Home for the Holidays

Thats right!! I am HOME in WENATCHEE This week for Christmas!! My parents and I surprised my grandparents yesterday when I walked in the door for patio time and it was quite fun! I am only home for the week and then will be spending another week down in Arizona. I am so so so excited I get to be home for the holidays, which was something I was a little bit bummed about missing before. Altho, I do miss Lebanon and my family there, it was going to be my very first Christmas with them, but I promised them next year! Its been a lot of change for me this year so its nice to be able to come home.

Work is piling up though for me and I really need to start focusing, which is proving extremely difficult. Oh well! Tis the season to be Jolly not stressed! :)

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Much love,


Sasha

I am alive

My Econ exam is OVER and I lived to tell the tale! We will see how he grades it but when I entered the room early and chatted with my felllow students I felt far more prepared than any of them, and if that is the actual case it would be nice if he graded them compared to eachother! haha

So anywho, we'll see how it went in retrospect. As for now it is paper central. My mind is full of feminist theory information and domestic violence cases in Lebanon. I am starting to panic just a smidge with the knowledge that by feb 2nd I'll be expected to have written a total of 90 pages for my three papers!!! YIKES I have never done such a thing before!

Well I better get off to class! Will write soon!!

Much Love,

Sasha

Shutting Down...

The computer. I have decided that after I finish this blog post that I will be shutting off my computer and putting it in my closet where I must will myself to not get it out again until Wednesday. I have a big Econ midterm to study for and a lot of reading that will go along with it, plus reading for a presentation for my class that got moved from Friday to Tuesday. SO I decided to let my cousin Elie change my password on Facebook so I am not tempted with it and cannot access it and only check my email once a day (since I need to communicate with my classmates about study group and stuff). Just thought I would let you all know that I will only be accessible via email and phone and wont be blogging or chatting and what not. I am also taking Harry Potter 5 on tape off my iPod! haha it has been a source of procrastination this week also! :) SO much to do! BUT my last professor agreed on my proposal and likes my paper and in fact, said if its good enough when it is finished he will push to have it published!!! :) Incentive to work hard? I think so! He gave me names of feminist activists in Lebanon to call for information and possible interviews so I am excited! :) Anywho, I am going to go check my email and get to work shutting down! I guess my plan isnt totally full proof since I will still have my computer on for my phone but I will not be opening the internet I should say! haha Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Much love

Sash

Blogging the new columnists?

I have been reading online American news way more than I ever used to, since its the only way I can access it, whereas before I used to watch network news wayyy to much! haha I have noticed now that a lot of news cites have links to prominent bloggers and I realized today that being a good blogger is like being a really good columnist. As the newspaper industry is unfortunately dying out in the US it makes sense that columnists would need a new arena...blogging. I have mentioned to several family members and friends what a great job or side hobby at the very least being a columnist would be one day and decided that I better get a whole lot better at blogging first! haha Since they are becoming basically the same thing! :)

Thats all I had to say. Kind of a lame post, which is ironic since I just decided I should be a better blogger, BUT reading the news is my distraction from writing the last few corrections I made on my draft paper for class in an hour so I should probably not distract myself further by posting lengthy blog posts! Keeping it short and sweet today! haaha see, I can learn new things! ;)

Much love,
Sasha

Research

Well I am well on my way on researching for my three topics and am starting the writing process for one of my papers and still waiting on final approval of my other two topics! My three papers are:

Delaying Development: Analysis of Domestic Violence and Feminism in Lebanon (Development paper)

Educate to Empower: Increasing Women’s Access to Education in order to Increase Labor Force Participation in Lebanon (Econ Paper)

Constructing a Lebanese Feminist Movement: Discourse Analysis of Feminist Thought and Practice in Lebanon (Theory/civil society paper)

Yes I do like alliteration if you can't tell from the first two titles...I'm still not pleased with my last title and Im guessing its from the lack of alliteration! hahaha I am sure as I research and learn more about these topics I'll have more blog posts about those issues....which hopefully won't bore you! Speaking of my papers I should get back to this lit review, I am making little progress thus far and its due tomorrow.....I'd hate to stay up all night! The good news is that I am not finished with it because I spent most of the weekend, yesterday and this morning before class studying for my much dreaded economics exam next week, its the first exam I've studied this far in advance for!!!

Much love,

Sash

Buckle up...its going to be a bumpy ride...

The next two weeks are going to be a nightmare. Tuesday we have our review session for our Econ midterm the following Monday where we must ask all the questions in order to get answers (makes sense right?) haha It is nice because for the first time in my life I started studying over a week in advance for the exam! I also submitted my paper proposal for that class and am waiting to hear back from my professor. Wednesday I am presenting my literature review, introduction and research question to my development class for my paper due in Feb along with 3 article readings to present that are each over 20 pages!! Then Friday its my turn to present an article to the class for discussion, so I'll have that reading also. Then Monday afternoon is my econ class and next wednesday a small paper for development is due on the problems of development in the middle east. FUN!!! :)

BUT Then it is Christmas break and I will have no school until Jan 4th! :) BUT that doesn't mean I wont have homework...which is a first for me. Welcome to the semester system! I already miss the quarter system. It was always nice to have nothing to do school wise over Christmas break because finals were the week before break! Now I have 3 papers to work on! YIKES!!

I cannot believe how fast time goes by! It feels like I just got here yesterday and I've already been here for three months! WOW!! Its starting to get much colder and raining more and more...my feet are freezing right now actually! I am starting to miss insolation, BUT I am still holding my ground its not as bad as my dad had warned, YET! hehe

Well its bed time....long day tomorrow, no class, but LOTS of reading for my econ exam! :)

Much love,

Sasha

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Everywhere you go here you are starting to see Christmas trees, its nice! This must be what it feels to have Christmas in California or Florida or somewhere were there is no snow to indicate Christmas is coming! I get so excited every time I see a little Christmas tree because it makes it seem more real the Christmas is in fact on its way!! :)

We have our tree up and Nancy's family just put up theirs! I really need to go shopping! :)

Today is another lazy day. Another meaning it has been a holiday weekend here too so no one had school Friday, Saturday or Monday (yes we do have school on Saturdays...I dont but schools operate on Saturdays....weird right?) and today I don't have class because my usual Tuesday class was moved to Thursday. SO I am over at Nancy's right now, she has two exams to study for and I NEED to make progress on re writing my development paper proposal so I can make it more specific and have my prof approve it hopefully in class tomorrow so I know concretely what I am writing about. This process is getting on my nerves a bit! I am ready to just be writing!!!

I did decide to focus all my papers (except my econ one not as much, since thats going to be more about women labor and education) on feminism and whether there has been a feminist movement or not here in Lebanon and for my development paper specifically whether or not the lack of a feminist movement here in Lebanon contributes to the prevalence/acceptance of domestic violence and honor crimes against women in the country.

Well better shut down my internet and focus!!! It would be nice if I didnt need a few web pages for researching purposes so that I could disable the internet....its so distracting! haha Oh well...WILL POWER SASH! ;)

Much love,

Sash