Happy New Year (and pictures)!

Life has slowed down in the last couple weeks, which has been very nice. It's been very nice to have a break from classes, but I'm excited to go back on Monday! Almost everyone on my floor in the dorms went home to Korea/Japan/China for the holidays, so it's very deserted and creepy. In more exciting news, I've got some pictures (and the patience to upload them) today!

This is my roommate Sonya. She's 20, from China, and we have a lot of fun together! She is very interested in all-things-American. She recently attempted to dye her hair brown - an interesting process in which she recruited my help. She loves to make me dinner and always refuses to let me help with the dishes (I do anyway). She's been asking a lot of questions about religion and churches in America and was very excited when I invited her to come to church with me.

Here are Pasha and Deanna, both Korean students. They are the hardest workers in my class and keep me on my toes! Deanna is a Christian and often invites me to tea in her room. Pasha speaks the most English of anyone of my floor and asks me every single morning, "How are you today?"

This is my section, or class (missing a few). Most of them look terribly unhappy, I know. On the far left, bottom row, red sweater, is Peter. He is a Korean pastor and we sit next to each other in class. He's old enough to be my dad, and is always teasing me about how young I am. One day after class, he pulled some money out of his pocket and I decided to turn the tables. I grinned and said, "Oh daddy, is that for me?" He laughed and laughed and from that day on has called me 'dochinka', meaning 'daughter'.

My roommate Liza. She's the cook, as you can tell from her apron. She loves it when I french-braid her hair and is currently learning the name of every imaginable animal from anywhere in English.

And here's our illegal cat, named Tao-Tao and secretely called Chairman Mao (he's very pompous) by yours truly. He is very cute but very loud and begins his yowling every morning around 6 am.

Liza and I.

Me, Liza, and Sonya. Anya, our other roommate doesn't like pictures.

On Monday (Russian Christmas), I spent most of the day peeling enough carrots and potatoes for 70 people. That evening, we went to the homeless shelter (what an amazing place - it's impossible to describe) and ate Christmas dinner with everyone. Every time I go there, I'm blown away by a million things: how much I've been blessed with, the terrible effects of sin in someone's life, how joyful these people who have virtually nothing can be ... If I could, I'd take everyone I know and make them spend a week at the shelter.

So, New Year's greetings from four girls and cat! Thank you for all the e-mails, cards, and calls! I am so excited for a new year, new semester, and a thousand more adventures. One of my (probably futile) resolutions is to do a better job of communicating with everyone at home.

It's gotten very cold in the last week. Temperatures won't be above 0 degrees F for the next week. I can't wait for summer!

Much love to all!
Elsbeth