Christmas time is here...

Last night the RAs got together and decorated the residence halls for Christmas! We put up trees, fake presents, green and red paper chains, and a small amount of lights and garland. Alisha and I also made hot cocoa and chocolate crinkle cookies for them!

Thanks to Sarune for the photo!

 

RA Thanksgiving #2

Here are some photos of last night's meal from one of our very talented RAs!

the turkey

Melisa and Ira

Josh tasting the whipped cream (priceless expression!)

Ausrius and Toms discussing "Twilight" of all things!

Ira, Natallia and Kirill - happy after a delicious meal

and a random one....we are beginning to get ready for the Christmas program!
Bethany and I are in charge of costumes,
so today we went and tried some stuff on!

RA Thanksgiving

Tonight Josh, Alisha, Susie and I hosted a Thanksgiving FEAST for all the RAs at my apartment. There were 16 of us in total, and we had so much food: turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, rolls, applesauce, deviled eggs, squash pie with real whipped cream, cider and party mix! We went around the table and shared what we were thankful for, and then dug in! It was a feast only for the dedicated! (One of my RAs said he hadn't eaten for almost a whole day before coming!) We had a lot of laughter at the table as usual, and then went to another location on campus to watch "It's a Wonderful Life". A great evening together!

the calm before the storm

sharing the meal

the aftermath of dishes in my kitchen

(i'm sure Susie, Josh and Alisha also had their own pile of dishes!)

what i've been doing...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! It's been a BUSY two weeks! I haven't taken many pictures, but can give you some a few snapshots to describe what I've been up to.

Mug 'n' Muffin is a bi-annual event that we do for the women on campus. Faculty/staff women make lots of muffins, the committee makes special drinks, and we have several speakers on a topic. This event was titled "The Road Ahead... Next Steps" and we talked about the future, decision making, and more. The speakers gave really practical and personal advice, and the muffins, coffee, cider and homemade caramel sauce and whipped cream were delicious!

I had some homemade caramel sauce left from Mug 'n' Muffin, so I made a caramel apple pie for my RAs which was amazing!

That night I also made them quesadillas with homemade tortillas! I found jalapenos at the store (a first!), so they were SPICY!

Susie and I finally got to hang out together on Friday night in the midst of our busy-ness. We made egg rolls and fried rice for dinner and watched a movie together.

Today Susie, Josh, Alisha and I are preparing a Thanksgiving FEAST for all the RAs - there will be 16 of us total, and we are making over 10 different dishes! I am making applesauce, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls and apple cider.

I will try to remember to take pictures!

Barcelona #3

A few other places....

Our first night in the city we went up Montjuic hill, and saw the outside of the Art Museum, a beautiful sunset, and some great views of the city...

And also a fountain/lights show! The wind was strong at times, and we got a bit wet!

This is the Barcelona Cathedral, which was in the Gothic area of Barcelona.

inside - so many things to look at!

Another day we took a bus tour, and went up Montserrat Mountain. This is the main courtyard, with the monestary on the far right.

 Then we took another funicular up to the very top of the mountain.

We went on a short hike, but the signs were confusing!

We were a bit scared by some parts of the trail, but we made it safely...

 This was the building at the end of our hike - I think it was a small church - inside was just one big room.

At the top of the mountain

I have this picture of Lionel Messi (a Barca football player) because two of my students asked me to get his autograph for them. The closest I could get to seeing him was to buy a post card, and take pictures with it everywhere! :)

In Montserrat

At the beach

Barcelona #2 (food!)

We ate lots of good food in Barcelona, and not all of it was Spanish food. I had lots of falafel (reminiscent of last year's trip to Istanbul), but don't have any pictures. However, we did eat the following:

While waiting 12 hours in the Riga airport for our very early morning flight, we ate burgers and milkshakes at TGI Friday's. Expensive, but still pretty darn good!

Pizza and sangria (a delicious traditional Spanish drink with wine and fruits)

At a place called "The Cat Bar" that made vegetarian burgers. Mine was made with polenta, which is like cornmeal. It had a really crispy outside and creamy inside, and it was soooooooo awesome!

Seafood at the market that went into our paella (another traditional Spanish dish with rice, seafood, saffron and a bunch of other simple ingredients)

We took a cooking class to learn how to make paella, and the stuff our chef/teacher made was really good, even though I don't always enjoy seafood. 

 a random good picture of Bethany and I

Barclona #1

Bethany and I returned safely from Barcelona last night - tired but ready to be back. I'll just jump right into the good stuff..... One of the famous people from Barcelona is Antoni Gaudi - an architect in the late 1800's and early 1900's. He works are very detailed, colorful, and symbolic.

#1: Park Guell was originally designed as a housing development, but is now a municipal garden. There are lots of paths to walk, and lots of detailed ceramic mosaics to look at!

at the entrance

one of the ceiling pieces in the entrance to the park

a great view of the city while walking through the park

#2: Casa Mila/La Pedrera was a house Gaudi was commissioned to design, but it was not well-liked by either the local government (it broke a lot of building codes) or even those who commissioned it! We didn't go inside, but the outside is made to look like waves and seaweed.

#3: Casa Battlo was restored by Gaudi - it has beautiful colors! The outside is meant to look like fish or dragon scales.

 a close-up

Casa Battlo is on the right - I took this picture to show how different Gaudi's style was from many of the others during his time

#4: Church of Colonia Guell (town outside of Barcelona) one of Gaudi's unfinished works. I really liked this church - it was a perfect size, and the windows were so beautiful!!!

Window inside made to look like a butterfly - the bottom two wings move!

(They are open in this picture)

#5: La Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's most famous work. He started building it in 1882, but died in 1926, and the project is still going! The goal is to have it finished by the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi's death: 2026. We had a tour of this church, which even though it was cold and rainy that day, was totally worth it! I have so many facts, pictures, and stories from this place, I don't even know where to begin!

 A brief glimpse of the outside - the supporting columns on the right, some windows in the background, and a figure that helps tell the story of Jesus' crucifixion on the far left

This is a bunch of little bags hanging, with a mirror to reflect it - weird, but.... "The technique Gaudí used to design the church was to hang little bags of birdshot from chains. Gravity would pull these bags downwards, giving even weight distribution and stretching the chains to form a model structure, thus showing him the shapes and angles his pillars would need to be. By using a mirror placed under the model, Gaudí could then see the model as it should look." (quote from Wikipedia)

The inside is meant to look like a forest
(Can you see it? The columns are the trees)

Some of the windows aren't finished yet
The one on the left still needs the stained glass

This is looking towards the front of the church - from the top of the ceiling (see the gold triangle?) is supposed to look also like the parabola shape of our legs

My camera battery was dying at this point, so it's not the greatest shot, but it's still proof that we were THERE!!!