Summer is Here

Are you ever just totally amazed at the way God works in your life? I am on a regular basis. I moved across the country less than two weeks ago and have already had the chance to meet some amazing people. My second day of class, I sat down next to Melanie. She is a Christian and has been living and teaching in Nairobi, Kenya for the last four years. After graduation, her dream is to go back there are work as a medical missionary. I am inspired! For those of you who don't know, I am so stoked about the idea of medical missions. I've been thinking lately about working as a traveling nurse so I could have the money and flexibility to do actually swing it. At this point, I'll just wait for God to lead. Regardless, we are having some great conversations and she's proven to be one of those people it is just really fun to talk to. All that to say, I HAVE A FRIEND!! Today I went with her to visit her family in the Poconos (the mountains just north of here). The day matched the summer weather that seems to have arrived here just in time to make all the weekend vacationers happy, us included. In other words, it's stinkin hot here, but it was great since we got to hang out on a lake. We went to a brunch with her insanley huge family (her dad have 9 brothers and sisters and they all have a mess o kids), then went back to their lake house where we prepared for lazy afternoon. I forgot my swimsuit at her house so I got to wear a bright teal early 90's classic because the idea of sitting on the shore while the others swam across the lake was worse than being seen in something so hot ;). And I did swim across the lake...twice! After chillin on the shore for awhile, we went back to the house and practiced taking blood pressures on the tons of people that make up her family. Awesome practice since there's a mess of them of all shapes, sizes, and ages. Tomorrow we start our examination and assessment course and the midterm is Friday (including head to toe assessments and vitals), so we figure we need all the practice we can get! All in all it was a great day. I'm happy. And I have so much reading to do....

Neighborhoods

I am a country girl at heart. I grew up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and I think hills, trees, and windy roads will forever feel like home. But I'm living in suburbia now and I have to say there is a part of me that love the little things that come along with a real neighborhood. Little boys running their paper routes, ice cream trucks, grandmothers gardening, and kids riding their bikes out in front of my car. I know they're probably everyday happenings for most of the people here, but they are the details that I love about my new place. I'm getting in the habit of going for a walk in the evening just because I love it so much :) With the tree-lined streets and brick houses, parks, and streams that fill this place, I feel like I'm on the set of a movie or something, because it just seems a bit too family-oriented and peaceful to be reality. I'm sure my feelings will be very different when the humidity comes on full force, but for now, I'll just enjoy the moment...

Kallie, Villanova Nursing Student

That's right, it is now official! Started classes today and I must say, I'm quite excited. I'm totally appreciating that I spent the last year working in the hospital because it seems like everyone is already freakin out about clinicals and I feeling anxious to get back in a hospital! Of course there is tons to be learned, but it's nice to start feeling relatively calm and prepared for the next 14 months. Our professors are great so far and the students seem nice as well. There are about 40 of us that will be in all the same classes, so I'm sure I'll be getting to know them VERY well whether I want to or not! Ok, it's late, and I gotta get up for Day 2 tomorrow, so this rather lame post will end here.

Burnin' Down the House

Today was an eventful day. I found a great church, got a bed, and tried to burn my house down...twice. I think some sort of fire or near fire accident is obligatory when moving into a new place ( I must say my sister managed to have a much more dramatic experience than I, but I guess that's good since she's married to a firefighter and I'm not). For me it all started when my roommate and I decided to make tortilla de patatas and bruschetta for dinner. We both spend some time studying abroad in Spain a few years back (not together) and she asked me if I knew how to make tortilla (note: Spanish tortilla is kinda like a glorifed onion and potato omelet). "Sure," I said, "I can totally make it for you." So we went to the store to pick up potatoes and some other things we both wanted to buy. I think we were gone for about 40 minutes or so. Yeah, um, but before we left we had put some water on our gas range to boil because some tea sounded nice, so we came home to find it still on! Ah! Luckily nothing happened except that the water had boiled almost completely away, so tea wasn't really an option unless we wanted to start over. Ok, so onto the the REAL almost fire incident. We began making the tortilla, chopping up tomato and garlic for the bruschetta, and I stuck some bread in the oven to toast. I put it on broil, but the oven didn't seem to be getting very hot and the bread wasn't toasting. After checking a few times...yeah...I TOTALLY forgot about it. I was more focused on the fact that it seemed like the tortilla was taking forever to cook. Then the smoke alarm starting going off and you'd think this would have reminded me about my bread, but no, I thought, "Oh no, the tortilla is burning!" So we flipped it over, and it really didn't look burned so we were a bit puzzled. Then we noticed the smoke starting to pour out of the range...and I realized it wasn't from the stove, but from the oven! I threw open the oven door and smoke billows out, burning our eyes and turning the whole apartment hazy. I throw the pan into the sink and turn on the water and at this point my roommate and I lose it laughing. We run to the windows, find the fan, and furiously wave our towels in the air, gasping for breath since we're totally cracking up. And of course I'm feeling totally humbled since my confidence in my cooking ability has been shattered by the fact that I can't even toast bread. We ended up making more toast (and set my cell phone timer just in case we could possibly forget) and dinner was actually pretty good. In the end, we decided the whole thing was a great bonding experience "The night we tried to turn down the house...twice." Yeah that and that we should probably get a toaster.

Road Trip Pics

Is it time for some pictures already? They were promised in Peru and yet still I have posted nothing LAME! Ok, so here we go....

Shall begin with the road trip? Ok.

First stop, Battle Mountain. What is there to do there? Well, not a ton as it turned out, but it was at this site that we left our car for the first time since departing Reno for random photo action on the side of the freeway. (if my mom reads this, there wasn't a lot of cars and we were totally off the road so don't worry). More importantly this is where we named our road trip mascot.

CAPTAIN BASE CAMP.

True Story: Captain Base Camp is actually a painted green army guy given to me by a friend before my freshman year of high school. G=For the past 9 years of my life he's been hanging out in my desk at my parents house. When I was packing to leave, Jessica decided he should probably come along. He definitily played a crucial role in telling us where to go during the long trip cross-country.

After stopping in Salt Lake for the night for the night we made our way down to Arches Natl. Park which was awesome. This is one of our more normal pics...we took polaroids of us holding up rocks and arches...sweeeet.

In Grand Junction Bert and Merce took us up to the top of this canyon on their property where we ate lamb, grilled potatoes and veggies, made on a campfire. I don't think words can really describe just how cool it was.

In Fort Collins we stopped at New Belgium, the brewery that makes Fat Tire, my current favorite beer. It was great! We scored free postcards (they even mail them for you), free beer, free keychains, and found great company in the many college students that frequent the place. Highly recommended.

Well, Nebraska wasn't the most thrilling part of our drive, but I had the best T-Bone steak EVER at this place.

In Chicago we hit up Ed Debevic's for lunch, where we had the best time being treated like crap. Their gimmick is horrible rude service. Who knew it could be so much fun. I just liked this sign they had at the exit. :)

We ran into a walking Reese's peanut butter cup walking around the city, and OF COURSE had to take a picture!!!

In Pittsburgh I mostly hung out inside with this little guy, my brother's roommate's new golden retriever puppy....totally adorable. Ok, so if you want to see more pics, feel free to check out my album at http://photos.yahoo.com/supertallkallie

A Creature of Habit

Most of the time I don't really think of my life as being ruled by routine. I'm always changing places, changing activities, making new friends, reuniting with old ones, working weird hours, etc. and lately I don't feel like I have any semblance of routine in my day to day activity at all. But really I do. And the fact of the matter is, I find comfort in the little routines that offer some level of normalcy to my ever-changing life.
Today I decided to go hit up some garage sales to try and get a few things we're lacking here in the apartment. In typical Kallie fashion I had some trouble convincing myself to get up an at'em and slept in later than planned. Thus, I decided to just throw some clothes on and head out and shower and eat something when I got back home. My trip was a success. I go to check out some more of the neighborhood, found some great buys and got back to the apartment around 11. And it's been a relaxing, chill kinda day, but my routine that I didn't even know existed is admittedly a bit off. I had breakfast at 11, then read one of my nursing textbooks until I decided it was time to take a shower (I love legitimate procrastination). It was the shower that really got me thinking about this whole routine thing. I know I have a shower routine because whenever I change up the order, I usually forget something. Today, I got distracted by the way the water tempertaure was scalding hot and failing to adjust and forgot to wash my hair. Do other people do this? I wouldn't say it happens very often, but when it does I can blame it on the changing up of the routine. Luckily I'm hanging around the house this afternoon, so I just hopped back in when I realized and again appreciated the loveliness of my exceptionally tall showerhead. But mostly I got to thinking about the little habits, patterns, and orders that bring an impulsive, feet first girl comfort in new circumstances...like the fact that I first wash my hair, then my face, etc....

Settling In

Well, the intial anxiety I experienced when realizing how many little details I had to figure out before school starts on Monday has subsided and I'm feeling quite relaxed and happy here in my new home. As it is, I've gotten a lot accomplished and all the urgent things have been taken care of. My room is still devoid of any furniture, and as my roommate says, looks like the room of a very small person since nothing is more than a foot and a half off the ground. A bit ironic since I have about a foot on her :) It will soon be changing however since I managed to find a great bed for a great price that I'll be picking up later this weekend thanks to craigslist and a nice couple that doesn't want to lug all their furniture to their new home in Phoenix.
It's been nice to have some time to explore the neighborhood and get some bearings. I think I spent at least half of my driving time getting lost, but as a result I've discovered the location of grocery stores, the post office, Target, parks, schools, rich neighborhoods, shady mcgrady neighborhoods, etc... and am starting to get my bearings. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't since knowing which direction I want to go and actually going there seem completely different in this land of curvy streets with names that mysteriously change on you. It seems more often than not there are 3-5 ways to get anyplace here, the trick is figuring out which way will have the least amount of traffic and no tolls! Still, the trips I've made into Philly make me realize how glad I am to be living exactly where I am- close enough to visit whenever, go downtown for dinner, etc, but able to come back to my sweet, safe, quiet home with abundant parking and kids playing outside.
Whoever said East Coasters are cold has apparently not been to this area. When I went running the other day, just about every person I came across greeted me with a smile, a wave, or a hello, and the people at school and around town have been equally friendly. It's a great feeling to realize more and more each day that I picked the right place. As far as school, I'm sort of wondering just exactly I have gotten myself into since I realized I'll be taking a semester's worth of full-time study in 6 weeks instead of 15, but I guess I'll figure than out soon enough. For now I'm trying to organize my life and enjoy my last few days of freedom.

The End of the Road

I made it! I'm writing this post from inside my new home here in beautiful Pennsylvania. And it really is beautiful. Despite the rain, I enjoyed my drive from Pittsburgh thanks to the gorgeous scenery. Nothing like spending miles and miles on 80 going through those plain states to make you appreciate lush green trees and rolling hills. The rain cleared about halfway through my drive and thankfully I got to move my stuff from car to house with clear skies. So a bit about my new place. For those of you who don't know, I found it online and just met my new roommate the same time I got handed my keys (ok, so we talked and emailed a bit). As it is, everything is working out splendidly. The apartment is located in a suburb of Philly, and I'm seriously enjoying the east coastyness of the area. Tree-lined streets, brick houses, and township added to the end of the city names :) Everyday for those from here, but simply delightful to a California girl! My apartment is clean, small, but not too small, and has great carpet. That seems like a weird thing to say, but I'm really stoked about the fact that we a)have carpet and b) it's actually clean enough for me to lay on without concern...especially since at the moment my room is totally devoid of furniture. That's one of those details I'll get to work on tomorrow. Oh, the to do list is long! But I'm a happy girl. Gnight.

The Home Stretch

I officially made it into Pennsylvania last night, or more accurately early this morning. I'm hanging out in Pittsburgh at my brother's place and the fact that I'm actually moving and not just on another vacation has begun to hit home. Jess and I had a great time in Chicago yesterday with my cousin-of-sorts Julia (all these seconds and once-removed just confuse me). We went to Ed Debevic's for lunch, which is this hilarious diner where the wait staff is totally rude to the point of hilarity, on purpose of course. They also dance on the bar and make a great chocolate malt. Now Jessica is on a plane back to CA and I'm beginning to get the itch to get going on to my new home myself. I'll head out tomorrow and plan on exploring the area around my new place a bit since my roommate will be at work until the evening and the drive is only about 6 hours. It's been a pretty low-key day, but I've been enjoying it since I know once the craziness starts, it's just gonna keep on going!

Road Trippin'

It's about time I put up another post already! So I was home for a whirlwind week and now I'm transversing the country with Jessica having an amazingly good time. Don't want to rub it in and say you wish you were here, but the reality is, you probably wish you were. We are currently in Libertyville, IL and in the six days since we left the only meal we actually paid for were sub sandwiches in Fort Collins...SCORE! Shall we recap with priceless gems from each state? Ok, here we go!!...

California- alright, let's be honest, not much happened between Shingle Springs and Reno, but that's a good thing since my track record of trips through Tahoe with Jessica is less than stellar. (think snow and closed roads)

Nevada- talk about a proper send off, the DAD hooked us up with dinner on Monday, hot breakfast on Tuesday and lunches big enough to last for DAYS. The state's scenery was lacking, but Battle Mountain was awesome. What We Learned: If you are a town worth any consequence in Nevada, your name had better be on the side of a mountain.

Utah- land of Mormons and dragon slayers, mountains and amazing arches. Watch out for the manholes and the missionaries...kidding...kind of.....um, Arches Natl park was super cool and gets our endorsement. We should also note, it was the first place we had to actually pay for something other than gas.

Colorado- beyond description...Colorado was very good to us :) In Grand Junction we met mom's super fun friends Merce and Bert, ate a gourmet dinner on the side of a cliff, played with dogs, and had pretty much the best granola ever (which we can now make ourselves!). From there we headed to Fort Collins, through pretty much the most gorgeous scenery ever (the first that really competed with our beloved CA). In Fort Collins we had lunch with a friend from Portland and hit up New Belgium Brewery for some free sampling and a true taste of the college vibe.

Wyoming- The cheapest gas we'll probably see the entire trip at $2.58/gal. And we learned that Sonic really does exist. Yup, that's about it

Nebraska-If you love museums and quantity means more to you than quality, this is the state for you. One at EVERY exit. One contained a miniature version of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Best part, some couple spent 12 years carving those figurines. Wow. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ride any REAL buffalo, only fake ones. Hands down best steak I've ever had. Lots of wonderful tall Sealocks we were happy to meet!

Iowa- Kinda a jumble with Nebraska since like the illegal immigrants we did a lot of border hopping. Not a lot here, though we did play some rousing games of interstate bingo....bonus if find a Corvette (we never did). and OHMYGOSH! we got FREE ice cream at a gas station just for asking for it (props to my good buddy Jessica)

Illinois-Well, we only just got here, but I think we've already spend more money on stupid tolls than on anything else we've yet to purchase....and there's not even bridges after them! Oh well, guess we can't complain since our trip has pretty much been charmed the whole way through. We're now at my great uncle and aunt's house (both great in the my grandma's brother sense and in the great people sense), which is sort of castle-like :) Tomorrow we spend the day in Chicago before continuing on our journey.

Other random facts: Polaroids enhance any road trip. My front bumper is a bug graveyard. Jessica is the squeegy (sp?) master. Tubewiches are the best, but you will get weird looks if you make them in the car (peanut butter tube, jelly tube, bread, nuf said). Cats love lasers. Dutch ovens make great dessert. I'm not tall as you think I am. Just ask Greg. Driving through Nebraska is as boring as they say it is. You can combine a gas station with anything you want: pizza place, donut shop, restaurant, dry cleaners, etc...

I think about it. We've taken some great pics which we'll sure to share in the future. Hasta pasta!

Hogar dulce hogar

Home sweet home.
After a few flight delays and a bit of panicking by the parents (who were told by the airline I never got on the plane in Lima), I made it home safe and sound yesterday afternoon. I was met by Wally, my dad, and a wonderful ice-filled glass of diet pepsi (thanks dad!).
So guess what? Right before I left Peru, or maybe I should say as I was leaving I met a Peruvian not just my height, but taller! Yay, someone my height does exist there! He was sitting next to me in the emergency exit row. He was also late 20's, good-looking , and a Berkeley graduate...pleasant flight company :) Still is proved to be a bit of a tortuous flight since it was my second night of red eye travel and I'm the crappiest plane/bus sleeper ever. But after a wonderful night's sleep in the best bed ever (mine), I'm quite a happy Kallie. I'm feeling the reverse culture shock some, but trying to take it in stride as much as possible. It's hard to see people with so much that are still so unsatisfied and hold on so tight to their money, or spend it on useless stuff. Makes me realize that money holds us more than we hold it and while it can be used for good, it can also inhibit people from really figuring out what's important....but on a lighter note, I'm loving that I keep seeing people as tall as me! yay for proper nutrition! Ok I have a to do list about a mile long, so I better get going. If you want to see me, I'm in CA for a week, gimme a call! Ciao