Sick as a Puppy

So, my lack of blogging has been for two reasons: 1) I have been sick as a puppy, and 2) Because I have been sick, I have been sleeping, sleeping, sleeping. Well, I have been sleeping except for the times when I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like an insomniac because I can't sleep nor breathe. But, that's besides the point. Saturday morning, we started our training by saying how we felt - my intro was, "Well, I'm fighting off a cold with tons of Vitamin C and tea, but other than that, I'm GREAT". About six other people in the room actually had that horrible cold I was trying to fight off, and therefore, Sunday morning I was no longer fighting, but rather, I actually had the infamous cold that has been travelling around Missoula.

The first thing I did on Sunday morning (besides putting on a hat and some deodorant...with three-days-worn jeans) was take a trip to Shopko. Included in my purchase was a teakettle, a box of tea, two bags of cough drops, a box of Kleenex, and a box of Pop-Tarts (because I decided I deserved a special treat). The one I am most excited about is the TEAKETTLE. How sophisticated!!! I never grew up drinking tea...in fact, I never really drank much tea before I moved here (besides Chai Lattes, which don't really count...). Well, since the purchase of my tea kettle, I have been enjoying a nice travel-mug (compliments of Scott and Kim, it has my name on it - thank you) full of varieties of tea each day. The travel mug even fits into my water-bottle holder on my bike. How cool! Although the teakettle is slightly baffling in that I really try to get to the water before the whistle. Why wait until the whistle? If I wait until the whistle, it is a battle between either burning the tongue horribly or waiting too long to let the water cool off that I have to drink cold tea for the rest of the day. Which, I guess, is not the end of the world. Anyways, my point was that I now am the proud owner of a teakettle, and oh do I feel sophisticated. And PS, tea is now my source of caffeine, since I officially gave up soda about three weeks ago. And I've survived!!!

Let's see...the rest of the week. Sunday was spent being sick. Monday, I received my first Counseling Theories midterm back and did pretty darn well, if I do say so myself. I also received my first paper back in the class...30/30, not bad. Well, except that doesn't leave much room for improvement!

Tuesday...I finally finally have my last paperwork sent into the Peace Corps (I know, you are saying, "yeah right"). Well, cross your fingers. I hope that I have the last medical forms sent in.

Today, we had our second session of our GUTS! group, which was awesome. The second session is for working on the girls' strengths, and Willa came up with the idea of using leaves somehow to do this (since the trees are SO beautiful right now in Missoula...I wish I had my camera with me every time I am out). So, we came up with the idea to have each girl make their own "Strength Tree". We went outside to gather leaves and did an "up-down" activity where we listed off different strengths that girls might have. If they thought they had that one, they would stand up...or sit down for vice versa. Anyways, so we went inside and used glue, paper, fun, fun, fun to make our strenth trees. They turned out pretty awesome.

After, I had another 4-hour session of YWCA training...we focused on domestic violence, the cycle of violence (observing tension as a kid and replaying it in your own life as an adult), and handling crisis calls on the crisis line. Honestly, answering the crisis line makes me a bit nervous. What if I say the wrong thing? What if what I say causes someone to be in more danger than they already are? What if it doesn't end well? What if....what if...what if? I know, the "what if" questions are not good to ask, but hopefully the rest of the training will prepare me for this. Everyone else seems to be just as nervous as I, so I guess this is good.

Well, I am going to go to bed with some Vicks Vapo-Rub, Kleenex, and a heating pad for my neck muscles. Boo to being sick. Tomorrow, I have two presentations - fun.

Peace.

Oh yes, PS I have officially bought my train ticket to Wisconsin for Christmas (YAY!) and will be in WI Dec 18-Jan 6. See you then!