I Feel Like Edumacatin' yah

The topic of today's discussion is "What you don't know about West Virginia".

West Virginia has a very colorful (I'm in the US so I am using the US spellings now, that is why I wrote "colorful" instead of "colourful" like I usually do) past. West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War and became its own state in 1863. It was admitted to the Union at that time and became a very important border state between the North and the South. It was the only state to form from seceding from a Confederate state. I didn't know that!

Glenville was the site of a Union fort apparently, and saw some minor skirmishes, and there is an annual recreation of a Civil War Battle in the Summer. I knew that! Frank and I came to school one day and were almost taken hostage by a rebel confederate band. They had their muskets loaded and were ready to take us. Kidding. But we did see all these people dressed up in period costumes and they did have their cannons and muskets out.



The term "red neck" is said to have come from this area. It was said that miners looking to unionize tied red bandannas around their necks to show solidarity. Today, the term is a stereotypical label given to people who live out in the country and are of a lower socioeconomic status. They might look kinda funny due to the stereotypical belief that they inbreed. I don't know about that, but I have seen some pretty strange looking people here in Glenville. I think the guy in the picture above was at the basketball game last Saturday.


The Hatfield clan from the infamous Hatfield-McCoy Feud lived in West Virginia! You should Wikipedia that topic. It is fascinating. It contains murders, kidnappings, secret affairs, pillaging, state militias, missing bounty hunters, court cases, a posse or two, and a case of hog ownership in dispute. The most amazing fact is that it was the game show "Family Feud" that reunited these two clans. I'm not lying to you! Look it up.

Here is another cute little tidbit:

A common story told about West Virginia is the folktale about how it got the nickname "West, By God, Virginia". According to the legend, a West Virginia native who was being inducted into the US Army during the First World War (some versions make it as early as the Spanish-American War), was repeatedly asked by his induction officer, "What part of Virginia?" And the soldier, finally getting fed up with the confusion, said "Not Virginia! West Virginia! West, by God, Virginia!". This story, whether true or not, has entered American folklore, and it is not unusual to hear not only West Virginians themselves, but other Americans, refer to the state as "West, By God, Virginia";, or often as "West By-God", or sometimes simply as "By-God". Many West Virginians, when travelling outside the state, or when abroad, enjoy paying homage to the legend by referring to their home state in this manner.

Now a little bit about the wildlife around here:
West Virginians like to hunt. A lot. Camouflage is practical wear around here. This is what they hunt.

Squirrel. Yah...I thought that was very strange too. I was promised some the last time I was here and never got any, but one of my new friends here said that he has some in his freezer and he will give me some. I'm not sure what to think about that. But as I tell my kids..."You've got to at least try it..."

Wild turkey. These things get huge! Frank and I almost got taken hostage by a flock of these crazy, ugly things too! If it wasn't Confederate soldiers, its was the wild turkeys. I wonder how they taste. Maybe my friend has a wild turkey in his freezer too. I'll ask.


Deer. Oh my goodness, do they ever have deer here. They are everywhere. On the mountain sides, in the meadows, in field, and valley. Crossing cricks and peeping out of forests. Beside you when you are trying to drive, sometimes under you while your trying to drive (those ones, I call kamikaze deer, they literally commit suicide by automobile very frequently, twice on Frank's rental car) and during hunting season in the back of trucks and tied to the roof of every vehicle you see driving by. I once saw an old 4WD car that had 5 dead deer tied to it. Yup! 5. There are so many deer here. It is scary driving at night. Their glowing eyes give you just enough time to curse and swerve to miss them.

Awww. They are so cute...except for their naked tails. That's just weird. Opossums. I think they are the only marsupials in North America. I could be wrong though. I once came across one that was hit by a car. I had to investigate. I had never seen a live opossum before. Well...I guess I still haven't. But, it was pretty cool, a little smelly (it was in the middle of summer and very hot), but its tail creeped me out a bit. It's prehensile. And pink. And naked. No hair.

I'm sure they hunt other things here, but these are the ones that I remember. I missed the hunting season this time 'round. I kinda miss seeing all the camouflage, gun racks, and dead deer hanging all over the place. That is pure West Virginia.

You know, it might seem like I make fun of West Virginians, but I actually really like them. Everyone is very friendly. You can say hi to anybody and they will stop and say hi back. They are always willing to help, whether it is to give directions, or hold open a door, or give you squirrel meat. They are a nice bunch of red necks!

What is kinda disturbing though, is that I find myself talking like them here and there. Don't make fun of me when I come back to civilization, OK? Thanks.

Until later.

Love Tanya

The Bridges of Gilmer County: One Stoplight

That's it my friends. That is the famous one stoplight of Gilmer County. It is the only stoplight in the county and it is right downtown in Glenville, WVa. In fact, it is just down the street a little from my dorm room.

I went for a drive on Saturday to escape, or rather, explore Glenville. I visited some areas that I remembered from the first time I lived here. I took pictures this time (as requested by Frank) and I wanted to share some of them with you.

This is the residence hall that I am currently living in. "Slim Pickens".


Any comments about "jail cells" are not welcome, but totally correct, unfortunately. It does look very institutional doesn't it. My room is on the right wing, on the third floor back in the corner. This wing is actually the nices out of all the wings. I am in a "quad" with three other girls in private rooms. We share one bathroom between the 4 of us and it isn't too bad. Twice a week, a crew comes in and cleans the bathroom for us and they take out the trash everyday. That's great, because I hate cleaning the toilet back home. Notice the open sandy volleyball court in the above picture. Frank and I used to rule that court. We were the best co-ed beach volleyball team on campus back then.

This is the house that we eventually came to live in. I don't think our old landlords are there any more, they were quite old back then. I might try to find out.


It was pretty posh digs for us. We had central air, which meant air conditioning. And that, my friends, is heaven in an area of 99% humidity in the summer. While other students were swealtering away in the "jail cells" with no AC, Frank and I were hiding away in cool paradise.

Here are some more pictures of the campus.


This is looking up the street from the dorms. The Library is directly ahead, the Alumni house is on the left and the Fine Arts building is on the right.


This is the sign at the front entrance to the college. I was once a "Lady Pioneer". We actually have a mascot that dresses in buckskin and shoot a rifle at the end of the half and the end of the game. It is loud and it is hilarious.


I just found out that last year, Glenville State had its first African American Pioneer mascot, ever. Barack Obama is standing on the shoulders of great men. All the other mascots look exactly the same as this guy. I'm not kidding you. The are interchangeable. Psst...he's wearing a "coonskin hat"!

Here is the football field. I think it is the reason Glenville State college exists. Anyone that is black here either plays for the football team, wants to play for the football team or is on the basketball team.


It doesn't look like much in this pictures, but those stands fill up when there is a game on and the population of Glenville almost doubles on game day. The tailgate parties are something else. There are stands on the other side of the field as well, not quite as big, and they are for the fans of the other team.

Here is a picture of the new residences. These are for upperclassmen, married students and other more deserving people. These at least look like they were built for this century.


They didn't have these little beauties when Frank and I were here. Too bad. They look pretty nice.

So on with my drive.

I have to show you the funniest thing that ever happened to Frank and I. Before we move into the AC Paradise, we were looking for places to rent off campus. We looked in the local paper and there was a very promising ad. 2 Rm furnished house, it said and the price was very affordable. Something like $350/month, including electricity, gas, and water. It's address was 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. We went to take a look. We found 105 Brooklyn Dr. and 103 Brooklyn Dr., but 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. wasn't there. Was the ad wrong? Did it list the wrong address? Then, we looked between the houses and saw this.



We walked closer. No! Couldn't be....that had to be a shed. Noone could live there. We had found 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr.


I'm not kidding you. Look!


I think someone has fixed it up since we saw it last. At least the door lines up with the steps now. We had to take a closer look. We walked up to the door and knocked. No answer. We tried the doorknob, and I'm not lying here, I am telling you the honest truth...the doorknob fell off! I stood there holding the doorknob and turned and looked at Frank, all guilty-like. "I didn't do it! It just fell off!" We laughed. We pushed in the door and looked at a 2 Rm house. Not 2 bedroom like we thought, but a 2 room house. Actually it technically could have been called a 3 rm house, because there was a kitchen/living/dining room, a tiny room that had a broken mattress half leaning against the wall (it was very badly stained and looked like a small rodent had torn into it) which must have been the bedroom and a bathroom. Well, it had a toilet and a sink (I can't remember if it had a tub or shower, but I don't think so, because it was so tiny!) It had a chair in the kitchen/living/dining room and I think that out recliner that is on the porch in the picture was inside. That was the furnishing. All of them. I remember laughing at Frank and saying that it was a very efficient house. "Look, you can sit on the toilet and cook breakfast at the same time." Oh yah, it had a stove and sink as well. And you could. Not lying. Anyways, we left laughing determined to continue our search for accomodations else where. But...and this is the most hysterical part: we went by the house about a month later, as we were jogging, and saw two football guys living there! I couldn't make this up if I tried. So, I got pictures of it for you.

After my little chuckle, I was off to explore some more of the area...

So, here's the thing about West Virginia. Is is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain range. It is a very hilly area, with a lot of rivers and streams and creeks (or as the locals call them, "cricks") running around and at the bottom of these hills and small valleys. The roads don't go over those hills, they go between them, so the roads follow the waterways. They are very twisty and narrow and here's another local slang word, "hollers". That is what they call the little side roads off the more major county roads that go down those twisty, narrow valleys. Apparently, some of those hollers, people live there, still, to this day, without electricity and running water. Amazing! Also, because the hollers are so narrow, and the road is on one side, the houses are usually on the other side of the water. And closer to the water, because, if you don't have running water, you don't want to have to walk very fall to fetch some. So, there are a lot of bridges. Oh, and every Spring, when the area floods, you have to vacate you house, but at least you don't have to wash your dirt floor yourself. So I took some pictures of the bridges and some of the houses in the area. I plan to get some more. These ones are pretty tame compared to some that I remember. You know that book and movie, "The Bridges of Madison County"? Well, here is Gilmer's version. And there are many of them.


This one is pretty modern and you can drive across it with confidence.


Here is one that is only a foot bridge. This is a pretty common sight. And this one looks safe at least.


And another one, and below is the house that it lead to.


I would call it a more modern take on 103 1/2 Brooklyn Dr. in a rural setting. Wouldn't you say?


And this one is quaint. Just wait until you see some of the suspension bridges that I saw coming in the other side of town. I will get pictures of those and upload them. They are absolutely amazing. Terrifying and incredible little foot bridges.

Now on to some of the habitats in the area. The first picture is of Ike Morris' mansion. He is the richest man in the area. He owns the Waco Oil and Gas Company and has obviously done very well for himself. In fact, he is a very philanthropic man. He has, over the years, donated a lot of money to Glenville State college. He paid for the football stadium and the atheletes fitness center, which the college appropriately named after him. He is donating the money to build a community center on the other side of town, it will be named after his wife, Sue. And he has given money for scholarhships year after year, dollar after dollar. This is his house.


That is only the front, grand entrace, it has two other wings. And the entire property, including stables, barns, tennis courts, gardens, outbuildings and gazebos is surrounded by that fence. It looks to be about 5 acres or so. Pretty nice. Well...this is his neighbour, right across the road from him.

Yah, talk about disparity of classes. But, what was funny and quite telling was a big, handpainted sign on the side of the shed just out of the picture on the right side that read..."How many lives is a barrel of oil worth, Mr. Bush?" I missed getting that picture, but I think I have to take a trip out that way again, just to get that sign. What a hoot! And these people live right across the road from Mr. West Virginia Oil himself. Had to laugh. Mr. Morris' sign going the other way, into town read something like..."If you don't have an oil rig...get one." These West Virginians sure have a great sense of humour.

Well, that's it for today. Talk to everyone soon.

Love Tanya

Bad Hair and My First Week

Hello Everyone,

So, it is Friday night and I have just completed my first week of classes here.

It sucks! I have forgotten more about Biology than I thought possible and I found out this week that in one class, "Senior Seminar", they give everyone a COMPREHENSIVE ORAL EXAM at the end of the semester. COMPREHENSIVE, as in, everything you should have learned in all the Biology classes you have ever taken. EVERYTHING is fair game to them. Human Anatomy, Comparative Anatomy, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Botany, Genetics, Developmental Biology, General Biology 101, Microbiology, Invertebrate Biology, and Vertebrate Biology. I've probably forgotten some others. See...my memory is severely affected. This is tough for students that went through the Biology program in the usual 4 years. Did they not get the memo that I took the vast majority of these classes more than 11 years ago? Some of them in my first year at college back in 1993. I'm sure I sent that memo out to the entire Science Department. I am taking Genetics and Developmental Biology this semester. The other classes...well...I'm going to have to study/remember/panic all by myself. The teacher says that you have to pass the oral exam to graduate. She also said that students have failed the oral. Great. So, my plans to party it up down here while I was away from the kids has changed. I am now considering myself a hermit (hermitess??? Is that a word? It should be.) I don't think I will leave my room for any other reason than to go to class, hit the gym, eat and poop. Five months should fly by. I'm being sarcastic. Wait...I hope they don't fly by. I have to learn 4 years of Biology in those 5 months. I've changed my mind. I hope they go very, very, very slowly.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my room when I first arrived.


It ain't the Hyatt. Not even Best Western, maybe the youth hostel in inner city Detroit. Yah, they haven't updated the rooms in "Pickens Hall" since I was last here. I call it "Slim Pickens", cause you don't have an option in Glenville.


Here is the other side of the room. I have a desk, mini fridge, microwave, a few chairs, a couple drawers, and a closet. Slim Pickens for real! I kinda felt like I was sent to prison when I saw my room.

Something that I highly recommend if you are ever forced to live away from the ones that you love...Skype. I turn on my little camera built into my computer, and Frank does the same back in Canada and we just leave it on during the evenings. I get to hear the kids fighting, and watch them eat and we get to talk about our days. Tuck, my dog, gets kinda freaked when he hears my voice and sees me on the screen but I'm not really there. He can't quite figure it out. He just barks and barks until he gets sent to his corner. I almost feel like I am at home, just in the next room maybe.

The fitness center is only a 3 min walk from my room, so I have been going there everyday. My body has been telling me that I shouldn't have stopped working out during the Christmas break. I hope to be a lean, mean, sexy machine when I get back. My only worry is the all you can eat cafeteria. West Virginians don't seem to eat that healthy. And college attending West Virginians are worse, I think. My only saving grace is the salad bar. The population down here does like to fry everything, or put some sort of "biscuit gravy" on it. And they bake 4 or 5 desserts and have a fully stocked ice cream sundae section. I have resisted as best I could, but it is hard when you are 4000 miles away from home and the establishment wants to ask you to... please explain "The Krebs cycle and it importance to the life cycle of Drosophilia melangastor". I will just have to run a couple extra miles each day I guess. By the way, I don't remember The Krebs cycle and I don't know if it has any importance to the life cycle of Drosophilia melangastor. In fact I think I spelt that organism wrong. Waaaaaaa! I'm gonna fail!!!

My teachers seem pretty nice, for the most part. I try not to hold the oral exam part against them. I am going to be spending a lot of time working with them.

Oh...the Bad Hair part of the title?

Well, just before I left Canada to come to school, I decided to get a haircut. I went to a place in the Mall (my first mistake) and ended up with this old woman (second mistake) cutting my hair. This was the look I was going for...


Sexy, right? I thought so.

This is what she gave me...


Not sexy. Not at all. You can't really tell in this picture but I had essentially two haircuts. I had really, really short layers on top, and basically a mullet in the back. Here's a side view.

Can you see it? The mullet? It was horrible. I told Ting, my sister that it was the worst haircut that I had ever received. And the worst part...I paid for it....AND...gave her a tip. I know....I know. Just laugh. I was watching "The Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers" that night and I told Ting that I looked like Frodo. She said that he was kinda cute. Yah...for a Hobbit.
Anyways, after a pep talk from Frank, I decided to head back to the salon in the morning and demand a correction. Frank was nice enough to go with me...I'm such a baby. Well, I walked into the salon and said that I had my hair cut there yesterday and that I hated it. The girl asked me if it was Louise, the older French lady that cut it? Yes!!!! How did she know? She said she has had to do several corrections for her and she saw me yesterday when I was getting it cut and she was biting her lip. I asked her why she didn't step in. She asked me why I didn't stop her. Touche. By the way, West Virginians probably wouldn't know the meaning of that last word. But, us Canadians do, don't we? Yah Grade 12 French and Immersion!!! I know I forgot the accent but I don't know how to get it on this program.

So, she couldn't do much, because it was so short. She tried her best and I think it was slightly improved. Ting said, at least you are going to a place where noone knows you and you will never see them again in your entire life once you leave. True. But who wants to look like a Hobbit, even in front of strangers? So, here is what it looks like right now. Please say you see a difference.


And the side view...


Still not as sexy as Mandy Moore, but at least the mullet is gone. I hate mullets. I'm going to grow it out and try the "Mandy Moore" with a better hair stylist next time. I still think I can pull that look off.

So, other than trying to avoid looking like a halfling from Middle Earth, my week has been busy, and stressful, and kinda lonely. I miss everyone. I miss my old life. I miss sleeping in my own bed, beside my husband and cuddling with my kids.

5 months. Please go fast...or slow...but just go.

Talk to everyone soon.

Love Tanya

New Year, New Life???

Hi my dear, dear friends and family.

My life has taken a major turn. I am right now, at this very minute, sitting in a dorm room, way across the continent in a tiny little town in West Virginia called Glenville. Let me tell you. This is something that I had always hoped would happen, but was not quite sure it ever would.

My story started way back in 1995. I was newly married (although my parents didn't know that particular point until two years later) and setting off on a huge adventure. Frank and I decided that we wanted to go and play basketball somewhere in the USA. It didn't really matter to us where, just that there were spots for both of us on the respective teams. It came down to two colleges. The first one was a NCAA Div II school in, I think, Missouri. The other was Glenville State College in West Virginia. Frank and I went to the local library in Prince George, and tried to find some information on both these locations. We wanted to see some pictures and get a feel for the towns the colleges were in. Well, this was before the internet was commonly used and so we had to try and find information the old fashioned way, through encyclopedias and books. Well, there were no books in the library on these regions. And the encyclopedias didn't have pictures. So we were guessing. Frank finally told me that West Virginia was in the Appalachian Mountain range and Missouri was flat farm land. He said, "remember 'Who's the Boss' with Tony Danza? Remember in the opening credits how he drives his van through the town? Well, that's in the Appalachian Mountains. Glenville will be like that." So, on that vision, we decided on Glenville, West Virginia.

We sold all our furniture and took 2 suitcases each and boarded a plane that flew us across the country. I should have known something wasn't right when the plane almost crashed trying to land on what I can only describe as a mountain top in Charleston, West Virginia. The Men's coach picked us up, he wasn't a very talkative man and we proceeded to drive along the freeway towards Glenville in pretty much silence. Then we turned off the freeway and to my horror we took this very twisted 2 lane county road. We drove past the most astonishing sites. There were these tiny, dirty, run-down, shacks that could only be reached by walking across suspended bridges! Frank and I stared in disbelief. This wasn't "Who's the Boss". This wasn't were Tony Danza dispensed funny yet wise wisdom to Sam in a posh house. This was "Deliverance"!!! I got car sick on that ride. I think it was because of the twisty road, but it could have been this tight clenching of my stomach, looking at my surroundings.

When we reached Glenville, I almost started to cry. The town was tiny, yet the boasted "the only stop light in 3 counties" or something to that effect. And it did have a stoplight. One.

Then the coach told us some more distressing news. He said that he wasn't able to find us a place to stay yet and that the dorms did not allow co-ed habitation. Whaaaaa????!!!! He said that he was able to let us stay in the Head Residence Hall Managers suite as the position had recently been vacated and the suite was empty. But only for a few days. There were no beds.

Frank and I unpacked as best we could and took a walk around town and the campus. All the way around. It took only 45 minutes. We found out that the population of the town, without the students in the dorms, was 900 people. 900 people!!!! 900. That's not even considered a town, is it? Maybe a hamlet? A "don't blink or you'll miss it" place to be sure. But it was where we were going to be going to school and playing basketball.

We did fine. We eventually found a place to stay. Frank and I played basketball. We both quit after the first year because we didn't like our teammates or the coaches all that much. We stayed through the summer, and into the next fall. I excelled at my classes. Frank did well but ruffled some feathers along the way. And then, Thanksgiving Break 1996. I got sick. Really sick. Like, almost didn't make it, sick. My appendix ruptured and I ended up in the hospital for 6 weeks and had 2 major surgeries. They opened me right up, twice. I have huge scars all over from the cutting and the IV lines. I didn't die. But the next semester had started and I was in no condition to continue. We decided to come back to Canada. I made arrangements with Glenville State for me to take my final 5 classes back in Canada and transfer them back and they would let me graduate. They were going to let me do this because I had a 4.0 GPA and 3 of the 5 classes I had to take were only electives. So we came back to Canada, I recovered. I went back to school and took those 5 classes and sent them to Glenville. I thought I was done. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Glenville rejected 2 of my classes. One of them was an elective! I couldn't graduate.

I didn't know what to do. I was furious, I was in disbelief. I was supposed to graduate Summa Caum Laude with a spectacular GPA with a BSc with a DUO major in both Chemistry and Biology. Instead, I was 6 credit hours short. We couldn't afford to go back to Glenville. I had also just had my first child, Aislinn. I looked into graduating back in Canada but was told that I would have to finish my final 2 years at the institution to be eligible to graduate. That would mean taking 3rd and 4th year sciences and all their labs all over again. I was stuck. I couldn't do anything.

Now, 11 years later, I am back in Glenville to finish what I started. I need that piece of paper! I need to close this chapter in my life. I need to do this. Frank and my kids have sacrificed so much for me to be able to do this. I am living away from them for 5 months to complete this degree. I am so grateful and sad at the same time. I am going to miss them so much.

My goal is to leave Glenville with no new scars and with my degree. The exact opposite of the first time I had to leave.

I haven't taken any pictures yet. But I plan to. I want everyone to see where I am at. I will get that one stoplight for you.

Until next time.

Love Tanya