Poor A'yiti

When i was in the 11th grade i went to Haiti for 2 weeks. There is a boys home there named St. Joesph that hosts orphan boys in exchange for help with chores around the building or if they like dancing they can join their AMAZING dance troupe. Amazing is an understatement these guys are the best dancers i've ever seen, and they love Asheville. At some point int he last 20 years or so they showed up at Montreat college to perform. A member of my church, Jubilee!, was there and invited them to perform at our church as well. Long story short, our church loves them and their brothers, we have a deep connection with them and consider each other to be siblings in spirit. We have even exchanged satchels of dirt! 

If you've never been or heard of Jubilee! it is a church located down town on Wall Street that non-denominational, or considers itself to be All-Faith. I've been to a lot of churches because i needed to find a place that reflected my spiritual beliefs and feelings and man did i find it. I've been going to Jubilee!  since the 8th grade, it's really quite wonderful. If you are searching for something or want to experience a different kind of service i suggest you try it out. I'm certainly not pushing anything on anyone but you never know until you go. Celebrations are Sundays at 9:45 and 11:15. Here's a link: http://www.jubileecommunity.org/

Anyway, so i went to Haiti in the 11th grade to spend time with these awesome guys and get to know the country a little better. Hopefully you realize we didn't go there for any type of missionary work. I learned alot! Although a lot of the people at the boys home are christian, or some derivative, a large portion of their population actually believes in Voodoo, and not quite the Voodoo you think of immediately. I wasn't there long enough to get a full grasp but that was made pretty clear! It mostly deals with respecting nature, and seeing a spirit in all living things. I saw some beautiful places and some not so beautiful places.

The poverty level  there is astounding. People living in little shacks made of siding, people using street trenches as bathrooms, and that only begins to explain. Each boy at the home has a host family, a portion of thier chore work allows them to buy supplies for these families. Each person who came with me was given a prayer partner and we packed thigns for thier host families ahead of time. So, i went with my prayer partner, his name was Jackie, to take these items to the family. The family consisted of 4 children and 1 adult, but to call him a adult was unfair, he was barely 19, and taking care of his siblings. They lived in a two room shack kind of house.   I am not telling you this story to bring you down, but to demonstrate the poverty level that i witnessed.

Although that was a sad part of my trip there were some fun part too, we took the boys to the beach, something they never got to do. Witnessed numerous  ceremonies and celebrations and veiwed some beautiful landscapes. Everyone, and i stress everyone, that i met was so full of life and spirit and happiness, which really took me aback. Especially since i was 16 at the time, it confused me how people who had so little could be so positive, now that i am older i understand a little better. It was all the little things like how you could meet a person and they were instantly loving and kind. They would plop down right next to you on a couch and have a start up a conversation without a second thought.

Unfortunately, i never went back to Haiti. The next year was my senior year, which i was terribly wrapped up in, and then Haiti had an uprising that didn't insure safe travels. :-/ Since then I haven't really made the time and i'm upset that i haven't. However, the dance troupe has returned  to Asheville a few times since. Last year around this time Haiti had 3 hurricanes in like the 2 months i think, and that really shock them to the core. As they were just beginning to get back on their feet this earthquake struck. Can you believe this!? I can't, i watched the news last Wednesday in complete disbelief. No one from my church has heard form a single person in Haiti. Saint Josephs was located in Port Au Prince, and like many other buildings was not built all that well. In fact it was one of the strangest looking buildings i have ever seen. As if they just kept adding floors as they could and stuck them in wherever they might fit. Seriously, seven floors of a puzzle like looking structure, but it was beautiful! One whole floor was a dance studio for the boys, one level was a gorgeous space for church with an alter and vine plants growing around every pillar. You could also go on the  roof, which had a breathtaking view. Honestly, i doubt it is still standing. Because of its odd formation i can't see how it could have outlasted the earthquake. Who knows how many people were there when it happened also. I am friends with one person on Facebook and i wrote to them but i haven't heard anything. It's really sad and i am praying for them. Being a poor college student i could only afford to donate 20 dollars ( almost a tank of gas for me) and i wish i could do something else!

It is crazy when things like this happen in the world. Every time is happens it reminds me of how fragile we all are. What really gets me is how easy it is to just push it out of my mind. I've thought about Haiti (like really thought about what they are going through) maybe 5 times since the news came out, and that's with all this history, i mean honestly i feel like that's kind of pathetic. So many people have died and i barely blink an eye at it.

But, i just wanted to vent about this whole thing. I needed to get these thoughts of my chest.

Take a moment to be thankful for all that you have.

CeCe Out!

My Apologies

I Suck! I haven't posted in forever. There is no excuse, i just kept forgetting.

First week of class went pretty well, although Wednesday was kind of a disaster.

I went to bed at a normal time but woke up at 3am!! i have no idea why! I laid in my bed for 2 hours before deciding it was pointless to try to sleep anymore. I took a shower, ate breakfast, made coffee and watched the news.

-Side note-
This disaster in Haiti is horrible but i'll talk about that more later.
-Side note-

After all that it will still only 7am. I figured i should get in some hours in the philosophy office since i don't have class until 10am. I knew that the day would be hellish since i have class until 930 so i packed a lunch and grabbed two 5 hour energy shots just in case.

I did pretty well with classes and what not until about 430pm. By that time i had already been up for 12 hours so i had to take one of those shots, which frankly was kinda disgusting. Those things taste horrible, i don't even know what to compare it to.  I lasted another 3 or so hours but in the middle of political science fiction i hit a wall, way to sleepy to learn anything or even think. Happily i went home and ate Chinese, passed out for like 12 hours!

Food that day was spaghetti,  beef and broccol, egg roll, crab rangoon, and fried rice.
Not the best i know. 

Thursday and Friday  Were a wash, i don;t remember what i ate, only that there was some school involved, some work, and some homework.

Yesterday, Saturday, i ate lasagna and a hotdog with some fried okra.  The day started with me attempting to get my wind shield wipers fixed. They stopped working around last week sometime.  I checked fuses but they were all okay. I took my car to Tire Kingdom which was pointless apparently because they kept my car for 3 hours and did nothing so i took it back and drove to weaverville.

So, i'm still in weaverville, watching supernatural and doing some work. Not to mention getting my Sims fix in i love that game.

Long post, but it was worth it. See ya tomorrow

Platinum Out!

First Last Day of UNCA

Woke up kinda early, or rather earlier than i needed to. It seems that Kendra may have some type of stomach bug. Kinda seems like TSS, but i don't know much about that or what to look for so i hope not. So far, she is feeling better.

I've been completely wrong about what time i thought one of my classes were, so thankfully I'm home 5 hours earlier than i thought i would be! Goodness, for one class i have to read almost 2 books a month! At least they are interesting. My schedule for this semester:

MW Piano I from 10-11am.
MWF Japanese Culture for the outsider from 1230-130pm ( hoping this will help me when i go to Japan!)
MW Nuclear Dilemma from 245-4pm (i'm studying Japan in the class to as we picked countries in class today)
W Political Science Fiction from 6-930pm ( a late class but should be interesting. Taught by Dr. Mullen so that's a major plus and we are reading some great books)

Not too bad of a class load but i will need to do some finishing touches on my Philosophy degree. Did you notice that i don't have ANY philosophy OR math classes. Yea, it's kinda crazy and i don't know what to do with myself. I actually think i heard Patrick, an extremely innovative math professor,  lecturing from a classroom today but i may have been hallucinating. I do, however, have Dot Sulock as my Nuclear professor...so that's kinda mathy...maybe i'm stretching it a little.

The plan for today was to  run a mile at 11am. I forgot to bring tennis shoes so that didn't happen. I feel bad about it but I'll wear some tomorrow.  All I have to do tomorrow is meet with Kim, my AVID boss who is also amazing, to talk about the new semester. I figure i will also get a few hours in office assistant and then i can run my mile!

Food consumed today: 1 large cup of Chicken and Dumpling Soup with 3 Packs of Oyster Crackers.

That's it so far, i haven't picked out something for dinner.

Homework for the day:

Edit A paper ( yea that's right already)
Look up Country stats ( Due Wed)
Read " A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030" by Mark Jacobson & Mark Delucchi (wed)
Read "Disspossed" by Ursula K LeGuin (wed)
Read " Wabi Sabi" (Fri) I'm excited about this book.

I think that's it so far!

Well, i'm done. Check in tomorrow i guess.

Platinum OUT!

Entry #1

This is an experiment.

My life is changing very rapidly, and will continue to do so for the next good while. I figured the best way of wrapping my head around it all was the keep a blog. It's not really for others to read as much as for me to have this in a place i know cannot be lost.

It is 10:37pm Sunday, January 10th 2010. I am 22 years old and beginning my last semester of undergraduate school tomorrow. I am receiving my degree in Philosophy with a minor in Math. I have worked for a program called Advancement Via Individual Determination for the past 4 years as the Middle School Tutor Leader. I have been dating a man named Joel Brown since November 23 2008. He is a wonderful man and i love him dearly.

Here i sit thinking about what my life will be like tomorrow, in May when i graduate, in August and then this time next year and unfortunately i can't be sure of any of it. I keep getting asked,'what are you going to do after you graduate.' I'll give them some collection of phrases i've rehearsed ( and some ideas that i've seriously considered), but honestly i have no idea. I've never been this frustrated about anything. So far i have a very incomplete plan.

I have applied for a exchange program for teaching in Japan. It's called the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program. That means i could possibly be living in Japan this time next year! However, it's up in the air; i won't know anything until late April! Thiss is annoying becasue it will be the single most dramatic change i've ever experienced and i can't count on it until i've already almost graduated. I don;t want to put all my eggs in one basket but it kind of prevents me from doing anything else. I cried for two weeks when i realized i would have to break up with Joel, and felt dumb the whole time because it's not even certain.

The backup plan is to apply to Western for a Masters in Counseling. I hope to work with middle or high school students and help them prepare for whatever is next in their lives (work, more school, etc). Seems like a good idea, but i don't know. Keeping this blog will help me keep all these ideas in check i hope. ...Who knows eh?

I figure good goal for the next semester will be to try to lose some weight and get healthy. New life, new body. But, it's hard, it is really hard. I've heard keeping a journal help (blog!) and i got a book that looked helpful so i'll give that a try. I hate weight loss recipes, they are usually too involved for me. I need simple recipes...i'm no chef. My schedule has a lot of breaks in it so i'm hoping to use one as an opportunity to run a mile, i'm just not sure when would be the best choice. I could do it int he morning before class, but i don't want to wake up earlier than i have to. I could do it after that class, or after the next class or before i go home, but if i do it before i go home it will have to be at 9pm. That seems a little late, but at least i could go home smelly and take a shower here. But, yes you read that correctly, i will be at school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10am to 9pm...gross. What can you do?

Well, there's a good starting point. Not sure when i will write again, but soon i hope!

Seacrest out! HA!