Hallelujah!

     First off I want to start this post off by screaming from the mountains (literally), I GOT MY DREAM JOB!!!! I am now part of the residential staff at Berkshire Hills Music Academy! The Academy is a Post Secondary School for those who are disabled and love music. I will be assisting them in their classes as well as being the new cello teacher. Most of these students have William's Syndrome. If you are unaware, usually those with William's Syndrome are EXTREMELY gifted in music. Like, prodigy level. I am blown away from how amazing the talents are of these students.
 
     The second best thing about my job is the location. It is located in the old Joseph Allen Skinner mansion that was built in 1915. There is over 40 acres of land that overlooks the mountains and is drop dead gorgeous. Take a look for yourself!

 

 

 


     The kids are absolutely humbling to work with. I can think of everything in the world to complain about on a day to day basis, but these students are so grateful for every little part about their day. I had the privilege of taking a couple of them to the local fair and seeing their smiles and laughter just melted my heart. The work day goes by so fast because there is never a dull minute.

    Now skip this next part if you don't care about corgi drama. Anyways Allie (mama corgi) went through a lot of complications during the pregnancy. She gave birth to 4 healthy females, but then her uterus collapsed and had to have emergency surgery and lost the other four pups. So unfortunately we won't be taking home our little boy Banjo, but instead, our little girl Evey! (Given we aren't robbed of our wealth by Thanksgiving). And yes I chose the name Evey from the V for Vendetta comics. Here is the little one now.

   
    In other news, we finally got a dining table for our big empty dining room. Marty had a blast putting it together, and I made some parmesan crusted tilapia to celebrate. Because what better way to say, "I love you" than with a big slab of fish.

      

  

         


     Some prayer requests for this week would be that my body would get back to getting used to working and that I will stay happy and bubbly for the students. And Marty is getting a bit of a bug that is going around the Music School so pray for his health as well, because there is nothing worse in the Ross household for a grumpy Hannah mixed with a grumpy Marty....like today.... Oh the joys of a newly wedded couple  <3 <3 <3 Love you honey boo boo child.


Johannah

Friday the 13th

    Now i'm not superstitious at all, but for a week containing Friday the 13th, this week has been full of blessings! Which is something I am so thankful for, especially after feeling so lost and not knowing what to do with my life.

     First of all, Bible Study started this week. It meets Thursday nights and is for young couples. The people are really nice, and one of Marty's professors is in the group! That was a funny surprise. I think we are the only couple not to have kids. I guess we aren't the stereotypical young Christian couple :p. BUT one of the couples have a baby named Pippin and I get to hang out with him next week! Pip pip hooray.

     We then went to Marty's Music Theory get together where I got to meet Mr. Frog. Apparently Marty's professor bought this when his son was 5 and was told it would die in about 5 years. 20 years later and he's still ribbitin'.

    Mr. Frog wasn't the only party guest I was thrilled to meet. We also got to meet one of the men who wrote the theory book that we use at UNL! I got to talk to him about stuff...then he started talking about some opus and some words and something and I just stared and smiled. Here he is with Martin. 

Sorry about the blurriness...I took this without him knowing lol

   Apparently everyone in Massachusetts is vegan so we had cheeseless pizza with broccoli and peppers as the toppings with fruit on the side.  I liked it, but Marty opted for meat. We got to meet all the students in the Masters and Ph.D program. One of the students go to our church and gave us a ride. (Thank you David!)

    After the party we stopped at the Amherst block party that was going on. There was free food and music and dancing and other weird small town stuff, but it was fun for the most part. 

   

 



                             
    We ended our eventful Thursday night with ice cream! The awesome thing about Amherst is their frozen yogurt shop also has ice cream for when you have eaten nothing but healthy all day and want to divulge in some sweet calories, you can.

Peppermint and mocha/orange dark chocolate

    Two more huge blessings that happened today is 1. I got an interview for my dream job! Teaching music to disabled students (PLEASE PRAY FOR ME!!) and 2. UMass now has car rentals for a low price for students who only use the bus system!! Praise God! Marty also might get a part time at Dick's Sporting Goods being a shoe consultant. Some prayer requests would be that my job interview goes well and for my autoimmune. Most of you who know about autoimmune and arthritis is that season changes are the worst time for flare ups. And boy does Massachusetts go through crazy season changes; one day it was 98 degrees and the other day 65 degrees. My joints are a very angry panda. BUT Fall is my favorite season and I just have to look past the pain and towards the pumpkin spices. Oh the pumpkin spices....

Johannah

Post by Martin!

      Hello- I am going to let Marty write the post this week- so you can hear about his first week at UMass! Also because I have had the most boring week ever searching for jobs. Without further ado, I present el Martino.

     Grad school is a little bit different pacing than being an undergraduate. This semester I'm taking Pedagogy of Theory, Bibliography, and a seminar on Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. My homework is mostly just reading...a lot of reading. Again, a bit different type of homework for me, but I'm getting used to it.

     As a Graduate Teaching Assistant, I proctor freshman written theory. I attend their class on Monday and Wednesday, I teach two labs on Friday, and I grade their work. My first labs will be this upcoming Friday, and I'm really looking forward to teaching!
   
     Being up in the Northeast is pretty cool. We have been getting used to a no-car life right now. Bus and bike is our transportation at the moment. I love riding my bike any chance I get, even if I've been ordered by the warden to get groceries. The bus system is awesome. If we're lucky we get to ride the monster double buses that are connected by this accordion-like mechanism. Here's a picture of one of these magnificent vehicles:

     Hannah and I feel a bit lonely that we're the only Husker fans in a 50 mile radius (at least that's what it feels like). We do catch the games at a local brewing company. I'm pretty sure we get some stares by the people at the bar, since we take our football seriously.

     Lastly, what's most important is that I'm so thankful that my best friend is here with me. Hannah has been nothing but supportive. We're really hoping things turn around job wise and I can't believe that she put me in charge of this post.


      I leave you with this funny and cute video of some hamsters that Hannah took.

Martin




My posts are better

Johannah

Fruit Salad

     This week has been pretty hard. My anxiety has been kicked into overdrive, especially because I thought I would for sure have a job before Marty started school. I get up at 6 am to apply for jobs every day and have contacted almost every shop, building, etc in Amherst. I am still waiting back for the jobs I had interviews with to finish up the rest of the other interviews and to get back to me. I could do a lot more complaining, but this isn't Myspace (I really miss Myspace...oh the drama). So here are the highlights of this week!

     Marty and I were so excited to watch the first Nebraska game here in Massachusetts! We called a lot of restaurants and bars, and one of them would let us use a TV in the corner (since everyone was watching the Red Sox game).  The bus only took us halfway, so we had to walk the rest (not like I care anymore, all I do is walk). On the way I found a super cute yellow house that I plan to live in. I also included a picture of the bus, because why not.

                                      

     We also found a really delicious pizza place that had pizza just like the pizza I ate in Italy. There was probably over 30 different kinds of pizza that they had and it was gooooood! I had a spinach pesto mushroom pizza and Marty got...cheese. 

   

yum

        Today was a big day for UMass students, because today we all became apart of a new Guinness World Record- the largest fruit salad in the world. Kinda dumb but whatever free food. The cool thing about this festival is that every thing was organic and farm fresh. They served quinoa butternut squash and cranberry salad, fresh corn and beans, veggie burgers, whole wheat cookies, and free range happy (dead) barbecue chicken. I was really excited; Marty was pretty disappointed. We got to watch the UMass marching band too. Since the bus wasn't running today, we had to walk 7 miles to get there and back. Free food; no regrets.

 

 Look at all this fun stuff.


     As for now, keep praying for me to get a job, and that Marty will have an awesome first day of school and teaching tomorrow. The bus system will finally be up and running tomorrow so hopefully that means less walking for us. My fingers hurt pretty bad from typing all this so I'm keeping it short- stupid arthritis is stupid due to rainy weather. Peace


Johannah