Silver fire hydrants and Cicadas

Today marks the first time that I will attempt to create a blog that consists of more words than pictures. Two things that we have found interesting since we have been here is that all the fire hydrants are painted metallic silver, and the city is full of the bug pictured below. It's called a cicada, and they fill the trees here and make a loud sound that I find to be similar to the sound of a strong electric current. Many of the people who live here seem to be accustomed to the sound and even say that they no longer hear them, but to new comers like us, these bugs seem to only serve as an annoyance. The bugs are quite large (1-4 inches long), and on the same day that we took a picture of this one, I saw one perched in the hair of a guy who passed us in the street. I do not see how the man could not have felt something that big sitting on the side of his head!

I have successfully completed my first week of school and love it! I was even able to find time on Friday to play some racquetball with a few of the other students. Nikky has also made some great friends and is looking forward to starting her new job on Monday. Josh Davis, from Idaho Falls, is doing his externship at an Eclectic Eye that is at a different location, but it sounds like Nikky will see him every once in a while at staff meetings.

It's weird to think that when we're coming home from church at 11:00am, it's only 10:00am back in Idaho and many of our friends and family members haven't even left for church yet. I am really hoping to schedule my time well enough so that I won't feel the need to study on Sundays. I have watched the last three Braves games on TV, though, so I think I might have to give that up and dedicate that time to studying instead.

The bishop told us that he wanted to meet with us when we first arrived, but he wasn't at church today because he didn't feel well, and next week he is driving to Oklahoma with many of the other ward members to watch the BYU football game, so he will miss church again. That just means 2 more weeks of relaxation for us before we start thinking about receiving callings again :)

Our Convocation and White Coat Ceremony at SCO will be on Friday, October 5th. We are all looking forward to that. I always thought that students waiting longer to receive their white coats, but this timeline seems pretty standard among most of the medical field. We are not sure what we will be doing for Thanksgiving yet, but we are hoping to purchase plane tickets this week to come home for Christmas. We just need to check with Nikky's work to see what days we will be able to come. I have a whole week off for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks off for Christmas, so I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze a few rounds of golf in on the days we're not traveling :)