Setting up for the Christmas program!

Each First Year Seminar group at LCC has to do a service project of some sort.  My class helped set up the stage for our LCC Christmas program.  Here are some fun photos of my group...

Moving pieces of the stage.

Putting the legs on a piece of the stage.

Goofing around with a bolt of gosmar that we used for decoration.

Pretty girls taking a break!

Maintenance guys WAAAY up high to hang the gosmar curtain!

Me goofing around after the students left!  :)

Margarita's Birthday

My co-worker, Margarita, had a birthday on November 30th.  Student Life celebrates every birthday in our department, so we made sure to celebrate hers as well.  Vaida bought a cake and everone gathered in my office.  I called up to Margarita and asked her to come down to discuss some Management Team issues.  When she came down the bulk of the department was there to surprise her!  :)

A very yummy Lithuanian birthday cake.

 Margarita (the birthday girl), Alex, Veslava, and Gabija

Veslava and Gabija...looking up to some mischief!

Mackie, Paul, and Ina

Margarita, Becky, & Alex

Ina, Vaida, and me!

Decorating DeFehr

After the Thanksgiving meal we broke up into groups and decorated the 2 main buildings on campus - Michaelsen and DeFehr.  My group did DeFehr - here are some photos of our fun!

Naked trees and boxes of supplies! 

Our little helpers - Andrea, Greta, and Ieva 

Teresa & Leah with the ornaments 

Viada working on the lights. 

Pretty trees!

LCC Thanksgiving celebration!

On Saturday we had a faculty/staff Thanksgiving potluck on campus!  Here are a few photos!

Delicious food and a beatutiful centerpiece!

Veslava and Vaida filling their plates.

How do they eat so much and stay so thin?!

Hungry folks lining up to fill the plates!

 A room full of food and fellowhip!

What a fun table!

Paul, Erik, Becky, Vaida, Alexandra, and Leah 

Some lovely Lithuanians

Ilona and Ina

Robin and I heading out with full hearts and stomaches!

Talent show

Friday night was the Student Council (StuCo) sponsored talent show.  It was a great event - there's a lot of talent here!

guitar player 

emcees 

rock band - the student in the middle is in my First Year Seminar class! 

two talented young ladies who did a great poem

a singer 

guitar player singing

Thanksgiving celebration!

Thanksgiving is an American holiday.  So, on November 25th, when all my American friends were watching the parade and eating turkey, I was at work - going to meetings, grabbing lunch on the go, solving problems, etc...  I've spent the holidays away from my family before, but I've never gone on with life as usual for the holiday before.  It was weird, but not since everyone here was going on with life as usual as well.

The expats here at LCC have a tradition of going to McDonald's for Thanksgiving dinner.  Only a few families were able to attend this year, but if was a festive celebration for all of us who made it!

Here are a few photos from our Thanksgiving celebration...

My dinner was a Big Mac value meal. 

 

The expats who came to dinner...the Metelaks, Wes, the Brubakers, the McCollisters, the Staves, Teresa, and me!   

Here's Andrew keeping Isak entertained!



SNOW!!!!!

Thanksgiving Day brought me a wonderful gift...SNOW!!!!

Looking out my office window in early afternoon - light flurries, but it wasn't sticking.  (The large snowflake you see is a decoration, not actual snow.)

Waiting for the bus at 5:00 - the snow is starting to stick! 

Walking home around 9:00 - the bridge is covered with snow. 

Looking at Old Town (where I live) covered in snow.  :) 

My street - so cozy looking in the snow! 

 The view out my window.

Friday morning - what a beautiful view!   

My (sleepy looking) snow inspired smile on Friday morning!

Community Life dinner!

I've been promising my Community Life women since August that we'd have dinner at my place.  We've had such a busy year that I hadn't found the time...until now!  We had a WONDERFUL time!  I made one of my best meals - Chicken Curry in a Hurry and Gooey Butter Cake.  We talked, laughed, and had a wonderful evening together.  They are a fabulous group of women and I'm so glad that I get to work with them!

Veslava, Alexandra, Becky, Olena, and Gabija! 

Gabija brought me flowers...so lovely!

November Student Life meeting/gathering

Each month our Student Life team gets together for a "gathering" of some sort.  This month we paired it with doing some early prep for the campus decorating party that was happening over the weekend.  We spent a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon assembing and "fluffing" all of the campus Christmas trees - about 25 or so in total.  We also included a birthday celebration, passing around baby Greta (our VP's 7 week old baby) and of course, FOOD!  :)

This was our snack spread - sausage slices, fresh fruit, birthday cake, cheese & crackers, Lithuanian poppy seed nuggets (kinda like pretzels, but not), tortilla chips, and peanut blossom cookies (made by me!) 

Here's the birthday girl, Kim, blowing out her candles! 

 Alexandra (one of my RDs) holding baby Greta.

Veslava and Becky (the other RDs) with baby Greta.

Becky, Ina (our counselor) and Olena fluff a tree! 

Jarrett (construction project manager & husband of Gabija) with a baby size tree! 

Kim and her little cherub - Isak (see his halo?!) 

Alexandra & Gabija creeping in the trees!  :)

Kim - an expert "fluffer" 

Ina and Mackie  

Viada and Margarita testing the lights and acting a tad silly!  :) 

Becky, Veslava, and Olena showing off their handy work! 

Steve & Diane - silly & fun!