Sugarbeet festival

So one of the attractions on the list of things to do in Chinook is the Sugarbeet Festival. This is apparently what a sugarbeet looks like. 

There used to be factory in town that procesed them into sugar, never knew that was a thing. But the town school's mascot is named after them so that's fun and who doesn't like festivals. There was also a Sugarbeet decorating contest, cute!

The kids at the high school also get a day off school so each class makes tangier own float. Their rivals at the home coming game the following day this year was the badger hence the caged badger.

The band also played and marched. Look at how tiny the band is, yet still impressive considering how the size of the school.

The festival had two parades; one with just the high schoolers and a slightly larger one the next day with various groups. So this is what I learned about small town parades: they turn around and come back and you watch the entire parade again. I am not joking. They turn, go around the block so the seniors at their appartments can see, then proceed down the first street again. I was told this ahead of time but did not realize literally everyone stays and watches the second time around. So I stopped and watched the entire parade a second time.

JUMP, which is the youth group I work with, also had a pie fundraiser during the festival. Ooo, look at all the yummy pies! And this was not all the choice either.

Also super fun event was the reenactment of a bank robbery. It was really impressive; the guys were climbing on roofs and shooting off guns, riding into and out of town on horses, and it was even staged at the Wells Fargo Bank. These were some of the guys from the reenactment during the parade. They were giving out fake money to kids.

In summary, it was a really awesome weekend, filled with friends, community and some amazing small town charm.

People say there is nothing fun to do in a small town

And I say Oh nay nay. One should definitely go to the county museum. Behold the wonders. Ginormous elk head sticking out of the wall

And this awesome buffalo coat that I bet would keep you quite toasty even in the winters out here. 

Man am I jealous of whoever was around 75 million years ago to take this picture! 

JK but there are a lot of dinosaur bones in Montana and that is seriously awesome. Like for example the Gorgosaurus which makes me think of the Gorgs from Fraggle rock. 

So clearly I pretended to be one and took my picture with a skull. 

Also speaking of skulls, look at the size of that work horse skull. It's huge!

And last but not least, a picture of camera that while similar to my phone in that if does not have any cell reception, it would be undoubtedly more difficult to post pictures for you all if this was all I had to use. 

Big thanks to the Blaine County Museum for endless entertainment and for being FREE so it makes it even more awesome. 

So to sum it all up, life is good and even the dumpsters are happy. 

Musings and mailings

So tomorrow officially marks 3 weeks in Montana. People are asking just this weekend if I am getting settle in and getting used to town, if I am finding things okay now. 

That question always makes me smile every time. Yes, everything is gorgeous and everyone is friendly but also town is tiny. I'm pretty sure I explored the entire town the first couple days here. The Chinook website calls the town "small town charm, big city ambience." I'm not quite sure there is anything big city about Chinook but I love them all the more for thinking there is. 

People have asked what I'm missing most about NJ other than people and I must say it was the smells. At home, the wind always smells like water, whether its the ocean or the bay or the river/creek/lagoon etc. As I'm sure you can imagine from the picture above, it smells like hay or horses or cattle (I have to keep reminding myself to use the word cattle because every time I see them I think 'Ooo cows!' But that is apparently wrong. Aka cattle not cows). 

While there is no water close by, there is a library! Which as I'm sure you can tell by the excited face with my new library card above is super exciting. They also are part of the digital library so I can now borrow books from Nj and Mt at the same time on my Nook! 10 books potentially at a time instead of 5, my mind is exploding at the thought. 

Also this past week on Monday, I got a ton of books that I will be using throughout the year. I'll be helping out tutor some math this year at the high school and I just admit I was more excited that I should be at getting 3 math books. I know, I'm such a dork, but you love me anyway. And yes, that is in fact the Virgin Mary behind my shoulder. I didn't realize she was there until after I took the picture but I really enjoy the fact that I got photobombed by the Virgin Mary. 

Also, mail is fun, like this postcard I got from Colleen! So if you want to be cool like that, feel free to send me a nifty postcard or other such mail like shenanigans @ the following address

PO Box 231

Chinook, MT 59523

Montana!

Montana is epic. The first two pictures are from the drive into Chinook from Billings. There really isn't much between the two places as you can see by the pictures but it is also a really nifty drive because you really get to see almost every type of geography the state has to offer.

I am loving every minute of life but I've already learned a few things that I'm not sure I ever expected. I guess that's the thing about learning new things, sometimes it just happens and there is no preparation. I think a lot of times in life I've set out to learn something specific or at the very least acknowledging I have very little knowledge about some aspect of life. I think this is the first time I've truly been surprised about what I have been learning. I came into this year knowing I had a lot to learn about the physical area (flora, fauna, geographic stuff etc) but I honestly didn't think that there would be a difference in the way we define city.

When I was flying into Billings on the plane, they made the announcement that we were approaching the city and we would be landing in a few minutes. Looking out the window, I see nothing but beautiful landscape so I'm thinking, "No, we can't be approaching a city, there are no houses, no suburbs surrounding the city." So we land and there's no announcement about what terminal baggage is in, I'm thinking "hmm, that's odd" well as it turns out there is only one, hence no announcement.

I am from the city. This is a statement that of course I disagreed with the first time I heard it. City? Me? No, silly, I'm from the suburbs. New York, that's a city, Philly, also a city, Newark and Camden, sure. Toms River, not a city. Then it hits me. Billings is the largest town in Montana, as in the ENTIRE STATE, and it is roughly the size of Toms River. Relatively speaking I suppose I see why it would be called a city so relatively speaking, I am now from the city.

 This city girl is excited to be spending her year in Chinook. I crossed a "highway" to get to this sign. AKA, I walked across a two lane street with absolutely no cars or trucks on it or in sight at the time.

I'm the Chinook water tower and I'm super cute!

Look, I have horses who live down the street!

The view looking down the street at the end of town

It's not always the destination we remember but how we got there

The task of getting us oriented for our coming year of service fell to the wonderful Young Adult Volunteer Alumni, or YAVA,as well as the YAV staff. We spent a week at the Stony Point Center figuring out how we fit into this grand scheme of living out our faith, serving, and being served. If it sounds like a daunting task, I'm sure you're right. It has got to be unbelievably difficult to get 70 some odd people ready for various placements in various cities/countries all in one week so hats off to all of them for getting it done. 

Orientation: the determination of the relative position of someone or something

Why yes, that is how I think of the word orientation, but hey, what can I say other than I'm an engineer, but the fact of the matter is, it still applies. My orientation in life is determined relative to not only God but the people around us. Or to be totally geeky, God is my coordinate system, who gives meaning and placement to my life, but without relationships to other people, I'm just a point in space. God has placed so many other people around us (other points in space) and with that connection between us, we become a vector, having direction as well as magnitude, we become substantial.

Sometimes I forget that this is the way we are made. In college after the Search retreat, they asked us to stand up and say what we learned that weekend. I don't think I'll ever forget the words I said that day "This weekend I learned I can't do everything on my own" but sometimes I forget to live that out. I think the most important thing orientation has taught me is that exact sentiment, I can't do everything on my own; I need God and I need other people. Meeting the other YAVs serving this year as well as knowing there are so many YAVA creating a net of love and support is a wonderful, comforting, amazing experience.

I'm an introvert by nature and I truly enjoy spending time in solitude but we are made for more that just that. In the words of Toby Mac "I was made to love, and be loved by you" It's something I need to remember and I hope as the year progresses, I will seek to live out that love and embrace the love of others.

I leave you with some fun highlights of the week, some of which I didn't get pictures of so you get awesome drawing version!

Stony Point had pigs! They were super cute and were working on getting the fields ready!

Me, Audry, and Colleen after our walk to the lighthouse nearby. I am truly honored that we could be there for Audry's first lighthouse experience since apparently Kansas doesn't have lighthouse, who would have guessed?

Colleen and I put our feet in the ocean one more time before heading out to orientation.

I went to a Quaker meeting in the meditation room at Stony Point during a storm and it was an awesome time of being still, and knowing that God is God and I am not as well as a time of community, peace, and refreshment for the day.

Kathryn is a Zumba instructor so she taught a class for us. It was incredibly awesome and I loved every second of the dancing and the amazing faces she makes.

Pieces of New Jersey

The time has come for the list. What list, you ask? Why, it's the list of things that are classic New Jersey that I wanted to experience one more time before leaving the east coast for a year. The list is in no particular order and there are a few things that made the list but didn't get photographed so they are going to start off the list.

• Say hi and bye to friends and family (if I didn't make it to you, consider this my personal virtual hi and bye)
• Take a dip in the ocean/beach it up
• WAWA!

Stuffing my face with delicious hoagie!

Peach tea, smokey turkey with honey mustard and spinach, and of course pickles on the side

• Have dad make french toast! This one was made with peach bread from the Amish market, thanks to Kim for the bread!

• Ride my bike and watch the sun set over the bay.

• Surf Taco! Baja bowl as modeled by Jamie with Kevin in the back using the magic new soda machine (it's touch screen and has magical selections)

• Eat some pork roll! Yeah, I enjoy a piece every once in a while so I officially got my one piece a year in, the rest of the pan was for dad.

• Get stuck in traffic on the bridge while it opens! Okay, that wasn't really on my list of things to do but as it turns out, it did in fact happen in the last few days and is pretty much a standard of living on the island, so here it is none the less.

• Go Kayaking down to the lighthouse. The current was crazy strong but we made it all the way.

  

  Look, we're holding the lighthouse in our hands, sort of...

Just chillin' in the back bay

Dad and I managing to pose nicely for a photo.

• And last but not least, by any means - Go to Sonic with Jamie. Seriously, it was delicious. While I realize there are Sonics around the country, it just won't be the same without Jamie or a nuclear power plant in the background.

I've come to realize that a lot of things on the list involved food, and you know what, I'm okay with that. Food is delicious and I'm not apologizing for enjoying and savoring both it and the people with whom I got to experience the joys of eat these amazing foods. With that, I leave you with a picture of my last dinner at home - Roy Rogers biscuits with honey, scallops, and tofu noodles.

Also please note the awesomeness that is my dinosaur pasta scooper from Ikea.

As my time winds down until I leave for orientation (down to hours in fact), I am so excited to be starting my journey that I am sure will be filled with epic adventures as well as God's love, wisdom, and guidance.  Colleen and I leave tomorrow for orientation in NY where we will spend a week before parting ways on Monday when I will fly out to Montana and she will be driving to New Orleans so please keep our travels in your prayers. 

PS Just thought you should all know that I am also super excited to be spending a full week with Colleen before we depart.  You are all probably jealous of me that I get to spend a week with her (and if you are not, you should be) but I have to get my Colleen time in too before we leave. So here's to one last road trip!

The Countdown Begins!

First of all giant thank you to all who supported my fundraising campaign! My current total at last count is 2500 of the total 3000 I need to raise so a giant woot for reaching my initial goal of 2000! For the visually oriented of those of you, here's a graphic representation. And in case you don't recognize the shape, that is in fact the shape of Montana, but of course you all know that right?

If you haven't received a thank you in the mail yet, it should be winging itself to you shortly through the postal service. So while you wait, here's a picture of me making the excited face for you with the opportunity to give you a virtual high five; just place your hand to the screen and bam, instant high 5!

So I officially head out to orientation in one week from today. While it seems crazy that the time is finally coming when I will be out of the state for a year, I am unbelievably excited to be starting this journey and promise to update much more frequently. In my final days in the state there are some quintessential New Jersey things I want to enjoy once more before leaving so stayed tuned in the coming week to find out what makes the list but feel free to leave some comments on here if you have some suggestions.