tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90849585392712152592024-03-12T21:21:31.128-07:00Tab and Adam in VictoriaTabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-40628140573091060782014-10-03T21:48:00.000-07:002014-10-03T21:51:31.232-07:00Our apartment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj8cMk2zrtLFKWJrsDarhBiq4WaWK02-9BjnmTjx6SU2y4tNSSOtx9tpCj-pLskwQ2qvBWieZBDNCtMwM3uZUb2xYZBAOytDCkwJeTNsuzpiJtvBZ9Ze8j34dnl-oewNknDLoRuTawXXBz/s1600/aphoto+(9).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj8cMk2zrtLFKWJrsDarhBiq4WaWK02-9BjnmTjx6SU2y4tNSSOtx9tpCj-pLskwQ2qvBWieZBDNCtMwM3uZUb2xYZBAOytDCkwJeTNsuzpiJtvBZ9Ze8j34dnl-oewNknDLoRuTawXXBz/s400/aphoto+(9).JPG" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here it is, our Victoria home. This is the landlord's entrance; ours is down on the left side.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSBjm9nCrPlj5_B_aFU9QcT3KXDHQ2QQqDp8sPmyUSM5VBOZI21IYRe3aclJr1z-l1wct9WNtWgs0GcKpPUBSePKpxHR1sz4gMawYPKHrWHC7amTmE924HBm_4FZ2olBmvzaKij5lFBeA/s1600/bIMG_3436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtSBjm9nCrPlj5_B_aFU9QcT3KXDHQ2QQqDp8sPmyUSM5VBOZI21IYRe3aclJr1z-l1wct9WNtWgs0GcKpPUBSePKpxHR1sz4gMawYPKHrWHC7amTmE924HBm_4FZ2olBmvzaKij5lFBeA/s1600/bIMG_3436.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There's a little entryway when you walk in...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDZfEgG31s_ty2BC9INDTP_I1MNsOIH-41p32jB-vhPtUNbCaz3fwZTRvKnVbUqgcMyFNdLSNt7OLmKLKTeeR9iepV2pAZgSOTdI0odv6EnkdI9zC77NaWxcJmKCArBnCWqBLl91kWZzd/s1600/cIMG_1048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdDZfEgG31s_ty2BC9INDTP_I1MNsOIH-41p32jB-vhPtUNbCaz3fwZTRvKnVbUqgcMyFNdLSNt7OLmKLKTeeR9iepV2pAZgSOTdI0odv6EnkdI9zC77NaWxcJmKCArBnCWqBLl91kWZzd/s1600/cIMG_1048.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> ...and then straight ahead is the kitchen. I love having a kitchen with a window after not having one in our last two apartments. This kitchen is also a good size, with plenty of counter space and more cabinets than we need at the moment.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFnFtcACOH4XfRc3R4jTji7ZqCLzDoo5Co0xAY5uK3ck8mEpBuXG3BnZ_DtL29sexc6GOl_Jl9FJ1GSbALQqIsicGOrWOv6LhQO-GK_6GSvFarKSNvveJ-3PH_4X7-CZmQh3YVWS25fGe/s1600/cIMG_3421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMFnFtcACOH4XfRc3R4jTji7ZqCLzDoo5Co0xAY5uK3ck8mEpBuXG3BnZ_DtL29sexc6GOl_Jl9FJ1GSbALQqIsicGOrWOv6LhQO-GK_6GSvFarKSNvveJ-3PH_4X7-CZmQh3YVWS25fGe/s1600/cIMG_3421.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The kitchen melds into the dining room (the photo of the kitchen was taken from near the dining room table). The table and chairs we got just happen to be really similar to the set we had in Buffalo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivn91EruPbL6HUtn-tOp8jIfFFiRtuthlSIFB5egHhLWAzUhO2vT4Hp_70KHRvcgLKxJthd1Ssaqm8cApyZHSihheg3CsdaLRlfNkcahByRPsbGqOt3qY2uMAS38q509v0ywSO877LjvyE/s1600/dIMG_1038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivn91EruPbL6HUtn-tOp8jIfFFiRtuthlSIFB5egHhLWAzUhO2vT4Hp_70KHRvcgLKxJthd1Ssaqm8cApyZHSihheg3CsdaLRlfNkcahByRPsbGqOt3qY2uMAS38q509v0ywSO877LjvyE/s1600/dIMG_1038.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The backdoor goes to a small backyard. Earlier the landlord had peppers and tomatoes growing in the little garden area on the left.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF_rVeRcmLZpkeJiYFHJRYYYM46gnJtGsP7lJUrbHFo3nsWxe0KitYXC4vN4lXPoC6g-eIPquXPTiXaDgfuJf3VNTNl0mzZmDrvh_Cp-IsIIPUJiqVc2C1U0jcQ6cX4QF4JNUnFBCcz_0/s1600/eIMG_3432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDF_rVeRcmLZpkeJiYFHJRYYYM46gnJtGsP7lJUrbHFo3nsWxe0KitYXC4vN4lXPoC6g-eIPquXPTiXaDgfuJf3VNTNl0mzZmDrvh_Cp-IsIIPUJiqVc2C1U0jcQ6cX4QF4JNUnFBCcz_0/s1600/eIMG_3432.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The dining room opens onto the living room. We keep meaning to put pictures on the walls but haven't gotten to it yet. We love our Craigslist fainting couch and the free armchair we got from a nice older couple who was moving to England.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic1SAfLO9u5lLc-Hfl52cry31GN-PclE61E6Gk5U12rDfCPqRzLulRpK0yhkBRz3eS0hB2yeI0pZRhrhmYE_H0_RAItBhqIn16qiCLWA97pq0wBS_M77peZGxymUfBf3RpxsUrUl4kzgom/s1600/fIMG_1033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic1SAfLO9u5lLc-Hfl52cry31GN-PclE61E6Gk5U12rDfCPqRzLulRpK0yhkBRz3eS0hB2yeI0pZRhrhmYE_H0_RAItBhqIn16qiCLWA97pq0wBS_M77peZGxymUfBf3RpxsUrUl4kzgom/s1600/fIMG_1033.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the right side of the house is the hallway to the bedrooms. Yay for our own washer and dryer!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rODAn-tULR0Wso93bFWC609BAxrHo35wjYIR8Baa03jb2-zEe0OZUPT3o9EYSzFZvib5VNbYuUlc2iXPHqEW_Pcv4bz6ENaPESI2Oe-4MsEh2j6arKhY1N4X9xIKGf5MTkPdXMHG7yNW/s1600/gIMG_3418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rODAn-tULR0Wso93bFWC609BAxrHo35wjYIR8Baa03jb2-zEe0OZUPT3o9EYSzFZvib5VNbYuUlc2iXPHqEW_Pcv4bz6ENaPESI2Oe-4MsEh2j6arKhY1N4X9xIKGf5MTkPdXMHG7yNW/s1600/gIMG_3418.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Not much in here at the moment. Sadly the air mattress just started leaking so we don't have a bed at the moment--time for more Craigslisting!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDWdn4b7MLgiRQm3r4mkAfkKmTMPU7jxSDCcYxAkWSwaSJwzZPAXx6rPCu2VqhWyXkzGHMBVr4InJRk5212tkht9eldhm6jPQnP7VokYXCy_5TkwWQZLYXhMRPdjhY6l5adgsq4Dfa02A/s1600/hIMG_1031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDWdn4b7MLgiRQm3r4mkAfkKmTMPU7jxSDCcYxAkWSwaSJwzZPAXx6rPCu2VqhWyXkzGHMBVr4InJRk5212tkht9eldhm6jPQnP7VokYXCy_5TkwWQZLYXhMRPdjhY6l5adgsq4Dfa02A/s1600/hIMG_1031.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzltoS0UeBeyQhy2XjjgbceSaJzN1lF_oJlxf915CVrNrwzT60HmrKZ6838SX3vihRqxBF5lA6N1Rhl61oXxfnq2EYa-DYxmVJ-PTBSOxzBgTpdj8egKjA3tLC8Lg4ftr4DucMJwVvCV36/s1600/IMG_3417.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzltoS0UeBeyQhy2XjjgbceSaJzN1lF_oJlxf915CVrNrwzT60HmrKZ6838SX3vihRqxBF5lA6N1Rhl61oXxfnq2EYa-DYxmVJ-PTBSOxzBgTpdj8egKjA3tLC8Lg4ftr4DucMJwVvCV36/s1600/IMG_3417.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This second bedroom is pretty empty except for the desk where I work.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVNiKgYOJpnIgBNiM4dmKzrMraNEEa_b8zkyMQqgyKA1OFsGFRN94bU6flNxvgcVmE1sRhp_KlM-3Iai2Ezb7ydyymjstxG79tnypn660rRYwE00RVUfm1aVapI2T9QQkj7_fEr4sb8Vt/s1600/jIMG_3427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdVNiKgYOJpnIgBNiM4dmKzrMraNEEa_b8zkyMQqgyKA1OFsGFRN94bU6flNxvgcVmE1sRhp_KlM-3Iai2Ezb7ydyymjstxG79tnypn660rRYwE00RVUfm1aVapI2T9QQkj7_fEr4sb8Vt/s1600/jIMG_3427.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And that's it! We still need a few more pieces of furniture but none of it's urgent (except the bed). We like the place a lot; it's bright with all the windows and the laminate floors are great for allergies (although the downside is that they always seem dirty because they don't absorb the dust and dirt like carpet would; it just sits on top and no matter how often we sweep it always seems to come back right away!). The location is also nice because it's halfway between downtown and the university, and within biking/walking distance of grocery stores, a post office, etc. The landlord doesn't allow pets, though, so we'll have to consider moving eventually, but for now we're happy here.</span></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-72712852777504054522014-09-29T21:38:00.000-07:002014-10-14T17:46:45.822-07:00How (not) to temporarily import a car to Canada<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>As well as being the story of our experience getting our car registered in BC, this post is also meant as a how-to for anyone who, like me, ends up confused and frantically Googling as they try to figure out exactly what they need to do to get their U.S. car legal in Canada while they're here temporarily. Skip to the end for a list of the steps you'll need to take.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After packing up everything we own, driving across the country, dealing with our immigration issues, moving into our new apartment, cleaning said apartment (the previous tenant failed to clean upon moving out), buying furniture so we'd have places to sit and put our stuff, unpacking, and starting classes/remote work, Adam and I finally looked into what we needed to do about our car. At that point we only had 10 days to do whatever-it-was, because </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">our U.S. auto insurance stopped covering us after 30 days out of the country. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that it was going to be complicated. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ICBC (basically BC's version of the DMV) says on their website that if you're a student here, you don't have to register your car in BC as long as your current insurance will continue to cover you while you're here. Unfortunately, our insurance (AAA) won't. Hopeful that we could switch to another U.S. insurance company that would, I spent a long on Google trying to find one, but eventually gave up when I didn't find anything promising. (After doing all that research, I don't think that it's possible for a U.S. insurance company to cover someone in Canada for an extended period of time; ICBC probably just doesn't realize that, and thus gives poor people like us false hope). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The reason I spent so much time looking into that before resigning myself to undergoing BC registration is that ICBC's out-of-country registration <a href="http://www.icbc.com/vehicle-registration/buy-vehicle/Pages/Importing-a-vehicle-into-B-C.aspx">webpage</a> says, "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you're bringing your car from the U.S., you have to import it before registering it. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To find out how to do that, please see the websites of these federal government agencies</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">." And then they link to three text-heavy websites that are themselves full of links. So when just figuring out how to import our car was obviously going to take a lot of time and effort (and after Googling a little and finding people saying that importing your car is confusing and expensive), I was reeeeeally hoping to avoid it. Adam and I even talked about going back to Washington and selling our car and just living without it, because it was starting to seem like it might not be worth the cost and trouble to keep it here. But we couldn't make a decision that drastic without fully investigating our other options, so finally I accepted my fate and opened the three websites.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fortunately I didn't have to spend much time on two of them, but the first one (for the Registrar of Imported Vehicles, or RIV) actually listed the instructions for importing your car, so I started reading, clicking from link to link and making a list of what we'd need to do. A little ways in--after they'd already started instructing you on how to start the import process--they linked to a page about being exempt from the process. And guess who's exempt? Students, for one. So suddenly I was being told we wouldn't have to go through "RIV registration"--but did they say what parts of the process I'd just been reading about "RIV registration" actually consisted of? No. No information whatsoever about what exactly being exempt from it meant--just that we were. So I knew we </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">didn't need to do everything the website said (relief!), but had no idea what it was that we still did need to do </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(stress!). It was super frustrating. I read the websites more and did some Googling, trying to find other people who'd been in this situation talking about it, but I only found one <a href="http://looniechemist.blogspot.ca/2011/04/importing-car-to-canada-finally-its.html">blog post</a> describing the temporary import process, and even from that it still wasn't clear exactly what we'd have to do (especially because BC's rules are somewhat different from Ontario's, where the blog author was). </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, finally, I called the RIV to ask. I found out that since we were exempt the process would be free and actually pretty simple; we just had to go to a CBSA (Canadian Border Services Agency) office and get a Form 1. So I called CBSA to ask where I could get that form, and they told me to go to the office downtown, where we'd gone before to deal with our immigration issues. But when I went there and explained our situation and asked for the form, the officer asked, "Do you have your husband's study permit and your vehicle title with you?" Which I didn't, because the person I'd talked to on the phone hadn't mentioned that I'd need to bring those.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So Adam and I went back the next day, paperwork in hand, but this time the officer said that since he was the only one there, he couldn't come down and look at our car like he needed to to complete the form. So he told us to go to the other local CBSA office later that day, and there would be people there who could take care of it. So we dutifully showed up, and then, finally, an officer looked at our car and stamped the form. I had to specifically ask him for a B15 form, though, which ICBC's website had listed as necessary but he seemed to think strange that we needed. (</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Side note: </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These agencies--CBSA, the RIV, and ICBC--just don't know how to coordinate anything. None of them understands what the others require, which is a big part of why the process is so unnecessarily messy.)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I had figured out that (as part of the registration process, not the temporary import process) we'd have to have our car inspected, so we got that done too. On Friday afternoon, with a folder of car-related documents, we showed up at an autoplan broker's office--because you don't actually go to ICBC to get your registration and insurance, but rather to an independent broker. Fortunately I'd called ahead and found that we'd need to bring our birth certificates and passports as proof of identity, so when we went in we were confident that we had everything we needed. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And we did, except that, after the agent started going over our paperwork, she discovered that the VIN had been mistyped on our inspection report. They couldn't accept the report with an incorrect VIN, so we had to pack up all our documents again, drive back to the place that had done the inspection, and get a corrected report. At that point it was too late to go back to the broker that day, so we had to wait till Monday, today, two days before our deadline.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It took two hours, and there was one moment where we thought we might have to go back and get <i>another </i>inspection report because the odometer reading on the one we had said kilometers, when of course it's actually in miles, but that ended up not being an issue and now it's done! Canadian auto insurance is super expensive, though, and if you file a claim it gets even higher. But we did what we had to do, and now we're BC legal, just in time.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCJU2fsK7APkF6Tr7n7G7WqzyD7H3hjm_utvVgo1WRG9MVwquOh7d9hEcu8HozY84GOyt7wlQ_MlgoisQjoNoaODrFQPweMf0wBdxsU63H-82KpLzsy1UKy1xmkWC5mbNL2H6iHw7HFL7/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCJU2fsK7APkF6Tr7n7G7WqzyD7H3hjm_utvVgo1WRG9MVwquOh7d9hEcu8HozY84GOyt7wlQ_MlgoisQjoNoaODrFQPweMf0wBdxsU63H-82KpLzsy1UKy1xmkWC5mbNL2H6iHw7HFL7/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The moral of this story: don't own a car in Canada! Rely on a bike, or the bus, or a scooter, or your feet. Or, if you're willing to pay the high insurance cost, then buy a car here instead of in the U.S. Except that now I'm going to give you a handy list of what you need to do to bring in an RIV-exempt vehicle and get it registered in BC, so actually, go right ahead and bring that car, because unlike me you'll actually know what to do.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. When you enter Canada, tell them you need to get the vehicle registered here and ask them for a Form 1 and a B15. The Form 1 should be stamped by them twice. The B15 is a "casual goods accounting document" and will show that you paid zero tax on the vehicle, since you don't owe any for a temporary import.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you're only researching this after arriving here, like us, and the border officers didn't say anything about your car when you entered (also what happened to us), call CBSA and ask where you can get a Form 1. Then g</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">o there, being sure to bring your study/work permit and your car's title. Make sure you get the B15 in addition to the Form 1.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3. Once you're in Canada, get your car inspected at an approved facility. <a href="http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/cvse/vehicle_inspections/PDF/DIFs.pdf">Here</a>'s the list for BC; I assume the other provinces provide lists as well. Make sure all your info is correct on the inspection report!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4. Go to an autoplan broker. Find one on <a href="http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/Pages/Default.aspx">ICBC's website</a>--there are lots (and it doesn't matter which one you go to). When you go, bring:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Your Form 1</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Your B15</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Your inspection report</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Your car's title and registration.The registration isn't listed as a requirement on ICBC's website, but when I called the broker's office they told me to bring it, and they kept it as well as the title. (Edit: The broker actually mailed the registration back to me about two weeks later, along with the original B15.)</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you haven't obtained a BC driver's license, your passport and birth certificate as proof of identity</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Letter(s) from your current/previous insurance company stating that you haven't had any claims. These will get you a discount on your insurance. <a href="http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/moving-insurance/Pages/Insurance-discount-for-new-residents.aspx">Here</a>'s ICBC's info about the discount.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The autoplan broker will get you set up with (expensive) insurance and give you your plates and registration sticker, and then you'll be all set. You won't have to do anything with the RIV or get any modifications made to your vehicle, so by all means, remain blissfully ignorant about that whole process--I wish I had!</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-49610247470510168662014-09-24T17:23:00.000-07:002014-09-24T17:23:59.600-07:00Biking Victoria<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adam and I bought bikes recently at a used bike shop called Recyclistas. Besides selling bikes, they repair them and offer classes on how to repair your own bike. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They're located right by the Galloping Goose Trail (fun name, right?), which is a rail trail that starts in Victoria and goes out west to what I think of as the wild part of the island (I may be wrong, but my impression is that besides Victoria, Vancouver Island all small towns or wilderness). </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We wandered around looking at the bikes they had outside until someone asked if we needed help, to which we answered, "We know nothing about bikes! Show us some good ones!" The guy looked at us, asked our heights, and then said, "Try that one, that one, and that one," able to tell right away what bikes would fit us even though they all looked pretty much the same to me. We rode different ones around on the trail and each found one we liked, so now we're real bike owners! (I feel like the Walmart mountain bike I got when I was 10 and had until we moved doesn't count.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's easier to bike here than I expected; the streets in our neighborhood aren't busy at all, so most of the time you're not riding with cars, and when you do get to the busier streets they often have bike lanes. Some don't, but I've only had to bike on those a little bit so far; it's </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">normally</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">easy to avoid them and just go a different way. Yesterday I biked to the post office, and today Adam and I dropped our car off at the shop and biked home. That was great--super convenient since we only have one car now--except that it was 8:30am and raining. We were both soaked, freezing, and exhausted (it was mostly uphill) when we got back, but I was still glad we did it--cheaper than paying for the bus, and better exercise!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm weirdly excited about getting around by bike; I guess it's just because I've only ever biked for fun before, rather than using my bike to get somewhere I needed to go. Until I moved to Buffalo I lived in the country, so you couldn't just bike to the post office in under 10 minutes (also, my family currently lives on a mountain--biking down is great, but going back up is brutal!), and where I lived in Buffalo it was too scary to bike much; there was always so much traffic and most streets didn't have bike lanes. So it's cool to live somewhere where biking is possible and encouraged.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBsx4w29VP93iu72ZKcjQb0yfOMZoUeoaUXa72jyYGZcka69E77KeAsTSfs7MPAtORQ0GuGfStx7FjqtI2iKHbFNo-gG8PoCzM4UgKf7z4-GstsNVllYhMTt7_w3glspusXSRahNHrGR0/s1600/photo+(7).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBsx4w29VP93iu72ZKcjQb0yfOMZoUeoaUXa72jyYGZcka69E77KeAsTSfs7MPAtORQ0GuGfStx7FjqtI2iKHbFNo-gG8PoCzM4UgKf7z4-GstsNVllYhMTt7_w3glspusXSRahNHrGR0/s1600/photo+(7).JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">part of the selection at Recyclistas</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-49642829812908420462014-09-07T22:21:00.001-07:002014-09-24T17:24:09.184-07:00Impressions of Victoria<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Some things I've noticed so far about our new home--it's:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Expensive! - Gas is about $4 per gallon, milk is almost $5 a gallon. That'll take a little getting used to.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Beautiful - There's the coast, mountains in the distance, and lots of flowers and trees.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Friendly - People are more outgoing then in the U.S., from cashiers to the people we're buying furniture from off Craigslist. When they find out we've just moved from the U.S. they have questions and advice and are just generally willing to strike up a conversation and/or help us out.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Eco-friendly - The city collects kitchen scraps separately from garbage, the University of Victoria has recycling receptacles with all their trash cans, and an auto repair shop I've looked into has a "Green Products and Services" section on their website where they tell how they recycle everything they can and use environmentally-friendly products.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hilly - This may just have struck me because Buffalo was super-flat, but it seems like we're always driving up and down.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bike- and pedestrian-friendly - There are crosswalks everywhere and lots of bike lanes, although some places don't have them, which makes it seem scary to bike. But I guess it must be okay once you're used to it, and it seems like all the drivers are very respectful of bikes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Easy to get around - It's a small city on an island, so maybe that's a given, but it's been really nice since we arrived not knowing the area at all.</span></li>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPm7LX-4uwWMQBPs8hqaClztYqkUDxwtSEV8kcm5byhvOL4mByTrckjDQClWcgjKr04qbcXVlN6cDxGRtp1aaIRRF0mrza24rKt9MBdAfq7nhKV_SJJkR1mJ4g_8TiVu_lmX9rFGO0kY0/s1600/IMG_3394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPm7LX-4uwWMQBPs8hqaClztYqkUDxwtSEV8kcm5byhvOL4mByTrckjDQClWcgjKr04qbcXVlN6cDxGRtp1aaIRRF0mrza24rKt9MBdAfq7nhKV_SJJkR1mJ4g_8TiVu_lmX9rFGO0kY0/s1600/IMG_3394.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tonight's sunset</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-28010932300222103512014-09-04T23:26:00.004-07:002014-09-07T21:48:35.780-07:00Welcome to Canada<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish I had kept up blogging when I moved to Buffalo, if only for my own benefit, because now I have no record of those pretty major experiences (my first real move away from home, my first real job). So I'm going to start blogging again now that Adam and I have moved to Victoria (in some ways an even bigger change), for that reason as well as so that I can keep people updated. I want to share stories and what's going on with us, but I'm not always good at sitting down and writing to people individually, so this will be one place where I can post the best stories and most important news so that I don't have to write/say them over and over. (Yes, I'm lazy. But no, I don't intend to give up on communicating with people individually! This should help me be better, not worse, at keeping in touch with people.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, one story that I've been promising to tell people is about the immigration issues Adam and I had to deal with when we arrived in Canada. He'd applied for his study permit online back in June and it had been approved shortly afterward, and as far as we knew he just had to have the approval letter with him to show to the border officers, and then they would actually issue the permit. So we got off the ferry on Monday morning, after a beautiful ride from Port Angeles, WA, thinking we were all set to enter the country. But then the first officer we saw asked us if we had proof that we had funds to support ourselves while in Canada, and when we said no and couldn't even pull up a bank statement on one of our phones because neither of us have smartphones, they sent us inside to the office.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We quickly found out that we should have had multiple documents with us--the acceptance letter from Adam's school, documentation relating to health insurance coverage in Canada, and the evidence of funds. And adding to the unpleasantness of the situation, the officer who informed us of this was intimidating and even a little rude. She asked us a lot of questions after finding out we didn't have the documents, and we didn't know what the outcome was going to be--was she going to say everything was okay if we gave her enough information, or was she going to send us back to the U.S.?--until she told us she couldn't issue our permits, but would give us a day to collect the necessary documents and come back. She made sure to emphasize that if we didn't show up at the scheduled time--9:00 the next morning--she would issue a warrant for our arrest, adding, "we will come find you."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We ran off to a Tim Hortons to get online and access the documents we needed and then got them printed at our apartment later that day, after unloading our many boxes of stuff. The next morning we got to the office a little early and sat outside in the cold waiting. When the officer finally came out and talked to us, we showed her the documents and waited. After looking over everything, she said that we needed to show that we had applied for health insurance in Canada, not just that we could apply, which is what we had done. So we left the meeting still without our permits and with a second mandatory appointment, this time later that day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We were frustrated because the officer hadn't made it clear the day before that we needed to apply for health insurance before she could grant the permits--it had sounded like we just needed to show her that health insurance was available to us and that we could afford it. And we were still frustrated about the situation in general because we didn't know how we were supposed to have known that we would need to have all this documentation at the border--the school hadn't told us, and the information Adam had gotten upon the approval of the permit hadn't said anything about it. But we ran back to Tim Hortons and applied for the insurance and printed the confirmation page and showed up for our next appointment. Unfortunately both appointments had conflicted with orientations for Adam's PhD program, but there wasn't anything we could do about that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At the second appointment the officer was finally happy, and we got our permits (Adam's for study and mine for temporary residence; I'll be getting a work permit as well but it's still in process). Of course we were really relieved, but it had been so stressful that I told Adam I would probably have nightmares about that officer, and I actually did have a dream that night that we had to go back to the immigration office again. The whole thing also felt ironic since I work at an immigration law office. I guess I should have brushed up on my Canadian immigration law! Anyway, it's all okay now but at the time it was kind of awful, and not a fun way to start off our time in Victoria. We were both worried about getting sent back to the U.S., which would have been really bad with Adam's classes starting our third day here. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once my work permit is approved I'll have to leave the country and reenter in order to get it, which is a little scary, but it should be okay because now we have a pile of documents all ready!</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-48166751158945236422012-05-01T17:13:00.002-07:002012-05-01T17:16:21.984-07:00Yarnbombed<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So Houghton has this big rock near Gillette that people can spray paint with messages or advertisements or just for fun. Lots of people think it's ugly and don't like it. But as of Sunday at midnight, it's looked like this.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4YV57_DmK1PTg9mt6ET1WW16f8zyaQA3xwMLM5h6FwVRYDltK5io6wG9fD5K-4gqFvvktsPlyINeIu_qdny7dSCuOqrhvool2JBq7Wna-X6w1_yvQAI-2iS7oEO8NdD65Xz6hf_ir4JEo/s1600/crocheted+rock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4YV57_DmK1PTg9mt6ET1WW16f8zyaQA3xwMLM5h6FwVRYDltK5io6wG9fD5K-4gqFvvktsPlyINeIu_qdny7dSCuOqrhvool2JBq7Wna-X6w1_yvQAI-2iS7oEO8NdD65Xz6hf_ir4JEo/s400/crocheted+rock.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Monica (who only took 6 credits this semester) made it, and on Sunday night Adam and I and some other people helped her put it on. It was so much fun to see people react to it the next day; everyone who walked by was talking about it, some went up close to look at it, and some got their pictures taken with it. When I got to Painting, people there were discussing it. And it was all over Facebook, too. I feel like I know someone famous now!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">P. S. Putting crocheted or knitted things like this in public places is called yarnbombing; it seems like it's pretty popular, although I'd never heard of it before Monica told me. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing">Wikipedia article</a> gives a good overview and has some photos, and <a href="http://yarnbombing.com/">yarnbombing.com</a> has lots of cool examples.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-5216520871549605062012-04-30T17:49:00.001-07:002012-11-15T18:16:53.775-08:00Spring 2012 Lanthorn<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One more post today... This semester's Lanthorn came out this past week (making me sad Adam and I aren't the editors anymore! But Steve and Zeke, this year's editors, did a good job), and I had two poems in it, which I thought I'd share here. I also submitted a short prose piece, which didn't get in, but I was happy about the poems.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Returning<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I read the word “windmill”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was instantly back in Brugge with you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">walking in the sun along the river<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">coming upon it suddenly—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">skeletal rather than picturesque<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">but we were excited anyway.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><u>Coming Back to Pennsylvania from New Zealand
in November</u><br />
November never seemed this ugly before.<br />
I haven’t seen the sun since I’ve been back (five days).<br />
As if being overcast wasn’t enough<br />
it poured yesterday, flooding the nearby covered bridge.<br />
Even if it was sunny, the landscape would be the same—<br />
all dull browns and grays<o:p></o:p></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">decaying leaves plastered to the ground<br />
trees completely bare<br />
fields of stubble stretching to either side of the road.<br />
But by half past five it’s all been erased by darkness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">leaving me in shock that night can fall so
early.<br />
And did I mention that it’s cold as?</span></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-26982949190419155302012-04-30T17:26:00.000-07:002012-04-30T17:50:33.333-07:00Digital Imaging final project<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Can you tell I don't have much left to do? Two posts in one day! I'm done with my final projects for Graphic Design and Digital Imaging, so I just have to finish my final painting and do a little studying for the Backpacking final (which is on Thursday, when the painting is due). Today was the last day of classes, so tomorrow and Wednesday I'll pretty much just be painting... after getting up at noon, of course.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This is my final project for Digital Imaging, a series of two animated gifs that have some point/purpose and/or make people think. The subject I chose is short-term missions, specifically what's wrong with them; not that I condemn short-term missions or think they're bad or unhelpful, I've just wondered before if they're the most effective means of helping people. I had also recently read an article pointing out some of their flaws, so that was in my mind when we got assigned this project.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK9_2wwfRDtnzlC-Z-TLD-gJ2f3t7DjPKlCJgh44a4Rswh6AMgU6OT1YjhrSIQl6jq_EHYCn1aAnBI-pW58NDyiswl4u8CMek_PLSIihrOeq0D51zs3MqfY03PmQ__cKfnLT7DceIl6oRY/s1600/oconnell_project4a.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK9_2wwfRDtnzlC-Z-TLD-gJ2f3t7DjPKlCJgh44a4Rswh6AMgU6OT1YjhrSIQl6jq_EHYCn1aAnBI-pW58NDyiswl4u8CMek_PLSIihrOeq0D51zs3MqfY03PmQ__cKfnLT7DceIl6oRY/s400/oconnell_project4a.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(click to view larger and with better quality)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-MV4kaLK3PJYfybbEjbnrYL91u9xX9gom4dau2lb8dbvYUJ_QX9Gq3pFlaLdw2YLJdj0l-lJ42hFlCH-HQQdAIIsQvdHYuYBQk6CtLNqcH8qy_CffOak_ADQl23vsPjUHCVWimk498mX/s1600/oconnell_project4b.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-MV4kaLK3PJYfybbEjbnrYL91u9xX9gom4dau2lb8dbvYUJ_QX9Gq3pFlaLdw2YLJdj0l-lJ42hFlCH-HQQdAIIsQvdHYuYBQk6CtLNqcH8qy_CffOak_ADQl23vsPjUHCVWimk498mX/s400/oconnell_project4b.gif" width="400" /></a></div>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-12739050126577292172012-04-30T17:08:00.004-07:002012-04-30T17:09:51.327-07:00Job interview!<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yup, I have one, on May 7th at 3pm. My first ever real job interview! Here's a condensed version of the job description:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"We seek to hire a Houghton graduate as a full time paralegal. We mostly represent people in the Information Technology field who are entering the U.S. for temporary or permanent employment. We are looking for someone with strong organizational skills who can take the information (often in highly technical language) provided by our clients and put it into a format that is understandable by the adjudicators making the decision. Your work will be the crucial factor in the adjudicator’s decision as to whether to grant the benefit or not.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">You need to have solid creative writing ability. What you will be doing is taking a client’s background information and writing his or her story in a way that proves that our client is qualified. Some cases are formulaic and do not require a great deal of thought, but others will require that you use your creative juices to make an argument as to why the benefit should be granted.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It will take us awhile to train you, so we are looking for someone who can commit to at least a couple of years, but we hope that you decide that you like the career and will stick around much longer. We limit our search to Houghton graduates because we want someone who has met the rigorous educational challenge Houghton offers, and we want someone who will fit into our office with enough ego to accept a challenge, but not so much that it would upset the harmony of the office. We have worked very hard to make sure the office is a pleasant place to work with people who respect each other and like each other."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So yeah, not the kind of thing I would seek out at all, but my advisor sent it to me, and some of the other English and Writing majors, and I figured I might as well apply since it does sound like it could be a good fit for me and they're only looking for Houghton grads. I'm nervous about the interview, though; I don't think I even have anything suitable to wear. And it's in just a week! But one of my housemates actually already interviewed for the job, so I can ask her for tips. It's weird, when I think about it, that we're competing, but we haven't talked about that at all, just discussed the job itself and tried to help each other with the application and stuff. And neither of us is certain we want to do it, either, it just made sense to both of us to apply. Anyway... exciting! (And scary...)</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-42694689911818960412012-04-25T17:37:00.002-07:002012-04-25T17:46:02.580-07:00Backpacking trip<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So this past weekend I went on an overnight trip for my Backpacking class. I was pretty much dreading it beforehand: I had to get up early on a Saturday; Liz (my roommate, who is also in the class) wasn't going because she had a horse show that day, and I didn't really know anyone else; it was supposed to rain all day; and I just don't particularly like camping--you get dirty and smelly and there are no bathrooms.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But I had to go to get the credit, so I did. I was late to the gym, where we were supposed to meet at 8:30, but that didn't end up mattering because by the time everyone was packed up and ready to go it was past 10. Then we had a long van ride down to Susquehannock State Forest in PA (near Wellsboro), which I didn't mind because I got to read <i>The Hunger Games</i> and sleep. After a picnic lunch and then driving to another spot, we finally started the hike, around 1:45. It actually wasn't raining, and it was a perfect hiking temperature. So that was nice, and I wasn't feeling too terrible about it, except that the trail immediately started going uphill.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">One of the issues I somehow hadn't anticipated was that I was not used to walking while carrying a giant, full backpack on my back. It was heavy. And my poor body was not ready for that. Especially going uphill. So I fell behind the group right away, but my professor very nicely stayed with me and chatted with me as we walked. But after a while, when I kept being slow, I felt bad and told her she could go ahead of me, so she did and I was all alone at the back. I was so relieved whenever I caught up to the group when they had stopped to rest, because that meant that I could rest too. Once when I stopped my heart was just pounding, so hard it was kind of scary. It was around 50 degrees, but I was sweating.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Eventually, though, the ground leveled out, and I got a good steady pace going, actually walking in the middle of the group instead of straggling behind them. The scenery around us was beautiful--lots of green, a pretty stream, cool plants that the prof. pointed out--and I actually didn't mind the hike too much then. We had to cross the stream several times, which was sometimes tricky, but never a problem.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But then . . . it started to rain. And because I had concluded before that since it wasn't raining it wasn't ever going to, that was kind of depressing. It didn't stop, either, it just kept up, not pouring but still steady, slowly getting everyone wetter and wetter until most of our rain coats had soaked right through. I was also getting tired and slowing down again, which wasn't fun. And by that time my body was hurting in so many places--shoulder, back, and hips from the backpack, legs and feet from walking, ankles from the hiking boots I'd never worn before.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The trail had merged with a gravel road for a little while, and around 6 we came upon a campsite with a nice flat area for tents and a fire ring. But better than that was the </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">cabin right across the road, which had a covered porch. Our prof. said we hadn't gone quite as far as she'd hoped, but she was okay with stopping there for the night, and everyone agreed. We all sheltered on the porch, hanging up wet coats to dry on the nails so conveniently located around the edge. Someone got out the stove and got water boiling right there so we could get warmed up with hot drinks.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We were hoping the rain would stop so we could set up our tents, but we ate dinner and it was still raining, so finally we just went over to the campsite and set up our tents as quickly as we could. And then, because it was getting dark and there wasn't really anything else to do, we basically went to bed. It was only 8:00. I laid in my (actually Liz's; I ended up borrowing a lot of stuff from her because she's way more outdoorsy than me) sleeping bag and chatted with the other girls a little and read more <i>Hunger Games</i>, then, around 9:45, turned off my (again, actually Liz's) flashlight and went to sleep.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I fell asleep okay, but in the night I kept waking up, uncomfortable on the hard ground, or feeling squished between the two girls I was next to. The prof. woke us up at 6:30 (when I was finally actually sleeping) and we ate breakfast bars and </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">packed up</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. It had, fortunately, stopped raining in the night. Putting my backpack back on was painful (and every time I moved something hurt), but I did it, and then we started.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That day I was pretty much behind the whole day. It got hilly again towards the end, and there were times when I thought I might just collapse on the trail, or at least I wanted to. I walked super slowly sometimes, too tired to take any steps but tiny ones. It was really steep, and some of the other people had definitely slowed down, too. But then, finally, I reached the top--and we were done. The hike was over.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It was such a relief. And I felt really accomplished too--I had just hiked 10 miles carrying a huge weight (or what felt like one to me) on my back, and not collapsed, not given up, not even complained. We drove to a pavilion for brunch and a church service, and then there was the long ride home and we were back at Houghton. It was so awesome to get in my car and drive back to my house and be in civilization again. Toilets, sinks, and showers are great.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So overall, it wasn't exactly fun. But it wasn't awful either. It was hard, it was exhausting, it was painful, it was cold and wet, but it was also an achievement, and definitely a memorable experience.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-47004965903783431482012-04-13T13:33:00.000-07:002012-04-30T17:33:49.696-07:00Animated Joyce<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We're creating animated gifs in Digital Imaging (.gif is a file format for simple animations), and I made this one today for fun. It's really quick and easy; you can do it right in photoshop. It basically works like a stop motion film.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdCmdcXex-G51IgV9ohe5sx5VdAqL3QHwvaSA7KRy-0I5PBHG1IoNVb4C8kvaL4hCpKlh85IbD2HpvvdovciKKSm-5H6uyvbnCEhX1rtkuv0G5UZPP4xLNC_yIqtLFZbJV5MjNG2D7Hsay/s1600/animated_joyce.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdCmdcXex-G51IgV9ohe5sx5VdAqL3QHwvaSA7KRy-0I5PBHG1IoNVb4C8kvaL4hCpKlh85IbD2HpvvdovciKKSm-5H6uyvbnCEhX1rtkuv0G5UZPP4xLNC_yIqtLFZbJV5MjNG2D7Hsay/s320/animated_joyce.gif" width="255" /></a></div>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-70026522455468273242012-04-02T20:18:00.002-07:002012-04-30T17:34:31.052-07:00A good week to have a car at Houghton<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So Houghton wanted as many seniors as possible to do this senior assessment, and as an incentive they had a prize drawing for everyone who participated. I did it, and I won a prize--parking for a week in the president's spot! It was great to be able to drive up for class in the morning, especially on the days when I had class at 8:15.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgRW9ggxuf7FiwfXvfktEikX5_LsN2yNI1uBynVCR46oZJJpnUPikDtqHoR84JLzooXTPwDcY5Ua141n8Q8cpwAjUtAXILBkAQ3CoUeIuFr5AgByFTGt41JQrnPNy6x60QJo4iaqHVfef/s1600/reserved+parking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgRW9ggxuf7FiwfXvfktEikX5_LsN2yNI1uBynVCR46oZJJpnUPikDtqHoR84JLzooXTPwDcY5Ua141n8Q8cpwAjUtAXILBkAQ3CoUeIuFr5AgByFTGt41JQrnPNy6x60QJo4iaqHVfef/s320/reserved+parking.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-568879777627460092012-03-03T19:39:00.000-08:002014-10-03T21:50:20.919-07:00My house<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;">These are photos Jaela took at the beginning of the year, so they're not very current (it's a little more decorated now), but you get the idea.</span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHIYcv4gxzzNk8wH-I84gKYNguJb3vsDnDenCqdVmPAm8JK8_1SflYH5vR8xaBsEs28CCNIR44IehFPNWgZir1Z8zIIS8TjEfCEUU1YE9fB3dVcnmI-txQDQMBcq7oFeWXj_KsQO7_3mp/s1600/IMGP9551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHHIYcv4gxzzNk8wH-I84gKYNguJb3vsDnDenCqdVmPAm8JK8_1SflYH5vR8xaBsEs28CCNIR44IehFPNWgZir1Z8zIIS8TjEfCEUU1YE9fB3dVcnmI-txQDQMBcq7oFeWXj_KsQO7_3mp/s320/IMGP9551.JPG" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcrIRUqLe_OaVClgTf1vXHPJL6dnmP5EJaKSgXL8YmRyZwX8EetrMi4eM9nAREkDu_1t4oToUF96pH8VZgFFz21we1kpiqsRraPCX-qhaaTXqiLYa0U1NaUeXILwPonQdWS1NmG0VdPvy/s1600/IMGP9550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKcrIRUqLe_OaVClgTf1vXHPJL6dnmP5EJaKSgXL8YmRyZwX8EetrMi4eM9nAREkDu_1t4oToUF96pH8VZgFFz21we1kpiqsRraPCX-qhaaTXqiLYa0U1NaUeXILwPonQdWS1NmG0VdPvy/s320/IMGP9550.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTenDj3pxHlxgpo3azVQRMTDiqwSei1yKERNvFMVOQ3K5nSE0B8viVuKvOTkFKhplhwF3iOHwXe-y19EtJ94GwYQHGReIS2iibIb3clQmhDyJsZ9uXAdplse1VxPBALuINbTmpM10B8A4M/s1600/IMGP9549.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTenDj3pxHlxgpo3azVQRMTDiqwSei1yKERNvFMVOQ3K5nSE0B8viVuKvOTkFKhplhwF3iOHwXe-y19EtJ94GwYQHGReIS2iibIb3clQmhDyJsZ9uXAdplse1VxPBALuINbTmpM10B8A4M/s320/IMGP9549.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-84369750898039587822012-02-22T11:11:00.000-08:002014-10-03T21:51:12.296-07:00My room<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WrEvyIcbpnAV9om7bnt8Zo3cIgDPtddGDRnJm8e7WjS2662AOGO86xlzf7AwEN524w1kRThR-LUJbhCk7JXcFrr3tPnUoabeP_19ArsyD7t7nBRKiT72VI2Vr8bkvJYmUWfH9fUlDVki/s1600/IMG_1156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WrEvyIcbpnAV9om7bnt8Zo3cIgDPtddGDRnJm8e7WjS2662AOGO86xlzf7AwEN524w1kRThR-LUJbhCk7JXcFrr3tPnUoabeP_19ArsyD7t7nBRKiT72VI2Vr8bkvJYmUWfH9fUlDVki/s320/IMG_1156.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8P9ghmNxMdeX6qNgXKx0vHcWv4RFl7mxFUpA-uGRgG8xRLZVK-bW9DDRPcH0EDi5r04cJ40YW3ccRoTNYT-ECx-77XjOM5GNNNnItaKjaAejhGkxhSKDa7My937KezO2_nPqzyDNtBKGD/s1600/IMG_1155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8P9ghmNxMdeX6qNgXKx0vHcWv4RFl7mxFUpA-uGRgG8xRLZVK-bW9DDRPcH0EDi5r04cJ40YW3ccRoTNYT-ECx-77XjOM5GNNNnItaKjaAejhGkxhSKDa7My937KezO2_nPqzyDNtBKGD/s320/IMG_1155.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5SfUrw559kC-vzInPb0O3jrmv19jQfcNbGEnxgESZUwFQya3xAfsbhdJkT35pNZQrUQOFUm1yzQDLhJ4oIpGAVOuhUJnN0rvXn40JwPXUNtYgWo85YfJ9v0qNr7Py2vbZKUOtULCdGfX/s1600/IMG_1157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV5SfUrw559kC-vzInPb0O3jrmv19jQfcNbGEnxgESZUwFQya3xAfsbhdJkT35pNZQrUQOFUm1yzQDLhJ4oIpGAVOuhUJnN0rvXn40JwPXUNtYgWo85YfJ9v0qNr7Py2vbZKUOtULCdGfX/s320/IMG_1157.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-7147465917994363532012-02-19T19:50:00.002-08:002012-02-19T19:56:33.576-08:00I made a chair<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_wzx2DVpeg_i4NFl2PHKPTNRif93z17xq8aw-XWRrnOxiwphPEWdeYtYDFTtK_qg-rkcaoPdJ_MO-WbVvMFYP6ta4lRd4KYdLBn4N_p2Nu0mejgQG5EhT5FCxH2VNnXqqAnJry4xO96O/s1600/chair.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_wzx2DVpeg_i4NFl2PHKPTNRif93z17xq8aw-XWRrnOxiwphPEWdeYtYDFTtK_qg-rkcaoPdJ_MO-WbVvMFYP6ta4lRd4KYdLBn4N_p2Nu0mejgQG5EhT5FCxH2VNnXqqAnJry4xO96O/s320/chair.gif" width="230" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I started with a blank page in Adobe Illustrator, and ended up with this. It's really basic and could be better, but I'm still pretty proud. It was just so satisfying to figure out how to use the program to create something that actually looks like what it was supposed to. This was for a Graphic Design assignment; we drew illustrations to go along with a poem. I intend to put the entire finished thing on Facebook, if I can figure out how to convert the file to a format I can upload.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-92124090203493666052012-02-07T21:35:00.001-08:002012-04-25T17:47:29.329-07:00A poem<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I'm back at Houghton and recently had two of my poems published in The Candle, a short, monthly publication the current editors of The Lanthorn have started. I thought I'd share one of them...</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Geological Thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">When I decided that my thoughts were a braided stream,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">flowing in a network of interconnected rivulets<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">around numerous bars,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I immediately realized<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I’d been studying geology too long.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-33297264877613209482011-11-03T02:03:00.001-07:002012-11-15T18:07:24.996-08:00In NZ<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So, my laptop has died (just the computer and not the hard drive, fortunately), and with it all my plans of uploading photos, catching up on blogging, and getting homework done. Right now Nora is kindly letting me use her computer, but I feel bad taking it from her to often, so I probably won't be getting nearly as much done as I intended. On the plus side, I won't be staying up late online, either. Anyway, all that to say that my posting schedule is not going to be as promised the other day. Maybe I'll write some retrospective posts once I'm home, if anyone's interested in that? (If you are, let me know...)</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But for now, here's a little more on where I am now and what's been going on: Nora and I are staying with a family who live in a suburb of Auckland. The dad is from New Zealand and the mom is American (from Michigan); she moved here with him after they got married less than 10 years ago. They have three children, ages 2, 4, and 6. The kids are all quite high-energy, and the youngest, especially, has been playing with us a lot. She likes to make me pretend to go to sleep and then sing, yell, or hit me with a pillow to wake me up. She's super cute; they all are. We've been eating great home-cooked meals with them and we watched NCIS (an American crime show that I'd never heard of before we came here) with the mom the other night. So it's been fun so far.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For the past two weeks we've had Gary Baxter, a Houghton art professor, with us to teach the Art and Film courses. So for the past three days our classes have consisted of watching New Zealand films, which is fun. The movies are, in case anyone's curious, <i>Once Were Warriors, Whale Rider, </i>and<i> Boy.</i> All quite good, all dealing with some hard issues--<i>Once Were Warriors </i>is especially dark, very disturbing. <i>Boy </i>had a good amount of humor in it, so that balance was good.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Today we visited a super nice public school and heard about it from one of the teachers and chatted with some of the students and then had a wonderful afternoon tea there (here and in AU they eat so many times in one day; breakfast, then morning tea, then lunch, then afternoon tea, then dinner [which they call tea--so many teas! But it never means just tea, there's always food too], and sometimes supper, which is a light snack before bed). Tomorrow we have a guest lecturer in the morning, and then we have a free afternoon. Not sure what I'll do; maybe try to get into the city by ferry if it's not too expensive and if I can figure out the bus system to get there.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So yeah, I guess that's a pretty good overview of things right now. Not sure when I'll post again, but I'll try to at least once or twice before I come back on the 18th!</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-29834023884120824092011-11-01T03:24:00.002-07:002012-11-15T18:05:49.601-08:00A post!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Wow, my last post was September 9th--I lost my momentum early! But here's a quick update on what's going on with me now (I just copied and pasted from an email... :P). I definitely have more free time this week than I've had for ages, so there will be more posts--both on NZ and the past weeks in AU--soon!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NZ feels very different from AU. Much quieter and less busy--you can tell the population is smaller. We were in Auckland yesterday and today, and the city just feels so empty compared to Australian cities. The countryside, what we've seen of it, is beautiful--the shoreline is cliffs, and there are lots of rivers and sand flats. So it's a nice place, and I hope we get to see more of it. The area where we've mainly been--we have classes at the church where most of the host families go--is kind of ugly, all developed with stores everywhere. And the suburb where I'm staying is just packed with houses; you look out the window and just see tons of them, as if they're piled on top of each other (it's really hilly here, so it's kind of a funny perspective. Driving in Auckland was scary because the hills were so steep).</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We went to the Auckland Art Gallery on Monday and the Natural History Museum today. Who knows what we'll do tomorrow!</span></span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-85892572771288910962011-09-09T05:30:00.003-07:002012-11-15T18:06:50.478-08:00The past week<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This week we’ve gone into the city (Brisbane) every day for “classes” with Peter Breen, a former pastor who now runs Jugglers Art Space. According to the website, "Jugglers Art Space Inc. is an Artist Run Initiative that is committed to supporting emerging artists across a broad range of genres. It was founded in 2002 to address the critical shortage of exhibition and studio spaces available in Brisbane." PB wanted graffiti artists, especially kids, to have a place where they could do their art legally. Now artists have shows there, and Jugglers has rented property from Queensland rail which they in turn rent to artists to use as studios.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So anyway, we’ve been going in and basically chatting with Peter Breen. He’s talked about the church and art and about loving and serving people. Monday we just stayed at Jugglers and talked. Tuesday we visited two of the studios Jugglers rents out and the artists talked to us about their work. One man was part Aborigine, and he makes and plays dijeridoos. (He played one for us, and it was amazing. Then some of us tried, and it wasn’t so amazing. You have to do this weird circular breathing thing, which takes a while to learn.) He also paints, and his work is inspired by Aboriginal stories. You can see some of his paintings here: <a href="http://www.artbyanthonywalker.com/">http://www.artbyanthonywalker.com/</a> Then we went and talked to Nic Plowman, who also paints. His most recent work, some of which he showed us, has been inspired by his recovery from a bad fall. It was really interesting to talk to both of these men and hear the stories behind their art.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On Wednesday we talked with Peter Breen more and also Terry Fitzpatrick, someone Peter knows (I forget exactly how…). He and Peter both have some ideas about God and Christianity that are very different from everything I’ve heard before, such as, in Peter's words, that "love is an end in itself"--you don't necessarily have to evangelize to people; it's okay just to love them. It’s been great to hear a completely different perspective, especially when I agree with a lot of it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yesterday, Thursday, we went to the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art. We didn’t have any instructions or assignments, we just got to wander through the Australian art area at the QAG and the surrealism exhibit at GOMA. Surrealism can be pretty disturbing, especially when you’re seeing so much of it at once. But it was really interesting, and it was nice to just be able to go through at our own pace.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">~An interjection--I wrote this post yesterday, so we've been to Jugglers and back today, but I'm really tired, so for now I'll leave the paragraph that I wrote yesterday about today as it is, and write about today another time.~</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tomorrow there’s a new art show opening, so we’re going to help with that if our help is needed and also just participate in it (we’re going to be throwing paint balloons at the currently white tunnel walls). It’s been a good week; it’s been nice to get out of the NTC and see a little more of the city and hear from a cool Australian guy. And not having traditional classes is really nice. There’s also not really been any homework; we do have to write two papers, though, one four-page one having something to do with this past week and one one-page reflection on the sculpture we’re building. Oh, yeah, another part of this week is that we have to build a sculpture out of objects we’ve found. It’s kind of hard for 12 people to build one sculpture, though, so it seems like a few people have been doing most of it. So it’ll be interesting writing a reflection on it…<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We don’t have to be at Jugglers till 2 tomorrow; we’ve been getting there at 8:30, meaning I’ve had to get up at 7 (although twice I slept through my alarm and my roommates had to wake me up), so it’s going to be really, really nice to sleep in.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-8158269658074328462011-09-09T05:15:00.000-07:002012-11-15T18:06:56.274-08:00My flying horse<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Earlier this week I had a dream that I flew to America to visit for the weekend on a flying horse. It was really quick and easy. I stopped at Houghton and then I went home, where I asked Mom, “Want to know how I got here?” because I was really excited to tell her I flew in on a flying horse. But she never answered me, and I was disappointed. Then I was thinking about how it wasn’t possible for me to actually have gotten there on a flying horse, so I decided I must just be imagining that I was there, but it felt so real. Then I thought I would just imagine myself flying back to Australia, and I knew that would feel real too, but then I thought how everything that happened in Australia after that would only be in my imagination, and that I would eventually wake up and have to live all that time over again.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-71851304881438911492011-08-29T20:33:00.004-07:002012-11-15T18:07:01.951-08:00Photos<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A few photos are on Facebook, for anyone who hasn't found them yet: <span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2285409341911.2132604.1449219994&l=792464d5b9&type=1">http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2285409341911.2132604.1449219994&l=792464d5b9&type=1</a></span></span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-50771023912540921672011-08-29T20:29:00.001-07:002012-11-15T18:07:06.820-08:00Classes, church, bus fail, food<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Well, classes have started... 9am every day this week we have Music with a professor from Houghton who lectures via Skype. So far it's been about music in general rather than Australian music in particular, which I think is a little weird since it's only a week-long class. But it's been pretty interesting. Some of it just goes over my head, and sometimes there's this horrible echo on Skype so you can't really understand anything, but there have been a lot of YouTube clips of different types of music from around the world, so that's been cool. In the afternoons we have another class, Engaging Australia Culture (I think...), but we don't really know what we're doing for that one yet. Yesterday we talked about different stages of adjusting to a new culture and intro stuff like that.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let's see... on Sunday we went to church, not the one where we had youth group but a different one, Southgate Wesleyan Methodist, I believe. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere and was a big square building, not particularly church-like. There was a peacock in the front when we pulled up--they're wild here. The service was pretty normal; we sang some familiar songs and some new ones, Prof. Kettelkamp preached, and that was about it. Afterward we had snacks and tea and chatted with the Australian people. An older man told me about his grandsons and how to make pumpkin soup.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Back here that afternoon, we didn't have anything to do and wanted to do something exciting, so we decided to try taking a bus for the first time. We walked to the bus stop and waited 10 minutes or so for the bus to Victoria Point, where we'd gone shopping the first day. When the bus was in sight, we all watched and waited expectantly for it to pull up and stop. But, as we all stood there, waiting and watching, the bus drove right by us.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Of course we were all like, "What? What was that?" especially because the next bus wasn't for another hour (they run the least on Sundays). Then we saw that on the sign for the bus stop, beneath a picture of someone waving to the bus, it said "Hail driver." So, realizing our mistake, we headed back the way we'd come to the other close bus stop, deciding to take a bus in the other direction, where there's another shopping center. When that bus came into view we all waved frantically, and were very relieved when it pulled over and stop.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But then, after talking to the driver for a minute, we realized that that bus wasn't going where we wanted to go; the bus we wanted didn't run on Sundays. So we finally gave up and headed back to the college. It was pretty sad.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But after a little while of sitting around in the lounge area, some people got a ride to Victoria Point with one of the Australian students here, and Adam, Nora, Bekah and I ended up biking there, led by the only American student here, who's really into biking and was happy to show us the way. It was a nice ride there, all downhill. We bought a few groceries--everything was closed but the grocery stores and Kmart; things shut down around 5 here, it seems like--and then we had to bike back. All uphill, this time, with our groceries. It was exhausting, but we made it (walking up the last hill helped). And we'd had our adventure for the day.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yesterday Prof. Kettelkamp drove us to Victoria Point--he'll be doing that every Monday and Thursday, which is nice because I was expecting to have to pay for the bus every time we wanted groceries--so Nora, Adam and I went and got even more food. The three of us have decided to cook together, and now we should be set for a while with food. There was a community dinner last night for everyone at the college, and we ate burgers with fried egg and beetroot. It was different, but good.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Class time... more soon.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-76291147380018637822011-08-27T03:03:00.002-07:002012-11-15T18:07:13.263-08:00Jetlag and awesome Australian animals<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Still very jetlagged and exhausted, but I want to write about things before I forget them. Today we went to a koala sanctuary, and I got to hold a koala! The zookeeper lady had me hold my hands a certain way to support it, and then set it in my hands facing me, with its hands on my shoulders. It was so cute and soft! They have lots of other animals at this place too--a platypus, dingoes (my favorite--they're really pretty and look like normal dogs), wombats, lots of birds, and kangaroos. We got to go right in with them (the kangaroos) and hand feed them and pet them. Most were really small ones that looked a lot like wallabies, but there were some red kangaroos, which were a little bigger and more like typical kangaroos.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We also saw a sheepdog demonstration. The dogs were so eager to herd the sheep, and it was so cool how they knew exactly what to do. When a sheep didn't go with the group, one of the dogs ran right over and got it back with the others. They herded the sheep into this small fenced area where they were all packed together, and to get from one side of the group to the other the dog would jump up and run right on top of the sheep!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">It was raining pretty much the whole time, which is normal since it's winter here now. It also starts to get dark around 5, which is very weird because I'm used to it getting dark around 8. That makes adjusting harder, because it feels a lot later than it is. I can't believe it's not even 8pm yet.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Last night at the youth group thing was a weird time. The first thing we had to do was wash each other's feet, and I was so tired and it was such a random thing to do on my first night in Australia that afterward it felt like a strange dream. The whole thing was like a weird dream, actually, because after a short message we had a Wii tennis tournament. Playing Wii tennis in Australia while exhausted and jetlagged was pretty surreal. I lost my match.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We were there for a pretty long time. By the time we got back it was after 9. I was in bed about 10, and I feel asleep right away but woke up at 1 feeling really nauseous. And then I couldn't get back to sleep; I would close my eyes and then "wake up" later feeling like I'd been asleep, but when I looked at my watch barely any time had passed. Actually, I think I was sleeping, but just very lightly, and I kept having this dream where this man was telling me and the rest of the Houghton group about these different Australian boxes and how they were used for different things, and I had to do something with them but I couldn't figure out which box was used for what even though the man kept explaining it. This kept going on, and I kept looking at my watch and seeing that time was hardly passing, and at one point my over-tired, sleep-deprived, half-awake brain reasoned that something in my dream was preventing me from going to sleep, and it seemed like there was something I could do about it but at the same time I couldn't do it... That probably makes no sense, but at the time, it was very logical.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But I finally did get to sleep, and I only woke up very briefly hours later when I heard the kookaburra, which they told us like to make noise early in the morning, and then I slept right till 9:15. I woke up feeling great, not sick at all anymore and very well-rested. After I got up, though, I started feeling off again, and that's continued all day. But I know soon my poor body will be adjusted.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tomorrow morning we're going to the church where the youth group was; Prof. Kettlekamp is preaching. Then we have the whole day free before we start classes on Monday. Sometime soon I'll write about this place where we're staying; it definitely deserves a post of its own.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">P. S. I forgot to mention our trip to the koala sanctuary. The group was in three cars; I was in the second one, following someone who had a GPS. It seemed to be taking a long time to get there (over an hour); I'd gotten the impression it was closer. We were driving through the city, and had been for a while, which seemed kind of strange. And then we got lost. We had to stop at a red light, while the car we were following had made it through. This had happened before, and the lady driving would pull over somewhere and wait for us, but there must not have been anywhere good to pull over that time, because when we drove on we didn't see her anywhere. So we kept driving and then asked for directions at a gas station, drove some more, then asked for directions from a guy walking, drove some more, saw signs for the place, followed the signs, stopped seeing the signs, saw a sign pointing back the way we'd come, followed the signs again, and finally made it there, after almost two hours.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On the way back we stuck to the highway, and the drive took 50 minutes.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-72569171055462365012011-08-26T01:03:00.001-07:002012-11-15T18:07:19.967-08:00Australia!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Right now, I really wish I wasn't sitting. My legs are aching, just like they ached the whole plane ride over here. What I really want to do is lie down, but that isn't going to happen for a while, because if I lie down I'll fall asleep, and we have to be somewhere at 7 (right now it's about 6 here; we're 14 hours ahead). This day has been ridiculously long. I've had way too much time (a very uncommon problem for me)--they gave us 3 hours to unpack, then 3 hours to shop, then 3 hours before some sort of youth group at 7. And originally we were told we'd be able to sleep at 7.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But it's been really exciting, too. About an hour or so ago I saw my first wallaby, and it was pretty amazing. Then he hopped, and it was even more amazing. I saw a bunch more wallabies, too; they're all over the campus, just hanging around, eating, watching us. And I saw this cool bird called a curlew, and we've been hearing kookaburras and magpies, and Professor Kettlekamp told us there are koalas all around this area, and I saw koala and wallaby crossing signs, and we drove on the left side of the road and it was super weird, and we can't go off the paths here because of snakes and who knows what else... I'm actually in Australia! It's actually real! It's very cool, very weird, and very overwhelming.</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9084958539271215259.post-1646171757346364572011-04-08T16:55:00.001-07:002011-04-08T16:57:33.684-07:00I fell off a horse<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yup. On Wednesday during horsemanship. The first time I've fallen off a horse since horse camp when I was about 10. It was pretty scary.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I was cantering--that's what we're learning this semester, in Horsemanship II--on Dream, a big mare. She's not that big, but she's bigger than Brooks, the horse I'd been riding. Just a few weeks ago they switched several of us to different horses, so I'd only ridden Dream once before. She's a lot faster than Brooks, and I'm just not used to her. But I was cantering, and it was going well, until I was supposed to slow down. I tried, but Dream wasn't ready to stop yet. Megan, one of the TAs, was there to help everyone stop, and she reached for Dream to slow her down. But that freaked Dream out, and she twisted away to the right--while I kept going to the left.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">All I was aware of during this was that I had lost control of Dream. As she rounded the corner, I felt myself shifting and realized I was going to fall off. And then I saw where I was going to fall. We were right next to the wooden mounting ramp that runs along one side of the arena, and as I was sliding off I knew I was going to hit the edge, and that it was going to hurt.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I hit the ramp just like I knew I would and then flipped over somehow--people said I bounced off--and then I was lying on my back. The floor of the arena is covered with little bits of rubber, so hitting the ground was really soft. But my legs had smacked right into the ramp, and I just lay there, not moving, because they hurt so much. Adam told me later he was afraid I was unconscious because I didn't move for so long.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Andrea, our teacher, and the TAs came over and asked where it hurt, if my head was okay, stuff like that. I could talk to them fine; I was completely okay except for my legs. They mentioned ambulances, and I immediately said I didn't think it was that bad. Andrea and Cindy, one of the TAs, helped me stand up, and I thought they were going to help me walk into the classroom, but then Andrea just picked me up and carried me out of the arena. I was pretty impressed.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I finally got to see my legs once I was in the classroom sitting down, and they weren't pretty. There was a huge scrape on the left one and a big bruise on the right. Andrea got me ice and had someone come make sure that there were no worse injuries, and there weren't. I tried to walk and I could, although it hurt. Then for the rest of the class I just sat with my ice. I had been kind of shaky already just from the shock of it, and having the ice on my legs didn't help. But I did get calmed down and more relaxed.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I walked a little slower than usual the rest of that day, and the next day I was somewhat sore and it still hurt to walk, but I've been doing everything I normally do, like my cleaning jobs. I did skip going to the gym yesterday; I didn't think running or biking was a good idea. Although, today I went to a scavenger hunt floor event where we raced other teams, and we had to run a lot for that . . . so hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow!</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">So yeah, it was scary, and not fun, and I'm going to be bruised for a while, but it hasn't made me scared to ride or anything. Next week is the last time we're riding, so it's my last chance to get that canter right!</span>Tabithahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02020133674009457090noreply@blogger.com1