MERRY CHRISTMAS! What a blessing it is to be home with friends and family - my heart overflows!

Back in the STATES!!!

Sorry for the long delay between entries - life got a little crazy for a bit, which included a cancellation of one of the legs on our flight home and an immediate change of plan that caused us to leave Sofia a day earlier than planned. I am happy to say, however, that we are HOME!!!! I love that word - HOME!!! It's the most beautiful word in the English language. Speaking of English - everyone speaks it here - feels pretty good to say something to someone - anyone - and have them understand and respond appropriately. It's my favorite thing of the day.
Due to jet lag we woke up around 4am this morning and have been powering through the day. We even went downtown and bought Christmas presents for each other - pretty trippy to be in a downtown U.S. city after 16 months overseas. I love it though.
Anyway - more later when I've adjusted to the time and my brain is running at full speed! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So busy, so tired.

722 applications were delivered to me on Tuesday. I now have to stuff an envelope for each one of them that includes a transcript, letter of recommendation, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm exhausted. And, I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of kids right now. I realize that 17 year olds are irresponsible by nature, but I'm not in the mood for it right now. :) It'll pass.
I hope everyone is well - 9 more get ups!!!! Yeah!

One of my students wrote about this painting in her personal statement required for her college application. When reminded of this painting, I couldn't help but think of how wonderfully it fits my current state of mind. Actually, I kind of enjoy being busy right now, however. First of all, it helps to keep my mind off the fact that we are so close to going home. If left to my own devices, I would sit around and countdown the seconds until take off. Secondly, there is a piece of me (a somewhat small piece) that likes being busy around Christmas because it makes the stress-relief of break feel so much better. We'll see how I feel about that last comment when anxious students deliver 722 college applications to me on Tuesday. :)

On another note, this is also the time for students who applied Early Decision to hear their fate. This is so bittersweet for me. When you work so closely and intensely with these students, you begin to think of them as if they were your own kids. So right now, I have 36 children waiting to hear whether or not they were accepted to the university of their dreams. One second I have a student running in crying "happy tears", as Lorissa would say; the next there is another student whose tears aren't so happy. It's a roller coaster, I tell ya! Today I heard from three students: One acceptance to Vassar, two were deferred to regular decision at Amherst and Dartmouth. No denials yet, so that's something to be thankful for. Speaking of Vassar, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I love this school. Our unborn children are going there whether they like it or not. The admissions officer there is absolutely my favorite to work with - he just seems to care so much about the kids.

Anyway, after spending my Saturday at school, I am now home sitting in front of the fire with Christmas lights aglow around me. It's a warm fuzzy feeling that makes me forget about all the stress - I love it. Pete is doing some schoolwork right now, but when he's finished maybe he'll come and cuddle on the couch with me and my warm fuzzy feeling will be complete.

13 more get ups!

15 more get ups

15 MORE GET UPS UNTIL WE GET ON THAT PLANE!!!!!!!!!!
(I have 8 letters to write between now and then, and some other stuff to do, actually lots of other stuff to do ... I've written over 100 letters in the past two months ... I'm starting to go a little crazy. I may greet all of you by saying something like "It is a joy, delight, and privilege to see you; I am undoubtedly excited and I plan to thrive in this environment over the next two weeks.")
Whop whop whopeee!)

ACS Thanksgiving

Last night was another fun Thanksgiving celebration with the staff. We spent the morning preparing food - it turned out to be better than last year. It tasted just like home cooking (either that or I'm getting used to it here) :) Pete and I were in charge of the mashed potatoes again this year. It's so fun because we get to use the industrial machines (see the pictures). They do all the peeling and mashing for us, so it was pretty much a cinch.
After dinner we got out the karoke machine - I'll let the pictures speak from themselves.
The college application season is getting down to the wire - my goal is to be finished with my letters by Wednesday. I'll let you know how it goes.
What do you all think of the blog's new Christmas look? Shan - I stole the idea (and some of the HTML code) from some of your friends' blogs ... hope that's o.k. The new picture is from last year's Christmas performance when Pete and I did Balkan dancing. I need to jazz it up a little more ... I'm working on that.
Have a great week! Wish me luck on my letters.