I have been a bad Blogger

Somehow almost a month has disappeared since the last time I updated.  I keep meaning to post, but then somehow I get distracted.  So today I am not allowed to go to bed, before I finish updating.  Then I can cross one more thing off the overly long list of things to complete before Christmas.  Side note, how did Christmas go from being a long ways off to under 2 weeks away?

In the life of Suz things have been going pretty good.  School has being going well.  I am currently reusing many of my lessons, which means that overall I don't have that much preping to do.  My current topics are Swearing, Ugliness, Bike and Build, Civil Rights, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Ugliness has been a really interesting topic to do.  I have the students define beauty and ugly for me, and each class has approached the topic differently.  One class had no trouble defining an ugly person, but a lot of difficulty defining ugly clothing, while another younger class said "we can't define an ugly person because that would be mean."  I decided to do this topic because of the New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/fashion/30ugly.html?pagewanted=all.  I had to shorten it alot to use it in class.  The problem with the NY Times is although there are often very interesting article its level of English is too hard for my students.  I must also admit that I have been kind of bad with copy right laws.  I do change my articles so that my students will be able to understand them with out properly documenting it.   Ooops.  Please don't arrest me. 

I have spent the past week being pensive, because if I want to do a second year in Austria as a teaching assistant, I need to complete my application by January 10th.  That is not far away.  I am not ready to make such decisions.  I have decided to apply for a second year, and then see if I get accepted.  The other decision that I need to make is whether or not I want to stay in Bad Ischl or try and move to a city where I could study.  I started to look into what I would need to do to teach Math in Austria, and I would practically have to start studying all over again aka another 3-4 years on the university in Austria vs. 1-2 years in the USA.  So pretty much I have spent a lot of time thinking about the future, and haven't come to any decisions yet.   I mean I might win the lottery, and never have to work again...Ok I would actually have to buy a lottery ticket, but even so this probablity is not equal to zero since I could find the winning lottery ticket on the street.  One must keep all options open.

I have also spent a lot of time reflecting on the last 2 months.  I feel like in I have made progress.  One thing I am much better at is working with text in the classroom.  I am getting better at realizing that the blank stares from a class means that what I just said made no sense.  I am working on getting better at rephrasing questions in simpler terms.  I need to work on having more discussion questions prepared for classes that don't speak.  I have some classes, that you introduce a topic, and 50 minutes later you have to figure out how to bring the discussion to an end.  Other classes you ask them one question after next and get only yes/no responses.  These classes are much harder to teach.  I also need to work on making sure that everyone in a class joins in a discussion, not just 3 or 4 people.  This week in some ways has been really good for me because it has made me reassess my goals for this year.  It has made me think about what I could do better, and what I do well.  The problem is for my application I have to write the reasons that I want to be a TA again next year.  It is hard to find reasons that aren't cliches.  I want to stay cause it is fun, and I don't know what else to do with my life next year.  I HATE writing applications, but I am starting to get somewhere on it. 

Other then school life has been going pretty good.   I have been keeping myself occupied with running, reading book/news paper, meeting up with Heather and Florent the other TAs in Bad Ischl, visiting Weihnachts marken (christmas markets), baking bread, eating cake, traveling...  Two weeks ago I went to Vienna to celebrate Thanksgiving with Alison, Francis and other Grinnellians who are in Austria, Germany, and France as TAs.  I know Alison, and Francis from my year in Freiburg.  It was great to see them, and we made an amazing Turkey day meal.  I ate WAY too much.  My tummy hated me.  Last weekend I went to visit Peter in Pforzheim, Germany.  This weekend I am staying in Bad Ischl, kind of.  Tomorrow I am headed with another TA to Salzburg to visit their Christmas Market.  We shall look at kitschig(tacky) Christmas things, and enjoy Glühwein (hot mulled wine).  It should be a good day.  My first land lady has also taken me under her wing.  We have English lessons.  Which means she invites me out to eat lunch, or takes me to amazing places in Salzkammergut (the region of Austria I am in), and as payment we speak English.  I think I get the better end of this deal.  I just have to speak my native language. So overall I have been able to keep myself pretty busy. After Christmas I am hoping to start skiing, either cross country or down hill. The mountains opened up 2 weeks ago, but here in the valley we've only gotten a rain snow mixture. I have hope for snow when I return after Christmas.

My Christmas vacation starts next Thursday. I have 2 classes in the Morning, then jump on a train for 8.5hrs to Freiburg. I am super excited. Then I head to Pforzheim to see Peter. Then I am going back to Munich/Murau/Triol to celebrate Christmas with my German host Family. I am again super excited. The only problem is I've only bought 3 Christmas gifts so far. Hmm...

Ok I think it is time for me to head to bed, but I get to check off one more thing on my list of things to do.  I love doing that the only problem is usually I don't get around to making the to do list.  This time I have 3 different ones going.  Oops, probably not the best organization idea. But three is greater the one, so three list have be better then one.  Happy holidays if there is anyone out there that is still reading my blog.

Visits

Today Amanda, and Alison visited me. We ate cake....twice. It was amazing.

An Article about schooling

An article I found interesting. It's from the NY Times about how important the education system in the US should be. Well in the same NY Times they are talking about how the spending cuts are going to affect the NY schools. Got to love education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/opinion/13kristof.html?th&emc=th

I post!

I got sick. LAME. It is a very normal icky head cold. What can one do? Well get lots of sleep, don't go out without a scarf, don't go for 20 mile bike rides because it is supposed to be the last beautiful day this week. I mean I would never do the last thing, but I did wear my helmet. I mean I would definitely have worn my helmet if I were to have gone on said ride.

School has been ups and downs. Somedays I have great conversations and lessons with the kids, and other days I feel like I am boring them to tears. It is hard to be in so many different classes. I am just starting to get an idea of which classes I can do what material in. It is also hard jumping between so many teachers, because I usually only have about 15 minutes to discuss lessons with them. Hopefully today I did my last politics lesson for a while. It has been interesting being an American abroad. I was super excited when I woke up last Wednesday, and it has been great to talk to everyone over here. I am still amazed at how much the US elections affect the rest of the world, and am glade that I am not a conservative republican. You would have to defend yourself a lot. I am very proud to be an american again, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I must admit that because of being sick, and having a guest this weekend I am a bit behind on my news paper reading. Reading the news is hard work, and stressful. Everyday there is a new news paper. Although it does feel good to know what is happening in the world. Even if at the moment there isn't all that much good news. I am trying to no longer live in the suz bubble.

I must now prepare for my English lesson. Wednesdays are soo long. This post is kind of all over the place, but today it is hard to concentrate.

I teaches the Children

The short version: I learned everything I needed to know to be a teacher in the week at Saalbach, and I proved this during my first month of teaching that I am in fact a super teacher.

Ok so maybe that isn't completely the truth....

The long version: I realized that I have now been in Europe over a month, and that it is due time for email number 2. I made it to Saalbach. We had to arrive between 2 and 4, and conveniently there was a bus that got there at 3. I figured going with the mean is always a good idea. It was very easy to spot the other assistants on the train, because a) they usually had large bags with them, b) they spoke English, and c) the American ones had the glazed jetlag stare. I was very glad that I had a week to dejetlag, and had stopped off in Bad Ischl and didn't have to lug all of my luggage around with me. There was a hoard of us that over took the bus to Saalbach. The program was not only for Americans, but also students from the UK. Now I had pretty low expectations for this extravaganza. How can one learn to teach in a week? There were 4 teachers that were in charge of us. They were great, and they gave us is a bunch of resources where we could look up lesson ideas. They explained exactly what our job is, and most importantly I learned about how to get paid, and that I am not insured if a helicopter picks me off the side of a mountain. I have to become part of the Alpinverein, or something. It's still on my list of things I need to take care of. That list is as usual rather long.

We did not only spend all day learning, but we had to create a social network among the TAs. I learned that the British enjoy going out to what they would call a pub. I would call it a bar. They also had the advantage that they weren't suffering from jet lag, but I think even under normal conditions I would not able to keep up some of them. By the time Friday came around, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. My head was full of information, and expectations, and my body craved sleep. The other excitement that I learned at Saalbach is there are two other teaching assistant in Bad Ischl. One is from England and her name is Heather, and the other is a French teaching assistant and his name is Florent. They are both nice, and it's good to have someone that I can hang out with on the weekends. We also bounce ideas off each other. I taught Heather all about the USA political system. Even though she is not American, she had to teach US politics. I felt sorry for her, and since I have also spent the last two weeks teaching politics. More on that later.

So somehow a month has gone by since Saalbach. I have lessons that go great, and I have lessons that could be better. My job is to make the kids speak English with me for 50 minutes. I am not supposed to be in the class alone, and it is not my job to correct papers, grade test, or do grammar (which is good cause I don't know no grammar). I am supposed to work 13 hrs a week, but last week was the first week where I didn't have a class canceled. I work 7 hours in one school the HAK, and 6 hours at a the HBLA. I'm still figuring out their school system, so here is a very simplified description of my schools: the HAK is a high school that specializes in business and soccer, and the HBLA specializes in social work, and tourism. The HBLA is mostly girls, so in a class of 26 there will be 1-2 boys, on the other hand at the HAK, because of the soccer I have classes that are only boys. An other big difference between the schools is at the HAK they often split language classes, so I only have 8-10 students in class, at the HBLA it's usually 20-26. I just figured out that I actually work with 22 different classes, because many classes I only go to every other week. (there is still a class I haven't yet met). Yup I have no chance ever learning their names.

The first two week I mostly just introduced myself to the classes, and then did 50 minutes of small talk. I am super good at small talk in English now. What are your hobbies? What do you do on the week end? What is your least favorite food? Apparently Maggie you are not alone, a lot of people don't like carrots. Then I had to start preparing lessons of my own. The first couple were a little rough. It was hard because I had only met the classes once, and I had no idea what level English they had. Apparently the excerpts I used from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech was a bit to hard. Yup that lesson bombed. But on the other hand my lesson on American Politics is going quite well. So far I have done lessons on Civil Rights, Politics, Death Penalty, Politics, US government, Politics, Affirmative Action, Politics, and Halloween. All things that you don't really learn about as a Math/German major. I've actually spent quite a lot of time researching. I am even trying to read the news paper, and tried to watch the news every day when I had a TV. I'm becoming a real live adult. Another sign that I've entered the adult world, my bed time is now between 9 and 10 PM. Some days I don't even make it that late. This whole having to be at school before 8 am is lame, but I am usually done by noon, and I do get every other Friday off. I like that. I'm also working on the whole preparing for lessons a head of time. Still haven't managed to not to have to get up early on Monday morning to finish my lessons. Not good. I should be a real teacher now, and not procrastinate. I'm trying I really am.

There are also advantages to going to so many different classes such as I can reuse lessons. As you might have noticed I have been teaching politics a lot. First I make the students teach me about the Austrian elections. They just had elections in Austria where for the first time you only had to be 16 to vote, so they should know something about politics. Some classes do, and one class of 17-18 year olds couldn't tell me what it meant to be liberal or conservative. 16 is way too early to vote. In a class there was usually 2 or 3 kids who knew something about the Austrian system, but overall they have no clue. I must also admit that politics were very low on the list of things I cared at 16. Ok until about 2 weeks ago when I started teaching politics. Yup politics is a scary world. I hope that you all have/are going to vote. Until I came over here I did not realize how much the rest of the world is paying attention to this election. I have yet to meet a fan of McCain. They watch Obama with hope that he will indeed be a change from Bush's aggressive politics. Another thing that I have found very interesting over here is the Austrians are very cautious when talking politics. Most unless you know them well would never tell you which party/candidate they support. One student told me that they didn't even know how their parents normally voted. There are 5 major parties in Austria, but I don't really understand it well enough to explain it here. Oh the other super sad news is after spending the last 2 weeks of my life talking about politics, my absentee ballot never arrived. I applied for it almost a month ago. So yup the first time in my life that I actually really care to vote I can't. LAME.

So that is the skooling. Besides skooling the youths I've been gallivanting around some. Here are some pictures of the area of Austria I live in: http://picasaweb.google.com/smonaco1 Yup it's amazing. You should all come and visit me. This past weekend I moved out of the Ferienwohnung into my new apartment. It was the apartment of the mother in law of the teachers at one of the other schools in Bad Ischl. She want to be able to use it in the summer, so they rented it to me relatively cheaply and it is huge. I have 3, yup that would be THREE, balconies. I have a east, south, and north baconey. So I can follow the sun all day. No one has lived in it for the last three years, but they have been using it on an off. I did have to redecorate though. Every surface was covered with schnick schnacks. Unfortunately I did not take a before and after picture. My German friend Linda visited me last weekend to help me move. So instead of moving being a chore, it was fun. We work on one room, and then either take a break, play cards, eat, go for a walk, or just enjoy one sitting on one of my many balconies. I don't know if I can say it enough, but Bad Ischl is absolutely beautiful, and I have lots of extra room in my huge apartment for visitors. You are all invited.

Ok Congratulations to all of you that made it through my novel. I hope that it was at least a bit entertaining. I think next time I may have to write it in chapters like Claire writes her updates. I hope to revitalize my blog http://suzmonaco.blogspot.com/ Right now it is just the emails I have sent out so far, plus my Bike and Build updates. I will also try to keep my pictures up to date. I give you all permission to send me annoying emails if I slack.

Long Update

This post is actually an email I sent out on Sept 30th. If I didn't send it to you it's not cause I don't love you. Send me an email, and I promise to write back.

The Short Version:

I made it to Austria, and it is nice here. Next week I have a seminar on how to teach, and the week after that I start teaching.

Long Version:

After Bike and Build my life became quite a bit less exciting. I worked at the Anchor Inn as a waitress, and slept, and worked, but made quite a bit of money. I also got rather sick of people. I have officially decided that being a waitress, even though if you work at the right place it pays well, it is not my dream job. I did manage to have some fun while I was back in Maine. I baked some cakes with my new Kitchen Aid Mixer that my grandparents got me for graduation. Unfortunately it was too big and heavy to make the trip across the big pond. In typical college/American tradition this usually occurred around midnight since my partner in crime Katherine Koch also waitresses and our days off never coincided . I also was able to have
a party on Louds Island with some of my friends. There was a full moon and sitting the Bushnell's Beach I realized it is one of the pretty places in the world. I guess I'll just have to go back there someday. I wanted to keep riding, but in Maine it was unsafe to ride home from work in the dark. My days off were usually filled either with sleeping, or attempting to get ready for Austria I did not get that many rides in. OK I will be honest I got two over 10 miles rides
in. My poor bike. I miss it already. It did not make it to Austria, because as much as I love it, it wasn't worth the $250 it would have been to fly it one way. It would almost have been cheaper to buy it it's own seat on the plane. I also finally got the quilt that my mother and I have been working on since the beginning of college put together. Now we just have to finish the boarder, put the back on, and quilt it. Yup it should be ready in time for my great grand children.

So after putting everything I own in a suitcase, and 2 backpacks I was off. First stop was Munich. In typical Suz fashion of leaving everything to the last minute I didn't actually know I had a place to stay in Bad Ischl until about a week before hand, and then I didn't know when I could move in until two days before I left the country. Oops. Although I was proud that I had one of my two bags pack a whole 40 hours before my plane left. They were on the heavy side. I knew that I could bring 50 lbs (23 kilos) per bag with me. So I am standing there checking my bags in, and my Dad asks me how much my suitcase weighs. I tell him quietly 23.8 kg. He then proceeds to ask me how heavy it can be. I roll my eyes and tell him 23 kg, and that I really can't take him anywhere. Luckily the guy behind the counter pretended that he didn't hear this discussion, and I was not forced to pay anything extra. Yup really can't take my father anywhere without him embarrassing me.

My flight was very uneventful I was in a new Jet so each seat had it's own TV. It was exciting. Linda and David picked me up in Munich. Back story: In high school Linda studied abroad at my high school for a year. We became friends. I then lived with her and her parents Rita and Hans when I was a nanny for another family in Murnau. David is Linda's brother who lives in Heidelberg. So in essence I blame her for my learning German. We then met up with Rita for lunch at the same restaurant where they took me the first time I came to Germany. It was where I stood before the bathrooms and wondered if I was Herr or a Damme. My German has come a little ways since that first day, and although I was super tired slipping back into German is going quite smoothly. Other highlights of the first week. I visited Rita and Hans in Murnau, and had a delightful evening with them and their neighbor Heidi. Linda and I baked The Chocolate Birthday Cake for one of Linda's friends. It turned out well although was not as
good as my Grandmother's. I went to Oktoberfest twice. The first time we just walked around, and the second time I met up with Art, one of the other students from Freiburg, and did what Oktoberfest is known for: drank some beer. It was a fun night. The next day me and my large
amount of luggage traveled from Munich to Bad Ischl. I survived changing trains twice. By the time I arrived I had decided that next time I travel anywhere for a year it will be only with my toothbrush and Pandy. Everything else I can buy when I get there. The last train ride was beautiful through the Austrian Alps. I managed to stay awake for the entirety of it.

In Bad Ischl my landlady picked me up at the station and drove me the 200m to her house. I was so relived that she did. I am living for the first month in a Ferienwohnung and then hopefully will be moving into a regular apartment. A Ferienwohnung is an apartment that is
used primarily tourist, and rented for the week. It has a kitchen with utensils, and a bed with sheets, and my own bathroom. Mine is quite nice, and located right down town. Bad Ischl is small, and so I can get to everything by foot. Although, I am still thinking about buying a bike to get around. First I have to get the more important things such as cell phone, and my own internet. I am sending this from an internet café, and miss Dave Getchel's amazing ability to find
Internet everywhere. This morning Karl, who is one of the teachers I will be working with, and the one that arranged the apartment for me woke me at 9:50 am. I had been laying in bed considering getting up, when I hear a knock at my door. I quickly throw on some clothes, and
answer the door. Oh well so much for first impressions. He took me out to breakfast, and showed me the school where I will be teaching. He also showed me where I can get a cell phone, and hopefully a mobile internet card. So soon I may be contactable! He seems very nice, and
I hope someone good to work with.

The Future: Tomorrow I head to Saalbach, and where I learn how to teach in a week. It should be interesting. I am excited because I will be meeting some of the other Freiburgers that are doing the same program as I am. It should be fun, and we are supposed to bring our hiking shoes. Therefore I conduced that there are mountains there. Then I return to Bad Ischl, and start teaching the following Monday. I'm nervous about jumping right into teaching. I know that in Karl's class I will be responsible for teaching the whole class although hopefully not on the first day, which is good. It will give me lots of experience, but nerve racking at the same time. He will be in the classroom with me though. I also actually read some of the emails I got from my program, and found a whole bunch of lesson plans. EXCITING! I will be responsible for teaching 13 classes a week, and will be working in two different schools. It is supposed to work out
that I teach 4 days a week. Hopefully I can get a Monday or a Friday off so I can do some traveling. I went to the train station today, and surprisingly the Ticket guy was very helpful.

Umm that is the news from this side of the ocean. I hope to post pictures of my new apartment soon.

I made it!

So we done did it. All 30 of us made it across the country on a bicycle. In then final three days of the trip I had one of my least favorite days of the entire trip from Brawely to Julian, and then the next day was one of my favorites. Brawely lies about 400 ft below sea level, but to get to the ocean we had one last mountain to climb. On the day out of Brawely we did 4,000 ft of climbing over 30 miles, and as the physic major on the trip pointed out the profile for the day looked like an exponential growth graph. That is not a happy graph to bike, because it kept getting steeper as the day went on. By the end of that day I was so excited that the trip was almost over because we not only had to climb lots but it was into a head wind in the desert. It is hard to get more demoralizing conditions to bike in. I was 2 hours away from the church for hours. First we had 30 miles to go if we could continue to go 15 mph, and what seemed like an eternity later there was 8 miles left at 4 mph. Me and just about everything were in a big fight. I did manage somehow to make it up that beast, and rewarded myself with a homemade ice cream cookie sandwich.

Shortly before we entered Julian we left the desert behind us, and the next day we climbed 1,000 ft through apple orchards, and then spent the rest of the day descending. It was amazing. There were some hills that we had to climb, but when you were ready for them to end they did. I could have kept riding for months in that sort of terrain, but the next day we ran into the ocean, literally. I dipped my front tire in the Pacific, took some pictures, and then carefully set my bike down out of reach of the salt water so I could run full speed into the water. In San Diego the Pacific is pretty warm, and the beach is beautiful. We had many cheering friends and family as well as normal beach goers who stopped to ask us what all the commotion was about. It was so great to tell people "we just biked across the country for affordable housing."

I spent two extra days hanging out in San Diego, but unfortunately got a stomach bug. It was not my favorite thing to have, but at the same time I would have rather missed hanging out in San Diego then not having been able to ride the final days of the trip. I flew back to Maine on Saturday night, and luckily by that time I was feeling better. My bike is still making its way across the country. I had to take it apart and put it in a box so that it could be shipped. I realized that I had really made it across the country when I looked at my bike sitting there all disassembled. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it here in one piece.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete this trip. Thank you to everyone who that donated money, or gave me encouragement. My fund raising total was over $5,500, and after the trip was paid for my route will donate over $55,500 to affordable housing. Donation can still be made at bikeandbuild.org. We will be giving grants of various amounts to chapters of Habitat for Humanity in Orange County NC, Memphis, San Diego, and Winston-Salem NC, as well as another affordable housing program called Mountain Housing in Asheville NC. Routes that started in the North East will give grants to this section of the country. I would also like to thank Sherwood Olin, and the Lincoln County News for running my weekly updates.

Now it is time to be part of the real world of life after college. I think it is going to contain less biking and building, and more working. It was a fun summer. I learned a lot, had some fun, and have a pretty sweet shorts tan to show for it.

Hotness

Cartoon cacti really do exist. We hit the desert in Arizona this week, and instead of having bushes and trees in their front yars they have Saguaro Cacti. I wondered if nusries here sold cacti plants instead of shrubs, but have not had the time to investigate. I have been worried about the Arizona desert since the beginning of the trip, but it was actually in California that we hit our hottest temperatures. Today we rode 90 miles from Blythe to Brawley and I was sweep. We left the church before 6am, and when I arrived at 2pm the bank thermomiter read 104 degrees. We rode across the Empirial Sand Dune and it was beautiful, but I was diestracted by the fact that I was in the desert on my bike and it was hot. 6 miles from the church some of my fellow riders were stopped sitting under a tree. As sweep it was our job to be the last people into the church, but I really did not want to stop. We had been pushing it hard so that we could get out of the heat as soon as possible. But after running through the sprinklers on a stranger's lawn, life seemed so much better. Instead of the last 6 miles being tourture they were actually quite enjoyable. Then once we got to the church everyone took naps to try and recover from a very long day. I decided that of the places that I want to live some day the desert is not high on my list, but I also decided that air condtioning is amazing.

We have only three days of riding left till we dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean. I still can't believe it when I look at a map and see how far we have gone. I have rode across the country to a place where they have Palm Trees and Cacti.

Many updates

So I finally loaded all my weekly updates onto my blog now that we have only one week of the trip left. I do not know if anyone actually reads this anymore, due to the fact that I have not updated in literally months. Oops sorry about that. Now I must sleep so that I can survive the desert and cactuses. They are big and I was kind of excited about to see my first real cartoon looking cacti. I will update next week. I promises.

two for the price of 1

Sorry last week I did not report last week. I wrote it but then we
did not have internet for me to email it in. In the last two weeks we
have gone from flat Kansas to the Rockies to the desert of Arizona.
It is amazing to watch the landscape change in such a short time.

I had some of the best rides of this trip while in the Rockies. My
favorite stretch was from Gunnison to Durango. In these two days we
started off along the Blue Mesa Reservoir, and then road into Box
Canyon. We then went over Red Mountain pass on the Million Dollar
Highway. That section of road cost a million dollars a mile to build
back in the 1930's, which was profitable because of all the mining in
that section of the Rockies. The roads that we were on were amazing
with wide shoulders, and newly paved. This gave me room to climb up
safely, and then go down the other side fast. I got a new top speed
of 44.8 mph. It was great fun. The views were amazing everywhere we
looked.

After Colorado we crossed the four corners into Arizona where I stood
on a bronze circle and took a picture of an arbitrary spot on the map.
There I heard Polish, French, and Japanese so I knew I was in a
tourist place. The four corners lies on the Navajo Nation's land. We
have been on it for the past few days, and poverty is more evident
then at any other point of the trip. Along the roads that we were
riding on there are many empty bottles. We were informed by a cop car
that we had to be careful and ride far on the shoulder, because they
have a problem with drunk drivers 24 hours a day. Unfortunately the
shoulders were not always bike friendly. So far we have had not had
any incidences. It has been hard riding through such an area, because
I know that there are many issues that confront these communities
before affordable housing.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Grand Canyon, and camping on the south
rim. I am so excited, but also the realization that I only have 11
days left before San Diego is slowly setting in. Soon I will be
headed back to Maine.

Oh to flat

Quick up date from the road. We are now biking lots and are in the
middle of an 8 day stretch of biking. We have already crossed through
Oklahoma, and Kansas and today we entered Colorado. I think my legs
are officially in shape, and have for the most part gotten used to
biking many miles. Today I said "tomorrow we only have 68 miles. I'm
so excited." This week we have been averaging about 80+ miles a day,
and today was our second over hundred mile ride or century of the
trip. Most of the landscape we have been traveling through has been
relatively flat, and I have learned that wind can either be amazing,
or very low on my fun list. Headwinds are completely demoralizing,
but tailwinds are great fun. We had one the other day that without
peddling we were going 11.8 mph on the flat.

In these many miles we have seen many things. In the interest of
getting as much sleep as possible I will only list a few of them.
First we went through the Gypson hills which looked like what I
imagine Arizona will look like. They were red table top hill. We
experienced watching a storm come across the praries at us. It was
amazing to watch the entire sky turn black. It was also a little
nerve racking to know that we had no where to go. Luckily it just
missed us. We spent the night in Dodge City, and I learned the phrase
"Get the hell out of Dodge" which is synonymous with get lost or you
aren't wanted here. Apparently Dodge City was used as the set for
many Westerns and that is where the term originated. For the past few
days we have been following the Santa Fe Trail. I learned that They
averaged about 15 miles a day. In comparison we were flying on our
bikes. We were crossing in one day what it would take them a little
less then a week to cross. I was glad for this, because the problem
with the flat planes is they are a tad bit boring. To keep ourselves
mentally stimulated we have resorted to games I played on long car
rides as a kid such as the alphabet game using road signs, I went to
the store and bought an..., and a new game called contact. These
games help the miles tick by. Soon we will be out of the flat lands,
and into the mountains. Part of me is really excited get back to
amazing views, but the other part of me remembers to get those views I
have to climb up many miles. I know that in the middle of some assent
I will look back on the flat planes with longing.

Well I must sleep. I wish you all a happy 4th of July. I will be
spending it in Colorado Springs. It should be a fun time, but I doubt
their parade will be as entertaining as the Round Pond Parade.

My bike is back up and running. My new fork is blue, and beautiful, and looks exactly like one the I bent. I have broken it in with 350 miles in four states in the last week, and my little legs are tired. We have a day off tomorrow, Tuesday, and I am so excited to be able to sleep in till 9AM. I have gotten pretty used to our normal 5AM wake up, and stuffing all of my worldly possessions back into my backpack. This past week has treated me well. This week I was filled with quite a number of firsts.

We had our first day off in Memphis, and go to experience Beale Street. It was fun to watch the street performers doing back flips down 50 feet of the street. Because the majority of our group had come out with us we kept running into people we knew, and having to stop and converse, play ninja tag, and do other such shenanigans. We had a great time, but I have never seen so many cops out patrolling in my life. The actual day off was not that eventful. I slept in till 8:15, ate pancakes, read my book, and generally relaxed and avoided physical activities.

The next day I crossed the Mississippi for the first time in anything other than an airplane. It is a big dirty brown river. We left Tennessee behind us, and entered Arkansas. And even though I had run in with a Tennessee driver, I immediately began to miss the TN roads. For what ever reason in Arkansas there is a bump every 20 ft. By the end of the day I had more then a few choice words to say to the builders of highway 70.

Once we entered Arkansas it became flat. We stopped to talk to a crop duster and found out that in that section of the state grew "just about everything." I learned that it was so flat that it was possible to grow rice. I did not know that rice was grown in the US, but as soon as though about the amount of rice that is eaten in the US it made sense to grow it here. Also apparently if we had headed through two weeks later we would have had to fight off hoards of Misquotes. The thought of biking through swarms of biting bugs is not high on my list of things I want to do in my life.

We had two build days in Little Rock, AK. The first day we prepared a build site for a house that had been built in a parking lot and then moved to its foundation. They do this to promote Habitat. I think this particular house had been build at one of the local high schools. I leveled sand in the car port in preparation for the cement floor. It was the first time that I had ever leveled sand so I do not know if I made it level enough for the professional, but I was proud when the day was done. Our second day of building was actually debuilding. We worked deconstruction for the Habitat for Humanity Resale Store. We went into a house that was going to be torn down, and took out everything that could be resold. We took out the doors, the fireplace, the gas stove, the hot water heater, the air conditioner, and all of the baseboard and trim. I was skeptical that the trim would get sold because it had years of paint on it, but it was sold before we even took it to the resale store. I was impressed.

Out of Little Rock was my first century day. We were supposed to ride 104 miles, but I kind of sort of got lost making mine 108 miles. I apparently missed the turn onto 64, and didn't realize it for 10 miles when the lunch stop never appeared. We have a cue sheet that tells us when we are supposed to turn, and we had planned to have lunch at about mile 40. For about 5 miles there really was no place for our trailer to have pulled off, but then I passed a deserted parking lot. I stopped at the next flea market, and asked if they had seen any bikers pass by. She said "you are the first one, so you must be far ahead." At that point I knew that I was not far ahead, but far lost. I called the van, and started biking back the way I came. Because I was behind sweep, I had to ride in the van till I caught up with sweep. They weren't too far ahead so I was still able to get in over 100 miles. Because we were still pretty much in the flat section of Arkansas it wasn't one of the hardest day we have done on this trip. The next day we bike 92 miles through the Ozark. They were absolutely beautiful, but my legs were rocked by the end of the day. Some of our group members rode an extra 10 miles so they could get in back to back centuries. I was just happy to say that I did 200 miles in two days.

The next two days were shorter with only 74 miles. I know that I am getting into biking shape when I can truthfully say that the first 74 miler was easy. I tried to do the entire 9 miles that we were in Missouri no handed. I was not skilled enough to do two of the hills no handed, and I learned that my bike seat was not made to do 9 miles of no handed riding. I was rather sore by the end. Today my legs informed me for 74 miles that they were not happy with me. It was a very long day, but I survived. I am looking forward to resting them tomorrow. Then it will be back on the bike for a full week of riding. I haven't look too closely at our schedule because we have a rule on this trip that we don't talk about tomorrow until tomorrow, but I am sure that it will be amazing.

The week of a crash

This week’s update is going to be the account of my ride from Sewanee to Pulaski Tennesse on June 11^th. The day as usual started off early in the morning at 5am to watch the sun rise over the lake. We had camped in Sewanee, TN. We got to have an exciting change to our morning routine: the taking down of our tents. I think we all passed the test, and all of our tents fit (were shoved) back in their little green totes. Then it was on the road again with some of the local riders who guided us for the first 20 miles. The ride started off with a three mile downhill: it was glorious. Because we were following the locals we were able to successfully navigate the maze of back roads. It was a good thing that we were not trying to negotiate them by ourselves because most of them were unmarked. I saw my first ever field of cotton. There was even a man on horse back checking up on his field.

Though we had lost our guides, we kept on the back roads until our lunch stop at mile 40, and the got on the Highway 64. I learned from a roadside sign that we were quite near where Jack Daniel’s Whiskey is distilled. Apparently the county that the distillery is located in is a dry country. So Jack Daniel’s is not actually served at the distillery just lemonade. The group I was riding with was rather far behind the main group, so we decided to see if we could catch up after lunch. We were flying along much faster than any pace I could have held at the beginning of the trip. I was proud, and even though it was hot and there were long hills, I was having a great time. After about 10 miles of averaging over 20 miles an hour my legs informed me that it would be a good idea to slow down. They could not maintain that pace for another 30 miles. Me and one of the other riders ended up dropping back.

Unfortunately, me, my bike, and a car decided to have a fight. I won, but the fork of my bike and the car lost. An oncoming car took a left in front of me. I did not have enough time to stop or swerve out of the way, and T-boned it. I was very lucky and survived the accident with only a small cut on my chin and a two inch bruise on my thigh. The driver of the car was much more shaken up then I was. Once I realized that I was uninjured I started laughing and joking with my fellow riders. Sadly, my bike’s steel fork was quite bent. It has been quite an ordeal to get one, but my bike should be all better on Tuesday. Thank you very much to the work of West Chiles from Pulaski, and John Fleck at Surly I am getting a fork donated to me. I had to ride the last 20 miles in the van. As I rode in the van at 60 miles an hour up some very big hills I had complete respect for my fellow riders, because the hills looked long and hot. A mean way for the last 20 miles of an 80 mile day.

We stayed that night in the dorms at Martin Methodist Community College. We got hooked up in Pulaski by Dan the Mayor to stay in suites. They were pretty sweet with real beds, washer and driers, and AC. This trip has made me appreciate the small things in life such as real towels, private showers, real beds, and AC. We were then provided with dinner at the mayor’s house, which many people of the community enjoyed with us. I personally cannot thank this group of people enough. Many of them came up to make sure that I was ok after my accident. I even got a much needed “mamma hug” to speed along the mental recovery. Through their combined efforts I only had to ride for one of the three days into Memphis in the van. I would like thank West and Terry for arranging to get me a new fork. I also was loaned a bike from John and Michelle Hunt under the condition that I was not allowed to run it into any cars. I got to upgrade and ride Lightspeed titanium bike for two days. It was a very nice ride, but I was a little terrified of breaking it during the ride. I watched very carefully for cars and other road side dangers and had no more incidents.

Overall, it was a very eventful day, but it also showed me how great people can be. The people in Pulaski had only just met me, and they went completely out of their way to help me out. And as my Dad says: in the end it will make a good story, and in life it is the stories that are important.

Week numbered 2

The south is hot. TOday we passed a bank thermometer at 2:09PM and it was 95 degrees. I have had to re define my concept of hot. In Maine it was above 80 degrees. Tomorrow it is supposed to cool off and be 85 degrees. I am so excited. I have also discovered the great thing about riding a bike is that you create your own wind to cool you off. The only problem with this is that this does not really work on the uphills. They are just hot.

In the past week we have conquered some mighty uphill. From Asheville we continued on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then through the Smokie National Park The Smokies do in fact have a hazy smoky look to them and are absolutely beautiful. Although sometimes I was too busy concentrating on the back wheel of the person in front of me to enjoy the view. I had a variation of a song from Finding Nemo running through my head "just keep spinning, just keep spinning..." It was such a rush when we reached the top of a 15 mile climb through the Newfound Gap to leave North Carolina and enter Tennessee. I have been told that i is the second longest state, so we will be in it for a while.

I have also discovered that construction is hot We have had three build days in the past week one in Asheville and two in Maryville TN. Both times we have worked on two separate Habitat for Humanity houses on the same street, because 30 people on the same house would be a bit much. In Asheville I got to polyurethane stained trim boards, and then paint the door jams white. This job came with benefits: we got to have a fan. It was amazing. My nice red Bike and Build tee shirt we wear to the job site how has paints on it. I was quite proud, because it actually shows that I did work on this trip. In Maryville we put the subfloor and stuccoed the foundation of two houses. My hammering skills have improved immensely. Okay actually only as long as no one is watching me. When I have an audience my nails end up looking like flowers, were all the petals are missed hammer marks. Maybe by the end of the trip I will be allowed to hammer something other than studs. The job sites that we work on have been slightly chaotic, but a lot of fun. The Habitat for Humanity staff, and other volunteers are interesting people, and we usually end up joking around quite a bit. So far I have avoided getting a golden screw for biggest mess up (knock on wood), I have a feeling that I will manage it at some point this trip.

People ask me where we are headed next, and I never know. n It is great to just take life each day as it comes. No big deadlines to meet. I just know that in the morning I will get up and either bike or build, and then that night I will curl up on my green thermarest ready for the next day.

Week 1

"I'm headed to San Diego" is what I tell anyone that expresses interest in why 30 bikers in blue jerseys are passing by. I have gotten pretty good in explaining in under a minute that we are crossing the country to raise funds and awareness for affordable housing. We will be on the road for 64 days of which we will be working for 10 days on different affordable housing projects as well as having a total of three whole days off. Now that I am over 500 miles into the trip I am actually beginning to believe that I actually raised over $5,000 and am headed west biking and building. Back in January when I stepped into the Lincoln County News for an interview I was unsure how I could possibly raise $4,000 but with the help of over 100 individuals and businesses I suprassed my origanal goal. Thank you to all my suppoerters in the Lincoln County area.

Growing up in Damariscotta and going to college in the North East I am excited to experieance a whole new side of te country, and so far it has not let me down. We began by dipping our wheels in the Attlantic in Nags Head on the Outer banks of North Carolina and then peddled off with our back to the ocean. The first three days we crossed a total of four "hills" which were actually just bridges over the intercoastal waterway. Slowly as we crossed the State the landscape turned into rolling hills, and then yesterday we ran into the Appelacian Mountains. My little legs are asking my whoes idea this was to bike across the United States when it would be so much easier and quicker to drive. I told them to quiet down, and the reval in the amazing views from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The ridges are indead blue. The advantage of biking instead of driving, is that you can stop and take a picture when ever you want instead of just at the lookout points.

Each night we have been staying at churches and YMCAs. They have been providing us with dinner and breakfast, and southern hospitality is not a lie. We actually had to donate some of the food given to us to a local food pantry, because even 30 hungry bikers would not have been able to eat it all. I continue to be amazed at the generosity of everyone we meet from bring smelly bikers to their house so we can shower, to getting up to feed us sausage biscuts at 6:30 in the morning. This trip has reconfirmed that people really are good. In the evening not only do the host provide us with dinner, but they often eat with us. I have meet some very interesting people along the way. In fact yesterday I was told the recipe to make homemade banana pudding. I had never had real southern banana pudding before, and it is amazing.

This trip is called Bike and Build, so we are not only biking, but also building our way across the country. We were scheduled to build for two days in Chapple Hill, North Carolina, but shortly after arriving at a Habitat for Humanity build it started to pour. Becaues we were framing the house we had quit work for the day. We were given a tour of the Chapple Hill's Habitat Housing developments. They build over 10 house a year there, and so are a much bigger organization then any I have previously worked with. They opperate much more like a General contracter. On the second day of building we were able to accomplish alot. We got up all the interious and exteriour walls of they house, as well as the top plates. The house was ready to have the rafteres and roof put on, but unfortuately we ran out of time.

Tomorrow we will have our next build day here in Asheville. I am excited to give my biking muscles a day off before we bike to Gattlinburg which will have over 17,000 ft of elevation change. It will be one of the hardest day of our trip, but I am excited for it. After a day of rest hopefully the Mountains will seem small.

Yipppppie!!

Thanks to everyone who has donated I have now raided over $4000!  I get to bike across the USofA!  Ok now I have to write of the German.

Time is of the essance

So I have neglected my blog. I am surprised I did not find it shriveled up and dead like all but the heartiest of my house plants. I found a solution to that problem: buy plants that live in your fish bowl, and you never have to water them. I'm so smart, but I digress. I have 15 min to write this entry and then I must return to the dreaded world of Educational Psychology. It may look like I do lots of work for that class, but the truth of the mater is, and I quote my dad here: "if you spent as much time doing work for that class as you do complaining about it you would have a 100 in the class." Only two more weeks of classes, one week of finals, one week of senior activities, and a car ride down the coast, and then off across the country on my bike for two months. Kind of excited. Kind of scared.

So I have much exciting news. First I have my bike! It is blue and pretty, and very technologically advanced. So I got it and me being just a tad bit bike illiterate didn't realize that fancy bikes have fancy valves and normal bike pumps don't work. So I had this beautiful bike that I couldn't even try out cause I would ruin the rims. I was also unsure if my bike even had tires, because I have tread less tires. I called Bath Cycle and Ski, and Darcy informed me that yes in fact those were tires on my bike, and so off I went to the bike shop down town and they generously filled the flattened tire with air. So I'm all excited for my bike's (which is still missing a name) maiden voyage, and my first experience with clip on peddles. So I bike around in circles in our parking lot to figure out the mystery of the mysterious contraption that make a clipping noise, but are name clipless. I was proud I did not fall, and there were only a few times where parked cars tried to jump out in front of me. I manage to avoid all of their sneaky attacks without casualties on either front. I was a little weirded out, since it felt like the peddles moved around quite a bit on my foot, but I just figured that was normal. Apparently it is not. I ventured out onto the road, and then as I was going to turn onto Ridgecrest Rd, when I wanted to stop and look at my map. My right food does not want to declip. I turn my ankle as far as I can, and it just doesn't want to declip. So I make the executive decision that I just wont get off my bike till I get home. My peddle did not listen to the executive orders, and shortly there after my right shoe detaches from the peddle, and I tried to click it back in and it will not. They truly became clipless peddles. In my distraction of my right foot not clipping, when I stop to investigate I forget to declip my functioning left peddle. So I fall over in very slow motion onto the grassy shoulder. No one was hurt well except my pride. Luckily no one was there to watch. I found out that I had not tightened the screws that hold the clips onto my shoes. So the screws worked their way out. After much use of my handy dandy mulitool, I got my bike back up and running. I really couldn't be that upset with me bike, because it was such a beautiful day that one did not mind sitting in the sun on the side of the road playing bike repair. The rest of the ride was uneventful, well minus the fact that I fell in love with my bike. Though just for clarification my love does not extend to my saddle. We will be needing a new one of those.

Ok so my 15 min post turned into a 34 min post. ooops.

Before I return to the land of Education I must thank the following people: Vicky M., John and Libby M, Dan M., Tom P., Michael S., and Bob and Ginny V. I'm almost there which is so exciting!!

Swimming without a suite

Today I did Ed Psych all day instead of going for a bike ride in the 50 degree weather. So I decided I would go for a swim tonight as my excise. Now as a leftover crew benefit I have a locker in the Hill Center, where the pool is. My suite and towel have been living there since before spring break. I went to open my locker today, and me being wicket intelligent cannot for the life of me remember the combination. So as fun as skinny dipping in a public pool sounds, I decided against it. Instead I played Euchre. hmm... maybe not the smartest use of my time, but by the time I biked home and got my work out stuff so I could go to the gym, I would have been way too far behind schedule. Plus I now had an extra hour that I wasn't exercising that I could use to play games without getting behind schedule. Well at least at the time it sounded like a great excuse.

This weekend though I did end up doing both the Biking and the Building. I went and volunteered at the Corning Habitat for Humanity ReSale store. It is supposed to open next week. It was fun to get back out in the community again. I got to play walky-talky. I worked with the electrician to figure out what outlets and lights were on what circuits. Since the panel was in another room, and we had no modern communications devices I was the middle man, and yelled to the guy at the panel what the girl standing at the outlet had to tell me. I think was I find so interesting about Habitat Houses is they do not have all the bells and fancy toys, but they get done. Because they have the manpower of volunteers they can take a little longer, and use three people on a job, that having the right tools could be done with one. We did find out that practically all of the outlets in the entire show room were on the same breaker. Me not really knowing that much about electricity knows that that is not a good thing. They were going to fix that real soon.

So after I got home from the build I decided that I was going for a bike ride. I found a good map of the area surrounding Ithaca, and immediately the road Midline jumped out. I being a math nerd was super excited. The Midline in hyperbolic space is the only line between two divergent parallel lines that is perpendicular to both lines. Non divergent parallels don't have a midline. So after not really having studied the map that hard I went off biking in my adventure. Along the way I actually had to strip down layer, and it was the first time this year that I could comfortably wear shorts. Ok there have been other warm days, I just haven't gone biking on them. Now a Suz bike ride usually consist of me biking along a road for a while, and then deciding to take the next turn that appears, and then biking on that for a while, and then turning again until I eventually deciding that I should start attempting to get home. My main goal is always to try and do a loop, and take a different route home then I used to get out there. The challenge here in Ithaca is how to make a long bike ride, and avoid the hills. But Saturday I had a goal: Midline Rd. I did have to stop a few time and look at my map, cause I had no idea where I was. Also Midline was a bit farther then I was expecting, and I ended up biking home when it was a tad bit darker then I would have normally like. Overall though it was a good ride that google has told me was 23 miles. Unfortunately my new bike still has not arrived. I think it is anxious to make the trip across the country and started without me. So if anyone see a blue Surly Long Haul riding along alone, will you please kindly point it in my direction.

So this day of both biking and building made me pumped for this summer. Even thought there is only a few days since my last post, I got a new donation since I last updated. Thank you Lorraine M.

Now I must return to the world of Ed Psych.

I'm a bad blogger

I have been a very bad at this blogging thing recently. First and Foremost Thanks to all the amazing people who have donated to my cause, and I have now raised well over $3000. The end is in sight, but I have to make certain that I don't let myself slack off. There is über long list of people to thank since I last update so here goes it.

THANKS to: Nan A., Dave B., Harry and Geri D.,Karen L., Matt and Pat M., Carol S., Mark and Jane T., and Levi W. The best part of this list is the diversity of it. It ranges from people I see every day to the aunt and uncle of my roommate who I have only had one conversation with in the doorway of our apartment. It always amazes me who donates, and the generosity of people. This trip has also gotten me back into contact with people that I haven't spoken to in years. My 7th and 8th grade math teacher donated, and told me about her huge Christmas cactus that has grown up from a small little clipping I gave her over 9 years ago. (Oh dear that number makes me feel old.) I am not the best at keeping in contact with people, but I am trying very hard to get better at it.

Sorry if this entry ends up sounding scattered, and contains typographical errors. Some of the are on purpose, and, well, most of them probably are not. I stayed up way way to late last night writing in German about how the architecture and history of Berlin are connected. I pretty sure I have mentioned it before, but formal writing in what ever language is not one of my favorite past times. In fact I might even go as far as to say I abhor it. But this entry is not to be an anti writing rant.

So back to the topic of Biking and Biking and other topics that begin with B. (If you didn't notice writing does not in fact begin with B.) So there is a bike working it's way from Bath Cycle and Ski in Maine to my humble abode here in Ithaca. I am getting a blue Surly Long Haul Trucker. I's so excited. I feel like it is Christmas, because it got shipped at the end of last week. Everyday I walk up to my door, and hope there will be a humongous box sitting there with my name on it. So far everyday I return to an empty hall, but there is always tomorrow. I will need to figure out a name for my bike. Since it's a Surly I feel like it really must get a piratesk name. I will have to get to know it before I can commit to anything. Naming something is not something to rush into. Lipschitz the fish would probably agree with that statement.

Unfortunately I have not only been bad at the blogging, but also at the training. I think the weather and I are on opposite schedules. The days I have time, it is rainy and icy, and cold which just demotivates me. It snowed 4" a week ago. I was a bit perturbed to say the least. Or it is absolutely beautiful and in the 50s, and I must sit inside and write about Architecture in Berlin. Wildlife sightings in the last few rides include a ground hog, a raccoon, deer, and a Yeti. Ok at least one of those was seen on a computer screen. Although to be truthful I admit that I have spent a significant amount of time in the last few weeks playing cards instead of doing me work. I have to keep telling myself that I have almost gradumacated. I have to prove my mommy wrong that I can play Bridge, and not flunk out of skool. Just 44 days left before I am supposed to receive my fake diploma. I get the real one a couple weeks later. I am so excited for graduation, and for this trip, but at the same time I am terrified of life after college. I think I hate saying good bye even more then I hate writing.

Well it is time for young ones to be in bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to do some affordable housing, and work with Ithaca Habitat for Humanity on the new Corning ReSale Building. I have to get up at the crack of dawn, aka I have to be on campus at 8am. If nothing else College has taught me how to sleep in. It is a habit that I will have to unlearn in the real world.

I just wanted to update

So I now know new news.  Ok that sentence really is lacking in the sense department, like I am lacking in the sleep department, but on a more serious note:  I have two more donations!  

Thanks to Nick M, and Jim C.  Every time I sign on to my account I continue to be amazed at everyone's generosity.  

Other than that I really don't have all that much to report.  No exercising adventures, or new fundraising excursions.  I just felt like updating before I took my Ed Psych online quiz.  Oh and I lost one and won one at bridge, but won the tie breaking Euchre game.  Now I must really get back to me work.  I just got my midterms back, and although they are not bad, they are really not quite up to par.  Off to play the game where I am a good student.  Only 8 more weeks of that game.  That is a little scary.

Zippadeedoda

I'm flying, and not only reached the 1/2 mark, but sailed right past and am now over 2/3 of the way to $4000. I'm pretty excited, and thank you ever so much to the following people: Betsy C., Grammie Marie, Lanie F., Allison L., Miki M., Nina M., Margaret R., Karen R., and Saron. I would like to also thank Susan Mason of Traditional Acupuncture for donating. Finally thank you everyone who donated to me while I sat outside Yellow Front on Thursday. I made $300 and change is just 6 hrs. I do not have an exact total, because I have not yet counted the change. I never would have guessed that people would be so generous. It was amazing. I was thinking it would be a good day if I made $100, but my little collection tin kept having to be emptied. So it was a very very good day. If only I had known this before Thursdays, and I would have sat out there all week. It was also so rewarding, because so many people were supportive of what I was doing. I did meet an elderly lady who told me about when she was in a bike club during the war. Since they were rationing gas, they had the roads practically to themselves. She also said that a day where they did over 100 miles was a century day. We only have one of those on our trip, and my hat is off to her because she didn't have the new fangled bikes we have today.

Speaking of bikes over break I also went to Bath Cycle and Ski and they are sponsoring me. They help me out a bunch with the bike decision. I got to try out the difference between a touring bike, and a racing bike. And what everyone was telling me was true. A touring bike will be worth it. Now I just have to decide which one. My parents are also going to help me with the bike through an early bday present. THANKS! On the training note, I did better last week at training although I did manage to leave my bike helmet back in Maine. Mom mailed it to me but I won't be able to bike till at the earliest Wednesday. I should have listened to the nagging little voice in the back of my head that originally told me that Maine was going to be too cold for Bike riding, plus all our bike's tires were flat. Ah well, some day I may learn. I like to believe there is hope.

Ok I must end this entry, because all the time I spent fundraising over break, I was not doing the work of home. So starting up school again to day was a wee bit of a shock to the system. So I must get back to my scholastic pursuits. I'm off to learn about the history of Educational Psychology and compare it to the history of children's literature. Ugg. It's a topic I am interested in but I just don't wanna get learned.

$2008 left to Raise! (just kidding really $2011.96)

So I have neglected this blog for quite a while. Mostly because it was midterms, and although they overall were not that bad, I procrastinated. This made me have much less time then I should have. So I made up quite a variety of excuses on why I could not either bike, nor write in either German or Spanish, nor write in the Blog. In fact at one point I started an entry, and realized that it was just a long and rather boring rant on how I hate writing. I will probably post more then one rant here, but this one was not even original.

So I am on Spring Break, and headed home to fundraise. Just in case any one was wondering Fundraising in Maine in March is not the best fundraising environment to say the least. In fact I would say that March is even worse then January. I went up and down Maine St. Bath, and was turned down point blank more then once, because businesses just didn't have the money. It has been a long time since tourist season, and the economy is not looking so good. As I continue to Fundraise I realize more and more the importance of buying local. I have talked to so many of the local business owners both in Damariscotta, and Bath that are struggling right now. Also last week when I was biking in Ithaca, and biked past the gas station for lease, it made me stop. I think of the gas stations here in Damariscotta. They are a in a way one of the meeting point of the community. They still have the air of an American general Store. I will also be the first to admit that I have rarely bought gas from them, because I could save pennies per gallon when I bought gas when I went down the coast. How poor am I really? Although buying local can be more expensive I am going to try it. Although this plan might backfire because to afford Bike and Build this summer, I think I will have to spend NO money from now till May.

That said, I would like to thank some new donors. As March 21st gets closer and closer I have started obsessively checking my B and B status. I always heave a big sigh of relief every time I see that someone has made me that much closer to my half way point. This is a mix of family, friends, and acquaintances that have reached out and supported my cause. Thank you to the following: My aunt and uncle Jim and Jill, Rosalie P., Deirdre B. and Rob S., Jim S., and Pat W. I am up to the grand total of $1988.04. Me being the math major misadded my new donations to my previous total, and came up with 1992.04. (don't ask sometimes addition is tricky). SO I thought that I had only $2008 left to raise, and that was a cool number. Ah well I just need to get a $4 donation for it to be 2008.

The final round of pre-blog thanking. I would like to thank the following poeple: Geary B., Barb and Rick B., Evalyn G., Matt M., Kyle R., and Amanda W. finally the following two businesses Rising Tide, and Salt Bay Trading Oriental Rugs. These are the people who helped my fundraising momentum continue after I arrived back at college.

So I would love to write about my adventures since I have been home, they involve vacuuming, driving through down pours, eating cake, (no good adventure is cakeless), painting my nose with gray oil paint, sleeping, not sleeping, loosing at Casino, eating gelato, speaking German, transporting Lipschitz, getting nagged, raising money, eating a white chocolate raspberry scone, cold feet, fires in the fire place, getting stabbed with a staple, reading, riding bikes that go no where, looking at bike that go places, wearing a hat and scarf against the cold, Educational Psychology... and the list goes on, but now I must get some fundraising letter writing time in before the sleeping happens. Then tomorrow I get to run the Cash register at Bath Maine's Habitat for Humanity's chapter ReSale story. I will probably have stories to tell tomorrow. Cash Registers and I usually end up fighting. It's a toss up who wins. Someday I'll win the war...someday.

28° is not to cold to bike.

This is from 3/2 it just took me a week to post.
Went for a bike ride outside today, and it was glorious. Well actually my feet disagreed completely with the previous statement. They informed me about 1/2 way through that they were not a fan of this biking outside business, and were cold and wanted to be home now. I informed them that they had over 11 miles till they were home. They did not like that answer, and proceeded to get to showed their dissatisfaction by getting colder and colder. I was afraid by the end I had frost bite, but they warmed up quickly in the post bike shower, and there was no toe falling off. Next time we are going to try different shoes, warmer socks, and a higher level of ignoring them. I will just inform them that they are not allowed to fall off, and of course they will listen to me.

My ride today according to Google maps was 23.8 miles, and was relatively flat. In fact I did a circle around Steventown Hill, although to my knowledge I did not go through Steventown. When you bike outside the limits of the Ithaca Township the houses I biked by changed immensely. They are much more run down, and I biked by at least two businesses that were shut down, one of which was a gas station/quick mart. Although I have been lived on the Ithaca campus now for 3 years I rarely made it outside of Ithaca. There are popular bumper stickers that say: "Ithaca: 10 square miles surrounded by reality." Today as I was biking this became more and more evedent. One of the things I biked by was a board with Keystone light cans hanging from it, and it was labeled Redneck Wind Chime. It made me laugh, but it also made me realize that the city of Ithaca I know is limited only really to the campus. I live in a severely sheltered world, and I need to venture outside of it much more often.

Snow!?

Today it snowed. I was much distressed by this. The small child in me that always rejoices at snow jumped up and down in excitement and was ready to go sledding. On the other hand YESTERDAY I went bike riding on the roads and it was amazing. So I could not decide if I was prosnow or not. I think some more debating will have to go on.

Biking in the real live world

Look I now have a picture and a new blog Template. I will have to keep working to make my blog pretty. I was looking at my fellow rider's blogs, and many of them are prettier and more complicated then mine. I will have to actually spend time some day, but it is currently very far down on the sticky note listS of things I need to do. Sometimes I feel like making list is more discouraging then helpful. As emphasized by the S on listS my todo list is rather long. I hope to get thank you notes for the time being crossed tonight. Hopefully someone else will donate, and I will have to add it again to my list. My current total is $1750. I would like to thank Lara H., Andy T., and Kelly D. for the donations. I have finally gotten up the nerve to start asking all of my friends for money. I know most of them are broke like me, but even a $5 donation gets me that much closer to my goal. (I only need 450 more people to give me $5). The more I work on this fundraiser, the more I realize that part of the goal of this trip is not only to raise money but also promote awareness. If someone can't donate to me, then I hope that at least they begin to think about this issue. Maybe further down the road they will donate either time, or money to this cause. The following people and businesses that supported me on day three and four of door to door fundraising: Evalyn G., David and Jean P., Joe P., Sarah and Bill W.,and Sproul's Furniture Store.

Today it was way too beautiful to stay inside and do my work, so I finally fixed my bike. (This is my mother's bike, I am still trying to figure out what bike I want to cross the USA on) It's chain was unhappy, so I put lots of grease on it and then wiped it off again. It seamed to solve the problem of it jumping between gears. I have a feeling that my bike repairing skills will improve on this odysseys. I then had to test out my bike, and went for my first bike ride outside in months. it was a beautiful day: Blue sky, above freezing, and no wind. It felt like spring was here, but it doesn't look like it was here to stay. Tonight it is supposed to snow. Boo on that. I think winter has had its chance, and now it is time for spring. Although it was warm, it really wasn't warm enough for shorts. Oh well live and learn. Although I did not see quite as many bears, or space stations my ride was vastly superior to riding on the stationary bike. The sights along the way were a Junk Yard that had various school buses, and decrepit cars, a man clearing ice off his driveway with a tractor the size of a riding lawn mower, deer in the meadow that were still enough that I am slightly convinced that they were fake. Next time I ride by I will have to check and see. If I remember I'll keep you posted on the realness of the deer.

Ok I think it is time to correct some math homework. I am correcting Calculus II, and for the most part it is not the calculus that the students are having a hard time with, but the algebra. Although I keep trying to tell myself that can't be that bitter about it, since I know that I have made many an algebra mistake in my life. Me and Algebra actually usually are in a fight.

In closing I ate all the fruit snacks, and tonight in an attempt to replace them I made green jello. Did you know if you eat jello to early it is not as jelloy and much more liquidy. I just hope it doesn't continue to jellify in my belly.

Don't tell my Mother

It has happened, today I played bridge instead of doing my work, or going to the gym. Don't tell my mother because she will say: I told you so, once you learn how to play bridge it all goes down hill from there. Before I know it I will flunk out of school, and have to beg my parents to have mercy on me so I can live in their basement. But on a happier note: I had good cards, and me and my partner won the majority of hands. Since we were only going to play a couple of hands, so we weren't keeping score. It turned into quite a long couple of hands. Oh well looks like tonight will have to be a long one.

I did have a new exercise adventure. Since my roommate has been sick, and I no longer have anyone to convince me to go to the gym. Yesterday I didn't convince myself until almost 9PM to exercise. The pool on campus is either open early morning, noon, or 7-10. None of those really are when I want to go, so I think this was the second time I have gone swimming in the last six months. The water was very thick, and the very difficult to swim through. My weak little arms were not happy with this new form of exercise. They like it much better when I bike or run, because all they have to do is sit there, and sometimes move back and forth. None of this being responsible for the moment of an entire body. They were very vocal in their unhappiness. I could also swear that the pool was not just 25 yard pool, but at least 50 meters. My arms were not the only part of me that informed me that swimming was NOT a good idea. Since I haven't swam regularly since high school I didn't have either goggles or a cap. So my eyes were exposed to the chlorine, and this is never a good thing. Now, I have to open my eyes under water, cause if I don't I run into things. I try only to open them when I am breathing, but this never really helps. The other problem I had forgotten about it when I swim without a cap, is that my hair is not long enough to stay in a ponytail. So my bangs were always in my face. I could kind of alleviate this by breathing every third stroke. But since I am in such horrible swimming shape, I can do this for about 6 strokes, and them I am out of breath. In the end I just decided to kick for most of the practice. I could even wear my glasses while swimming, and the world returned to being in focus. Without my glasses I am legally blind. The big E I haven't been able to see it in years. This rant does have a happy ending though. Today I had to go to the mall, so I was able to buy both cap and goggles. So now I am ready for my next swimming expedition. I just have to motivate myself to go again... Tomorrow is bridge night, maybe I'll go and swim after that. I feel like if I call my exercising expeditions, or adventures it makes them much more fun.

In closing I have no new donation to report, but I would like to thank the following people who supported me on day two of fundraising, which is my most successful day to date. I raised $495 in one day. I walked along Main St. Damariscotta, and along West View Rd. The following businesses donated: Elinor and Anita's, The Mediterranean Kitchen, and Scarborough's Collision. The following individuals also donated: Lynn A., Peter D., Teresa B., Robert and Patricia K., Frank and Cynthia K. I also received donations from the residents along West View Rd. Thank you all for your support.

Ok now it is time for me to go back to the hyperbolic world. I have to write up the proof that if two lines are asymptotic parallel to a third, then they have to be asymptotic to each other. It isn't that bad of a proof.

One more thing. I bought FRUIT SNACKS!! As you can see I was pretty excited.

A week of planing for the future

So I have not updated in about a week. I must also confess that I have also only exercised
twice in the last week, and have done very little fundraising. I was too busy trying to write 2 pages single space about me. I applied to the Austrian Fulbright English teaching assistant program. I quickly got very sick of writing about me, and it also reaffirm my hatred of writing. Why can't I just experience the experiences? Over the six days working on this application I worked up a great antiwriting rant. I will not go into it here, but probably over the next couple of months I will probably rant more then once about how much I hate to write.

Other exciting news in that happened in the last week was I had five new donation: Glen D., John H., Jane K., Rita K.-V., and Grandpa Al and Earline. I am now 42.875% of the way to $4,000. Thank you very much. Because people donated before I had this blog I have decided each time I update my blog to thank a couple of people/businesses who donated preblog. First thanks to Supplies Unlimited donated my brochures to me. As I began fundraising I realized these brochures were invaluable, because I had written information I could give to the people I was talking to. The first day I began walking door to door asking for donations the following businesses donated giving me courage that I could raise $4,000: Stars, Twin Village Hobby & Educational Toys, Village Optical, Yellow Front. I would also like to thank everyone that has listended to me. Even those who could not donate to me were always polite. Everyone I have talked to about Bike and Build supported me, if not through a donation, then verbally. This made it possible for me to have the courage to walk up to the next door and ask for donations. As much as I dreaded raising $4,000 so far has been a positive experience.

This weekend I hope to work some more on getting out fundraising letters, as well as sending out thank you letters. I got behind on writing them. I think that is all the news from here. Oh and if you were wondering in hyperbolic space the first parallel gets arbitrarily close together in one direction, and arbitrarily far apart in the other direction. It was a fun proof.

The first whole day I went without updating

Yesterday I biked through the stars. It was quite exciting, although there were not animal sightings along the way. I did wonder how I was able to breath out there in the vastness of space without a space suit, but apparently they have developed the technology so that there can be floating bikeways in space. As you can apparently see, I believe everything that I see on my television screen. If it says I can bike in space, then I can bike in space. Maybe my next goal should be to bike across space. Although in the words of Douglas Adams "Space is big, I mean really big." Ok so maybe that is not the exact quote, but it is pretty close.

Now on a more real not I painted today. I pained walls, base boards, ceilings, floors, boots, sweatshirts, pants, newspapers, plastic, and probably some of my fellow workers. Of that list the first two things are actually the only things that were supposed to get paint on them. I have five different colors of paint on my hands, but what is most impressive is I didn't even use black paint, and I have some on my hands. The reason I was painting is I did my first day of work with our local Habitat chapter. We went to Cortland to work on a house that is two weeks away from completion. The owner was there working with us, and she was so excited about the house. She had picked out different color's for each of the rooms. One of the other volunteers described the house as the happiest house ever, because the color were so vibrant. I spent most of the morning painting the mud room caramel. We were using Dunkin Donuts coffee cups as paint cups, and except for the mud like consistency of the paint we probably could have fooled someone into thinking it was coffee with cream. For lunch we went to a deli where I got a veggie sub that had so much stuff on it I had to eat it in two parts. It was amazing. In the afternoon I helped clean brushes, painted a baseboard, and worked on painting the living room paprika, and a green color. Not colors that I would have picked, but they did look good. And finished with painting one of the walls of the dining room a darker green. I think my favorite room that she had was one of the kid's rooms that was green with a darker green pattern on one wall. Then she painted a black square on the wall that he could use as a chalk board. It was pretty cool.

As I worked today I decided I have two goals for my habitat experience. I hope to get experienced enough to know what needs to get done on a job site, and have the skills to do it. I spent a lot of time standing around today, because I didn't know how to continue. My second goal is to be able to finish a job, and say hey that looks like it was done by a professional. My painting today was not bad, but me and my paintbrush got in more then one fight where it wanted to paint something that I did not want painted.

Well I'm off to some exciting Saturday night activities such as writing my biography in two pages, and correcting math homework. I am so very excited!

Today I was sore.

The title says it all. Today was deemed a rest day.

The day of the less then one Mile run

See I can almost make a title for my blog post be without a number. Weather today ICKY. Cold rainy rainy cold turning to cold rainy icy. So in the long and the short NOT biking weather, but gym going weather. In the beginning all three of the bikes with monitors were filled. I though ok, this will be a great time to try cross training. There were many a treadmills that was free. Many people enjoy running on treadmills. It can’t be that difficult. I even have been know to use them before. All those bad memories I have of them, could not be true. So I get on said treadmill, and press the HUGE green button that says start. Then it tries to give me all these options, but all I want to do is run. I get to what feels like a reasonable pace: 6.3 (I have no idea of the units for this number). Not fast in anyone’s book, but I am still just warming up I tell myself. When I watch people on treadmills I feel like they pick a place to run on the belt, and that is where they stay. When I run I feel like I sway back and forth, and also can’t quite keep an even tempo so I always have the feeling like I will shortly either be running off the front, or falling off the back. Sometimes I feel like I look so bad that a cop will come into the gym, and arrest me for operating a treadmill under the influence. I will have to say, no officer, these are just too complicated a piece of machinery for me. The other image I always get when criticizing my treadmill form is the hamster that can’t quite figure out it’s exercise wheel. At some point the wheel gets the better of it, and it end up stuck inside the wheel going round and a round. Luckily nothing like that happened to me today. I was running along for what seemed like forever and a day, when I look down and realize it hasn’t even been two minutes. I knew that it is going to be a very very long workout. I convince myself that I can do this, running in place can be entertaining. So after another 5 minutes of endlessness I decide that I will call it a running warmup, and then will see what other machines are available. I even bump the speed up to 6.5 units for the last 3 minutes in attempt to switch it up a bit. I think I look down at the time about every 3 seconds. As I watch it count down the last 10 seconds I successfully use the HUGE red stop button. But at the same time I do manage to hit the headphone wires to my Ipod shuffle and it goes flying. I know that the entire row of ellipticals behind me saw. My roommate was on one of then, and yes she did make fun of me. In 10 minutes I ran an impressive .92 somethings I’m assuming are miles, and don’t have it in me to run .08 somethings to get a nice round one something. I will be the first to admit that running fast is not my forte. I used to joke that the only time I would run if a large man with a VERY big stick was chasing me. By this time one of the video bikes were free, and I get on it. My legs inform me that no they do not like this new work out routine. They like the one where I sat around all day much better. So I pick out a work out with nice rolling hills called Apple Grinder. It was a nice country ride through the brown and yellow fall trees. It was much more entertaining then the treadmills. I didn’t even look at my clock until over five minutes had gone by. As I was riding along I was thinking about what I could include in today’s blog entry. Of course now I don’t remember all the brilliant things I was thinking about, other then the trees looked really fake. This time instead of getting greener as they got nearer to you they got browner. I ended up riding 7 miles, plus a 3 min cool down, and was rather proud of meself. Other than that today was pretty uneventful. Tonight me and some of my friends played bridge. We are just learning how to play, and don’t really have all the strategy down, but did have a quite a lot of fun. I think anyone with bridge knowledge would have just shook their head at our technique. Most importantly my team won. We were awesome! Now I have successfully avoided the work I was supposed to have done by writing this one massive paragraph. I figure it’s not a long entry if it is only one paragraph. Right?

Day Two

Some day I will have to get more interesting titles for my posts, but I like number. Well actually I think I like the idea of numbers. In reality numbers and I usually are in a fight. Why can't 2*4=6 sometimes?

On a more relevant note I saw a bear today. Actually, I saw the same bear twice. I was warming up and peddling through the Red Woods today, and off next to the path was a brown bear. Luckily it was far enough away that it was not a threat. In fact it looked rather grayish and 1 dimensional. The computer animation on the bike at the gym are really not the best. After I finished my warm up through the red woods, and I did actually bike THROUGH a red wood. Yup I am that cool. I biked O Mama. It was a rather hilly, and some what scenic rout. I saw a blue mass that I can only assume was the sea off in the distance. The computer animations keep me quite entertained. Why do trees start off light green, and then as they get closer, they get more detailed with dark green? It looks like they are reverse camouflage trees. They get more visible the closer you get to them. All and all it was a good ride. I completed a little over 11 miles without actually moving anywhere.

Speaking of going places I went to get fitted for my bike, and it is a complicated process. I did not actually get fitted, instead I just got to learn about why I should get a Trek 520. The man who I was talking to says that the three bikes that I have an option to ride, are all racing bikes, and I should invest a little extra money to get a touring bike. The trek 520 is in his mind a very good touring bike for it's price. So my new plan of action is to contact Zane's bike shop, the store that is getting my bike, and see what they have to recommend, and what these options cost. If I am going to ride 3428 miles on a bike, I guess I should do the research to find out what a good bike entitles. I'm guessing it is a little more then 2 tires, a break, and some gears.

On the fundraising news I have currently raised $1350.04, which is than 27/80th or 34% of my total goal of $4000 dollars for affordable housing. It is pretty exciting. Thank you to everyone who has already contributed.

Now I must get to work on my school work. I have managed to avoid it all day. I am very good at avoiding work. I have a feeling this blog will be a procrastination tool.

THE FIRST ENTRY

I feel like any first entry should be deep and meaningful, but I am currently not sleep deprived enough to philosophize. Instead I will tell you all about my dragon killing expeditions today. Ithaca has decided that freezing rain is a fun type of weather, and the derailer on my bike doesn't really like to pick a gear to stay in, so I have been forced to train inside. Today I tried out the new stationary bikes at the gym. The bikes have video monitors, and you can select a program where it make it looks like you are biking. You have a path to follow, and there is scenery to watch. It was pretty exciting. I warmed up with a casual bike along the sea, and then found out that you can play a game where you collect coins and then run over the dragon of the right coin. It was pretty entertaining (for about 4 minutes). Then I decided to bike through mountain goat pass (well I don't remember exactly but there were goats in the snow on the sides of the road). I did not actually finish the ride, because Maggie had finished her work out. Other than that today consisted mainly of school, doing homework, and playing gin rummy. I won! I did also prove that if you are living in hyperbolic space, and more then two lines through a single point are parallel to any given line, that parallel line and the given line cannot be equidistant apart. It was almost as exciting as the dragons.