12 days and counting

Okay,
It's pretty intense having so few days left. I'm missing people on both ends, anticipating seeing people I've missed desperately and at the same time anticipitating missing the people I've fallen in love with (platonically speaking, no worries, I'm still getting married in a year and 7 days - wow). I'm excited for the opportunity to work down here over the summer for like 7 weeks, and I can't express how glad that makes me feel to know that I'll be seeing these people again, because my church here, my ministry here, they're a new set of roots, really. It has been a really reallly fulfilling experience. I also think i'd be really really sad if these good-byes here and now were good-byes forever. I just don't know how I would deal with that. I don't think I could. Really, I never want to say goodbye forever, just see you later. Well, if that's not enough reason for a Christian to evangelize I guess there isn't one good enough.
In the mean time (which mean time is purposely ambiguous) I am staying up late and playing games with people and it's fun. I love playing games, until it's like 1:30 am (like it is now) and here I am typing a blog entry because I like the idea of telling people what's going on in my life.
My goal is to have finished my exam tomorrow (I'm going to work on it, I promise!!) I'm going to get up at 8 and start working on it, while also cleaning my room and doing laundry. I'm going to also read my Bible outside, because that is incredibly pleasant, I love sitting in the rose garden (it's huge and smells wonderful) and just enjoying life. (Wake up and smell the roses?) Then at 11 I'm going to eat breakfast with some friends, which is great, I love it. I'm going to eat potatoes with chorizo (an amazing kind of sausage) on a big tortilla with cheese and salsa verde and onions. It's incredibly yummy, for real. Then I'm going to come back and finish this exam, by gommit!! I will be done by tomorrow at 4:30pm!!
I'm not going to do anything else until I'm done! Then maybe I'll just go over to Casa verde and hang, or I'll take a nap, cause those are awesome!
Anyway, I'm really really tired, but I just wanted to catch up and tell you all that I love you so very much and I really appreciate that you read my blog and stay up to date with me.
I haven't put up pictures in awhile, but to be honest I haven't been taking very many. I'm gaining a ton of weight (why do I do that!?!) but I'm going on a strict pre-wedding diet as soon as I get home (maybe as a new years resolution because Christmas and my birthday require cheesecake and ginger snaps....oh man I'm a fat-kid) So yeah, I'll be ok. I'll go off sugar again asap.
I love you all! Thanks for your support while I'm here! I really appreciate it!

Love, tons of it. xoxoxo,
Nora

Thanksgiving - Things I'm thankful for

Jesus
Pat
My family
My church
My friends
Mexico
THC (Templeton Honors College, not the active ingredient in marijuana...come on now...)
Emma (I miss having a warm puppy on my lap)
Being done with 25% of my classes! (PHEW!)
El Pozo
Good Food
Freedom of Speech
My grandparents
My brain
My professors
Cough syrup and tissues
Clean fresh water
Shelter
Opportunities to minister and serve people
House (because that show is awesome and you know it)
And now I must get dressed because my exam is in 2 hours and I have a class before it!
Love you all, and I'm thankful for you!!!

Nora

The week of death

This week has been crazy and it's only going to get crazier tomorrow.
I haven't prepared at all (I mean not even a tiny eency bit) for my last Literature class of the semester tomorrow because it's almost 12:30 am and I am exhausted. Today Liz and I stayed in the house of the missionaries who are out of town (Liz is dog sitting) and we are still here right now, I kid you not I've been here 11 hours and I have not finished studying for my exam tomorrow in Interpreting. It's killing me. I have so much to know and I'm just getting discouraged and I just want to go to sleep, you know? I haven't slept much in quite awhile...because it's been a crazy life... Yep, I've had something due and last weekend I went to a wedding, and so yeah, I haven't had sleep.

In other news, I'm so sad to leave Cholula. I really love Puebla, I really love the people, I really just adore life here, and I love learning so much every day. Although, I also have a lot of happy things to look forward to when I go home.

I called and talked to Hunter, my best friend and virtual big brother today. It was so great. I couldn't have spent 49 minutes in a better way. It was so good to talk to him, he said he has been missing me the past couple weeks and it really felt good to hear him say that - just as a girl, your guy friends don't tell you that much, so it feels good to hear it. It was really good to talk to him, because I realized that it's a lot harder to start up friendships with the opposite sex from scratch, you know? It feels awkward and they think that if you're hanging around the guys it's because you're trying to look for trouble. In my case, it's because I don't totally get girls...but I'm doing better. I think I'm really learning how to be a friend to girls, it's just really hard. I don't get the incessant giggling thing (unless it's 2am, and then there is just no choice).

I've been missing people more lately, but more missing people from Puebla than anything else. I've known for awhile that I'm the type of person who deals with problems in a more anticipatory manner than in any other way, so basically I get upset before something "bad" happens or before a big change. But then, on the bright side, I am always ready to adjust quickly and jump right back into life after the change is made.

Really, I've been kind of regretting some of my choices with regards to with whom I've spent my most time while I've been here. I think I've been blinded by wanting the younger kids in youth group at church to think I'm cool, instead of just being a minister to the people at school who really need someone to care about them and listen. I hope I can at least change that a little bit in my last (less than) 3 weeks here, but *sigh* I think I'll just have to come back this summer or something.

I'm really going to miss my church here. I've gotten so close to the people and the band and the families and everyone, I'm just really sad to say good-bye to that. It's ok though, God is so good, He always provides.


In other news, I get to see Melissa McClellan this weekend, and that's totally awesome! She's going to be visiting Puebla and so I'm going to meet up with her and the two priests she's travelling with (Well, her last name is McClellan :p) and Liz will come with me and we're going to take them to eat an early lunch. It will be really cool, we're excited! The only thing is, we're meeting up with her at like before 12, and I don't know if there will be much open for lunch time at that hour (usually it's like 1 or 2 at the earliest that people eat lunch) but oh well, it will still be good to see a familiar face, you know? And it's been a long time since I saw her!!

Well, I am exhausted and totally forgot what I was going to say. If anyone wants anything from México, they better tell me before I head back home, so please let me know, anyone. I'll try and get some good recipes out of Abril (the intern who cooks for Casa Verde).

Anyway, I need to get to studying andd then sleeping. Liz and I have had a lot of late nights lately...

Good night guys. Lots of love and hugs,

Nora

What a crazy weekend!

Okay so on Saturday I was supposed to sing and stuff at youth group without Joa and Keila because they had a wedding to be at, but the wedding ended early and they decided not to stay for the reception (lots of alcohol) so they ended up coming and Joa sang, even though Key didn't. We had a good time at youth group and stuff but then at the end it was cool because we stood in a circle and held hands and all prayed, and we were praying for things and Zuri (keila's cousin who lives with them and she's 19) said pray for Samuel (the 24 day old baby of Anita and Beto who are on the worship team with us and are a young sweet couple who I adore), because Friday night Beto had been really excited that Sammy was getting better (when he was born he went 45sec without oxygen and was a little deformed and had an extra finger). That was when Axel (the leader of the youth group) cut in and said, actually, a couple hours ago, Samuel died. You see, he couldn't breathe on his own, and on Friday he had been showing signs that he could, but on Saturday he couldn't again, and he died. So I decided not to go home Sat night, because I wanted to be sure I'd see Beto and Anita whenever I could and hug them, you know?
Well, anyway when Axel told the youth group that, we all got on our knees (there were like 30 of us) and prayed for like 15-20 minutes straight for Beto and Anita, it was the most beautiful thing ever. The youth group was so so there. We were all crying and just, really together. So like I said, I stayed with Keila and Joa, and Keila and I wrote a song for Beto and Anita, which we are very proud of. Sunday morning at church it was also a viewing/funeral thing, -we didn't sleep much saturday night - and then Sunday at 6 there was another service, and then this morning at 10 we buried him.
Guys, I don't think I've seen anything so incredibly sad as two really young people burying the 24 day old body of their first born son.
It broke my heart. I mean, yes, we know they're going to see him again, and I thank God for that faith, but these two people are in their 20's, and they've already had to do something more painful than I can ever imagine. They've been handling it so well too, I mean, everyone knows he's better off this way, he would have had tons of medical problems and everything had he lived, but still, Anita and Beto are parents now, and always will be, and they have had to live through a true tragedy.
I will never forget their faces when they handed the tiny coffin over to the gravedigger.
It was a long weekend.
Today we have off for the celebration of the Mexican revolution, which is nice, especially since my eye is killing me (I slept - very little - with my contacts in on Saturday so I'm pretty sure I gave myself a corneal abraision or something like that) and dude it hurts so bad. Plus it doesn't help I've been crying all weekend.
Anyway, it's been crazy here. I'm going to try to translate the song we wrote for Anita and Beto so you guys get an idea of it....but I'm going to do that after I take a shower in my own shower...it's been awhile...

Love you guys,
Nora

Slacker...

Yes, I know I'm a total epic slacker. Sorry for not writing. As you might not know, I am incredibly busy and I should be doing my 10-12 page research paper in Spanish on the European Union and junk. Unfortunately I am really sick of looking at it. Therefore I am writing a blog post about food, which is absolutely amazing here. Did I tell you that 100,000 times already? Well, here's 100,001: The food here is absolutely amazing.

I just had left-overs from last night for lunch, and it was so good, I can't even explain. That taco for 43 pesos was worth three meals, I'm not even kidding, which would come out to about a dollar a meal (But I ate it in 2, so it was more like 1.50 a meal). I love the food here. I love it all.

Really, I think I just love Mexico.

Either way, I am pretty bummed because it looks like no one will be coming to visit me (ie Nolan can't come because he has commitments to stuff and no one else is going to either). It's just a bummer because it would be really cool to share all the stuff I know with someone else. Not to like show off, but just to have them see a part of my life. I'm hoping Pat and I can come down for a little while this summer, but who knows if that will work. Heck, if I could find a job here I'd stay all summer. I should talk to people about that, because there are a lot of missionary organizations down here that I'm aware of, maybe they'd hire me as an interpreter or something (like for mission trips?) Who knows.
Either way, I adore Mexico.

I'm getting psyched about going back to the DR, I've heard a little bit from my team this year, which is really exciting and I've been chatting with Brian over email(one of the leaders) so that's really good. I'm excited to see Esperanza again (my sponsor daughter). And yeah, I even got an email from Wilman that said he took his church to Sabana Cruz and did a 3 day mini mission to help cut little kids' hair and do stuff with sanitation and what not. So that was really encouraging as well.

Either way, I have a lot of writing to do, in the next two weeks I have to do A LOT (I mean A LOT) of work for school, and that's in addition to all the activities I'm already involved in. Either way, I'm pretty stressed right now so I should get back to doing my paper, and try to calm down.

On the bright side: I have gotten a lot done, and I am almost done 5 entire pages - which is good considering I had 1 paragraph done on Thursday morning).

Oh yeah, by the way, you know you've been writing your paper for awhile when you start pressing ctrl+s on everything you type, like every 5 seconds (it's quite annoying when I do that on my blog post because it keeps trying to save the silly webpage as an html file, which totally doesn't help me haha). Either way, hooray keyboard short cuts (I know that my father and Pat are smiling at that in their hearts, as is Drew Cope if he ever read this).

Well, now I leave you with this request: Please pray for my productivity and focus. This weekend will be trying I think, and so any extra support would be greatly appreciated.
Also, please know that I really love that you read my blog and care about my thoughts and I'm so deeply touched by that simple fact (Becca - I thought this entire sentence with a british accent, which by the way my best mexican friends think is hilarious when I say "Mr. Darcy, do tell us of Pennbury, I hear it's beautiful in the springtime").

Okay, thanks guys. I love you!

Nora

Last Weekend Continued

Sorry you'll have to let this load for FOREVER...I'm a chatterbox...



Love you!

Nora

Popo at sunset

 

Okay this is popocateptl which is a volcano right near here, and this is a picture I took on Friday afternoon around sunset of the smoke coming out of it, this is a picture from campus, and the bleachers there are for the outdoor basketball courts. I love living in Cholula, it's so awesome. I just thought that it was so cool that Popo (it's a nickname) was smoking, and I needed a picture :D

Love you, I know, I need to finish my entry. I will do it soon, I promise.

Nora

Written, not recorded.

Okay, so I was going to post another video blog, but I really want to take a 15 minute power-nap before my class tonight at 5 (it's 4:22). So yeah, I'm going to do that instead of going through all the youtube uploading trouble.
I had a great and crazy weekend. For weeks I had been planning to take Liz out to celebrate her birthday (which was Oct 11) and so we decided to do that on Friday. We went to the centro historico (old city equivalent) and walked around and went shopping and bought some really cute earrings from a lovely artisan store where the ladies hand made everything there (I loved it so I wanted to make sure we supported their business). And then ate tacos al pastor (sooooo good) at a taco place right by the cathedral. We walked around a lot and then decided to come back because we had a flag football game at 4. We left old city at like 2:30. We sat on a bus going sort of the right direction for about 45 min and then we noted we were pretty much leaving the city. So yeah long story short, we were scared and ended up on a bus alone with a male bus driver at the top of a mountain outside of the city....it was scary, but then it was ok, and we got back into the city on the bus (it made a huge circle in the mountains outside of the city - tons of goats). And then we took a taxi from the city back to school and were only 30 min late for our football game...even though we were on the bus for almost 2 hours. And it was the worst bus ever, too.
But yeah, I don't mean to worry you. I am usually really good at using the buses here, but it's a lot harder getting back than going. But Liz and I have promised each other to always just take a taxi home from the beginning. It's not worth the trouble trying to find a bus when you don't know where to look.
And yeah, then after the tocho (football) game we did a little homework and then went over to the Basile's house and played games. I kicked serious but in scrabble and they were all impressed hehe. Then I stayed there because Saturday we had to go at like 6:30 am to our youth group conference because the band was going to play.
The conference was in Sardan City which is in the mountains and where my pastor grew up. It was so freaking cold. They said it was freakishly cold. Either way, not cool.
I'm going to finish this post later, I need my quick nap.

Love you,
Nora

Video Blog 2

Here's another video Blog. I put it on youtube because I'm just that high-tech, and now I am sharing it with you guys. You're so lucky. I'm going to go brush my teeth while it uploads and then put in the embed html jazz. Love you all
Good Night

Nora

ok, I brushed my teeth and changed into my PJs and everything and it has only uploaded half way...woops...

Loss in the Family

I was going to tell you all about my wonderful relaxing and fun weekend at the Oliva's (Keila's house) but today I got news that my first-cousin-once-removed (aka my dad's cousin) died today, suddenly. She was only 47 years old and left behind 3 kids and a widower. My family is all in shock and saddened by the news and I've been having a hard night dealing with being away from all of them. This is the 4th death in the past 5 years in the Barth family, and it's a tough blow for all of us, especially my dad's generation. She was so young. Tomorrow will be hectic and crazy, and since we don't know why she died it could be a very long time before we get the results of the autopsy and everything.
I have class in 11 hours and still want to try to chill out before going to sleep, so I should get off of my blog, but I just wanted to put this up and ask for prayers to be sent out for the Barth family and for the Van De Voorde's in particular, who have suffered a great and unexpected loss. Thank you for your love and support, again. I will try to write soon with happier news about Mexico.
Love,
Nora

Distrito Federal - Mexico City

This weekend I went to Mexico City (A.k.a. D.F. - pronounced de efe) with Susanna and Moi to see our friend Moi's house and meet his family and go to a lock-in for the youth group at his church. The church is an American church and Moi's best friend runs the youth group (Jaaziel - Ha-si-EL). He was really really cool. The lock-in was fun, although I think that Susanna and I ate about 7,000 calories each that night, I'm not exaggerating too much there either. Although, we only got about 3 hours of sleep Friday night. Then Saturday during the day we walked around Mexico City. We went to the center of like "old city" if you will and walked around - they had a lot of vendors set up which was cool and I got a nice black purse for 50 pesos (like $3.75) which was sweet. We then went to the cathedral in the center of the city which was built by the Spaniards basically on top of where there used to be a pyramid and where they did sacrifices and stuff (Aztec). Pretty crazy. Then we went to see the ruins from the pyramid, that was also nuts. Then we walked back from there to the car and went and ate crepes which is a tradition for Moi and Jaaziel, and a few girls from the youth group leadership met up with us there (they were very sweet) and then after that we went and ate tacos. Which were good. Susanna tried intestine tacos (they look like intestines - EW) and she said they had the texture of clam or calamari, which I would compare to a balloon but she didn't think that gave it justice I guess. Either way, Jaaziel and I thought it was pretty weird. Moi ate like 3 of them, intestine tacos that is, gross. Anyway then we took Jaaziel home and went back to Moi's house where his brother was watching a movie and so I half was watching it half was reading for European Union (which I didn't really understand anyway so I mostly just watched the movie - Jim Carey in Yes Man- is that what it's called?). After the movie Moi and Susanna and I decided we'd play golf (the card game) and we were like ok, best out of 3, then best out of 5, okay best out of 10 but in the end Susanna (who taught us the game) kicked our butts and we knew it. Although Moi's massive amounts of luck are definitely worth mentioning. We went to bed late and then got up for church in the morning after about 7 hours of sleep (A grand total of 10 for the weekend - woo hoo). We ate tamales for breakfast - my first tamal in Mexico. It was really really good. I liked it a lot. Then we got ready and headed out (I left a container of hummus at Moi's house, which is kind of sad but oh well - the part I feel bad about is that it wasn't my container...woops). But oh well, point is we went to church. The service was done by the youth group and they performed a skit that one of the girls had written and it was good minus the fairly overt references to certain things that kind of irked me and Susanna a little bit (but not a lot). They did a great job though and the service went really well. It was all in English which was weird because I haven't been to church in English in 2.5 months now, but I liked it.
Then after church we went out to eat with Moi and his family, Jaaziel, his brother, and two girls from church Kate (who wrote the skit) and Rachel (who had gotten crepes with us on Saturday). They're both American and Kate's uncle is a professor at Eastern - WEIRD right? lol. It was really funny when she said that because immediately I was like, WOW you look like Dr. Sparks too!!! Haha. It was funny. Anyway, we went to a buffet at a hotel that had like everything, and it was really good. Moi's parents paid for me and Susanna, which was so sweet, and we got to eat such good food. It was really good. They had great desserts (except the cheesecake was sub-sub-par) and it was fun. Susanna and I have decided to fast this week due to our obscene amount of calorie intake this weekend, so that's good.
Then we dropped Jaaziel and his brother off and came back to Puebla. We had a really good talk on the way back which was about 1/2 in Spanish and then the other in English. Mostly because I failed at one point in expressing what I wanted to say in Spanish so I said it in English and then it just kept going from there. It's frustrating that Moi is better at expressing himself in English than I am in Spanish sometimes, but he has had a lot more time speaking English than I have Spanish.

Overall the weekend was fantastic. I put up the pictures on Picasa and the link is http://picasaweb.google.com/PerfectlyMade/KeilaYDF if you want to see them. :)
It was a great time!

I have class in 20 minutes so I should get ready to go to that. I hope you all have a very blessed day and I'll try to write smaller entries more often, rather than these huge rants every 10 days ok?
Remind me!
Love you all,
Nora

ViDEO BLoG

Hey guys, this is my video blog update - I just got bored this morning and didn't really want to get ready for classes. I have a big exam today in Translation so obviously I'm really studying a lot for it (heh) - no, I studied already don't worry. I hope you are all doing well. Remember to skype or email me. Especially you, Daddy!!
I love you!
God Bless,
Nora

October, Crazy!

Hi everyone!
Sorry it's been more than a week. I'm kind of a slacker.
It's been a crazy week though. I had a lot of stuff going on and I thought that it would calm down by Monday but that didn't happen because my professor who was supposed to give us an exam on Monday, totally (TOTALLY) forgot and didn't even know what day it was so we're taking the exam in 25 minutes. I studied with Liz in addition to making a huge outline and study guide of the book, so I should be ready, I'll just look over the notebook before I go to the exam.
I have decided to rein in my self control because I think I've lost it. All last year I didn't eat sugar more than once a month on average - really. Now I eat chocolate a LOT, and that's so bad, so I decided I am not going to eat any more chocolate, not for awhile at least. I want to at least go 2 weeks without touching any and then I'll decide if I feel well enough to eat some. I have had such hard times getting up in the morning though, so I think it will be better to just, not eat chocolate and hope that makes it easier. I also decided to avoid sugar and caffeine, unless absolutely necessary and to not eat after 10pm (that's really hard here though because people don't eat the last meal of the day until really late, but usually the last meal is a lot smaller - or at least it should be).
In any case, that's what's going on. I have been doing lots of homework, yesterday I had a stye developing in my eye, and it hurt really bad so I couldn't get much done at all, Liz and I studied but that's pretty much all I accomplished in like 7 hours, other than play bejeweled with one eye open and talk to my mom on skype. Haha. Pathetic, what a waste of life. I held a hot compress on my eye though and that seemed to help a lot. So that's good. It hasn't hurt me yet today though and I got up almost 3 hours ago! YAY for that!
On Sunday I went to Keila's family's ranch (her dad's siblings are all doctors and politicians so they have this huge beautiful ranch and her cousin is getting married there in Novemeber) and it was awesome. I met her family and her cousins and was invited to the wedding in Novemeber and told that I had to go, which I would never argue with, lol. Keila is like my best friend here, and even though she's 16 and a junior in high school, she's like, really stinking awesome. I love hanging out with her and her brother, although it really really makes me miss Nolan a lot.
I might go to Keila's tonight and go into school with them tomorrow morning because she's going to sing in a ceremony thing that's like traditional Mexican stuff and she wants me to see it (really bad) so I might do that, the only thing is I have class tomorrow at 10am and have to make sure I get all my stuff done before then and will be able to make it to class on time. The other option is to skip that class and just go to the one at 11, which is translation, and I can't miss it because we're going to have our exam on Tuesday and so we'll need all the practice we can get - plus I have homework due tomorrow. We'll see what I decide. Either way, I love Keila <3
Also, today Josh (Liz's boyfriend) arrives and will be here for a week. I'm not thrilled but I'm not upset either. Liz's birthday is on Sunday and so he's coming to celebrate with her. It should be an exciting thing for her so I'm happy. I think I'm going to a concert with Keila on Sunday (even though it's Liz's birthday) because Liz will be with Josh, and I think we're going to have a big party for her like Friday or Saturday.
We'll see what happens, plans here just don't get made so we'll see some other time. I think we'll have a party somehow, not sure how, but it will be fun. I can't disclose what I might give her for her b-day because it's possible that Kathy Myers reads this and if so she would tell Liz, so I'll just keep my hands (mouth) shut on this one jaja.
Anyway I should get going, I have my exam in 10 minutes.
I love you all, thanks for your help and prayers!
Nora

Keila, and nothing else in Spanish starts with K....jaja

Okay so I don't even remember the last time I wrote but I bet it was awhile ago. I looked it up, a week. Wow. Okay so I went to Band Practice a couple times last week, which was awesome, and I even stayed over at Keila and Joha's house on Monday night to translate the song "east from the west" by casting crowns - btw, we did an awesome job and I'm SO proud of it! I love this whole translating songs business, it's really really fun and I feel SO proud of the work when we're done. I think I'm pretty good at it, even INTO Spanish, yay! Anyway so then on Thursday I got to go see my friend Moi's house, he has this cute little condo and it's number 8 (which is my favorite number) and I spent like 2 hours doing a tavern puzzle that he had and had forgotten how to do...lol. I did it 4 times in the end, just to prove that I remembered how haha. Friday I barely got any work done and then Friday night I played with the Basile boys (their parents had been out of town so there was another family staying at their house) and then I stayed the night there. Saturday I went to practice and was at church all day (as usual) and ate at Keila's house. Keila was at home all day doing her homework - she spent 15 hours on her homework for COMPUTER class. Isn't that insane? She had to make a like 20 page book thing on Word that included all these parts and stuff and it had to describe her life and everything, it was ridiculous. Anyway, she did it and it looked really good at the end. She'll definitely get an A+ (she's also smart and probably didn't have to work as hard as she did, but I'm glad she did). Then we had Saturday night youth group, which was fun. Afterwards I went home with the Basile boys and we celebrated Caleb's 16th birthday (Sunday) and ate brownies and ice cream (yum) and that was good. Then we watched get smart and then I went back to my room. Then Sunday we went to church, and as I was leaving Keila was like...*sadface* you're leaving? ...so I told her to tell me if she was going to do anything fun, but I had homework (which I didn't do until today). So she texted me like at 2:30 saying to come eat pizza with her and some young adults (like the young professionals group or whatever) and so Liz and I went and that was fun. Then we dropped Liz off and I brought my laptop and went to Keila's house again (I practically live there now haha), and I shared a bunch of my music with her which was really fun and we just talked for awhile. She thought some of PDQ Bach was HILARIOUS and we just couldn't stop giggling hahaha. It was great. Then we talked some more and I ate the best donut (not homemade) of my life which I don't even know what it was but it was AWESOME. Then we were going to write a song, but we came up with (at least) a really cool chord progression (which I don't remember at the moment but I think it's AE x3 F#m C something?) I can't quite remember. Either way we're going to write some music together. Yay!
Keila also said to me (she's only 16 by the way) that she was really glad we were friends because she's been really wishing she had a friend who she didn't feel like she always had to remind not to be a stupid girl (if you know what I mean). I was really glad she said that, it just made me feel like I was really pouring into someone here, even if I have been feeling a little less than useful.
Also, she let me rip her demo CD and I am addicted to it. She is such an amazing singer, and she's eclectic with her styles. She's just the most incredible 16 year old in the whole world.
Anyways so I stayed at their house last night I woke up with them at 6:15 or whenever it was, drank some juice and then went back to sleep for an hour and a half (that was great) I tried reading but I was falling asleep so then at like 9 Juan Manuel took me back to UDLA and I took my meds, ate some pasta for breakfast (I know, weird) and have been doing homework and stuff mostly all day. I should be studying for my little test tomorrow in literature class, but I don't really know how to study except read my notes over and read the poetry again. We'll see. I will talk to Mollly tonight (she's in that class too) and see if she studied.
Also today, Keila sent me a text after school and invited me to go with her and her family after church next Sunday to eat lunch with her Uncle at his ranch, which sounds really fun so I told her I'd love to. I'm going to have to get a lot done before then though, because I have a bunch of stuff to do by Monday (maybe Tuesday too, I'll find out tomorrow).
I'll try and put up a recording of Keila that I think is really good, she's so awesome guys, really. Anyway, I should get going. I have class in 20 minutes and should probably try and to at least do a couple more things on my to do list before I go.

Love you guys, thank you so much for always keeping me in your hearts and prayers. I really appreciate it!

God Bless,
Nora

PozoViaje etc.

I had a wonderful time on the Casa Verde retreat this weekend. We went up into the mountains (Malinche is the name of the mountain we were on) and we stayed at a retreat center/hotel kind of place in Cabins and it was really fun. I stayed up until 3 both nights and it was a crazy little amount of sleep I was living on but I had a wonderful time. I ate so much food, this trend is stopping now though, seriously. I am adamant about fitting into a wedding dress (i.e. they won't make them big enough if I keep eating like I am - but purple is really slimming, right Pat?). Anyway, I got to get to know a bunch of people and we had a really great time. I totally loved it. I noticed though that I really depend on English a lot mroe than I want to, so I'm going to try not to say a single word in English for the rest of the week (I know that sounds absurd, but if you call me on skype, sorry, I'm speaking Spanish). Good luck. I am really really going to try to go for a whole week without speaking a word of English. We'll see if I can (I hope so). Also, I think I'm just going to try and be more self-controlled from now on, I've been really bad with what I eat, and how much I really exercise and stuff like that, so I'm going to really try and work on those things. Speaking of exercise - we had a scavenger hunt kind of thing on the retreat on Saturday and we had to go up and down the retreat center (which is in the side of the mountain) and so now my legs hurt SO BAD like, we didn't even do all that much but my thighs hurt so bad I couldn't stand up long enough to take a shower last night. I was so gross but I couldn't stand so I just went to bed.
Also, since the altitude changed from like 2,000 kilometers to like 3,500 kilometers it was totally hard to breathe and stuff, and now my sinuses are freaking out for going BACK to 2,000. Crazy right? I know. Anyway, so I don't really feel that good and I have a big chunk of homework to do because tonight I get my take home midterm and have to start that asap. (Tomorrow after classes I think). It's a little crazy here, but I'm having fun and I got a ton of sleep last night (like 14 hours, seriously) so hopefully I will be good to do work today and then will be able to chill out before my classes and doing my mindterm tomorrow.

Love to all, xoxo
Nora

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!
Last night I went to the celebration party (they celebrate at midnight the grito de dolores which is when they declared that they were going to begin fighting for independence in 1810 - look it up :P) at my church and stayed for about 2.5 hours and probably ate 2 kilos of food. Seriously. Lol. It was awesome. I came home around 10:45 and was going to go out again but it was raining and I lost my umbrella so I decided to stay in. I went to bed around 12:30 or 1 and got up this morning around 9am. I did all my homework for tomorrow (except print it out which I will do tomorrow morning before class) and then have lounged around on facebook all day. I also read a page in my book lol. Additionally I straightened up my room a little bit, watched the end of the flintstones movie with my suitemates, ate a sandwich, talked to a million people on facebook (including MaryBeth :D I miss her) as well as Angelina and Becca on skype (love them) and have filled up my 20oz glass at least 5 times today...I love water. I am still trying to decide if I want to eat dinner, I mean it's almost 7 o'clock so if I want to do it at a healthy hour I should do it now, but at the same time I haven't really been hungry all day (because I ate so much yesterday). I don't really know, but I love quesadillas is the thing.
I had intended to go out today to buy more credit for my cell phone but it has been disgusting rainy all day long so I haven't gone out....sigh...
Anyway, I should get back to my facebook chatting, Kasey misses me (I miss her too) and then maybe I'll read my book and go to sleep.

Love you all, thanks for your support :P
Nora

Whoa man

So I will keep this short and to the point. I had my class with my obscene professor today (he curses like every other word) but this class he really only cursed a couple times (and I think they were well placed this class). Anyway, we talked about migration and city life again. We have 2 classes per topic in the text book, so this was the second one on this topic. I really couldn't believe my ears. The atrocities he talked about today were so painful I fought back tears at least 3 times in the class. When he dismissed us I sat in my chair in the class fighting back tears as other people left. I left the room walked down the open air hallway with Liz behind me and stopped at the column right by the steps out on to the sidewalk where I proceeded to weep intensely into Liz's chest. I cried there for a good few minutes and then she suggested I go to the bathroom to clean up (I was pretty gooky).

Just think about these things and tell me if you are really as desensitized as our culture wants you to be, I hope to God that you aren't.

A mother gives her child to a man who promises her he will take this baby to a better place, a family who wants her and will love her and has money for her to go to school. The mother just wants the best for her daughter. The man takes her and brings her to any of the following:

A fattening camp, where they fatten up the children so that they can be used in slave labor, prostitution or organ donation.
A brothel where she is traded for sex at whatever age she might have (as young as 4 or 6 years old).
A doctor where she is used as an organ donor right away, because some a-hole in the first world is willing to buy an organ for his kid without knowing where it comes from.

Okay, now imagine that the man who takes this girl away asks for money from the mom and she gives it to him. He just bought that child's life.
And now here's the part I have so much trouble with: He is still a man. He still deserves his human rights. And you know what, it's possible that he IS NOT a sociopath. He feels, just like you and I do. That gets me every time. I just cannot imagine at all, but you know what, it's true. People out there do this because that's all they can do. They're weak and they have a cousin who will give them money to do this nasty stuff and they do it because they can't find food or water or clothes or shelter or acceptance anywhere else.

Now you can understand why I cried, right? This is absolutely horrible and it happens all the time.
The part that really got to me was the organs. With all of me I want to deny that it happens, but it's true. It does happen, and it happens all the time.

Please, keep this f-ed up world in your prayers. I am sorry to be crude, but look around. If you don't see a whole bunch of stuff that needs to change, then you aren't seeing. Offering money helps, but this is what I know: There are tons and tons of people out there who have stories they need to tell in order to heal, and I want to be the one who hears them and see them through their healing. I don't know what that really means for my life but that's what I want so badly right now.

I want to be able to listen to the girl who lost her hand because some little kid needed a new hand. I want to hear her struggles, her pains and I want to love her with all of my heart. I cannot imagine the lives that the children of our world are living right now, but some day I want to be able to think about those children as a part of me, a part of my past, a part of my story, and know that I am a part of theirs. And I also want to be a part of the story and past of those who hurt them, not as a persecutor or prosecutor but as someone they remember as giving them forgiveness and grace despite the atrocities they committed and have them strike them so hard (that someone could really love them even though she knows what they did) that they are never ever the same again.


That wasn't exactly short and to the point, but that's what I needed to say right now. I know my professor saw me crying when he left the classroom, and I don't know what he thought. I just hope that my compassion for those who are suffering will some day make a difference in this world, as screwed up as it is.


Now I have to go to class. Thanks for reading. Please keep this in your prayers. Thank you
Love to you all, (and to Becca who I know is praying for me right now)
Nora

Just so you know what I did

 

This is the way I walked today, the red is the path I took, the blue is the path I should have taken, you can see the key at the bottom left-hand corner which tells you just about how much I was walking and you can imagine that this is not simple walking, it's uphill a lot of the time and we're in the mountains (Puebla has a higher altitude than Denver), so you understand the craziness that I went through today lol. Just wanted to show you (I was looking it up to make sure I get there right tomorrow anyway).

<3
Night night

Bad Day...*sigh*

So I had an overall pretty tough day. It will just try to divvy it up and try not to take too long explaining it.
Woke up an hour later than I intended, well, actually I got up when I wanted but then it was still dark outside and Liz was still asleep so I went back to bed. In any case, I had intended to go walking with Liz in the morning. Anyway we got up and went out to Tavo's around 9:05 but Tavo's (where they copy books for students - I know it's so bad, but there's not a choice) was closed so we went to the missionaries' house and Liz and I talked to the dad for awhile and then at like 10 we went over to Tavo's and they were open so I got my copies and then we walked back to our dorm and by the time we got there it was 10:30 and I needed to leave at like 11:15 to get to church at 12 (I was taking buses).

Also, while we were at the missionaries' the dad gave me a map and told me how to get to the church (but it was a confusing map) and I got off my bus to catch the next bus but uh, it didn't really work out because I made the wrong right at the 5 way intersection (I didn't even know it was a 5 way intersection - but there are TONS of them in Puebla) and so I walked and walked and walked for about 40 minutes and then I finally called Keila and told her where I was and her parents' car had broken down that day so her dad walked over to get me and he walked me to where I needed to go straight and said ok go straight until you get to the church, so I walked that. Apparently I made a huge circle, and in fact I think I walked about 5k today (I walked for a full hour at least, and I can do a 5k in around 45minutes), and you know since I was in sketchy-ish parts of the city I was walking fast. Yeah, that was insane, but wait it gets better.
So I get to practice and Keila (she's the girl who has the amazing voice and one of my best friends here) and I just kind of sit for awhile and she sings me this song about love and it's SO beautiful and perfect and she is like I want to sing it at a wedding and I'm like, please, sing it at my wedding, like guys, I have never seen lyrics so perfectly written - and SHE wrote it. Man, I was almost in tears, like it took all I have to think about not making my mascara run all over my face. So then during practice Keila's mom kept making me feel really nervous because she kept repeating different parts of the song like I was singing them wrong, but I had the right notes...so I was so nervous about it, like I knew I was doing it right but there was something else I was doing wrong and she wasn't telling me. Finally Keila said I was scooping and I just have to figure I have been out of choir for too long because usually I'm really good at blending, I don't know. Anyway so I wasn't feeling that good. Then one of the guys in the band for the youth group told me I had an accent when I speak Spanish so I just felt really bad and then I was feeling really insecure about it so I said something about my ability in Spanish when Keila was looking at her homework and I think I kind of offended her and I was just trying to compensate for my incompentence...Anyway, so that was not cool, so then we decided to go back to Keila's house and Keila's brother called us (me and Keila) fat, I don't know if he was joking but I felt awful to begin with so I just kind of sulked.
Then yeah, not too much bad happened at Keila's house, I read my Bible and stuff and we watched Enchanted - which is actually way better in Spanish, surprisingly haha. But seriously, it is. Then we ate dominoes (which was good, and we ate a lot - I was so hungry). Then Keila and I went back to the church (her dad got the car back so he drove us - thank God). Then we had band practice and I was doing alright, I only messed up a couple times and I at one point even had a part where Keila told me to finish the song with a harmony I had made up (I was really proud of that). But then we started the youth group meeting and we were doing our 2 songs at the beginning and oh man, half way through the second song Keila tells me my microphone was off - talk about embarrassing, so then I turned it on and you could hear me and I was SO loud and Keila could not stop laughing, she was playing the guitar and singing so she just stopped singing to laugh at me and so I ended up being the only one singing but I was also laughing (because if I didn't laugh I would have cried). Yeah, talk about embarrassing. The rest is pretty much history. I just need a good cry I think and then I'll probably be okay.

*Sigh*
It was a day, for sure.
Then Sandy (missionary mom) gave me a lift and I asked her to take me to their house instead of dropping me back at my dorm because I didn't want to go back yet so then I hung out with Matt and Caleb and their friend Daniel for a little bit until they were going to watch a movie and Daniel was all worried about me walking back by myself and I was like, dude, I'll be in the school, no one is drunk yet, and hello, I walked for an hour by myself in Puebla today, I'll be fine haha. But they walked me out to the gate which was sweet and then they were really nice to me for having such an awful day. I really appreciated their support, they are sweet boys.

In any case, tomorrow I have to go to church at 10:30 so I'm going to leave at 9:30 and I am going to take the right bus tomorrow and if I screw it up I'll just find a cab and have them take me to the church. It's the 25 bus that will take me right to the church I think (heh) so if I see that I'll just make sure they drop me off. I know what intersection I want so I should be okay.

Also - This is a stupid thing to say but yeah - when I came home Liz had bought peanut butter with added honey - which not only has all the sugar of normal peanut butter, but added honey which flavors it and I find it disgusting...so that was really disappointing...I don't know, beggars can't be choosers I suppose...Whatevs, I gave her the money for it, it's just I'm picky I guess..I don't know, I'll ask Moi to take me sometime.
Oh yeah, and Matt said he'd swim with me, yay! I will get him to swim with me, maybe on Monday, who knows. :D

Good night all.
Love you,
Nora

Another Saturday

Today was really crazy and in the end really fun. I should start with yesterday though so you get an idea of what my life in México is really like.

Yesterday I had 0 classes (like all Fridays) so I got up at around 8am and started doing homework. I went to Bible study at 1:30, thinking there would be lunch (because Moi told me there would be, but there wasn't) so Moi and I went to Subway (right next to la casa verde) and got subs (which was actually pretty fabulous, sorry to say jaja combo was 65 pesos, which is kind of steep but yeah, maybe not?). In any case, after Bible study (which was mostly planning, but still fun) we went back to campus and I proceeded to do homework, (I had to read more than 80 pages for European Union - so boring - and also type up a thing that I had worked on Thursday evening) at 4 Liz left to play flag football with our friends but I stayed doing homework. At about 6pm I realized I had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO on a Friday night and I felt like the biggest loser ever, I texted people but no one got back to me, plus the older 2 of my brothers here were going out camping with a bunch of their friends, so they weren't going to be able to hang out. I was dying of boredom but I couldn't go play football with Liz cause it was a long walk and it was going to get dark soon, so they'd be coming in anyway. Anyway, I even called Sandy (the mom of the missionaries) and asked if they had plans, but there was a team here from Wyoming and it was their last night so they were going out to a nice dinner and Stephen (The 3rd brother) was going to a party. Well then later Sandy called me back and said, oh yeah we need someone to watch Zach (he was going to be home and the team was running late to eat dinner - like 9pm and Zach goes to bed around 10 on weekends) so I said, sure I'd love to watch him. So I got to watch Zach, who is such a cutie, and it was totally awesome. Then I stayed over because they weren't going to get home till late and then had to take the team to the airport at like 5am so it would be nice to have me there to be with Zach that early in the AM. So yeah, I stayed in the extra bed in Caleb's room (2nd oldest, but he was camping) and it was really nice to get to be at the house. I think they really appreciated me watching Zach, and I loved it, so yeah.
So then today at 11:30 I was supposed to get picked up at the missionaries' house to go to worship team practice...but 11:45 came and went and he wasn't there. So I called his wife and she was like, can I talk to Sandy, so I said, sure. She basically asked Sandy if she could take me over to the practice because her husband was going to be really late. So Sandy brought me over there (after I got BOTH of my check cards in the mail haha, so weird) and then practice started after a little bit. Since it's the 1 year anniversary of our church starting, we are having a special service in the gym of a different University, so there were tons of things to do to get ready for it. Plus, tonight was the concert for the youth group band (and 2 other local youth group bands), so that also added to the craziness. Yeah, so we got to practice and man, I felt so young lol everyone on the chorus is so old haha, but then everyone in the band part is so much younger than I am so that's funny. In any case, practice was really good, we sang well I think. It sounded good and I just really hope I remember all the songs tomorrow and don't make a fool of myself. After practice there was a lot of dead time, in which Keila (pronounced Kayla) who is the sweetest girl ever and probably my best Mexican friend (she's 16 and plays electric guitar and is the BEST FEMALE VOCALIST I HAVE EVER HEARD - NO LIE) And she also sings (harmony) while playing guitar (and soloing even) - dude the girl's amazing. Anyway, she wrote this REALLY cute song (oh man it's cute) about waiting for the right guy, girls(!) because God has a superhero waiting for you and she wanted me to translate it into English with her (she knows a lot of English). So yeah, we did and it sounds SO good! It doesn't even sound like a song someone translated, it sounds totally legit - I am SO proud of it. I am actually way better at translating songs than writing them. I'm pretty proud of that (Nolan - let me know if you ever want to put a song in Spanish ;) wink!!)
Anyway so Keila and I hung out a lot and that was really cool - she's the cutest thing ever. I am totally in love with her hahaha. Her brother also sings and plays piano and has a TOTALLY gorgeous voice. He's on par with Grayson, maybe not quite as good yet, but he's incredible none the less. And their mom also sings in the coro (which is like the chorus thing that I'm in) and the three of them together do 3 part harmony and it's so cute and makes me think of me and Nolan and mama and how much I love singing with them and it warms my heart. In any casa Johanan (Keila's bro) also asked me to join the youth group band (THEY ARE REALLY STINKING GOOD) and I was so flattered and honored I said yes without missing a beat. Hehe. I was so excited.
So yeah, fast forward there was a concert and the Keila and Joha (his nickname - so cute) and their band played in the middle and were totally awesome. They were by far the best band there and they had awesome stage presence (I'm so psyched to work with them, seriously, total blessing). In between their set this missionary guy came up and talked for what seemed like 2 hours (idk really how long) about his testimony and then a bunch of other stuff and he really made my want to pull my hair out. Even though some of what he said was good, I really didn't think he should be talking to youth. Regardless, afterwards, the band (Impacto) played again, and they totally rocked. Really. And it was really fun. I also got to see Matt and Caleb (brothers) because they got back from camping. They kept playing with my hair while we were singing (like pushing it to one side or the other) so I'd just punch them (not hard) in the stomachs. haha, it felt like having brothers. So yeah, it was really fun. Then the guys were comparing muscles afterwards (SO MUCH) and then they were comparing abs and I was like, I have good ones!!!! And they didn't believe me, because let's face it, I'm a little flabby, but then they felt and they were like WHOA!!! She's strong!! And I was so proud of myself :D :D :D :D So yeah, maybe they won't make me run or something (well, they will).
Either way. It was a really fun night - the only thing was I didn't really eat today (which is probably good because I forgot to take my medicine with me to their house last night) so when I got home I pigged out on quesadillas and let me tell you, I am getting good at making them ;P You're all jealous. So yummy.
Anyway, I should eat more, take a shower and go to bed. I have to take a bus over to church and get there at 9:30, so I better get my tushy to bed soon!

Love you all, so much,

Nora

Moi, nuevo amigo

So I really shouldn't be writing a blog entry right now seeing as it's 10:33 pm and I have class at 10 tomorrow and haven't read the 200 pages that I intended to read before then...but on the other hand I did look up the literary analysis of said book (which is actually 460 some odd pages but I was only going to read the first part). I made it through the first 2 chapters though, which I'm proud off because hey, it was written in 1816, so cut me some slack, the Spanish might as well be written on the Rosetta Stone. So real quick, let me recap:
I was sick on Monday, threw up and stuff, felt awful, went to the Dr and she said to take the meds I brought with me for traveler's problems and then I'd get better. I am doing that. I'm getting better, yay competency!
I have obscene amounts of homework in almost every one of my classes. I have 3 big things to do right now, and I'm only in 4 classes. I have something big due tomorrow, plus the reading I was talking about, in addition to something HUGE on monday that I haven't started yet and then another big thing on Thursday (plus crazy reading for Tuesday and another 4 chapters for Monday)....basically - I have a lot of homework.
Tomorrow I'll go to the casa verde for lunch and see my partner Beto and talk to him in Spanish and he'll talk to me in English and we'll practice together, and maybe play games. We'll probably also get together Friday, and maybe I'll go swimming with Moi on Friday at 10:30 because that's when he goes and he said maybe he'd take me to get goggles (I'll ask him about it tomorrow because I'd love that). So yeah, then Saturday I have my first choir practice with the little choir from church - they're so good!!!!! I'm so intimidated but still excited about it. It should be really fun. Then Saturday night they're going to have a youth group concert for the church's youth group so we're going to that and then Sunday morning is the 1 year anniversary of our church so they're having a big fun service, yay!! Then Monday is back to classes and dying of overwork. Lol. Now that I say that I'll tell you what I did today...
I spent like 3+ hours just reading that book I was talking about, El periquillo sarniento and I only read 8 pages. I am not kidding. I started on page 15 and ended up on page 23. HOW PATHETIC IS THAT! It's small font, big pages, 2 columns and Spanish from caveman times. It isn't a bad book, I totally understand it, it just takes a REALLY LONG TIME to read. Every page is like reading 2 pages because of the columns, but even still 16 pages in 3 hours is AWFUL! Ugh. That's discouraging.
I also spent 2 hours doing my CAL report for my translation class, I had to translate (sight translation) an article on job hunting which wasn't so bad because it was Spanish to English but the report took FOREVER because I had to make a glossary of terms I didn't know, oh it was terrible. So yeah, I spent 5 hours doing homework and that's all I have to show for it.
At 6:30 I went to Bible study and we talked about repentance and it was a really good study and they did a really good job. Adriana is really sweet and I am glad she taught this week. It was good. I also got to teach George and the other kid (I can't remember his name at the moment) how to play set and the other kid got it really fast. It was cool. I also taught Beto last week and he was like some day I'll beat you and I was like, keep dreaming haha.
After Bible study I really didn't want to come back to the suite because the girls are so loud at night and they just sit in the living room watching TV giggling and yelling and I just get so sick of that so I asked Moi if he wanted to go to the Casa Verde and do something. Well, he said he wanted to get sushi and Liz and I decided we'd go, even though we don't like Sushi. So we went and he got Liz some with beef (who knew?) and I tried it and it wasn't awful. Then he got this rice stuff with cream cheese in it, and that was soooooooo good, it wasn't sushi, it was just like, rice with cream cheese (weird, I know but fabulous). Anyway, so I tried his sushi stuff, and it wasn't bad but not worth turning to the darkside, for sure. Then we dropped Liz off to talk to Josh (ooo la la) and I hung out with Moi for another hour and a half talking about stuff, and it was really cool because he's totally open. He is a Christian and has been for a long time and he TOTALLY loves Jesus. It's really cool. I told him about me and Pat (he asked) and he was like, wow I'm really proud of you guys that's so awesome you have the most amazing testimony and stuff, and it really felt so encouraging. Moi and I had only really shared peeing stories before that (I got to tell him all about my brothers) and he thinks I'm hilarious (yay!) so it was really cool that we got to know each other a lot deeper :D It was really really cool. Anyway, so he's definitely one of my new BFFs and I'm excited to get to see him again tomorrow. He told me a lot of his awesome testimonies and just how God has really cared for him since he started at the UDLA and stuff. It's just been really cool.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUT I have to do this homework and stuff and it's almost 11. I'm down to 11 hours before class, so I'm going to get off my lazy bum and start working. I love you all and thanks so much for your support. Prayers for health, schoolwork, friends, and opportunities to bring love and justice to those who are hurting are my main needs right now. Thanks so much for everything!!!

Nora

Enferma

Estoy muy enferma. Mi cuarto huele a miel.

I am very sick. My room smells like honey.

I would love your prayers please. The doctor said she thinks it's a stomach infection (I don't really know what that's supposed to mean?) but since I'm not the type to throw up, I imagine I probably won't be doing that much more. I haven't eaten anything still today, but I've been drinking squeezed lime juice with water and honey heated up, I'm at about 10oz so far today, plus another bunch of water (almost 30 oz probably), just sipping a little at a time).
I am probably not going to my night class at 5, I just don't see that happening. Hopefully I'll be all better (and done homework) for my classes tomorrow morning.
I love you all, thanks again.

Nora

Health

Please pray for my health. I just threw up 5 times, luckily I hadn't eaten anything this morning except for the honey/lime tea, but it's been a few years since I have felt this sick, so if you could please keep me in your prayers, I would really appreciate it. Thanks,
Nora

White Water Rafting

This weekend was fantastic. I went white-water rafting with Liz, the Basiles, a mission team from Church of the Vineyard (Jennersville, PA) and some friends of the Basiles. It was so incredible! We had a blast, and it was great to play with my brothers, even just for a little bit :D. The rapids were great, we had a lot of fun, and I jumped off a bridge twice and even went on a zipline into the water like 5 times, it was so fun. We went through the rapids and we all were wearing helmets and Caleb and Matt (Basile) were hitting me in the head with their oars every other second, Liz can attest. haha. It was fun though, lots of fun. It is so weird though because we only met Matt (the oldest, he just turned 18 on Sunday) last Saturday but it feels like I've known him for years already. He reminds me a lot of Hunter.
I also made the mistake of telling them a lot of things about myself (which is so bad) because now they know that my best mile time ever is 10:41 (which is awful) and so they're determined to make me run an 8 minute mile or something like that. (I'M SO SCARED) but the hard part is, we're at 7,000 feet right now, so I'm freaking out haha. They're telling me, no it's good, you'll be able to do a 7minute mile when you get back to the states - HAH! sure. They also want me to climb to the highest peak in Mexico which is close by, and that would be taller than anywhere in the U.S. (minus Alaska) which also sounds totally awful, haha. (BTW for more information on the highest peaks in Mexico, see wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountains_in_Mexico which will tell you that 4/5 of the tallest mountains in Mexico are found in Puebla (my state)).

So yeah, then Sunday we went to church with the Basiles again (yay church!) and during the service a couple renewed their vows, and it was so sweet. It was the first time the Pastor (Juan Manuel) said anything I disagreed with though, and he was talking about gay couples and how that was awful and how they are even allowed to adopt in some places and I was upset. I understand that homosexuality is not the way that God intended it, but I really want gay people to be able to raise children if that's where they are gifted! I mean, I would much rather have kids raised by a couple of wonderful gay men or women than have them raised by heterosexual drunk child neglectors, hello! Also, kids raised in gay households are 0% more likely to be gay, just in case that is an issue some try and talk about. They are a lot more likely to be okay with their sexuality, accepting of other people's sexualities and what not, but they are not more likely to be homosexual themselves. But yeah, back to the vow renewal. I just thought it was the sweetest thing, because the couple had been married by the state before and they wanted to make vows that included God this time. It was soooooo sweet and precious. You could tell they were so happy to be able to share that moment with everyone and it was really beautiful :). The pastor talked a lot about marriage and stuff, and of course I took notes, but I realized that I had heard all of what he said from Pastor Jeff about a thousand times already. So that was good, I was glad that Pastor Jeff had talked to us about all that. :) Yay Jeff!

After church Sandy (the mom) dropped us off at the grocery store and Liz and I bought the stuff to make 2 cheesecakes (oreo) and then we took the bus back to school, changed, got our homework, and then went over to the Basile's house to make the cheesecakes and do homework in the meantime. We ate lunch with them, met Matt's best friend Mark, made cheesecakes and hung out doing homework for awhile. It was a lot of fun and we didn't want to leave. Then we came home around 7 ish and gave the cheesecake (we left the other one with the Basiles for letting us use their oven - they seemed to like it :D) to Sandy (our suitie) who had just turned 18 on Saturday (but we weren't here). Then I went to my room, did homework and texted Matt for a little bit and then went to sleep because I was pooped.
This morning I got up at 6am, because I got like, 9 hours of sleep, and started doing some stuff on the computer. I also made myself some lime juice (hot) with honey to drink because my sinuses are about to explode into my throat and it hurts. I think it might have to do with getting water all up in my ear while rafting, idk. It also might have to do with the elevation and driving a total of 8 hours this weekend through crazy mountains lol. I would like to find my sudafed, which I know I brought because I had it on the plane, but I have noooooooooo idea where I put it. I might just have to run out and get some (but I realize I don't know where a pharmacy is). Maybe they have it at the clinic.

In any case, I should get going, I am in for it if I do not finish my reading for today and tomorrow like pronto! So I'll write soon.

Love and hugs,

Nora

p.s. pray for me:
Health
Homework (tons of reading)
Suite mates
Friends who talk to me in Spanish
The Basiles and our friendships with them :)
Liz and me
How much I use English

Tandem and Tarea

Today I worked on this huge literature homework project thing that was assigned on a whim a week ago and it was a big pain in the butt (excuse my English). I was not interested in doing it at all, although I understand the value, it just was not fun at all. Liz and I cooked lunch - Liz cooked pasta and I made my homemade cheese/cream sauce which I make up every time but that is quite good no matter what (I throw in a little of every kind of dairy, a lot of cheese, pepper, salt and fresh garlic), and I also made steamed broccoli with roasted salted peanuts (the best way to add something to steamed broccoli, I'm a 100% supporter of this idea). Yeah, it was a good lunch. Then Liz and I went to a Bible study tonight that meets on campus, that was cool, and it was good to meet more Christians on campus that I haven't seen/met yet. Then at 7:30 we went to a meeting called "Tandem" which was basically a group that met up once to pair people up from Mexico and international students and have them practice languages. I was scared. I was so unsure about finding someone cool but the guy that came up to me towards then end (we were like in 2 circles and I stood still while Mexicans moved around - sorry if that made no sense) asked me if I liked sports and I was like, uh, and I showed him my paper that had stuff written on it that I liked and he was like oh you like swimming and I was like yeah, I do. I looked at his paper and he had all these sports listed that he liked to watch/play and I asked him if he liked American football and he said yes, and I said what's your team? and he said....
the (fricking) Dallas Cowboys and so I said, I'm sorry I don't think we can be partners and he asked me why not? and I said I'm a steelers fan. He was like, oh, well I think you can forgive me right? I was like well maybe. Then he looked at the rest of my list and he was like, you like playing games!?!?! I love playing games and I was like okay, fine, we can be partners haha. I also would like to note that the last thing he had on his list was "Being a clown" (not like a jokester, a real clown, I'm pretty sure he dresses up in a clown suit, guys - hahahaha). So yeah, I talked to him a bit and it even turns out that he goes to the Casa Verde (the youth group/ministry that I go to) and he and I are going to meet up there tomorrow and eat lunch together and play games. He also told me that a bunch of the Americans go over to the football field afterwards and play flag football and invited me to play, so Liz and I decided we would go. I also invited Caleb and Matt (the oldest of the missionary kids) to come play because they're jocks so they'd like that and Matt was like, YEAH duh, haha so that's cool. I'm excited. Plus Liz and I get to go white water rafting with them this weekend, which is totally father (okay that's got to be explained later). Also! Mr. Basile (missionary dad) told us that there is like a 15ft waterfall that we get to go over in the rafts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SO FRIGGIN EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! I want the brothers in my boat though, or at least Matt, I'm scared but it will be so cool haha. I need to know there's someone in there that would literally push me over the edge if I tried to chicken out haha.

So yeah, I'm pretty psyched about life, mostly because I haven't been thinking about how I haven't read for tomorrow yet (heh) but I hear that no one has, so that's alright I guess lol.

Well, I should go. I wanted to talk to Pat tonight (I hope he gets on) and then I want to read my book (The Secret Life of Bees - it's the first time I have ever read a book twice that I can remember, both times being for fun) I started it about 3 days ago and I am 226 pages into it already. Just imagine how late I have been going to sleep...heh...

Also - How father is that - Here they use the word "Padre" (father) to mean cool. Qué Padre! is like saying, that's so cool! I just think it's funny. I like transliterating idioms because it makes no sense and it's fun.

Good night and lots of love,
Nora

hermanos x 4

So I had a lovely time playing with my Mexican brothers today. It was really great, I love friendly competition. They really do treat me like a sister, one was even pulling my hair today (and not the youngest either, heh). I added them on facebook, so now we're legit friends haha, and in addition they were trying to find pictures of Pat (don't worry guys, I warned them about how dead sexy Pat is, I informed them that some had been hurt by even looking at his photographs so that they should be careful). Overall though, that was totally awesome and I can't wait to hang out with them again this weekend when we all go white water rafting! YAY!

I listened to the song hotel california multiple times today and I really really miss Nolan. He can know it, that's fine. I have just been thinking about him a lot in the past week or so and like, I miss listening to him play guitar and make me feel awful. I miss jamming with him and singing with him. It's just weird, I never missed him at Eastern but I miss him now -- even more than I miss Kasey sometimes (and I miss her a lot). It's weird.

I miss Pat, but dude, it really frustrates me when he's a jerk and that happens way more often here than at home (because the amount of time we talk is less, so he has less time to fill in his jerk quota? I am not totally sure). I really hope he grows out of it. Or that I just stop taking everything personally. Or that we both stop being jerks? I don't really know. This is irrelevant to any conversation about Mexico. Sorry.

Point is, I will be doing lots of stuff tomorrow: Get up, breakfast, swim, shower, class, class of death (Oral Translation), lunch, homework, sleep? something like that? Maybe I'll go swimming after class actually. That might be perfect. I think I will do that. I'll have more time that way, I am going to go talk to my suitie about that and make that happen.
I'll write again soon
Love,
Nora
p.s. I feel like my Spanish is awful, please pray for me so that I can get better...

Hermanos!

Yesterday Liz and I went to the orphanage with the youth group from our church. They were way more fun than the young adults group, so I might just go to the youth group instead of to the young adults group from now on, haha. I got to meet the oldest Basiles' son, Matt who turned 18 today (I gave him a card, because they drove us to church on his birthday and everything so I wanted to make sure he knew that I recognized his big day and stuff). I met him yesterday and he's totally cool. I love hanging out with that family because they are 4 boys (cough) Devlins (cough) but just go back a few years I guess haha, and they are 9 years a part (3-3-3 haha) instead of 8. They're really wonderful though, and on the way to church this morning I was just like smiling uncontrollably because it feels so good to have brothers again haha. I realize how much I really like to have brothers around. I want people who aren't afraid to tease me and with whom I can be competitive without hurting anyone's feelings. They are just so lovely. And I was baking cupcakes with Liz before going to the orphanage and while we were waiting for the cupcakes to bake I would go in and do cup-stacking with the boys and I beat Matt (which I'm totally psyched about) and I am going to keep practicing whenever I go over there, so that I can beat Steven and Caleb haha. I don't remember what my best time was, but I am pretty sure it was in the teens and so far I've only gotten to like, 20:?? So I will get better. Haha. I would like to go back to the orphanage more I think, and just play with kids and talk with them. Also, I am going to join the worship team for church and sing with them on Sundays. They are SOOO good, they're like a little choir, but the membership is not that large, so they're all really good. I can't wait, I'm really excited...I will probably be the worst one up there lol.

Also, after church today on the way home and stuff I was talking to the boys and we were just listing all kinds of games we like to play and they like named all of the games I love (they even have dutch blitz and settlers!!!!!) and I just died pretty much so I am going to play with them as much as humanly possible and I will force them to talk to me in Spanish without ceasing, haha. I can't wait. I think tomorrow I might go over between my two classes (12:15-5pm) and hang out with them. If I need to pack myself a lunch ahead of time I will haha, I just want to play games hehe :D

I guess since I'm going to spend like 4 hours there tomorrow I should get in some serious homework right now.
I love you all and thanks for your support <3
Blessings,
Nora

Sight Translation and Sleeping In...

Hey all,
Last night I went to bed around 1am and I didn't wake up until quarter 'til 11. Crazy!! I can't believe I slept so much. Oh well, I was tired. Today I need to go over to the center for language learning (CAL) and do my sight translation homework which is scaring the pants off me. I went to do it yesterday but I was so foolish and forgot to go buy a cassette to use for recording (Don't ask me why on earth we're going that old school when the building is mostly made of computers) so I went out and actually found a place that sells them (Thanks God!) and bought 2 because I got all nervous haha. But now I am going to get dressed and go in and do my homework. I did finish my reading for European Union so that's great, and I had a dream about talking to Aunt Zoya about it (she's from Macedonia) so I think I will try and work out a time to talk with her about it. I feel like Aunt Zoya knows everyone in Macedonia, so there you go Devlins, I have a whole additional country that I can link up with in my 5 degrees of Nora Barth haha. Also, she was an interpretor for Bill Clinton multiple times in like 1994 so I mean, I got a lot of connections there :p! So yeah, I will be doing that soon.
At 3pm Liz and I are going over to the missionary friends' house and helping bake cupcakes (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then we're going to go with the church youth group and play with orphans (OH MAN AM I PSYCHED!). Now, I know there aren't any babies, so I have already prepared myself for that, but I'm still excited to play with kids who don't get to play with adults much and I also just want to hug them, because can you imagine being able to count how many hugs you get in a week, or a month, or a year? *Sigh* I want to just hug those kids so much. Plus, they're cuter on average than white kids, so it should be a lovely time. I'll take pictures (they'll love it). I'll also bring lots of cards with me, and we'll play games :D

Anyway, I miss you all, especially when my Spanish sucks and I just wish everyone would just let me speak in Englsih. Oh well, I'll get better soon.
On the bright side, the thing I have to translate is in Spanish :) so it'll be going into English which is less hard by a lot.
I might practice a couple times before getting dressed and heading over to CAL. We'll see. My prof said it would take me at least an hour, so I should probably get my butt into gear!

I love you all and thanks for your love and prayers!

Prayer Requests:
1) I opened a new bank account, so prayers that all of that stuff will work out
2) I am going to go white water rafting next weekend, but I still haven't found someone who can go with me, so please do that, other wise I am paying 800 pesos for no one to go with me (yikes).
3) My homework is more than a lot of people who have more classes than I do (I'm in 2 400 level classes) so prayers that I will be motivated and not get discouraged.
4) Involvement in the church would be a blessing and that Liz and I can bring blessings to the church as well.
5) Liz and I have the opportunity to live differently and show the people around us that there is something different about us (besides that we're so white).
6) That our trust in God would be overwhelmingly visible to everyone.
7) That Liz and I don't get sick of each other and can be encouragement and love when we feel alone or hurt.
8) The orphans that we will be going to see today, that their hearts would be prepared for a lovely day where we can meet with them on a fully human level.

Thank you so much for everything! I know that your support has been helping me throughout these pretty difficult past two weeks. I have been feeling really stressed but I know that your love and prayers have be helping me through. I have been reminded many times of how blessed I am.

Also, last night I finally finished the book: No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize Winner, arch bishop of cape town south africa), and it was so beautiful. If you have any interest in social reconciliation, forgiveness, counseling, political forgiveness, etc. I highly recommend this book, and if you have interest in understanding yourself as a person more, please read it. I would like to leave you with some beautiful food for thought, as I know that I need to hear these words every single day as well:

"We shouldn't underestimate the power of conditioning. That is why I hold the view that we should be a little more generous, a little more understanding, in judging perpetrators of human rights violations. This does not mean we will condone what they and the white community in South Africa did or allowed to happen. But we will be a little more compassionate in our judgment as we become a little more conscious of how we too could succumb as easily as they. It will make our judgment just that little less strident and abrasive and possibly open the door to some being able to forgive themselves for what they now perceive as weakness and lack of courage. It might then persuade them perhaps to be a little more willing to acknowledge their frailty and make them more ready to accept accountability.l And it might make us say to ourselves as we sit in judgment, 'There but fo the grace of God go I'" (252-253).

"There is no longer Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free--instead of separation and division, all distinctions make for a rich diversity to be celebrated for the sake of the unity that underlies them. We are different so that we can know our need of one another, for no one is ultimately self-sufficient. The completely self-sufficient person would be subhuman" (265).

I just love what he says there, and I love the way he describes ubuntu as well (page 31). I think this book is a must read, but there are definitely parts that are so real, you'll be crying and trying to move past as quickly as possible. But isn't that the kind of book we should be reading? A book that teaches us to love and forgive despite the horror of the stories that are being told? He talked a lot at the end about the holocaust and how hard it has been for Jews the world over to forgive and how hard it has been the newer the generation to feel that they have the right to forgive on behalf of the dead. What Tutu says is that these perpetrators need forgiveness to help them to move on and forgive themselves. They don't necessarily need forgiveness from the particular person they wronged, because a human rights violation is more than an attack on one person - it's an attack on humanity itself, and on the perpetrator as much as the victim. Forgiveness must come from someone to allow for a future, and why shouldn't it come from you? or me?


Deep stuff, man.
I am going to get ready for the day. We'll see what God has in store and I'll write again soon.

Sending lots and lots of love <3

Norita

How does the EU do this to me?

Okay so I'm doing my homework on the E.U. (reading until I die, essentially) and I'm listening to this wonderful CD that Kris gave me called "Beyond the Missouri Sky" (I guess that'd be the Kansas sky, heh, never thought of that, cute one Kris) - btw I highly recommend this CD it is totally wonderful - good jazz guitar/bass. In any case, I'm doing my homework and I am thinking, oh, I wonder if Denmark still uses their own currency or if they have actually switched to the Euro (because the book I'm reading from is a couple years old now, maybe even 5 years old). So I look it up and so I'm reading about denmark on europa.eu and then it says their staple dishes as part of their diet, one of which is boiled cabbage. And BAM I am hit with a truck of culcanan desire and now all I can think about is how badly I want culcanan. So I think that when I make lunch today I am going to make some legit mashed potatoes and boil some cabbage... and then put on obscene amounts of butter and see if my Mexican Suities (hehe isn't that cute? I came up with that for my suite-mates haha I love it) like my Irish food...We'll see.......

In the mean time I am going to continue reading until I die...<3 amor,besos, y abrazos

Nora

Tortillas, Tostadora, Tacos, Tarea, and Translation!

Hey all,

I don't even remember the last update I made but hopefully it wasn't too long ago...heh.

Classes started awhile ago, and my classes are good so far. I have four courses that I am taking:

Interpreting (like translating orally) - this is my elective, I know, a bit masochistic. It's been ridiculously hard so far and we haven't even been graded on anything or given hardly any homework. I'm presenting with this guy Jon tomorrow so we'll see how we do, but for the most part it's fascinating and excruciatingly difficult at the same time. Lovely combination for a competitive driven individual such as myself, no? haha.

European Union - This is a 400-level International Relations course about the EU and regional integration - it's crazy interesting. It's taught in English by a Dutch professor with red hair and I am going to write my 10-12 page term paper in Spanish. Somehow the head of the Spanish dept. at Eastern decided that this would count for my Spanish civilization requirement (God only knows why), so that's cool.

Society and State of Latin America - this is my other International Relations course, but it's only 200-level, so that's easier. I am enjoying it so far, the class is taught in Spanish but the book is in English, haha, so it's cool and not cool at the same time. The professor is really cool because he talks like he's young (curses more than most for sure, but it really isn't offensive when people curse in your second language - like at all, or at least not for me), and he's also really passionate about latin america. He's not so cool in that he makes fun of religions and makes Mexican Catholicism equivalent to Christianity in general (which is a crazy thing to do IMO) and his excessive use of slang at times makes it really hard to understand him. Haha. But I think over all he's pretty wicked neat. He's so smart. In my reading for this class I found myself so upset by a story in the book that I actually cried, like legitimately, for awhile. And I think if I were to tell that to my prof, he'd be like, dude, it's cool, I cry all the time when I read stuff like that. And then I'd be like, you da man. He also speaks like 7 languages, it's nuts. lol. I might have exaggerated, but a lot.

19th Century Mexican Literature - This is a pretty chill class. The only thing that really frustrates me is the book situation. Here in Mexico the students do not buy their books. They go to the local copy center and buy copies that the professors have asked be made for the students. It's pretty awful. I am not going to lie though, it's really hard to buy the books here, so I mean, I guess I get why they do that(?). In any case, he tells us to like buy some books because I mean, the man's a lit professor how could he live with himself if he didn't tell us to invest in literature and personal libraries and what not, and I would love to do so, but it's like, where? Where do I get these books that you want me to buy? Because let's be honest, buying books in Spanish is ridiculously difficult in the U.S. (if you want a certain book) and the only place it could possibly be easier than Mexico would be Spain, but who goes there just to buy books? I mean really? No Americans. I would go there to see my cousin and Aunt and Uncle, but books? Especially not for just this class.

So yeah, that's been a struggle.

In other news: I will be going to an orphanage with the youth group from my church (high school age) and the missionaries that live near by on Saturday, we are going over early to make cupcakes (EEEE! :D)

The following Friday and Saturday I am going to go with the missionaries and a mission group from (you'll never believe it) Church of the Vineyard in PA (like right down the road) on a white water rafting trip, so that should be totally fun. I am going to bring one of my suitemates with me, because Liz didn't want to go.

Last night I went to "LA CASA VERDE" which everyone's been telling me about for years, and it's basically a youth group for college kids and it's totally fun. I liked it a lot, and then you get free food afterwards, which is the best ever. So that was awesome. And they also have lunch for us on Thursdays, so that's exciting. And the house is open everyday to go in and hang out and play games and do homework and whatever. (I think I could even use their oven to bake sometime if I wanted) They gave out brownies las night to the new comers and they were literally to die for. Seriously.

I also have been toying with the idea of joining a worship band, either at my church or at la casa verde. The only thing is I'm not used to singing with an acoustic drum set, which makes it really hard to hear yourself (this only applies to la casa verde) and so I would be scared I sound bad. But I think it would be a really good experience and would totally stretch me. We'll see.

Pat and I talked a lot yesterday/last night. I am glad we did, because I think we both had the opportunity to kind of get our lives in order and figure out what we're really going to focus on during this time apart. I think we're doing well, at least I hope so. :o)

I opened my new bank account and I think it should all work out as planned (I hope so).

So yeah, that's my life. In 20 minutes I am meeting with Jon to work on our Interpreting project, and then at 7pm we have a meeting with our RA (equivalent, lol).

Tons of love! Besos y abrazos,

Norita

Woops, haven't written in awhile

Well, Happy Saturday all!

Today is a special day because it is the first day that Liz and I are not in the same place at the same time. Weird, right? I should recap and explain how this happened.

Monday after my night class I met a sweet girl from Massachussettes named Daniella. She's a total doll and she has actually been here since her freshman year in college. She is Jewish, and lived in Israel for awhile, and her first language is Hebrew (CRAZY right? the girl is so language savvy, I'm a little jealous, yeah). Anyway, she and I talk for awhile and she tries to buy a new computer online while we're talking but it doesn't work out. Fast forward to Thursday. Thursday Liz and I went over to La Casa Verde, which is a green house (no kidding!) right across from our campus where they hold bible studies and other fun Christian meetings. I had been told about it by two different professors from Eastern and multiple students who had studied here before, so Liz and I knew we needed to go. So we went there and hung out with people and met some nice people and whatever, and then came back to our rooms. I texted Daniella later that night to see if she had gotten her computer and she said yes, it worked out and by the way did I want to hang out with her this weekend - she was going to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Of course, I said yes that'd be awesome, because I need friends (lol) as we all know. So then Friday I did hardly anything at all because I have NO classes on Fridays (which is sweet because my weekend starts on Thursday at 12:15, you know that's awesome). But at around 1:30-2pm my suitemate and I cooked a big lunch for everyone in the suite. It was carne (beef) which had been marinated 2 days (mmm) really thinly sliced and then seared. Sauteed portabellos with onions, pasta and cream/cheese sauce (cheese, milk, sour cream, garlic, pepper, salt). I was in charge of pasta and sauce and Andrea was in charge of beef and mushrooms (I helped too though). It was awesome. Everyone loved it, so we totally felt like chefs and good ones at that. So that was a great time.

After we ate our suitemates decided to see a movie that looked really awful, so we decided to hang back. We kept in mind that one of the guys at church on Sunday had told us that the young adults group meets on Friday nights (8pm) so we sent him a text asking if he could take us to the church. He said he would so we (after a little difficulty) met up with him and went to the service. It was fun and nice to meet some more people. Also, they invited us to go on a retreat with them, but like I said, I had told Daniella I would celebrate her b-day with her tomorrow (Sunday) after church, and also I had homework to do (about 60pages of reading or so) so I said I couldn't go. Well Liz got all bummed out and I was like, dude, Liz, just go without me. And she looked at me all bug-eyed and I was like, what? This is the new you, go without me. So she decided she would. Pretty cool right?

Then we were invited to eat "supper" with some people (3 of whom had just gotten back Sunday from working at a camp in Iowa all summer, so they had really good english and were funny). So we did that, but first we drve around for like an hour to drop this girl off who didn't feel well and then were pretty confused on how to get the heck out of her little town haha. In anycase we ate food and Liz and I paid less than 4 dollars to split 2 tacos with beef and cheese and we each got a mango juice drink in a bottle. Isn't that nuts? the food was great too. Such a good find. So the brothers that were in Iowa (there was also a girl who had went but she was at the other end of the table so we didn't get to talk to her too much) were really nice and cool. So yeah, they brought us back to campus and then we went to bed. When I woke up, Liz was gone so she's at the retreat and I'm here, avoiding my homework and chores. lol. I guess I should get on that now, but thanks for listening to my rant!

Love,

Nora

Games

These are some of my suitemates and some other people who live in our building. Don't worry it's Pepsi that we're drinking in the cups. We ordered pizza and got soda on Friday night and played pictionary down the lane for hours. We also taught them dutch blitz, which they desperately want their own copies of hahaha. It was so fun and hilarious. Gotta love staying in on a friday night and throwing a mini-party :D