A Foot Of Snow, Non-existent Sidewalks, And Foreigners From Toronto

Wednesday night seemed oddly silent as I lay in bed staring at the stars all around my room in their various constellations, any light from the streets blocked out by a set of blinds and heavy curtains. However sleep did not overcome as I listened as hard as I could for the sound of snow falling. Of course anyone would find this absurd and pointless, but my excitement overruled my sense of logic and there I was hardly able to sleep. The next morning I awoke to find a few texts on my phone saying "SNOW!" and other comments on the weather along with a phone call I'd missed from Daniel. Daniel and I'd discussed our doubts for the snow that had been forecast to come the previous evening over steaming beverages at Starbucks, but with the texts and phone call only about 0.01% of my doubts remained. Calling Daniel back with my mind still groggy from sleep he urged me to look out the window and dragging my zombified body over to the window I peeked out thinking to see only a thin layer of snow dusting the earth. However, such was not the case. A whole foot of snow had blanketed the entire backyard covering the two soccer balls, that had fatefully landed in our yard from the kids across our fence, completely. Snow still swirled about in the air and the grey pavement I could normally see from my window was nowhere to be found. Thank goodness I'd gone grocery shopping on Tuesday. Classes were cancelled, Daniel and I would have an entire snow day to play N64 and play in the snow until we went to the Muppets that evening. My hopes dwindled of having a snow day when I read the buses weren't running and I'd be stuck in my house alone to catch up on homework or chores. An update at the 11:00 brought my hopes up as classes would be cancelled all day and the buses would resume their routes at 1:00. Daniel had other plans however and trekked up the hill with no sidewalks to my house in heavy snow that left him soaking wet. Alas we would have a snow day. The day did consist of N64, shoveling snow/making a snowman and lastly going to The Muppets with Liz and Daniel. Friday came and the snow resumed its position on the side of the roads where plows had thoughtfully pushed it into mountains impassible to pedestrians. Now...I pause here to steal my sister's words..."[Newfoundland] is such an odd little place." I think she summed it up in that simple sentence. One would think they'd be right on the idea of clearing pathways for pedestrians who 1. have to trek through knee high snow in windy, winter conditions and 2. have to brave getting hit by cars on a regular basis. Such does not seem the case. It is now Sunday and pathways are still not cleared and I don't find it uncommon to see pedestrians walking along the side of busy, narrow streets. Thankfully Daniel wrote an email to the city council and maybe this issue will be corrected. Last night was probably one of the best nights I've spent here in NL so far. We decorated the house for Christmas. It started out as productive evening with Angie, Daniel, Liz and I around the kitchen table discussing all sorts of topics, from the plural of Octopus to nicknames of "foreigners". We determined Angie needs a quotes section on my blog and I will be doing my best from here on out to include whatever witty sayings she comes up with on my blog at the end. We then split up, Angie leaving for the library on a funny note, Daniel marking papers, Liz reading and studying and me baking cinnamon buns and cleaning the kitchen/fridge. By the time Angie returned from the library we were all itching to break out the Christmas music, egg nog, light Christmas-y smelling candles and begin decorating with the decorations hidden within our freezing basement. At 12:00 we finished, taking pictures and grinning sleepily at the sight of our transformed living room. Christmas is coming soon and I know I'm excited to head home for the holidays to spend time with family and friends while sipping on some egg nog and eating Christmas treats. The stores are beginning to get busy and it seems like there's a light at the end of the tunnel with classes wrapping up this week. I hope all is well wherever you are reading this and that you too have or will have the joy of spending time with family/friends while decorating your house/a room for the Christmas holidays. I apologize for the lack of humor in my blog as I am exhausted for some reason today. I did want to write a blog for you all though before exams start up and final assignments are being scribbled down. So, now, I present to you (what Angie would like to call): Classic Angie's Quotes -"Okay I got one: if the plural of goose is geese, would the plural of douche be deese? As in "man look at all those deese bags." -Angie: "He's a foreigner." Us: "Where's he from?" Angie: "I donno...Toronto." - "They look good! They don't look like wieners..." (discussing the cinnamon buns in the oven)