Swimagain

Well, it’s that time again. Swim team started up again. I’m so excited for this year. It’s my last year, and we look forward to a good season.

This Old House

The past several months have been swamped by house renovations.

We have started in the living room:

-Painted the walls

-Painting the ceiling

-Ripped up the carpet

-Scraped up the hateful glue on the concrete (currently in the process)

And also worked on the kitchen:

-Painted the walls

-Got new baseboards

-Painted the baseboards

-Got new cabinets

-Painted the cabinets

-Bought and installed a microwave/oven vent

-Bought and installed a dishwasher

-Bought and will install a stove/oven

I must say, this is a tedious, crowding, life-threatening process… *sigh*

The Conclusion – الاستنتاج

The week is coming to it’s end and our group of fellow classmates prepare to depart from our abode on the LSU campus. The month has been an incredible opportunity, learning a new language, meeting friends, and experiencing culture. I think that everyone who came will leave with something more – not less. Whether or not we see each other again, we will continue to hold on to the memories of our time together.

Startalk has provided an experience that combines enjoyment and education to a degree that I (sadly) am hard pressed to find. I would like to, once again, thank them for this opportunity. Though there were various complications along the way, Dr. Hotard and the R.A.s worked diligently to get things straitened out and keep the program running smoothly. They have done an incredible job. I look forward to next year and further Arabic training.

المعرفة قوة (knowledge is power)

May God bless you!
-Jacob

Startalk – summer Arabic program – 2009

As the last week of Startalk begins, I think back in my mind over the language learned, friendships forged and memories made. Though the routine is rigorous, the end result easily justifies the hard work and expended effort.
Every day we spend approximately eight hours in class and one to two hours studying at night. Listening to Arabic for this long tends to solidify the knowledge acquired. In a mere three weeks our group has learned over 750 words/phrases, opening the door to Middle Eastern travel, shopping in Baghdad, and general conversations with others versed in the Arabic language.
Aside from the verbal aspect of Arabic, we have also been taught the visual side of the language. We can now read and write in Arabic! An array of sentences constructed from our knowledge base of words have already found themselves appearing on chalkboards, the back of our hands, page margins, and Church bulletins as we continue to practice our skill.
During the remaining six hours, not claimed by study or sleep, we are either eating at the 459 or hanging out in the Aquarium. The food, though often repetitive, is very good and most definitely filling! We will NOT go hungry. After classes and before studying each night we may find ourselves caught up in an intense game of capture the flag, Ultimate [Frisbee], or killer!
Before I conclude I must mention something good about the R.A.s as they did give me $50. I’m joking – in all seriousness, the R.A.s really are incredible! Aside from their leadership roles they provide entertaining conversations, games and hugs. They truly are a much appreciated part of this program.
It has been an incredible experience for me in more ways than one; I would recommend it to anyone. As a reminder to anyone reading this though, a lot of effort is put forth to provide us with this opportunity and keep everything running smoothly. I would like to thank Dr. Hotard, Startalk, all of the R.A.s, LSU, and anyone else involved in this experience.

شكرا لك

P.S. – Kim told me to say something about Louisiana: crawfish, Tony Chachere’s, gumbo, jambalaya, Tobasco, pelicans, southern hospitality, alligators, and wonderfulness =)

miniMAP ‘08-’09

miniMAP – 2008-2009…. what a long awaited event… It takes a long time to just write out what happened so I’m going to post pictures and tell the story that goes with them. Hopefully that will cover all of my bases. =)

Janee, Ashley, and Katie

My wonderful friends Jenna and Camille who happen to be cousins. =D

Merry Christmas to you!

Wow! What a lot to catch up on! I apologize for the delay in a new post. Well…. what are we waiting for? Let’s begin shall we?

To start, let me say Merry Christmas to you. Here are some photos of my Christmas:

Winter Wonderland

Here in Louisiana it truly is a ‘Winter Wonderland’. It HAS to be, for a couple days ago it was bright and sunny… now it’s SNOWING! I know you northerners have no concept of our feelings right now, but believe me… that white stuff is awesome! We even get up at 5 in the morning to see it!

State Swim Meet

Well, it has finally arrived to the dissapointment of many. Swim team is over for the year. Before I start sounding dreary and bla I’m going to say that we went out with a splash! State meet was absolutely amazing! As you may know from my last post about the City championships, I qualified to state with no time to spare (at all!). Anyways, we left Central High on Friday…

…in the big yellow bus. The bus ride wasn’t exactly as quiet as some would have hoped…

A ’stroke’ of faith

As you may know, I am on the Central High School Swim Team. Our season started back in late September and every 10 days or so we have a swim meet. I’ve been swimming two events all year for my individuals and two relays as well. My individual events are the 100 yard. Breaststroke and the 200 yard. IM. (For those who don’t know, IM stands for individual medley which means I swim 50 yards of every stroke) My relays consist of the 200 medley relay (of which I swim the butterfly leg) and the 400 or 200 freestyle relay.

Two days ago marked the start of City Championships. All of the teams come together for a humungo meet. The preliminary races were on Saturday. The top 16 of all of the swimmers in each event made it to City finals the next day. I ended up making it to the finals in both of my individuals! For my Breaststroke event I ended up placing 11th in the top 16 and in my IM I placed 16th, barely squeezing in there by .3 seconds. Wheeww!

The next day brought some excitement for sure! Finals were held at the Natatorium (The LSU swimming pool). My 200 medley relay was first, bringing with it, chaos! Luckily, it was all soon resolved and the judges accepted our time which happened to be a school record! Also, a personal record for myself. I was swimming the butterfly leg of the relay and swam 50 yards (which is across the pool and back) in 29.7 seconds!

Not quite a Michael Phelps race, but hey, I’m getting there.

Race #2 for me was my IM, which I ended up dropping 2 more seconds, putting my time at 2 minutes and 25 seconds; another personal record. =) My last relay was my third race which was the 200 freestyle relay. I swam 50 yards in 26.2 seconds. This was quite an improvement from last years time which was 27.7 seconds. Finally we come to my last race: 100 yard Breaststroke. This was my most exciting race, seeing as how I was stuck at a 1:15 all season (4 meets in a row) until Saturday (prelims) when I dropped it down to a 1:11 which was approximately 1 second away from the state qualifying time. At finals I dropped some more time, making my record a 1:10.13; this time just happened to be the exact time of the state cut! Talk about a stroke of faith! I couldn’t have made that time without God’s strength! I am so excited!

After the meet, the team drove a couple blocks down to Walk Ons where we visited and ate to our stomachs content. *sigh* what a wonderful day that the Lord has made. =)

 

P.S. – just in case I haven’t told you… I LOVE MY TEAM-MATES! theyprettymuchrock.

Of Dogs and Women

Last Friday, my sister, Josie, happily announced that she wanted a garden. Now, previous gardens suggested were ones planted in old canoos , toilets, bathtubs… you know… the stuff you find in people’s garbage. My dad quickly vetoed those pieces of legislation and Saturday, he went out and got some lumber. He built a small bed for Josie, and delegated the duties of picking up cow ‘presents’ for compost. I, along with Daniel, went out and started to pick up the biodegradable chips. This soon turned into a war of… who can dodge the  best. Anyway, skipping forward a bit to today, I found Josie outside, contently working in her garden.

 

It seems as though she wasn’t the only one diggin in the dirt.