Well...we've been in Burlington for over two weeks and still no internet! The problem is that we need a modem to get on the internet in our apartment. But the modem guy hasn't delivered the modems to the housing office. So we are just waiting on him!

We are able to get on the internet in the UVM library, so that helps. Right now, Bech is at work, so I am at the library checking email and such.

Speaking of that, Bech got a job! Yay! Our plan has always been for Bech to find a part time job, so that he can be working on ceramics the rest of the time. He wants to apply for an MFA program when I am done with my program, so he needs to be working on his portfolio. He is going to be working about 25 hours a week at a cafe down the street from where we live. It's called The Firebird Cafe, and it's really cute. He started yesterday and really enjoyed his first day there.

This Sunday, we got to visit an organic dairy. A couple from church (in fact, the only other young couple) is here in Vermont interning at an organic dairy until November. They invited us over for lunch and then a tour of the land. We saw cows, the bull, calves (which are sooo cute! they run up to you and nuzzle and lick you with their scratchy tongues), pigs (much cuter than you would ever imagine), ducks, and chickens. We are actually going to be able to buy some of the chickens to eat in a few months!

We have definitely been enjoying all of those aspects of Vermont. There are tons of farmers markets here! You can literally go to a different one each week. Our favorite so far is the big one in Burlington. It's every Saturday morning. In the late fall and winter, it will be every other week, and will be inside a building. But for now it's in a large park area right by Church Street. There are so many good things to buy. I bought some fresh goat cheese a few weeks ago. My favorite booth is half pint farms. They have the most amazing heirloom tomatoes! We've also been getting fresh corn, arugula, green and yellow beans, grass fed ground beef, eggplant, cucumber, parsley, and peppers. Seriously, this farmers market is amazing! I can't wait to bring my parents here!

I have a random funny story. The blood bank here is right by the school. I have seen the signs all of last week when we went to the library. This Monday, when we were on our way home, I asked Bech to stop there. It has been over a year since we got back from Malawi, so I wanted to try to give blood. Bech ended up deciding to give too.

They were pretty busy, so right when I got done actually giving the blood, Bech has just then been pulled back to a separate room for all of the weird questions they ask. I felt fine and didn't have any problems while they were drawing the blood. But as soon as I walked over the waiting area and sat down, I knew something was wrong. So I walked the 5 feet to the closest bed thing, and asked if I could lay down.

And then I fainted. In front of everyone there. And of course I had a skirt on.

When I woke up, I was on the floor with people around me. Luckily a man I have deemed "The French Doctor" (because he was wearing a white coat and had, what I think was, a French accent--although he doesn't have to be a doctor, he is probably just some sort of technician, and Bech thinks his accent was not French--but "The French Doctor" sounds a lot more exciting!) caught me before I hit the floor. And my first question was, "Did my skirt fly up?" The answer was, thankfully, no, because "The French Doctor" had caught me on my way down.

So all in all I was fine, although very embarrassed, and Bech unfortunately missed the entire thing!

update from up north...

so we're here. we've actually been here for a week and 2 days! and i would love to post and show you all life up here. but we don't have internet in our apartment yet :( it is actually really frustrating, because it is not due to us at all. the housing office is supposed to give us a special modem, but they don't have any in right now. so we are without internet.

i do have internet on my new phone, and that is helpful. but if you've ever used your phone to check email and such, you know there's a lot you can't do that way. right now we are at the UVM library checking mail.

we are mostly unpacked, which feels great. really i should say we are all the way unpacked. we worked really hard the first few days here to get everything all together.

our favorite thing so far is definitely the food up here! we have been to two farmer's markets and have been eating amazing things. the tomatos are great up here right now. and we got some grass fed beef for a great price, so we have had hamburgers twice. i am sure there will be plenty of food posts in the next two years! (sorry, mom!)

right now we are in the process of looking for jobs. i am going to try to get a part time job while in school. i have applied to three stores (2 this morning) and hopefully will hear back soon!

well our meter is running out, so i better go! i will post again (with pictures!) when we have internet.

This may be my most boring post ever. But when Karen Braden looks at you and says, "You really need a new post...maybe even some food pictures," you know you just have to put something up!

We are moving away in one week. OH MY GOODNESS! I am so stressed and nervous. But we do have a place to live, and for that I am extremely grateful.

And my to do list has gotten extremely shorter. Here is all that's left to do:

* sell my car (we are selling my Civic and just taking Bech's Colorado to Vermont)--a little side note: you may remember that Bech and I have trouble selling cars. Not sure why. But pray that this one will sell sooner than our Malawi one!

* cancel our current health insurance

* change addresses for bills, netflix, etc.

* finish Latin--I've been working through Wheelock's Latin this past year to make sure my grammar is up to par. I only have 5 more chapters to go!

* send off our old laptop to apple to be recycled (okay, that's probably not blog worthy--well none of this is--but it's on my actual to do list)

* return borrowed items--I have started doing this, but I still have some things to return!

And finally, because what would a post be without a picture, I have posted one from the latest camera import. Needless to say, I did not take this picture nor did I even know it was taken. My food pictures are of good food about to be eaten.

Bech, on the other hand, likes to artfully arrange fresh produce...you just never know with him...

book review

I am currently borrowing my mom's kindle to read a few books. She has been suggesting some of these books for a few months, so she wants me to read them before I move.

Anyway, the first one I read was "Same Kind of Different as Me." Oh-my-lanta...this book is amazing! And what's even more amazing is that it's true. It tells about the parallel (then later intersecting) lives of Denver Moore and Ron Hall.

Denver grew up on a sharecropping farm in Louisiana then headed out to Texas where he is homeless. Ron grew up in Texas, then later become a wealthy art dealer.

It is through Ron's wife that Ron is encouraged to become Denver's friend.

Seriously, you need to read this book. It is incredible and it's true. It will convict you and encourage you.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Then after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn’t ever gon’ have no kid a’ future. But I found out everybody’s different- the same kind of different as me. We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us.”

“You never know whose eyes God is watchin’ you through. It probably aint’ gonna be your preacher and it just might be someone who was liven like I used to.”

Ron and Denver

The book, which you've probably seen in the stores...I think it was a big seller.

“The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or something in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless – just workin our way toward home.”

I just found out about Synesthesia, "a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway." I had never heard of this before, but read about it on this blog. She actually links to a few other blogs.

Anyway, I was amazed reading about this condition. I mean, it's not a bad condition at all, just a way of understanding certain peoples quirks, I suppose. Go the synesthesia link and scroll down to the Personification section. I do that and have done that since childhood. Fingers, colors, numbers, and tons of other inanimate objects and ideas have a set personality in my mind. I don't ever talk about it, because I thought it was a weird quirk I alone had. But I guess there are other people who do this as well!

There are several types: Grapheme (associating colors with letters and words), Sound (certain sounds create set images in your mind), Number form (a mental map of numbers--the wiki site has a great illustration--and I think this can also apply to days and months), Personification (things like numbers, months, days, and letters have set personalities), and Lexical or Gustatory (words and sounds create taste sensations).

So are any of y'all synesthetes? I would love to hear if you are!!!