PHOENIX in Iowa

Happy bookgirls and bookmen are happy under the incredible sun here in Iowa and another week is done and done! It is only two weeks left in the bookfield! Still can’t believe that! Everyday we are getting stronger and faster. Some saw overly energetic puppies or moms, who would offer food and ice cream to make book people even more joyful! Next week full on power – we will start working half an hour even earlier to have the possibility to see as many families as possible! SO EXCITED!

For our Sunday meetings our org has been divided into two – so this Sunday instead of having one we had two meetings in Iowa. Early in the morning Elizabeth, Eedu, Kaspar and Hanna met in Fort Dodge to put an end to one of the coolest weeks. Olev had some business to do and was having fun later by himself, when he was climbing on the walls in one of the climbing centres. The next meeting took place in Iowa County Fair, where Kerttu-Liis, Laura, Sandro, Henri and Anete got together – to have a bit of fun and draw the final line for the week, too.

For the first meeting in Fort Dodge as usual it started with a meeting, but unfortunately they didn’t find the right place to go canooing, but at least they enjoyed the company with one another.

The fair had a lot to offer not to mention that it felt like we were back in Linnanmäki (probably most of the Estonians have at least once visited the amusement park located in Helsinki). It was a great feeling to relax a bit, have fun and free the inner kid inside us!

We also decided to try the corn dogs – have you heard of it before? I guess not?! It is basically sausage, which is on a stick and it has a coated cornmeal batter. Sort of similar to hot dog, but only without the bread and it is deep fried, too! It seems that it is one of the most popular dishes around the area in these sort of fairs – basically there was one stall on every corner!

We also saw many cute farm animal babies! SO ADORABLE!

Also the fair’s must is to see a butter cow and there was an extremely long queue to see it! Have you ever seen one?! IT’s SUPER AWESOME and carved out of real butter!

Week 8 – done mate!

Another week is done! The days and weeks are passing by so fast that it is even hard to notice! This Sunday we decided to take more time to ourselves. So instead of catching up with one another in person in a certain city or area in Iowa we had a super-duper awesome morning call, so everybody had more time to do either a workout in the gym, go to a zumba class, movies or some who just enjoyed Netflix at the host family! Sounds exciting? Yes! And the day has sure been great!

Today has definitely been a fun day for Laura, who ate Reese’s cups for the first time – but half way through eating found out that it has double papers around and forgot to take the candy out of one layer Every day learning something new, right?

Of course we never have a dull day at the bookfield, too – here are some of the pictures to prove, what is going on here in Iowa!

Phoenix!

This week instead of catching up in Iowa, we decided to visit our neighboring state – Nebraska! Nebraska and Iowa are rivaling in many sports. As we are based in Iowa we should rather support Hawkeyes than Huskers, right?

This time we met in one of the nicest parks in the area – Mahony and we had the oppurtunity to listen to one of the coolest alumnis – Matt Atchison, who is still part of Southwestern! He was a bookman for 10 years – unbelievable! We learned so many tips and tricks and after all it is all about having fun and growing as a person, right?

Also we are so happy to see Kaspar finally – our long lost org member!

Time for a reset and keeping the foot on the gas!

PHOENIX IN IOWA

Week 5 is done

Almost half of the summer is over and I think we are finally getting used to it and the hardest part is over.

This week Americans celebrated their independence day 4th if July. Everybody was visiting family or had family over for barbeque. In the evening you could see a lot of fireworks.

We wore festive clothes and it was a whole cultural experience. Estonians definitely don’t celebrate February 24th so big haha. After we get back we will change that.

This week everybody has a change to win the Southwestern Advantage insulated water bottle. For that you had to have the best week in sit downs (sit down with as many families as you can).

Iowa landscape reminds us of Estonia. It has a lot of farmland and fields. No mountains, flat.

This Sunday is very exciting because our group-member Kaspar arrives from Estonia, he took part in the national dance and song festival in Estonia so he joins us now. So lovely to see him. Now we are complete.

We went swimming today and played volleyball on the beach. Perfect weather.

Let’s keep swimming!

Phoenix organization in Iowa

Hello everybody!

Week 4 is done and Phoenix is still going strong. This week weather has been testing us. It has been over 35+ degrees Celcius this week. We have been sweating a lot! It is nice when families invite you into their house because they have A/C so you don’t really want to leave but you have to go to the next house :D. Can not believe June is almost over. The time has gone past so fast. We have been learning and working hard. Every day can be a good day if we have a good attitude. Our First Year student Hanna had her birthday on Friday. She turned 20! It is cake time! Woohoo! Let’s hope someone has a birthday every week so we can keep eating cake every Sunday haha. Even though it is not very healthy. 😀 One thing we have definitely learned is how much you can fit in one day if you have a sense of urgency. Wake up early, start your day off right, you can be so productive and get so much done. We are learning how to see positive things in everything. Self love is really important. We have gained so much confidence. We are doing a great thing and we love what we do. We want to be successful. Also we have been working on our tan. 😀 We are always wearing a white t-shirt, shorts and socks now. Today we met in a Mexican restaurant and we ate so much food. Also some of us won the 100/200 unit shirts.

You make us proud!!! Let’s keep swimming!

Phoenix organisatsioon Iowas

Third week is done

We had a very special guest today. Chris and Christy from Urbandale. Chris sold books over 20 years ago for 3 summers. He came to our Sunday meeting to talk about his experience when he was selling. He gave some good tips and told us how Southwestern Advantage has influenced and guided him in his later life. In bookfield he learned how to stay positive, how to talk to himself and how to communicate with people. Till this day he is working in sales and the experience has been invaluable. He learned that selling is not about him, it’s about the families you meet, you have to be service-minded and help as many families as you can. Chris’ wife Christy is a teacher and she talked about the Southwestern products from a teachers point of view. They are very educational and very good quality. They make learning fun.

This week we had a chance to win Southwestern sunglasses if you did 10+ sit-downs in a day. Because we hit our goals we got to do a fun activity. We went to the Swan Lake, it was a nice day. Took the boats on the lake. Weather was nice – not too hot not too cold. Weather has been a bit funny last two weeks. Unseasonably cold, it has been raining for a couple of days and yesterday we had a thunderstorm. Some roads were flooded. We are tough and work with every weather.

Sandro had a birthday this week, we had some cake and sang. During the week we eat healthy but on Sundays we try different restaurants and allow ourselves to eat what we want. Some of us are experiencing some leg cramps during the night because we are on our feet all day.

Time flies by so fast, it’s already the last week of June next week and then the first month is done.

Let’s have fun and keep on swimming!

Elizabeth Truve organisatsioon Iowas

Second week is over!

We keep growing. This week a lot of us had some kind of problems (we call them monkeys).

Kerttu-Liis locked her car keys in the car trunk and couldn’t get them out for like an hour. She called the police and the mechanic. Then she found that there is a button to open the trunk inside the drivers door.

Hanna had a lot of bike monkeys, her bike broke, she got it fixed, it broke again, she had it fixed and finally it got stolen (it was locked).

Sandro had some health monkeys, eating is very important. Eating a cheap meal for 10 days 4 times a week does not do good for the stomach. Also he had some heavy rain so he was soaking wet from head to toes.

Elizabeth had a funny situations. She got compliments from a 5-year-old that she has a nice bum.

Olev was talking to an asian guy for 5 minutes without realising he does not speak a word of English.

Merlin met the local police officer because someone called the police. She has a permit for the city of Urbandale but was a bit out of the borders. One street was one city and the next one already another city (Clive). The police officer was friendly and asked her to leave.

Karl-Eduard was riding his bike between the houses and hit the sidewalk. He fell, he is okay.

Everybody has problems but how we deal with them makes all the difference in the world. Every problem has a solution.

Everybody has been doing really well. Most of us won the success coin for doing 30+ demos every day. Next week we will work even harder! Our goal is to be in the top 5 groups in Europe.

We are grateful for having the opportunity to help so many American families with education. People are really nice and friendly and they value education here a lot.

Because we hit our goals we got to do a fun activity on this Sunday. We went to a pool for it was a very hot day. Some of us went for a swim.