reminiscing the motherland

1. Is reminiscing a verb?
2. I passed my teacher tests, whoo hoo! i guess i really AM a genius! ha!
3. 1 week and 2 days left of student teaching...whew, hallelujah, praise the Lord, let me do a little jig! this has been the hardest semester ever! except for maybe when i was in 10th grade and hated everything...ha ha
4. curses on golddigger...my kids love to sing that, especially the jamie foxx part and let me just tell you, that dang song gets in your head and NEVER leaves
5. it's finally cold - which is all fine and good because i like winter clothes (not winter, just the clothes) - except that my teacher still keeps the room at -50 degrees and so i am so stinking cold by the end of the school day that it takes a good hour of slippers and hot tea and blankets and books about fire-breathing dragons before i warm up! (not that any of those things are bad, i do in fact thoroughly enjoy them)
6. I'm finally realizing that i am moving in a mere month...and that is kind of weird...and sad
7. it WILL be nice to live near mountains again though!
8. God has already begun to provide $ for Africa and I am amazed, stunned, overwhelmed, near tears every time i think of it
9. I am lonely for the motherland (that would be costa rica) lately (hence the title) ... the other day i saw some comercial that had a jeep (or some kind of car like that) driving along a beautiful beach that had a jungle-y background and thought "oh, that looks like home!" and then realized a second later, "wait just one minute, that doesn't look anything like home" (as i am from new mexico, which is wonderful and beautiful (really, don't push me, i'll throw things at anybody who says new mexico is the ugliest place on the earth, just try it), though sadly lacking in both beaches and jungles) I don't know if it's strange that i get homesick for costa rica...i did only live there 4 short months...but i loved it so and i'd love to return someday... At any rate, it was pretty weird to find myself legitimately thinking that a beach-n-jungle scene looked like 'home.'
10. that's all i have for now...this week's top ten...if you will