Haiti (once more), Obama-rama, and Adventures

I promise to keep my rants about politics and natural disasters to a minimum this post. While on that note, I wish there was more we could do to help Haiti as individuals (despite a lack of funds) or help Obama figure out what he's going to do now that Ted Kennedy's spot has been filled by a Republican. But, I suppose there's not really a lot I can do from a small town in Eastern Montana, where rental car centers don't exist and public places with internet access are hard to come by. I'm sure the world will go back to being a decent place at some point, right?

Things here haven't been too bad comparatively. Kind of boring, sure, but not bad. I spent most of last weekend in Terry, a town of about 500 roughly 30 minutes east of Miles City. I've learned, after spending three days there, that I'm quite grateful to live in a town that has a Wal-Mart (despite the fact that I dislike shopping there), multiple grocery markets and a cinema. I also enjoy the notion that we have Great Grains and several hippies. There are people who walk places (despite the fact that people think we're weird for doing it). Living in a town any smaller might drive me insane. At least there aren't any people riding around on their horses now... But, Beef Breeders are coming soon. Apparently, Main Street sort of shuts down, and cows are fenced in so others can come and bid on them. Mmmm, the life of a rancher. I'm begining to enjoy the small town living- it's so completely different than any other place I've lived in before. Some of my friends still have to explain how things work, but it's not so bad. I also theoretically get to learn about taking tractors apart this weekend, which should be exciting. There's so much to learn!

Only one more small chunk of my college application to get in, and hopefully I should get accepted! I won't be able to finish it up until early Febuary, but I'm sure everything will work out. It always does, right?

Cars, hippies, sheep and four wheelers- all in a week's work

So I noticed it's been like a week since I've last been here... So I thought I should say something significant sounding (which won't happen, but I can try).

Nothing too excting has happened regarding work... But there have been some pretty cool non work related things going on. Let's start with last Friday...

So after work, I got to check out an apartment (and managed to sign the lease in the same day!!)-- it wound up being pretty cool. Susan and I even painted the mudroom's nasty floor. It's pretty cool now. Belinda helped me move in some furniture on Monday, and the place isn't actually too bad now that it has stuff, water and electricity.

Saturday was pretty cool- I moved the rest of my crap into my new place and... went to the Farmers' Market... We also went to see Revrend Payton's Big Damn Band, where we wound up meeting a bunch of the Earthship Crew. They wound up being pretty amazing...

Sunday, Susan and I found the Earthship here!! (Check out my facebook for pictures!!) This wound up being quite the adventura. It took us forever to find... Then, when we got there, we couldn't find Tucker, a hippyesque guy who's helping to build (and organize?) the project... So we wound up looking around a little and decided to leave... or atleast we tried to. Susan wound up accidentally backed off a mini "cliff", and got stuck. Her landlady, Becky, wound up appearing with her truck, at roughly the same time Jordan (an intern at Earthship that we met that day who appeared on a four wheeler) did. The car was gotten out sucessfully, and we met Jordan, who turned out to be my age... And he's a vegan! (I feel really good knowing, that, at least for a little while, Susan and I aren't the only "veggies" in town...) Anyway, long story short, we wound up hanging out with the new guy, and taking him back to the place where the other Earthship people were campin. We wound up hanging out there for a while, and it turned out to be good fun.

Nothing too new or exciting happening really beyond adventures with the hippies. Susan and I were talking about going to visit them this eve after work and getting Edna, my bike, looked at. (Yes, my bike's name is Edna.) It's squeaky as all get out and I feel like the front wheel is about to fall off... Thankfully, I've already befriended Miles, the bike man. I'm hoping he'll give it the lovin' it needs to be as new as it can be...

This upcoming weekend: camping in Billings where we'll go shopping and check out the mall (because malls are a luxury... Miles City doesn't have one). Next week also brings another adventure to Helena for more delightful training. Potentially more pictures on facebook to follow training.

Hope you're all doing well!

Life I love you... do-do-do

Today, I'd like to start off by citing a Simon and Garfunkel song, that a guy covered at the open mic I went to last night.

"Slow down, you move too fast, you've got to make the morning last
Just kickin' down the cobble-stones,
lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy
Feeling groovy
Hello lamp-post, what-cha knowing, I've come to watch your flowers growin'
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me, do-it-do-do, feelin' groovy
Feeling groovy
I've got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me
Life I love you, all is groovy"

I initally heard this song while babysitting my baby friend Astrid, and fell in love with it.... But when the guy covered it last night, it made me realize that I still haven't gotten over the whole, "I'm still in the middle of nowhere Montana" and got homesick and quite terrified of the culture here. But then, I recalled with the help of Sara, that I still have access to my supports back home, and am in the process of making support networks here, despite the fact that my boss already seems to think that I'm a wack job. All will work out, though I'm sure.

I went into work for the first time yesterday, and it was pretty exciting. Nothing too cool happening yet, but I'm sure my projects will be hella amazing... just as soon as I know what it is that I should be doing.

I feel as though despite the fact that I've gone through training in Helena, I still have a lot of learning that I need to do concerning my place of work and the culture here in Miles City. While all of the people seem crazy nice and helpful, they often... get into my space in lack of a better way to phrase it. Not just breaking physical boundries, but "social" ones, as well. They'll often talk about people while they're not around, or share each other's personal business. I hope that I too don't become one of those people.

Susan and I went to the Farmers' Market this morning, and it was pretty cool. We also stumbled into the whole foods store, Great Grains, which is conviently located next to Kaffe Utza. Great Grains is owned and operated by this guy, Scott, who is this older looking hippy guy who is also working on a project called, Earth Ship, that's roughly 10 miles out of town. We're planning a bike trip out soon... :-) Miles City seems to be growing on me slowly (now that I've found a handful of like minded people), and I really hope that I am able to survive the next year here. I've realized that I need to keep looking for simple things to remain happy.

"Hello lamp-post what-'cha knowing, I've come to watch your flowers growing..."