a new adventure

Freshly browned and still glowing from the middle eastern sun, I would like to grasp at the straws of my vacation and share with you some of the shining moments of my 16 days in Dubai.

This is the view from my friend Maureen's 20th floor apartment, located directly on the

Dubai Marina. Maureen works as a teacher at a German school in Dubai and she and her boyfriend (who has an internship with a consulting firm there) were kind enough to host Thomas and me for a couple of weeks.

I wasn't really sure what to expect as we boarded out plane to Dubai a week after we booked our tickets (yay for last minute deals!) but it was the trip of a lifetime! Dubai is a young, booming city which is home to 71 buildings that stand taller than 591 ft and 51 buildings that are taller than 656 ft. (thank you wikipedia) We were craning our necks everywhere we went and snapping a lot of pictures. Although, to capture the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa I had to use the panorama feature on my camera:

Dubai is a multi-cultural city where you are just as likely to hear English as Arabic, and you are likely to feel that you ended up in a part of Las Vegas or New York that you never knew existed. It is extraordinarily clean and well kept, and there is a construction site around every corner.

We spent a lot of time seeing the spectacular malls and hotels:

Here is the Atlantis Hotel, at the tip of the Palm Jumiera Island. This hotel has a huge aquarium, water park and small mall inside. This island is one of two palm shaped islands that Dubai built.

Here you can see me "skiing" in the famous "Ski Dubai" indoor ski area in the Mall of the Emirates. This ski area has a sledding hill, ski lift and even a black run...it is so surreal to see snow in the middle of the desert!

Dubai is truly an imaginative city with so many creative buildings and incredible decorations. It is a mix of western and middle eastern culture and architecture and it was so much fun to explore. More to come soon!

~love~

quick update

here are a few photos to whet your blogging apetite from my vacation to Dubai! ~love~

i take it back

after writing about how much i love the snow, it betrayed me. i walked around a corner, slipped on ice and fell really hard. now i am in a fight with the snow. unfortunately the snow is winning...

~love~

life inside a snow globe

In the last few weeks, I have gained a deep appreciation for those miniature figures on the inside of snow globes. As I sat down to write this, I tried to think of the last time I remember a day without snow. I honestly don't know the answer. It must be over a week. Anyway, busses don't come, there are car accidents, and the city of Freiburg ran out of salt for the roads. But it is beautiful. The continual snowfall assures that things stay pretty white, instead of turning gross and slushy (matschig in German...sounds like mud-jig). But it's warm enough that the accumulation at lower elevations is still pretty minimal. I will be honest, I feel like this is the absolute best-case scenario for January/Februray, and I will take it!

I spent last weekend with Thomas and his family in the Black Forest and not only was it lovely, cozy, and packed with about 2-3 feet of snow, it made me seriously consider buying a cheap pair of snow skis...I'm dying to hit the slopes. Thomas has even just about talked me into taking up Snowboarding! (something I have been wanting to try again for quite some time now) Furthermore, I gained a renewed appreciation for the fact that I do not have to shovel my own sidewalk/driveway.

I am sure you all will be happy to hear that I did in fact survive the exam phase of my semester. I had an oral exam for a film class that I passed and a Spanish exam, for which I will recieve my grade on Thursday. Now I am on to preparing to teach a 3 day unit on "Free Time Culture" in a 9th grade class in a few weeks as well as researching and writing 3 papers all due at the beginning of March. Updates to follow. (and I would be overjoyed to hear your suggestions as to what I should cover in that three day unit!)

For now, I am off to the store in search of dinner and soap. I love and miss you all. ~love~

grad-school survival

I have reached that wonderful season in which my to-do list seems to do nothing but grow... as soon as I feel prepred to cross off one task, my eyes scan to the bottom as that horrible feeling in my gut brings to my attention that the list has in fact grown at least three or four tasks in the interim. Such is the life of a student. Actually, scratch that, such is life!

A few things that I have accomplished since returning to the unusally snowy land of Germany:

-Moved. You may now address all of your fan mail to me at:

Alte Eppelheimer Str. 30

69115 Heidelberg GERMANY

(alright, to be honest, as a rather erratic blogger, I don't really expect any fan mail...but please write me anyway...an empty mailbox is such a lonely thing!)

-Researched, wrote and gave a presentation on conceptions of time for the unemployed. This, in spite of a sudden case of the stomach flu (or food poisioning, in the humble opinion of my mother) and the fact that power point decided to eat my presentation the day before I presented. I cried. But I got an A (ok, a 1.3) to be precise. (If you really care, let me know and I will explain what I understand of the German grading system. Unless I hear from you, I will assume that your life is complete without understanding this rather complex system...as it should be)

-Begun studying for (the quickly approaching) Spanish test (which I am no where near ready for) Alright, here is the honest truth...you all think I'm great at langages. The fact is, I am not. I struggled very hard to learn German, and still struggle with grammar and especially with writing. Spanish is kind of getting the better of me. I keep hoping that I will get to a point where I feel like it clicks, but I haven't. At this point, I really just want to survive the test. I am, in fact, totally intimidated by the fact that I need to "learn" Spanish by my third semester of grad school. Here's hoping!

Now on to a few things I have yet to accomplish...

- Learn Spanish. I say that only slightly facetiously. I seriously have a lot of studying to do.

- Choose topic(s) and begin/continue research for various essays and a huge paper that I will be writing in the coming month(s). I am intimidated by all of this writing in German...which is why it is good that I do fairly well verbally in presentations and such...its all just sandbagging.

- Find a job. I have to figure out how to start making some money. I hate money. Maybe I will get a lovely letter and/or email at the end of March saying "Dear Ms. Jonas, you are fabulous and wonderful and we'd like to pay you for being just that...so you just keep studying and learning, and we will give you a nice, fat scholarship to help you sleep better at night. Love DAAD" I mean, its possible...I can't be the most unlikely candidate in that pool of applicants, right?!

Now, lest you all think that I'm miserable under this hefty to-do list...don't you fret. First of all, this is what I signed up for. Second of all, I have a little flair for the dramatic (I get that from Hannah) Its a lot, and its overwhelming, but it will get done. If it doesn't get done, life will still move on. Thirdly, I still take time to cook and eat and sleep and see friends and go to the movies...it can't be THAT bad! Finally, I have the greatest friends, family and professors in the world. Both in Heidelberg and in Colorado (and a lot of other places as well) I have incredible cheerleaders who keep me going (and more importantly, keep me laughing...key at this time of year, in this dark weather) Thank you all! ~love~

its the most wonderful time

to catch up on my blog! For your viewing pleasure, I now present a potpourri of photos from the last month or so...

show me your snow face! on a weekend trip to see T's family and celebrate his mother's birthday, we had a great snowy hike up a ski hill. Chilly and foggy, but lots of fun. Snow is a rarity in Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, so I was glad to have a chance to traipse through the snow in the black forest.

we made a great new friend

And speaking of friends, an old Gordon friend got stuck with a 23 hour layover in Frankfurt, which prompted me to take a little trip up that direction to help the long 23 hours until her flight to visit her fiance go a little faster. We survivied the rain and cold and enjoyed a stroll through a Frankfurt flea market, visited the Cathedral and old city, made some new friends at dinner, and tracked down Frankenstein square. A good time was had by all.

Frankfurt

~love~

Update

For those of you who are keeping score, I finally finally finally found a lovely apartment in Heidelberg!! No more daily long train rides, no more searching the newspaper and internet, because I am sub-letting a fully furnished room right near the main train station in Heidelberg! Pictures to come!! Thank you for all of your love, prayers and encouragement...now come visit me! (just kidding ... well, not really) ~love~