Utah: Week one!

Well I have officially been in Salt Lake for just barely over a week. I dont know if I realized how accurate it would be when I used the word adventure! It has definitely been interesting

The first few days I was at my apt alone. My wonderful roommate was in Greece. The first night I was so exhausted I just crashed. The next night my very active imagination got the best of me for a little while, but then I eventually got so tired I didnt care any more. I stayed pretty busy at first getting all of the odds and ends together and unpacking. Saturday morning I woke up and had a bowl of cereal. My milk was warm...but i didnt think much of it and just turned up the temperature and went about my business. That afternoon Millie came over. We went to see Time Travelers Wife (good by the way! I LOVE her wedding ring!) when we got back to my apt I opened the fridge so that we could start making dinner. The smell was pretty bad....and all the food was still warm! I looked in the freezer to see all the meat in there completely raw! everything was at minimum room temperature! Katie and I had tons of meet in there ranging from Salmon to chicken. All of which was completely runied and starting to smell. The freezer was dripping with all kinds of meat juices. Millie and I made a joint effort and cleaned out all the meat hoping to salvage the rest of the stuff in there. I called my land lord but he didnt answer. I e-mailed him, which thankfully he got later. I went to church the next morning and when we got back everything in the fridge and freezer had gone bad....my apartment smelt SSSOOO bad! I finally got a new fridge the next day. It took my landlord and like 3 other guys to haul the old one out (which started leaking all kinds of smelly juices as they did so) and bring the new one in. I made several futile attempts and making my apt smell better in the mean time. I bought like 12 air freshners, lysol spray, and all the ingredients to bake cookies. Once the old fridge was out life was good.

The next part of the adventure is driving in Utah.....I had always heard how terrible Utah drivers were but now I am witness! They are pretty scary! I dont think they really know what a red light means...they only stop if someone in front of them is smart enough to stop. I almost have a nervous break down every time i have to drive any where.... Besides the other drivers, I am not used to city driving. One minute you are in one lane and then suddenly that lane ends...or theres a median and you cant turn when you want to, or some idiot guy is driving down the turning lane so you can't get into the turning lane so you miss your turn and you cant turn around for another million blocks.... its stressful. Im sure it doesnt help that most of the time I have NO idea where I am going. I probably make the Utah drivers even worse.

Getting into my school had been a really FUN adventure! I finally met my cooperating teacher on Wednesday. I sat through a forever long faculty meeting, but it was really awesome to see how everything works. I got to meet some of my students and take a look at my school. From the outside Redwood looks really kind of sketchy. But its WAY nice on the inside! There is a computer for every two students on the desks. My teacher said she uses them all the time! I have this official badge that I have to have to get pretty much any where in the school as well. I feel pretty important! haha! My teacher is really sweet! She has been teaching for years but is the type that says we are going to learn together. She knows that both of us are learning from each other. She even went as far as calling it OUR classroom today! It makes me feel like the last 4 years of my life actually mean something! It really makes me proud of what I have accomplished! School starts on Monday and I am looking forward to getting in and meeting the students and start teaching!

Kelcie, my friend that was in the EL ED program with me, and i are going to the Salt Lake Temple tomorrow! I am So excited! I have always wanted to go inside the Salt Lake Temple! I used to want to get married there! It should be really fun! So far I am loving Salt Lake! There have already been a few ups and downs and moments where i am scared out of my mind, and I'm sure there are PLENTY more to come. But, overall, I feel like this is really where I need to be and the Lord is blessing me! More to come later I'm sure!!