It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (everywhere but here)...

My father just emailed me. It's the first snow of the year there. A part of me is sad, I love the first snow of the year. Another part though just thinks that's weird. It's so hot here I can't even fathom snow. But it's not hot in Canada, apparently it's cold enough to snow! You lose track of seasons when you don't experience them. All I know is currently it's hot and flip flops are a part of my everyday attire.

One of the reps from Mississippi is in town for a visit. Tonight in his honour we're running our very own 5km - the Tim Mudder Suriname 5km to be exact. (We're using our running route.) We also tie-dyed t-shirts so we could have our very own running shirts. We're cool like that. It turned out much better then expected, even if I did walk around with blue fingers for a day or so.

Last night we had dinner at a really good Indonesian restaurant. I love living here, because of all the different foods I get to eat. Last night's dinner was shrimp curry with white rice. Tasty!

Saturday we're thinking of going downtown to visit Beni's Christmas Palace. This is exactly like it sounds, a really fun store dedicated to Christmas ornaments. I would like to have icicle lights for the loft in my classroom and maybe some really fun sparkly Suriname made decorations for our non-existent Christmas tree. We may also go swimming! Then it will be off to the jazz festival. I don't even really like jazz, but I do like the opportunity to go out and not be a teacher for an evening, it's like a mini vacation before my real vacation; which is happening soon. Our trip to the interior is in 6 days! We've been counting down for the last 20. Soon, soon, soon it will be here!

Thankful...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well actually that is not quite right; today is the 17th and that is not a holiday. But today is the day we've chosen to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. In honour of this occasion I baked a pie. Please, don't die of shock.

But because it's a holiday all about being thankful, regardless of where you are in the world and whether your country even celebrates, here's a list of the things I'm thankful for:

-God for always being there, even when I can't feel it
-Family, for their support and love
-Good Friends, both here and at home
-Best Friends, the kind that get you through everything
-3 kindergarten students who are challenging me to love better everyday
-Turkey dinner
-my bike, gets me around
-Internet!, let's me talk to my family and friends
-all of the things I realized I took for granted everyday in North America
(for example: only 8 percent of the world drives a car. Think about that next time you get in it)
-Sunshine
-Palm trees
-Miracles, big or small

And that's just a small sampling. I hope everyone is having a good weekend, even if you're not celebrating anything!

What's in a name?

In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our high priest
In Numbers, the fire by night
Deuteronomy, He's Israel's Guide
Joshua, He's salvation's choice
Judges, He's Israel's Guard
In Ruth, the kinsmen's redeemer
1st and 2nd Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles He is Sovereign
In Ezra, He's the true and faithful scribe
In Nehemiah, the re-builder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He's our courage
In Job, our timeless Redeemer
In Psalms He is our morning song
In Proverbs, He is our wisdom
Ecclesiastes, He's the time and season
In Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream
In Isaiah He is Prince of Peace
In Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, the call from sin
Daniel, the stranger in the fire
Hosea, the forever faithful
Joel, the spirit's power
Amos, the strong-arms that carry
Obadiah, the Lord our Savior
Jonah, the great missionary
Micah, the promise of peace
Nahum, our strength and shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's brings revival
In Haggai He restores that which was lost
IN Zachariah, He's our fountain
And in Malachi, He's the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

AND THAT'S JUST THE OLD TESTAMENT

In Matthew Mark Luke and John, He is God and Messiah
In the spirit filled book of Acts, He is the reigning fire from Heaven
In Romans, He is the grace of God
Corinthians, the power of love
Galatians, freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servant's heart
Colossians, He's God and the Trinity
Thessalonians, our calling King
In Timothy, Titus and Philemon, He's our mediator and our faithful pastor
In Hebrews, the Everlasting Courage
In James, the one who heals the sick
In 1st and 2nd Peter, our Faithful Shepherd
In John and Jude, He's the lover coming for His bride

And in the Revelation at the very end, when it's all over and said and done; when time is No More He is and will always be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, son of Man, Lamb of God, The Great I am, Alpha and Omega, God and Savior He is Jesus Christ the Lord. He is everything that you need.

(Written by: Priscilla Shirer. I only wish I could take credit)

Home... (In two parts)

Part One:
Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. We celebrated by ordering takeout from Pizza Hut and having it delivered. I was thankful for cheese and pepperoni last night, not turkey and potatoes.

It was weird to work yesterday; for 26 years I haven't worked on Canadian Thanksgiving, so to work yesterday felt strange. Yesterday was also the first day I truly wanted to go home, just for a brief period. Long enough to have stuffing and pie and see my family.

It's strange I don't live there, but for now it's still home. They say that you don't make the switch until after Christmas; that Suriname will be home after that. I hope that's true in a way. I love living here, but it's not home, not yet. It's the place where I live. It's the place where the floors are tiled not carpet, no one has grass, the seasons never seem to change and it is always hot. There are lots of good things too, things I love. But yesterday, I just wanted to go home. Just for a bit. I wonder if all holidays are like that?

(Totally fine today by the way! So it must just be a holiday thing. And I would only want to go visit and then return.)

Part Two:
Also: I really like using song titles or lyrics as the title of my posts. I think they usually sum up the post quite nicely. Here's a list of all the ones used so far, in case of curiosity:

-Bring Me to Life: Evanessance
-Rain Fell Down: Rolling Stones
-Have You Ever Seen the Rain: CCR
-Take my hand, we'll make it I swear: Bon Jovi (song: Livin' on a Prayer)
-And now the times are changin': Bryan Adams (song: Summer of '69)
-Every now and then: Bonnie Tyler (song: Total Eclipse of the Heart)
-Days Go By: Dirty Vegas
-Come as You Are: Nirvana

Google lyrics, if interested.

And today's post is Home by Michael Bubble.

Bring me to Life...

Yesterday was my 26th birthday!! It was surreal. I was sung to by the 8th grade, high fived by kindergarten, hugged by the preschool and had a phone call from my family.

It was also one of the best birthdays. And yet when I woke up at 25 I had no idea this is where I would turn 26. It's funny where life takes you. One day you're living your life and making plans in Canada and the next you're teaching in Suriname celebrating 26 with cupcakes and kindergarten.

It was a great day that finished with Reese Peanut Butter Cups, cake and candles. What more could anyone ask for?

Rain Fell Down...

I am an inconsistent blogger which I must confess is one of my pet peeves of blogs. I hate following someone's blog and getting into their lives and they stop writing! How annoying is that. It's like someone ripped off the last 20 pages of a novel, and I'm left with that feeling of "now what?". So I'm sorry. I'll try harder.

An update of my life:

-ran/walked my first 5km walk the other day. I probably ran about 2 km of it and they screwed up the route so it was more like 7 km. It rained the entire time, which felt amazing. At one point in time I was even cold. At the end you get a Popsicle, that sort of makes it worth while. This was just practice for last Tuesday night (running night) where it rained for 3 hours, all of which I managed to be out in. Soaked to the skin in under 5 mins. The rain is pretty much a solid sheet here.

-Every Tuesday is Dutch class. Last week's class almost killed Jenn and I. The student teaching us told us that store in Dutch is winkel. We just couldn't stop laughing. Looking back it's not even that funny, but it killed us.

-Biked downtown last night for the Suriname cultural fair. It was cool. We also had the world's most expensive ice cream, and we could have bought the same stuff at the corner store.

-Saturday was praise night. Basically that's mini church at one of the houses. It was fun. After we played Canasta, which is an Argentinian card game. It's quite fun and we had a good time playing. I haven't laughed that hard since the spider incident. At one point Jenn and Sam decided that my nickname should be Big Bird and I decided that I should stop speaking to them. I lasted longer then they thought I would, but only about 10 mins. It's too hard not to talk to the two people at your end of the table, especially when you're trying to tell them what cards you need!

I have a brand new student. He arrived today and speaks little English. It's been an interesting and fun day. I'm learning about my speak patterns because I have a mimic now. It's cute to listen to him repeat everything I say.

My school days are starting to lock into a routine and a pattern. It's almost report card time, which is a little stressful but I only have three kids and I practically live at school so I'm not terribly concerned.

Well, that's my past week or so in a nutshell. I will try to update more frequently.