Well...I got married!

If anyone ever reads this, I don't want to end my blog with a lame post about accents.

So.

I'll end my Chicago virtual journal by saying that that semester was the best school semester of my life. I met new friends, had new experiences, (hair modelling, art galleries, Wicked the musical, apartment beer pong, being turned away at a bar, and much more) and accomplished everything I strived to do while still keeping in shape and having fun. hah.

I loved it, and I recommend anyone from the wee college of Dordt to attend that Chicago Semester program.

What causes accents?

Sharon, at work, has THE HEAVIEST Chicago/Midwest accent I've ever heard.
One thing you can't tell by writing is an accent, but I'll try to spell out how Sharon says certain words:
Patsy..."Payatsee"
MassMutual..."MayassMutual"
It's different than a Minnesota accent, because it's not spoken as quickly and not as cutely put together as the Minnesota "park the car" accent. Sharon's is kind of wild and spoken slowly and on purpose so that we can understand each word she says. Maybe a little bit of New York thrown into the Chicago accent.

On the other hand there's a woman who just started here from Wisconsin who doesn't speak much differently than I do. Is it up to each person individually how much they take on the accent??

Lisa, the woman in the cubicle beside mine, is an obvious east coaster...she sounds like the Italians (Sicilians) in the Godfather. She sounds directly from New York. I love listening to her talk, especially if she's going on and on about something or someone and throws a few curse words in. :) Like Rosie O'Donnell with a whinier voice.

Speaking of whiny voices...I've noticed that canadian woman have lower fuller voices than many mid-western people. I don't know what it is...maybe it's that a lot the midwestern girls I've been around have been surrounded by girls who are "blonde" and stupid and they like to be bubbly and prissy? I know that's totally dissing midwestern girls, but I've noticed that the words "like" and "you know" and "not gonna lie" come out of their mouths WAY too much. I don't mean to offend any girls, but I do try to stay away from a high whiny voice and especially filling my language with the words "like" and "you know."

Added later: Okay, this is not to say that ALL midwestern girls are whiny and stupid! And I know there are stupid whiny canadian girls, too! my roommates from the midwest are an amazing exeption to this "like, you know" rule. Lynae you're very intelligent and don't have a high voice. Your voice is very womanly and voluptuous and you DEFINITELY do not fit my typical stereotype. I am serious, and I'm sorry if I've offended you! I'm proud to be your roommate and hope your awesome personality and good qualities will rub off on me!

Some thoughts today

I think I write a blog because I don't have anyone to talk to during the day. I found myself just writing down (on my Subway receipt over lunch) things that I could mention on my blog today.

-Hairy backs aren't just a problem for guys. I found that out today after walking behind a woman with darker hair on her back.
-I saw over half a dozen guys in pink shirts today. And you've gotta be pretty set in your manliness to wear a pink shirt and still look like a guy. They all pulled it off well though.
-honking taxis...does the driver start that career being impatient or do they just become that way with so many days of driving in the city?
-for the first time in my life, I saw a guy today answer his cell phone as he was riding his bike through the stop light. picture that.
-does the polluted city air hurt the unborn child of a pregnant woman?
-are pigeons in other cities this daring?
-there is a lot of black in the city..buildings, but a co-worker of mine ALWAYS wears black. I haven't asked her why, but she openly admits that she always wears it.

What's so different about this semester compared to ANY other school semester? I'm going through daily actions nearly the same..basically the same as a summer job, but I'm THINKING about everything...it's weird. I find myself really thinking through a lot that goes on in the office, around the city, on the train, etc. Will I be struck with this weird thinking pattern forever?!? Is it a part of experience? Growing up? Becoming more educated?

Buckingham Fountain

Picture 1: Pam and Ang by the fountain
2: fountain
3: Me and Hyson, the cheerful man in a wheelchair who greets us about every other day. SUCH a friendly man. I bet he makes more in a day that I would. Such a stud!
4: the view from the congress bridge on our way to the fountain

Wednesday and Thursday, May 3 &4

Wednesday and Thursday was basically one day for me...because I was up for 26 hours straight. I went to a class, the took a nap on the couch and went to the next class. I went shopping at the Sports Authority then walked home and crashed on the couch, no, died on the couch.
I slept for 17, yes 17 hours straight!
What a sleep!

Art Hates Me. "I give and I give..." that's the reason I was up so long.
I had changed my mind SO many times as to what I should do for my project, and I finally decided, with Chris' help at 2:30 on Wednesday morning...he and I went to Jewel and picked up a cake mix and some sweet icing. I would decorate a cake in the design of a clock and put the different things that depended on time in the places of the numbers. It ended up to be kinda cute, but I'm glad it's done. No pictures of it. Sorry! It wasn't worth taking pictures...because it made me too mad!

So God woke me up this morning at 7:30. I felt refreshed and energized...more than I EVER had in the morning this semester!

Tonight the girls and I went to Buckingham fountain where there was supposed to be a light and music show in the fountain. We went all the way there and took amazing pictures, but no music show. The red light in the fountain was beautiful though.

Now, one more paper to support my art project and I'm finished.

Tuesday, May 2

Interesting morning... I had planned and even set my alarm so that I'd wake up at 6:45am to go to the gym and lift, but I guess I reset the alarm subconsiously and didn't get out of bed until Pammy woke me up at 8:15! Oops.

When I stepped off the train at Monroe, I noticed that it was a little busier than usual on the corner. Then I noticed the police cars, the yellow "Police do not cross tape", and a chunk of the jewelry store across the street missing! I asked what happened and a man said that the white van (parked half on the sidewalk and half on the street about 100m away) had driven onto the sidewalk and HIT A WOMAN!) It also broke off some of the marble wall of the store. Maybe the person was drunk, we don't know yet.
I stood on the corner long enough to see almost every news crew in the city, hear helicopters flying around us, and watch a few people get interviewed...WHAT EXCITEMENT!

ALL of my pants, other than jeans, are in my laundry bag..time for skirts.
So I'm wearing nylons today. I don't know if it's an office policy, I just assumed that women had to wear nylons so I have been. I saw someone without them today...hmmm...
Anyone who has ever worn tights or nylons knows the horrible feeling of the crotch slowly creeping down one's legs. Ooooh that's why I'd rather go without and just bear the hairy legs. I mean, it's the city..who really cares about Janelle's legs?!?

Today was wonderful. I finished a little project at work and we HAD A MEETING! I love meetings, especially when they feed us. We had a whole staff meeting for an hour this morning and oh wow, there was fresh fruit, juice, bagels, muffins, even scrambled egg wraps provided. That, and the accident on State and Monroe this morning and Subway for lunch nearly complete my LIFE! (I say nearly because I haven't been at the Oprah show yet!)

:) We have another meeting tomorrow :)
Supper at our Practicum group leader's house tonight :)

Tonights agenda:
-Final Arts project :(
-research paper on my arts project :(
-paper on Work :(
-It might just be an all-nighter folks! *Send coffee*

Willow Creek weekend

Friday: had a bad headache, which is weird for me because I never get headaches! I guess I was still recovering from Wednesday when I functioned on three and a half hours of sleep. Wednesday night after the Greek party I went to bed. I did get the 10 page paper done. So I
called Kristin and said I’d be in later…I slept until around 1:30 and then went to work at 2. I did get nearly everything finished for Friday that I had to, and I left the office at the regular time.

Friday night Jeff Navis had a party at Howl at the Moon, a piano bar on Hubbard Street. I met Kate at her last day at work at the Cultural Center. She had to stay late and make an appearance at a gallery display. Wine and cheese and horderves with the rich members of the cultural center and the Grant park community. So we made an appearance, met a few collegues of Kates and then took the train over to Howl at the Moon.

As much as I tried to be honest, not borrowing someone else’s ID and pretending to be them, I decided to just talk to the doorman and try to let him in under the agreement that I wouldn’t drink. I told him he could even put a black X on my forehead to make sure no one gave me a drink, but he said “It’s not gonna happen.”

Still not an adult yet.

I realized that what I really don’t like, what brings me to tears, is NOT being able to do something. Not being allowed and just not able, but really not being allowed to do something. I felt really left out that night. I went home with a few tears. Usually, if there’s a way, I’ll do it. This time there was a way, but there was no one around to help me get in.

I know I’m going to Sioux Center this summer. I don’t really care how much it costs…I need to go to see my friends and hang out with them.

Saturday

I had to be basically at the Midway orange line stop by 7:45, and that meant getting up very early to count ballots in a Teamsters election. To sum it up, the Teamsters are a Union of people from hospitals to truck drivers and this election was to pick people to go to a national convention or something like that. But it was a huge deal. We were basically picked apart and hovered over while we counted ballots. The counting was a very detailed process. We had to alphabetize and alphabetize by number , then go through the names and check off on a list (that's when the people hovering could challenge a ballot because they thought the person never received the ballot) and then open the envelope to reveal the secret ballot, then go through and tally each name or group voted for. It definitely took the 7 hours! THIS WAS AWESOME BECAUSE WE GOT PAID!!! Saturday night I met with Dave to head west to the beautiful suburbs for the night. Dave's got some family friends in Elmhurst that we stayed with...slept in a queen sized bed, ate meat and fresh fruit, etc, etc. It was wonderful to get away for a bit and see how nice the suburbs are. Green grass, lots of space. I'd love to live there.

Sunday morning Dave and I took his white 96 Jetta to Willow Creek Community Church. When we drove past it looked like a college or hospital campus. HUGE. It was probably as big or bigger than the Pine Center Mall in Prince George. The auditorium holds 10 THOUSAND people, and it was about 3/4ths full at the 11:00 service. We walked in after trekking the parking lot and heard the most amazing music. I had to know what it was: an E.S. Posthumus compilation called Nara. I downloaded it right away. It's a song that you turn all the lights off in your house, sit on the couch and close your eyes to listen to. It's awesome.
We had the pleasure of listening to a special speaker, Lee Strobel, author of Case for Christ and other bestsellers explain and shoot down those people who take the Davinci Code as truth. He sure did his research!

After the service, Dave and I walked around the church a little bit. Dave's friend was right, you CAN spend a whole day in that place...there were coffeeshops, bookstores, more than three auditoriums, wonderful children's outreach programs, and even more than I ever expected in a church!

We arrived home later in the evening in the pouring rain and I tried to do some homework.

From the other Janelle...

I borrowed this post from Janelle van der hoek about our apartment building. Our experience is exactly the same. We're three floors down from these girls in the same layout room!

...and then there was the apartment...

For those who haven't experienced the wonders of Canterbury...you should. Living in a one bedroom apartment, three girls, and it is still $400 a month for rent...and yes, that is for each of us...not in total. I didn't think it was too bad when we looked at it the first couple days in coming here and so we signed all the needed documents and started moving in on Saturday...a very long time ago.

That is when the adventures began: my roommates found a dead cock roach in a cabinet, we found out that for some reason the water comes out of our kitchen sink very cloudy and almost white so we went to the store and bought a brita filter, that same water doesn't get very hot (which is not good for washing dishes), but for some reason or another...when taking a shower you may (or may not) get scalded by our possessed water spout in the bathtub. I am lucky not to have been the first one to experience this, so my first time wasn't all that bad - I didn't get burned too bad and I tried jumping out of the way of the water. Now, of course, I am a pro at it...as anyone will be after three months of experiencing this. At first I was always tense, would barely go under the water...but one just has to learn not to put the water too hot - in fact just keep it warm so that when it does give the sudden burst of hot water...it won't scald you too bad. And of course...there are the seconds, only moments before it gets hot where it warns you...the water will suddenly lose its power (for just a brief, very short second...just enough time to run to the opposite side of the bath)...and then it comes with full force and is boiling hot.Then there is the toilet. People have a good laugh when they first come over because it is a toilet that one would normally see in a bathroom stall somewhere at a college or a restaurant or something...but in an apartment? I thought the same thing too when we went to our hotel and it had the same type of toilet - I guess it is just a Chicago thing...who knows. And as a couple friends who came over (you know who you are) they said "you could flush anything down that toilet!" Even though it looks like a toilet you will see in a bathroom stall somewhere, it still has the same power of one of those.Not in our room, but in my friend's studio apartment, they have two beds...murphpy in fact...yes, for those of you who don't know what those are, they are the ones you pull out of the wall and can fold them back into the wall if needed.

And who could ever forget the great moments we had with the cable guy - can I just say he was very strange and could possibly have multiple personalities because everytime we would call he would have a different accent and sound completely different than the time before. Go Comcast! (I can't forget how he tried to rip everyone off by saying that we all need HBO)

So those are just some of the few great things that Canterbury has to offer. I don't want to frighten anyone from going there though...it is a great place to live and I would definitely recommend to live here rather than somewhere else. It has a great community with a wonderful night life around and many opportunities nearby to have a great time and enjoy Chicago! The pictures down below can speak for themselves...but I will describe them too :). Our living room, our bedroom, me in the shower...and yes...the toilet. All I can say to sum up my memories of it...oh Canterbury...

Monday, May 1

I had a wonderful weekend. I'll tell you about it a little later..probably over my lunch break!

My pet peeves (version 2.0):
-Nickleback
-Keisha Cole song "Love"
-pee on the toilet seat
-dirty men on the train
-a warm office--too warm
-snoring
-grumpy people who take it out on others


Today is a dreary Monday..no sun/no rain/no sky!
But I got a full 8 hours of sleep last night and I'm in a good mood.

Countdown to end of work: 3.75 days
Countdown to Smithers: 6.75 days

:)