Oh yeah, I have a blog....

So in honor of the one month anniversary of my arrival(and to get people to stop asking when I'm gonna update this), I decided to give you all an update on what has happened since I got here. I am currently stay with a lovely family with three boys all under the age of ten. It is insane here all the time. For those of you who don't know me, I'm not particularly fond of children and had almost no association with them back in Santa Cruz. For those of you already knew this, I'm sure you are finding this hilarious. There is a student at UNC Greensboro who lives in their basement apartment. His name is Logan and he is a awesome guy. He's been a great friend to me and has been showing me around and introducing me to people.

He attends a bible study comprised of music majors at UNCG and has gotten me involved there. They are a great group of people. The man who helped me get setup here is a pastor and I have been attending his church for the past few weeks. He is a really cool guy and his church is full of very kind and caring people. They had been expecting me for sometime and have welcomed me with open arms. One of the members of the church is lending me one of their cars until I can afford to buy one, which I hope will be soon.

My first week here I applied for a few jobs, but no one really took noticed. Then on my first friday here, I applied at a store in the mall called Brookstone. I had never heard of it before, but apparently they're quite popular. Anyways, I applied there and had an interview like 10 minutes later. They were very pleased and said they would let me know. Monday morning I was driving back to the mall to apply at more places when they called and offered me a job. Not wanting to picky and continue the job search for possibly several weeks, I accepted the position as a sales associate/stock person. It has been very challenging there. Instead of just working the register, I actually have to be out on the floor and get people interested in our products. I have to greet everyone who comes in and also give demos on our massage chairs. I really don't care for it. I don't like pushy salesmen when I'm shopping and really don't like being one to others. The best days are when I'm just in the stockroom, dealing with boxes. I'm already looking for something else. The really sucky part is that I probably wont get any time off at Christmas and won't be able to see my family. I really hope I can find something that isnt holiday dependant like this.

So far this place has been pretty cool. The people are nice and there are trees everywhere. It's beautiful here. Getting around has proven a challenge as my whole sense of direction is based on my proximity to the ocean. Also, the streets here actually change names at random intesections. You can drive straight through an intersection and somehow be on a different street. And because of this, there are intersections where you can turn left onto one street and turn right onto another street. It is very confusing and extremely irritating. But there is also way more stuff here. The place is littered with restaraunts.

I have been holding up alright. I've been able to combat the homesickness pretty well. Keeping busy helps. But last Sunday was pretty rough. It was the first time that I felt lonely since I got here. It sucked. But then I went to the Waffle House and met a waitress from California. She's been here for about three months. There is also a girl in my bible study from California. It helps knowing there's people from the West Coast out here. Makes it feel like the distance isnt so enormous.

I have also been sick the past two weeks. The family I'm staying with all got a stomache virus. I got a cold and figured I would be safe from it. Wrong. I got both. The stomache virus lasted a couple days and layed me out. I actually had to call in sick on my third day. I came in the next day looking like death. I was really pale and my eyes were all black. I had to be a confident, trustworthy salesman and I looked like a heroine addict. I recovered for a few days but got struck again this past Thursday. Ever since, I have felt clouded. And my voice is seriously warped. I think I may have laryngitis. Did I mention I have to talk to people all day?

I also went to a Halloween party this past Friday. It was great. In honor of this blog I decided to dress up as a hobbit. It was pretty cool. If you havent seen pictures, go check out my Facebook page. They're awesome.

Well, that's pretty much all that's been going on here. I'm looking forward to getting my life in order here and having all kinds of wonderful adventures and collecting stories to tell. I miss all you Santa Cruz people very much, and I hope you are all doing well. And now, you have all been updated. Leave comments. Peace.