My Kitchen is TINY!!

It's not even big enough for me and my roommate to be in there at the same time. Seriously, it's that small:

The apartment itself isn't so bad. It's a pretty decent size:

Isn't my couch awesome??? I love it :).

Elko is.... different. Honestly, it's not as small as I had previously thought, even after having lived here last summer. It is small, don't get me wrong, but it could be much worse. I was in the DMV last week and every person that walked in after I got there knew someone already there. I felt very out of the loop. Hopefully I will attain local status soon enough and know people wherever I go.

The job is great. I really love it. It's interesting and I'm learning so much. I spend quite a bit of time at my desk right now, but this is because I'm learning the computer programs and systems. Once that's over, hopefully I'll be out in the field more. The only thing I don't like is getting up at 4:30 every day. It is HARD! I know I've already said this, but it is!! I've never seen so many sunrises in my life, haha. This one was particularly pretty:

I've been home a lot. Twice in the month I've been out here. It's been hard for me to adjust so I go back to the people I know. Like these ones:

My roommate and I also went back one weekend because she wanted to do some shopping. Yes, she wanted to go to a big city to shop, cause small towns just don't cut it. Speaking of my roommate, I love her. I will be so sad when she leaves at the end of the summer :(

Also, look what I made this week:

Blueberry and strawberry pavlova. Yummm!!!!

Thoughts

I know that my blogging has fallen by the wayside lately. Let me explain:

Every morning between Monday and Thursday, I get up at 4:30 so that I can leave the house at 5:15 to catch the van that takes me out to the mine site. I work 4 ten-hour days. These 10 hours are sandwiched in between a commute of an hour each way so I’m away from home for at least 12 hours every day and more like 12 and a half. By the time I get home each day, I really want to do absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, having an apartment comes with responsibilities such as kitchens that need to be cleaned and dishes that have to be done. Also, I have to feed myself. So everything else just kind of fades away, especially something that I do purely for pleasure, such as blogging.

I’ve had an experience lately that really moved me and started me thinking. To sum up a very long story, I very recently ended a friendship that I felt was turning into an emotionally abusive relationship. The part of this that really got me thinking was the helplessness that I felt when thinking about ending the friendship. I knew exactly how this guy would respond to everything I tried to tell him and I felt like there was no way to end it. It was terrifying to feel this way and also to feel so completely out of control. Luckily, I wasn’t even in a relationship with this guy yet. I did some research on abusive relationships and they all agree that the feelings of helplessness and being out of control only escalate as the relationship gets more serious. These feelings get so bad that the woman feels as though she cannot leave the relationship. The thing is, there is nothing tangible about this abuse so there is very little that others, especially those with authority such as the police, can do about it.

So I guess the whole point is just to get you thinking. I had this experience and it really opened my eyes. How can you reach out and empower the women around you?