Breathe, just breathe!!!!

Yes, there is a perfectly good reason for my very prolonged silence - finding time to breath has been a problem! Honestly, I don't know how I've survived the last couple of weeks. I feel like a walking miracle. Here are a few of the main things that have happened since I last wrote:

My Vienna trip is official. I'm leaving the 30th of April, spending 2 weeks in Germany, then flying to Vienna for study abroad, then flying back to Salt Lake City at the end of all that. I got a really cheap ticket for all of that flying, and I got $4,540 in scholarships to pay for a huge chunk of the program costs. I'm extreeeeeeeemely excited!!!!!

Around Valentines Day my Dad came to visit. We visited Professor Kelling, ate dinner, and enjoyed some time with Heather and Robyn as we celebrated Jacob's birthday. On Valentines Day itself I went with Jonathan to an informal dance and ate a ton of Nikki's pretzel salad. Towards the end of February we had an awesome roommate date with 7 couples... we all went to Nikki's aunt's house where we played games, made pizzas and crepes, swam in their giant indoor pool, and watched a movie in their in-home cinema. One of my favorite group dates so far!!!

Around that same time I started teaching. The Tuesday before the class started I had my home-teacher give me a blessing, which really helped a lot. A lot of the nervous feelings left for a while, and I felt confident again that I would be able to do it. The first day of class I expected to be very nervous, but I wasn't. Everything went smoothly, and so far I've never been nervous about the actual teaching part of my job since. What does stress me out is getting things graded promptly and also preparing class every day. All I have to go off of are 2 grammar books that don't have any activities in them. That means I have to be extremely creative. The first two weeks I felt like I was drowning, and even though it goes faster now and I'm a little more used to it, I spend at least 3 hours/day preparing/teaching/grading, which means getting up at crazy hours of the morning at times (4:30 am is not uncommon). Since we have class every day I never have a break. I know the Lord has been helping me tremendously though. I just have to take things a day at a time for a while, I guess.

This weekend was dancesport, and my partner and I made it to the quarter finals in the 380 Mambo competitoin, which was better than I expected. Michael from the German house took me to see the Saturday night show which was incredible.... they had a battle of the champions where 4 professional couples that competed against each other. It was absolutely astounding!!!!!!!! I still just can't seem to express my feelings about how amazing dance is...

Anyway, I should go now. I love/miss you all and hope to hear from you soon!!!

Love,

Margaret