FYS fun!

My FYS group and I were supposed to go out to a movie tonight.  We were going to see "Skyfall" the new James Bond movie.  I was pretty stoked for this since I have never seen a James Bond movie before.  Unfortunately the movie was sold out, so we couldn't go.  sad.  We almost went to see the new Twilight movie instead, but when a vote was taken there were more that were against that selection (myself included!)

Since we weren't going to a movie we decided to still spend some time together - by going to McDonald's.  We spent about an hour eating snacks and acting silly.  We had a fun time and did a lot more bonding than we would have if we had gone to see the movie.  Good times!

a "Family Photo"!

Elvyra and me

Laura and Liucija

~~~SILLY FACES ~~~

Aleksandr

Matas

Iki

Artem 

Laura and Matas

Artem & Janis - silly boys!

Pretty decorations in McDonald's

And the icing on the cake was that our first real SNOW of the 

season started while we were there!

Interesting "salad"

Today Josh and I went out for lunch.  I ordered the fish & chips (they were ok.)  I've gotten used to cabbage in every salad that we are served here - Greek, taco, whatever it always seems to have cabbage in it!  But the salad today was possibly the most interesting yet...a leaf of iceberg lettuce, some baby pickles, strips of red bell pepper, marinated pearl onions and 7 whole cloves of garlic!  Crazy, right?  Needless to say, I left the salad on the plate and enjoyed the fish & chips.  

Funny how a dish that I would typically eat a cabbage salad

(cole slaw) with didn't come with cabbage!

Happy 100th Albania!

The country of Albania turned 100 this week!  In true LCC form we celebrated with gusto!  The Albanian students shared information about their history, geography, and culture.  They taught us traditional games, dances, and gave us chocolates!  It was another fun and educational evening!  

Melisa

Melisa tells us about where Albania is located.

Ina is teaching us some Albania words while the Barjamaj sisters get the video cued up.

Enns RAs

Tonight the Enns RAs came for dinner.  One of them was unable to attend, but those that came had a great time.  We ate curry, played games, and watched some videos I have of my time as an RD back in Goshen.  Amanda, the RD of Enns, is in some of the videos, so her team enjoyed seeing her as a college student!  

me, Natalia, Kiril, Amanda, and Ira

Silly!

SOS leaders for dinner

I enjoy hosting the students that work in Community Life to dinner once a semester   During my first year this was a way to get to know names/faces.  Now I know who they are, but I still enjoy hosting them.  It's a fun way to say "Thanks" for all the hard work they do.  Monday night I had the SOS (Student Orientation Staff) group over.  These are the students who lead groups of first years during orientation weekend and then are the TAs for First Year Seminar.  

front: Ana, Artem (the SOS leader for my FYS group), me, and Olena

back: Ruta, Elena, Ina, Roberta, and Ecaterina

Silly!

Christmas cookies begin!

Monday evening the Student Leaders will gather to finish decorating campus for Christmas.  As an incentive to get them to come help us, we offered Christmas cookies.  I spent today making cut out sugar cookies.  Igor and Elena came over after church and helped me decorate them.  It was their first time doing so!  I had so much fun being a part of their first cookie decorating experience and really enjoyed getting to know them better.  

Elena and Igor

me & Elena

Delicious and pretty cookies!

I know, my red frosting is pretty pink looking, 

but I'm guessing the students will still eat them!

Orange Saturday

I find that when I carry a lot of responsibility for an event I tend to get very few photos of it.  Such is the case of Orange Saturday - our annual kick off to the holiday season at LCC.  I baked two turkeys and was in charge of the meal portion of the day.  This meant I was busy hosting/directing/problem solving during the event.  I did get to sit for a few moments to enjoy the meal with the Stoltzfuses and Millikens, but got very few photos.  Here are the two that I took...

The centerpieces...pears and mandarins made a lovely display.

Marlene always bring corn!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tonight a nice sized group gathered for our annual Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's. We had a great time...lots of laughing, story-telling, and visiting with some Americans who are playing basketball for one of the Lithuanian basketball teams in Palanga (a town just north of Klaipeda.)

The entire group...we even had some Study Abroad students join us this year!

front- Dylan, Katie, David & Erik

middle-ish - Sherry, Ken, Amy, me, Erika, Karrissa, and Destiny

back - Mark, Gregg, Esther, Deb, Logan, and John

clockwise (starting with me) - me, Mark, Sherry, John, Ken, Katie, Dylan, and Amy

Gregg and his boys - David & Erik

FYS 2010 Reunion

Each year I try to have at least one reunion with my former FYS groups.  Tonight I got together with the group from my first year at LCC.  Even though only a few were able to make it, we had a great time catching up with one another and enjoying a Thanksgivingish meal!

Oleskii, Paul, me, Sasha, and Ira

Ira came over for a few hours on Monday night and arrived early tonight to help me cook for the meal.  What a HUGE blessing!  She did the bulk of the chopping and dicing and even stuffed her first deviled eggs!

Turkey and stuffing casserole

Sweet potatoes

Deviled Eggs

Tree Fluffing...a Christmas tradition

The Student Life Department had our annual "Tree Fluffing" party today!  We prepared the trees to be decorated on Saturday during Orange Saturday.  We, in true Student Life style, added food to our tasks to make it more fun!  :)

The spread..cookies, fruit, fun punch, and my plate of chocolate dipped pretzels!

Olena and Bethany

Amanda and Scrooge

Alisha 

Amanda busy fluffing away!  

RA Thanksgiving!

It is a tradition for the RDs and I to make a Thanksgiving meal for the RAs.  We did it this afternoon.  It was lots of work, but so worth it...delicious food and a fabulous time of fellowship!

I made my mom's sweet potatoes!  Yumm!

Alisha made homemade green bean casserole...complete with the french fried onions!  

Josh made his mom's butternut squash pie

And Josh made his FIRST turkey!  

What a plate of deliciousness!!!  

What a glorious spread of food!  :)  

Friday Night Fun!

On Friday evening Amanda came over and we made dinner together.  We also watched a movie and chatted.  A great way to end the week!

We made fried rice

and eggrolls!

Here we are with our tasty food!

Amanda fell asleep during the movie...it was a LONG week!  :)

Minute to Win It!

Res Life hosted a trivia game show this week called "Minute to Win It."  I was the judge and official scorekeeper, so I had to dress up.  My wardrobe isn't very fancy, but my sparkly scarf dressed me up enough to do the job.  :)  I was busy keeping score, so I didn't get a chance to get many photos, but I did get this nice one of me and Amanda!  :)

me & Amanda

Tri S

Marlene and I are leading a TriS group again this year.  We had our second meeting of this semester this week and were sure to get a photo of the group!

Marlene, Hannah, me, Hannah, Christy, Missy, Lindsay, Brady, and Agustin

A silly photo with everyone touching each other!  :)