Slow down!

I cannot believe it's December already. I'm going home for Christmas in just over two weeks, where the heck did November go?? It's good in a way because I haven't really had chance to be homesick. I've been here nearly twelve weeks but it feels like I've only just arrived. Still HUGELY looking forward to going home though, I'm so excited about Christmas and seeing everyone again!

  The snow is getting kind of old now. It was fun for the first few days but now I would really quite like it to naff off so I can get on with things. It took me an hour and a half to get to town and back on Monday, which is just ridiculous. It had better clear off in time for the 18th. If my train is cancelled I shall cry!

xXx

Sleeeep

Just a brief update. So far the snow has been here three days and I've managed to slip and fall over three times. Only the first time really hurt because I went straight on my backside. On the plus side, it's the first time I've ever been glad to have so much padding there. 

  Got separated from the main pub crowd tonight but ended up having a really good chat and coffee with Erin instead. She is my American equivalent, it's quite scary how alike we are! Possible theories about her and Rachael being swapped at birth will inevitably surface.

  I read a whole book today, just for fun. I cannot describe how much I enjoyed it.

  Much to do tomorrow so I'm off to bed.

xXx

Heck yeah, I can dance!

I almost, very nearly had another tizzy fit this week.  The going to bed early plan failed epically so I woke up today even more knackered than last Sunday. Plus there was a good 2 inches of snow on the ground. Turns out my boots aren't waterproof too... let's just say by the time I got to salsa I wasn't in a brilliant mood to start off with.  

  I tried my best; I made sure to have a drink of water, I bought a bag of crisps in case my blood sugar levels were the reason for my meltdown last week and I made sure to have a sit down between classes. But still it got to the intermediate class and my brain just would not register. I've got quite a bad ache in my shoulder because I kept doing this one move completely wrong. At one point I walked away from the dancing, but something made me go back and keep trying, and I am IMMENSELY glad that I did.  When the instructor got fed up of teaching (it was a phenomanally awkward move) he just set up a rueda and put some music on, and we just danced. 

  Rueda means wheel so basically the couples dance in a circle. The leader of the rueda shouts out moves or instructions and everyone does it at the same time. The instructions are like Fly, where you have to clap on the first beat, and Moderno where you have to lift your left leg and clap your hands under it. I think my favourite is Intima - the girls step one leg out and the man behind turns round and claps his hands round the other leg. Hard to explain but always makes me laugh, I'll have to demonstrate it some time. Anyway the track that he put on was seriously fast and, because most of the leaders were also instructors, I actually managed to keep up and keep dancing and it was so much fun I was actually breathless at the end of the song. 

  There was supposed to be a club night tonight but because of the snow it was cancelled. Instead they just left the music running for an hour after the class finished so we could hang around and freestyle. And it was brilliant. Turns out I was only so bad at the last club night because I got terrible leaders. 

  It was just so encouraging today. When we were in the rueda one of the leaders just kept saying now and then that I was following really well. He didn't have to sound quite so surprised but never mind :p In the freestyle I danced with the instructor and at the end of the dance he said he'd really enjoyed it. Now, he could just have said that because it's fairly obvious that I have no confidence, but I don't think he did. I really felt good. And one of the other instructors asked me to dance twice so I can't be that terrible! 

  I'm so, so, SO very glad I didn't give in to the urge to go home. I would have missed out on a ginormous and much-needed confidence boost.

xXx

SNOOOOOOW!

Snow, snow, snow, snow

snow, snow, snow, snow,

lovely snoooow, wonderful snow, snow, snow, snow

snow, snow, snow, snow.

I'm just a little bit excited about the snow :D It's much easier to enjoy snow when you don't have to worry about driving in it. Today's the first time I've been glad not to have my car! 

 Went to an AMAZING thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night and didn't get home til about 4 in the morning. I'm going to another one tonight but I cannot stay that late this time. I'm absolutely knackered.

 Oh, the reason I'm knackered is because I got up at 2.45 this morning and haven't been back to bed like I planned to. And the reason I got up at 2.45 is because a bunch of CUs are doing a 24/7 prayer week and for some reason, which I can't quite recall, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the 4-5 am slot. Genius. It's slightly less stupid when you consider that I thought we would be praying at uni so I would only have a 20 minute walk. I didn't know it would be at some random church 35 minutes away. 

  It was well worth it though. I expected it to just be a plain room but there are cushions on the floor to sit or lie on, fairy lights up on the wall, there's a map of Glasgow so you can pray for specific places, a map of the world so you can pray for specific countries and any missionaries you know are out there, a cross to stick post-it thank yous on, an area to do painting and drawing, a CD player and stack of worship CDs, strings hung on the wall and paper clips so you can write out a prayer and hang it up, and some clear plastic on the wall where everyone's written names of people to pray for. My hour went so fast, I thought it had only been about half an hour at the most but then Lindsay started getting her coat on and it was time to go! I might go back again tomorrow. I think I could pray more effectively if I were properly awake.

xXx