Latvian Independence Day

Our Latvian students celebrated their country's independence day with a celebration in Neumann Lobby.  It was fun to hear them share about their country and watch students play some Latvian games.

Roberts sharing about Latvia

Students playing a "London Bridge is Falling Down" type of game

Talent Night

Talent Night was a big success...as usual!  Our students are wonderfully talented and I so enjoyed watching them!

Alex dressed up as Marilyn Monroe to be an emcee.

Ni singing

Some great first years showing off their talent!

Some smooth singing!

Two of our study abroads singing a folk song!

Ina - from my FYS sang "Dancing Queen"

Coffee Night

The Enns Hall Res Life team hosted a coffee night in the Res Life Resource Room.  They invited me to join them for the evening.  I mostly sat drinking coffee and working a puzzle with students.  It was a fun and relaxing evening.  I only took one photo the entire evening though!  :(

Students hanging out in the resource room drinking coffee and chatting.

First Year Seminar gathering

Last week my First Year Seminar class and I were FINALLY able to have a gathering outside of the classroom!  We had planned it two other times this semester, but it had to be cancelled because of various campus conflicts.  I, of course, wanted to cook for them, so they all came to my place for dinner.  I enjoyed having them over and I think they had fun too!  :)

Zydrune, Dasha, and Luidmila

Oleksandr, Katia, and YauHeni

Milda, Vlada, and Virginija

Victoria and Ina

It was YauHeni's birthday, so he wore the birthday hat the entire evening!

Tradition in this area of the world is that the birthday person makes the first cut of the cake.

After his first cut, they had me cut the rest of the cake.

TriS group

Marlene and I were asked this fall to lead a TriS group.  TriS is part of our Study Abroad (SA)experience.  Each semester we have a group of 15-25 North American SA students come to LCC.  They live in the residence halls and attend classes at LCC.  The TriS part of the program consists of 3 meetings with a North American family to process their LCC experience.  We met in October at my place to process their cultural adjustment.  This month we met to discuss their Fall Break trip to Russia and next month we will meet to process re-entry to the US.  I have really enjoyed getting to know this group of young people and am going to be sad to see them leave at the end of the semester.  Here is a group shot we took at Marlene's place last week.

front: Iulija, Amanda, and Jared

back: me, Lina, Hannah, Kimi, and Marlene

Sunday afternoon sculptures

The Sunday after Fall Break I had a free afternoon, so I spent a couple hours wandering around the city.  It was a beautiful afternoon - sunny and brisk!  I spent some time checking out the new sculptures in the Old Town area and wanted to share some photos of them...

Me in my new hat!

Parting shots

I was sad to leave Turkey.  We had a very fun time filled with wonderful foods, beautiful sights, and friendly people.  I was really able to let work fall to the back of my mind and truly just enjoy myself!  Here are a few photos from our last morning in Turkey...

self portrait by the window in our room

We spent our last liras on tea and baklava

Bethany & Amanda

me with my last cup of apple tea

The father of Turkey...his photo was everywhere.  This was in the airport.

Photos from the back of the boat

The back of the boat was a nice place to be during the cruise - partly because it was not as loud as inside the boat with all the loud music playing, but also because it was where you could actually see the beauty of the night scene.  My camera didn't take amazing photos, but this gives you a bit of a view of what we saw.

A cruise down the Bosphorus

Our last night in Istanbul we took a boat cruise on the Bosphorus River - the river that seperates the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side.  It wasn't our favorite part of the week, but it had some high points.  :)  Here are some photos...

me & Bethany

Amanda and one of the crazy dancers!

A traditional Turkish dance

Dancing girls

The bellydancer...she was AMAZING!

Teaching one of the dudes to dance.

The Henna Ceremony dance

More traditional dancing

These two were very energetic!

And a little humor for you...the last round of Muscial Chairs featuring me & the other woman...watch to see who wins!  :)

Views from our hotel

Here are some photos that we took from the window of our hotel room and some that were taken at street level.  I really liked the area that we stayed in.  It seemed to be a nice mix of hotels, businesses and residences.  I felt very safe there -even when out at night.