What a long time since I wrote last. It's been crazy. I went to Glen Rose last weekend to help Mom with a craft show. We had a lot of fun, but didn't sell a lot. However, I bought the last of my Christmas gifts and enjoyed the time there. Josie went with me and was TOO CUTE in her little sweater. That night we went to see the local high school production of Oklahoma.
I zipped home Sunday morning, and, Ken and I went to visit the Church of the Annunciation in Lewisville for the first time. We liked it very much. The people were most welcoming, which is important to me. We plan to go back. Ken had already visited the choir and plans to attend rehearsal tonight.
Then I did two orientations for Spring outgoing students, and we jumped in the car and went to Fair Park for Cirque du Soleil's Varekai. It was awesome! How people do things like that with their bodies is JUST beyond me.
Monday morning, I met two students heading for Spain in the Spring at UNT at 3:30 a.m., and we headed to Houston in a UNT vehicle. We went to the Spanish Consulate there, so they could apply for their student visas. That has to be done in person now, for students going to Spain for longer than 3 months. Seems crazy, but it is a direct result of the United States' restrictive visa policies for incoming international students since 9/11 and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. This situation has created a crisis in international education: students around the world are saying, "why should I go to that country (America) if they are going to give me a hard time and treat me like a criminal!? I'll go somewhere else!" And they are. The implications are enormous, and include the loss of teaching staff/grad students, the lack of diversity on US campuses, the economic impact of not having these people and their families here, lack of good will and knowledge about the US, not to mention the tit-for-tat that we are experiencing against study abroad students. I'm very upset about this, can you tell!?
I enjoyed the trip, though. The two students were delightful. When I got home from Houston I was pretty tired. We got dinner at Sonic. Yesterday I worked and we had dinner at Red Pepper's.
All Christmas gifts are done EXCEPT the STRIPES gifts. I need to make more biscotti and deliver it. Getting the cards out this week, too. :) Now I just need to make my Amazon.com wish list and check it twice! :)
later...
