Life's Adventures

i cant think of a title

2011-10-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Got to love the title. I cant think of one right now, maybe by the end.
So school has started since my last post. Classes are Challenging. Taking my generals, so lots of busy work. Its fun though. I like it. I am doing good. Some days are better than others. Just glad I have good friends here in Idaho.(even though i don't have much time to hang out)

This post was just to let you all know i am alive. Honestly nothing exciting has happend lately, next weekend(the 15) will be exciting. I am going zip lining and more exciting events. So yay...take care everyone and look forward to posting something a little more interesting next time :D

Woo Hoo...New discovery

2011-09-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

First off, just to let everyone know. I am in Idaho now. It was nice to see those i saw in California and sad to not see some of you either. Hopefully I will be able to see you on my next visit.

Now this is just a quick post, but the other day I went to meet a friend in Idaho Falls(30 min S.W.) at a coffeehouse(coco for me :) ). When I walked in I fell in love. It had a classic look to it with nice wooden floors, small tables scattered strategically around, large comfy couches, and my Favorite personal touch....Books. I don't know why I love books so much, but i do. Maybe it was my parents having a library themselves in our home instead of TV. I just know i feel home when there are books. But back on topic. It was great. To those who might be reading this and are in Idaho, here is the information for it:

The Villa Coffeehouse
344 Park Ave
Idaho Falls, ID 83402

iI know, i should of taken photos, but i didn't have my Camera. It was nice to just find a simple place to relax and talk. So....Just letting you know my new discovery. :)

Transfer from India to Thailand

2011-07-30T17:27:00.000-07:00

India was truly amazing and will always keep a spot in my heart.

Now I am in Chaing Mai, Thailand visiting my Family. Thailand is a lot of fun. Amanda and I have decided it is a combination of Hawaii and India. It is extremely beautiful and the people are nice.

So in the last 5 day Unc(my mothers uncle cleve, and i call him unc) and his family have taken us to the following places.

Monkey kingdom

OUR INTERNET CONNECTION IS TO SLOW TO UPLOAD MORE PICTURES, SO I WILL UPLOAD THEM WHEN WE HAVE BETTER CONNECTION.

Bug kingdom

Elephant Camp

Snake kingdom

Tiger Kingdom

Kareoke

And of course AMAZING Thai food

Good bye RSO

2011-07-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

So even though this post is about 14 hours late, i am still going to write it as if it was Friday night, cause that is when i started this post

My time has come to an end here at RSO. :(

Tonight while saying goodbye to the boys i could not hold it together. I had tears streaming down my face. The boys kept telling me to not cry, cause I will see them again. It was very sweet. I was suppose to be out of there at 9pm, didn't leave the Hostel(where to boys sleep) till 10pm. A piece of my heart will be left behind. But my mind and heart has grown so much.

A saying i have started saying to explain the way Indians live their life in comparison to us in America is that we try to MAKE the most of our time, and the Indians try to GET the most from their time. I feel i have adapted that into my life, but we will see how far that goes before I start making the most of my time. It will be interesting.

I am now planning on coming back next year and staying for at least one year, if they have a position for me on the staff here. It would be so cool, cause then i can get to know the staff at the school and their families as well, also see the kids grow and go through a whole year of school. Meet some of their families and get to know them better. Each one has such a unique story that i could take years to learn them all.

So, a question many people have asked me, is "What's in store now?" and the answer to that. I am planning on finishing my associates in April of 2012, and then return to India for a prolonged period of time. Then who knows. I know i am not sure. But i will see what life has in plan for me then.

But for the next 2 weeks, i get to travel with my totally awesome sister Amanda. We are in Delhi, India for 2 days. Then we are making our way to Thailand to see our Uncle. Well, will update ya when i have Internet access again. See you all in a couple weeks.

Thanks again to all those who helped make this experience with Rising Star Outreach happen. I will be having a Fireside/lunch-in kind of a thing when I return. So i will let you all know and hopefully you can attend. But take care and feel free to ask questions. I would love to answer any questions you have.

Where does the time go?

2011-07-21T23:18:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it has been 2 months since i left America? I know i cant. I also cant believe it has been 10 days since my last post. There are not enough hours in the day. So, what has been going on with me? A lot. Like I said in my last post, I am a coordinator. I have been helping lead this session of 37 volunteers through their 2 weeks of service here in India. It is a lot of work. This is my daily schedule

800: coordinator meeting

830: Morning Conclave

850: assemble the tutors for that day and head to campus

900: give instructions to tutors(every day we rotate, so things are always changing)

915-1205: tutoring/observing

1205-1240: lunch

1240-1400: more tutoring/observing

1400-1545: this is suppose to be free time, but i usually have work to do in here

1545: cut fruit for dinner w/ tutors

1600-1700: Track duty (watch the children who misbehaved run laps)

1700-1815: Work with teacher/staff on english(oncw in a while it is free time)

1815-1930: dinner

1930-2100: family time

2100-0800: free time( but then amanda has the computer, so no blogging)

and it starts all over again. I have been able to go with medical every third day though. Its creepy but awesome all at the same time. Yeaterday we went to a colony called Vangalor(i think). I was helping wrap the patients ulcers. Then i swapped positions with another volunteer and the nurse, Navoomani, told me to sit in her seat. THe women here are very stubborn, when they tell you to do something. It is difficult to say differently. So i took her seat (which i right in front of the feet with ulcers) and she hands me the scissors.

She wants me to cut off the flesh that needs to be cut. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. That was scary. Luckily one fo the guys i had to take care of was chatting with another patient and was laughing the whole time. It was still weird.

Tutoring though is going good. Difficult sometimes cause there is a lot of room for improvement, but we cant progress since the "official" principal is not here in India and wants it her way. So we do it as close to her way as possible, but sometimes still have to switch stuff on my own. Like 2 crazy kids trying to read Hansel and Gretel with 1 tutor. HA HA i dont think so. That went out of control in about .2 seconds. Other than that the tutoring is going good.

So a sweet story to tell, then i must go.

The other night the boys in my family discovered I was leving Saturday Morning for good and this is how the conversation went. Imagine 9 boys from age 9-14 years old and also i had brought over a whip, just to show them how to crack it.

Me: Yes i am leaving on saturday

boy 1: ok, I will hide in your suitcase

Boy 2: i will come too and keep you company

boy 3: i am coming

Me: ok, lets go see if you will fit

Boy 4: Wait, we can not fit all in the suitcase

Boy 2: oh...well...I know. We will sneak to Chennai(where i am flying out of) and kick the airplane so it can not leave

all the boys: yeah yeah, that is a great idea( as they practice there kicking moves in the air)

Me: but i think the plane might do more damage to you then you would to the plane.

Boy 6: Yep, planes are very strong and we are still young.

Boy 7: Ok, then we will steel your whip, and not to hard. We will whip the pilot and climb into the pilot seat, and fly the plane here to RSO campus

Can i just say i love these boys. Ok. I will wright at least 1 more befor i leave campus on Saturday morning here (friday night in america)

Lets Try Something New

2011-07-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, We all know that I do not have the best memory. But this was worst than before. I haven't written in here in a long time. Sorry. So instead of trying to play catch up, I am starting today and going forward.

Hi, My name is Lex and I am the Educator Coordinator for the Next 2 weeks.

Yep, you read that right, I got promoted from volunteer to coordinator. This entails I organize the volunteers into tutoring schedule for the students who need a little bit of extra help. I am excited to be back with the school as well as being able to go with Sarah and Patrick to medical whenever they go.

OH YEAH, SARAH AND PATRICK ARE HERE. So stocked. I am super excited they are here.

So to get an idea of what I got to do last week, and what is in store for the next two weeks. Click on this link and watch it. The music is great as well, so if you can, turn those speakers on.

http://gallery.me.com/risingstaroutreach#100404

Well. I am off to a coordinator meeting. I will do better with my blogging.

Oh, before i go. A quick story. So I finally went to medical last week on thursday. It was SUper. As much as i know i don't want to go into anything medical now. It was still great. There was this tiny old women who was the sweetest thing ever. The sad part was that her feet and hands were almost not there at all with the effects of leprosy. She couldn't walk without her special shoes, so instead of putting the shoes back on in between each station, i carried her. She had the biggest smile on her face, and just was amazing. She had the sweetest spirit with her.

So now i am off to the meeting. Please watch the video, it is amazing.

I'M NORMAL!!!!!

2011-06-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

I am now a "NORMAL VOLUNTEER". This is a high and a low. A high because now i get to interact with the other volunteers that i live with. A low because I love working with the teachers and the school so much.

So some of you may be asking....a normal volunteer, what does that mean. Well first off, I'm still my weird goofy self(that will never change) but i am now apart of group #3 and we get to rotate through the different jobs that need to get done. There are 3 categories of jobs. #1 is Construction; #2 is Education; and #3 is medical.

I have done the first 2 already. With construction we moved about 300 cinder blocks, 500 bricks, and 80 pans of rocks. and these are all low estimates. I didn't mind it as much, the hardest part was the brick dust that got in your eyes, nose, and mouth every time the wind blew. The people in the colony though were happy to see us and always waved at me when i waved at them. Come on, who doesnt like to wae at a giant white guy(thats me).

Next with Education, That was today. We stayed in the library and had a student every 20 minutes come in. It was hard with reading, since I am not really trained in tutoring for reading and not that good at it myself. But when it came to math...OH BOY i was excited. I love math(at least the stuff i know). I got to teach the finger trick for anything from 1 to 10 for the 9 table.

Well, other than that, not much is different. Oh i was playing a game with the kids called Go-Go(AKA: tag on crack) and kicked a stick. I am ok. just got a small spot on my massive foot. Dr. Susan(on campus doctor) got it cleaned up and bandage on it and i got my tetnis shot.

Well, off to dinner i go. Love you all.

Tomorrow i will put pictures of me doing construction and medical. WOO HOO

Not sure what to call this post.

2011-06-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone.
How are you? Hope the Answer is good. So today is Friday and it is now 5 pm here in India, So 430 am in California.

So I know I have nor written all week and i am sorry. I have been busy working all week with the school getting ready for the transfer from one principal to another. It takes some hard work to make that happen smoothly. I hope it all works out on monday. The acting Principal up to today was totally amazing. She postponed her own trip to thailand so she could help the school more. The official Principal is working on her VISA in the states and having a difficult time at it. Now we have a coordinator from the volunteer group stepping up to the plate. i know she will do amazing, but it is always difficult to go after a school year starts and then change the principal 4 weeks into the year. Oh well. worse things have happened.

So if you follow my blog i stated in my last one that i would be becoming an official "normal volunteer" last monday...... that did not happen. April asked if i could stay on the final week and the coordinators left the decision up to me. I chose to stay with april for the week. SO... now i think i will be a "normal volunteer" on this monday coming up, but as i have stated before. I will wait till it happens.

OK, Becky Douglas the founder of Rising Star Outreach came here this week. And oh what a wonderful women she is. So sweet, full of love, and has a strong will to do what she puts her heart into. She was here one week(shortest trip she has ever taken) but those 5 days and seeing her work and also hearing her story was just amazing. So she is also leaving today.

Then today the Courtyard Marriott Hotel came to the school and did a little carnival for the kids, with a magician, face painting, Ballon shapes(swords and non swords was the menu) and of course music. The kids loved every moment of it. The Marriott also provided lunch for the kids, which was awesome. It was a lot of fun, but of course there was one down side. My camera had a dead battery :( i wish i had pictures.

Ok the best part of this week though was the after the festival the male teachers were all sitting together and they invited me to sit with them. There we sat, talked, and laughed for about 45 minutes. It was like i was one of them. Then afterwards, We went and played cricket. Thats right. I now know how to play cricket. i am still getting use to it, but it is fun though. It was awesome to feel like someone that belongs here. Not just another volunteer, but as their friend. One of the teachers is getting married at the end of august and invited me to his wedding. Even though i would love to go, i will be back in the states and i have to wait 2 months after leaving India before returning. (India's rules) Another teacher invited me to a festival in his village. I hope i can go, he is getting the exact dates and i will check with the coordinators to see.

Well. I have lots more to do today here in India, so ta ta for now.

Vanakam (hello) :D

2011-06-18T01:37:00.000-07:00

Vanakam everyone, hope you are doing good. I know I am doing amazing and now healthy. I have been sick with a cold for exactly one week friday. I had to stay in bed on friday and sunday to get better. IT WAS HORRIBLE. I thought I was better on Saturday and went to a colony near Chingleput (spelling might not be correct) but then got back home and realized i was worse. BLAH. no fun. But after a week of being week, coughing, sneezing, and feeling not so good. I now only have a slight sniffle and i also have energy. YAY. Even though i have been not 100% i have still been working hard with the school and teachers but i think that is coming to a close for me. On monday there is going to be a new Session starting and I am going to be a "normal volunteer" That means instead of being on campus all week, i am going to be in a group and rotate between colonies, construction, and school. This is not 100% for sure yet. I told them as long as i get to go to 3 different colonies I am happy to work where ever they need me. So come monday we will find out.

Here is a funny entry i wrote in my journal the other day:

Dear India,
Please make up your mind. The different weather conditions are weird. One day you are over 100 degrees and the next you are raining beautiful rain. Then back to the heat. Then a high wind rain storm out of no where. But thank you for all your beauty that you

yours truly
Lex the tourist

I thought it was funny that that was on my mind. So i figured i would share it with all of you. Well it is a beautiful saturday and i want to go ride a bike so...here i go.

OH, exciting things going on this weekend is that Becky Douglas(The Founder of Rising Star Outreach) is coming out this weekend. I am really excited to meet her. Ok. i am going out to ride a bike.

Love you all
Me-Lex-Alexander-Me lol

Ok, here is the truth

2011-06-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

So, can i just feel like an idiot right now. So this weekend i FINALLY got to go to a colony and asked the million dollar question in my mind. Why doesn't the government help out with leprosy? I got a blank stare from the doctor talking. The Government does help. I fell silent. Then after the meeting i went and talked to the doctor privately. I HAD EVERYTHING WRONG. The government STRONGLY encourages all citizens to be tested for it, AND they offer a cure. FOR FREE. The World Health organization provides all the necessary medicine to cure the people with leprosy.

So now with this new information, you might be wondering what my sister and I are doing here. Pretty much Leprosy is still SOCIALLY a horrible disease, but not the government. The reason there are colonies, is that is where they can live together and help each other. We go out to the colonies and help medically because Leprosy affects the nervous system. Which means when you touch something hot and pull your hand away out of reflect, that is your nervous system reacting and people who have been effected with leprosy don't have those feelings in their hands or feet or both. And this leads to ulcers and other infections because they cant feel anything. Also having leprosy can lead to deformities, that make it difficult to perform daily tasks. so we (or the teams, not me yet) go and help them clean their wounds, and make it so that their ulcers can heal.

So i wanted to say i am very sorry i misinformed any of you, It was not my intentions. I feel really bad for leading some of you astray. So it is now like midnight here and i need to get some sleep. Take care everyone. And i will post blog soon.

Kisses and hugs

Lex

Being Thankfull

2011-06-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you are doing amazing where you are at. I know I am. I have fallen in love with the beauty of India(not the heat). So you are probably wondering what i have been doing the last couple of days. Well, I am now Tutoring Teachers with their english. I know you are wondering how i am doing this being one of the worst spellers in the world. But it is pretty simple and fun all at the same time. We get a book from the Library and read it. I read a page, then they re-read what i read, and then in their own words describe to me what they just read. If they have any question about meanings of words or spelling rules they ask me.

I am not really sure why they chose me, but they did. I am learning so much from them as well as teaching them. We started out just talking and having a basic converstion. I have learned a lot about their culture, religion and just the teachers individually. I think the one teacher I connect with the most is Vijayakumar. He is a wonderful man. He has a loving caring heart and just wants to help everyone. Even though that does describe almost everyone here in India. You can just see the genuin concern he has for the students, faculty, and the world.

But getting to the Title of my posting today, Being Greatful. In the two weeks i have been here I have discovered many thing that I myself and possibly others have taken for granit. Like cold water coming from the faucet, continual electricity, clean drinking water readily available, public transportation(you think LA is bad, Come here), cleanliness in public areas, non-government hospitals, and many more. I am so greatful that I will always be greatful for where I come from and where I shall go in my life.

To go into more explanation on a few.

Today when I got drinking water from the clean water faucet, it came out HOT. like i could put chocolate in it and have hot coco.

The last two days the electricity has not been consistent, which means no ceiling fans. Which means non moving HOT air and no lights.

Here on RSO Campus we have drinking water all over campus, but when I am listening to the locals talk, the government only gives them limited amounts of filtered water. At least they are use to the unfiltered water but still. the idea of it.

Public transportation is extremely interesting here. and not in a good way. The other day i saw a bus, driving extremely crooked on the road. Like it was in its own lane and another. Can you say major alignment problem(yes i know what that is now) and also i have see 2 busses turned over, cause they were so over crowded that they tipped.

I just wanted to share what I am greatful for, and hope that everyone takes a moment to think about what you have and be greatful for it.

Love you all and talk to you soon.

the true attack of the kids.

2011-06-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

So, the kids here love taking photos. Wether it is being in them or taking them with your camera. lol. So the kids have taken over 300 pictures with my camera and a lot of them are actually really good. i just went through and honestly grabbed random ones to show you some of them. i think i might do a flickr account or something for all the photos, cause this is not the best or quickest way to go.

So this weekend we went to Mahamalapuram, which is a tourist town, and got 3 pairs of pants. one pair is Alibaba pants, Fisherman pants, and just nice linen pants. All custom made. I will post pictures on the next post, cause the cardreader is missing right now. but they are awesome. Then we went swimming in the ocean. it was great...till i got stung by a jelly fish. IT HURT. Since i was with a bunch of med students and 2 it doctors they told me i had to pee on it to stop the reaction. I did...was extremely gross. WAIT , dont go looking it up online cause i already did, and found out it doesn't do anything for it. Thank you 2 doctors, pre med students and nursing students for that. So the sting felt like i got electrocuted, but the hotel we were at said there are no Jelly fish in their waters. So the mystery is...What got me? The swelling went down in a couple hours and i have a cool looking rash thing on my wrist. Other than that. I AM DOING GREAT. Loving life and loving just everything really. Food is amazingly simple and delicious. I think i might see if i can get a recipe or two and have an indian dinner night back in the states. Eat off of banana leafs and with our hands. lol FUN!!!! OK i need to go play with the kids now.

Love you all and talk to you soon.

P.S. I am not going to be having the computer with me till tuesday evening, so just to let you know my post might not be till wednesday. Not sure, we will see.

P.P.S. Thank you for those who have left comments, it makes it nice to keep writing when i know people are reading.

attack of the children...AAHHHH

2011-06-02T02:25:00.000-07:00

So, getting you all up to date has been a challenge for me, with finding time and all that. But today is the day. you will all be caught up. YAY.

(this is Stephen, we are buddies)

So it is now Thursday June 2nd, 2011 at 3pm. today was not a good day for me because i have been having bad stomache cramps all day and a really bad headache. not a good combo. luckily most of the volunteers this session are nurses or pre-med students, so i have been taken care of. Its nothing to be alarmed about, so please dont be alarmesd. the only bad part is that they had me stay in the room and rest today. so no playing and eating lunch with the kids. :( sad day.

But yesterday Wednesday, was a good day. I finally got all the teacher's inventory done the right way. Substituted for the last time 6th Standard Science, and delivered mail and messages to the teachers. I know this doesn't sound as grand as going out to the Leprosy Colonies and helping them, but this is important as well. The leprosy-afflicted individuals have their children going to school here at RSO. And this work needs to get done. Everyone on campus has been working 110%, So i am very happy that i can get in there and help out the teachers and the students get what they need. Here are some pictures of Wednesday.

Walking into campus and seeing Amanda (my sister):

These pictures are from lunch time.

Then later that night we DeLiced(shampoo) and DeWormed(a pill they took) the children, i was there taking pictures of the event.

This is Cartic(standing up). He studies Government off campus, but lives here.

Her are the girls getting their hair shampooed

These are the little boys in my Family. Yes, They sleep on a mat on the floor. Its pretty comfortable. Better than sleeping in dirt.

these girls were giggling when i took their picture.

not sure his name, but he is a rock star with his hairdoo

Stephen and I

i cant remeber his name, it starts with a V.

i think his name is Ashcoft, not sure. But has a great smile

Stephen

Kala, She is the House Mom of my Family.

Rising Star. The Beginning of the Best Summer...EVER

2011-06-01T04:31:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

So here I am. In the volunteer Hostel at Rising Star Outreach Campus. I am staying in the Banana Room. Check it out:

My bed is the one in the bottom right corner.

And then the rest of the room.

But the best part of our Hostel is the showers....

Thats right, Indian Bucket Showers. fill the big bucket up, and use a little one to get the water all over.

But if that isnt good enough for you...just wait for the toilets. This is why you do squats when you work out. to prep for the "Rocket Launcher"

3....2....1....and SQUAT. HAHA

OK....now after giving you the grand tour of the bathroom and bedroom, we do still have the luxuries of a kitchen.

TADA....we now have 3 fridges, microwave, toaster, stove, table, 2 cleaning faucets, 1 drinking faucet, a washer, and a dryer. woo hoo.. the high life. lol. but seriously. its awesome.

I have gotten some comments about what I have been doing here in India. So here is the dirt. The first day of school was monday. The Principal is in America dealing with Visa problems, and not all teachers were here on monday. So the school was understaffed. Since Monday to today, I have been the assistant to the temporary principal. Thank you Sgt Parker Davis from ANA, for training me to be a good assistant and the bookstore at ANA for dealing with crowds and hot tiny work places. LOL. So here is the Breakdown for what i did each day so far.

Monday

AprilMam (for people in authority they say there name and then mam or sir at the end of it. But i am just uncle to the kids) had me do supplies checkout and inventory for each teacher and each class. It was very confusing because no one really knew what we had, what they were called and the teachers knew what they wanted, and what they called it. So after about 10 minutes of working in an area of no organization and no prep, i got the hang of it and got things moving along.

After supply checkout and inventory, AprilMam had me substitute a class...(YIKES...i can barely get people my age to listen to me....how am i going to get a bunch of 6th standard children too...) So what do i do? Play Hangman with the words being diferent animals. The students know english pretty well. But have problems with their A's N's M's L's and some others. They say yAy, yeN, yeM, and yeLl. so we worked on that.

After the class, it was lunch. i went and ate with the children and had a great time...can i just say forks are overrated. it is so much easier to each rice and curry vegetable sauce stuff with your hand.... :D yum yum yum here is a picture of a boy in my family eating, I think his name is Vegnash.

After lunch I went back to doing inventory. I got back to the hostel around 6pm and ate dinner at 630. We ate dinner on the rooftop of the hostel and ate off of Banana Leafs. We do this every night. i love it. And at dinner we go around and everyone says a High and a Low that they had that day.

For me, My High was getting all the teachers the right books and keeping a detailed record.

My low was realizing i left my other pair of jeans and both shorts at the hotel in Chennai. (dont worry, I am getting them back today)

Then after that it was off to bed.

Tuesday was exactly the same other than the fact that i helped a new teacher (volunteer teacher from Utah, USA) get situated and ready for teaching. the hard thing about tuesday was that teachers wanted more books, or exchanged the ones that they had to different ones. it got really confusing and found out the way i was suppose to record everything was the wrong way. So, yay for restart and learning how to deal with the Language barrier.

For tuesday, even though i didnt make it to dinner, my highs and lows were:

High: I remembered 6 names in my family.(the families here at RSO(Rising Star Outreach) are groups of kids ranging from 4 years old to 15 i think, might not be exact. For those of you familiar with ANA or military, It is like a company)

Low:I had to redo all the inventory.

ok, i am out of time. Tomorrow, i will catch you up 100% and stay up to date. Sorry for the delay but we just dont have a lot of time to be online. i have many pictures to share with you. So...Talk to you tomorrow.

Quick catch-up

2011-05-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

hello everyone, sorry for the day delay.

Yesterday was a very long day. Lets see, Where did i leave off? Oh yes

After Amanda and I woke up, we went to T-Naguy(not sure if it is spelt right) to look at the shops. There were so many

shops and so many people. It was awesome. Not to many photo ops that day but i will take a photo of the street before we leave Chennai

area.

After T-Naguy street, AManda and I took a Tuk-Tuk from T-Naguy street to our hotel, got over priced on the ride but oh well.

Later we went to the 2nd longest beach in the world, Marina Beach. It was so cool there, it seems like they have a festival every night there. Homemade rides for the kids, and when i say homemade, i mean homemade. Like metal circles, held off the ground, with those plastic cars for kids you would get at Walmart back in the States. I think i got a picture here somewhere.

Merry-Go-Round meets the Swings ride. And yes the guy in the middle is turning a hand crank to make it work. no gym needed for this guy. Here are some other photos for Marina Beach

look at all the trash, i am very greatfull that that our beaches in the states are so clean. But this is still a beautiful picture, Amanda is in it.

So after Marina Beach we went to a temple. I want to say it is for Vishnu, but i cant remember, it is the Hindu God that has a Elephant Face. Not sure what his name is. But here are some pictures from it.

yes, thats right. We are barefoot. you arent even aloud to bring shoes on the premises, we had to leave them in the car. huh, maybe i should become Hindu for the barefootness. just kidding.

That was all we did on Saturday.

Then Sunday we met up with Rising Star Outreach and headed off to the school. We went to church on the way and it was sweet. There was a Baptism and there was only like 30 people there if that. very small and met in the basement of a building. I will get a picture next time i am there.

But after church and driving a long ways we made it to Rising Star campus. I am short on time so Tomorrow i will post more pictures and let you know more of what we are doing.

LAX to HONG KONG/HONG KONG to CHENNAI.....a long flight

2011-05-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Hello out there. Hope everyone is doing good. My sister Amanda and I have made it to Chennai, India. We got in Saturday May 28th @ 130am. We went through Customs, got out bags, walked out into the waiting area and it was WARM....at 2 in the morning :(. lol well, I'm not going to let that get me down. We got outside and a driver from the Marriot was waiting for us with our names on a piece of paper...i felt legit. :)

So to do a quick recap, Amanda and I left LAX around 1pm thursday May 26th,

flew west to Hong kong and landed there around 6pm Friday May 27th.

We had a 4 hour layover so... what do we do? EAT EAT... and EAT some more :D

Then we flew from Hong Kong to Chennai India and landed in India at 130 in the morning...ouch those were long flights. We made it though and are excited to explore.

Now speaking of exploring, the sounds of cars honking outside the hotel are making want to be out there. So i shall write tonight and tell you all about the day's adventures. till then

PEACE

So what is Leprosy??

2011-05-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

Leprosy (Hansen's disease)

Last Reviewed: November 2006

"Leprosy" is also available in Portable Document Format (PDF, 12KB, 1pg.)
Versión en español

What is leprosy?

Leprosy is a chronic bacterial disease of the skin and nerves in the hands and feet and, in some cases, the lining of the nose. Leprosy is a rare disease in the United States.

Who gets leprosy?

Anyone can get leprosy, but children seem to be more susceptible than adults.

How is leprosy spread?

It is not clear how the leprosy germ is spread, but household and prolonged close contact is important. The germs probably enter the body through the nose and possibly through broken skin. The germs get in the air through nasal discharge of untreated lepromatous patients.

What are the symptoms of leprosy?

Tuberculoid leprosy symptoms are a few well-defined skin lesions that are numb. Lepromatous leprosy symptoms are a chronically stuffy nose and many skin lesions and nodules on both sides of the body.

How soon after exposure do symptoms appear?

It usually takes about four years for tuberculoid leprosy symptoms to appear and about eight years for lepromatous leprosy symptoms to appear.

When and for how long is a person able to spread leprosy?

In most cases, a person will not infect others after about three months of starting treatment.

What is the treatment for leprosy?

Patients with leprosy should be treated by a doctor who has experience with the disease. Treatment is with multiple drugs for six months to two years.

How can leprosy be prevented?

The best way to prevent the spread of leprosy is the early diagnosis and treatment of people who are infected. For household contacts, immediate and annual examinations are recommended for at least five years after last contact with a person who is infectious.

Help raise a star in India

2011-04-23T23:43:00.000-07:00

Hi there,

Lex Cowan here, working hard as usual. Hope this letter finds you well. I have been in Idaho since 2008 working on my Bachelors degree in Therapeutic Recreation. This degree will prepare me to work with individuals with “special needs” and that is the reason I am sending you this letter.

As you may know, I have a passion to help others as well as travel. Wouldn’t it be amazing to do both? Well I have that opportunity knocking at my door. I have the opportunity to travel to the east coast of India and work through an organization called Rising Star Outreach. You may have heard me talk about this, but just in case, here some information for you about the amazing work they do and the difference they are making in India.

Leprosy in India is considered a curse. Those who contract the disease are outcast from society and are often consigned to remote leprosy colonies where they have no choice but to beg for their survival. Rising Star Outreach helps these families by educating their children, offering medical treatment, and, using micro-credit; giving parents a way to go from begging on the streets to becoming self-sufficient. Can you think of any better way to spend your summer? I can’t! My sister and I will be traveling to India this summer to volunteer with Rising Star Outreach.

I’m writing to invite you to join me this summer as my stateside partner in my efforts to help families affected by leprosy. Each volunteer is expected to raise funds to help pay for the programs and initiatives of Rising Star like the children’s school, medical clinic, and colony support projects. A small part of that money also covers the cost of my stay. Please join me in making this happen! I know that many of you will feel similarly inspired by the work of Rising Star Outreach. Rising Star requires that I include at least twenty-five other people in my commitment to serve with the idea that everyone involved will share in the blessings of my service.

By contributing $50 or more, you will become a Volunteer Partner. I hope, while I’m in India, you will follow my blog at lexcana08.blogspot.com(this site) and keep up to date on the work I’ll be doing. As my stateside partner, you will be helping to facilitate that work.

I will be leaving for India on May 25^th and have been asked to have my money in to Rising Star by May 20th. If you would like to partner with me on this project, you can sponsor by:

CHECK - Leave a comment asking for the form and i will email it to you

CREDIT CARD - go to www.risingstaroutreach.org/volunteerpartners and follow the directions.

I hope you’ll be able to join me as a partner in this adventure! It will be an honor to have you along for the ride.

Together, we can bring hope to people in need.

Thank you,

Alexander (Lex) J Cowan

Lexc.ana@gmail.com

(760)559-1131

"lets get together and be alright"

2011-04-23T18:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry for the inconsistent updates, i am now going to try again to make it a habit, each saturday i am going to update this blog. so wish me luck, lol.

So what is new with me?

Well, I am currently in California working as a auto mechanic and specialist at Marina(dad's company) saving up to go to INDIA. yeah, you heard me. I'm going to be going to INDIA at the end of May. I'm working with an organization called Rising Star Outreach (click for more info).

My sister and I are searching for State-side sponsors to help us help more children in India. Read my Blog titled "Help raise a star in India" to hear more information on what is going to be going on there and if you would like to become a State-Side Sponsor, click HERE or read for more information on the other blog post.

Other than that, life has been pretty simple. well, till next saturday.

Adios(bye)

Life in a new place

2010-09-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

So....

its been a while since i last posted on here. so i am here to tell you all i have moved apartment building. if you would like my new address please feel free to email/call me and ask for the address.

It is still in rexburg and i am still going to school at BYU-Idaho. The new place is a town house set up(two story) 3 bedroom, 3 full bathroom. 2 fridges, washer and dryer in the apartment and wait for it wait for it.... GARBAGE DISPOSAL. i know i shouldn't be that excited but for some reason people don't understand u cant put food down the drain when you don't have a garbage disposal. instead of cinder blocks for walls i have dry wall. and our lounge has a theater room for like 80 people, a game room, a small gym, a sitting area with a fire place, and a study room. it also comes with two grills on the patio.

So i am loving my new home.

So the past summer i was working with the BLM here in Idaho Falls and had an awesome time. my bosses were amazing and my co-workers at the Eastern Idaho Visitor Center were probably the best co-workers i have ever had. So know you are probably asking what the heck the BLM is or what my job was.

The BLM is the Bureau of Land Management, an easy explanation is that it is similar to the Forest Service but with out the forest, Government land without forest on there. I had 3 different jobs there. 1st was that i did Leave No Trace training. 2nd was working at The Eastern Idaho Visitor center where i got to help tourists with what to do in idaho, help with maps, and hunting areas. 3rd was to do compliance on the South Fort River of the Snake River.

It was a great summer. I had a great time. Unfortunately the season ended and i am back at school. so... now i get to go head on with muscles, bones, and psychology. yippee (sarcasm) lol

Unique qngles and SURPRISE

2010-07-15T11:51:00.001-07:00

now the cache trip

2010-07-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

So i love pictures...yay

2010-06-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

i will explain all this later but right now i got to get this blog up for photo class....so

fast shutter

Slow Shutter

f/22

f/3

a weird phenomenon

2010-04-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

so...for those of you who know me well, i like to sleep. but the universe has decided that i am going to be automatically waking up now before 730 am every morning. GROSS. i feel like crying. lol not really but i dont love the idea of waking up that early either. lol

so now the second half of my week in san fran

So we went to the best farmers market i have ever been to. At the Ferry Building in San Francisco. if u are there on saturday morning i strongly recommend this as breakfast and lunch... don't make any other plans and just feast ur eyes on the beautiful fruit and let your imagination run wild with the aroma of the large variety of foods being cooked there for you to enjoy and drool over like a puppy. Later that night me and my dad got dressed in our Tux and looked pretty good. we met up with Sarah and Patrick(sister and brother-in-law) and they were of course looking stunning, i think they should both be models :D. the dinner was fun, we got to rub shoulders with some businesses that did some amazing projects like the guys who redid the Bay Bridge.(if u don't know what i'm talking about look it up how they did it. its amazing) this was my first dinner i got to go to with my dad and when it came to us i got so nervous that i could barely keep it in. unfortunately we did not win. but the project that did did a great job so it wasn't one of those loses when u cant figure out why the other group got it.

So then on sunday we had another amazing day food wise.(and company of course) me and my dad got up early and walked around san francisco and just had a nice time together. we went to.......i think its called telemark hill. the one with a tall skinny statue on it. and then walked to a place called Mamma's in the little italy of San Francisco. while me and my dad stood in the long line for this place i ran across the street and got some Focaccia bread that was deliciouse. i loved it and ate it all. :D.

after meeting up with sarah and patrick and eating at Momma's we went our own ways. i went to hangout with Pras,(best friend from high school) patrick went home, and sarah and daddy went to Aunt Mary's.

i got to meet Pras's girlfriend and then we went to a club to celebrate my birthday...it was fun but we were all tired so we only stayed for like an hour and then went to his apartment and then i went back to my apartment to crash. then Pras drove me to the airport monday morning and i went to provo to hang out with robert for a couple days. it was a lot of fun. i will write soon and finish up the story cause there is a wedding to talk about...who's wedding? u will have to get back on soon and read.

school started today so i'm off to try and get into Human Anatomy and Physiology. wish me luck

Birthdays ROCK

2010-04-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

so i love birthdays....or birth-weeks lol. this year as been awesome, right when my life was getting a little challenging, what decides to pop up. my birthday. YAY. First off these girls in my ward(church) came and heart attacked my door and put the best pick up lines on the hearts. like "i brought thread and a needle cause ur RIPPED"(wish that was true. lol) but then i went to Utah for the weekend to be with my brother, robert. we went to the movies on friday, i got to go with one of my best friends in the world, Autumn. Then we went to Denny's for late night food. next day we went OFF ROADING in Robert's new jeep and had a blast. Then that night we went to SAPA...if u like sushi or just a fun place, go there. its in Salt Lake City and the atmosphere is fun and food is..mmmmmmmmm...so good. Robert hooked me up with Alfred Hitchcock movies that are hard to get, and also a cool looking pair of headphone. Tom(roberts roommate and a family friend) got me the Ultimate Guide to Photography by National Geographic. Haven't read it yet but im excited. sunday i went to conference with a friend of mine, Gauchey and then drove home for finals week.

Went through the week and did descent on my finals and the whole semester over all...and then thursday flew to San Francisco. Now im here and having a blast. My awesome sister Sarah and brother in-law Patrick came and picked me. we were all tired so we just went home and slept. then Friday i got to sleep in(amazing of course) and then went to lunch with high school best friend ever, Pras. it was really awesome to see him again. we are going to hang out sunday. we got...of course. Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bread Bowls.mmmmmmm..:D good memories. then my dad got into town and we went to this restraunt...i dont know what its called, ill find it, but it was amazing...ill write about that in the next blogg along with the name. So...now its Saturday morning...no plans other than the AGC awards dinner tonight (similar to the Grammy but for Landscaping Companies).

so till next time about the end of this amazing weekend. take care, and also feel free to post comments about what ever on here, its just nice and more encouraging to write when i know someone is reading

whats up

2010-01-27T12:02:00.000-08:00

hey everyone. so whats going on?

im here chillin in rexburg, luving life and doing great. last night went to my roommates bball game and had fun watching his team win. go P.O.T=players of talent. REALLY? yep thats his teams name. yay for P.O.T lol. but other than that we rearranged our living room and moved the juke box into the room and got rid os a table that really wasnt needed. yay. oh yeah, i got a juke box. that plays records. its awesome. i will post a pic once i clean it up. i am doing that this saturday. yay. a fhe sister and friend (Megan) is coming over for an office marathon and cleaning. yay i am happy. well....what else

oh yeah. i love the snow....have i ever said that before??i dont know. but i love the snow. i am taking snow camping this semester and we are going to learn on monday about snow shulters/caves. i am so excited. i think everyone should be required to take one "skills class"(fun) during the winter. it will take those blues away. coming up in march i am leading a snow shoeing trip. fun fun fun. and it helps give me hours towards experience. its like getting paid in experience hours...aka=volunteer. lol

other than that i am having a blast with everyhting else. my schedule for this semster is as follows

mon&wen=winter camping

tue&thursday= wilderness first aid

thursday only=recreation orientation and auto 101

friday=SKIING

and for church, i am the ward photographer, and also a part of the activities commitee. WOOHOO so excited

well, after giving yall my schedule, i just realized that i got some homework to do ASAP. so until then, see yall later, and remeber that u are always welcome to send comments. well, take care

-Lex

i love life

2010-01-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

hey everyone,

so this semester is AMAZING so far and probably will be that way for the rest of my college life and so on. i am so happy to be in recreation management you have no idea. this past week was amazing. i met my FHE sister for this semester. one apartment is from last semester and a new one. they Rule, i have been blessed with 2 semesters in a row with awesome FHE sisters..actually, come to think of it, i have always had good FHE sisters while at school here.

for those who don't know what FHE is, its Family Home Evening, and that means we meet monday nights have a spiritual lesson, activity and then treats. its a time to get together as a family and learn.

but other than that, lets see what else is new....i love skiing... go every friday, anyone want to go hit up targhee :) just let me know

christmas was a lot of fun. i love my family, then we went to hawaii for new years. if anyone wants to hear a good story about our awesome president in hawaii, leave a comment, i want to know who reads this.

-well im off.

take care

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2009-12-08T14:55:00.000-08:00

I am still alive here in Rexburg. It is getting cold and is SNOWING :D :D :D :D :D (many happy faces). I am doing good health wise, no more being sick for me, no way. Not much has been happening. Tonight (Tuesday 12/8/09) my ward(church) is going to have a closing social party since there is a week and a half of school and being the Ward Photographer, I made a slide show of the semester in review. It took a while but is awesome, with music coming from Kooza(circus du solee), halloween music, Christmas music, and more. It was a lot of fun making it. it runs 17 minutes long but is awesome, or so I think, ill tell u next week how it goes. Other than that not much. I made homemade Macoroni and Cheese on Sunday with a recipe from my mom, super yummy. Roommates were drooling over it and looked like happy puppies when I told them they could have some. Lol. Oh those boys. Never a dule moment.

By next week I will have a date to tell u about and how I am mentally for finals that will start next Wednesday. Oh boy, im ready for Christmas.

Luv ya all, take care,

Alexander(Lex) J Cowan

P.S. i will put a new pic with each post.

after thanksgiving, life happens.

2009-12-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, still getting use to the routine of every Tuesday. So, it was great to see those who I saw over the break. I will be back again in 3 weeks and look forward to seeing everyone again.

Thanksgiving went very well. We had a great blessing to have all of the family, minus Amanda my sister since she is on a mission for the LDS church, home for the holidays. I got to help my mom, have lunch with friends, eat turkey dinner, go to 6 Flags, and also see Kooza(Cirque Du Soleil) in Santa Monica.

Oh my goodness I love Cirque Du Soleil. If you ever get chance to see any Cirque Du Soleil show. DO IT. the costume, the music, the makeup, and of course the things the people do. From tightrope walking(cant spell, the high rope in the sky) to contortionists, to trapeze, and much much more. It is amazing, beautiful, and amazing(yes twice).

So, to come in future weeks I get to have finals in 2 weeks, catch up in all classes by Tuesday(should be easy) and stuff that I don’t even know is going to happen.

This is all I’m going to put up this week, feel free to ask questions and what not. Hope all is well with you, Merry Christmas, and God Bless.

my not so fun life right now

2009-11-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

so here is an update for everyone.

i just got over having the swine flu. GROSS. had a really bad cold a week before getting the swine and it sucks being sick. but right before i found out i was sick, i found out i was in the wrong major. yep thats right. after talking to advisors they told me to join Wildlife and Fisheries. when midterms came around i was totally confused with how that major was going to help me become a Park Ranger(will explain later) so i went to my advisor and asked

"how the heck is this going to help me with becoming a ranger?"

he asked "what do you want to do"

i said"i want to be the dorky guy who says that geyser grows 1 cm per century and oh look there's a bison, don't get to close it might charge ya, old faithful will go off at 3, and so on"

the he says with a chuckle "your in the wrong major, you don't need science, u need recreation management."

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

i know. so i went to go check out this recreation management thing. and guess what. the classes consist of camping, how to organize large group events. skiing, crowd control and stuff thats active and it fits me perfectly. so next semester i HAVE to take basic camping, skiing, Recreation management orientation, snow camping, and another that is a surprise for my mom so if you want to know you will have to talk to me because she reads this. lol. but yeah. does that not sound like me. and with this major i can be a park ranger but also so many things that i can also do. like international recreation management for military bases. woot woot.

oh and for those who are asking" WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO COAST GUARD" i looked at what i wanted to do and the timeline that went with it and i realized i would be a lot happier with working with people in a national forest setting and taking pictures while im there. so yeah. its going to be fun. and as soon as i have my energy back from being sick, ill have some sanity back and put some of my recent pictures i have taken up on here so yall can see it and talk about my internship i had during the summer. can you say Idaho's International Dance Festival Publicity Photographer. it was fun but this is for next time. feel free to email me at lexc.ana@gmail.com. would love to talk to ya and see how u are doing.

take care yall and hopefully talk to you soon

My Recent Work

2009-06-12T22:25:00.001-07:00

I AM ALIVE.....

2009-04-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

okay, i know it seems like i fell off the face of the world but i am still here. this is whats happening with me.

i finished winter semester. the snow is still coming down in April but i am still loving it. i dont think anyhting but the heat can defeat my happiness. but i will be able to survive. i passed the semester with a 3.361. i am very happy about it. my hardest class was Drawing 1. it is alot harder than it sounds. but i passed(barely)

this semester i am back to taking 12 credits. YAY!!!! probably will never take 18 credits again. my schedule is as follows

Monday - New Testament and color Photography
Tuesday- digital photography, color/design, and Genesis(explain later)
Wednesday- New Testament, color photography, Barrel Racing(until May 1st)

Thursday - digital photography, color/design, and Genesis(explain later)

Friday - New Testament.

So... Genesis is a Student ran company that puts you in real world situations with costumers. it is for communications but i am auditing it for Photography, and having real life experiences.

I am going to be starting an internship soon with the Chamber of Commerce here in Rexburg, Idaho. I will be doing Photography and working next to a Graphic Designer whos company does NIKE. ooooo la la

well, Thats all. if you have any questions or want to know more, please comment.

this week i am going to do a photo shoot on "easy art project" dont know what that mean, must contact the reporter and also on the important people in our community.

i will fill you in on what else happens and hope to have some pictures.

My life so far in a nut shell

2009-02-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

to begin here or begin there... that is the question. :) well i am still at BYU-I and doing great. my college angle has changed a little with majors and minors than what it was before. i am still majoring in Photography through the BFA program here. i am not technically in the program yet but as soon as i get my portfolio together i will apply. the thing that as changed is that i am no longer a Dance Minor. with the BFA program your emphasis(Photo) is your minor.

other things is that i am now a Tutor. i don't tutor students regularly but i tutor new student on a computer system called Kurzweil. This is a reading comprehension program along with speed reading helper and helps with organization. jeez where was this on high school.lol.

lets see. my classes are as follow:
Mon, Wed. Middle East Studies, Ballroom Tech 1, Dance Teaching Tech 1 and Clogging and . Missionary Book of Mormon.
Tur, Thurs Drawing 1 in the morning and Photo 1 at night. (long day)

Fri. Teach Tech 1 and Dance Teaching Tech

sat= DATES (HELLO LADIES :) )

i will be scanning my photo negatives onto the computer soon and will post them. i dont have any digital ones cause i let my roommate borrow my camera and he dropped it :( but it is now fixed :).

so i am going to be attending school up here in idaho year round. that means i probebly wont be home again until xmas :( thats a long time.

well i will write soon, hopefully but my art class is currently kicking me in the behind.

take care

i am LAME

2009-02-19T16:29:00.000-08:00

so i now i told everyone that i would update my blogg but i am a dork and completly forgot how to use my memory. i am now working on a blogg and going to post it no later than monday night. i promise it will be good. but i am alive and will give everyone updates soon. :(sorry. forgive a stressed college student :)

Happy late halloween

2008-11-16T21:41:00.000-08:00

so i apologize that it has been so long since i posted a new post. i have been very busy but i am now able to sit down and take a breather.

so for halloween in my art class we had a party and i thought i would make something home made, so i went on to my favorite website ever. www.allrecipes.com

so i decided to make fried apple pies. they are little individual ones and fried. i started off spending 1 hour peeling apples

then friends showed up and we got th party started. my friend Autumn helped to slice the apples.

and then we got to cook u the apple with cinnamon and sugar. it was deliciouse.

the finished product of the apples sauce, it was deliciouse

and now the dough. it wasn't to bad on it own. mmm yummy salt. lol

nice little circles for the individual apple pies.

while we are cooking my roommates decide to explore the roof.

but meanwhile we fry away. it was a lot of work but a lot of fun.

Step one, load the dough circles with homemade apple sauce. step two, fold over the dough and seal them up. step three, fry them up. the bubbling oil hurt but it smelt great and tasted great as well.

they were a large success. i am now going to start hiring out my cooking services. so if anyone is looking for a good meal. let me know. but a catch is you need to be where i am lol. well i will update in the next couple days about my trip to Las Vegas and my campaign work for McCain and Palin.

Art Grade

2008-09-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

So just to quickly give an update i got 100% on both art pojects that are described in the post: "Art Yikes" yay. i will pt in a better update when i get more time but i am heading to denver this weekend so we shall see.

ART Yikes

2008-09-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

So if anyone knows my art. they know that i am not that skilled. Dancing and photography are my true passions but i am trying to learn to draw. so these are my first two projects that i have turned in. the first one was about principles. here is the full lay out of my project.

and here are close ups on each square and i will go into detail at the bottom of each one. so here we go. dont laugh to hard at my poor art.

this one is dominance and subordination. (the names for each one are on top of the drawings)

i drew the ballons to show the dominance by making others out in the distance.

this is repetition and variation. i drew this free hand. i am pretty proud of this one out of all of them. the I-pod nano designs were chosen by a friend of mine.

this is balance symetrical, meaning it had to be even and identical on each side. I saw this picture on line and new it would be simple to draw.

this is movement. it boes from the bottom to the top. can anyone guess what this scene is from. leave me a comment with your guess.

this is rythm. you can read it as you go across the picture or somthing like that. i am not to sure.

now here is balance asymetrical. it doesnt look right but it was a las minuet thing and my least favorite out of all of them.

now for my second project i had to redo this picture by picasso up side down and double the size.

obviously the one on the right is the original and was on a basic sheet of paper like for a printer. the one on the left was my copy of it. i just saw some mistakes so now i am sad. but i learned a lot about proportions.

and to make me happy, i am going to end this with a photo i took. enjoy and have great day.

My apartment. ALRIGHT

2008-09-07T19:21:00.000-07:00

So to everyone who wants to wright or send random items ;) my address is:
Lex Cowan
354S 1st W Apt 18
Rexburg, ID 83440

and this is my apartment complex...
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN.. I GIVE YOU...(DRUMS).. THE BUNKHOUSE APARTMENTS
tada

this is the stair case that i go up EVERYDAY. lol. i am on the top floor. can you say EXERCISE.

YAY my door. hence the 18 over it.

The back of my front door with my buddy coming in.

and behind you is our fabulouse kitchen

(if no photo, i will update later. internet problems)

and now to your left is our hallway and this is our bathroom coming riht off the hallway.

and to your right is the shower and toilet room. and no, it is not pink. the lighting is bad and no natural light can make it in here so we get pink.

now please exit the bathroom and go right. you now see the entrance to my room

and this is my room. i was in the midde of moving in and still am so when i am done and it looks neat i will post a new pic.

and my closet remember i was moving in and dont have any new photos of it now cause my roommate is still working on it. i will post some when my be and closet looks nice

now leaving my room i here it the hall way.

at the end of the hallway are two rooms and there are 6 of us here in the apartment.
i am not sure what else to put so enjoy the photo tour and ask questions or leave comments. i like those. :)

take care everyone

Idaho woo hoo

2008-09-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

so for those who didn't know, i am now in Idaho. Attending the BYU campus in Rexburg.

I left California on Thursday after with some of my friends, Tom and Brooke and my brother, Robert
.
we dropped off Tom and Brooke in Provo and me and robert headed up to Rexberg, Idaho. it took a while for us to find the idaho sign but we found it:

and then drove longer, rocking out to music and having fun on the way

we stopped in Idaho Falls and checked out the temple there. it was a very beautiful temple. these pictures do not do it justice

we ate pringles and then when we arrived to rexberg, the sun set was amazing,

so we moved on but no one can see any pics of my place until after friday just cause, the one i am in is not the one i am living in. long story. email me if you want the whole story. lol

well today, monday i went for a walk around campus, oh by the way ,happy labor day :), and if any one loves gardens, trees, flowers and everything that is beautiful this is the place to be. check it out.

it's weird that how good cabbage works and looks good at the same time.

lady bug for good luck :)

anyone know if this is an old bee hive or a new one. i thought it was a nest but then i looked closer and saw the bees and old honey comb.

so i came around a corner in this awesome oasis and came upon this waterfall. it was beautiful

and then coming around another corner i found this area completely secluded from everywhere. surrounded by plants and trees. this might become my reading area. it is beautiful, here you go for a visual

and here are some more random pictures i took

well, i shall post more as it comes up. be sure to leave comments and let me know what u think

And the Judges Say

2008-08-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

last Saturday on the 9th for the first time that i know of there was a DanceSport Competition for the summertime. this is for all dancers of all ages to get together and compete in different dances. myself and my partner Laura competed in both the Triple Swing and the Cha-Cha. for both of the dances we got called back for the quarter-final round but got eliminated by ONE vote before the Semi-Finals :( even though it was sad to think we didn't make it past the semi-finals we both had a great time dancing. well at least i did. and cant wait for the next competition when ever that might be.

so for dancing i bought myself some dance shoes. they are Latin shoes and the weirdest thing and i dont think i will get use to them (which is a good thing) is that they have heels. this is close to what they look like.

well of to dance the night away. see ya later

Soon to say "Ciao utah"

2008-08-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

So as this week comes to a close, so does my time in Provo, UT. I spent this summer having a blast and now sad that it has to come to an end. college life is truly amazing in its way of teaching yourself how to schedule your own time and how to enjoy all of you time while in college. to give you a brief over view of my time here,read on.

my brother, Robert, calls me the dating machine :), says i have been on more dates this summer than he has this year. woo hoo :)

i started the year out taking social dance 180 which turned out to be one of my favorite classes. i loved it so much that when i go to BYU-Idaho i will be taking Social Dance 280 abd International Latin 185. i am so stoked for those classes. :)

but one of the hardest things about leaving BYU-Provo are the friends i made. its nice when you are able to find friends that share the "mormon standards" as you do. it is weird coming from ANA(high school) where i couldn't really find anyone like that, but then coming to college and discovering a whole school full of them. its like a little kid in a giant toy shop :) lol. i know i will make friends in college but it is still wierd to leave the ones i just made.

the hills are alive..... with trees

2008-07-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

over the last weekend my old roommate Chaz Floyd, his mom, and myself went up into the mountains for a drive in my Jeep. we took the top off and the doors so it was open air. we went up during the day but then came back later and went all the way to Park City. here is what we saw up at Big Cotton wood and Little Cotton wood:

1...2...cha....cha....

2008-07-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

so last week i took my Cha-Cha and did awesome; i got a 94. after dancing with 2 different girls i got to do my test and i don't know if anyone knows the cha cha but it is tiring for beginners. so i didn't get what i should of but i still did good. my dancing partner was Amy for this one.
we both got 94 so we like totally rocked the house. i also danced with two other amazing dancers but i cant remember their names :( but here are our couple photos:

this move is the cross body break this one is the Sweetheart. ;)

i think they did good but i am not sure.

This week we are learning the Waltz and my partner is going to be a friend of mine names Laura. i will have photos of her when we take our test but we are also competing on the 9th in Dancesport. we are doing cha-cha and triple step. so it will be fun.

also this Thursday is my medal test for Social Dance 180. this is when a teacher from outside our class comes in and grades us. this is considered one of two choices for our final. YIKES well i will let you guys know more about everything that is going on in dance.

just get up and dance!

2008-07-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

so i am taking social dance 180(beginners) and having a blast. 2 weeks ago we did our Fox Trot test and i got a 93 which is awesome. the 3rd highest grade in the class i believe. my partner Nicole is an awesome dance partner. she knew how to execute every move and did beautifully.
this is her:

but also that day i danced with a good buddy of mine, Amy, she was also an awesome dancer. we practices alot and in the end i believe she also got an "A" on the test. this is her.

i have both tests on video but cant upload them on my blog cause they are to big. if you would like to see them. email me or leave a comment and i will send them to you.

salt lake city

2008-07-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

so first off. sorry about not staying on top of blogging. lots have happened in college life. to much for me. lol. where to begin? a little note but this is a long Blog. and only one day :)

well after i took the drive on alpine loop i came across my roomate from junior year, Chaz Floyd. it was awesome finding him. i thought maybe he fell off the face if the earth. lol

well i drove up to see him and we went to go see Kung Fu Panda. it was hilarious. i havent laughed like that in a while. we then went to cheese cake factory to get some cheese cake and then to his house to play X Box 360. after playing that for an while he had to go to work so i went to downtown Salt Lake City to temple square.

i had never gone on an official tour of the conference center

so i decided since i had a couple hours to spend i would go on one. we went all over but the best was the roof. i had never been up there. here is what i saw:

then we went inside and half way through our tour our guide tells us that the MOTAB (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) will be practicing and we are invited to watch if we want to. :) heck ya i want to go/ so as we entered the conference room i came across one of my favorite pieces of art. i like this because when ever i ask someone what they see the say something different. it is up to the interpretation of the audience. someday i would like to ask the artist what he/she was thinking of when they did it and what they want it to be. let me know what you think it is.

then we went inside to sit and watch the rehearsal.

After i listen to the rehearsal i met up with a buddy of mine. my best friend from church Amy Hellewell (don't know how to spell that name) we went to a cafe that was awesome, called Avenues Bakery. it was delicious.

After dinner with Amy we said our goodbyes and then i met back up with Chaz to see "Get Smart" or what ever that movie is called. that was also hilarious. that i got home around 4am. :) i love college life

first week at school

2008-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

so this has been my very first week in college. and it has been totally awesome. i have loved every minuet of it.my classes are:
everymorning @ 0900-1000 social dance. we are learning the fox trot right now and next the cha cha i think.
second every Monday and Wednesday i have Book of Mormon studies from 1200-1400 and mission prep from 1700-1900.

yesterday i started the Atkins diet and don't worry i know how to do it so i wont become sick. lol i am 265 and trying to get to 220. so here i go :]

and surprise. i am volunteering for something. it is called courage reins. here you can see what they are about: http://www.couragereins.org/ i am being trained on Friday 6/27/08.

well no current photos to go with this post but i will have some soon of my training

Utah and its glory

2008-06-18T02:31:00.001-07:00

Utah and its glory

2008-06-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

Monday June 16th i went for a drive up the alpine loop. this is located up the Provo Canyon. This is the most beautiful sight i have seen. After driving for about an hour i saw so many beautiful scenes. The only way to explain them are to see them for yourself but to help those who cant make it to Utah here are the photos i took. i took all the dirt roads in my jeep to get these photos. it was awesome :) if you ever have the chance to go there. get a 4-wheel drive vehicle and take as many dirt roads as you can. you will not be disappointed.

Utah here i am

2008-06-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

so after packing Friday morning. we started the road trip up to Utah in my sexy red jeep wrangler. The road trip consists of my dad and myself with the back all full of junk. lol. seems that is all you need to take to college, junk. well we left at like 1430 (2:30pm) from Anaheim and only hit traffic twice all the way up. we were both shocked at the time we made. on the way we stopped at a place called the Mad Greek. oh my gosh it was so good. it looks like a dive but if u ever go by one. STOP THERE it is awesome.

after that we went straight to St. George utah. there we stopped for the night at 2130(9:30) we ate at a Mexican restaurant that i cant remember what it was called but everyone loves it in utah. rio something. i dont remember but it was a scarf joint. (scarf means really good in my lingo). then on sat. morning we headed out early and made it to provo by 1030.

after unloading the my jeep we (now including my brother) all went to costco, office max, and the mall to get stuff for college. then that night we three went to a place called Cucina Toscana which is one of the best Italian restaurants in the world for my family. ohh my gosh was it wonderful.
after dinner we dropped my dad off at his hotel and headed home.

today i went to church with robert (my brother) at 0830. the bishop and the entire ward seems really nice.and now i am here writing to u. well have to go do something. doont know yet but i will let u know. later

WELCOME

2008-06-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome one and all to my blog. i hope you will enjoy all that i have to say. But if not then stinks to be u. any questions feel free to ask me at any time
(there u go mommy)