First Day of Classes

Today was my first day of summer classes. This term is going to be very busy, but I think it will be interesting, at least. I am debating about dropping my "fun" class. It is at a rather inconvenient time. The only other time I can take it is Friday nights. I switched, but we shall see what happens. Having it on Tuesday night just isn't an option because I am going to be having a lot of homework due on Wednesdays.
Things have been pretty uneventful other than starting classes. Oh, I went to class today thinking that I wouldn't know anyone. In my first class, Russian grammar, I was surprised to see Jeff! Not only do I know Jeff, but he was in Jerusalem at the same time as me and we had a class together last fall. It seems I can't get away with having classes with him.
Then in my next class I was surprised to see Sandra! She served in my mission. She was starting her mission just as I was finishing it, but we kind of served together for a few days. I guess I know more people here than I thought!

I'm back . . . again

Well, I went to North Dakota again. This time I took the bus. It was horrible. I left Friday night and didn't get to Bismarck until Sunday morning. That is because I had a 9 hour layover in Butte. The other thing that was annoying was that every single guy there seemed to think it was not only his right, but his duty to talk to me. Most of the time it was just kind of funny, but there were a couple of guys that creeped me out. On my first bus, there was a guy who was drunk (I could smell the alcohol on him, though it took me a while to remember that smell from my experiences with drunk Russians) and said some crazy things. He told me that not only was the owner of Levi Strauss on our bus, but so was the younger sister of Willie Nelson and the oldest daughter of Dick Cheney. I've never traveled with so many important people before!
In Butte, I spent a lot of time reading (I read a lot the entire trip) and went across the street to a grocery store when I ran out of food that I brought with me. I was relieved when my new bus finally came. It was a long drive, but at least we didn't have too long of stops anywhere. After it wasn't as crowded, it wasn't bad either. We had a stop in Billings where we switched buses, but that was about it.
Sunday, I went to church after a short nap. It was weird because they are meeting in a different building while our building is renovated. It was nice to see people, though.
Monday, the first thing I did was renew my license. I didn't want to risk forgetting to do that! The new North Dakota license is weird. I'd show you what it looked like, but I don't want you to be able to figure out my personal information. That night, I had to pick up my brother's car from the shop (my dad took it in so that it would be road-worthy) and then Erin and I hung out. We went to see a movie. It was the new Adam Sandler movie, the Zohan or whatever. It wasn't what I expected. It was interesting because there were a lot of references to Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but it was a lot dirtier than I've become accustomed to with Adam Sandler. He's been doing better movies lately, but this one was horrible. There were some funny lines, but I wish I hadn't wasted my money. Oh well, it was nice to hang out with Erin.
The next day, Tuesday, I went to visit Erin's kids. It makes me feel good that they still love me. Later that night, Sara and I left for Utah. I wanted to get back down here to have a good night's sleep before work this morning. I made it! We got in around 4 pm, I dropped Sara off and helped unload her stuff, talked with Linda (my aunt) for a bit. She's having a rough time right now because she has to go through Chemotherapy. But, I was surprised at how well she is handling it. Then again, she is that kind of person. She always seems to roll with the punches.

New apartment!

I moved into a new apartment yesterday. It is nice to be closer to campus and not have to commute. So far I have one roommate. Her name is Lisa. I was really surprised when I came home last night. I discovered that she is dating Preston, an Elder who not only served in my mission, but was in my district in the MTC! It is really weird. I guess I'll see a lot of him. That's ok, he's a good kid, so I don't mind at all.
Oh, I also started a new job yesterday. I'm not sure how long it will last. The pay scale isn't exactly as was explained to me. I do phone surveys. We call about products that people have used and do surveys. I thought at first that it would be horrible, but last night I did alright. We will see. I will at least give it a couple of weeks.

Long Weekend

First I wanted to say, "Congratulations!" to my sister, Sara. She graduated from Bismarck High School on Sunday. I had a long weekend driving to North Dakota for her graduation. On my way, I stopped in Idaho to visit Megan (a friend from my Jerusalem days). I was also able to go to the Idaho Falls Temple. It is beautiful, like always. I spent the night at Megan's house and it was nice to see her after so long. She wants me to come visit again, and I hope to be able to later this summer. We shall see.
After leaving Idaho, I was just over the border into Montana when my car started acting funny. It started loosing speed. I pulled over, but realized that I wasn't anywhere where I could get help. I didn't even have service on my phone! So, I got back on to the highway. This time, my car seemed to be working fine for several miles. I thought it had just been a strange fluke, but once again, my car started having trouble. What was I going to do? I was literally in the middle of nowhere! I debated for a while, and finally decided to pull over at the next stop that had services. When I exited the interstate and came to a stop, my car died. I then had a hard time getting my car to start. I called Heather (one of my best friends) unsure of who else to call. She called her mechanic and I think also talked to Mike, her husband. Then she told me to buy fuel injector cleaner and top off my car with gas. I did that and headed back out on to the road. I still had a little trouble, but after awhile, I guess after the cleaner got through the gas line, my car started running like usual. It was such a relief! I was worried that something major was wrong! After all, my car is older than I am. But luckily, it is just as healthy, if not healthier.
I had already planned to stop in Sidney, Montana to visit Heather, but because of the car trouble, leaving later than I had planned, and a 20 min nap, I didn't get to Sidney until really late.
The next day, Heather and I had fun together. Heather had taken the day off of work so that she could hang out with me. We got manicures (that was great!) and then drove to Williston for lunch and a little shopping. We were going to take Heather's uncle's car, but we couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition. It was really strange. No big deal, we just took my car. We had a lot of fun, and it was nice to just hang out. I hadn't seen Heather since I met her in Glendive on my way down to Utah before leaving for Jerusalem.
The next morning, I left for Bismarck. When I arrived, I didn't have much time to relax because Elizabeth, Sara, and I had planned to go see a movie together. We did that. Later we went to an Italian Gelato shop in the mall. That was really tasty.
My dad had asked me if I wanted to take my brother's car back down to Utah. He said that they didn't need to have two vehicles since his wife doesn't drive. I didn't really want to give up my car, because I love it so much, but otherwise my dad was going to get rid of my brother's car, and I didn't want that either. So, I decided that later this summer I will come back to Bismarck (by bus or something) to drive that car down to Utah. After all, Sara is coming down and she will eventually get her license. It would be nice for her to have a car to drive.
Anyway, Sunday we had church and after church I went to visit Erin. I didn't have much time before Sara's graduation, but what can you do? I hadn't really thought of that factor when I figured out how much time I had in Bismarck.
Sara's graduation was different than any other I've been to. They actually had two lines for graduation so that two people graduated at a time! It made it go quicker, but it made it hard to see the graduates. Sara was on the wrong side, so we didn't even see her face when she graduated. Oh well, she hardly looked up when she was sitting, either. Perhaps she was embarrassed to be graduating.
The next morning, yesterday, was Memorial Day. We got up early to go to the cemetery. We didn't take flowers, but that is ok. I hadn't yet seen my mother's headstone. Sara almost didn't come with us, but she decided to at the last minute. Elizabeth, Sara, and I spent a few minutes there at both my mother's and my brother's grave. Then we headed back. Lizzy and I needed to leave so I could be back in Utah in time for work this morning.
It was a long drive. I didn't have too much trouble staying awake, so that was nice. I didn't even have to stop for a nap! We even made it back to Utah in time for me to sleep for a couple of hours before coming to work. That was nice. But, I'm sure I'll be tired for a few more days.
So, I totally spaced the fact that my license expires this year. I have to go back to ND before my birthday to renew my license! If I would have realized, I would have planned time to renew my license while I was there. That means I have to leave in a couple of weeks to go back and make the drive again! This time, Sara will be coming with me.

-I will post pictures as soon as I can. I've waited to post this until I could add the pictures, but it's now been over a month and I haven't found time, so sorry about that.

Here I am

So, I guess you've all figured out that I am back by now. Not much has been going on. I've been working, resting, reading, hanging out, and getting ready to go back to Bismarck for my youngest sister's graduation on May 25. I'll be heading out next week, stopping to visit friends along the way before getting to Bismarck on the Saturday before. I'll be getting my stuff, but the main reason will be to see Sara graduate. Then I'll be heading back down to Utah and possibly to Provo to an apartment that I have found. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I am hoping to figure it out before I leave.
Anyway, that is about all the news. I probably will not be writing as often for awhile since exciting things don't really seem to be happening. One thing, my dad's sister was diagnosed with breast cancer just before I got back from Jerusalem. She had surgery and is cancer free as far as they know, but has to have radiation therapy and chemo as well to be on the safe side. We are all very hopeful because it was found early.