Long Lost Blogger Returns!

Father,
That was a very sad little post.  I'm sorry for my delinquency at keeping up with the blog, but I never seem to have anything interesting to say, and when I do have something to say, I am too tired to bother writing it down.  So, to further procrastinate studying for my test tomorrow (episodes of Top Gear UK and Myoats.com are also wonderful ways of procrastinating if yall needed any ideas), here is an epic post to make up for it.
        To begin with, twice so far Viana, Jerry from China, Kim from Thailand (could be Cambodia...or Vietnam), Ivy from China, Robert, and I have gotten together to cook some authentic Chinese food with much trial and error ending in savory success.

Here is us during our first dinner. 

From top left: sour tofu with spicy chilies, sauteed bell peppers, Viana's sweet 

potato fries with extra oregano, rice, rice, rice, and boiled lettuce

        Needless to say, each time we ended up absolutely stuffed with buckets of leftovers.  It was an interesting learning experience about how people eat in China and just how picky they are about the type of soy sauce and rice that you use.  We tried about four different types of sauce before Jerry pronounced that one of them was close enough to what he was used to.  All three thought that our "low sodium soy sauce" was an absolute joke seeing as the whole point of the stuff is to make things salty, and similarly, brown rice didn't go over so well either.  It was crazy because it took three of us about ten minutes to describe to Kim and Ivy what fortune cookies were, and once again, they had a good time laughing at Americans' ignorance about Asian cooking and traditions.  

        Also in retrospect, I found some photos of the creek property still on my computer from spring break.

 extra large water droplet

fuzzy new leaves

that odd shaped plant

new leaves on the oak tree 

cheesy-extra-blurry-women's-retreat-brochure-cover-esque photo

evening primrose (credits to Dad)

        It sure was nice to be home for a bit but don't miss me too much, we only have four weeks left and then I'll be back for good.  Until September 12 of course, when this girl is moving to Paris!  I seriously can't wait and have already been making custom Google maps of the area where I will be to find all the little creperies and museums and boulangeries that I want to visit.  I still don't know the words for "fork" or "sorry, I'm a lousy American with a bad accent and no sense of direction", but there is still time to learn.  

        Yesterday I got to go with three professors to see the French play Manon.  Every other week or so the Cinemark here in Sherman receives live streaming from the Metropolitan Opera.  Bernice (French professor from last semester) had invited me to go with the enticement that she would buy my ticket and so off we went at 10:30 and met up with Vicki (Latin American History professor from last semester) and her husband Light.  Light is an absolute fascinating man, and I believe he is the Official Texas State Historian.  He along with my mentor and four other Austin College professors were recently listed on Princeton Review's Best 300 Professors list, which, for a school this size, is an amazing feat.  As it turns out, he enjoys fishing lake LBJ, knows my old orthodontist Michael Dean, and was familiar with the Stanley-Fisher house from his extensive knowledge of Texas history and frequent trips to the gulf to fish.  

         Back to the opera...At first it was a bit on the dull side simply because it was hard to pick up on the storyline and I was still adjusting to the subtitles.  It was sung in French but all of the actors were either Polish, Italian, Russian, or German so their accents were a bit hard to understand.  However, by the second act I was absolutely floored and loving every second.  It finished about 3:30, but I didn't want it to end. Yall absolutely have to see one of these on the big screen, and I checked and theaters in Austin and Bee Caves have live and rerun operas.  Wager's Ring cycle is coming up and from the previews it is going to be amazing, so be sure to look it up if you feel like getting a little culture.  You won't regret it.  I didn't realize how much I loved operas until this as CD's just don't do the music or stories real justice.    

        Well, much to my chagrin I must return to my flashcards, but I hope yall are doing well and enjoying this stormy Easter evening.

Much love,

Kate Alice