And we're off...

      It is now the second full week of classes at the LIFE center, and with 21 enrolled students (15 who show up regularly) life has been keeping me busy.  We have five women in our morning class and are hoping that two more of our old students will return after extended trips to Baghdad.  Along with regular classes, Elise and I's tutees, Safa and Hajir have returned for two hours, two nights a week for tutoring.  Next year Hajir and her mother Manal, one of our morning ladies, along with the rest of her family are moving to Amman, Jordan, so her success in the new school is based heavily on her English skills.  With that said, please keep us and the students in your prayers.

      Other upcoming events include a women's night this week with the morning ladies, one for Valentines Day and potentially a dinner for married couples, also around Valentines Day.   We are looking to open up the LIFE Center a few mornings a week in order to have a place for ex-pats and Kurds alike to get a good cup of coffee and relax.  In the next few weeks we will be receiving a large Starbucks expresso machine (the kind they use in the store) for the coffee shop from a group who will also be conducting some training classes on how to use it.  I'm pretty excited about proper chai latte.

               Although it's been a few weeks since New Years I feel like I should recap a bit on what went on.   New Years and Christmas is somewhat jumbled together in Kurdistan, so while we celebrated the New Year, there were still Santa's around.  We also sang happy birthday to the earth, dance for about three hours straight and ate a cake that came presented with foot high sparklers.  On Christmas Day we also celebrated the engagement of our friends Bruce and Eva.  Bruce, a worker with the NGO Extended Family International ( a program that gives out small loans to families enabling them to build houses and start small businesses) met Eva last year while he was helping out at the LIFE center and well the rest....is lovely history.  The wedding date is set sometime in April, and already the girls in this house  and in Eva's, in Bagdad, are abustle with flowers, ribbons, and other related plans. 

         It has now been three months here in Iraq, and while some things that I thought would be issues haven't cropped up, there have been things to deal with.  Elise and I had a good conversation with our friend Katie, who having been here for over a year had a lot of insight to give. In some ways, you have to relearn yourself in a new culture. Aspects of your personality can't come out in the same way if you are to fit in, but you still need to learn how to find ways to express yourself and do the things God has given you love for. So now, since I can't take a car and just drive, or act very crazy in public, or even roam very much in public I am now painting more, taking up writing, and dyed my hair a dark shade of purple.  How is dying your hair appropriate when wandering the streets isn't?  No idea, but it is.

         Aside from upcoming events and students,  I would like to ask for prayer for what I am to do after my year here.   There are a couple of different options that seem to be opening, and although I still have six more months to go, some thought has to be given to them now.  I could stay here for another year, which would be helpful but not entirely needed for the workers out here.   I may return to Long Beach and work there, perhaps working more with the Long Beach Rescue Mission or other poverty organizations.  Along with this, a friend of mine in Canada has spoken to me about the possibility of being a Creative Arts director for a bit with him.  He knows it wouldn't be a long term deal, but is still very interested.  That would be a very exciting opportunity, but at the same time, right now, my heart just wants to return to Long Beach.  But who knows?  I want to do God's will and there are a lot of pro's and con's to each option, and so please pray for guidance.

         Now, it is almost time to get some dinner and head off to class so I shall wrap up.  The cutie to the right is the last and final installment in the puppy colony we started in Chum Chummal, and Cheryl has claimed it for her own.  So now we each have a baby to visit on the weekends.  Tomorrow I will be hanging out with my friend Viyenne at Melody Cafe, trying to help her get caught up with english (she is in my class but needs some catching up).  A group of us will also be going out to the new cinema later that night to watch.....New Moon.  I would like to just preface that by saying I am going to spend time with people, not join the throngs of girls drooling over Robert Pattinson.   Cedric Diggory lives!