My night's amusement

After room check, one of my RAs told me she was missing a girl from her hall. I investigated and found that she had been checked by another RA. I went to tell the girl she needed to return to her room because on weeknights, they are not allowed to be outside their rooms after check. After returning downstairs, I realized that I had forgotten to ask an RA something, so I headed back up. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I see the girl, whose room I had found the missing girl in, headed down the hall. As soon as she saw me, she turned around and walked back to her room. Noticing this suspicious behavior, I continued on my mission. After talking to the RA and telling her to keep an ear out for her hall, I decided to sit at the corner between the two halls, where there is a lounge area, and wait. After about 10 minutes of playing solitaire, I was rewarded with an appearance by the suspicious girl, who say me, jumped and squeeked, and ran down the hall saying "Just a minute!" I waited patiently until she returned at which time she tried to say I needed to go to bed and I informed her that, "Yes and so do you." It was an all-around amusing episode that I'm hoping will scare them into their rooms, at least for tonight.

Silly Things

So far as I can remember, 2 silly things have happened since I arrived. The first happened on Sabbath in the church. The church members lined up to shake our hands and greet everyone. One of the women was guessing which grade each student was in, and when I got to her, she guessed that I was a junior. I got to be amused by seeing her face when I said that, "no, in fact I'm the assistant dean." I found it quite funny.

The second thing happened partially in church and partially the next day at dinner. The church service for the day was a dedication of the staff and students of the Mt. Pisgah and the elementary school. I wasn't even sure that I was supposed to go on stage but when they asked for staff rather than faculty, I decided that that must include me. So, up I went. And because I went, so did the assistant boys dean. As soon as we made it to the stage, Mr. Anderson (Pisgah's principal) said that he'd like to introduce the new deans. We stood right up front to make it easy. Mr. Anderson started with the boys' assistant dean, whose name is Andrew. He is married and his wife is named Jessica. I bet you can see where this is going...

So, as Mr. Anderson is talking about Andrew, all I can think is "Oh shoot! Everyone is going to think I'm married to him. And here I'm standing, about six inches taller than him. Just great!"
I hoped that the announcement of my full name, including Kilgore, would be enough to clear that idea out of people's minds. After the dedication was over, I didn't think about it again.

The next day, as I was leaving the cafeteria and talking to a friend on the way out, one of the kids said, "Did you know that everyone thinks you're married to Dean Andrew?"

The First Week

Well, it's been a long one! I got into Asheville about 6 pm last Sunday, August 16. I went to a shopping center after arriving because my flip-flop had just died and I didn't have any others. After buying a couple pairs at Old Navy and stopping to get some dinner, I headed back to the school. I arrived just before worship and so was able to participate by being introduced and then sharing my favorite Bible verse, which is Romans 8:28. It was a late night for me after my exhausting, but fun, weekend. It was the first night with a full dorm and everyone was pretty quiet, but that sure didn't last.

I work for Dean Becky, who is super sweet and very evidently an elementary school teacher. My RAs are Shawntez, Kristina, Reyna, Anna, and Sarah. They are a unique group of personalities and I'm enjoying getting to know them. I have now met almost all of Mt. Pisgah's faculty and staff. They are all very friendly and welcoming, making sure to tell me that they're glad I'm here. Its been nice to feel appreciated.

All last week, I sort of sat in the office during the day. Girls would come in and out. Some would say hi or wave. Others introduced themselves. Now I've got a pretty good idea of most of their names. It was great when what is called the Names & Faces came out, because now I actually have a way of figuring out their names.

Each evening last week, the school did an evening program called Core Values. The kids met in center campus and played games and learned together how to be a community. It was interesting to watch, but kind of difficult to stand on the outside as a staff member. I went to all but one of them. On Friday night, for Vespers, they did an Agape feast and Communion in the gym. I think it went pretty well except that the gym is really hot and stuffy.

The Drive - Day 4

As I already said, we got out of our scummy motel in Clarksville as soon as possible. Having had even less sleep than the night before, we drove through a Starbucks on our way out of town to get some coffee and breakfast. Because we were only about 6 hours from our destination by this point, we decided to get one last stop of sightseeing in along the way. In about an hour, we arrived in Nashville, TN and made our way to Opryland. We had considered going to the Country Music Hall of Fame, but after discovering that tickets were $20, we agreed on the Grand Ole Opry instead.

We found the place and figured out that it didn't open until 10 am. We took a seat, enjoyed the shade (because yes, it was already hot), and waited for it to open. The first thing to open was the gift shop where we learned that the next tour of the Opry would be at 10:30 and would cost $15. We browsed the shop and then bought our tickets and joined the tour. On the tour, we first got to pose in front of a screen with the Opry microphone stand. At the end of the tour, they had these pictures available for purchase, which was kind of silly since you could take a picture of yourself on the actual stage with the actual stand and background. After that, we entered the Opry itself and watched a video of its history, which was quite fascinating. Once that got over, our tour guide led us to the walk of fame, where all the performers entered the Opry. Next, we saw the post office where members of the Opry (performers) could pick up their fan mail. Then, he showed us a sound stage where several television shows as well as private performances have taken place. After that, we got to visit the dressing rooms, followed by the green room, the backstage area, and then the stage itself. It was rather fabulous. On our way out, there were lots of pictures of the members: from some of the originals to some of the most recent.

After all the fun of the Grand Ole Opry, we continued on HWY 40 across Tennessee. We drove through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park on the eastern edge of TN and crossed into North Carolina, the final destination. When we were just about 20 minutes away, there was a massive buildup of traffic and for awhile, we were at a complete standstill. Then, magically, we started moving and the traffic melted away. I've never seen anything like it. It was like there was an accident ahead, but we never saw a sign of it. After that, we quickly arrived in Candler, the town where the school is located. From the Smokey Park Hwy, which is just minutes from the school, George led us here, there, and everywhere before we finally arrived at Mt. Pisgah. I was afraid I'd never be able to find the place again, but its actually quite simple from the other direction.

And so, we had finally arrived.

Becky, the head dean, came out to meet us and showed me to my apartment. She left us there to settle in and so we very quickly unloaded my car. Its always surprising how fast your whole collection of possessions can be unloaded when it takes forever to load them. I was a little overwhelmed by the apartment. It had lots of cobwebs and strange smells. After unloading the car, we decided to make a quick trip to Target, a place that always makes me feel better. And so, we headed off again. It was a little difficult to find, especially since we missed the exit, but after much effort, we found the ridiculously unmarked Target. After spending more money than I particularly wanted to, we left with a new garbage can and lots of cleaning supplies. We picked up a pizza on our way back to the school and arrived to meet my head RA, Shawntez, who was waiting with my keys. After hearing that worship would be in a few minutes, I retreated to my apartment to eat a slice of pizza. I left Jessica there, while I joined the already present students for worship. I was introduced and immediately forgot all their names. After worship, Becky explained the plan for the weekend. Once I returned to my apartment, I found Jessica scrubbing away at my bathroom, which I thank her dearly for. When I get overwhelmed, I can't even see how much a little cleaning can help. She'd also made my bed, complete with teddy bear, and spruced up the couch with a blanket and a couple of pillows. We watched part of a movie and went to bed.

The Drive - Day 3

Wednesday began nicely. We got up, checked out, and got back on the road. Having paid only $25 for a guestroom in the dorm, we knew we would need to get breakfast elsewhere. I particularly wanted coffee, so as I drove, Jessica attempted to find me some. We were also looking for a bank, so when I noticed that we were reaching the outskirts of town, I turned off at a light so we would have time to figure out where we wanted to go. We saw a bank across the street and went over so that Jessica could withdraw money and then we proceeded to investigate the other building in the lot. We discovered a neat fancy fast food place called (?), where I got an egg and cheese bagel, a caramel coffee drink, and a fruit cup and Jessica got a veggie sandwich, a hot tea, and a fruit cup. It was all very delicious and we were excited to have found such a tasty breakfast.

After getting breakfast, we quickly left Nebraska and made a fast run through the corner of Iowa, and drove into Missouri. Missouri was such a beautiful change from Tuesday's drive through Wyoming. There were lots of trees and lots of lovely green. Missouri also had mile markers every 0.2 miles, which we found highly amusing. So, we drove down the West side of Missouri from Iowa to Kansas City, where we turned and headed East. Along the way, we wanted to see something interesting so when we saw a sign for a Civil War battlefield, we got off the highway. After driving for a few minutes in one direction with no sign of a historical sight, we gave up and went back to the highway. Probably the fact that the name didn't trigger any of our mutually acquired knowledge is why we found it so easy to give up on. Anyway, we drove on and later stopped at a place called Nostalgiaville USA, which we had seen many a billboard for and were obviously drawn in. There's no way I could pass up a place with such a great name and such fascinating billboards. We took an extended break there and perused their fantastic selection of nostalgic items. In the end, I bought a Gone With the Wind magnet, a Dr. Pepper magnet, a Grease poster, and a Casablanca poster. I also bought a VW Bug advertisement poster for Jess. And although she was a bit wary when she first saw the place, Jessica was just as amused as I was. Great fun!

After leaving Nostalgiaville, we continued East towards St. Louis where we planned to stop and see the Arch. Jessica was driving as we arrived at St. Louis and I was able to capture our first view of the arch from the highway. We followed George's directions and ended up on the street that runs parallel with the Arch. We circled it and after deciding that we didn't really want to pay to park, we attempted to get back to the highway. After a missed turn, George decided to die and leave us stranded in downtown St. Louis with out directions. After driving past Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, where tons of red-clad fans were swarming in for the game, we drove in a big square through downtown until we saw a sign for the freeway we wanted. For Jessica's first time driving in a big city, she did very well. After getting out of St. Louis, we stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel, which is an experience I do not foresee repeating. I ordered chicken and dumplings and Jessica ordered the vegetable plate. Both of us were disappointingly surprised by the flavor of pork in every one of our dishes. After attempting to eat what we could, we were happy to set out again.

On the road again, we decided to drive to Tennessee before stopping for the night. After finding a hotel in Clarksville using Priceline.com, I began our drive out of Missouri. We drove through Illinois and discovered that if ever we are together that way again, we'll be needing to stop in Metropolis. It is just on the Illinois side of the Kentucky border and we were sad to be passing by at night. Then, we drove into Kentucky and I proceeded to drive the darkest highway I've ever encountered. I was amazed by the lack of roadside lamps. Once we arrived at Clarksville, Jessica and George led me to a most abysmal motel. It was far off the beaten track and was a dingy, dirty place. After ringing the bell to get our key and remote (yes, remote for the tv) at the office, we proceeded to a supposedly non-smoking room full of dirt and cigarette burns. Being slightly afraid for our health, safety, and safety of my belongings, we brought my most valuable possessions and blankets for sleeping on into the room. We barricaded the door with a chair and our bags, and slept in the cleaner of the two beds on top of one of my blankets and below the other. It was a short and fitful night followed by a quick exit in the morning. We had arrived around midnight and left before 7. We were dreadfully happy to get away!

The Drive - Day 2

Tuesday morning came much too early. Jessica and I got up, ate some free continental breakfast at the hotel, and drove away in search of Target. By this point, (after one whole day of driving) my sunburn was in desperate need of some aloe. I found some in the Super Target, which by the way is an even cooler Target. Who knew it could get cooler?

Then, we set off again. We were out of Utah and into Wyoming pretty quickly and soon got terribly bored by the lack of scenery. Except for a million billboards, Wyoming is monotonous. We saw lots of buttes, billboards, and firework superstores! Very exciting! We also saw about a million signs for Little America, a hotel/reststop in the middle of Wyoming. There was a new sign about every 50 feet! Apparently their advertising worked, 'cause that's where we stopped. There weren't that many places to stop and they had gone to the trouble of advertising their clean bathrooms. Always a plus! Later on in Wyoming, we did see a real-life cowboy herding his cattle with his dog. That almost made Wyoming interesting. One thing I did really like about Wyoming was the consistent speed limit of 75 with a minimum of 40. I found those signs hilarious!

After what seemed liked days (but was only hours), we crossed into Nebraska. We decided that a couple extra hours driving that day would be worth the $25 price for a room at Union. Most of Nebraska was driven through in the dark, which was probably a good thing. We arrived almost on the east coast, Lincoln, at about 2:30 am and checked into our guestroom in the girls' dorm. When we finally had figured out which building and which entrance, we rang the bell and surprise, surprise, one of my high school friends who was working the front desk came and greeted us. It was fun to see Angela, if only for a couple minutes, since I haven't seen her since graduation. We fell into bed, mightily exhausted and rather hot from the Nebraska humidity.

The Drive - Day 1

The cross-country drive began at 12:30 on Monday, August 10. Considering that I had originally planned to leave just after 8, it was a good thing I left an extra day (Thursday) in the schedule. After frantically packing my car, returning my apartment key, and calling my electric company, I was stressed beyond belief. It was about quarter to twelve when I got that all done. Thanks to my great roommate, Natalie, who took care of my part of the cleaning and calmed me down, I left the apartment soon after. I drove into Walla Walla to drop off the last load of items for Goodwill, ordered my last iced nonfat white chocolate mint mocha from Dutch Bros, and got on Hwy 11 towards Milton-Freewater.

After a small breakdown on the phone to my mother (surprise, surprise), I was good to go. I got some lunch on the way out of Milton-Freewater and I was on my way. It was a fairly uneventful 4 hr drive to Boise, where Jessica sat waiting for me at the airport. Once I reached Boise, I was using the maps on my iphone, (hereafter referred to as George), to find the airport. Somehow, instead of arriving at the correct airport, I managed to find myself at the military airport. Realizing that this was definitely not the right place, I attempted to get better instructions from George, who chose that moment to run out of power. As he charged, I decided to head back the way I had come. I saw more airplanes, which led me thankfully in the right direction. Boise Airport is in desperate need of more signs because I found it simply by luck.

Upon finding Jessica and stuffing her belongings into the miniscule amount of space I had left available, we hit the road again. After playing with George for awhile, Jessica decided that we could make it to Ogden, UT before stopping. But first, we stopped in Wendell, ID for some food and a desperate search for aloe vera. (I got a nasty burn during Hannah & Patrick's wedding, having been terribly too busy to think of sunscreen.) We were not successful in our search for aloe, but we did stop at the coolest Subway ever. It had a great deal where you could get 1 of 8 six-inch subs plus chips and a drink for $5. On top of that, they had pizza and ice cream. I didn't partake of either, but it was still pretty nifty.

After the short dinner break, Jessica started to drive and I used George to find a hotel in Ogden. I chose a Super 8 and called to make the reservation. The guy I spoke to attempted to charge me more than the price on the website, but after I asked, he quickly lowered it. Rather odd, but I was definitely glad I'd had the internet. Yay, George! We arrived in Ogden around 11:30 pm and fell right to sleep.