it's a small world!

my friends at valley this semester (so far):

Pagah (indian)
Ulga (eastern-european)
Aniat (Armenian) *barely speaks english*
Mohamad (Algeria) *immigrated less than two years ago*
Eugene (Russian)
Cloe (Macedonia)
China (China)
Valeria (south American)
Frank (Hispanic)
Ginger (Jewish) *Ginger is my nickname for him, he's got super red hair)
Ammin (Afganistan) *lost an arm during the war fighting for the U.S. as a requisitioner)

And this is just the end of week two. My word. :)

I seem to give off two impressions to people in class, 1) that i know what i'm doing, so they ask me questions and make me go first. and 2) that i'm foreign myself! wish i was. though, this is the best country to be born into. but i definitely want to travel, people.

at 9.15pm tonight, in room BHS 100, we bent time.

it was awesome.

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okay so, today in chemistry i had another quiz. it went very well. eugene asked me for answers, i said no way. immediately afterwards he turned his in and asked again and we found out he got it wrong. poor sucker. look for the results on monday, or actually probably tuesday.

i need to stop coming late for this class btw..

and in dance we started a new combination with 32 beats of improv at the beginning. fun.

in the math lab, two jewish young men made me laugh at their crazy bike-accident stories. the best of which took place in israel only a little over a year ago. but surprisingly, i got all my homework done, save the last problem (sorta)(but that's okay.)(it was done, it was just done wrong and i didn't have time to fix it before my next class but, siever didn't notice.)

then tonight at math 240 we had our first test. 43 problems in one hour. it was a breeze. but i love our professor. after his five minute warning is up, he starts a ten second countdown, at the end of which, if you still have not laid your test on the counter, you start loosing points majorly. awesome! i love this guy. but, i'm going to have to really keep on top of my stuff so that i can get each problem done in 60 seconds or less. that's fast for me. but i can do! woo hoo

yeah so, as i sorta mentioned earlier, mohamad and i were talking tonight again and i found out he just moved here a short while ago, though his english is so good. his father is a U.S. citizen and he wanted his son to get his higher education in this country, understandable. so now mohamad has a permament residency. his calculator and his shoes are still foreign brands. :]

anywhoooo....

i realize i haven't posted the last two days so, i'll just catch you up real quick.

tuesday. meh, i can't remember so it is insignificant. though it was the first debate meeting of my life, bungalow 24. woot. and i was handed a new topic by duane for informative speaking. (the advancing ultra-sound technology and it's affect on the right to choose)

wednesday was exciting. i froze through every class but it was hot outside. but that's not what made it exciting.

in theatre? i borrowed stephanie's sweater and curled up in my upholstered chair but still froze, and afterwards, andrew said he'd bring his jacket for me next week. and we all went "aaw!" haha he's still walking me across campus.

theatre was exciting because we started acting, the entire time. and i was this really mad, strong, old lady, and it was very hard. i could do a much better job but, you feel rushed when you're standing in front of forty people, trying to read and move and speak at the same time. the subtle differences of tone, volume, and stance are lost. yet our professor stops me every two seconds to make me repeat. dude, it's a cold read! very frustrating. but i like the challenge.

oh, and josh miller has secretly referenced me in his lectures twice in a row now. it's awesome. "i was just walking with someone..." "i was invited to my coworkers church and..." i like josh. but he hasn't successfully "got at me", try as he might. ;)

well, goodnight. i must do dishes. and clean my room. and eat! yey, eat.

"retreat!"

So, this weekend was amazingly awesome.

I learnt to surf and play poker (texas hold 'em style). The whole event was way less spiritual than I expected, and way more social than I could dare to hope. But as a result, it was definitely not a retreat from worldly thoughts, nor the rest for body and soul that I was starting to look forward to. I got zilcho homework accomplished and knocked my precariously (un)balanced sleeping habits way into the morning hours.

For the sake of time, and to get to what happened on Monday, I will keep this to a brief bulleted list.

-Played many vicious rounds of pit, eight people a pop
-Had awesome roommates that kicked butt in catchphrase, guys vs. girls
-Had awesome roommates that kept me up until 1:30/2am laughing
-Woke up in the dead of night (5am) and crept downstairs in the dark, by myself
-Went surfing, at 5:30am
-Swam in the cold pacific, lugging a board four times my weight, at 5am

(these are separated because they are monumental firsts in my life)

-wore a wetsuit, for the first time. (coincidentally at five in the morning also)

(btw? wetsuits seriously work!)
okay.. i need to take a break here and talk about surfing.

surfing is awesome. especially that early in the morning. the sun hasn't risen so there's no need for sunblock. the beach is devoid of life but the ocean is full of really good, older surfer men and a couple women. but like, NO teenagers. It's too cold to not be wearing a wetsuit so everyone's modest! The physical exertion of paddling out to sea is so great, I think it's gotta be one of the better work outs, for your entire body. But the coolness of the water keeps you at a perfect temperature, and you end up feeling mega-rejuvenated/refreshed and ready to go. Which is another really cool part, you finish surfing? and it's only 8:30am! Most of you probably weren't even up at that time on a Saturday. so you go home and eat breakfast, after just working your abs and your biceps, and generally feeling very good about yourself.

highly recommend this sport. at five am.

back to my list though..

OH! no, one more thing. Two things about my first surfing experience that I found funny, a) i got my wetsuit because the girl before me threw-up when she put it on. poor dear. and that caused b) me to have to go out after the first group of surfers left the shore and before they came back and the next group suited up to go. in other words, i walked in to the sea all on my own without instructions, support, or someone strong to save me when i started to drown.

i tried for a long time to paddle past the breakers to the other peeps but, i wasn't strong enough so i eventually gave up and was walking along the shallows to go back. but steve saw me and came in and beckon. kinda guy just stayed by me as i tried one more time to paddle out and, for whatever reason, it was really easy that time. course.

but it was nice cuz then he and i ended up floating out there in companionable quiet. he had one reeally good ride, the best of his life so far, he said. it was neat to watch. i caught three or so myself but, not standing up by anymeans..

anywho....

bulleted list.

-almost played football for the first time, but didn't
-"did homework" with kenny in the shady grass but ended up talking for two + hours about all manner of fascinating subjects instead. (ranging from the japanese language and culture, fencing, writing, acting, our life aspirations, etc.)
-hit the ball once during beach volleyball and it ended up scoring our team a point (but ONLY because magnificent Ben, the Russian, is insanely fast and could hit the thing back in bounds and then run in time to spike it.)
-had chic-fa-le and chiplote for the first time
-stayed up til 5am (yes, this is the same day as getting up at 5 for surfing..) learning to play teax hold 'em with a bunch of guys and merary.

poker.is.fun.

The whole weekend was a blast and I'm glad I went but everything comes with a price and the price for this weekend was missing my best friends move-into-college-dorm day. Which was doubly bad of me because I didn't give her much warning that I wasn't going to be there. Not that she didn't have six other lovers supporting her and crowding her space but she was displeased with me (which, psychically, i could sense...) and (more on that psychic bit later.) she even told me last night on the phone that she would've told the other girl to stay home so she could spend the time with me instead. aaw! i lub you jueunhae.

i actually need to finish this so i can go return her text with a call and get the college to finish dropping the classes i dropped so i dont' end up registered for TWENTY-SIX UNITS! O_O

Love to all!

-jay