Reflections on Tulsa

The picture is completely random, but Mom and Dad are in Hawaii, and I'm kind of wishing I was someplace fun and new again, instead of laying on the couch here at home, trying not to breathe on anyone, because I've caught a cold for the 4 millionth time this year. And that's enough of my rant about that!

This summer I've been wanting to do a blog of things I like/dislike about Oklahoma, based on my impressions of the last 4 months. I'll probably go back eventually and do one for Provo, Sacramento, and Rexburg, but since we're here, well here we go :)



Things I Like About Tulsa:

1. The ward. By far the best ward we've lived in since we got married. We were invited over for dinner twice, which has never happened in any ward before. Even though no one has given either of us an official calling, which is actually kind of sad for me (Todd is too busy to really have a big one anyway), we've been made to feel more useful here than anywhere else. I think people really like feeling needed, regardless of how busy they may otherwise be, and we feel needed in our ward here. Todd has gone on many splits with the missionaries, and we have a pretty good relationship with them. I have been substituting in Primary, and my latest adventure has been babysitting for a few families in the ward. New people every week come up to say hi, and people we sort of know will ask us our names again and re-introduce themselves. In most places, people give up after the first week. We just feel like the members here have been very kind, and it's really fun to feel excited to go to church because we know that people actually care if we're there or not. Generally, I have a hard time getting out of my comfort zone and meeting people, but I have made a bigger effort this summer, and I will be sad to leave Tulsa.

2. The city itself. Yes, it is a city, and so a lot of it is rather ugly, but what city isn't? Todd and I have found some really pretty parts of Tulsa, and we live right on the Arkansas River and close to Jenks and so the area we live in is pretty nice (go a little bit north though and things change quick!) Tulsa is a smaller city, and so it's got everything (almost everything, see #2 below!), but it doesn't take forever to trek there. In addition, rush hour traffic isn't bad at all (It's added maybe 5, 10 minutes on a bad day to my drive). I know it's probably worse in places like Broken Arrow, but we're just grateful it's not Sacramento or D.C.'s rush hour. There are two malls (yay for me) nearby, the library is super awesome (I've worn out my library card practically), and groceries are close as well. Blockbuster, Bank of America, Wendy's, QT (a close equivalent to Wawa for you East Coasters), and Panera are all around the corner. The city has the University of Tulsa and an Oklahoma State satellite here, and so there is a lot of school spirit present, much like Provo and Boise.

3. The weather. Yes, despite the fact that Tulsa gets tornado warnings, the weather here has been pretty close to other places that we've lived. It's hot and humid, but it has been a fairly mild summer. I actually really enjoyed the month and a half of rain and storms because it kept the temps down, and Todd and I could come home from work and just sit at our window and watch the storms together. It hasn't broken 92 degrees yet here, which is a cool summer for us! I don't mind the humidity, although it was an adjustment I had to make after living in the West for so long. However, when you're someone prone to frequent nosebleeds because of the horrible dryness of the air, humidity is heartily welcomed!

And for all the golfers in my family (which should make Uncle Greg, and that's about it), the PGA championship is being held at Southern Hills, right here in Tulsa. Cool, huh?

I'm starting to run out of steam, and so I will continue with my dislikes in another post!

Maybe it's a bit early...

BUT I AM SO EXCITED!

We have a place to live, unlike the cardboard box on the side of the road we thought we might end up in :) We have our new address even, which I won't put on the internet, but these were our first-choice apartments, and they are pretty nice. It will be smaller than our apartment this summer, but it will have all the same stuff, and it's not like we have anything to fill it up with! Our apartments are right in front of this huge park, and there is a free shuttle from the apartments to BSU so I don't have to pay their ridiculous parking fee to park 10 miles away from the education building.

This has been a good week.

The Results are In...

So, finally, FINALLY my Praxis II scores came in for my final two tests of the summer, and...I PASSED!!!! I was so, so worried about it. The Elementary Content Knowledge test was, I thought, ridiculous. The test is far too broad, and I had no idea how to answer questions like what two Eastern European countries were allies against another Eastern Europe superpower in the 1920's (or some mumbo jumo like that)...HUH? Anyway, some how I made it through that test, had a three hour break, during which Todd and I jumped on a trampoline and I tied gift bags for my sister's wedding (yes, the month I studied also happened to be the month I was visiting home. The day I took the test also happened to be the day of Jess' reception. Fun timing.). Then I made the drive back to Salisbury U to take the PLT, which I felt better about since the book I used to study prepared me REALLY well.

Anyway, these two tests were the last of the FIVE I had to take this summer. I also had to take the Praxis I in Math and Writing, which were easier (it was much like the GRE, which I took last year, wow, I've been the testing queen). In addition, I took the Idaho Technology Test (I forget the real name), which I didn't really study for because it's basic knowledge of computers and I basically spend all day on one :)

All this testing occurred because Idaho just changed their requirements for students seeking a second bachelor's degree in elementary education. Thankfully, they made it easier to get the degree (notwithstanding all the testing), but they haven't tweaked their application process, because, as my advisor at Boise Stated told me during my advisement meeting, "You WILL get rejected." However, the rejection will be because I have to apply for both the program AND the professional year at the SAME time, which, of course, is not the normal process. So the plan (developed by my advisor, because it sounds sketchy otherwise) for the summer and fall was to take all five of those tests, apply for the program and my student teaching, get rejected, and then appeal, upon which I will be allowed in. Dumb? Yes, but it's Idaho, so I'm sorry to say I'm not really that surprised. I don't like rejection, but I'm assuming it's more because of red-tape, and I'm glad my advisor was up front with me. Rejection is apparently part of the process, but it won't slow down my getting the degree at all, so I guess I don't mind.

So, all things considered, as long as I pass two more Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Tests (yes, more testing, thank goodness I was born to be a standardized tester) I should get to be a teacher in three semesters (one of them being a student teacher). I'm already nervous and excited, but the substitute teaching in Rigby gave me some great experience (NO NO NO KINDERGARTEN/8th GRADE AND UP EVER EVER EVER) and I'll be looking into subbing in Boise when we move :)

My crock pot is no more, sad, considering what it took to get that thing out here. It was in storage for a year because we got it for our wedding and couldn't bring it home, and Todd literally carried it home with him on the airplane on the flight home from my sister's wedding (He's a nice guy for doing it, he got all kinds of smart remarks from passengers). Anyway, since it's been here we have cooked roast and pork barbecue, both yummy and delicious. Being a non-cooker, it's the perfect thing for me, I love being able to leave the thing on to do the work while I sleep or go to church.

Why is it no more, you say? Sunday morning our pork was done cooking so I had taken it out of the pot to shred the meat for sandwiches. Todd asked if he could help, and being the independent woman I am (ha!), I told him I'd be fine. I needed to save the liquid that was in the crock pot left over, and so I grabbed the crock pot handles and starting pouring into a bowl. However, I carelessly forgot that the crock pot bowl is NOT attached to the part with the handles.

In slow motion, I saw the crock pot bowl start to slip out of its place, and in one fluid moment, it dashed to the floor into a thousand tiny pieces. And I mean a thousand. It was all over the floor. And of course, I, Miss Non-Emotional, began sobbing. And sobbing. Luckily, I have a kind, caring husband, who came over, hugged me, and kept saying, "It's ok, it's ok," as I continued to cry over my broken crock-pot. He got me out of the way, and commenced cleaning up the entire mess while I sat on a chair, trying to get myself together. Luckily, the pork was fine, and we finished it up Sunday afternoon by marinating it on the stove, so our food wasn't ruined. But we will be in the market for a new crock pot, come Boise. I miss my cute, blue, easy-to-use crockpot already.

The entrance to the Oklahoma Aquarium.

Todd standing in front of turtle that was born in the 1880's. The volunteer said they grown at a rate of a pound a year, and so this turtle was around 200 pounds!

Smaller, cuter turtles. I tried to put one in my purse to send Jacob in the mail, but Todd didn't think that was a good idea...

Todd petting a stingray. He didn't want to at first, but I dared him, and Todd never backs down from a dare :)

Then, of course, I had to do it too. Twice actually, because Todd didn't catch it the first time. I didn't really want to do it again, but I also wanted photographic proof. Here it is!

This shark was about to eat us. Just kidding, they don't let sharks run rampant at the aquarium. However, they do have a shark tunnel, and this shark was swimming over our heads. Our pictures didn't really do the shark tunnel justice, but it was really cool.

Some kind person took a picture of both of us in the aquarium. I think my favorite animal was the octopus, which I didn't take a picture of because it was hiding, but I could see its HUGE EYE! It was SO creepy. And then we read than an octopus has an eye similar to a human eye. It was almost too weird for me. I had this strange fascination with it and kept dragging Todd back to look at it.

Todd at the Riverwalk. There is a picture thats of the both of us, but this lady decided to walk through it at the very end, so I need to crop her out before I can post it.

Todd and I before the fireworks. We didn't get any good pictures of the fireworks, but they were very well done. We had a really fun time, and it was nice of Todd to indulge me with this!

Anyway, it was nice to get the day off, we went to Johnny Carino's and had some calimari and nachos, and started watching the Christopher Reeves version of Superman (I have to catch up on all the "boy" movies I missed out on because I was watching The Little Mermaid). We love you all, we hope you had a great fourth!

To be continued...

Just wanted to let you know 4th of July pictures are coming, we got some fun ones at the Aquarium. That, and it's sunny! WOW! Of course, yesterday it started out sunny, and I ended up watching more rain fall in 20 minutes than I've even seen yet. So we'll see :)

Megan