Sept/Oct 5K

So Tom has always been a runner. He’s done a few marathons & lots of smaller races while I on the other hand am a slug. Well, not a slug but I do not like running. In fact we took a jogging class together when we were in college and while Tom would jog along with the instructor up front, my cousin Michele and I would trot along at the back of the group just talking and laughing. Never did get that runner’s “high”.

However, with the nice weather here, the time to actually train and an abundance of races, I’ve committed to doing one 5K a month while we’re here.

The first was a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters and as it was my first race EVER, I was happy to complete it without passing out, throwing up, or dying on the course. My time: 41:15.

Tom of course, took first place in his age group and we’ve found that one of his classmates is a kindred spirit in the running dept. so Dave will appear in a lot of our photos. At this race there were a lot of fellow students and they were each supposed to wear their workout shirts representing their flight groups. That’s why they’re twins.

After the race we found Nancy's and treated ourselves to a "Fancy Nancy" italian ice & soft serve. Yummy!

The second race was through downtown Montgomery to kick off breast cancer awareness month. Tom ran with his sister Marie’s name on his tag and I ran with our friend Sue’s name. They both have battled breast cancer. It was a great race through the city. My time: 37:14, but of course Tom managed to finish, go to the car to get the camera and come back to capture me coming across the finish line and high five the mayor all while taking 2nd in his age category!

We also found some other students from ACSC so we had a great time. Each race has provided lunch afterwards and then by the time awards are given out, half the day is over. But it’s nice being outside, moving my weary body, and improving what little I can!

Sarah, Dave, Tom & Jan - proud students of ACSC

You know you're at the Alabama National Fair when the food kiosk is peddling fried pork rinds, fried alligator and Pork Butt on a Stick.

The Weekend

Our weekends tend to go something like this. Tom is relieved after a week of hard work at school so we play Friday night, sleep in Saturday, work out or…read by the pool and then play again. Sunday is go to church, maybe pit stop by commissary then relax at home, read the paper, watch some NFL, phone calls with kids and catch up on any postponed reading. Well, Tom is always reading. This weekend was no different.

We are fortunate that we can buy tickets through the Ticket and Tour office on base and get some great discounts on events. So, we got to hit one of my favorite bands who just happened to be in Montgomery Friday night. Again we were right within a two block radius of everything that happens downtown which is centered around the Riverwalk area.

CHICAGO was appearing at The Montgomery Performing Arts Center which is connected to The Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center. It’s basically two blocks of nightlife as it’s also surrounded by restaurants & bars. The concert was a lot of fun and since I have never seen them live before I was thrilled for the opportunity. There are still a few original members, the horn section is still amazing and the band is great. The singer who does Peter Cetera's songs was a little weak but they were good anyway.

Saturday afternoon, Alma (the ONE girl in Tom's class) and her husband John had a cookout for the first expectant couple in the class (Aaron & Danielle) whose baby is coming next month.

Alma and John (expecting twins in Feb and whose photo I seemed to not get) hosted us and we all had a great time just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. It’s a very funny group and it’s nice to see everyone together.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog this is a very fruitful group...5 first pregnancies which will result in 7 babies! In fact I was the only non-pregnant female at the party. There's another couple who weren't able to make it who are also expecting twins! JC & Bonnie-expecting
Andy & Kazue (pronounced Cosway)- also expecting

I rarely see the students except Dave (the bachelor) who we sometimes see on the weekends because does races with us. I see the wives at other functions but it’s certainly easier to figure out who goes with whom when they’re actually in the same room! Good food and good company.

Dave- the single guy!


Tom and I decided to swing by the Alabama National Fair on the way home. Have yet to find anyone who can explain why Alabamans fancy themselves worthy of a “national” rather than “state” fair but this was pretty much just like Utah’s state fair.

All the entertainment, including the BIG name each day was included in the ticket price and we just happened to enter into the coliseum where Rodney Atkins was wrapping up his show. Now, I don’t have a clue who he is but the audience seemed to be crazy about him. He's the guy sitting and singing on the speaker.
We took a walk down the midway which was packed of course on a Saturday night. The livestock and cultural arts exhibits were much calmer so we took our time in there and after about an hour or so we headed home. Pretty Quilts!

I haven’t been to the state fair in Utah in I don’t know how long. I like the little county fairs but the giant ones..not really my cup of tea. Too many people, loud, expensive, smelly.... but we do feel compelled to try everything while we’re here!

Selma

I am very impressed by those of you who are able to keep this up on a daily basis. First of all, my “regular” day isn’t nearly interesting enough to share with anyone and I’m discovering that with just the two of us, I’m uneasy about readers getting sick of seeing photos of just me & Tom and... places. Oh well. This is as much a scrapbook for me as it is for anyone else so here we go…..

The base didn’t hold class on Monday in observance of Columbus Day so we decided to do a little "exploring" of our own. A lot of the students had headed to the beach but the weather was supposed to be crappy so we decided to do a day trip to Selma.

Historically, the town has a lot to offer and is the beginning of the 54 mile trail that follows the voting rights march that started at a church in Selma and crossed the Edmond Pettus Bridge. On March 7, 1965 as non-violent marchers crossed the bridge, they were tear-gassed, beaten and turned away by law enforcement.

The display was captured by the news media and came to be known as “Bloody Sunday”. Outraged protesters from across the country joined the marchers for a 5 day walk that began in Selma on March 21, 1965 (this time with the protection of law enforcement) and ended in Montgomery with 25,000 marchers on March 25^th. Many notable speakers including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the event and as a result, the Voting Rights Act was passed in May of 1965.

The city itself is sadly worn down. It looks as if they’re trying to re-start it with some upgrading of buildings. There’s plenty of gorgeous architecture to see but unfortunately a lot of the buildings are vacant. In the downtown area there were a few businesses that were open. Interestingly there seemed to be a drugstore and jewelry store on every block. Maybe the two extremes of a down economy.

We walked around the town some just to take a look. I’m a sucker for old churches of which there were plenty, but unfortunately we couldn’t get in any of them.

There was also an old cemetery (another favorite tourist attraction for me) that I’d like to go back and visit some time by myself to just wander around and read headstones all day.

We ran into a raucous rain storm on the way home. Coming down so hard we could hardly see to drive and enough to soak us from our garage to the back door. Glad we didn’t opt for the beach.

Saturday

Tom and all the students had a big test due at noon on Friday so he was very relieved to have that done and ready to relax this weekend. While I went out for a run, he walked over to a little shopping area near us for a haircut but they weren’t open yet so opted for coffee and a newspaper at House of Java next door. I actually got sucked into BEACHES on tv when I got back. I forgot how hokey that movie was but like I said, felt compelled to watch the whole thing while Tom went for his post haircut run.

After a relaxing morning we headed to Montgomery for yet another Saturday along the water. Everything in this city seems to revolve around this area….makes me wonder what they did before it was developed! It was the Montgomery Wine Festival with live music, food & drink samples and plenty of fun people. When we checked in we got a bag with an etched wine glass and a small loaf of Italian bread. You may or may not know that Tom is a connoisseur of Italian bread and proclaimed THIS bread very good.

We ran into several of Tom’s classmates throughout the day so got plenty of visiting and comparing test horror stories in as we encountered each one. We also met a really nice couple (Mike & Kathy) from Lake Martin who recognized Tom from the Sprint Triathlon. (Yes, we've been here 2 months and apparently Tom is already a local sports celebrity!) Mike was in an older category than Tom but they had plenty of training tales to swap as well as the sharing of upcoming race info. Kathy is a principal of an elementary school and both were very nice. As things were wrapping up I asked the girls at the check in table where they had gotten the Italian bread. They said the hotel across the street had provided it but they had two big bags left over so invited us to take what we wanted. I loaded up 5 loaves in my purse!

We also decided to take the Harriott II riverboat for a ride later in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day (sunny and 85 degrees) with a faint breeze. We had seats out on the deck of the second level and were on the bow so we were right up front.
There was a live band at the back of the boat and a couple of refreshment stands. There was seating along the outside decks as well as inside where they had tables and the football game on the big screen. There was a group of about 8 senior LDS missionaries who got on after we were already seated and I think they went inside. Those badges give them away every time!

It was a beautiful 90 minute ride up the Alabama River and I’m sure it would be gorgeous after the leaves start to change. We turned around at one point and as we headed back the sun had just started going down so I was glad I had a sweater. We chatted with a really cute couple sitting next to us (Dell and Richard). He was from Birmingham and she from Montgomery. She had been in loans up until last year so we plenty of real estate stories to swap. When we got off the boat and headed to our car the two bags of bread were still sitting on the table on the dock, and since we had eaten another loaf on the river trip, we helped ourselves to a couple more!

Came home and relaxed with a bowl of popcorn and the BYU football game but as it didn’t start here until 9:15 PM, I lasted about 45 minutes and was out!

Oktoberfest

Friday night the German IO (International Officers) students had an Oktoberfest celebration at the Officer’s Club. Our friends from Colombia, Mauricio and Olga invited us to join them. The banquet hall was lined with posters of Germany and past Oktoberfest gatherings, there was a band, games (log chopping races & the traditional hold the full stein out with a straight arm for as long as you can) and tons of food!

A buffet including Sausage, Schweins hax’n (rotisserie pork hocks), Schweinbraten (roast pork w/sauerkraut), Jager Schnitzel (pork schnitzel with a creamy mushroom sauce though I'm pretty sure this was chicken), Blaukraut (braised red cabbage), Bratkartoffel (German fries), Knoedel (giant dumpling), Spatelse (German wine), Beer, German Breads and Apple Strudel in Vanilla Sauce.

Frankly, this is not my favorite type of food, but it was fun to sample it all. The sausages with mustard were good, as was the Apple Strudel, but really the highlight of the evening was just chatting and meeting some new people.

Around the table were Vincent (from Virginia), Mauricio (for family reading this, he reminds me a lot of Serge!) Brawni (Vincent’s wife from Thailand) Olga, me and Tom, then Nrdec (pronounced "nu-retz") & Alma from Albania. I will admit I had to look up Albania on a map. I’m hoping that getting to know all these international students will make me less geographically challenged!

You know you're living in Alabama when the front page of the local paper is featuring the Crappie Masters Youth Fishing Rodeo.

Bible Study

I have been incredibly blessed throughout my life to be surrounded by amazing women. I'll talk about all of them at some point but today I want to mention my Sunday School gals from home and my new Bible Study group here.

We have had the greatest women's class at Alpine for the past couple of years. People have come and gone but it has been a wonderfully safe place for us to share, pray, cry and laugh ourselves silly. Sheri and Amy have been in tune with God and have chosen just the right material that we seemed to need at that precise time. They will all be meeting tonight for the annual Fall Fling with great speakers, yummy food, praise music and fellowship. Though I clearly can't be there, I will be in spirit. I miss those girls like crazy!

I am however, so happy that we have bible studies for spouses here. I found a great group that meets Tuesday mornings from 9-11 AM at a home on base. Kate has graciously let us take over her kitchen, living and dining room on those mornings for fresh baked goodies, coffee and fellowship. I love that these types of groups always provide an immediate bond as we study and share together. Though we all come from different places and different backgrounds, we all share something very precious in common, therefore making us sisters immediately.

We are doing a Beth Moore study. If you aren't familiar with her she's a fabulous, high energy teacher who is crazy about the Lord and isn't afraid to show it. I love the way she teaches! Her lessons include an hour dvd that we watch as a group and then we discuss the week's homework from our workbooks that we take home. This one is called Stepping Up, A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent and is a study of Psalms 120-134. I've done a bunch of Beth's classes before including Breaking Free, When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, Jesus the One and Only, Believing God and Daniel. Each came at a time when I really needed THAT particular word to get me through whatever was going on in my life. Funny how God works that way.