A short but long week...

-An amazing photo that Mum's friend took

Ok so this week was a short week (because of Easter break we had a 5 day weekend!) but I’m still exhausted! On Monday my family and Linda’s friend Mila went vegetable/fruit picking in Waikanae. It was so much fun and we ate so much capsicum and tomatoes and apples! I love going to that farm place! The weather was gorgeous too! Sooo hot! After we picked everything we wanted (there was lots!) we went to the beach. The water was not that cold and I went wading- I really wanted to go swimming but didn’t end up going because I had nothing to change into afterwards. Linda, Mila and I decided to draw on the sand so we ended up covering huge chunks of the beach with our doodles! Afterwards we had a picnic and sat around in the sun sunbathing. I fell asleep, and so did Mum! It felt like we were so far away from home, like on a holiday or something! Time flew by so fast (it always does, when you’re enjoying yourself so much) that before long it was already 4:30pm and time to head back home, where my genetics cue cards were waiting for me. Wahhh! (no, really I love genetics, I was just in a holiday mode that day).

Tuesday I spent studying for my genetics test which was coming up in 2 weeks time. Good old cue cards! On Wednesday classes were back on so I went to my genetics lecture and got my brain fried learning more about quantitative genetics- so many formulas to memorize! I am making a list of all the formulas we need to know and so far I’m up to 24! And we are still going! Yikes!! This so reminds me of first year chemistry where we had to memorize 64 formulas for a topic test! …but it’s really not as terrible as it sounds…really! That day we also got our assignments back, the ones that we had to write about Drosophila. There was room for improvement but it was still good. Whew! One more piece of assessment out of the way!

I didn’t have a biology lab on Thursday. What a relief! I like labs and everything but it’s nice to have a break from them once in a while… I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go in to University that day but then I remembered I had my compulsory media tutorial so I had no choice. Surprisingly enough this tutorial turned out to be quite useful because we discussed our assignment that is due in 3 weeks time, so there was a lot of useful information. In the afternoon I went to Mum’s dance class and then spent the rest of the evening studying genetics and making cue cards.

Friday came. Although it had been a very short academic week I was glad it was Friday. We had covered so much new (mathematical) material in genetics that it was overwhelming! That day we did some more mathematical stuff! More formulas to memorize! I came home feeling completely wiped out. I needed a rest so I watched Disney channel (something I haven’t done since university started for the year 5 weeks ago). Will have to do a lot more study in the weekend! Also have to write my media assignment and work on my lab assignment…but genetics will be my first priority since next week is my final week of the genetics course with a 40% test on Friday. The genetics course runs for 6 weeks (only? Wahhh!!). There is another separate genetics course on human genetics that will run for the final 6 weeks of the trimester, which I’m also taking. Now that I’m taking genetics (real genetics!) I can’t imagine my university studies without it! I think I might go nuts next trimester since there aren’t any more 300 level genetics papers! But I will be taking a paper on evolution so that should be interesting…

(: !!!Happy Easter Everyone!!! :)

Mum's Birthday Party #2

On Saturday Mum had her second birthday party celebration. The guests arrived at 5pm...

Mum's presents... I wonder what's in the big pink box???Read the card first!!

Wow! That's huge!

Open it!

A sewing machine! From all the guests!...

...and a fancy candle holder from Lena and Tony

...Lena M and Alexei wrote Mum a song!

Many toasts were made at dinner......and dancing! Kseniya and meLittle Miss Lola!Mum and I
Sasha and Tony

...chatting...

...lots of dancing...Everybody (Dad is behind the camera!)...Birthday cake time!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

...close your eyes and make a wish...

...cutting the cake...

Happy Birthday Mummy!!!

Dessert time...

...and singing time!

Vladimir played the guitar and we all sang songs- really random Russian ones most of which were from children cartoons!

...before we knew it it was about midnight and the guests began to leave...

Mum and her 'new toy'

...now...how does it work???

...Dad observes...

Lola is curious too!

Final shots of the night
Lena M and Mum

Lena, Alexei, Mum and I

Lena, Alexei and Mum

Lena, Dad and Mum
It had been a great night and we ended up going to bed at about 1am the next morning!
Happy Birthday Mum!

Mum's Birthday Week!!! :)

This week was another exciting week. On Monday the 17th of March was Mum's birthday!!! I was so excited about giving her my present! I got her a cellphone!

Mum with her cell phone! Shortly after she opened it she recieved her first text message- from Margaret, who wished her a Happy Birthday! :)Mum reading my card (written from me in Russian)
with the quote at the front:

"If I have seen further than others,
it is because I have stood
on the
shoulders of giants"

-( Sir Isaac Newton)

...and Dad's card...Dad gave her pearl earrings and necklace in a wooden box...

...that he made himself!

...and a music DVD that he made with photos of Mum! Mum and I cried while watching it...Linda got her essence sticks and bath petals. When we went to dance class that morning Mum's students gave her flowers and cards and a cake!

That day I dreaded coming in to university for my genetics lecture.
On the way I went to New World and got Mum a birthday balloon. Pretty! :)
I had a feeling that we would be getting our test results back and boy was I nervous! But the lecture begun and no test papers were to be seen. I breathed a sigh of relief. That day we began our new topic on Quantitative genetics and I realised just how much I missed good old Allium triquetrum (garden onion) and all those cytotypes that we studied for the past 3 weeks. As the lecture was about to conclude, I heard the words I was dreading to hear the most "...and here I have your test papers for you to collect..." My heart started beating like crazy. I wanted to throw up. Everyone cued up to get their tests. I had no choice...

Well the good news was that I passed. Whew. Not as great as I wanted to though so I was a bit down in the dumps for a while...but then after class my lecturer said I did fine, so huh?

Anyway, my mood was revived by the time I got home (and gave Mum her balloon). While I was at university Mum's friends have been coming around or calling and wishing her a happy birthday... Lots of flowers!

In the evening we made Mum a birthday dinner, with pelimenis (Russian dish) and salads and other really nice foods. Margaret came over, and we had a party! Margaret gave her sparkly gold earrings!

Mum's Birthday PartyThe Birthday Girl and I

Daddy and the Birthday GirlDaddy and The Zoo (aka Lola and Misty)Margaret and MumWe talked and ate... and danced sooo much!!! It was soooo much fun! And the great thing was that all throughout the evening Mum's friends (and relatives) kept ringing her every hour or so to with her a Happy Birthday! ...she even recieved a phone call at 4am the next morning from a friend in Russia! I can't remember the last time I danced so much!

Birthday cake time!!!- Pavlova!

!!!Happy Birthday!!!!...close your eyes and make a wish...The Birthday Girl is looking extremily happy!!!...
The rest of the night we spent talking and dancing and eating cake, and recieving more phone calls......as she cuts the first peice of cake! (blunt side of knife, as it should)

It had been the most amazing night ever!!! By the time we finished partying it was about midnight! What an awesome day it had been!

We spent all week celebrating Mum's birthday! On Tuesday I had a media studies lecture on advertising. Wednesday was genetics, and for the second time my brain was like mush by the time we finished our 2 hour lecture on quantitative genetics. I really really miss our previous topic! Oh well, I'll have the whole Easter break to figure it all out! Thursday was the lab, that seemed to go on for ages!! Media tutorial was dull (tutorials are getting duller and duller, hence why I don't like them much). The rest of the lab seemed to drag on. It was really hot and stuffy, and it was soo hard to concentrate! We (me and my lab partner) ended up pouring the wrong volume of water into one of our RNA samples so it was too dilute. We also broke our agarose gel on which we ran our gDNA sample. Grrr! It was a very frustrating lab!

...but eventually it was 5pm and...time for a long Easter Weekend (!!) and Mum's Birthday Party #2 to look forwards to the next day!!!!! :):):)