Accelerated Adolescence

Honeymoon in Haifa...

In Haifa, rain means that it's also 45 degrees out

It rained on Wednesday but wasn't that cold until night. You can see the Shrine of the Bab from Mara's apartment, kind of. If you crane your neck and push your face up against the window it's right there!:)
Yesterday, Kristen went to work in the food center. I went to work with "works" (i.e. the trades). I don't have any useful trade skills so I got shuffled around to wherever. I felt a little babysat, not because I was immature but because I was useless. But, paart of being in Haifa is being detached from the outcome of my volunteering.

There were so many visitors to the shrine last night that the door was barely closed while I was in there. I was unable to get over the chilly breeze that was coming in that my prayers were mostly frustrated. Also, I'm growing accustomed to the weather here, which meant that it feels chilly here in Haifa, instead of really warm.

Kristen and I are having a good time but are beginning to wonder what there is for us. We've been so busy lately that now that we have very little work we feel overwhelmed by the sitting. It's a little bit of a stressor, too. At home it's so easy to get into the rhythm of schoolwork, snuggling, homework, more snuggling, dinner, homework, snuggle and tell one another how wonderful they are, etc... you get the picture. Here, all of that schedule has been interrupted. Which is cool because it is helping us to expand the boundaries of our relationship but, because of that, also feels challenging and frustrating at times. I think that we're going to come back from Haifa having grown our relationship considerably.

Speaking of school, I found out yesterday that I earned a 3.97 for the semester. I got an A- in my statistics lab, which pulled my G.P.A. down. Considering everything that happened this semester, I think that a 3.97 is respectable. It pulled my cumulative average up a full .07 to a 3.76. I am now above the average undergraduate GPA for Master's level. This has helped to reduce my anxiety over this topic. I feel more like I'm slowly building the necessary application for graduate school. I don't feel that my GPA, though high, is worth bragging over. I see it as necessary as paying the bills, and I suspect that Kristen does too. Though, I'd like to brag about her cumulative GPA 3.87. She's awesome and really really ridiculously smart!

Posted by Mendon at December 23, 2005 12:08 AM