Pumpkin Carving Contest

Summer and I carved a pumpkin for a contest and won "most creative"

..although we stayed up till four in the morning to do it, it was worth it : )

Silent Weekend

Silent weekend was something else. I left Goshen around 1 and ended up in Ohio around 8ish. The four of us (all from ASL) found the campsite, almost getting lost. The goal of the weekend: not to talk, but to improve on our signing. We stepped out of the car and from that moment forward we couldn't speak.
When we registered, the lady who helped us was named Nan. She was so expressive when she was signing, I was sure she was deaf (come to find out later that weekend, she definitely wasn't). We each got buttons with our names on them, a paper with questions to ask each other (an icebreaker at most), and a silent weekend pocket knife : )
The hardest part of the weekend?: Putting up the tent, in the dark, communicating with only sign language. Hm. That was rough...and it was freezing cold. We all tried to avoid this problem by leaving early, but our attempts failed.

The next day me and the group of girls I came with decided we would go to the pumpkin festival nearby. The rules of the weekend were that we couldn't speak, on and off camp. This meant, that even though everyone else around us at the festival wasn't deaf or wasn't apart of our "Silent Weekend", we still had to respect the rules. Ridiculous as this seemed, it was all apart of the weekend.
We each had a card to carry around with us that day to explain our mission and the reason why we couldn't speak; some understood, but most didn't. People would still "mouth" words to us or talk really loud, thinking that we were deaf. My friends and I would just laugh about it, kind of feeling bad that we were putting people in that situation.





..this guy said "are you trying to get a picture of me?"
I just smiled at him and shook my head yes like I was a little kid.




This pumpkin was enormous.

Everything at the festival was covered in pumpkin. "Pumpkin Hamburger"-"Pumpkin Ice Cream"-"Pumpkin Pie"-"Pumpkin Soup"


The rest of the weekend we played some games with each other on the camp site and ate meals together. It was such a good time to expound on my ASL vocabulary. Everyone was so patient with me, teaching me new words and repeating themselves a half-a-dozen times. It was just one of those awkward places you put yourself in to improve.
For me, I improved on not only ASL, but I also proved to myself that I can actually go a whole weekend without talking. Definitely a record breaking moment in my opinion.

...There has been so much happening ever since I got here and I've really had a lot of fun with it so far.

I'm in ASL club. I'm the secretary, so I take notes during our club meetings and then I send out emails about events. I'm also the DMAC person, which means I help communicate with Mary Schmidt (the representative of the deaf community) if I need to inform her of any events or news that we have on campus. Basically, I help with any communication that is needed within GC. ..I like doing it : ) It's fun stuff.

I'm also in intermural soccer. Our team is pretty horrible. We had our first win yesterday...but only because the other team didn't show up.
lol. it was a good win.



We also have random events and games that happen on campus that are really fun to go to. It's really surprising to see how many people are into the stuff that goes on..but it definitely makes it more fun.



...We taped paper letters to the front and back of our shirts at the volleyball game for Kate & Indy.




..We had a swing dance called "Lavender Jazz" last Saturday night. Our jazz band played, a few people sang, and we all learned how to swing dance.





...the "LSU" (Latino Student.. somethin...) put together a salsa dance. It wasn't a very good match with me and Clayton. He just got frustrated with me and swung me around. I couldn't keep up : ) (the second picture is me trying to understand the steps as he sighed under his breath lol)

Tomorrow night is the talent show & I'm singing in it. I'm SO excited!

A Poem I Wrote about Intramural Soccer (..we're on a losing streak at the moment.)

The Name of the Game


I walk out the door and cover my eyes from the blinding light.
It’s game time.
I’ve been pondering the outcome of this game the whole day.
I can feel it within my bones;
this is the game where we are taking the gold.

My team is gathered around, ready to find out their position.
We gather in for a team huddle,
putting out hands in the middle.
“Bologna & Cheese!” we all yell.
Our team is powerful and ready to defend our goal.

The whistle obnoxiously blows,
signaling for the game to begin.
The ball hits our forward's cleat as he passes it to his fellow team mate.

Pushing, shoving, yelling, name calling..
the game is getting intense.
Envy of the opponents swift moves,
we study them as they steal the ball, over and over and over.
We aren’t discouraged by the goals that are scored,
because we are determined to have a come back.

Our eyes are fierce with motivation as we look into the enemies eyes.
One goal is scored. Two goals are scored.
...Not quiet three.

The ball flies up in the air.
This is my chance to turn this game around.
I jump up as I attempt to grasp onto the ball,
but another guy approaches at the same time.
My body is violently slammed to the ground as my opponent crushes me with his powerful body.
My back aches with pain.

I lie in the grass.
My face is against the dirt as I play back what just happened.
I don’t let anyone move me.

I am done with the game of soccer today.
...for the blinding explosion of discomfort in my back speaks louder than the calling to the game.