Thursday, April 14, 2011

Eating Crickets and Drinking Arabic Coffee



Just another day at the office. My Thai student brought in a can of fried crickets (rather large in my opinion!) and I ate one. That is the first insect I have ever eaten, and it was very...crunchy.

My Saudi students brought in Arabic tea and coffee, along with two types of delicious dates, and cookies. I prefer them to the crickets. My Saudi students politely (and with slightly terrified expressions) refused to try the crickets. Which made me smile.

We then had a school-wide bbq out on the quad with games and activities. I raced some of my students in an obstacle course bouncy house, and they all beat me. The mechanical bull was turned off before Merriam and I could try it, but it looked like fun. Sometimes my job is pretty awesome.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

More snow pics


Can you find the pool?


Dad did a great job shoveling!



That pole is 16 inches tall! You can only see the very tip of it.....

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

KC's Blizzard








We are at 13 inches of snow in just under 12 hours. We are supposed to get three more hours of snow until the storm stops. No work today, and no work yesterday.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Christmas in Des Moines








Auntie and I wandered around downtown in the lovely snow! Then we commenced making some delicious homemade food like chicken parmesan and tortellini with pesto from her garden. Amazing!

Some X-mas pics


Mom and the shawl I made her.



We split four cords of wood in one day. Wow!


Janet's x-mas party and Dwight's 40th b-day celebration!



Moving day for Joanna and SK. Back in Ltown! Yay!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Catching Up

I've not blogged in forever! Thanks to those of you who reminded me, I will try to be a bit more constant with it.

These past few months I've been teaching at two schools and it has kept me quite busy! I am loving my job (yay!), but teaching one less class next semester as maybe I bit off too much in teaching 6 college classes my first semester! So next term I plan on teaching only 5. I'm a bit sad semester is coming to an end, as I had many wonderful students that I will miss. But hopefully I will get a new batch of great students come January!

This week is finals at my second school and then it's a long break! Hmmm, maybe I should look for temp work while school is out.... :)

Even though I have a month off, there are no big travel plans. I think Dad and I will go to Des Moines to see family, but that's about it. And as for the future, I promise I have not made plans to leave the country again! Although wouldn't it be useful to learn Mandarin...... :)

So for those of you used to crazy adventures and fun pictures from other parts of the world, this blog may be slightly less exciting for awhile. But never fear, I have included some pictures of my regular U.S. life as of recent! The pics are not in order, but here you go!



Ashli and I making a gingerbread house. The roof kept falling off and I would seriously advise against eating the hard as a rock candy, but we were satisfied with the final product. Although, I'm not sure any house will ever come close to Emma's and mine with the Soviet Santa back in Hamburg (there are pics of it on my blog as well).





Around Halloween Ellen and I tried our hands at various sizes of pumpkins. On a side note, I randomly met Ellen in an airport in Barcelona as we were both working in the south of Spain, and since we've been back we do weekly Spanish practice. Me encanta!

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For Dad's birthday his sister surprised him by publishing a book he had written years ago. What a wonderful gift! If you want to look at it, you can find it on Amazon and Zulu. The title is hard to see here, but it's called Stolen Identity.




Ashli, Hannah and I attended Whitney's masquerade ballroom dance in a private airplane hangar. It was great fun! People all dressed up and in masks dancing around airplanes to a live band. Lovely!



Ashli also had a Halloween party at her place. She throws great parties!

Well that's life in Kansas for now. At the moment it's freezing cold, a little snowy and I've got grades and finals on the brain. I've been ballroom dancing again (love it!) and am ready for the holidays! I love all the lights and decorations, and Dad and I have even put up a few ourselves.

I hope everyone is doing well and happy holidays!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Month for Weddings








September has definitely been a month for weddings! Mom got married a week ago, and Dan this past Friday. Both very lovely ceremonies and celebrations! So much happiness! And an occasion to dress up.

Mom's was outside in the sweltering heat in the beautiful Missouri countryside, while Dan's was at Longview Mansion, also a lovely venue.

It's still very warm here. I am eagerly awaiting some fall weather with sweaters and scarves! Work is keeping me very busy, hence a lack of blogging. But it's almost October, my favorite month, and things are going wonderfully!

Monday, August 09, 2010

Lately...

A lot has been going on lately. Here are some pics to show! Dad and I helped Joanna and boyfriend SK paint her house, which she just got an offer on!!! (sorry pics are out of order)






Hannah and Nathan's joint birthday party with lots of salsa dancing!



Us girls before a night out of salsa dancing.



A MISO get together while Sheri and Kenyon were in town.



Dad painting the second story of Joanna's house.....






And of course the bi-weekly pool parties.

Now if only the heat would break!