Sleigh bells ringing...

December already. To get into the spirit I suggest a cinnamon mocha at Starbucks (or your preferred mom & pop). If you're over 21, a shot of Czech Becherovka would do twice as well, but it's expensive I hear, even more than a venti latte with two shots of syrup.

This past week has been just this side of insane. After three nights of no sleep, things finally picked up. First there was a North building party. It was for Beer and Dessert and attracted a failr large crowd, babies too. It was fun to hang out with Melissa and my RA David, who I had recently sent several nagging letters about my neighbors.

Next I headed to an I-House cultural hour (last one was America, see previous post) in this one we toured Nepal's taxi drivers, climbed Mount Everest with a yettie, and chatted with monks in Tibet. And there was a yak dance, not to be missed. The food they served was good, but spicy beyond belief. If not for the 4 cups of chai I would not have made it. Afterwards, Honza, Michael (new German friend) and Suzanna sat around chatting about academia.

Pictured: Honza and Me after being welcomed-Nepal-style


Then things got serious. I haven't left my building since Thursday, my room since Friday. Finals.
* Middle East: 1 big paper, 1 small paper, 1 short presentation
* Peace Ed: 1 big paper
* Econ: 1 exam
* Family as Educators: 1 big paper, 1 big presentation
GAH. Well, the big Middle East paper is done at any rate, and with rave reviews (from my mom and dad, but I take what I can get). Now I'm trying to figure out how to climb the Ladder of Abstraction for Family as Ed...

Tonight I went next door for some late-night tea to my neighbor (the quite one) Susan. She invited over another friend, Julia (German) and we had a really surprisingly long evening. We did comparative genocide (Holocaust vs. Rwanda), comparative films on terrorism (Munich vs. Paradise Now), comparative bosses (unorganized vs. forced role-play). It sounds heavy, but it was a good time.

Today was also highly productive. I woke up early to schedule my classes for next semester!
Courses I've Scheduled:
Issues &Institutions-International Education Development
Education in Emergencies
Multicultural Approaches for Teaching Young Children
Human and Social Dimensions of Peace

Courses I'm Still Considering: (all are short-term weekend courses)
Practicum on Conflict Resolution
Peace Operation, Trusteeship,OCC Regimes
Development & Conflict Prevention:Critical conscience

And I'm looking at internships within either Middle East conflict resolution or peace education in NY (there's plenty of conflict here, believe me).

I am so ready for Winter Break, especially now that I've got my heater working. I plan on staying in NY the entire time. After all, everyone else pays to come to NY over break, why would I pay to leave? I'm hoping for some quality time with friends visiting and Brittany and I are going to be super-tourists and see this place we've been living in for 4 months.

Pictured: the yak dance