Baby, it's COOOOLD outside!

Spending Thanksgiving away from family was a little hard but I managed to still have a good time and think of all the things for which I was thankful: My health, my family's health and wellness, the ability to roam around this beautiful country and see different and interesting things everywhere I look, and, of course, for wonderful Thanksgiving food! I have a friend from UCA that moved to Denver about 7 months ago so I spent the day with him and his friends in Breckenridge, CO. It was a considerably warm day (in the upper 20s to low 30s) and the sun was out but snow was still on the ground, making it a beautiful day. We all sat around, played board games and ate good food. It was nothing like one of our family-get-togethers but it was the best I could get :)
I've started to work on a regular basis now which is more than good news. I was beginning to lose my mind not working because there was NOTHING to do. The park wasn't opened yet so I couldn't even go practice my snowboarding. But that is all changed now. I just recently had a breakthrough in my snowboarding skills and couldn't be happier. In order to get to the lift that I work at I have to ride my board so it's been a crucial part of my job to learn the basics...and that I have, my friends, that I have :)
The weather has been GHASTLY!!!! We've all been praying for snow but we didn't know that before the snow we would have to endure such subzero temperatures! There's a reason why this place is called the Ice Box of the nation. Before moving here, the coldest temperature I've ever been in was between 15 and 19 I think. WELL, let me tell you! November 16th was the big Meteor-Shower spectacle and a bunch of friends and I went to the mountain, built a mini igloo (I had no part in building the igloo...I just stood around as the guys did all the work) and sat in it, watching the awesome shooting stars paint the black sky at 12,000 ft above sea level. It was an awesome experience (other than the fact that I really thought I had frost bite on my toes...which happened to be false once I actually got to warm up a little later). But the point of the story was that by the time we got home (around 1 a.m.) it was 0 degrees. After that it's been below freezing temperatures all the way. Today in particular, it was -25 with the wind chill! AHHH!!! But it's all good. I've learned to layer up and bundle up before stepping foot out of my door. The other day at work I was wearing 8 layers!

Anyway, well I'm going to go practice my snowboarding again. I've got three days off and I plan to use them to improve myself :) Till later
Samira

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Colorado Dreaming

I've been in Colorado for a week and half now and it has been quite educational to say the least.

1. Snowboarding may look hard but it's EVEN HARDER! I tried it for the first time on Friday and twisted my ankle in the most painful way. As I was riding down I tried to change direction and my board caught some icy patch of snow and flipped me, turning my body face down but my legs and feet (which are securely strapped onto the board) were still right side up. Get the picture? OUCH! Anyway, I was a trooper and rode all the way down the mountain (it took me about an hour when it took the advanced snowboarder about 7 or 8 minutes). Anyway, I'm much better now...I've been icing the scene of the accident on and off and it's getting better.

2. Boys are gross! I already knew this having lived with Soroush for about 15 years...but our boy neighbors have become close friends and have sort of let my roommates and I into their little world where NOTHING is sacred and any bodily sound is a funny one (apparently).

3. Not working is THE WORST! I've only worked 4 days since I've been here and those days have been training days; needless to say, I'm bored out of my mind. Can't wait til I start working full time again.

Anyway, as for now, I'm cozying up to a nice and warm fireplace and drinking some hot earl grey tea, watching it flurry outside. Wish you were here!

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New Adventure in Colorado

So here I am in Winter Park, CO. Dad and I drove out here on Wednesday, leaving Little Rock at 6:45 a.m. and making it to Denver around 10 p.m. later that evening. Initially we had decided to stay the night in Denver but since we made it there at a decent hour we decided to go ahead and drive to Winter Park which was an additional 60 something miles. We stayed at a hotel called Valley Hi motel which wasn't too bad. We woke up in the morning, grabbed some coffee and a breakfast burrito at a local cafe and started to explore the town. (Dad was not a big fan of the burrito but I thought it was delish :)) Anyway, so after driving through the Winter Park village for a while and taking pictures of the snow we decided to head back towards Denver and check out the Downtown area. We walked all around the big sky-scrapers and visited the center for the performing arts which was really cool. Eventually I had to drop Dad off at the airport for his flight back home and then I drove the beautiful Denver Pass all the way back to my new home. I moved in to my new apartment, met my new roommates and started orientation on Friday morning. I'm going to be working at a lift called the Discovery Lift and training begins on Monday. I'm super stoked. Next week I'm going to be looking for a second job and hopefully I'll be able to find one with no problems because unfortunatley the lift salary is not much. (I am accepting donations at this time, by the way :)) I'll update again soon.

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Almost done with this one

Wow, it has been a while since I've posted a blog. Well, the season here is coming to a close and honestly I couldn't be happier. I'm so pleased with everything that has happened during the past 5 months and can't wait to get back home for 3 weeks and spend time with the family. I'm so lucky to be able to live both these lives: 1. the nomadic lifestyle where the only certainty is that my next move is only on the horizon and 2. the awesome family that waits for me at home for whenever I'm there. I couldn't ask for anything more. Yellowstone has started to get really cold. It's been below freezing the past couple of mornings that I've gotten up to go to work (and that's at 5:45...YES! I know). No snow as of yet but I think it's well on its way. The crowd here as changed too along with the climate; not so many families are out anymore but older couples and younger couples instead. This is good news to me because usually these older couples have a lot of money that they're RV'ing around the country with :) There are those occasions where the older couples are either German, French or from some other European country where tipping is unheard of. In that case...I'm screwed. Haha.



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Coming Home

I'm coming home in less than a month. Just bought my plane ticket last night: August 4-11th. I was originally supposed to come back home for good on Aug. 2 but I decided to extend my contract until October 1st but only if I could come home for a week. I'm sooooooooo excited about coming back to Little Rock! Anyway, things are going well here. The weather here is perfect for the men in the family, i.e. Dad, Uncle Jim, Amoo Ali! It's sunny and the high does not exceed 70 degrees with a pleasant breeze blowing at all times. I'm going on a nice hike tomorrow so I'm pretty excited. Anyway, well off to bed. I have to wake up sort of early tomorrow so that we have plenty of daytime for our hike.

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I forgot to post pictures on my last blog. Woops.

Isn't that cool?

Me and Courtney before our Elephant Back hike.

Old Faithful Geyser! That was last week.

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quick update! :)

Wow, I haven't updated this thing in a long time. Yellowstone is still quite chilly. Everyone here who is a returning employee (and even residents of neighboring towns) say that this is the coldest they've ever seen it so late into the season. Basically, everything that has happened this summer has been unprecedented...from the emergency evacuation due to the three-day power loss to this 40 degree-snowy-windy weather to date (June 22). Lucky us! Haha. No, but all that aside, Yellowstone has been such a great experience thus far. Working 5 days a week isn't really that bad. The shifts are a bit lengthy but it's worth it to have such an awesome place to call home. Something unfortunate did happen last week though; a 20-something-year-old guy (a visitor, not an employee) got into a fight with his dad at their family reunion and jumped off into a waterfall. The place where it happened is near the Canyon villiage which is about 17 miles away from Lake (where I live). I'm not sure if he knew that he wasn't going to make it alive after jumping... So yea, he leapt out into the freezing cold rushing waterfall and it took rescue crews more than two days I think to discover his body. The horrible part is that his whole family witnessed this and only a few days after it was Father's Day. It's very tragic and very selfish. Speaking of unfortunate things...a little over a week ago a man who was hiking by himself (which is HIGHLY looked down upon in bear country) surprised a mother grizzly bear and her cubs and ended up being mauled, bitten, beaten up and staggered away with a broken arm. Apparently he somehow got himself to a point where there was cellphone service at which point he called for help. It's so crazy here. Stories like that sort of put everything in perspective. Back home I don't want to walk down a dark alley by myself for fear of being mugged, raped or murdered but here I don't want to walk anywhere by myself as soon as dusk approaches for fear of being charged/gored by a buffalo or mauled by a bear. Whewwww. Too scary to think about.

Dear god, Ameh Mahvash....forget every thing you just read. Haha. Anyway, well I just popped a few Nyquils and I think they're starting to take effect...yes I know it's only 1:26 p.m. but I feel so crappy that I just want to be knocked out. I thought my cold had gone away but it snuck up on me again and I lost my voice for 3 days (like, completely lost it) and now my eyes feel like they want to pop out of their sockets. Pleasant, huh? I miss everyone! I miss home!

Until next time.


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