Getting Comfortable

Every once in a while, I love radical and drastic change.  I love moving every year or so and discovering a new country, I love going on the random travel adventures I'm becoming known for, and I love trying new recipes.  But for the most part, I am an organized, scheduled girl who more or less happily settles into a day to day routine that I can predict and plan around and perfect.

Our coffee table with the first few pictures

Thus, you can understand my current contentment.  Week three was so much less stressful than week two.  We didn't have mission day practices everyday, Jon has officially become my co-teacher in my religion class, which makes planning and teaching much more enjoyable, my adult classes have had their first several tests and we can now joke and text and have a good repoire between us.  One of my students even said at vespers the other night that he is happier in class now that he can understand more of what I say.  Juniors, well, they're still juniors, but we spend much less time preparing for them, and have sort of developed a system for dealing with those difficult classes/students (ie, a stare-down).  I have finally cleaned out all the drawers, cupboards, and shelves in our apartment, sorting through all the junk the previous couple kindly (ahem) left us, deciding what to trash, what to recycle, what to give to charity, and what we could actually use.  It makes me happy knowing what is in each cupboard and cranny, knowing all our stuff is in a proper place, and having all our pictures up on the walls, and photos under the glass top of our coffee table.  Grocery shopping is still...interesting, but it's getting better and I'm discovering more shops closer to home with a random assortment of awesome food and knickknacks  that I love. 

Empty boxes which were lovingly packed to the brim with goodness

The holidays are quickly coming up, which brings mixed emotions.  I'm excited to see how we'll celebrate in this new place, with new friends to bond with and new cooking excitement.  A better paying job also means more opportunities to decorate our new home for Christmas :)  It does make the mind drift towards home more than usual though, and wish I were there for all the birthdays my family has this season, to soak in the smells of my mom's Thanksgiving, and watch the house transform into a cheery winter wonderland.  However, we still feel their love from about as far away as you can get, as we have received several sizeable packages filled with goodness from home, ranging from stickers to earn the love of our juniors, to food items like yams, yeast, graham crackers, applesauce, chocolate chips, seasonings, and raisin bread- things you either cannot find here or are far too expensive to purchase ourselves on a regular basis without a hint of guilt.  So we're feeling the love :)  This is already week four of an eight week term, and before you know it we will be boarding a plane to enjoy 8 days of that festive family frivolity in person before we come back and start what has become our crazy new routine all over again.  Oh, and Friday is our first payday !!!  :D  Life is good!