Rainy Days and Mondays

Sorry to all the diehard Carpenters fans, but rainy days and Mondays do not always get me down.  Matter of fact, it may actually be quite the opposite (for now!).  The rain here in CQ does tend to come rather frequently and drag on, creating a noticeable deficiency of good, old vitamin D.  However, after one of the driest years in Texas, I am still not tired of it.  Also, I have to say it did save me from an early morning run one day last week that I was so not looking forward to.  What's more, considering the lack of tornado risk, who can resist a good thunder?  (It sure beats the constant furniture moving and dropping of marbles/mah jong tiles from the apartment upstairs!)

And Mondays!  Well, Mondays really might be my new favorite (besides the weekend, natch).  I only have four hours of classes and they are at my home campus.  As English majors, my students here have a higher level of language, as well as a higher motivation to pay attention.  Plus, Mondays are my day to use the internet while the others are off in TL.  It is so lovely to see updates from friends, catch up on e-mail, skype with loved ones back home, and maybe even catch a bollywood on netflix.  Having good internet also means that I can jam to grooveshark while cooking dinner and getting ready to welcome the weary crew back from TL.  I think Arianne put it best when she said that there is just something healing about coming together around a hot meal and sharing the blessings and burdens of the day, especially on those days.  I love that Mondays mean that I get the honor of seeing to the hot meal.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that after a TL day everyone is just so grateful for anything that they heap encouragement and praise on whatever is put before them - especially if cheese is involved.  Tonight will be my first attempt at homemade pizza here.  The Americanese version of Grandma's tomato soup went pretty well last week, although the tortillas in the accompanying quesadillas were more like naan than traditional Mexican fare.

On a different note, I apologize that I don't have any pictures to make the posts a bit more interesting.  My camera broke just in time for our Halloween/Birthday Costume Party.  I can't be sure, but after looking back at the last pictures I took, I think the awesomeness of my new salsa shoes was just too much for my little Kodak to handle.  Behold, the shiny: