a very *belated* Merry Christmas to all! What a whirlwind of a year this has been!

It all started on a dark and stormy night…ok, just a dark night…back in January when I signed up for the University of Phoenix’s intensive 14-month online masters program in Curriculum and Instruction. It has been quite a ride adjusting to “virtual” classes where you never actually meet anyone and everything is done through reading. I have, however, met one gal who lives here in Tucson and we’ve gotten together a couple times. It makes the whole experience a little easier when you have someone who can relate!

Would you believe that the U of Phx program didn’t let me take any time off to travel this summer? It was pretty interesting trying to work on a statistics class (my first ever!) while vacationing in Morocco & Cyprus (you can read/view photos about those adventures in the other links on this webpage). The highlight(s) of the entire trip, though, were of course getting to visit my dear friends, Melissa & Naomi!

When I got back, it was time to start school again. Only this time I had been demoted from 4th grade down to 1st grade! ;) I have enjoyed *almost* every minute of this new experience, but I admit that I do miss my 4th graders. The best part of 1st grade has been working closely with one of my best friends, Melissa (a different Melissa). The worst part is being exposed to all those new germs – I’ve been healthy for about a total of one week this entire semester…bah humbug! ;)

A few years ago I welcomed Joey into my home - a green parakeet.

Unfortunately, she (yep - just found out she's a her!) is just a little too loud for my ears. So this fall I welcomed Kelsa into our home - a yellow parakeet - to try to subdue Joey. Kelsa was quite the opposite of Joey...well, until I finally took her to the vet to get rid of her mite infestation around her beak. Wouldn't you know that something like that would cause pain and make Kelsa talk quietly? Well, now that she's all better she can talk up quite a storm, too! But they're both so adorable...most of the time...! :)

You would think that this would be enough to chew – grad studies, new grade level, etc. But God had other plans…someone named Jim. :D We met online back in the END of August (I love you, Jim!) and have been inseparable ever since. This inevitably led to our engagement on Saturday, December 16th! The original date kept getting switched around (the surprise was that it’d be in a hot air balloon!) and it eventually landed on a school day. However, I refused to take a day off so close to the holidays and spend almost 2 hours planning for a sub – so I made him tell me why. He hated me knowing when he was going to propose, so instead he surprised me up on Mt. Lemmon (Tucson) after we finished eating their famous pie. He said, “Have I told you that I’m the luckiest man in the world? But there is one thing that would make me even luckier…if you’d marry me.” And my response was “You’re asking me now?!...Of course!” …And the rest is history…well, almost… ;) Yes, I admit that this is all moving extremely quickly, but it turns out that we have many mutual friends through church. My parents have researched him, his parents have researched me. Apparently we both check out alright… ;)

And that’s been my life this year… I trust that you all have many joyous memories to look back upon and anticipate what this coming year holds. Please write and let me know all about those things – I love hearing from each and every one of you!!! May you have a very blessed Christmas and a jubilant New Year!

Love,

marie & jim :)

Birding!

I finally got to go birding for the first time! Judy and I went to Madera Canyon - it was beautiful (with some strange trees...). We saw a lot of really colorful birds - including these guys:

Elegant Trogon (click on "vocalizations" - they sound like a barking dog!):
http://www.hummingbirdworld.com/bsa/trogons.htm

Hepatic Tanager:
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/586/_/target.aspx

Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher:
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/396/_/Sulphur-bellied_Flycatcher.aspx

Morocco & Cyprus Adventures

*Note to readers: if you want the goods, skip to the multiple choice section first…

Ah, American life. What a sweet thing. Well, at least it’s very sweet after taking 4 days to get home again… In addition to those wonderful memories of returning, there were quite a number of other adventures that Melissa, Naomi, and I had along the way. But let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Be sure to check out my photos link in the right-hand column!

That first week in Casablanca (Morocco) was quite lovely. Melissa was busy finishing up her last week of school, so I *tried* to finish up my online grad work, too. (But who really wants to work when you’re in another country?!) We did find some time to do all the stuff the pictures show, in addition to having a nice, um, *relaxing* scrub at the Hamam (a traditional Moroccan bath – let’s just say it was Germany all over again). I loved getting to meet all of Melissa's awesome friends (hi out there!). And once Melissa and I headed over to visit Naomi in Cyprus, we also went to Sunday mass at a Greek Orthodox Church (listening to singers the entire time, having no clue what to do, and the art - how GORgeous!). I was surprised to learn that northern Cyprus is occupied by Turkey, while southern Cyprus is heavily influenced by Greece (even though it used to be an English colony!). There are remnants of their recent ('70's) civil war...it reminded me a LOT of Berlin...

And then there are those memories that will never fully fade away because they were just so gosh-darn…cute! Hey, I have an idea! Rather than me just listing those *cute* memories, let’s make a game out of it. How about you decide which one is false…which makes all the other options positively true. Do you remember that Sesame Street song? It goes something like…

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

OK, let’s get started! Here are your choices:

A. Electrocution. While I was unplugging the hairdryer in Cyprus, I felt a slight surge…but I’m back to normal – well, at least whatever is considered “normal” for me… ;)

B. Dog bite. If you know me well, you know that although it does not come naturally to me, I just sometimes have to start fights. Well, this dog fought back and after scratching my ankle with his teeth, proceeded to chase me until I climbed onto a chair. I’m glad that I could provide amusement for Melissa and her student’s family, who laughed at me rather than helping me get that dog away…

C. Roach. After hearing something flutter in the room (Did you know they can fly?! One tried to dive bomb me the other day at school – I’m serious!!!), I awoke and turned on the light. We lifted our pillows to discover that Naomi was the lucky winner! The roach quickly disappeared…a while later I gave commentary on it coming in and out of the open door, until it finally decided that it wanted to go outside. That door sure closed quickly after that! For more embarrassing info, check out my other posting “creepy crawlies.”

D. Police! Hmm…Melissa, let’s try some of that roasted corn that they’re selling on the side of the road. Huh, what’s that sound – someone saying that the police are coming? Wait, where are you going, Mrs. Vendor? I haven’t paid you yet! Well, I guess when you come out from hiding in the bushes, I can pay you then. Here, keep the change!

E. Yummy. Have you ever tried chicken neck, liver, stomach, gizzard, anchovies, or escargot? I was a wimp and only tried the last three (it was so hard to eat those snails since my 4th graders had them as pets this year!). Oh, and I ate a swordfish pita. I love fish...but I don’t recommend it.

F. Sick. Speaking of yummy food, let’s talk about seeing it a second time! Melissa and I had this wonderful 4-day trip planned, but within 2 hours of arriving in Marrakech I got sick from lunch (strong spices). I tried to venture out later that night (those men belly dancers were quite *interesting* to watch), but the strong odors (spices, caca, B.O., food, pollution, etc.) started me up again. After dying for about 15 hours, I decided that I couldn’t finish out the trip. I felt so bad for pulling Melissa away from our vacation, but I could hardly even stand up…

G. Time? Since my cell phone doesn’t work abroad (which is my clock), and I hate wearing watches, and Melissa’s watch just happened to die a few days before I arrived, we had no concept of time throughout the entire trip! It was quite the non-American experience…

H. Horseback riding. Well, since neither Melissa nor I speak French and our instructor didn’t speak English, we never exactly got any training… So he gave up on us, ditching us once we reached the beach. But it was still fun to walk our horses into the ocean and *attempt* trotting. At least until my horse got spooked by this dude and I almost fell off over a small cliff…and you thought you’ve seen my evil eye before? Ha!...

I. Markets. Going to the market in Morocco is quite an intense experience. In addition to trying to find something to buy, maneuver through the crowd of people and oncoming traffic, you have to ignore the incessant cat calls. I admit that I got a little overwhelmed by it all and my mouth lost its cool a couple times…oops…

J. Driving. Well, I was always a passenger, never a driver. Remember those lines painted down the middle of the road? Well, they’re just suggestions – literally. And standard capacity in a 5-seater taxi is 7 people.

K. Double-dares. Sorry, I just can’t resist a good fight! I ate a strip of green onion while Naomi’s "unofficial" fiancee, Ashraf, ate a chunk of garlic. How fondly I remembered that pungent onion throughout the duration of the next day…

L. Ticket! While trying to figure out where to park in Casablanca, Melissa’s friend accidentally drove the wrong way up a road. And guess who just happened to be standing at the top of the hill?! Luckily we all played dumb (which was easy since I don’t know Arabic or French…) and the policeman let us off the hook…after laughing at us…

M. Doh! Melissa and I like our luggage. We did not want to have to deal with it playing hide-and-seek in Casablanca while we were en route to America. So while our first flight from Cyprus was delayed 45 minutes, we rushed to pick up our baggage in Greece and catch our next flight to Spain, all in about 30 minutes. Well, check-in time is 30 minutes beforehand, so we were denied. Luckily for us, the next flight left in only 24 more hours! Who needed to catch those other 4 flights back to America, anyway?! Well, 4 days and $600+ later, we were home...! :)

N. Dishwashers?! Why in the world would Melissa and I bother to take out money to use in Greece, a country that we hadn’t planned to stay in? So we went to dinner, expecting that they’d take credit cards. But come on, what were we thinking? Our luck had run sour this whole time, so why would we expect it to change now? When we were ready to pay, we found that both sides (Melissa and I, and the restaurant workers) were staring at one another with gaping mouths for an entire minute. While the thought of washing dishes to pay for our food crossed our minds, the waiter volunteered to drive us to an ATM machine about 5 minutes away. Needless to say, he got a big tip…

O. Headaches. After finding out that we missed all of our connecting flights from Cyprus, Melissa's travel agent was able to change her ticket. But we didn’t realize until about 10 hours beforehand that my ticket hadn’t been changed. Fortunately I made it to NYC, but because all American flights were full by that time, I had to be scheduled to leave the next day. I felt so guilty praying for someone to have the misfortune of missing their flight, but luckily(?) someone did, and my standby ticket worked! I was a little disappointed, though, that I couldn’t spend the night at JFK all alone…

P. Lost. Both pieces of my luggage were lost when I first arrived in Casablanca. But it was Melissa’s turn on the way home, en route to Phoenix! *Fortunately*, it had both of our things in it. It’s been 4 days now and they have absolutely no idea where it is, but it’s supposed to be coming tomorrow…we’ll see… (update: it got here safe and sound)

Q. Theft. My apartment was broken into while I was gone. It’s so much fun to give the police a list of missing items, let me tell ya…

R. Theft. Wow, I must be really popular. My classroom was broken into while I was gone, too. As far as I know (since my stuff is spewed between my old 4th grade and new 1st grade classroom), they only took my headphones and Boombox, but decided to make a mess of everything else in the process.

*Whew!* So it obviously sounds like the trip from hell, but I had a BLAST and would do it again in a heartbeat!!! Anyway, so which item do you think is the false one (if you’ve actually made it this far…!)???

Creepy Crawlies...

These are the remains of an email that some of you received (if I didn't mind being embarrassed in front of you...but now I just don't care anymore...I've had it!) dated June 13, 2006, at like 3 AM:

OMG! I can't believe what just happened. I'm usually waking up in the middle of the night, but this time I noticed that my computer hadn't finished shutting down, so of course I got up. Then I wandered into my bathroom...but wait! Stop! What was that?! Eek! I had completely stepped on top of a...uh, shall we say "unidentified" visitor? He was headed straight toward me in my room!!! I can see it now...Marie screaming in the middle of the night from the fun visitor crawling into bed with her. So I flushed him...do you think 4xs was enough?! Um, I'll be right back...gotta go, um, flush it again!!! God better bring my future dude soon, or I won't be needing anyone pretty soon with all this practice! :P My electric bill is going to go up for the next few days with the light staying on...g'night!

Here's some evidence of a different incident...I'm not going to publish that episode...too many painful memories...from both sides - haha!!!