Christmas, cancer and a Christian church wedding
Christmas
I spent the 23rd-30th of December with my sister out of state. We spent Christmas Day with her husband's family, though we exchanged gifts between the three of us early in the morning. I gave my brother-in-law a few games (Settlers of Catan and a Battlefield game) and my sister a handbag and several books. Because books are awesome. Unfortunately the handbag got worn and tore within a week of her using it! Christmas day was pretty laid-back. We had lunch with them. They have horses but I didn't ride them, just petted a few of them. They also have a few dogs and a puppy! It was fun cuddling them. We also met my sister's husband's cousin's one year old baby. Two days my sister and I went out shopping. A shopping trip was her and her husband's gift to me! :D I bought some more sweaters. I tried to find more winter work pants but that didn't happen.
We also went to see ZzyZyx and have a buffet at the Grand Sierra Theatre. ZzyZyx is a "Cirque Experience." I've never seen Cirque du Soleil but I suppose this is close enough. Though my brother-in-law says they're like a slightly amateurish version of Cirque du Soleil. I enjoyed it! What I didn't enjoy, and forgot about, was that smoking indoors was allowed in resorts and casinos there. I wore new clothes and it ended up smelling like smoke. Blah.
Otherwise it was a pretty low key week. Got a haircut, played a few games of Settlers of Catan - lost all five! - and watched a few episodes of various shows on Hulu. My sister and I vegged on the sofa reading, too. Fun times!
Cancer
The evening of Christmas Day my mom called me, asking to see how our trip went. Christmas isn't significant to her so having bad news on that day isn't as shocking. The call was normal and everything was like "How was your trip? The flight?"
Then my mom told me about her mother. Apparently my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer all the way back in June or July. And I didn't find out until December!!! That's half a year! Because of her age and health, she was only allowed 8 mild chemotherapy treatments. The 8 mild chemotherapy treatments are done. My mom visited the home country for New Year's and got to see her grandchild and her mother. I'm glad she got to visit them. My dad joined her later; he was in the U.A.E. for a meeting.
After New Year's my mom called and told me her mother was alright. Has hair, can walk and take showers by herself. But the tumor isn't completely gone. Breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer runs in my family...
Christian church wedding
In December 2010 I received an invitation to a wedding for one of my host sisters. (My college pairs each international student with a host family. It's up to each person and family how close they remain during the four years.) My host family consists of the parents, two older daughters and four younger sons. My host family is highly involved in their church and held the ceremony and reception in their church. They were very kind and made room for Matt during the reception. It was my first experience going to a Christian wedding!
The wedding was during the first weekend in January after New Year's. We drove up Friday evening to Beloit and stayed in a lodge. We got there at around 10pm and rented the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie from RedBox and bought a lot of junk food... We weren't able to finish that movie! LONG MOVIE.
The wedding was early Saturday morning in a city nearby. We got a little lost but thankfully left early enough that our losing the way didn't make us late. The wedding was running late, too. I saw my host sisters while my host sister was getting ready and we took some photos (professional ones, though).
The ceremony was longer than I expected. I expected it to be like in the movies where the people say their vows and the priest/pastor/somebody asks if anybody objects and then if nobody does, the bride and groom are announced wife and husband and kiss. Apparently they just cut a lot out for the audience. I totally didn't think of that... The ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns (some communal so Matt and I sang along), religious songs, a poem and scripture readings. I think it took about an hour. Quite the eye-opener.
Oh, they played "Tale as Old as Time" as the processional music! That was fun, and I got a little misty eyed. I didn't recognize the song as the recessional, though.
The reception was at 3pm so everybody (but the wedding party and the people preparing for the reception) had time to go away and do something... Matt and I drove back to Beloit and finished watching the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean: Fountain of Youth. Finally. It was a "meh" movie.
The reception was also not as I expected but fun! The food was good. There was some awkward conversation/questions about Matt and I and what stage we're in. Unexpectedly, there were skits during the reception! I've never really seen skits, even in movies... But they were quite funny. They were performed by the family of the bride and groom and young adult/teenage members of the church. There was a PowerPoint at the end, after everybody had eaten, of the bride's and groom's childhood and adulthood up to when they met. Then their engagement photos! It was very cute. The wedding cake was brought out at the end but Matt and I were already full so we didn't have any...
I didn't get anywhere close to the bouquet when my host sister threw it. It was fun though, seeing them all group around! Aftewards Matt and I went through some errands in Rockford. We also watched Bridesmaid, which was pretty funny, though some humor was highly potty. Kristen Wiig was surprisingly good at portraying an emotional character.
Yeah, three C's right there... If I remember I'll post up some pictures!
I'm watching Robyn performing on SNL Season 37, Episode 9. (Katy Perry hosted.) I saw Robyn live summer 2010. :D
I spent the 23rd-30th of December with my sister out of state. We spent Christmas Day with her husband's family, though we exchanged gifts between the three of us early in the morning. I gave my brother-in-law a few games (Settlers of Catan and a Battlefield game) and my sister a handbag and several books. Because books are awesome. Unfortunately the handbag got worn and tore within a week of her using it! Christmas day was pretty laid-back. We had lunch with them. They have horses but I didn't ride them, just petted a few of them. They also have a few dogs and a puppy! It was fun cuddling them. We also met my sister's husband's cousin's one year old baby. Two days my sister and I went out shopping. A shopping trip was her and her husband's gift to me! :D I bought some more sweaters. I tried to find more winter work pants but that didn't happen.
We also went to see ZzyZyx and have a buffet at the Grand Sierra Theatre. ZzyZyx is a "Cirque Experience." I've never seen Cirque du Soleil but I suppose this is close enough. Though my brother-in-law says they're like a slightly amateurish version of Cirque du Soleil. I enjoyed it! What I didn't enjoy, and forgot about, was that smoking indoors was allowed in resorts and casinos there. I wore new clothes and it ended up smelling like smoke. Blah.
Otherwise it was a pretty low key week. Got a haircut, played a few games of Settlers of Catan - lost all five! - and watched a few episodes of various shows on Hulu. My sister and I vegged on the sofa reading, too. Fun times!
Cancer
The evening of Christmas Day my mom called me, asking to see how our trip went. Christmas isn't significant to her so having bad news on that day isn't as shocking. The call was normal and everything was like "How was your trip? The flight?"
Then my mom told me about her mother. Apparently my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer all the way back in June or July. And I didn't find out until December!!! That's half a year! Because of her age and health, she was only allowed 8 mild chemotherapy treatments. The 8 mild chemotherapy treatments are done. My mom visited the home country for New Year's and got to see her grandchild and her mother. I'm glad she got to visit them. My dad joined her later; he was in the U.A.E. for a meeting.
After New Year's my mom called and told me her mother was alright. Has hair, can walk and take showers by herself. But the tumor isn't completely gone. Breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer runs in my family...
Christian church wedding
In December 2010 I received an invitation to a wedding for one of my host sisters. (My college pairs each international student with a host family. It's up to each person and family how close they remain during the four years.) My host family consists of the parents, two older daughters and four younger sons. My host family is highly involved in their church and held the ceremony and reception in their church. They were very kind and made room for Matt during the reception. It was my first experience going to a Christian wedding!
The wedding was during the first weekend in January after New Year's. We drove up Friday evening to Beloit and stayed in a lodge. We got there at around 10pm and rented the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie from RedBox and bought a lot of junk food... We weren't able to finish that movie! LONG MOVIE.
The wedding was early Saturday morning in a city nearby. We got a little lost but thankfully left early enough that our losing the way didn't make us late. The wedding was running late, too. I saw my host sisters while my host sister was getting ready and we took some photos (professional ones, though).
The ceremony was longer than I expected. I expected it to be like in the movies where the people say their vows and the priest/pastor/somebody asks if anybody objects and then if nobody does, the bride and groom are announced wife and husband and kiss. Apparently they just cut a lot out for the audience. I totally didn't think of that... The ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns (some communal so Matt and I sang along), religious songs, a poem and scripture readings. I think it took about an hour. Quite the eye-opener.
Oh, they played "Tale as Old as Time" as the processional music! That was fun, and I got a little misty eyed. I didn't recognize the song as the recessional, though.
The reception was at 3pm so everybody (but the wedding party and the people preparing for the reception) had time to go away and do something... Matt and I drove back to Beloit and finished watching the rest of Pirates of the Caribbean: Fountain of Youth. Finally. It was a "meh" movie.
The reception was also not as I expected but fun! The food was good. There was some awkward conversation/questions about Matt and I and what stage we're in. Unexpectedly, there were skits during the reception! I've never really seen skits, even in movies... But they were quite funny. They were performed by the family of the bride and groom and young adult/teenage members of the church. There was a PowerPoint at the end, after everybody had eaten, of the bride's and groom's childhood and adulthood up to when they met. Then their engagement photos! It was very cute. The wedding cake was brought out at the end but Matt and I were already full so we didn't have any...
I didn't get anywhere close to the bouquet when my host sister threw it. It was fun though, seeing them all group around! Aftewards Matt and I went through some errands in Rockford. We also watched Bridesmaid, which was pretty funny, though some humor was highly potty. Kristen Wiig was surprisingly good at portraying an emotional character.
Yeah, three C's right there... If I remember I'll post up some pictures!
I'm watching Robyn performing on SNL Season 37, Episode 9. (Katy Perry hosted.) I saw Robyn live summer 2010. :D