An excellent morning: huddled next to the radiator watching the sunrise.

It's looking like another bright shiny day. I, however, am not feeling so bright and shiny. Time spent asleep this week has been, shall we say, moderate. Contributing factors include, but are not limited to, noisy roommates, studying and homework, and Thinking Too Much.

Thinking Too Much tends to play itself out in two ways. One, I am wide-awake pondering my existence and the question, "whatever shall I do, come the end of June?" Two, I am wide-awaking considering the implications of ... Russian adjectives, the theology of ecology and this idea of 'living green', what makes mah-jong so absolutely fascinating, why my dear roommates inisist on playing said blasted game until 1 or 2 in the morning, and various other things, like grace and redemption. I have recently become completely sold on the idea of redemption. It's always been there, lurking in the shadows, but never an integral part of my thought proccess. (more on this later, perhaps).

Obviously, with all of these terrific and important things to be thunked about, and irregular verbs to be studied, restful sleep has been crowded out.

Life, classes, language learning are all going well. Our professors have banded together this semester and begun assigning rather substantial amounts of homework, complete with due dates. The weather is chilly, but not nearly enough snow. I am of the opinion that if one must be cold, there ought to be lots of snow. I went ice skating last weekend with some new Russian friends, spent over an hour talking with a bunch of fun teenagers and young adults after church on Sunday, and Chinese New Year is this week (a big deal here ... and we get 3 days off school - score).

Ramble ramble. I'm losing steam. Looks like redemptive thoughts will be making an appearance next time. Also, expect pictures (I say this for my own benefit, because now I'll feel it necessary to have integrity and actually upload them). The Amur river is quite frozen and we took a little excursion the other afternoon. We walked all the way across to an island ... but I'll leave you in suspense, the pictures do a much better job of explaining!

As we used to say in 6th grade: peace, love, and Shakespeare! My, those were the days. But I must say, I'm very happy I'm not 11 any more. More (serious) thoughts, updates, and pictures coming to a screen near you ... sooner rather than later.