A New Year

It has been a long time since I've updated my blog and I am hoping that this coming year I will be better at posting more often. Once I am back home (this evening) I hope to post what I've been doing since my last post, last May. More to come soon....

What I've been up to in Macomb...

Hello all. Here a some pictures of what I've been doing here in Macomb during this past semester. I have been working at the local hospital, McDonough District Hospital, and have been loving doing screenings and health education in the community.

This is a shot of the yearly Agricultural Fair at Western Illinois University....

My co-worker Kelly and I were in charge of sun damage screenings and took pictures with a special camera for anyone who wanted it done - it showed all the damage to their faces over the years - was very informative and a little bit scary to see what the sun has been doing to all these farmers over the years...

These are my partners in crime - the three health educators that I work with at the hospital, Sharon, Kelly and Diane - we headed up the annual Farm Safety Day for the kids in the 4th grade for the local school district - 12 classes came and there were about 10 stations for the kids to go to. They learned about safety issues regarding farm equipment, farm animals, sun damage, poison safety, water safety and electrical safety - it was fascinating!

Kelly and I went and taught 6 1st grade classes about poison safety at the local elementary school here in Macomb. We talked about poisons, then showed them a cute video and taught them a song - it was great fun to be with the little ones.

We also had help from some othe WIU grad students who are getting their degrees in PE/Health Education - it was fun all around.

Weekend happenings...

Hello all here are a few shots from the past couple of days.....

This is the alter in the Armenian church St. Gregory's in Chicago. I was asked to be a guest speaker at their Saintly Women's Day and attended the Lenten Mass beforehand. I spoke about my Peace Corps experience in Armenia with about 60 Armenian-American women/men. It was a wonderful experience and I know that they all loved hearing about their homeland.

I then spent the next two days wandering around Chicago - I love that city!!! Earlier on Saturday the city had it's annual St. Patrick's Day parade and they dyed the river green!

I went and sat on the pier along Lake Michigan and watched these sailboats practice manuveurs on the lake - it was a beautiful day!

Today I went and leased this little beauty from a Toyota dealership in Quincy, IL. It's a Rav 4 and it's amazing!!!!!



Life is good - lots of school work and regular work, but I am enjoying myself and can't believe that it is spring break already - the semester is half over! Miss you all....lots of love.....

Weekend in Chicago!!!

I spent last weekend in Chicago visiting with former Peace Corps friends...it was wonderful....here are a few shots from my trip....

I had to stop in the American Girl Doll flagship store for my mom and neices - they would have loved it...

Here I am by the Kit doll - my mom and Maren have this doll.....

This shot is from Navy Pier

I met up with my site-mate and good friend, Austin, and her two friends - we had breakfast at Ann Suther's - a great Swedish restaurant

The reason for the weekend was because one of our Program Managers from Armenia, Stepan, was visiting the U.S. for the first time! Eloise and David came in from Seattle and we had an authentic Armenian Khorovats!!! So great to see so many good friends and to eat good food!!

Austin, Stepan and I

Eloise, Stepan, David, Austin and I - all former Armenia Peace Corps volunteers!

Eloise, Austin and I

We then headed over to an Armenian party - all the Armenians from the Chicago area were there and we met up with my friend Father Aren, who used to live in Gavar with Austin and I

It was a wonderful weekend, I love Chicago and my friends.....

Winter Wonderland

This is what I woke up to this morning.....we have been having snow flurries since Friday, but it seems that we are in for some accumulation today....campus is on snow advisory alert and I envision that my evening class will be canceled. I have plenty to keep me busy though, lots of stuff to read and plenty of projects to work on.....oh the joys of living in the mid-west - I HATE SNOW!!!

the madness has begun....

Here are a couple of pics of my living room - since it is so small I decided to go with a chair and ottoman instead of a loveseat - it's perfect!

School has begun and I am so happy here in Macomb. I am taking 15 credits and I am doing more reading than I have ever done - it's crazy!!! My teachers are great, most of my classes are small and the other students in my field are wonderful. It's great all around.

I have also begun working at the McDonough District Hospital for my graduate assistantship. I am working in the Staff Development/Outreach Education department. It is a great group of people who go out into the community and offer blood/glucose screenings, sun damage screenings, prostate cancer screenings, breast cancer awareness and farm safety, to name a few. I am looking forward to assisting them with these interventions and hopefully running a couple of my own at some point in the future.

Life is good!!!

GRAD SCHOOL!!!!

Here are some shots of my new digs in Macomb, Illinois...

My apartment building - I am on the top left.

The joys of living in the US

I don't have a couch yet, so I am improvising....see, I did learn something from my PC service...

Kitchen and Living Room are connected and SMALL - so not getting a table/chairs....

Note the adorable quilt on my bed - made by ME!!!!

Note the Armenian alphabet hanging on the wall - one my treasures from my PC service

Life is good here. I arrived safely on Thursday afternoon and have been busy running around in my rental car picking up stuff for the apartment. Went to a Graduate student orientation on Friday afternoon and am so excited to start up classes. Oh wait, my classes have already started, as I'm taking one class online and it began two weeks ago. I head in to the PC Fellows office on Tuesday morning for an orientation there and then on Wednesday morning I head over to McDonough County Hospital for a meet and greet as they are my potential graduate assistanship site.

For those who can't remember, or don't know, my degree will be in Health Education, with an emphasis in Community Outreach. Once completed I hope to work/run an Education/Outreach program for a hospital or county. I am thrilled for this opportunity to go back to school and to learn new things. Life is good!!!