Getting Ready - Students From Around the World

Happy Holidays!

I have been doing much better. I know everyone will be happy to hear. I've been getting ready all week for Tanner to arrive. It has been really motivating, I got a lot of chores done around my room. I've been shopping. I need to study some more so next week I can slack off some.

My social life has been more active. I know this is because I have been feeling better, then the two feed off each other. But it's hard to find time for everything now that I am always out and about.

It is really interesting spending so much time with people from all over the world. Last week on December 6th, my roommate Lisa and her friend Ira invited me to a party. In Germany they celebrate St. Nickolaus day, he is Santa Claus. Kids get gifts and every one eats chocolate. The party was small, it was a dessert party for ten people. Along with the two hosts there were three other German people, one from Munich and two from Berlin. Ira is from around Black Forest, Lisa is originally from Bavaria. I'm learning a lot about Germany through Lisa and her friends. Germans are very proud of the fact that Germany is the largest country in Europe. They feel pretty strongly about regional differences. I still have to tease Lisa, American is a huge country. Our regional differences are certainly much stronger, all of Southern California speaks Spanish and not English. :0)
There were three Americans, and two French girls at the part as well. Lisa and Ira made mulled wine, which was hot and spicy. We ate cookies and chocolate. We all bought gifts and had a secret Santa type game, where we pulled gifts out of a bag. Lisa and Ira also made doggy bags for us to take home. They were full of cookies and candy. It was a really nice evening.

That weekend Dowdy, a girl in our program, was holding a costume party at her apartment. One of the French girls was having her 23rd birthday. It was a blast. The themes was "past and future." I went shopping and studied at Katie's place all afternoon and evening. Then we got dressed. I wore my white party dress, with the straps tied up, so it looked Roman. I made a crown of fig leaves with paper and green markers. I bought some gaudy silver earrings that looked like leaves. I also wore all of this over jeans and a silk long john shirt, Dowdy's place is one that doesn't have heat. Katie was stumped, so she ended up dressing up like a Christmas fairy. We arrived and were really disappointed to see that few people had dressed up. The ones who did looked pretty good though.
We were surprised along with everyone else when half an hour later a bunch of kids came out of bedroom in full costume. Camille, a French girl, and some French and Chinese friends had rented costumes! They rented Peking Opera costumes and had done face paint and fake beards. They looked great. They danced and sort of put on a show for a while. Then we all mingled. There were snacks. I drank a lot, it was great. I talked a lot with Katie and Dowdy, we sort of had girl bonding. I also tried talking to and maybe flirting with a Spanish guy who is in my class. His English isn't very good so over the noise we couldn't understand each other. Later on the students from Pacific Luther University (it's a college in Tacoma, they have just under twenty students here, but they only stay until this week, and then go back, not like our program) showed up. They are sort of trouble when they get together. The boys love hitting on anything that moves. I had this little guy, I say little because he was six inches shorter then me and two years younger, hitting on me all night. It was sort of funny and sort of annoying. The party went late by Chinese standards, by 2:30 the apartment was mostly empty. I stayed with Katie and we helped clean up some. The place was trashed, but didn't suffer any damage.

So. That's been the kind of social stuff I'm up to. There have been more and more parties, everyone is happy and frustrated about the holiday season. All of the Europeans and North American students are at least.

I also met a boy named Issen this week. He is from Pakistan. His English is amazing. His father is running for Parliament in an opposition party. His father has been arrested three times this year, twice in the last two months. We talked a little about the Marshall Law state that was imposed earlier this month. We also talked about the decision by opposition parties not to boycott the election. Issen was really disappointed. He wanted the parties to boycott the election so they could hopefully push for a freer election later. He thinks this one is rigged and Musharaff and his party will win most seats . I love keeping up with the news and think that U.S. relations with Pakistan are really important. So it was great to get to speak to someone who actually lives there and is involved in politics.

I'm really lucky to get be on this program. It is frustrating how segregated we are from the actual Chinese college students. But at the same time, I'm getting to meet and spend time with such an international group of students that it's really a good experience.

I've also turned down two jobs already to play "Christmas girl" on Christmas Eve. Darren offered me the female part versus his Santa Claus. Someone is hiring him and girl to go bar hopping on Christmas Eve and advertise something. Daniel has a Chinese friend who remembered me, "that very tall American girl," and wanted me to dress up and hand out candy somewhere. They both pay really well too, for just a few hours of work. But Tanner is coming all this way and sacrificing a real holiday to be with me, so I am not going to work on Christmas Eve. But I know everyone will think that it's interesting.

There are photos from the party but they are on Katie's camera, maybe I will get some. I've been taking photos of food all week, so I can make a food post for Sophia soon. I also want to post about my classes, and add photos, I love my classes.

I hope everyone is having fun at the crowded American malls (suckers!).
Love Callista