SNOW!

Today was a great day! At four a.m. England time, I received a call from my sister telling me that she's been elected as the new House Manager for Chi Omega...go Claire! I also turned in my big essay today (I don't have another one due til the beginning of January), and my package from my parents finally arrived. The package was wonderful, and I'm so excited! They sent me: People and US magazines (my absolute favorites, but you can't get them in England), Nilla wafers and Jello to make banana pudding, blueberry muffin mix, Cookies and Creme Jello, and...pumpkin bread mix! I made the pumpkin bread this afternoon, and it is delicious! I let Junko and Marfo try some. Junko didn't really seem to like it, but Marfo did! I told her about all the pumpkin flavored foods we have in the U.S. (pumpkin pie, cookies, yogurt, coffee, bread, muffins, etc.) and she was very intrigued. Apparently, pumpkin flavored foods aren't really popular outside of the U.S. After I turned in my paper, Tooley made pancakes for us for brunch (they were great!), and I read a magazine and took a nap. When I woke up, it was...SNOWING! And not just little flurries...these were the biggest flakes I've ever seen! They had to be at least 1 1/2 inches in diameter. It snowed off and on all afternoon, and even started sticking. As soon as it stopped snowing, the weather warmed up a bit, and all the snow turned to slush. Tonight, Tooley and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie, and we enjoyed walking through the slush...you don't get to do that often back home. The movie was incredible! We had to sit through about 15 minutes of commercials (for laundry detergent, cars, cell phones), and then about 10 minutes of previews. But it was so worth it! I think it was the best Harry Potter movie yet. An odd thing about movie theaters in England is that you have assigned seats. When you buy your ticket, they give you a seat number, just like if you went to the theater or a play. Tooley's former professor that now lives in Switzerland said that Swiss movie theaters are the same way, so maybe it's a European thing. Tomorrow I'm going to give a speech of the Southam Rotary Club, and Wednesday I'm going to the Coventry Phoenix Rotary Club because Bianca is giving her final speech. Today was a fun day, and hopefully it will snow again soon! I've posted pictures of the Christmas decorations Tooley and I put up in the kitchen on Sunday. They're a little random, but hey, the Brits have different tastes in decorations. Tinsel is very popular here!

Decorations in the kitchen


SNOW!