A Guide to Surviving February

February.... It's a rough month here in Kazakhstan. Cold, dark, snowy. Granted, this year has not been anywhere near as bad as last, but still. It's no fun. I'm itching for Summer time, and canceling classes because it's -30C outside doesn't help. But here's a little of what I've been doing to move things along.

Work. Gotta stay busy. Even when classes have been canceled (only 4 times so far this winter. Last year we had a total of 18 days canceled) I've gone in and done a little something to feel productive. And that hasn't been hard to do with my counterpart asking me to retype all our lesson plans that were previously hand written. Because we have computers at our school now, this is what we do must do ... Yeah. Productive? Helpful for the students? Well... I'm just going to leave that alone. But like I said, at least it's been keeping me busy.


That picture is of my schedule for last semester (on the right page) and the first half of the second semester (left page). As you can see, it changes quite frequently. Keeps me on my toes. Er, something.

 Pills. To numb the pain. Ha! Kidding. SOOOO kidding about that (No one needs to call Dr. Victor). But I did have a nasty cold for a little while (oh yeah, that Kreshenya thing? Totally didn't work. I probably did it wrong). So here we have a cough drop, a multivitamin, two calcium supplements, antibiotics for the ear infection that came along with the cold, and Sudafed to clear everything out. I later added Mucinex to the daily regimen. That was a fun week.

Relaxing. Sometimes, after a long day with obnoxious (sorry, it's true) students, you just gotta take time to zone out. My mom sent me this cake for my birthday back in December, but I never bothered making it until this week. So glad I waited. It was greatly needed. I savored every bite,  while the amazing vocals and instrumentation of Olivia Pedroli washed over me. It was a lovely evening.

Freakin' delicious.

Jillian. Or, exercisetv.tv in general. But I've been doing this Yoga workout in particular a lot lately and I really like it. Not the meditation calming sort of yoga that I tend to get bored with (no offense to my friends that like it! It's just not my style!) but Jillian keeps it real with some pretty intense moves. Keeps me from feeling like I'm melting into an oily, mayonnaisey, sugary, fried potatoey glob. It's necessary.

Guitar. I'm so glad I decided to put down the money for this cheap, but awesome, little guitar. It's been a lifesaver. I miss playing the piano a LOT, but this certainly helps. I can't play as freely or be as versatile on it as I can be with the piano - obviously, since I'm self-taught and only started about 9 months ago - but I like the music! As cheesy as it sounds, it's therapeutic for me. Hopefully Babs and Denis aren't tired of hearing me play my favorites over and over again.

My fingers get a little beat up. I can no longer have pretty long finger nails. But I'm willing to sacrifice.

Painting. Just another random thing I started doing since coming here. Hannah suggested I do it, so I did. I've never been much of an artist (in fact, I dreaded going to art class in 7th grade because I could just feel the disappointment seeping from Mr. Loulious' (sp?) face every time he looked at one of my projects.) But, I'm not being graded here. So I can do whatever the heck I want, and if it's not up to his standards, I don't have to care! I'll just say it was supposed to be like that. 

Friends! Don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Hannah and Co. so close by. Hannah, Olga and I went out to an awesome restaurant on Valentine's day called the Scottish Pub. I had a Caesar Salad with chicken (also available with Horsemeat) and Hannah and I split a plate of BBQ Chicken wings with a bleu cheese dip, and I had cheesecake (weak, but still good) for dessert. I think I sometimes forget how delicious, and flavorful, food can be. I'll be in trouble when I go back to America. 

 

And finally... playing around with Picnik, the new photo editor attached to Picasa. Makes me think I need to invest in some better photo editing software. My camera doesn't exactly take the most impressive pictures, but after playing around with Picnik and some of the effects there it helps a ton (as you can see from the picture above, which wasn't so attractive originally). Someday I'll have to sit down and go through all my Kazakhstan photos and make them pretty and presentable, so that when I go home I can make people watch "slideshows." You know you want to.

February 20th. Only 8 days left. March will fly by since I'll be vacationing for a week in Ireland over Spring Break (yep. Random, I know). Then only two more months of school, two months of Summer - which will be filled with COS conference and Summer camps - and then I'm home! Wow! 

See you soon....