Christmas was an experience for more than one reason. As most of you know it was my first Christmas I've ever spent away from my parents. However, I did get to talk to them for a little while which was of course an awesome present. Even though I didn't get to spend it with my family back in the states I did get to spend it with my family here. It's amazing to see how people who you've meet only months ago can become close to you and act as surrogate family while you're in a far away place. And even though it wasn't the same as waking up on Christmas day with my parents and family back in the states, it was still an experience here. We had a traditional BBQ Chicken lunch and played games all afternoon. Then later that night my roommate and I went to our friends house were we played games and had an amazing time just hanging out. I have recently learned to play a few new card games and a board game called Settlers of Catan, and man am I hooked on that game. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves board games.
New Year's Eve we had a small party to ring in the New Year. Again we played more card games. Another game we played which is slowly becoming my favorite is called In A Pickle, but I only recommend this game for people who can argue a point even if it's illogical (obviously you can see why I love this game......arguing a point that might not make sense; that so says Jessie).
Language is going fairly good. I caught myself thinking about how far I've come in the brief four months I've been here and it's so amazing to see the progress I've made. When I first got here I could barely say hello and now I am having conversations about my day and telling stories from back in the states. There's a good chance most of you have unknowingly been included in a story I've told in class. Scary thought huh? I can't wait to see how much more I will learn in the remaining two months we have left of language and then not to mention what language I will pick up outside of class over the next few years just living here. I don't know if I ever mentioned that I have a local name. If I have sorry here it is again, if I haven't then hey I have a local name. Please keep in mind the spellings may be completely wrong because there are various ways to spell them. Anyways, when I first got here the name Marsal (which means flower) was given to me. However, some of the local staff thought it was too far from Jessie to be able to remember, so some of the staff decided my name should be Jamilah (which means patience). How fitting my name should be patience when as most of you know, that is a trait I am sometimes lacking. However, I have come to think of it as a good daily reminder of something I strive to have even in the most difficult situations from my inmost being; making it a very lovely name after all.
I've heard from people back in the States that some of them have had snow recently, well I would be more than glad to share some of ours with those of you haven't had any. Although I must request that you not get it from the mountains, because whenever it snows the mountains look gorgeous. We've had quite a bit of snow recently and it's always nice when it snows on the weekends because then we don't have to go anywhere and we can just stay inside watching the snow fall while drinking hot cocoa.
I mentioned telling stories in class. Well I've also meet a few new people here and they are always interested in hearing my story, which is always great when I get to tell people about my family and friends. I have also begun to tell stories about my life at waterville which is so exciting. There's so much more I could say in this blog I'm sure but I will keep this one short and I certainly won't wait so long to update it from now on. Oh hope you all enjoy the pictures from life over here.
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| Me and My Christmas Tree |
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| The mountains after our first snowfall. Now all of them are covered white and oh so gorgeous. |
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| The guys at our office putting up our pipe to our heaters. No fear of heights. |
