BAMM Employed!

I am so excited! After almost three months of no work and almost a year of no work in my field, God has answered all of my prayers.

The job is kind of in my field, it is using GIS type skills to take location data and information on all street signs within the county. It is kind of a ton of tedious and monotonous work, but I am excited and kind of like it. Currently it is just an 8-10 week contract, but there is the potential for more work in Essex, and even more work in the future as the inventory that we are completing is supposed to be done on an annual basis in order to meet MTO standards.

The work is long hours, about 50 a week. Which is a drastic change to staying at home and occasionally babysitting. So far I am enjoying it. I am realizing that we cannot have plans every night of the week and still be able to function come Friday evening. The uniform is kind of ridiculous as women should never wear men's pants, but I am the only female so it's a hard argument for me to make. I make it work.

So the basis of the job is that every single sign in the county needs to be recorded. We stop at each sign and I take data such as a GPS location, direction it is facing, condition of it, what kind it is etc. Meanwhile my partner is putting a barcode on it and taking reflectivity readings. So pretty much it is a lot of in and out of the van and having my head down working on a tablet. So far it is hot and exhausting, but I am getting to see a ton of the countryside, which is kind of beautiful (read flat, corn and windmills) and the people are super nice and interesting, so its good.

So that is that. I have been working two weeks and love it and am so thankful to be back to work. So thank you for those who have been praying for me. God is Good!

NYC Road Trip {Day7}

Day 7 highlights- Amish Country and Penn's Cave

Check out the other days of our trip (day 1 here, day 2 here, day 3 here, day 4 here,  day 5 here and day 6 here). 


Day 7 turned out to be our last day of the road trip although we had planned for one more. The day started nice as we headed for the town of Intercourse and wondered around the Amish market. However, quickly the heat started to get the better of us. It was HOT. We were going to take a buggy ride to an Amish farm, but decided better of it because who wants to be behind a horse in a closed in buggy in 100 plus degrees? We did not. So instead of doing much other than shopping we left Amish country and headed for the caves. 

We had a long drive ahead of us and the heat was making us exhausted and frustrated. At one point we ended up seeing beautiful lakes everywhere from the highway, we were desperate and wanted to swim. So we pulled off looking for a local beach or swimming spot. We found nothing, we even stopped and asked someone who gave us crazy directions to a spot about 20 minutes away. We followed the directions anticipating a wonderful swim in the lake. We changed into our bathing suits in a parking lot and headed excitedly for the water. Instead of a wonderful swimming hole we found a kind of marshy river that really was gross, like to the point of we questioned if it was safe to swim in. 

Again we asked a local and they suggested not swimming there, but that there was a pool down the street. We headed right there and even though it cost $5 a person (which is crazy!) we didn't even hesitate and boy did it feel good. I don't think much has ever felt so nice as jumping in that pool. From the pool we continued onward to Penn's Caves. This was the point where we decided we would stop at the caves and then continue driving home to attempt to capitalize on the cool night air. 

Penn's Caves was in the words of Taylor Swift 'miserable and magical o yeah'. It was a totally awesome experience being in a cave in a boat having water drip all around you and looking at the breathtaking caves. On the other hand, I have never considered harming a child, or maybe just the parents because who takes their probably three month old baby on a boat inside of caves. The temperature inside the caves is always 52 degrees, it is wet and dark and not a place for babies. That being said, about five minutes into what was supposed to be a 55 minute tour the baby started screaming, and I mean screaming, not just crying or fussing, but blood curdling screaming. This then continued the entire time. The guide offered to turn back and drop them off, but they did not want to, so the rest of us suffered. We missed out on a lot, we could not hear the guide, who was awesome until the baby started crying, and the entire thing was very rushed. 

Hands down however, I would do the entire thing again, I loved it. With studying earth science at school I learnt all about rock formation and subglacial formations and it was honestly awesome to see things that I learnt about in school first hand. If I did it again I would just pray that it could be a bit more peaceful and a baby would not ruin it. We left Penn's Cave around 7pm and continued the 7 hour drive home. When we got home at about 3am, we were hot sweaty and exhausted. I would certainly do it again, I loved NYC and I cannot wait to go back. 

NYC Road Trip {Day 6}

Day 6 Highlights: Hillsong NYC and the Hershey Factory.

Check out the other days of our trip (day 1 here, day 2 here, day 3 here, day 4 here and day 5 here). 

Sunday (day 6) was our slow day and our last in NYC. We started to morning packing and checking our bags and then took the subway and a short walk to Hillsong NYC. I have honestly never been at church 45 minutes early without a good reason and have never ever even considered standing in line for church. But then again, I had never been to a Hillsong church. It was certainly worth the wait. We got there about 45 minutes before service was to begin and already the line was down the street. A few minutes after we joined the line it was then around the corning and half way down. The wait was fine as members of the church came around with water and we were excited to get inside. 

Hillsong NYC in is an old club, well a still active 6 days a week club, but it is an old building, so it gives a very interesting feel. There are couches and chandeliers and a bar and you have to hurry to get seating. It quickly becomes standing room only and it made me glad we got into line so early as I am pretty sure we got the last set of seats together after a bit of a crazy mad dash. The church experience was interesting and wonderful, however I could not imagine this being my normal place of worship. It was busy and crowded and most likely 80% of people there were tourists. It was just a bit too much for me.

Hillsong NYC. The line down the street and around the corner.

Waiting in line for church.

My favourite picture of the four of us.

This was our spot in line. 45 minutes early. 

So from Hillsong NYC we grabbed some quick lunch and headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. We then cabbed it to Penn Station where we again attempted to figure out where we were going. This time thankfully we had a better idea and only stood in one wrong line. We got our train tickets and waited for the next train. Once on the train, the over crowded train, we attempted to fit out luggage and find a seat for the thankfully short trip to the New Jersey Penn Station. We then grabbed the worlds most sketchiest cab and headed for the hotel. Leaving the city certainly was a lot easier than heading to the city. We grab the vehicle and started out journey towards Hershey Pensilvania.

Last time waiting to take the bus back to the hotel.

About an hour or so into our drive we started to feel like the vehicle was not as cool as it once was. It seemed like it was gradually getting hotter. We were sadly right and we realized the air conditioning was not working. I had hoped we had simply ran out of coolant and that was the reason why it stopped working. The reason for that was it was the only thing I knew we would be able to fix. We stopped at a gas station in some itty bitty town off the highway to get gas and change into less clothing. We were hot, sticky and gross. It was so hot out that even when driving with the windows down it was HOT, it was gross and we were quickly getting cranky. There was a car of guys at the gas station who offered to take a look at the vehicle for us to see if they could tell what was wrong with it. Sadly they could not and because it was still under warranty we couldn't just take it to any old repair place. So we knew we needed to finish the 10 hour trek home with no AC and in weather of 105 before humidity. 

Driving down the highway with all windows down.

So with no AC we continued on to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was a rough go and we were all getting more than a little testy. Thankfully it was worth the drive. We just did what was free and spent a fair amount of time in the gift shop, but it was still pretty cool to see. You go on this moving cart that takes you through kind of animated making of the chocolate with singing and commentary to go along with it. I think the target audience is most likely 4-10, but we got a kick out of it. It even ends with a free chocolate. We wanted to go again and again. 

Part of the free chocolate making tour/ride. It was kind of awesome and the best part it was FREE.

The gift shop at Hershey's world I am not going to lie, was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for rare and exotic types of chocolates and things like that, instead I got huge candy bars and kiss shaped ear rings. The ice cream however was honestly the best I have ever had. From Hershey we headed to a super cheap hotel in Lancaster.

Amanda loved Hershey's world.

Outside Hershey's world with the worlds best ice cream (personal opinion, but I speak from experience).

NYC Road Trip {Day 5}

Highlights- Biking Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Top of the Rock.

NYC Road Trip {Day 4}

Highlights- Empire State Building, MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), Chinatown, FAO Swartz, Wicked.

Check out the other days of our trip (day 1 here, day 2 here, and day 3 here). Sorry that some of the days are long and kind of a ton of detail, we fit a lot into as little time as possible. Feel free to just check out the pictures.