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...