Wednesday, September 27, 2006

And there it is.

I have been waiting on pins and needles to hear the good news from Canada.
My dear friend Jackie was scheduled to have her baby by C-section on Monday, so we have been thinking of her and praying for her for a safe delivery. I just spoke with her husband and all is well, and they have a sweet beautiful baby girl. Jackie and baby are healthy and doing fine.

Welcome to the world little Sophia!!

Friday, September 22, 2006

There's no smell if you fry it

My grammar class is proving to be an interesting time.


So, yesterday, cool guy slipped out of the class a couple times. The second time he left, the teacher asked the girl sitting next to him where he went. So, she told the teacher that he had diarrhea. The teacher began to laugh. And, as soon as cool guy opened the door to come back in the glass, the teacher started laughing loudly with very pronounced "ha ha ha's" and said "So you have diarrhea hey?" I think there may have even been an extended pointing finger. Uh yeah, he was a bit embarrassed.
I find I have to pay close attention in that class. If I let my mind drift off for a moment, I may find myself in an awkward situation. The teacher likes to ask questions. Questions like "What's your eye glass perscription?" and things like that.


Yesterday when we were having said conversation about eye glass perscriptions, cool guy told me that awhile ago, his eyes actually improved, and got better. He suspected it was because he was going through a phase where he was eating lots of fried cow intestines and drinking lots of beer. So that was his advice to me if I want my eyes to improve.

The teacher informed us that she improved her eyes with Laser eye surgery.

I think I'm ok with my glasses for now.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

A Tiny but Prestigious University

Today was a rather damp overcast day. Well part of it. Weather is still pretty nice here, but it has really cooled off a lot from what it was.

Had my first few classes this week.

In my grammar class there's quite a mix of nationalities. I'm the only person who speaks english as a first language. That class seems to be a good level for me. Although I still miss most of the jokes. The teacher laughs pretty hard though so I guess they are pretty funny jokes.

There is a guy who sits at the back of the class, he's the cool guy. He's the kind of cool guy who talks loud and exageratedly trying to be funny and likes the attention when everyone looks at him. When we all read together his reading drowns out the rest of us. Sometimes that kind of cool guy is also the "annoying guy". So far this guy hasn't crossed that line. He's not annoying. (But if he keeps up the reading thing- that'll get old pretty fast.) So far he makes the class a bit more lively. He's probably about 21 or 22. What I found the most entertaining about that guy today was that he was wearing a sweatshirt that said "Teeny Tiny Teddybear University" with with a picture of a teddy bear in a little outfit. So, while I may have been the only one in the class who didn't get the jokes, I was probably the only one in the class who got to enjoy just how funny that sweatshirt was.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

update on some of the small things

I'm back. So you didn't know I was gone? You just thought I was a lame-o poster. Well, let it be known that I am a woman of mystery. You just never know where I am going to turn up. For now, let the mystery be dispersed... I am back in my little apartment, after just over a week away. So, for those of you wondering why I haven't emailed. Sorry about that.

So here it is. I am back. A few small but notable things:

notable things:

Favourite moments of the last few days:
-hiked up a small mountain with some friends, then sat on the grass of a plateau, enjoying the sun and the breeze and the company. Also had a short but enjoyable worship time up there. Whose heart wouldn't swell singing "How Great Thou Art" while perched up on a mountain overlooking the ocean?

-Shared a few jokes with a girl from another country while speaking the local language, well she inserted some key english phrases that made the meaning oh so clear. She is a fun friend and a bonifide crazy woman. I appreciate that.

-Celebrated my hubby's birthday while we were away. Always fun to celebrate him.

Least fav moment of the last few days:

- at a rest stop, my foot got wet when I flushed because the flusher blasted the water out like a fire hose. Who wants gas station toilet water on their sandalled foot?

Interesting notable from the last few days:

I went to the store with the talking birds yesterday. The birds were talking and making other sounds... I was looking at something in my hand when I heard the sound of someone hoarking, and I cast my eyes up to the birds and I thought , "no, it couldn't be!" and then, the bird made a loud hoarking noise again! Ay carumba. Yes people here hoark, a lot.* It's not considered rude. So they hoark. I'm pretty used to it. I don't cringe like I used to..... but it's not my favourite thing that's for sure.

Unexpected notable thing:
While hiking down the little mountain, I fell twice in short order. Both times I put down my hand to stop myself. Kinda hurt my one wrist. What I didn't realize at the time was that this was a good thing. You see, I have a thing on my wrist called a ganglion. It sounds gross, but it's not that bad. It is a bump under the skin, I won't go into what it is... but it's pretty harmless. However... today is the second day after falling and the pain is gone in my wrist, and the bump has become much smaller. (it was filled with fluid..sorry if that's too much detail)... but now, my wrist feels great. In fact it feels better than it has for years. I think that the bump was putting some undue pressure on my wrist that I didn't realize. Now I can lean on my wrist without any discomfort. When I fell I guess I broke the bump open, for the most part it drained and relieved pressure.
Now I'm going to stop talking about drainage... but you get the point.... I'm quite happy about the whole thing.

Most wasteful thing:
Made apple crisp. Might have been the first time I ever made it in my life. Unfortunately I used some of my precious "from Canada" brown sugar, but it didn't turn out very well. The apples were too old and therefore not juicy enough, and I over cooked it. I have realized that the timing of an apple crisp is the key. Then if that weren't enough of a waste- dry apple crisp.... I forgot to bring it with us on our trip so it sat in our fridge for a long time. Bah.

Ok, that's the latest.... how are things with you all?


*just to give some cultural insight, there are some things that we think are culturally ok, but the people here find disgusting...example: picking your teeth ... they think that's pretty gross unless you cover your mouth well. Just like we think hoarking is pretty undesirable, but it's ok to do here, they think picking the teeth is disgusting, but we are much less bothered by it.