So, I have been 100% awful at updating my blog. To answer some questions about me that you may be having: 1.) Yes, I'm still alive; 2.) Yes, I'm in Montana; 3.) Yes, I will answer the question of what I am doing here.

As I have mentioned before (and I'm mentioning again in case you have forgotten by now), I am working through the AmeriCorps in a division called Montana Conservation Corps (from now on referred to as MCC). It's pretty much exactly as it sounds. I conserve things in Montana. I am still in training right now. I've only got a little tease on using a chainsaw. Most of my training so far has been working with youth since I will be a Youth Crew Leader through MCC. One experience with youth here has been leading field trips at a local state park. The other one has been with the Center for Restorative Youth Justice (CRYJ). Both have been really cool experiences. We have also been building these garden boxes for senior citizens. They are basically 5' by 3' boxes raised up high enough so that the elderly don't have to bend over. They can garden from chairs/wheelchairs. It's actually a really cool thing. Everything we do is based around community service which is pretty cool (also makes sense since we are 'volunteers').

In a couple weeks I'll be training for trail work, chainsaws, fencing, etc. All the technical work basically. It's actually quite exciting. My dad never taught me any of that nor probably wanted me to be working with that. Although, he would send Kari and I out with an ax and shovel so we could dig us a lake. (Then, of course, Kari and I fought, so we both dug our own 'lakes'). It makes me nervouse on how to 'fell' a tree, but it will be cool to learn for sure. Then starting in June, I'll be doing all this training will be good for. I'll be building fences, constructing and maintaining trails, habitat enhancement, watershed restoration, planting trees, etc. All of this for 2 four week straight sessions with youth. It will be the same kids for one four week session and then a different set for the second session. It's definitely going to be a different experience then I've ever had, which is pretty exciting. All good professional development for myself and I get to spend some time in Glacier National Park!

Well, that's all the work aspect of things! I hope you haven't fallen asleep yet. I know I have been asked that question, so I thought it was time to explain. Plus, I didn't really know all what I was doing before I left for Montana. At least training has done something! :)

The people I work with are pretty fun, but only like 1 or 2 of them are actually from Montana. A lot are from the Midwest (go figure!). We also have one from Georgia, and on from Alaska. Some random places. And don't get me wrong when I say this (cause I love hanging out with these people also), but it's really hard to make friends outside of work. That's something I really loved when at Purdue. I had a variety of friends (which guaranteed somebody would want to do something at some point). I had my Triathlon friends (for at least some time), I had my rugby friends, I had my friend(s) from freshman year, I had a friend from since I was a year old, I had my high school friend. I had a good variety. So, I have been trying to create that here. Unfortunately, there is no good community sports for adults to get involved with that I have found. So, what do I do? I try to make something. I have been trying to start a women's rugby team here in Kalispell, but my hope for the team's dying. I had one girl show up once and she was SO excited to get a team going. I contacted the men's team in Kalispell, the women's team in Missoula, and the Montana Rugby Union in general. I placed flyers all around Kalispell. I had the one girl show up once, and there has been nothing else. I've definitely gotten a lot of info, even found a rugby pitch here. With my short period of time here, my hope of a team getting going and lasting after I'm gone has died. I would just be happy having somebody show up to play with, especially on these nice days. Perhaps my next step should be to see if the guys would let me play on their team with them! :)

I've also taken a couple dance classes for the West Coast Swing. The girls do a lot of spinning in that class! A lot of the people there are older married couples that came with other friends, so it makes it difficult to actually make friends.

I got myself a tennis racket and I go serve by myself at the tennis courts here. That's been nice, but nobody comes to play with me randomly (I will give you that one, that was a far fetched hope).

I'm definitely still having a great time here and I will continue to try to make other friends while still having a lot of fun with my work friends. Basically, I have almost found it best to make friends by going to bars with my roommate who is from Georgia cause she seems to know everybody (if you thought I was a social person, meet this girl!) :)

Other things that have been going on:
1.) I actually used my Wilderness First Aid
2.) I had a friend come visit
3.) I have hiked at Glacier and in snow up to my hips
4.) I have snowboarded 3 times here
5.) I have yet to see a moose or a bear

Probably not seeing a bear or moose is a good thing. A little FYI, how you treat grizzly bears is different then black bears. Moose is a whole nother story. I heard the best way if they charge is to run in circles around a tree (apparently their antlers inhibit their mobility around a tree) (Oh, and if a grizzly bear charges, most likely they are bluff charging so you are suppose to stand your ground.) Sounds silly! I'll let you know what happens...if I can...:)

I loved the snowboarding. I loved the hiking. Glacier is just as pretty as the books and people say. My friend's visit was awesome (I DO have friends!)

Are you on the edge of your seat yet? Are you like, "She used her Wilderness First Aid training?!?!" Well, yes, yes I did. I definitely realize what I could have done better...but I wasn't actually in the wilderness at this time. It was actually across the street from my house. Ready?

I was in my room talking with Jenny, my friend in town. We both heard something that didn't quite sound right. I didn't think much of it, but I looked out the window and low and behold, across the street was a wrecked car. I ran out of my room, told my roommates to look out the living room window. Casey called 911. I slipped my shoes on real fast. Sarah told me not to run. I told her I wasn't going to get hit by a car. I saw a bloody person lying by the house about 20 feet from the totalled truck. I still ran to the truck first. Sarah was going towards the bloody guy. I checked to make sure nobody was in the car. The car was smoking and tons of fluid was pouring out the front of the truck. Would that be gasoline? Who really knew, but the car was still on and most definitely smoking. In my mind, that car has the chance of exploding. I went over to the guy. He was conscious, so means he had a heartbeat and was breathing. Check, check, check. Blood covered his hands and his head. He obviously had to have been thrown from the car. Probably through the front windshield when the car rolled over and somehow landed back upright. The guy was moaning and rolling back and forth with his hands by his head. None of us approached him at first. Sarah ran back in to get gloves. Looking back at this situation, the first thing I should have done was introduce myself and explain how I could help and then hold his spine and neck in place. Instead, I did try to see how awake and oriented he was. He obviously had a concussion. He kept looking at his hands and his truck very confusingly and was asking "Why I have all this blood on my hands? What happened to my truck?" He finally gave me his name and age, but he didn't know where he was, if he was driving or if anybody else was in the car. I began to check for other victims just in case they got thrown somewhere else.

The police actually showed up pretty quickly, and this experience with them gave me so much less respect for the cops. The cop approached and his first questions where "Were you drinking? Were you on drugs?" What happened to the "Are you okay? We are here to help you." Or going through an actual medical emergency procedure versus those questions and moving him around to say the huge scratch on his ribs was "only a bruise" and to have him lean over enough so the cop could get the guy's wallet. I know the cop was only "doing his job", but there are some moral values that need to be thought of. If he was drinking or on drugs, that could have been tested at the hospital. It doesn't make him have a less of a right to treatment. Those concerns of the police should not have been the first concern. It's also a very negative way to look at things. But, of course, I did not say anything. Perhaps I should have, but I wasn't ready to take on a policeman. I guess it could have been my one time experience of life behind bars? :)

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what happened to the guy. I'm guessing (and hoping) he's all right. Here's how I think the accident happened:
He was going way too fast and his right tire must have gone off the road some so he overcorrected too much and too fast. This caused him to roll the car. He had no seatbelt on, so he was probably flung through a side window or the windshield.

it was my first time ever responding to an accident where I had to use my WFA, let alone being the first time to ever see an accident first hand without cops and ambulance already being there. Someday it would be nice to get my WFR (Wilderness First Responder)...

On another note, my Peace Corps medical and dental have been cleared. I am healthy and good enough to go to Africa according to the American government. It's all coming together! I still don't know where in Africa, but I have decided to try to learn some Swahili anyways (randomly found a used Swahili learning book at a used book store). I'll go from being surrounded by white people galore in Montana to being surrounded by black people and sticking out like a sore thumb. Sometimes I feel like I always stick out like a sore thumb. To tell you the truth, I kind of like it. It's nice to be different!

Story of my life in Montana in a nutshell so far. I love it here. The mountains are great, people are fun, weather's been pretty good, but it's getting to the point where it's time for me to get out of AMERICA!! :)