I'm sure you all know how stubborn I am. And how I always have to be right. But, I wasn't. Bellingham isn't rainy and terrible. All of you (literally, everyone who I told I was moving here) who said "Oh, its just beautiful. You're going to loooove it!" Well, you were right. It IS beautiful. I DO love it! I haven't had too much time to explore downtown and surrounding areas, but thus far, what I've seen is gorgeous and I'm really thrilled to be living in such a cool place! For those that have never been to the NW, I think it most easily compares to Asheville. It's like living in Asheville if it were next to Canada instead of Tennessee. Its cool, there is water and there are mountains - what more could you ask for, right? Let's see if I'm still saying that in the middle of winter, when its 40 degrees colder and is only light outside from 8-4:30. But for now, it is glorious.

My PSO (pre-service orientation) was good and bad. it didn't need to be anywhere close to 3 days long, but I learned a lot about what it means to be a VISTA (Volunteers In Service to America) as opposed to the other types of Americorps programs. I'll soon (hopefully today, if I can get by behind out of the house) be learning about what it means to be a VISTA at my school. I'm super excited about what kinds of work I'll be doing (Thank you, Foust!) - mostly grant writing and soliciting funds, connecting the school with the outside community in a sustainable partnership, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, and maybe some other special projects (I'm really interested in getting computers and reading programs into all the classrooms... we'll see if that could actually happen) depending on time and expectations. But this is so right up my alley - It'll be really really challenging, particularly because I'm generally so results-oriented and the likelihood of seeing anything come of my efforts is really small. At least while I'm there. BUT: I do get to leave a legacy for the next VISTA at that school. I'm going to try and leave a notebook with contacts and spreadsheets, etc. with all the work I've done so they don't have to start from scratch, and they'll have a better idea of what has been going on with the school. I'm a first year VISTA at this school so I get no help. But, that is OK with me.

Today, I've got to go to the bank and set up an account so that I can get paid!