It’s been almost three weeks since I moved to Tatooine (wow that’s a weird sentence to say – it’s hard to believe that I moved here and this is my new home for the next few years but it is and I’m not looking back).  It’s been great getting everything settled and getting into a routine; I still have days where I come home exhausted and just want to curl up and watch movies with my roommate but I still love living here.  Over the past two days I went to orientation for language and culture and got to learn some culture tips, eat national food, and get more familiar with the country.  I’m still learning about the culture and so far I have made a few small cultural blunders but fortunately the people have been very gracious about it. I love the language and even though it makes my heard hurt some days and I still get some words mixed up I love learning it and look forward to going to class every day.  My classmates are great and we have all meshed well and are experts at laughing at our own mistakes as well as making one another smile when we mess up.  Our classes are five days a week and last for four hours and each day I learn new words and look for ways to apply them (correctly – because I have used them incorrectly which also makes for some interesting conversations). 
The other day we went to a French restaurant and I had a Thai salad – oh the joy of multicultural cities.  I also went to the market today and got some fabric and “bling” to make some authentic Tatooine clothing.  It’s amazing how quickly things become normal here that would otherwise be considered out of the ordinary in other places – for examples look back to the previous blog at my list.  There was snow on the mountains the other day and I am getting so excited about the idea that I’ll get to see snow again soon when it begins to fall.  I may even try to make a snowman or some snow cream once it falls.
One of the greatest little surprises my roommate and I have are when we go to the market and we see products (even if they are sometimes expired or a bit expensive in this country standpoint) that are from back home.  My new favorite things are pop tarts (man do I love those things for breakfast) and Nutella – my roommate and I are always keeping our eyes open for those two things in the market because they remind us of home and usually aren’t that expensive and act as a nice “home” treat after a long day.
My roommate is amazing and we have slowly begun to learn each other’s routines, likes, dislikes, and quirks.  I’m really glad that it worked out that we knew each other a bit before coming here and so far we’ve hit it off great – even though we are complete opposites on some aspects of the spectrum of personalities.  Well I think that’s all for now but as always more to come.  Thinking of home and am so glad I know I’m loved and in peoples’ minds daily.