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Published: January 29th 2009
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xmas present?
I brought a hookah back as a gift for some family friends up north Almost two weeks ago, I arrived back in Amman, ready for the new experiences this semester would bring me.
A quick overview of my somewhat eventful holiday: I spent a week up North visiting family and friends, then jetted home to my family and my car, both of which I missed very much. (Obviously I missed my family a whole lot more, but I hadn't driven in 7 months at that point, a real tragedy...) We flew out to Utah for a week of snow, mountains, skiing, and of course, more awesome family. I got sick, spent some time in the hospital after my tonsils got ridiculously swollen and blocked off most of my throat, and found out that I had mono. This definitely dampened my mood, it meant that I would be tired all the time, I couldn't go snowboarding, or play ultimate, or volleyball, or go ice skating. Too risky. I did not want to be back in the hospital with a ruptured spleen. We had a lovely Christmas, filled with awesome USC gear, sticky buns, eggs benedict, and laughter at the hijab I got Aisling to wear, straight from Jordan. We had a quiet New Year's as
SNOW!
Utah was beautiful and had tons of snow for me to enjoy well - we watched old Bond films, hung out with a couple friends, and had the whole family there to watch the ball drop (props to tivo, pausing live tv for 10 minutes totally saved the evening). I took a little roadtrip up to Virginia to visit a few friends, stopping along the way to visit Kirsten, my very-pregnant cousin, and her husband, Caleb. I spent the remainder of my time at home with my family, visiting local friends, watching basketball games at my former high school, and spending some time with the Autistic kids I worked with last year. I bought plenty of EasyMac and hot chocolate and packed a lot of warm clothing, making sure i was prepared to survive for a couple months where it's colder inside than it is outside. Then I headed to the airport, sad to leave, but excited for the new semester.
My trip here was relatively uneventful. We were a bit delayed leaving RDU, but I had a long layover at JFK, so it didn't bother me much. I got on my flight, and managed to convince the stewardess to give me 4 seats to myself so I could stretch out
and sleep. I fell asleep not long after takeoff, not waking again until almost before landing. Some friends of mine from small group picked me up from the airport and took me back to my apartment.
Most of that week I spent getting over jetlag and catching up on some much needed sleep. I saw most of my friends from small group, registered for classes, and watched quite a few movies, including Slumdog Millionaire, which is amazing, by the way. I highly recommend it.
Two big things happened this past week. The first, I started second semester. I was placed in an advanced class, which unfortunately meant a whole lot more work. Turns out mono does not get along with getting up early and trying to cram a whole bunch of complicated information into my head. But that's what I'm doing. And although it's a lot of work, it's interesting. Plus I'm pretty sure I could use an academic challenge, after all, I definitely perfected cruising through classes without doing any work.
The second big thing was a huge milestone for me. Not only was I the first to complete this challenge, but I did it with
such beastly skills that my time will not be matched for a long while. By which time, I might add, I will have completely destroyed all competition. So what, you ask, did I accomplish? The Rubik's Cube. Oh yes. And I did it in 12 minutes. I was never any good with things like this, it was complicated and I didn't like it. But last Christmas I wanted one to play with, and couldn't find one anywhere. Then this Christmas, Helena (my younger sister) surprised me with my very own Rubik's Cube. My first week back in Jordan I was so tired, and I didn't have the energy to be social, so I started working on the cube. I got closer and closer until I had it almost completely solved, just one square to flip. Then I turned it wrong, and messed the whole thing up. I was not happy. So I continued to work on it until I finally solved the Rubik's Cube. The first time I solved it took just under 15 minutes, I was so excited! Since then, I have been working on improving my time. Hence the 12 minutes. Yes, it seems like a small, unimportant
feat, but to me, this was a massive victory.
So back to reality here - I got a change in medications while I was home, and it seems to be working nicely. Jetlag and increase in focus time have set my head off before, but it was manageable these past two weeks. So I am grateful that the meds are helping. It's the first daily medication that has helped at all. It certainly makes the load a little easier.
Coming up: girls night in, a day trip to Jerash, and Superbowl 43 - kick off here is at 1:30 am, and yes, I will be watching it.
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Daddy
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We just loved having you home for the holidays! I am glad that you are having some (though not total) relief from your headaches. Way to ROCK on the Rubik's. Is that a gauntlet I see flying by?