Just call me Katie Mechanic.

Yesterday I changed the battery to my brother’s car. With the help of two awesome friends—Taylor and Cody.

Thanks, guys.

Ok I’ll be honest. I didn’t real do a whole lot. I asked them to help and they pretty much took over. I did mix the baking soda and water solution, though. And cleaned off the wires with it (probably getting lead all over myself and according to Cody I’ll get cancer now). And helped hold cords out of the way as Taylor unscrewed the battery, put the new one in, and screwed it in.  

Close enough to being a mechanic, right?

Also, thanks to apartment 7 for letting me borrow their tool kit. You guys rock. 

oh hi.

Seems I’ve neglected my blog lately. So this is just a quick boring post about what’s been going on.

SCHOOL.

Yup. That’s basically it. I am taking 17 credit hours, which in the Elementary Education program actually means 21.5 hours.

The other great thing about the El Ed program? Projects. Lesson plans and projects. Aka. More Hours.

But who is complaining? Okay, maybe I am a little. Really though, I love my major. I learn so much every day, and things that are actually worthwhile. I learn about people, I learn about God’s children, and I learn how to teach God’s children so that they can reach their full potentials. Now what is more worthwhile than that? Nothing. That’s what. [sorry every single other major, i love you all, i just love mine the most :)]

If we want to add a little more complaining though, I also get to work 10 + hours a week (I pick my schedule so it varies up to 15 hours). Even there, I also get to learn about people, and give people the opportunity to give. I’ll post more on that later.

Random other things that I have been doing since being back at school:  missionary council co-chair responsibilities, wedding receptions, dance parties, ice blocking, movies, pillow fights [its ongoing, and I’m totally winning by the way], long drives [slc/midway…ok so not that long…], roommate late night chats, etc, etc. 

Now, back to my homework. 

Roadtrip and Eternity

11 hours. I drove in a car for 11 hours. To most people, this might be a typical road trip, or even a wimpy roadtrip. To me, its the longest road trip I've ever been on in my entire life. [Yes, I was spoiled from my airline employee father]. And, unless you count a couple 6 hour car rides I've been on, it was my first ever. So, to me, this was a momentous occasion! 

Not only was this the longest and only road trip for me, it was also the longest I have ever driven a car. Yeah. I drove 11 hours. All the way there. I'm awesome. [Let's ignore the fact that I almost collapsed from being so tired once we arrived at Leah's house.] 

I drove down with Carrie and Jason Akinaka. We entertained ourselves by music, homework, the GPS ["i think someone hacked in and is actually taking us into the mountains to kill us"], the scenery, the cities ["Penguich? Is that like a penguin sandwich?"], and delicious snacks. 

So why did I drive to Arizona?

 For my roommate of three years to get married and sealed for time and all eternity to the man of her dreams! Leah Marie was such a beautiful bride! 

I had a blast being one of her bridesmaids and being able to participate in the ring ceremony.

Love you Leah! So happy for you! 

this about sums it up.

Maa Lizzy's

My host mom owned a restaurant of sorts. In Ghana I believe it might be called a “chop bar.”

We simply called it the shop.

“Is Lizzy at the shop?”

“Oh, I’m just going to the shop real quick for dinner, then I’ll be back.”

“I’m gonna run down to the shop and talk to Lizzy.”

The shop was only a couple minutes walk from the house. You simply walk down the lovely dirt road until you hit the main road, and right across the street is Lizzy’s shop.

She pretty much only served Ghanaian dishes there, but she really tried hard to find things I’d like.

Here is “Maa Lizzy’s”:

The television (located in the corner of the shop on a plastic chair) was usually on all day. It was pretty static-y, and would become more so as big trucks drove by. Don’t ask me why a truck would affect the TV, but it did. Most of the time I was there the world cup was on. Ghanaians LOVE football [soccer]. (As a side note—the day Ghana beat the US was a very sad day indeed for me. I had talked up the US big time, and so I got a lot of “I told you so”s from my family and friends when we ended up losing...).  Then in the evenings, in addition to the TV being on, the radio was usually turned on as well.

My Favorite Part of the Day

The kids got a little sidetracked with the camera...but mostly this is how I was greeted every single day.

I love these kids. 

"Uniqueen School, School my school!"

I already miss this school incredibly.

This little two-room structure that in American would never be called a school. 

Well, maybe Americans need to think again. You don’t need some nice, big structure. You don’t need air conditioning. In fact, you don’t even need glass to cover the windows or lights to illuminate the building. 

You only need children eager to learn.

And teachers giving of their time to teach them.

Uniqueen was nothing like American schools. I may not agree with how they taught or how they disciplined, but the important thing is that they taught. While not understanding quite yet the best way to carry it out, they realize the importance of education. That mindset will help them to develop the best tools and methods for teaching. In the end, that mindset is what really matters.