Amo a la Salsa!

    While I was in Oregon, I did some quick salsa dancing with my friend Matt and it made me realize how much I love it.  So two weeks ago I went to this local salsa club in Salt Lake and I had a blast.  Seriously it was so much fun.  I took a free lesson at 9 p.m. and then danced till 11:30. Not only was the dancing fun, but the people were absolutely awesome.  I met so many nice, fun, adventurous and totally cool people.  To add sprinkles to the fabulous night, most of the guys that went were good salsa dancers. They had me spinning, twirling, laughing and moving my hips like I was born dancing. 

     I forgot how much dancing can be. While I dance regardless of my skills, I felt like I was actually decent at dancing salsa. I was throughly impressed with my skills and it felt so good to do something out of the ordinary on a Saturday night. I plan on going a lot more. The club also features other theme dances from all over Latin America.  

   I have taken up three new hobbies lately; knitting, photography and now salsa dancing. I am just trying to mix things up and keep on meeting new people. 

   

My first teaching experience!

    Today was my first day of being a volunteer teacher's assistant. For all of you whom don't know, I am going to become an Elementary School Teacher. I am in the process of finishing up my Grad application to Westminister College in Salt Lake City, UT.  

    Being in a classroom is so much fun and so exciting. When I walked in to Mrs. Smith's classroom I felt so energized and so warm. Her classroom was brightly colored with lots of teaching tools and arts and crafts. She also has "the magic treehouse" which apparently flew into the classroom magically.  The tree house in the classroom was based off of a series of books about a magical tree house.  The series reminds me of the the Magic School bus books and adventures. 

    Today I helped the kids finish their snowmen sequences.  Not only did the sequence include drawing a snowman and scenery around it, but they also had to start to construct words that were nouns, and adjectives pertaining to their snowmen and their poem. I helped many of the students come up with adjectives to describe their snowmen. Kids can be so creative with words and drawings.  I also got to help the kids with writing perfect sentences about their fellow classmate whom was the "Star Student of the Week."  Every kid eventually gets to be the star of the week which is good.  The kids love writing and they are all so good at it. They wrote such nice things about their classmate. 

    I  had so much fun in the classroom today. Everyday is such an adventure and you are constantly getting to go on awesome adventures with your students. The more I engage with kids, the more I want to teach. 

   After my half day in the classroom, I took my dogs on an intense two-hour hike because they were needing some intense exercise. It was a beautiful day for a hike.  It was 40 degrees, sunny and clear. The sun is so powerful in Utah all year long.  I love going on hikes in the snow especially with all the trees decorated in white, fresh snow.  The snow makes the canyon even more beautiful then it was before. I think my dogs like the snow even more than I do.  One of my dogs, Tag loves to go sledding.  I know what you are thinking a dog sleds?  Yes, that is right.  Tag will slide down little hills that are covered in snow.  It is so funny, and so cute to watch. 

Well time to pick up the delicious Indian food that I ordered. Love and miss you all!  Till next time... JUST DANCE and JUST have FUN! 

Being the true me!

My weekend in Oregon was short, yet sweet. I tried to see all of my friends from college in two days, which proved to harder than expected. However, I feel as if I did a pretty good job of accomplishing that task. Being back in Oregon made me realize how much I miss it. While my time in Utah has been an interesting, fun and self-improving, it just isn't Oregon.

My time in Oregon has made me remember to always be myself. Sometimes I hide my true self living in Utah to better fit in. There are constantly societal pressures all around us, and I especially see that living in Utah. I am pressured to meet my "future husband" now. This isn't just a LDS or Christian thing, it is a Utah thing. I am constantly asked, "why aren't you married." Or "I have a son, or a nephew that would be great for you." I feel especially pressured with my neighbors, and my job. I think I hide a bit of myself so people won't judge me right off the bat, or won't critize my life. This impression of my fake self is really quite stupid. Who cares what people think of me? Who cares if I am looked down upon. Who cares if I am 23 and not married? Seriously, I should not feel pressured nor should I stress about what people say or think.

Being back in Oregon totally made me see this. I totally just went wild being myself, and it was so much fun. I was honest and I took chances-like the old me was back-in-action! I am a random person, and this past weekend embraced that. It was totally random, and unexpected. My friend Kayleen told me to just go with the flow, and flowing is what I did. I felt like I was floating a river. I had great conversations, great catch-ups and some great fun all in two days!

Sometimes we are so focused on trying to please others, and "fit in," that we actually lose sight of who we really are, or parts of who we really are. I definitely faked parts of who I was to fit in. There will be no more of that and my true colors, true random risk-taking self will be forever shining!

I have mad love for Oregon and Oregon must have mad love for me because it has helped me out in so many ways!

what a week...

What a week...

1. There is a saying that great Presidents were born, not made. I truly believe that we are finally going to have a great president. Brack is already changing the old ways of Washington my limiting the number of lobbysists and saying that he will not support the funding of them. While history was already made Tuesday electing the first black president, it is the history that has yet to be created that will truly put in the same category and on the same level as John F. Kennedy, Theodore Roosevelt and Mr. Lincoln himself.

2. To top off a new president for a new America, the Oregon State Men's Basketball whom is coached by Michele's brother had a huge upset win against top 25 and tied for first in the Pac 10 California. Talk about a good week for Coach Craig Robinson, you just saw your brother-in-law get sworned in to take the reigns of the highest office in the land and you had the unique and amazing pleasure to sleep in the Lincoln Room of the White House to lastly getting your second Pac 10 win of the season against top-ranked Cal in Berkely and coming-from-behind. Dang, what a week!

3. I am back in the Northwest again and it feels so wonderful! I have been trying to get back to Oregon (Corvallis) now for ages and it finally worked out to be this weekend. I have missed the smell and sight of fresh, large trees that heavily populate Oregon. I have missed the tasty, and regularly alcohol beer from local brewerys all around Oregon and lastly I just missed my friends like Kayleen, Elan, Pete, Ryan, Matt, Janelle, Janele, Megan and Andrea. It is so nice to be able to see them again. I have also throughly enjoyed being able to walk everywhere versus drive. What a nice change, and a needed one at that!

Well I am going to soke up more tree smellings, walks, fresh and local beer, and quality people and submerge myself until I cannot breathe anymore! Till next time; peace, love and pancakes!

What would Dr. Martin Luther King JR think?

    On the eve of Obamanation starting up officially and on the day of one of the greatest heroes in American history it made me wonder what would Dr. King be thinking if he was still alive?        For one, I bet he would be smiling and feeling proud to know that we have taken a big stride with electing Barack Obama. While he would be zealous, I think he would also remind us that we still have more bridges to unite.  There is still hate, prejudices, racism, sexism, class conflicts and judgments. It is a proven fact that women are still making less money than men are in the workroom. We need to remember that women in other countries can drive, but they cannot work. We should base our salaries, and our positions in the workplace based on experience, volunteer work, and creativity. We should base our salaries on how hard we work versus our looks or wealth.  It is proven that we have erased our middle class in this country and that the wealthy own much of the power. Where has the middle class gone? We all still want to live the American dream, but without a middle class that dream is more of stretch to reach.  It is proven that organizations like the KKK exists and still preach and act on hate.  It is proven that homophobia exists and often leads to hate crimes against the queer. My brother was a victim of hate crime just before the passage of Proposition 8.  It is proven that we discriminate against people of Islamic beliefs and we associate them to be terrorists. While Dr. King preached about ending all of this, it still exists in our society today.  We need to realize this and make sure that we are doing everything that we can to reverse these proven facts.  It is 2009, and we still have major issues concerning equality and love for everyone. 

  Dr. King would have been 70-years-old today and while he would be rejoicing the day that President-elect Obama would be become President Obama; he would still strive for us to demand and work towards equality for all.  Electing President Obama will help us to continue to move forward and get closer to that ultimate goal of complete equality for all regardless of race, sex, gender, ethnicity, age and whatever else exists. Tomorrow is not only a historic day, but a day in which we can realize just how far we have come since 1968, and how far we still should go! 

   January 20, 2009 will be a day that no American should ever forget.  Without Dr. King, Rosa Parks and others we would not be witnessing this historic, zealous, and hopeful day.  Dr. King is looking down at all of from heaven and smiling knowing that the first African-American President is going to be sworn in to become the 44th United States of America President. 

Obama had a dream, and his dream is about to come true tomorrow!

    To end this entry a phrase that united our country and helped Obama win the White House,  "YES WE CAN!"