Happy belated New Year. I hope the first 19 days were wonderful. I hope they were filled with happiness, and laughter, and your resolutions were kept. I think I blew one of my resolutions within the first week. Opps.
It has been a while since I updated you all.
Work is going well. I am finishing up and am due to submit hopefully between October-December for this year. Fingers crossed for that. I feel like this time has flown by. It is hard to believe that in a little over a year I will have a PhD.
I wish I could say more, but there really isn't much to say about the research just yet. Just know it is going well and my supervisors remind me that they are really impressed with my work.
I did go home for Christmas, but it was really short, so if I missed seeing you I am sorry and I hope to see you next time. I did get to see some friends which was great and so nice to catch up. The rest of the time was with family. To an extent it didn't feel like Christmas. I missed Meme and moms family, and Aunt Diane's Brunch, and a Christmas Story playing on loop for 24 hours. But it was fun seeing the kids get all excited for Santa and seeing where their Elf on the Shelf ended up each morning. I introduced Ty to Anne Frank. I had bought Tyler a "Who is Anne Frank?" book a few years ago and said I would read it with her. This was the time. We read the book every day, and she loved it. She said she wanted to know more about her and read her real book. This was probably the best Christmas gift ever; someone I can pass my interests, love, and passion about the Holocaust down to. Tyler isn't much of a fiction reader. She loves the book that she contains short stories of real people. That's my kind of books as well. But the way she wanted to learn more about these people and about the Holocaust, made me proud. Meme would have been happy. Meme bought me my first book on the Holocaust and then added to my collection whenever she could. I am so glad I can do this for Tyler. Now, if I could only get her to use a bookmark vs. folding the edge of the page, I would be thrilled. :D Outside of reading Holocaust stories, the kids got the book, the Wonky Donkey. If you have not heard of it, go and Youtube it now! It is hilarious. For months it was sold out everywhere here. The guy at the store told me they had to do reprints of the book because it was so popular. I do not think there was a day that went by where we did not read it at least twice. And dang is it easy to memorize. When I tried to mix up the words to catch them off guard, Lane and Mattie knew the correct words. Smart kiddos.
I crossed an item off my bucket list. I wanted to shoot a gun. I did and I am good to never do it again. I did, however, and always have, liked archery. So, I liked shooting Lane's bow and arrow he got for Christmas.
I got a ton of coffee mugs for Christmas, some handmade gifts, and a pretty bracelet with Scottish coordinates on it. :) I also got a 23 and Me kit! I got the health one as well as ancestry. When I got my results back this past week, I was beyond thrilled to learn I had Jewish roots. I am a strange one. Ever since my first book from Meme, I became obsessed. I remember sitting in the classroom with my awesome Genetics professor talking about my project modelled after the Shoah and he said to me that he thinks I may be Jewish by ancestry. Well, sure enough. I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does. I was happy to learn I have an increased risk of Alzheimer's and Celiac's Disease, and that I hate the sound of people chewing their food, but to learn I have Jewish ancestry, was cool. It was also a little interesting to see the differences in my brother and I.
So, I came back after a week long trip and was sick over New Years. But it was a good new years. I talked to a friend and welcomed in the New Year as we chatted, got my hair cut, and relaxed a bit before school started again.
School here is odd. Exams are after Christmas. Those poor undergrads are expected to study during Christmas for their exams. I do not get it. And exams take place in a big lecture hall where there are security outside and random teachers inside. So, what happens if you have a question about your exam and your teacher isn't there? It just blows my mind.
I am on book 7 of Harry Potter. I have become a little obsessed. Not sure what I will do after it's done. I feel like if I would have known I would have liked it this much I would have read it slower to make it last longer. Oh well.
I did travel to Belfast last weekend. Spur of the moment too. Went into some new stores, well new to me, and had some Canadian Coffee. I have 2 theatre plays coming up. One is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the other is called The Suitcase. I have never been to the theatre on campus, but heard it was nice.
That is about it for now. I will try to update more often this year, but no promises.
Fingers crossed as I hunt for a job that starts around September goes smoothly.
Hope everyone is well and is having a good start to 2019.
