Stories of my Life

Teddy the Toothless Toad

I went to the Aquarium the other day. They had a lone toad in a glass box. I thought…hey, maybe there is something REALLY COOL about this toad to be all by itself. I was wrong. The sign, next to the box told of a story about this toad, whose name is Teddy, and how he had been hit by a car. When I think that a frog got hit by a car, the first thought to mind is “who cares!” but apparently, the driver of the car that hit THIS toad, did not feel the same. They thought it was a tragedy apparently because they took the toad to a vet. Who found that Teddy had half of his tongue cut off, and his jaw was broken. The vet was able to repair the jaw, but the tongue had to go. Sad…I know. Now, Teddy lives in the aquarium in a glass box all by himself. Safe from all the cars out there. He has a lovely view of the Penguins and seems to be enjoying himself greatly.

I don’t know where I was going with that story.



HEIDI! WAKE UP YOU DUMB BLONDE!

Do you ever yell at yourself? When you make stupid mistakes? Like out loud yelling? I am finding that I am yelling at myself a lot more lately. It is because lately, I have been making some really stupid mistakes. Like…slammin my foot in the door….while looking at it the whole time. Taking 15 minutes to look for my car keys, while the whole time holding them in my hand. Driving like a South African and thinking that the shoulder is a lane. I am finding that the longer I am here at school, the more I am talking to myself. Strange…I am surrounded by people every minute of every day and i choose to talk to MYSELF! Something is wrong with me!!!


The ‘RENTS!

For two weeks I got to hang out with my parents! It was so awesome!!!!! I loved having them here. Mom and I got to stay up late and chat, and we went shopping and went out to dinner with the team. I loved having fellow people around that were American, not to mention that they were my favorite American’s!!! I didn’t realize how much I had adapted to the why things are here until they came and showed me where I am from. The first day dad was here we went to the store. He wanted to see how I was doing on my driving skills now that I have learned to drive a stick shift. I came out to the truck barefoot and didn’t think anything of it. We were just going to the store, and maybe stop for lunch somewhere…no big deal, right? Dad looked at me like I was crazy. I go barefoot everywhere. I have gone for 3 days straight without wearing shoes. I go to the mall, or to the store or out running errands and don’t even think about it. If I was home in the states, I don’t know if I would even walk outside to my car barefoot, let alone go anywhere. I wonder at what point I changed.
Also, another thing that I noticed was how fast mom and dad and the team was. Every morning they would meet and talk about what they were going to do and have times that it was going to start and end and …they did it. Like, on time. Every day. I used to be like that. I used to be able to tell you my months schedule off the top of my head. What I had to do, where I had to be and at what times it was going to happen. Now, here, I just go with the flow of the day. I wake up, and if I feel like breakfast I go eat. If not, I just go to class. After class, I see what there is to do. If nothing, then I just hang out. If there is something, maybe I will do it and maybe not. It’s like plans here are only pretend…if it happens, great, good for you. If not, then we can do it tomorrow, or the next day. No biggie!
I think coming home is going to be a BIG culture shock! The pace of my life now is NOT as fast as it used to be, and I am thoroughly enjoying it!


R&R does NOT stand for Rest and Relaxation!!!!

I am on a two week school break! They call it R&R here, but it stands for Reading and Research, not Rest and Relaxation! Most students have lots of projects to do and papers to write so this is a time to study and not be interrupted by classes. Normally it is just one week, but this year, they are trying something new and gave us two weeks! Myself, being a first year, do not have that much work to do. Just like maybe two days worth. Needless to say, I have not started yet and R&R is half over. Today is Sunday, and tomorrow is a holiday so the library is not open so I will focus on all the things I can do without using the library. (which is most of my homework) and then on Tuesday and Wednesday I will be in the library working. Well…that is the current plan anyways. We shall see what really happens.

Although…I have been coloring a lot. And really…coloring is Homework. I’m sure of it! See, for my Old Testament class, we have to turn in our notes at the end of the semester for a grade. Our teacher said the more creative we are in creating this nice notebook, the better the score. So I went out to the store and bought an Old Testament coloring book and am now coloring pages that correlate with the stories that she went over so that I can paste the color pages in my notebook! Good idea, huh! See…coloring IS homework!


Café Prada

I have a coffee stand. Well, I claim it as mine, but really, Ian owns it. He runs it and he gets all the profits. I just drink the coffee. But, in the ways of Seattleites, once you have THE coffee stand that you like, it then becomes “your coffee stand” am I right? Yes, I know I am. Ian and Café Prada is only open from 9am to 3pm. I am in school from 8am to 1:30pm. That does not leave me with much time for a coffee run, now does it? I have had to surrender to just having good coffee on the weekends. Sad. I had my mom bring me a tub of Ghirardelli’s White Chocolate powder as that is my favorite back home, and I brought the tub to Ian and had him make me a white chocolate mocha. HEAVEN ! He and all his customers had never seen white chocolate powder. It’s now on Ian’s menu and he is able to attract more business with it. I was going to just leave him with a little container of it, but then figured that the only time I am going to drink it is when I go to his cart, so I might as well leave it all! He knows to ALWAYS save some for me. It’s nice to have the little things that make fell remember home! Ian is a crazy dude! He has a new exciting story every time I see him! Last week when I was there he told me all about spending 8 months in Kenya living in a shack helping build a house for tribe. It was strange, and so so exciting to listen to. He is a Christian and loves the Lord. It’s awesome to see him witness to the people that come up to his stand. He has said many times, “Hi, can I get you a cup of coffee, a cappuccino or some Jesus Christ?” He is so bold and so fun to talk to. His coffee stand sits right outside the door of a surf shop. So, sitting there I get to see lots of nice looking surfers….that might have a little something to do with why I go…maybe.


Letters Home


I wrote down a list of people that I need to write cards to. It’s 28. 28 PEOPLE! 28 CARDS! Oy Vey!! I love to write, but I think that i should try and stay on top of it more than leaving till I have 28 cards. I knocked out 8 yesterday, so that will help! I love it. I asked my mom to bring me some little note cards so that I could write home a lot easier. I like to make cards, but it’s so hard to find the time and the energy to do it. Especially since all my craft stuff is in three different boxes under my bed and I have to bring all of them out, make the mess and clean it all back up again. I don’t like that. I liked having my craft room at home and leaving everything set up. Plus, my room is so small that I feel cramped and not creative. And if I take the craft stuff out to the lounge, I have to explain what I am doing so many times to people passing by, that it no longer is fun. So, I asked for note cards. I was expecting maybe 3 or 4 little packets where you get like 10 of the same cards in one package and then I could use those. What mom brought me, was a garbage bag FULL of cards. I think there might have been about 150 cards in there. She told a friend, who also got me cards and stickers and wonderful things like that. It was awesome! And my friend, Jenny, sent me a package that had cards in it without even knowing that I needed them. God is good!!!!


I have lots more stories, but I feel that this will do for now. More to come!
Sorry for the lack of posting. I was hardly online while my parents were here, and then since R&R, I just have been lazy. Thank you all for sticking with me!!