D-Day No this is not the invasion of Normandy that I was talking about in my History Lecture the other day. This is the day of my big decision. As many of you know I applied to the Polar Scholar program at the University of Northern Iowa hosted at the PE4Life Academy in Grundy Center Iowa just before I went abroad. Throughout this semester I have been in contact with Rick Schupack who runs the program through e-mail and Skype. I conducted an interview with the big wigs in Grundy center through Skype and set a date to reply to [View Full Entry]

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I talked to Bobbi Meyer and she was at the embassy before, and told me all about it! We live in a hotel (an american one, where the military stay if they're going to the embassy) but i think they still have japanese outlets. We take a subway to work everyday - they gave her a monthly pass. and theres a small little grocery store at the embassy, the only thing is that our hotel rooms dont have a kitchen so we'll prob eat out a lot. theres a beach about an hour away that they went to alot, and there [View Full Entry]

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I just got the laptop set up that I'll be taking w/ me.. well I got the wireless internet to work on it. Anyways, I downloaded Skype so I can talk to anyone for free who also has it on their computer. I"ll be able to call landlines for dirt cheap - like $.024 a minute, with like a $.03 connection fee, so pretty cheap. My username is jess.ender. Dessertfest went wonderfully. It was a lot of fun, I had a girl from Florida AMU stay with me who is going to Iwakuni Japan, where I was going. I tried to [View Full Entry]

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I received this email today saying that I'm now going to the Tokyo Embassy instead of Iwakuni. I'm way excited!!! I guess its the sweetest of sweet places to go that everyone wants to go to but very few get to!!!! And I also heard that I get to live in a hotel! Its in the middle of Tokyo I believe. I don't know much about it now. Jessica, Due to some unforeseen changes in the Iwakuni contract we had to move you to the Tokyo Embassy as a panther cub counselor! There are a total of five people doing this [View Full Entry]

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After months of non-posting and deep deliberation, I've decided to discontinue this blog for the time being. While my life is quite exciting to me, I realize that it may not be for everyone else out there. My original reason for having a blog was to keep my family in the loop of my life as I was out gallivanting around the world, but now I live close to my family again, so the need is no longer there. Rest assured that if I travel again or if my life becomes more exciting, I will start blogging again. Until we meet [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Camp Victor in Ocean Springs, Mississippi! Our trip began at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday as the voice of god through the Electronic Oracle Tomtom led us south. Driving straight through to make it to Ocean Springs before lights out at 10:00 pm, we opted for a rolling picnic for lunch, where Zan and Susan served sandwiches made to order from the backseat. The ultimate contrast in sandwiches orders came from the front, where Matt wanted turkey on white, nothing else, and Scott wanted the works: Ham, Peanut butter, Jelly, Cheddar Cheese, and Mayo on Wheat. After searching for [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone! Haven't been on here for awhile, I have some new pictures but I haven't gotten any from the Uncle Sam night yet, my camera doesn't work in the dark since I dropped it so I'll have to get them from someone else. We haven't had the last 2 trainings due to the weather. My solar system outfit was pretty cool, I took a hula hoop and put all the planets on it and then a sun as a head band. I stood in the middle of the hoop and there I was, the solar system! I won once again! [View Full Entry]

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This weekend, Mom, John and I drove down to Iowa City so that we could meet up with Will, Mom's first cousin (Aunt Shirley Ann's son.) John and I had never met him; I'd been wanting to meet him for a long time, and was excited to. I was also excited to see Iowa City, which I consider one of my favorite homes. Even though we lived there for only two years, I feel so connected to Iowa City, and miss it often. Friday night, we hung out with Will at his hotel. He works for Proctor and Gamble, and was [View Full Entry]

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We just finished our first night of training to get ready for this summer. It was fun, the theme was ocean and we all dressed up. When we first got there, we signed in and played games until it was time to start. Then we had a speaker who told us all about what to expect, I guess they say that they can change where you go if they need to (even if you're already on the base), but they try not to. I talked to a few people who have been to Iwakuni and they loved it! So I'm excited, [View Full Entry]

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I was reminded the other day that I had not updated this blog for a while. I have no real excuse except that it's been so cold, I only want to curl up under a blanket next to the fireplace with a good book. Typing requires extracting my fingers from the warm cacoon. It's been snowy and cold here in Iowa this January. Well, it's always snowy and cold in Iowa in January, but it has seemed particularly harsh this winter. But, the cold hasn't kept the deer away. They came out to play yesterday and spent some time in the [View Full Entry]

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