Fight Club

I saw Fight Club again last night (or should I say this morning). It was cool the first time, but the second time is actually better because I knew the twist at the end and I could see it coming the whole way through. I like movies like Fight Club and Memento because I actually get more out of them the second time around. I catch more of the quirky hidden stuff. This time I actually caught the spliced in frame in the very last scene where Jack/Tyler and Marla are holding hands watching the skyline implode. Not that I really wanted to see that, but it was clever. Also, reading the Hobbes connection beforehand made seeing the movie even cooler in a strange sort of way. (I got that link from someone else's blog...see comment to "Playing for my supper")
My train to Wenatchee arrives in about 15 minutes, so I should probably head off to the station.

no more cell-phone

Since Holden Village has no cell-phone service and I'll be in Finland most of October, I've decided to cancel my cell-phone service. The service doesn't actually cancel until Sept. 9, so I'm giving my phone to Glen to use until then. Should you call expecting me and get a masculine voice instead, that's the reason.

Procrastinati....

I should be packing for Holden Village right now. I should be doing a lot of things. But I'm not. I'm here in front of the computer again.
I got my tickets for Finland today. Hotwire sent them to me FedEx. I was amazed! If you're making travel plans anytime soon, definitely check out Hotwire. Tickets from Minot, ND to Helsinki, Finland, roundtrip were only $708 And that's from MINOT, an airport that only has three flights a day, all of which go to Minneapolis. Plus Hotwire sent them FedEx, so I got my tickets in the mail a day and a half after I ordered them. There's a catch somewhere, I know, I just haven't found it yet.
Paivi, who I'm visiting in Finland, lives in Oulu, so in total I'll have 4 flights: Minot to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Helsinki, Helsinki to Oulu. I have a six hour layover in Amsterdam, but I don't think entertaining myself for six hours in Amsterdam should be too difficult. If you've been to Amsterdam, leave me a comment with any recommendations you have on things to do there.

Into the woods

An interesting thing about Holden Village that I forgot to mention in my last post is that it's so remote there is no phone or internet service there. So starting next Tuesday I'll have no contact with friends and family for three weeks. I'm not sure exactly how difficult that will be. I've owned a cell-phone for the last year and it's almost too easy, being able to call anyone you want at any time, whether you're driving on the highway or walking to class. I think I'll enjoy the remoteness of Holden.
To get to Holden I'm taking the train from Minot to Wenatchee, then a bus from Wenatchee to Chelan, then a ferry up Lake Chelan and THEN another bus from the landing up the mountain to Holden Village. It's up in the woods, so there's great hiking. (However, there were forest fires in that area recently, so I don't know how many trails will be open.)
Although it's remote, they still get mail daily.....and I love getting mail. (hint, hint.) so here's the address.
Sephanie Blumhagen
Holden Village
HC00 Stop 2
Chelan, WA 98816-9769

I'm there from Sept 1-Sept 23. Drop me a line if you have time. I will write back.

Disorientation

After a summer on the go, it feels as if my life has ground to a screeching halt. I've been home since Tuesday night, and I simply don't know what to do with myself. It's lonely out here on the farm. I have a "to-do" list a mile long, filled with the details of unpacking, repacking, making future travel plans and what-not, but the list isn't getting done. I think the biggest problem is this: Now that I have time to think, there's one BIG question in my mind. "What do I do with myself now?" When I was in college, my life had some structure and I had a goal to work toward: my senior recital and a degree. Now the ball is in my court. The choice is mine and quite frankly that's scary. I've pondered lots of options: Lutheran Volunteer Corps (which a couple friends of mine are now doing), the Student Conservation Association, Peace Corps, Grad School. And of course there's always Gordon-Conwell Seminary, which I am still accepted at for fall 2005.
In the meantime I do have some things planned to keep life interesting. The first is three weeks volunteering at Holden Village in Washington state. I'm on the lawns and gardens crew. I'm looking forward to working outdoors and NOT working with children. (Nothing against kids, I'm just a bit tired of them after this summer)
Later this fall, in October I'm flying to Finland to visit a friend there who's a teacher. She teaches English, so I'm going into her classroom to do a presentation on America for her kids and also to help them practice their English speaking skills. Should be fun!

Home again

Glen and I hiked up Harney's Peak on Saturday. The view at the top is truly amazing. We camped in Spearfish city park that night and drove to ND on Sunday. The Suburban's "check engine" light came on somewhere on I-94, which I found rather ironic. After all, we started the summer with the "check engine" light coming on, which was followed by transmission failure and all sorts of other problems. Fortunately this time nothing was wrong. I think the automotive breakdown gnomes were taking advantage of their last chance to mess with us.
Monday and Tuesday I caught up with friends. Monday night was girl's night at Lisa's (well, her parent's place), and Tuesday was the usual crowd at LCM. And of course Glen and I premiered "Sidewalk Sonday School...Unleashed!" for them. Good times! (Thanks so much for driving up from Fargo, Alycia. It was so good to see you again.)
It was great to be on campus and see old friends and I couldn't help feeling just a bit smug because I DON'T have to get up for class in the morning. I don't have to find a lesson time that fits my schedule or sort out which classes to take when all the ones I want conflict with each other. I don't have any advisors to meet with, books to buy or club fairs to sit at. After five long years, I am FREE!!!

playing for my supper

Apparently I played pretty decently at the Red Rocks Resort and Blue Vervain restaurant tonight. (I know I called it the Minnekahta dayspa in a previous post, but I was confused. It's the Red Rocks Resort) I played Chopin Fantasie Impromptu, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair by Debussy, Mozart's Fantasie in dm, and then I sight read a bunch of stuff from the books there, includign Moonlight Sonata, Fur Elise, a Chopin etude, and a Josh Groban piece. For my music, I got a $20 meal for free AND a lady tipped me $20 and told me that she'd really really enjoyed my playing. Can you believe it? I can't! And all I had to do was ask if I could play.

YEEEHAAAAA!!!!!

It's a celebratin' night!!!!!! Glen and I are officially DONE with Sidewalk Sonday School for the sumer! I don't have to play Psalm 150 anymore! I won't hear "Give me..!! Give me!" or "I don't wanna sing. When are we playing games?" anymore! And no more cookies and koolaid or white bread and hotdish and hamburgers. I am actually going to enjoy having my normal life back.
Sadly, I also won't hear "I like that song. Let's do it again!" or "We had so much fun. You guys should come back next year." This has truly been a rewarding job. Everytime I got wornout and cranky, when vehicles and sound systems malfunctioned and I wished I was anywhere else but there....Every time that happened I would look at the kids and they would be singing and playing and laughing. They had SO much fun. Just seeing their smiling faces made it worth everything.
Tonight, as I was setting up the trailler, a little girl named Cassidy with little braids in her hair came up to me and handed me two parcels, each wrapped in black tissue paper. She said "I made gifts for your team. I made these for you because you made me so happy." I gave her a hug and thanked her. That simple act and her words of thanks meant so much and I'm so glad I did this ministry this summer. Each smile, each unchurched kid that joined us and got to hear about God, each parent that said "Thank you. My child had so much fun!", those are the things that keep this ministry going. Those things keep our energy flowing and renew us. It has been a truly wonderful and amazing summer.

out of character and out on a limb

Today I did something out of character. Glen and I were walking to the coffeehouse to check e-mail when we passed the Minnekahta resort and dayspa and Blue Vervain restaurant. I'd seen a beautiful baby grand piano throughthe window when we'd passed the night before, so I wandered in to check it out. There was music on the stand but no one was playing so I plunked my butt down on the cracked leather piano bench and started playing Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu. A middle aged man passed by and gave me a thumbs up. The action on the piano was wonderful and I found I could actually put some expression into the music. Partway through the second movement I noticed a tip jar in the corner. I was having a wonderful time and when I finished and picked up my backpack I heard applause. I turned and realized a family in the restaurant had been watching me the whole time. The applause fueled my nerve so I went to the front where another group of people, including the middle aged man also applauded me. So I asked about the tip jar and if I could come back to play for tips. The man turned out to be the manager and he said I could come Friday evening, when there would be more customers to play for. I'll play for an hour and in return he'll give Glen and me supper for free. I'm delighted! I can play for my supper!! I've learned over and over this summer that if you want to do something, you just have to ask. Just go out on a limb, be shameless and don't worry what they'll think of you. There is a chance that I'll suck royally on Friday, but that's okay. I'm leaving Hotsprings Saturday morning, what can they do to me?

coloring books for adults

We have a coloring book in our Sidewalk Sonday School trailer that claims to be "the Bible in pictures." As I flipped through this book I realized that many stories had been left out. "This is censorship!" I cried, and at that moment a new idea was born. Glen and I are going to create and market a Bible stories coloring book that includes all the other stories, the ones you don't hear about in Sunday School. This coloring book will include such pictures as "Cain kills Abel", "David and Bathsheba commit adultery", "Judas falls headlong in the potter's field and his intestines fall out", "Jael drives a tent peg through Sisera's head" and many others. I really can't understand why all these stories are left out of the coloring books. I mean REALLY! We may even package these with an extra red crayon so kids can color all the blood and gore in vivid crimson. The movie industry has shown us that sex and violence sell, therefore we think these coloring books will be a hit. What do you think?

kids

I've decided this blog will be dedicated to my thoughts on what I find when I'm out and about exploring the world. It will be a place where friends and family can check in on me if they want and find out what I've been doing.
Today was pretty uneventful. Both the morning and evening ministries went smoothly. We did a Daniel and the Lion's den puppet show, and I discovered that Glen is quite a good puppeteer.
The weather here is hot and evenings have been beautiful. Glen and I took a stroll downtown after the ministry. There was a group of teenagers gathered outside the arcade and one of them was strumming a guitar. Glen, being the outgoing person he is walked right up to them and started chatting away so I followed meekly along like a puppy dog. One offered to show us the DDR dance machine game, so we went in the arcade with him. The DDR machine has a foot pad that lights up. He chose a fast dance song from the screen and started mvoing his feet as the flashing arrows on the screen dictated. I've never seen such fast nimble feet. We went back out when he was done and someone else was playing the guitar. I think it's cool that the kids in Hot Springs have an arcade to hang out at. There's all sorts of games there, a snack bar, prizes. I thought it was a pretty neat place. My host mom for the week said it's become a place where kids meet to go smoke and drink. Granted I did see a few kids smoking there, but despite the downsides, I think kids still need a place ot hang out.

utopia

Glen and I are in Hotsprings and Edgemont, South Dakota this week. I have conluded that Hot Springs is my new utopia. Good hiking, small town, stuff to do and best of all...a coffee house that's open in the evenings. If there were a university here I'd consider moving here. We've met many interesting people already. They include: 1. a woman who ownd an import clothing shop her in town. She told us about here trips to Thailand. 2. the owner of the local art gallery 3. a homeless Native American man who wandered into our ministry in the park and started playing with our toys. We let him join in with our games. 4. A paleontology student named Will from the U of Alberta. He's here working as an interpreter at the Mammoth dig site. He actually is the reason I discovered this wonderful world of blogs 5.The pastor and her husband at the little church in Edgemont. Both retired from the police force in Dallas Texas
This is only our second day here. Who knows what adventures are in store?!
We'll see.