wait...it snows in California?!?!

So, I was greatly mistaken when I thought it barely snowed here. I had heard that it was a possibility that we would get a few inches of snow at some point this winter, but a foot or more?? I didn't know that was possible! But, last week we got almost 16 inches of snow and it was quite the adventure! Especially for the 50 students and staff we have at JYA, most of whom have never seen snow before. 

We woke up last wednesday morning to at least 6 inches of snow, and it just kept falling all day. Around breakfast time, we lost power on campus and the roads were too bad to take the girls somewhere else, so we stayed on campus with no heat, lights, or water (and just consider the fact that none of the girls had taken showers yet that day and we only have 5 toilets total for all 50 girls....ewww!!). And, the power didn't come back on till the next afternoon. And then it was only a few hours before it was off again for another 12 hours. The snow was soooo heavy and it was really windy, so trees were coming down all over the place and staff had to get up on the roof to shovel snow off so the roofs wouldn't collapse!

I was on night shift last week during all of this, which means I got to stay awake 2 nights in a row while the girls attempted to sleep on the dining hall floor, huddled around space heaters powered by our one generator, which yes, i had to go out and refill with gas in the middle of the night. Fun stuff!!! Lets just say, none of us at JYA are taking heat, water, and electricity for granted anytime soon!

It was pretty entertaining to see the Californians react to snow which is so normal for me to see all winter long. This past weekend, there was an unbelievable amount of tourists up here in Julian to see the snow. Traffic was backed up about a mile out of town with people coming to see the snow. They were getting out of their cars all along the road to play in the snow, which by this weekend was gross and brown, but they were excited anyways. I even saw people shoveling snow into their trucks to take home! If only they knew how annoying snow gets after months and months of it all winter long, every winter of you life...I doubt they would be that excited! 

In other non-weather news...I finally got a car!!! I am now free to explore everything that southern california has to offer me :) I bought a Ford Focus from a girl that I worked with at JYA and I am loving it!!!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!! 

Love and miss you all!!!!!!

I finally did it! I went surfing!!!!! Surfing has been on the "to do list for my life" for a looooooong time, and I can finally cross it off! But I definately want to give it another try! I guess I did ok for my first time. The board i used was a short board and I guess its usually pretty hard to get up on them, but I got to my feet a couple of times, so I was happy!!! I'll just try and forget about the part where I fell right away every time I got to my feet :) 

Thank Goodness for Miss Herrema!!

One of the many roles that I play in my job here at JYA is teacher. The girls work on school every day and mostly do independent study. But, when they need help with certain subjects, they sign up for us to help them. Unfortunately, most of the time they need help with advanced algebra and geometry, which I barely survived in high school and college (most of the time I cried my way through my homework, which my parents were often witness to). But yesterday a girl needed help with language arts, and I definately felt like an expert for once :) This was all thanks to my middle school teacher, Miss Herrema. Anyone who went to Cutlerville Christian knows exactly what I am talking about :) I even started showing her how to diagram sentences! haha. And...it actually helped!! So, I guess the lesson here is: You never know what the struggles in life are preparing you for. Even a struggle as simple as 7th and 8th grade English...

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!! I know I did!! I started off the weekend with really no plans at all and figured that I would probably just hang out around the staff house and the little town of Julian for a few days, which didn't sound too bad to me, but I ended up having a pretty eventful and fun weekend...including a few trips into San Diego, and best of all...THE BEACH!!!

I got to spend Labor Day at a BEAUTIFUL beach in San Diego, Ocean Beach, with 3 of my new friends and coworkers, Amanda, Ashley, and Kori. While there, Amanda and I spent a lot of time watching surfers and dreaming about joining them someday in the near future :)



The next day Amanda, Ashley, and I took another trip into Old Town San Diego for some authentic Mexican cuisine :) And it was well worth the hour and a half drive!!!

And now I just got done with my first day back to work for the week and I cant believe its already my third week here!! I feel like I have known a lot of the girls (students) for so much longer than 3 weeks! I can tell that the staff make a huge impact on the girls and am continually surprised at the details many of the girls remember from my one day visit here way back in February. Today one of the girls said to me "Miss Elzinga, remember how you wore your hair in a french braid and then a messy ponytail when you visited? You started a trend here and we all wore our hair like that for weeks." Pretty crazy, huh?? I didnt even remember wearing my hair like that! Its pretty cool and pretty scary at the same time that what we do influences them so much. It made me realize I have a pretty serious responsibility to live a life that is worthy of being a role model for these girls.

Saturday is the first day since I have been here that is a "visit day" for the girls, which means some parents come up to campus and spend some time with their daughters. This happens twice a month and the girls are soooo excited to see their parents and introduce me to them, so I am pretty excited for saturday too :)

No big plans for this coming weekend yet, but you never know whats going to happen around here. There are plans in the works though to go up to LA for a weekend sometime soon, and possibly Disneyland or Vegas another weekend, so lots to look forward to!

Hope all is well at home! Love and miss you!!!

start of another week

For those of you who don't know, I will be working every wednesday-saturday, so today was the start of my second 4 day shift. I really enjoyed my days off, but am excited to be back at work with the girls and am excited to get to know them better.

Last night I was able to go into san diego again, with my friend and coworker Danay. We went to a small group through The Rock Church. Its a great group of people and I am having a lot of fun getting to know them. After small group, we went to a place called, i kid you not..."beef and bun". Sounds disgusting, right? Haha. My thoughts exactly. But I have to admit my milkshake was actually pretty amazing :) But, it definately cant compare with in'n'out, my favorite!!!!

And now I am about half way through my first day back to work for the week. I am still loving it and the girls are great. Its fun to get to know them and really see their different personalities.
Well....time to go back to work!!! I'll update more later!!! Love and miss you all!!

Has it really only been a week since I left???

I meant to start this blog right when i got out to california, but this week has seriously flown by! So much has happened that I feel like I've been out here for much longer!

First, I want to say that although things are going amazingly well and I am loving it out here, I still miss all of you at home and would love to hear from you whenever possible!!!

For those of you who want to know what I have been up to the past week, here is a quick overview...

I was able to spend my last night in the midwest with two of my best friends in Chicago last saturday night and then I flew to San Diego on Sunday. Not gonna lie, I was pretty impressed and proud of myself that all of my travel arrangements went as smoothly as they did. I had no problem getting from the airport to my rental car and then to my hotel. I spent the next 24 hours exploring san diego and shopping at Target and IKEA for all the things that I couldn't pack in my two suitcases. And, of course the first place I went to eat lunch was In n Out, my favorite!

Monday night I headed out to my new home out in Julian at Julian Youth Academy (htttp://www.teenrescue.com) where I will be working. Lets just say, its going to be awhile before I can survive the drive to and from Julian without the assistance of Dramamine! We are definitely way out in the mountains here!!

I started my job on Wednesday, and lucky for me, my first day also happened to be one of the few days they take the students to a lake for the day. It was a beautiful lake in the middle of the mountains and I spent the day getting to know the girls and wakeboarding and going for a boat ride.

I spent the next few days getting to know the girls and the schedule and the many rules that they have to follow. I've learned a lot in the past few days and am pretty impressed that I was able to learn the names of all 40ish girls, but I definately have a lot more to learn!!! The good thing is that I really enjoy my job. The girls are great and constantly making me laugh and the staff that I work with is making me feel right at home at JYA.

And now, I am enjoying my first 3 days off. Yesterday I went into San Diego with my coworker, Danay, and hung out at the cutest starbucks ever while Danay interviewed for a children's program at The Rock Church in San Diego. After that, Danay and I went to the church service there. Lets just say, it was pretty much the opposite of what I am used to at Mars Hill, but it was pretty cool and I plan on going there with Danay every week while I'm living here.


I am now staying at the staff apartment in Julian where staff can stay on their days off. Its very relaxing and nice to get away from the school for awhile. Its also walking distance from the main street of the town, which is basically the epitome of small town, USA. The town is known for its apple pies, and after sampling them, I now know why :)





I am really looking forward to continuing to explore both san diego and Julian and spending more time with the girls at JYA.