brrr

It's cold here in Michigan.

The job search continues, with various amusing suggestions from friends and acquaintances--everything from teaching at a Bible college in Kentucky to becoming a sports writer for the local paper. I've submitted my paperwork to sub at local schools, have two days scheduled next week to sub at the Christian school connected to my parents' church (my church, I suppose, now that I'm living here again), and another potential job that I'm not going into details about here because the family consensus was that one of my readers would think it highly entertaining if they found out in some other fashion. (Yes, it's legal.)

On the grad school front, I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to MSU's MATESOL program for the fall. I'm not making any decisions yet, as I haven't heard from UMBC and won't find out if I have a TA position at MSU until March, but it's great to know! I'm hoping to visit the department next month when I'm down for some Quiz Bowl stuff, so that should be good.

I've recently found Ukrainian-themed scrapbook paper online, so I hope to start working on my Peace Corps scrapbook soon. Maybe that will help organize all the piles of stuff I have around my desk.

On the subject of Ukraine, here's a good article about evangelicalism in Ukraine from Christianity Today.

Also on the subject of Ukraine, I made the mistake of listening to some of my Russian hymns last night and I got really really homesick. I guess it's part of the readjustment process, but it stinks. If I don't listen to my music and watch my DVDs (which I can't do right now because my disk drive won't open), I'll forget my language. But when I do, I just really start to remember how much I loved Ukraine and how much I miss it.

It's really cold these days. At least here, I don't have to walk everywhere like I would in Ukraine.

not-a-post

This is not a real post. That would involve having more time. But I wanted to let you all know that the Farm Service Agency job didn't work out, so it looks like I'll be subbing unless something else comes up.

At some point, I may post about living a counter-cultural lifestyle, as several books I've been reading and an on-going discussion I've been having have been related to that topic. So my question to you, faithful readers: how would you define living counter-culturally? In what ways do you think you do so, and in what ways would you like to?

ps The Texas hill country is beautiful, even in January. And I ate ice cream outside in 60 degree weather on Sunday!

Take that, Michigan winters!

howdy, y'all

Quick update from Austin, Texas, where we're all busy with pre-wedding stuff:

~It's great to be with Melissa and Liz. We had a trip down Quote Book Memory Lane yesterday afternoon, and already have several new entries, i.e. "Sally now comes with hair care products" (Melissa).
~The job interview went well as far as the person I was interviewing with said he thought I'd be a good person for the job, but the problem is that while it's a temporary position, they're hoping to extend it past the point where I'd be heading off for grad school. So it's possible but unlikely that I'll get it. Let's hear it for subbing!
~I'm breaking in my new shoes for the wedding today, having realized that that was smarter than waiting until Saturday. Ow...
~Texas trees are a lot shorter than Michigan ones. And a lot less stuff is built out of wood.

For LiveJournal Readers

Courtesy of my friend Liz, this blog now has an RSS feed for LiveJournal for anyone who wants to follow along with me that way. http://syndicated.livejournal.com/bookaholicgirl2/profile

That's all, really. Oh, and I have a job interview for a technical assistant position at the Farm Service Agency down to Stanton on Thursday. Here's hoping!

First Post!

Welcome, readers! Some of you may know me from my Sal In Ukraine days...some of you may be new readers, and I'm happy to meet all of you. I'm an almost-twenty-five-year-old, former English major from Michigan State University, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine), politically a swing voter (I'm quite conservative on some issues and liberal on others, so I end up testing as a moderate, but I'm not sure I am), daughter, friend, girlfriend, and evangelical Christian in the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition with a bit of Baptist and Bible churches thrown in. Oh, and hopeless bookworm. I currently am having trouble accessing Blogger on my home computer, so updates will be sort of irregular and dependent on how much else I need to get done on the library computers when I'm here.

Amusing bits from moving back home to a small town in mid-Michigan:

I called the township clerk the other day to get an absentee ballot, as I'll be out of town on the day of the primaries, due to being a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding down in Texas. He asked for my name and address, and then said, "Who do you belong to?"

"Well, actually, I'm an independent..."

He laughed. "No, I was asking whose daughter you are!"

"Oh, I'm Charlie and Mary's girl."

Nice to be home in so many ways. Also nice that my dress alterations for Melissa's wedding cost me a grand total of $6. When I was in a wedding a couple of years ago and did my alterations down in Lansing, they cost me $40.