Mumkin talq fe newberg

From the last blog title I thought that Denny had come to life again! I miss you guys a lot. Brad and I are talking about going back to Cairo in 2007, so I can do my masters at AUC. Pray that we will have decernment in the next year.

Brad and I put up our first Christmas tree. Our church was selling trees and all the money was going to a local charity, so we couldn't resist. It is almost fully decorated, just a few more things to get. I really love the Christmas season, but it is going to be strange not seeing my family. This weekend we celebrate out 6 month anniversary :-) Time really has flown by.

Work is going well for me, Brad is five days a week at Tigard Highschool and is teaching his work sample. I have signed up for a class next semester.....I thought well if Brad has homework I might as well too :-)

WHY are we congratulating Chris and HEather??? what is the news???? I have an inkling.

I have been trying to think of creative stuff for Marcia and Andrew to do......but I am stumped. I am suppose to share in our sunday school class this sunday....so my mind is whirling as well. How about serve them some food??? Make up some kousharie or beleela...college kids always like food.
I will keep thinking.
love, Emily
p.s the news said it MIGHT snow tonight in Newberg.....I AM PRAYING HARD. I love the snow (maybe because I haven't been snowed in all winter like some of you guys in snow land)

Mumkin talq fe newberg

From the last blog title I thought that Denny had come to life again! I miss you guys a lot. Brad and I are talking about going back to Cairo in 2007, so I can do my masters at AUC. Pray that we will have decernment in the next year.

Brad and I put up our first Christmas tree. Our church was selling trees and all the money was going to a local charity, so we couldn't resist. It is almost fully decorated, just a few more things to get. I really love the Christmas season, but it is going to be strange not seeing my family. This weekend we celebrate out 6 month anniversary :-) Time really has flown by.

Work is going well for me, Brad is five days a week at Tigard Highschool and is teaching his work sample. I have signed up for a class next semester.....I thought well if Brad has homework I might as well too :-)

WHY are we congratulating Chris and HEather??? what is the news???? I have an inkling.

I have been trying to think of creative stuff for Marcia and Andrew to do......but I am stumped. I am suppose to share in our sunday school class this sunday....so my mind is whirling as well. How about serve them some food??? Make up some kousharie or beleela...college kids always like food.
I will keep thinking.
love, Emily

"Izzay il gouw? Mumkin talq"

Oh Denny - I wonder whatever happened to him? Well, today it's definitely not "mumkin" talq because there's a lot more of it around here then there was when I left for break. I went to the wonderfully amazing city of Vancouver for Thanksgiving (and got to see Bethany along with a few other great people!) and got stuck in the ridiculously cold city of Winnipeg, Manitoba (which we Canadians call "Winterpeg") on the way back because some of the highways in the ice ball state of North Dakota were closed. I just got back tonight - a day late- and am fully exhausted and I think I'm even more tired (but happy) after catching up on the blog.
First of all, I am definitely coming to New Year's - I'm flying into Des Moines on December 30th at approximately 9:00 pm (Andrew said he would pick me up).
Second of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Heather and Chris - exciting, exciting, exciting :) It was good to hear from you too Heather and hopefully you guys can figure out the blog thing again!
I loved reading the blog just now because people I thought had disappeared (i.e. Barret, Andrew U etc.) posted - glad you're all alive and well! Barret, how are you doing in Colorado? I hear you guys and the Nebraskans got hit with some big storms. Did it get you where you are?
OK, I have to ask, what the heck is towla? I must have missed something in Cairo because I'm confused.
I have lots more to say but I'm also swamped with homework so I'm going to go but first I have to point out that I was the first one to find out about Andrew's love interest ... perhaps because we happen to share a lot of the same relatives :) .... hopefully Andrew doesn't kill me for saying that, but none of you know her anyways, and Margaret already pried it out of Andrew

Happy late Thanksgiving to all of you!

blizzard #2

that's really all i have to say...i'm procrastinating again and the only thing i could think to post about was the latest weather. we had/have cold, windy, snowy weather again.
good day,
ANdrew

IDEAS

My brothers and sisters,

Marcia and I and insha allah a future MESPer are doing a presentation on Egypt one week from today. Previous country reports have been rather boring as they have been mostly power point and lecture. We don't want to be boring. We need fun, creative, interactive ways to teach our class about Egypt. Our presentation is 50 minutes long and will include history, religion, demographics/geography, politics, intellectual heritage, communication, general culture, and more. So do a little brainstorming and get back to Marcia and I with all of your fantastic ideas.

I love you all.

Peace, my friends.

Prank #47

Hello all, I'd just thought I'd post one for kicks and for procrastination. here here! Question to ponder: what does the term good procrastination mean?
Anyway, I occasionally play pranks on friends and... well unsuspecting people who are aquaintenances... okay and just random people.
For one of my psychology classes, research methods, we went into a store and got a few items costing around $10. Then we proceeded to pay with change. as many nickels and dimes as we could muster. Well we did one store and then decided that one store wasn't good enough, and we didn't get very many reactions. We then went to another grocery store and decided to buy a pregnancy test and chocolate bar.. and pay with change at the end of the month. much said, cashiers are really great about eliciting no reactions except slight impatience when one person is counting out change for 15 minutes. Moms in line are grabbing stress balls and squeezing them and men in line gaze at Cosmopolitan and Red Book, wishing they could pick one up to discover the hot sex secrets.
So thats how I ended up with this pregnancy test. I live in a house with 5 girls, 2 of which have boyfriends and one is imprisoned.. I mean engaged. I nonchalantly set my pregnancy test box out on my bathroom counter which is downstairs and all the rest of the girls use the upstairs bathoom. But we all study downstairs, so they use it. I wanted to see how long it would take my house full of girls to say anything. After the second day, my pregnancy test had been moved to a drawer.. and then then third day, one of the girls asked me, but it was definitely one of those awkard moments for her... trying to ask me why I had a pregnancy test in the first place without trying to sound too judgemental. I was laughing hysterically inside. to make matters better, one of the girls in my house who had seen the pregnancy test was helping Nick, my boyfriend, coach the high school girls varisty soccer team. After he had been let in on my little prank he brought the subject up at practice saying in a serious voice, "so, did you see Lindsay's pregnancy test?" ha! oh the drama. good fun, but definite social awkwardness in dealing with "immoral Christian topics."
But the real prank begins because once my house found out, one of my housemates and I decided that it might be more of a prank to place the unboxed pregnancy test in the bathroom of an on-campus girls house.. Weesner house. there are 13 girls in this house and many with boyfriends. So, with my psych major friend who lives in Weesner house, we ran into one of her friends who just so happened to be married and a few months pregnant. We convinced her to take the test for us so it would render positive. That evening we placed the test in the bathroom trash, slightly concealed, yet still very noticeable. My Weesner house mole and I were conveniently doing a project in her room when we heard, "you guys, guess what I found in the bathroom!!" haha! There were multiple gasps and whispers.. not sure what else was said because we were around the corner. That was before the thanksgiving break. The house RA called a house meeting about something so we'll see if anything turns up.
Oh the fun you can have with a pregnancy test.

Thanksgiving in Iowa

Well, here we are in Des Moines, Iowa a foreshadowing of things to come. Claire Thurman is sitting beside me in my basement reading a book about Jerusalem. We've pretty much had a fabulous Thanksgiving break and have thought of you often in these past days. Mornings begin with Bileela and today I found Yellow Label Lipton tea at a little grocery store downtown. I made Claire watch a musical on Wednesday and I think she secretly loved it. We've been thinking about New Year's eve and I think its time to add a little organization to this choas. If you're coming please stand up and be counted--tell me when and where you are arriving. Claire and I were also talking about making tenative plans for our days (eating, activities, ect..) so if you have ideas of things you want to do let me know. Whose bringing the towla? Apple tobacco? The Dordt kids are doing a run to the Omaha airport to pick up Lindsay and Amber. What day is that? Also, here's my vital information so you can mapquest me:

14072 Lakeview Dr.
Clive, IA
50325

cell: 515.371.0627
home: 515.224.1812
school: 765.998.0812

Okay Claire has now taken the microphone...I feel like one of these days I'll post on the blog under my own name, but today is not that day. I'd like to reiterate what Marcia said...this morning was the second morning in a row we ate bileela!! And, we are thinking of y'all often. It's true, I'm reading about Jerusalem...how King Abdullah kinda screwed the East Jerusalemers by diverting all resources and attention to Amman in the early 1950's. I'm going to be hosting a discussion group about the Middle East next weekend; I'm pretty excited about it.
Has anyone seen Paradise Now? I saw it last weekend. I've been thinking about it a lot and trying to process it and talk about it carefully to people who haven't seen it, but I'm also recommending it because I think it is a very well-done movie. If it's available, we'll have it to watch over New Years together.
Alright folks. I'm out, back to the books and my sister Marcia.
Peace

Its Marcia again. One more thing. I know there are people who don't regularly check the blog so I'm going to send an informative email to the whole group. Does anyone have everyone's emails already typed out so I can just copy and paste? Thanks folks. That's it for now. Much love from the Midwest.

and as Margaret would say...P in the ME

Marcia and Claire.

ah ha!

I think I may have a little bit of the road-raging city driver in me still. This morning I was stopped at a stop sign and just beginning to accelerate to turn right, when an elderly lady turned left, almost crashing into me because she took up so much of my lane. I gave her a very satisfying honk--something that is a little bit of a faux pas here in little Sioux Center. But seriously, she could have caused an accident, and she should know that she annoyed me royally. So I honked and felt justified.

Thanksgiving is over, and I'm doing my best to motivate myself to get ready for the coming week. I have this desire in me to just live for a while. To be totally free from all obligations, to have time to read what I want, think about what I want, or to have the freedom to decide to take off for a weekend to some unknown destination. I'm staring the reality that I need to be seriously working on becoming a responsible adult in the face, and I'm not liking it very much. I love what I do--all I've ever wanted since before I can remember is to be a teacher, but seriously, I'm not that responsible. My flatmates from last semester know this--I'm about as laid back and unworried about deadlines as you could possibly be. But I have this fear that soon I'll be a gray-haired, wrinkly, old person at thirty (I found a gray hair last weekend)--all from the stress of trying to be a so called, responsible adult. Sigh. I don't wanna grow up!

My student teaching is going okay. I'm not having as much fun as I did the first half in B.C. That has mostly to do with my supervising teacher. My supervising teacher here is very critical--I feel like I can't do anything right for her. She writes me notes while I teach, telling me everything that went wrong. It's hard for me to handle that--I'm already fairly self-critical, and then it's hard to have her voice in my head as well as my own telling me that I'm not doing a good job. But I have only three weeks left, and then who knows. I've decided to take next semester off, in a way--time to live and be a free-spirit. I'm going to stay living at home, hopefully find some subbing jobs, maybe get a part-time job waitressing or something equally mindless, and just adjust to being grown up. Then in the fall I hope to move back to B.C. So there's my short term leading to long term plan. And oh my goodness, I'm looking forward to New Year's!

Here's a cool thing you should all check out. Go to www.pandora.com. Sweetness.

it's late and somebodies gotta post something :)

i'm thankful for a few things (not all inclusive) that come to mind:

for being able to wiggle my toes
that every single sunrise and sunset are different
my sense of wonder
snowballs
the awkward/giddy feeling that comes with a newfound "love-interest"

mr. patato head (ok, and mrs. patato head)
the northern lights and stars
corn
of course my family
sore muscles/bruises from hockey
the word "hootenany"
music and the ability to make it out of seemingly nothing
and
rasberries
and
bananas
and
muslims

Question

Alright, I have a quick inquiry. I have a friend who is going to Israel this summer and is interested in staying at the Mar Elias Institute. Does anyone have that information that the Abuna gave us on his business card?

That's all for now. Help me if you can.

This is the long lost cowgirl AMBER!!!

Hello you bunch of crazy ass American/Canadian people,

I am so sorry that I have not posted. I could never figure it out and now I am kicked off or something. I just don't get this stuff.

Okay, if you could all pray for me. My roommates boyfriend ran away (yes, I guess college students can do that), came back and tried to kill himself yesterday. My roommate was in the hospital all day and honestly, it is very hard on me even though others I'm sure don't notice. I have had insomnia for the past week and just feel nervous and overwhelmed all the time. My roommates name is Anna and her boyfriend is Hessod.

On a happier note, I'M COMING TO IOWA FOR NEW YEARS BABY!!!!! So you all better be there. Well, I'll fly into Omaha on the 28th, so Andrew, I think you'll be there to get Lindsay, will you get me too???? Please??!! That would be great. It is time to get the heck out of here. I'm leaving Monday to go home for Thanksgiving and I just can't wait.

Yeah, short and sweet. I'll post later when I feel a little less bizarre, but I miss you all dearly, think of you all often and just can't wait to see you guys.

your long lost friend,
Amber McDonough

Chelsea and co.

so, apparently, England has peacocks.

sometimes they like to hang out at outdoor pubs.

well paint the barn red and shove a crowbar up mah nose....Claire lives

Gosh, this is what I get for not checking in for awhile, but these are comments I would have made to people but now fear that you might not go back and check the comments. I'm not excluding anyone, just replying to things from the most recent posts:

Em: First and foremost, glad your family is fine. All the best to them, especially your sweet sister, I hope she continues to adjust well and isn't too affected right now. I've been holding out on Facebook, but I am about to cave. The fact that you and Barrett are on might be the final straw that makes me do it. I couldn't believe your story about the lady at GF. Oh wait, yes I could. So glad to be in the UK right now, where white Anglo Brits are used to having Lebonese, Syrian, and other Mid Eastern neighbors. However;

Josiah: I do NOT dislike America more than you. :o)

Claire: is alive! I mean I knew that already, but in blog land! HolyToledo, good to hear from you, girl. Hey, I smoked apple sheesh with Luke last week. Obviously your emotional reaction to the picture of us was due to the high density of coolness packed into a relatively small area. Either that or...c'mon my hair didn't look that bad did it?

MMG: thanks for your comment, hon! I'd love to meet your Taylor pal in London this spring. Any friend of yours.....well, is probably freaking cool if they are smart enough to be friends with you.

Jenna: things have been fairly quiet in regards to France here. Which maybe is more indicative of how much time I spend researching in the library more than it is of the real situation. Anyway, all I know is what I've read/watched on BBC. None of the Brits I talk with have been conversing about it. Hey I wanna here more about your sem. What do you mean you want to be on travel component? You're hobnobbing with the rich and famous in Ottowa so that you can make connections, take over the world, and institute a system where "rich" and "famous" are abolished in the name of equal distribution of wealth. (sorry I just wrote 9 straight hours an essay on Marx)

Dena: yah, don't join Facebook yet. Let's both hold out til we graduate, or you know what will happen. You'd be proud of me, I've been really good this year. I kind of have to. Plus I abolished that damn paperclip, so no more spontaneous erasers of already existing papers.

the Dordt 3: Hey I met this girl named Ann who knows all of you. She is going to Eastern Europe with [Claire's] Luke and my housemate and longtime friend Miriam. Aghh!! Crazy small world of CCCU. Andrew, she laughed at the pic of you and Cecka staring into the sky, group photo.

and Cecka: Oh my freaking goodness. Are you serious about visiting? Girl, I miss you like I miss the pub on a Friday night when I have to be in the library because I am a visiting student and have limited hours to access it. Wow, that was a crap simile. Also it gives the incorrect impression that I may have more of an affinity for consumption of alcoholic drinks than I actually do. But that is so completely not the point. the point is, I loved your card, I love you, and you should come visit.
When are you thinking of coming? Any time is good, excpet for the part in the spring when I am going to the States for a wedding, mid-March.
e-mail me. If you come during term, I'll take you around Oxford. If you come during the end of my spring break we could go somewhere cool....how about the Czech Republic dude?!?! ha. only if we see Chelesa, England after.

You all rock tons, and gosh what I wouldn't give to watch Mme Butterfly in Italian with Arabic subtitled with you all again.

Errrrr, okay. or maybe just conversation and a cup of apple tea in Turkey would do.


love and love and love at 2:22am my time,
Chels

Social Psychology with Snow

It's a blizzard around here - the wind is insane. I feel sorry for freshmen who have never experienced an Iowa winter (especially the ones from California). Andrew and I are in Social Psychology right now. It was supposed to be the "best class of our college career" (according to people who have taken it) but we have an adjunct professor instead of the woman who usually teaches it and apparently this guy is qualified to teach the course because he took a Psychology minor in college 20 years ago . . .(?????). He is a really nice short little man though, so we always come to class, and we do try and listen. And that's why this post is going to end now - so we can be good little students, as always. Random posts are Andrew's thing :) so I should have let him write instead of letting him talk over my shoulder, but maybe it's better this way. Hmmm.... now we're talking about where we grew up. This could be interesting....
Hope you're all well and staying warm

-Dena and Andrew

Lovers of Arabs......

Hi Friends,

I was sending Barrett a message on Face book (the new time sucker I have found...but such a great way to keep connected) and I though you would enjoy the story that I shared with him.

I had the worst interaction with a prospective student's mom yesterday. It was a preview day and I was helping the International Studies director answer questions, since I am a living breathing graduate :-)
To make a long story short, her daugher's highschool track team was going to Cairo and the mom wouldn't let her daughter go. "Do you KNOW what Arabs call Americans??" says the overbearing opinionated mom " .....well they call them HOSTEGES". "And there are bombs going off left and right there". I looked at her dumb founded.

I snapped, I couldn't handle one more person talking that way, if she was going to be opinionated then she wouldn't mind hearing my opinion either.
"Actually I spent 13 years of my childhood as well as LAST YEAR in Cairo. Arabs are some of the most hospitable, wonderful people you will ever meet. They love American people and your daughter would be well taken care of. Also the one bomb that went off happend in a hotel on the RED SEA about 10 HOURS from Cairo."

The mother had finally had someone stand up to her. I then continued to talk but only to the daughter (who has a passion for the Middle East and I hope comes goes to a CCCU school so she can go to MESP...and I hope that school is far away from her mother because she needs a lot of deprograming).

What ignorance..... People like that are running all over America. Ok thanks for listening to my rant. I know you all with understand and resonate with me.

Hope you have a good weekend. We are going out to Lebanese food with two of my sister's

Missing you,
Emily

Don't read unless you are bored

On Thursday nights, one of the two bars in Dordt Town has Thirsty Thursday's in which a pitcher of beer is $4...not a bad price, really. While this may sound evil, it is actually often a full bar with mostly Dordt students who sit around and discuss anything. Believe it or not, it is overall a great atmosphere (except for those that drink too much).
Anyhow, this evening i went there with my roomates to have a glass each and contemplate life (and my rooomates birthday). I thought a few of you might find this funny, ironic, or at least slightly humorous (hopefully) because tonight i did not get carded at the door because the owner of the bar was there. Turns out he knows me because i often haul corn to the grain elevator that he owns. As i pulled out my lovely Iowa driver's license he said, "Go ahead, you bring me corn. I guess there is more than monetary value in commodities... It's an odd connection that i did not think about right away. However, as he continued to card every other single person entering the bar regardless of age, i realized how small-town this all was. While i am not a regular, it's scary and maybe even pseudo prestigious to think that i have suddenly "moved up" (arguably:) to the rank of "Person who needs no I.D. at the local bar"
It's time to move...?

If you made it this far, I'm sorry; that's all that's really happening around good old Sioux Center...o, that and Dena was studying for a test.

Mr. ANdrew

Amman

Well just so everyone knows my parents are living in Amman right now and they are all fine. I think they are a little shaken by the whole thing...and shockes since Jordan is such a peaceful place. I think they feel like the bombs are following them...first Lebanon and now this.
Pray that Ruthie and my mom aren't too affected by the bombs, when they happend in Lebanon Ruthie got really scared. She has been adjusting really well to Jordan so far.
We need to pray for this region, evil wants to revail.

Happy Birthday Marsha!!

SO this is a little late but I wanted to sing you a little song......ready? Ok!
(sing to the tune of Hapy Birthday)

Sana helwa ya gameel
sana helwa ya gameel
Sana helwa sana helwa sana helway
ya gameel......

I thought my favorite Egyptian deserved a song in Arabic. Too bad I don't have a voice or the looks of Amr Diab :-) I love you Marsha and hope that you had a special day (even though I couldn't send you a cake from Al Abd)

The weather here in Newberg is GETTING REALLY COLD! I know you people in MN are laughing at me because it is probably 10 times colder. I just discovered face book....and as Andrew U warned it is sucking up all my time :-) But I have found some long lost friends.

love Emily

Getting Older . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Liz and Josiah!!!!!
Hope you're both doing amazing in Michigan and Belgium respectively and have great people around to help you celebrate. Wait, unless you're still in England Josiah, in which case OF COURSE you have great people around.

That's all I've got to say :)

w.t.f.

Andrew and I are sitting here in the Humble Bean, yes, the Bean talking about how everyone thinks we have no plans for New Years.
Margaret: how many frickin' plans do they want?
Andrew: are they going to think we're mad?
Margaret: no, they already think we're redneck rebels who swear and don't do homework
Andrew: #%@!!!!
Margaret: no kidding.
Andrew: It's always been Marcia's for New Years.
Margaret: We're picking Lindsey up from Omaha on December 28, so that we can be at Marcia's that night, right?
Andrew: yep, then we can hang out for about four days and come home on the first.
Margaret: sweet. Do we need to pick anyone else from Omaha?
Andrew: I don't know. We'll have to see if anyone else wants to fly in for some frickin' fun.
Margaret: I hope Amber flies in that day. (wink wink) Dena too, eh?
Andrew: damn skippy.