my heart is beating peacefully.

fear not good towns people! your favorite protagonist has not been defeated by the wintery nemesis WeatherMan! nay, his prediction was less than impressive. it was wet for a little while, and even some slushy flakes fell, but the ground is no more covered now than when i first arrived. it is just the remnants of his last great attempt to cover the world in white, which recedes little by little each day.
"great news," you say, "but why have you forced us to wait so long til this next update?"
well. weekends get busy. sorry.
so, where did i leave off?
saturday was nice and slow. i've enjoyed the various tours of the campuses, but the greenhouse at smith was beautiful. dont get me wrong, the quirky late 20th century architecture of hampshire college is amusing, and the antiquated feel given off by the main buildings on the other schools is great, but nature takes the cake. the maze of humid greenery draws you in. from one room of tropical exotic you go through a door and find cacti and succulents that make you pause (why would a cactus need hair?). the other visitors brought a smile to my face, one mother made use of a tree-filled room like a park for her active little boy. she sat on a quaint bench as he literally ran around the place in circles, back and forth around and round. he was having a blast. so i can certainly see finding some respite from the snow in there in my future.
in the afternoon we went to visit a lovely couple who has made their own little sugar house. getting to see the sugaring process from the very beginning to end (w/ tastings throughout) was quite the good time. what's sugaring? making maple syrup! oh how yummy it is. i was very surprised how watery the sap is right out of the tree, runny and clear. we gathered it from buckets tapped into trees all on their property. it takes a good long number of hours to boil the water out and get it to the right % ratio. the flavor is so different when it has only begun to reduce a little, like a marshmallow, but with a bit more plant influence. one of the girls w/ us described it being similar to barley. but i havent smelled that, so i will just take her word.
all the houses here are charming and comfortable, old and lived in. back home this place would be a labeled historic district. but here, it's just life. this family in their old house probably find it troublesome or lack-luster. i'd go visit the sugaring house any time! and not just for the fresh still-hot sample of their finished syrup.
i think all the introverts of MA live here, and the extroverts must be in boston. well, not all. i've been introduced to a fellow aggie (though she only finished her first year before transferring here, but she owns it all the way) who reminds me of a dear friend back home. pretty sure she's been the most extroverted person i've met all week! gotta love your aggies. i say that, but of course it's not really true. there are two of them. this is sunday now, by the way, and i'm at church. finally seeing the pastor friend that has lured me in. i kinda love that half a week went by before seeing him. just shows that this place is about the people.
the early service is small, and unlike at home it's filled with young college students. as is the second service, which seemed 3x the attendance. i guess you find out who your morning people are!
the glow and fire these students have for the gospel is inspiring. so many are new christians and have no family background in it at all. there is no deep culture here to rebel against like at home. the roots of these churches and schools is long forgotten, or simply ignored. so once they see the truth and God removes the veil, it's like they wonder why they never saw it before.
after church i got to hang out w/ the pastor and his family while my host went off to a baby shower near boston (outskirts, but still a bit of a drive even so). their kids are awesome. me and their girl played w/ their bunny for a while after lunch (at chipotle, brand new here, and they flock to it! we beat our own crowd, who have made it their sunday tradition to go there now. so amusing. what would they do if they had the texacan?). we then had some down-time at barnes and noble. get a bit to drink and take advantage of the store to read a bit. first thing i see? a doctor who magazine. didnt finish going through it, but i couldnt justify the money to take it w/ me. did you know they use it in the uk to motivate creative writing among their grade school kids? they've had script writing contests, and the winners had their show filmed! what a cool deal! we wrapped up the evening rejoining my host at the pastor's house for dinner - chocolate chip pancakes and sausage scrambled eggs. i love breakfast for dinner!
and so went the days. everyone i meet is praying for me to find a job. they're all so kind and joyful. yet, they pain for the people in the cities. they rejoice deep, and they mourn deep. i only have a few more days, but regardless of what else happens, it has been good. real good.