Adventures w/Tiffany, My Very Own Apt and the Beginning of "NIGHT SHIFT"

"Tonight dinner was fabulous. Another night at ShoGun, best Mexican in town.
Bought a microwave stand that looks like the long-lost-furniture-sister of my table and chair set.
Tiffany thinks my P.O. Box should be lovingly named "Moe". As in "Moe of 1995". Great plan. (This is Alessandra now and I would prefer it spelled "Mo" like "mo betta")
Attempted to fit my microwave stand in the back of Tiffany's little car. Unfortunately the back door was frozen shut and I had to climb into the back and push while she pulled from the outside.
Then we tried to lift the heavy stand up the stairs, through the snow, all the while I was glove-less. Of all things, I got frostbite. Tiffany assured me that it wasn't cold enough to be frostbite. And despite the truth that she spoke about me not having frostbite on my face either, I was ready for the flesh of my hand to turn black and freeze off."

That part up top was all courtesy of my friend Tiffany (for those of you that didn't know, Tiffany also went to the lovely Northwest University, so I knew her before I came up, she's been so wonderful to me- her and her mom both- making sure I'm ALWAYS taken care of in every way) she took me on quite the adventure tonight. All she says is true.
The restaurant she refers to not only serves Mexican but also Chinese, Japanese, American, and Italian, you can imagine how big the menu is! The surprising part is that it's actually all good. Ok well I've only had Mexican, Japanese and American so far but those three were good. I mean not as good as Seattle food... but good. :) The chef used to cook at one of the big fancy hotels in Las Vegas- then his mom gave him the restaurant here in Bethel. The wife is a hair-dresser and has a shop that adjoins to the restaurant, but hasn't actually opened it yet because she's been too busy at the restaurant, it's quite an experience to go to dinner there. The couple is super sweet- they remind me of home- they are from California, the closest west-coasters I have. Everyone else is from the South or the East coast pretty much. They are also the ones that want to hook me up with their little brother. He was there tonight and I was scared they were gonna like try to hook us up right there and then but luckily I think he's too shy.
It was so sweet of Tif to treat me to dinner there! Necie has brought me there a few times also, it's her favorite restaurant too.

And yes I did buy a microwave stand from the same dentist that I bought the shelf from, it was another good deal. And it was quite hilarious trying to get Tiffany's her trunk door to open, I was pushing mighty hard- I was slightly worried we wern't gonna get it open and I wouldn't be able to get my stand. I mean car doors get "stuck" in Seattle when things freeze over but NOTHING compared to this. It was even funnier trying to carry that big thing up the steps to my apt. I really thought we were gonna drop it! I was on the top end and Tiffany was on the bottom- my hands were frozen and I could barely feel them (Lesson of the day NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT GLOVES!). These stairs are not little stairs mind you and they are metal and covered with snow, in my mind I could see us both toppling down them with the microwave stand- ok well mostly Tiffany since she was on the bottom. It was very dangerous but PTL (praise the Lord) we made it and my micro stand is now sitting beautifully in my kitchen/dining room corner next to it's "sister" table, I'm so glad I could reunite them. Tiffany continually compliments it- oh so proud that it was her dentist that I bought it from. Once again if only I had a camera cord so that I could send you a picture of the siblings... I'll do my best to locate one soon.

And as for my fingers they are doing well now, but I'm pretty positive that I lost some cells in the whole fiasco. They hurt so bad- I swear! I was in so much pain. There was a small-irrational part of me that was not fully joking when I reported "frost bite" to Tiffany- I still wonder if it was a very mild case... They were throbbing and burning and stinging and it made my whole body ache. I held them on the heater, and then Tiffany held them in her warm-having-just-been-gloved-hands and then I ran them under warm water. I'm pretty sure they were slightly grayish purple at the end there- though Tiffany claims to not have seen that color. The fingers on my right hand- especially my middle one still don't feel 100% normal. Who knew getting a new/used mic-stand could be so dangerous! I guess that's the risks of living in Alaska. Tiffany said that next time we move that stand we are getting some guys to do it. It's been suggested a few times today that I need a man around. hahaha
One of my co-workers took me to the post office since I don't have a car and when we were leaving he said "you need to get a boyfriend with a nice car" and I said "yeah that's a really good idea- do you know anyone? He doesn't even have to have a "nice" car- just a guy with a car would be good. Then once I get a car of my own I can say "well it sure was nice hanging out with you these past few weeks... ". He said he'd let me know but he doesn't really know that many people yet- being new himself. haha
I'm waiting for my drugstore.com package to arrive with all my cleaning supplies that are so expensive here in Bethel and it sure is taking its time. All that was in my box today was junk. Speaking of my wonderful little P.O. Box- I'm still not for sure about the name but I've had some wonderful suggestions I love that so many people responded! I'm kinda thinking of the name Jeffery, I don't know why it's just the name that kinda comes to mind when I open him but I'm not sure, I need to get to know him better I guess as my cousin Rosie suggested. Oh and my mom was the first one to send me a letter- she is very proud of this fact- and I am very proud of her too. :)

Man I'm feeling sleepy guys, but I need to try and stay awake so that I can ease into my night schedule. My original plan was to come home from shadowing today and take a nap and then go to bed around 3 or 4am and then wake up around 1pm maybe work-out and do some errands and then go to work at 7pm to begin my 12hr shifts for the next 7 days. This of course didn't quite happen. I didn't get my nap in, so now I'm just trying to stay up. I sure hope this works out. I don't want to be super tired on my first day. We shall see... we shall see... good thing God is the strength in my weakness. And I'm pretty glad to be on nights because even when I do wake up in the AM it feels like it's night because it's so dark until like 9:30 at least- so at least now it really will be night and I won't feel so disoriented.

Maybe I will have to revise my plan. Maybe I will go to sleep right now, and make myself wake-up early and then I'll get up and do some more unpacking- yeah I'm still not fully unpacked- and then I'll go back to bed in the late morning and wake up and go to work. What do you guys think? I feel like I'm having a conversation with Vanessa back in "my college days"- ok so only a few months ago- trying to decide if I should stay up super late and try to finish writing the paper that is due the next day or if I should go to bed and wake up early and finish it. I just don't want to stay up so late that I'm all shaky and tired and can't really fall asleep and then my whole nights rest consists of waking up every few hours and not feeling rested at all in the AM. That's pretty much what happened last night.

Oh but BTW (by the way) I have wonderful, wonderful news, I guess I'm saving the best for last! My phone is now connected! It got connected yesterday (I'll have to send you all the # in an email, don't really want creepy people I don't know getting ahold of it)! It was the best day of my life. Oh and I haven't even told you all, I officially moved into my apt yesterday! So I spent my first night here last night- a girl at work was asking if I felt scared living alone and honestly... I do a very tiny bit- mostly just when I go to sleep. I told her I kinda wish I could get a dog but in reality I have all the protection I need with the Lord watching over me as I sleep!
So I love my apt with my whole heart! I love having my own place, it's such a wonderful thing, I feel so very "growed" up. :) It still kinda seems like I'm just pretending though... I'm sure once my first rent bill comes it won't feel like that so much....
It's really nice because the hospital is paying for my first months rent. God has just blessed me so much here already. I talked to my cousin today and she said "I'm sure your car will be coming soon because I keep having to cross things off my prayer list for you. As soon as I write them down they get answered"! Isn't that so true! God is so good. So I look forward to telling you all about my new vehicle that will transport all my precious kids when the Lord provides it.

Well I'm excited for tomorrow. I'm excited to cherish my patients- hopefully some cute little elderly people. Bethel has the cutest kids and the cutest old people- i swear! I saw some really cute little grannies today when I was shadowing- they mostly only speak Yupik though- but they pretend like they understand you when you speak English- pretty tricky they are. Some of my Yupik is coming back to me from last summer. I remember how to say "thank you", "sit", "poop", "breast feed", "grandpa" and "how's it going". I'm sure that will all serve me well don't you? haha
It's good to be working in the medical setting again. I pray that the Lord will give me passion and stamina for my job. I want to help people, I don't just want to get paid. And I don't just want to help people temporarily, I want to help them eternally as well by giving them a hope that is beyond this world and its circumstances. I pray that the Lord will give me opportunities to do that. I also pray for favor with my co-workers- it's been said that nurses eat their young- I pray that they love me and don't eat me.

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers- if it wasn't for those prayers my fingers would probably be frozen off right now I'm sure.
Merry Christmas! It still feels like Christmas, especially yesterday when I was unpacking all my boxes. I was loving it so much- even though it was all my stuff it was just so fun to see it again and put it in my new place, and of course my little mommy dearest had snuck some sweet suprises into the boxes...

Oh and just as an FYI if you guys want to leave comments- which I'm sure you're all dying to do- you don't have to "sign up" you just check "anonymous" and then just sign your name at the bottom of the note so that I know who you are. I LOVE comments. I know some of you have been sending comments to my email and I really appreciate that too.
Oh and also since I'll be working 12h night shift for 7 days in a row I probably won't be able to do much communicating- we'll see, maybe in the down-time at work I can update this here blog- but you can still call my phone and leave me sweet little messages while I'm at work (works well since your cell phones are all free after 9) and then I can listen to them and be happy when I come home from work in the AM. Then I can call you all back on my 7 days off. :)