everybody can succeed, all you need is to believe

on tuesday i went to all my classes, and spent the entire rest of the day working on my anthro essay. it's an essay comparing saami (who are the only recognized indigenous population in europe) reindeer herding with dene caribou hunting. i finished the paper at around 11:00 and went to bed after watching a bit of degrassi.

on wednesday i had my last classes of the semester. i also worked at the elementary school. the kids were mega-adorable. the grade 6s were having a bake sale, so all the kids were able to buy treats when they were done their lunches. the littlest kids were the cutest, maybe because i know them the best and they are my favorites. i asked some of them what they were getting, and they showed me their ziplog bags of change and asked, "how much is this?" so i helped them figure out how much money their parents had sent with them. they were pretty adorable and generous, sharing with kids who hadn't brought any money. some of the kids were total gluttons (as i'm sure i would have been in their position), spending $5 or $10 on baked goods, walking away with an armload of candy. yeeks. anyway, i think the grade 6s raised over 400 to buy gifts (clean water, a goat for a family, etc.) for people in developing countries.

after class on wednesday, i drove to michael's on the west end, where i bought a ton of yarn and some good acrylic paint. after my watercolor class a few weekends ago, i have decided to try to practice getting better with color theory and mixing. i am going to try to quit buying crappy fake paints to make my arts and crafts, and instead learn how to mix better quality stuff to get the colors i want. the yarn i bought was for mittens. i have already made one pair for robin's mom, because she asked me to this summer when i went to their house to drop off some mittens i had made for robin. they are really awesome. i mean that sentence in reference to the mittens. but robin and his mom are really awesome too. i spent the night crocheting and watching degrassi.

on thursday i was mega busy. i got up at 9 and LRT'd to the downtown library, where i took back some dvds and cds and got a few new ones. then i walked to royal bank to close out an account that i had opened when i moved to guyana but haven't used since. then i LRT'd over to the legislature, where i checked out the craft sale in the pedway for 45 minutes. then i LRT'd back to the university, and spent most of the afternoon volunteering with the students' union, preparing for the "kids' christmas party." mostly i just sorted stuff and helped prepare some crafts. i took a break at 2:00 to go over to pembina hall for tea and bannock. there weren't a lot of people there, but one guy struck up conversation with me and proceeded to evangelize me. i love being evangelized!!! it's so funny. i like seeing what kind of questions i can come up with to evoke certain reactions. i especially like being told, "Jesus told me to tell you...." i went back to dinwoodie after that little episode to help out some more with the craft prep. at 4:00 i left, and LRT'd back to the legislature to watch claire sing in the u of a mixed chorus before ed stelmach officially turned the christmas lights on. becky met me there. it was really nice to see her. i wish we would both have some good, intense new crushes soon. she is a very busy girl. she has THREE jobs now. wow. after the light-up ceremony, the legislative assembly office had an employee recognition party in the pedway, where i enjoyed some mashed potatoes and ham and received a christmas ornament from ken kowalski (the current speaker). thrilling. i LRT'd back home before the night was over so i could crochet and watch more degrassi.