There's snow on the mountains tonight!

I can't believe it....suddenly it's cold in Utah! I knew it was coming, but those sweaty days of no AC in the classrooms at school just last week made it impossible to imagine. Today as we walked to the grocery store the temp was about 52 and then joel took a drive in the mountains and the car said it was 32! Right now I'm sitting in bed grading essays and I have the space heater rolled up next to the bed and turned on full blast and I'm still chilly! Now, I'm sure I will be really tired of cold weather by the end of winter--but there is such excitement in these first few days. We stayed in bed late as we couldn't bear to get out from underneath the warm covers, drank hot chocolate, watched a movie, wore layers to go to the grocery store.....I love it.


So, last night I completely forgot to take pictures of our time with Tom and Cristy. They were in SLC for a conference and so they got to come by for a visit. I did remember to take a picture of the food before they arrived...chicken spaghetti,yum,yum. You'll just have to imagine the rest of our visit. The four of us eating in the kitchen and then the girls sitting in the living room sharing a blanket and our souls with each other while the guys are downstairs looking up the White House on Google World:) A great time was had by all.

Guess that's it for now. Joelie is at a friend's house studying so Willow and I are holding down the fort:) Hope you all are well, Jen

Yummyness!

Tonight Joel and I tried a restaurant for the first time called Mazza. It serves Middle Eastern food and it was sooooo good. We both had the Chicken Kabob sandwich which was chicken with a yogurt sauce and some kind of yummy pickles on a toasted french roll. It was served with potatoes that had the greatest seasoning....mmmmm. As much as I love eating at home (economically), I do love our late afternoon dinners out after work and school. Its our time to reconnect before studying and lesson planning , we don't get distracted by all of the "home stuff" that needs to be done, and we get to experience new and fun places. Do I sound like I'm trying to justify eating out so much?Yep, I am:)

School is going well...I have really enjoyed my students this week. Today I met with one student who wanted me to read and correct her journal that she has been keeping. It was soooo funny! She is a great writer and has a wonderful sense of humor. One story was about her walking down the street the other day and how a dog came out of nowhere and started barking("yelling") at her. She freaked out and started yelling at the dog in Korean and then she thought, "I bet everyone is looking at me thinking 'that crazy Asian girl'." So she started yelling in English and then kicked the dog. Then the owner walked out and started yelling at her. So she said to him, "I'm sorry but I hate dogs. I'm Chinese and I'm not used to having big dogs yelling at me."
I said, "Why in the world did you say you were Chinese?" She said, " I am proud of being Korean and I didn't want him to think that all Koreans yell and kick dogs, so it just came out of my mouth that I was Chinese!" Oh my goodness.

My favorite conversations are when they ask me how to say things that they want to use in their everyday life. I think they have learned that I respond to that because we'll be in the middle of a grammar lesson and I'll say "Do you have any questions?" "Yes Jenny, what is the correct response when someone says 'What's up?' to you. I have been saying 'Good'. Is that okay?" Um, that has nothing to do with the Passive Voice that we are studying, but okay we'll talk about that for a minute:). It's fun.

Guess that's all for now. I think Joelie has a new post up and I put an update on the Hunt's blog not too long ago, so check them out. More soon,Jen

Sometimes we make dinner....

....mostly when our friends come over. Tonight we were all three starving and so the food tasted extra good.Truly, it was pretty funny how much we were relishing every bite. Well, I guess you can see that on Joelie's face:)I love sitting around the table eating and talking and eating some more and talking some more. That was tonight followed by more talking outside where it is starting to feel and look like Fall...love it. Now the guys are off to study and I'm gonna watch a movie--hurray for my weekends starting on Thursday! Hope you all are well, Jen

Back to "Normal"

Gone is the first day teaching--hurray! My body was in a bit of shock when the alarm went off at 6...but you know, I'll get used to it again. It feels good to be productive. After i got home from work Joel and I were walking to eat at the burrito place down the street and we saw "the pink guy". Have I told you about him before? Poor guy, he is definitely a bit mentally ill but seems to do pretty well in this little niche of SLC, and the thing is he ALWAYS wears pink Well, there he was in all his glory. He had on pink jogging pants, a white t-shirt, a pink backpack, his pink hair, a pink key holder and his pink water bottle. So the point is that when I saw him walking in front of us I thought to myself, "Yep, we're home from summertime travels and things are back to normal." Then the thought quickly changed to "This is what normal is for us?!" Well, I guess it is:) Walking around the neighborhood, seeing all the various characters that live near us, eating together and talking about our days.... It's a good normal i think. Oh, Tom and Cristy, i wanted to tell you that we copied the dinner you guys made for us,modified it to fit the contents of our freezer, and had a wonderful dinner last night of turkey burgers, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries,and fruit...yummy!!!We are fixing it again on Thursday when some friends come over:) Off to work on lesson plans, Jen

I miss you I believe....

Though it does feel so good to be back in our little home with my Joelie starting to tutor and get back in the swing of things...I do feel a bit alone. Constant rich companionship makes it feel funny to be by myself so much. So many good things have happened, though, in these two days at home. Things that never happen. For example, here was the picture last night in our kitchen...

I was home, alone indeed, but cooking. Yes,me, I was making something! I made lentil and spinach soup and cornbread. Not only that, but there was a cat laying in my hallway watching me. Now, those who know me well know that my heart's desire is to have "cats and babies round my feet where all are fat and none are thin(love that carol King:)" and so it was really a joy to see this kitty curled in the hall. She has been a stray here for a while but yesterday worked up the courage to come inside and have a bite to eat and a good, long nap.I have wanted a cat for so long but Joel is allergic to some cats and hates their fur and i was never big on the thought of a litter box--yuck! I think he bonded with this one while I was away, though, because he encouraged me to let her in! Anyway, Brandi Carlyle's voice was wafting up from the basement and one of her songs said, "I'm happy, can't you see, I'm alright but I miss you I believe." Just how I feel, I thought to myself. To make a good, healthy dinner felt so good, and having this little companion was great, and seeing Joelie's face late at night when he came home from studying was so sweet and having fun conversations with my students is always wonderful....but I do miss all of that loveliness in Texas...here is a picture of my lentil yumminess from last night and one of mom and I. Oh, and don't tell joel, but one of kitty who is at this moment curled up at my feet in bed:)More pictures from TX coming soon...