Austin, TX

With my favorite Nepali girls, Yeshoda and Neha (well, besides Prava.) New UT hat! 
Austin, TX. Doing the Longhornes symbol (for University of TX sports)

For the time being, I'm staying in the host family homes with Maria (on left) and Zurufah (on right.) They are entertaining and precious. 

University of Texas (their famous tower building.) 

"Antie Prava" with Zurufaha. Austin, TX

The beautiful capitol building in Austin, TX

Hi everyone, I hope you all are having a wonderful day. It’s a rainy, cozy day in Texas (and humid!! It definitely doesn’t feel like Ocotber. I’m still wearing shorts and flip flops.)

Last weekend was spent in San Antonio, and it was a very long two days—due to the interesting family I stayed with. I felt like I was living in a zoo; they own 13 animals, and they all live indoors. I had to sleep in a room with snakes (snakes give me the heebiejeebies whenever I look at them. Cages don’t comfort me; snakes can escape!) They had 5 snakes, 3 dogs, and 5 cats (I found out I’m more allergic to cats than I thought :/ ) Finding cat fur on my bath towel, in the bathroom, on the floor, on the couch, etc made me shiver. Does anyone else find animal hair disgusting (Amy, I think Zach would have died ;)

So after escaping that situation, I was incredibly happy when we arrived in Austin, Texas, on Sunday evening. I stayed with Zurufah and Maria in the home of a sweet older couple who outdid themselves in order to make us feel welcome.  

Yesterday they took us into downtown Austin which was a treat. We watched the Grand Canyon movie at the Imax theater—in 3D. I loved it, but poor Zurufah was gripping on to me the entire time. She didn’t enjoy the 3D effects.
Next, we saw the gorgeous capitol building and then drove around the University of Texas campus. One word to describe it: massive. Quite unlike Liberty’s campus...it was like a town within the town. 70,000 students attend the University.

I’m officially a bandwagon jumper. I now have a new, lovely burnt orange baseball hat—for the UT Longhorns (the number one college football team in the nation, after beating Oklahoma last weekend.) So I think I’ll make friends quickly with other Texans in the next few weeks ;) haha

We’re on the bus, about to arrive in McKinney, TX which is near Dallas. The kids will be singing at a conference in Dallas over the weekend, which means we’ll be at a hotel (they are incredibly excited whenever they can swim!)