Last Friday I received a very disconcerting e-mail from the administration. No, I am not in any sort of trouble. Well, not yet anyway. As you may already know, Trinity has a three-year residency requirement that obliges its students to live on campus up to their junior year. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but most of the student body stays on campus. As a freshman, who knew little of the campus, living in the freshman dorms really helped me connect with people in my class. Then I became a sophomore and I was ready to pick my own dorm. For that, I chose Prassel (hence the name of our blog). Being a sophomore usually means not getting your first choice dorms but Bianca and I got into the Spanish Language Hall of Prassel. WE LOVE PRASSEL! The halls are quiet and the long walk to upper campus gives us our daily dose of exercise. So by now you must be itching to know the contents of the e-mail and how it relates to the future of Prassel. As I mentioned earlier, sophomores get the short end of the stick when picking dorms, so Trinity conducted studies for sophomores to have their own dorms, similar to the freshman dorms. I understand the reasoning behind Sophomore Housing. In fact, I agree with the administration and its board of students for opting for Sophomore Housing. I think it is a great idea. What I disagree with is the choice of dorms allocated for Sophomore Housing. The dorms Thomas, Prassel, and parts of McLean were selected. Geographically, this makes no sense to me. Bianca and I hoped to live in Prassel for all of our years at Trinity if we cannot do this then we must move off campus. Trinity has the three-year requirement and by compelling students to live in special freshman and sophomore dorms for two years limits our choices by a great degree. So, my plea to the administration is to listen to the upperclassmen and give us a choice. I should also give credit to the careful planning of sophomore housing. There will be a open forum this week for discussion of the dorms next year. You can count on me and Bianca to be there to defend our precious Prassel.

Posted by Nancy at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have the world’s funniest sister. She called to tell me about a dream she had wherein we were attacked by vicious stuffed animals. Needless to say, since it was her dream, she was the heroine and embodiment of bravery. While she stepped on ‘the huge wolf’ and split him open at the seams, I hid in a bush.

My dream was much calmer; I was bargaining with some people who looked like my cousins and wanted a pound of honey in exchange for doing yard work. I don’t understand this at all despite the many dream interpretation books I have been gifted. Those books never seem to list any of the key words in my dreams. So, I prefer to think of dreams as amusing nightly entertainment rather than portents of the future. Nancy doesn’t ever remember her dreams and also says that once she wakes up, she can’t fall back asleep. Crazy! My ability to do so must be the reason why I got three calls on the morning of my first day of classes. They all wanted to make sure I “got up in time." How embarrassing! Even Tony, my work supervisor, called me. Apparently, he was under the impression that I might want to work in the mornings, therefore I needed to be woken up. Hah! Work when I’m most alert? I save my mental talents for class! You see, I really am a morning person; I just like to sleep…which makes no sense.

Well, here are the eagerly anticipated pictures of the new and exciting haircut along with the before pictures for comparison purposes. My neck thanks me everyday.


Another good thing about this haircut—it gets me places a lot faster. When I first got back to San Antonio and was getting a taxi to Trinity, I was mistaken for a ‘nice Iranian lady.’ Thus, ten taxis pulled up to the curb to help me, their fellow countrywoman. I learned through the course of my trip back that my driver had just come to the US five years ago (obviously, from Iran). Since highway 281 was closed due to an accident that day, he took me on a shortcut that actually worked (!) and we talked about how the US people should be more accommodating by learning Farsi instead of Spanish. Really, once he got going, I didn’t have to say much, I just agreed that all of us Persians would appreciate Farsi being the second US language. Whatever, I find it best not to antagonize the driver so he’ll get me places in a timely fashion. What a nice man…

I really love my schedule this semester. There will be tons of reading to do and some papers here and there according to all the syllabi, but I am excited about my classes. This is the first time I will be taking a history class since my junior year in high school, so I’m kind of nervous about that, but it will be helpful in understanding the issues and whatnot for the coming election. I can’t always rely on Nancy to explain things to me. I’ve found out that she is very biased towards her candidate and she’s not to be trusted (just kidding). I’m also taking an Education Practicum class where I can be a teacher’s aide at an elementary school for the semester—that’s going to be so cute! What else? A math course, an awesome bilingual sociology class (Relaciones Fronterizas), Spanish American literature and yoga. Yay!

Other than my schedule nothing much has changed at Trinity besides it being FREEZING! How could I forget the cruel winds that cage you indoors? And some people here still wear skirts! I guess what feels cold to you depends on where you are from, but for me this is the dead of winter. Time to make some tea...

Posted by Bianca at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are so many things to talk about. My broken heart, for one. But that’s my fault, I knew the risk involved when I opened the book. Your emotions will be battered and tangled up and still you think every time, “No, that Handsome Rake doesn’t intrigue me" and WOAH! he saves you from a band of mercenary pirates. Or “No, those Rowdy Cowboys wouldn’t bother this town" and WHOOSH! you’re whisked away. I tell you, life couldn’t be much more exciting than a romance novel. I mean, other than shopping and pretending to be a housewife, running errands for my mother, making dinner and cleaning, El Paso has been pretty peaceful. This is what I thought before my father called me at 9AM to say some “workers" would come over. What work do we need workers for? Then I remember, the porch!

First, let me tell you the story of the porch.

As I was “studying abroad" at Trinity (this is a phrase my family uses to state their displeasure at my choosing to leave El Paso), my mother became an exercise nut. She may have been inspired by the Gladiator show or all the football my brother watches, we’ll never know. Anyways, she has a treadmill and wakes up early to run on it. One Sunday she also saw an ad with her treadmill placed beside an elliptical machine and decided this would be even more perfect—she’d be prepared in no time for a triathlon. Before running speedily for 5 miles to acquire this new machine she realized that she had no space for it. We were relieved and thought we would be spared her lectures on exercise and the healthy heart, but then she discovered the porch. It’s hardly noticeable, but it too was judged perfect. In my mother’s eyes, it had already become a mini-gym. Thus, my father rustled up some “workers" to close in the porch.

This availability of “workers" has never ceased to amaze me. They never have any business cards, never seem to have any equipment, never speak English and yet, know how to do everything.

So, six of them were going to show up. My dad calls to tell me this when I’m in pajamas with wild hair so it’s no wonder the adrenaline was flowing. I rushed to get dressed and cleaned the house like a mad woman so it would be ready for measurements. I just didn’t know the “workers" would be so young. They were my age, I swear I went to high school with one of them and let me just say that I am glad I have been studying Spanish. They only knew “Hello" and “Thank you." I was still leery of them so I stayed in the kitchen, close to the heavy pans—which I was pretending to wash. When they finally left, I noticed that they all had arrived in one truck and there was a seventh guy driving, that hadn’t come in. How did they fit? Maybe I’ll get a chance to work that one out tomorrow when they come again. I’ve never known the “workers" to start a project so quickly, but I bet I know the reason.

It’s this new hair. It’s insanely attractive. I had my hair cut the shortest it’s ever been in my life. I had 36in of hair before I went to the salon. Now it’s a little past my shoulders and it’s so bouncy! How exciting! I don’t have to wake up with a headache from having the hair pull at me all night. I don’t know why I never did this sooner; it’s going to be so much easier to take care of. I promise to post pictures as soon as I get back to my own computer. But first, I need to pack…

Posted by Bianca at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I looked at the calendar and I discovered that there is a little over a week of winter holiday. My reaction: YAHOO!! Though breaks are nice and inviting, I prefer the short ones over extended holidays. I did take advantage of the break by going to my lab (in the Cowles Life Science Building) to do some research. Early on in the break, my parents refused to let me go to lab. They wanted me to “relax." There was no way I could sit still while my plants in the greenhouse were withering away. My parents also said to stay at home. I planned to wait for them to leave the house and sneak out to the bio lab. It sounded really elementary the more I thought about it. I called Bianca for advice. My roommate laughed and thought I was joking about going back to school. So I called Dr. Lyons to help convince my parents to let me go. I hung out with some friends from high school and my beloved Porsha (from Trinity). We saw Sweeney Todd. I am not into horror flicks but the last time I saw a rated R movie was never. It was a tragic story but it was very well done. I also went to get my eyes checked (I am too embarrassed to tell you what my prescription is), and I also gathered 120 stars on Super Mario Galaxy.

I also got to do some yard work with my family. My dad planted some winter radishes (daikon) a few months ago. They are still tiny but he wanted to pull them up. I helped pull as much as I could. Food tastes so much better when you watch it grow from seed. We also have a tangerine tree in the backyard. Tangerines fruit in the winter season so they are common around New Years. I have been eating about four a day. My parents think the fruit is still very sour but I think it is very sweet. It could also be the fact that we watched this tree grow from a seed that was accidentally thrown outside into a pot. It germinated and now, 12 years later, it bears the brightest, sweetest tangerines in the world. Now you know what else I have been doing all break; eating. I eat, sleep, play video games, and do ecology research. I really need to get back to school.

Aren't they cute? I love radishes!

Our tangerines! They look so good next to the teapot.

Posted by Nancy at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Emeril thinks his mom is the world’s best cook. Well, he is wrong. My mom is. I don’t like eating at Vietnamese restaurants because it would be an insult to my mother who can make everything 100 times better and twice as fast. So during break I have been eating mom’s cooking everyday. Trinity’s food is not so bad, but after awhile we all begin to miss mom’s cooking. Today I had wonton soup for lunch. My mom made the stuffing and I wrapped the little wontons. It was so yummy! Right now it is very cold outside so hot wonton soup is the best for this weather. The wonton is pretty easy to make but the stuffing requires some expertise. Mom usually does all the cooking on holidays and everyone we know comes over to enjoy. My mother uses no recipes; she didn’t have any training; and she does not use state of the art appliances either. She is just a good cook. My brother also cooks very well. My sister can bake. She made macaroons again. They are equally yummy. Macaroons, hot jasmine tea, and a good book make the perfect recipe for New Years celebration. I am the only one who cannot cook. No matter, if everyone in the family did the cooking, who would enjoy the food?

Wonton Soup. Yummy.

Posted by Nancy at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)