So Sunday Kristy, Ryan, and I ran 4.1 miles!!! I was so excited, because honestly it wasn't that hard. I wanted to keep going, but my stupid knee started hurting so I had to stop a couple times to stretch it out. If my dumb knee didn't hurt I know without a doubt I could run this whole 1/2 marathon! But I guess everything that is rewarding has to have some kind of obstacles. So my knee is my obstacle. lol.
On another note, Friday I will be turning 25! And this morning I kind of freaked out about this. I mean I will be 1/4 of 100! WOW! Time flies. So the story goes like this. I was driving to work listening to my iPod in my car. The song "Tootsie Roll" came on. (You know you like this song!) And I know this is an old song, but in the beginning the song says something with the year 1994 in it. That's a long time ago. I started thinking some of the kids in my program at the school were BORN in 1994! Wow! It's just something crazy to think about. How times goes so fast; you have so many goals and all you can do is strive to meet them.
Time to go work out my knee...Have a good night!
So for the last couple fridays I have been playing on an indoor soccer team. Almost every time we have been short players, therefore really tired and we usually end up loosing. Let me also add that the teams we have been playing always have subs, and are usually at a higher skill level than us. BUT... this past friday we came up against a team that was at our level, and even though we still did not have subs, we finally won! Boy did we cut it close. We won within the last 4 seconds! It was so intense and fun. I did not realize how much I missed playing soccer. I really do like it, and this week I finally felt like I got back into my groove and was able to play fairly descent. Here's a picture before our very first game :)
Today I went to one of the Dallas Public Library and volunteered with the adult ESL classes. I went last Saturday as well and I have been having so much fun with them! Last week we just worked on getting everyone registered for the class and filling out paperwork. But this week I actually got to go around to the tables and help teach them English! There are people from all over the world; Russia, Mexico, Peru, several countries in Africa, and someone from Asia. I love working with internationals and I have so much fun helping out in these classes. The peace corps asked that I get more experience with ESL teaching and I have really enjoyed my experiences so far :) The teacher facilitator is also really nice. We had a sub in the class today so I haven't got to work with the actual teacher yet, but I have met him and he seems really nice. I'm very excited to be helping out and teaching others English. I have also been able to practice some of my Spanish with several of them, which has been interesting. I have to admit sometimes I freak out a little bit in my head when they ask me how to spell something, because I am not the best speller and I heavily rely on spell check. LOL.
Finally, about the 1/2 marathon coming up. Kristy, Ryan, and I have been running regularly and are doing better. Most days we run at least 2 1/2 miles, with several 3 miles in there. Tomorrow we will be running 4 miles. I'm scared, but determined. I really want to be able to finish this race. I'm hoping people will come out and support us. If you want to it's April 11th, 2010 starting at 8 AM. Finishing... who knows, but we have 6 1/2 hours to run the course, so we will see.
So... in the past couple of days I have been spending about 3-5 hours reading random people's blogs. Wow! Thats a long time, and you may be wondering why I have been doing that. Well I have been searching through current PCV (Peace corps volunteers) blogs and have decided I wanted to make my own blog. As you may, or may not know, Ryan and I have applied to the peace corps (PC). We have been through a lot already and would like to share our journey with you. We also thought it would be a great way of sharing info with family and friends IF we do receive an invitation from the peace corps. I have been so thankful for all the information I have been able to receive from these blogs that I thought I should have one as well. Maybe someone in the future will use it to help them gain insightful information. So here is how it all began...
In September 2008, Ryan and I picked up and moved from Seguin to Dallas. I had a job with the King Tut Exhibition and Ryan was working in security. We started to explore and research ways for us to go abroad to volunteer. (We actually looked at a couple places before we moved, but got really serious once we were in Dallas) We did not really care what we would be doing, we just wanted to do our part in helping out another country. So in January 2009 we applied to the peace corps. By February both of our applications were complete and we submitted them, not realizing how long this journey would be. Our first speed bump was our marital status. We were told we had to be married for one year before we could depart with the PC. So we decided this was fine with us and moved back our anticipated leave date to the summer 2010. Ryan and I got married in April 2009, but waited until June/July to take our honeymoon. After we returned from fabulous Peru, I started getting all the legal paperwork done, changing my name, etc. Right before we left for Peru, our recruiter called us to schedule an interview. We had our interview set for when we returned. So in July we went to downtown Dallas and had our interviews. We both thought they went really well and we were very optimistic about the future. We left the interviews on a high note, only to hear bad news in August/September. We got a call that said we did not receive a nomination, but was asked if we wanted to try for the next round of nominations. Of course we said yes. After this we had to fill out lots more forms and information for them, trying to get more experience to make us qualified for positions with the PC. Both of us kind of thought we were not going to get another chance at getting a nomination, so we both starting making and deciding on our plan "B's". BUT... in January our recruiter called and told us we had received a nomination! I would teach English and Ryan would work in Youth Development. All we know right now is that we should be going to Asia, which can always change, but hopefully it won't. So now that we are up to speed, Ryan and I have received our medical paperwork and have now scheduled all of our doctor's visits. Within the next two weeks we will be visiting several doctors and working on completing all of the intense paperwork. So until then... we will be back at work, reading, volunteering, and getting ready for all our x-rays, blood work, etc. Have a great night!
