Christmas
I spent the 23rd-30th of December with my sister out of state. ( Christmas )

Cancer
The evening of Christmas Day my mom called me, asking to see how our trip went. Christmas isn't significant to her so having bad news on that day isn't as shocking. The call was normal and everything was like "How was your trip? The flight?"

Then my mom told me about her mother. Apparently my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer all the way back in June or July. And I didn't find out until December!!! That's half a year! ( Grandma )

Christian church wedding
In December 2010 I received an invitation to a wedding for one of my host sisters. (My college pairs each international student with a host family. It's up to each person and family how close they remain during the four years.) My host family consists of the parents, two older daughters and four younger sons. My host family is highly involved in their church and held the ceremony and reception in their church. They were very kind and made room for Matt during the reception. It was my first experience going to a Christian wedding!

( Wedding )

Yeah, three C's right there... If I remember I'll post up some pictures!

I'm watching Robyn performing on SNL Season 37, Episode 9. (Katy Perry hosted.) I saw Robyn live summer 2010. :D

How weird it is to say that...

Returning upperclassmen moved back onto Beloit College (barring RA's and OL's and other people like that) on Saturday, August 27th. I planned to visit from Saturday to Tuesday sometime. By a lucky coincidence Beth was flying into Midway, which is the closest Van Galder stop to where I was before Saturday. We planned to take the 4pm bus but we managed to meet up at the airport and take the 1:30pm bus because her flight arrived early. Joy!

I stayed with Beth the entire time. I wasn't much help with taking Beth's stuff out of storage. I am a little piddling thing. >_< And she was not on the first floor (and anyway that building had stairs leading up to the first floor). We waited until some of her other friends were free for their help with the other things. While Beth was unpacking I went to see the comedian. On the Saturday everybody else returns, there's a comedian or a hypnotist or something. They're usually college-friendly. People-friendly.

This one definitely was not. She was very crude. She was delayed and she started off with saying the Beloit downtown life was hopping, damn she got hung up on the strippers. >_< And she made fun of an international student because she didn't get a joke/looked blank. The int'l student was from Germany and the comedian said she couldn't think of a single good thing to come out of Germany, except bratwurst. She then asked the student from Germany if she liked bratwurst, but the student was vegetarian. She continued on with some jokes before she made one about CNN delays. You know, like how there's a lag between the on-site reporters and the anchorperson back on set. And she said it was like that, the lag, when she watched the German student. >_< Because it took her a while to get the joke.

I know the way I'm talking about it it doesn't sound offensive. Maybe the fact that I'm - was - an international student myself made me more sensitive to people making stereotypical jokes or those bordering on racism.

Did I mention she was okay making rape jokes? Sexist jokes? Racist jokes? I suppose I'd have to say the only thing she didn't do was make homophobic jokes. She was actually quite pro-homosexuality, being from Arkansas and getting a college degree in a university in the Chicago area. She made fun of other people in her family who were not completely okay with homosexuality.

( Mention of the rape joke )

A few guys left. What makes me proud is that the a few of the Phi Psi guys were the first to leave. When they left the comedian joked about that. She was like "Oh, wait! Why are you leaving? I mentioned a rape joke and suddenly you remember you had something to do!"

Anytime anybody left she said they were going off to have sex with hand gestures. Heterosexual -- a circle with her index and thumb on one hand and the other index poking in it. Homosexual males -- the index fingers poking at each other. Homosexual females -- her hands spread in V's and mushing them together. A few guys even ran because they didn't want her to see them and make jokes about them. She said, at one point, "This is why you don't want to leave!"

She made a lot of other horrible jokes. There were one or two that were a little funny - poking at Bush and Harry Potter references - but bleh. What a stupid, heinous, horrible, insensitive comedian. I was on my phone the entire time, texting with people, checking Facebook. I was between big groups of people. I couldn't leave easily. I was in a room later with Beth and some of her friends when the head of the Programming Board came in. She looked miserable and so sorry. People had written on posters advertising the comedian comments like "I've been to funnier funerals." I was a little flabbergasted the comedian wasn't screened as well on the Internet as she could have been. But this is also the same person who organized the I ♥ Female Orgasm in April that I enjoyed. *sigh*

But that was Saturday evening and afterwards I helped Beth put her clothes away in their proper place. It was very reassuring and comforting to have something routine and orderly to do to calm my mind down...

( Sunday, Monday, Tuesday )

I couldn't see Lindsay which is :-( Not nice.

My memory card had enough memory for three dances from Alas! Thank goodness, since I asked for for these three to be recorded! These were recorded last night, the second and final night of Alas!

The first one is Christophe's Dance called "Conflict Resolution in D Minor." Music is Paragonx9 by Chaoz Fantasy
The description is : This is a re-enactment of a legendary dance rehearsal in which everybody showed up to rehearsal inebriated. They were uncoordinated, they bumped into each other, and conflict arose. This 'dance' is how they settled their disputes.



It is a fun dance!

This next one is the first of two I'm in. It's called "Incurable" with the song "Mamma Who Bore Me" by Duncan Sheik, from the musical Spring Awakening. The dancer in the middle is a woman who believes she has a baby, but realizes she doesn't. The other 5 dancers are symptoms of the disease/illness she has. (I was Extreme Pain.) I just realized that Ashley and I look similar from a distance. I'm the one who starts out closest to the audience, on the right, with flared out black pants. (Ashley wore black long underwear.)



This is the bellydance called "Arabian Adventure" with the song "Arabian Adventure" by DJ Antoine. The two main figures are a king and queen and the rest are separated into different groups with our own alliances. Originally it was suppose to be another king/gang leader, but he had to drop out so Jennifer (the great dancer with the arm sleeve/glove thing, and our choreographer) took his place.

So, there was a blackout earlier today. Sucks cause I was online with both my best friend and my boyfriend. (Our Internet cuts off when there's a blackout, as does our telephone line.) *sobs* And then I got hungry, but of course I couldn't heat up the dinner I didn't eat. But now it's back! Yay!

I got my grades.

Ballroom Dance - A
RLST - B+
FYI - B+
Calculus - B

Total earned credits: 3.75 (Yay, FYI and Ballroom dance!)
Total grade point: 12.25
GPA: 3.267

Whew. I didn't do as bad I thought I did in Religoius Studies (the class being "Understanding Religious Traditions in Multicultural America") because I handed in some assignments late and uhm...totally blew off a paper. Heh. Calculus was a little disappointing but that's because I know I could've gotten a notch higher if I had studied for the final a lot more than I did. FYI was a toss-up in the air. I didn't know what to expect in Art's class. And ballroom dance...forever will I be grateful to it because without it, my GPA would've dipped below a 3.0 and might've been in scholarship bind!

However...I just checked my scholarship letter and since I'm an international and not given a Presidential or Eaton Scholarship, there is no GPA cut-off. It just said something among the lines of "good academic standing". In fact...I think I emailed Beloit about it before May 1st, 2006 about what it meant...

SWEET!

Not bad for my first full semester at Beloit... I just hope I can hold onto it next semester with five classes!

I still ponder that question I asked. I do suppose it's one of those that you can't answer off-hand but can find examples to while you're doing something. Still, I feel dissatisfied with this...evasive answer. I mean...I feel like...there's nothing here, or there, that would be welcoming. Nothing nothing nothing. I have to stop comparing myself to others, but how can I when my culture's like that?