linx starting things out right