I Got a Hero for Christmas

Merry Christmas, all! (even though I'm a day late -- the wishes are warm all the same)
So it's been snowing here. A lot. Like 4 or 5 inches every other day...so the layer of ice and snow that stays on the sidewalks from December to February has arrived. We've also had some interesting geological activity - as I was preparing my 8th graders for the Rudolph skit they will perform tomorrow for the school holiday program, we had a smallish but definitely noticable earthquake. The kids immediately poured into the hallways, to get outside in case the building started falling apart (an occurance that isn't all that unlikely -- last year, a friend of mine had to change sites after his house was made unliveable by a quake). Anyway, my kids and I emerged unscathed from the earthquake...

All the snow has made weather the conversational topic of choice once again. During dinner a few nights ago, my host sister told me that my littlest host sister -- Nazik, who's nearly 2 now -- was born during a snowstorm. She then proceeded to tell me that during the storm (and, therefore, during her labor), the electricity in the hospital went off. FOR 4 HOURS. True to her character, though, she didn't complain about it at all -- just said, after seeing my horror-stricken face, "Oh, it was ok...I mean, it was still warm inside." Talk about a badass.

Happy Holidays everyone -- hope the new year finds you healthy and happy! I know that I'm pretty excited for 2008, as I'll be spending the first two weeks of it in India.
Terri