Finally!

Well, I'm off tomorrow to start my big adventure. Victoria then Regina, then Victoria, Port Alberni, Victoria, Vancouver, then to Dawson Creek! All between tomorrow morning and the 22nd of July!

Needless to say, I won't be blogging for a while, but look forward to lots of it once I'm settled in DC and bored while Mike is off saving the world. Haha.

Well, I can't believe how fast the time has gone now that it's time to see Mike again. I'm really excited and am still in packing/phone calling/cleaning mode to get myself and my car ready for the trip. I sure hope that I can fit everything that I have in my car!

In case anyone needs to get a hold of me, send me an email sabrinalheureux@gmail.com or call me while I am away, you'll have to call my cell number 208-4918.

Off to the prairies....

Going away in 4 days!

Well, I accomplished a lot of stuff today. Went to the bank, the post office, organized two going away parties for when Mike and I come to the island before we move. One is with our family in Port Alberni on the 18th, and the other is in Victoria on the 19th. So, if you happen to be in or around Victoria on the 19th of July (our anniversary) and want to come to a potluck picnic at Beacon Hill Park around 6pm just let me know!

Also, in other good news, I found us a for sure place to live in Dawson Creek. It's a two bedroom apartment and it has in-suite laundry, so I'm really excited about that. We can move in as soon as we get there if we want, on the 22nd. But, I'm hoping to stop in Barkerville for the night on the way there, and stay in a bed and breakfast.

I can't believe how fast the past two months have gone, it's just crazy. I have such a long list of things to do now and only two more days to do them in, and then I go to Victoria, and then to Regina. Hopefully my plane will get there on time--I can't wait to meet Mike in the airport. It's so much more exciting this time, because last time I was by myself and just had to take a cab. But, we're not sure yet if he can pick me up in his serge or not. I dont' know whether I want him to or not, since if he's in his serge I can't hug him or anything. No PDA's while in uniform!

Well, let's hope I can manage to get some sleep in the next few days and not just be so excited I'm up all night!

"The great orange towers of the Golden Gate bridge jutted through the fogbank like carrots from the faces of sleeping conjoined twin snowmen"

(A quote from a very good book I am currently reading)

So, I didn't get the job I applied for, which is too bad, because after subbing elementary today, I was actually getting excited about it. However, they did offer me a very small contract, teaching every friday in a grade one french immersion class. I knew I kept getting called for grade one for a reason! So, I've applied for it and asked to be on the sub list for monday to thursday, so at least I'll be guaranteed one day a week, and who knows, it could turn into more work!

Mike and I also found out that we'll be getting reimbursed for all of our moving expenses, including the move to storage, which I was unsure of. So, yeah for that! Plus, they will pay for us to stay in a hotel until we find a place to live for August first. I love the RCMP! I secretly am considering applying myself.

I'm very tired right now though, but excited for my girls night tomorrow with Jenn, Melissa and Theresa at a hotel! Yeah! But, I'm tired from Friday night, when I did the walk for life relay in Port Alberni. It was a 12 hour walk for cancer. We raised over 119 thousand dollars, and our team "Walking for Udders" in honour of Mike's mom, won the team spirit contest. We all had matching cow costumes and pyjamas for the pj lap. It was a lot of fun, in fact it was the most fun I've had staying up all night, even though it poured rain for a lot of it, and I was absolutely exhausted!

Well, that's all the news for now. I'm heading to Regina in less than 2 weeks now, and then Mike and I will be leaving for Dawson Creek on July 21st! We will have two days to drive there, and I plan on staying in a nice hotel paid for by the RCMP :)

So, that's what's exciting right now...let's hope it gets warm by next week so I can at least have one swim in Sproat Lake before I leave...pleease

Oh, and by the way, I'm reading a book right now called a Dirty Job, which is absolutely hilarious. You must read it--Here's a quote:

"So I am death." Charlie said as he tried to construct a tuna-fish sandwich. "Daddy is Death sweetie." He checked the toast, not trusting the pop-up mechanism because the toaster people sometimes just liked to fuck with you.

You have to read it to understand just how funny and well-written it is. Thanks Dad for the book!

going crazy

I am going crazy with nervousness right now because I was supposed to get a phone call today from the Vice Principal at the Dawson Creek school I applied at and they were supposed to call an hour ago, but never did! I don't know if they forgot, or decided to hire someone else, or what, but I've been sooo nervous about it all day because I was supposed to do it in French and I was afraid I'd make a fool of myself, and then they never called! Argg...I secretly didn't want to talk, but I do want a job, so I knew I had to do it...

So, I'm busying myself with little games. Try typing in "your name" needs on google and then post the first five responses:

They are actually pretty crazy...

1.Sabrina needs her faith more than ever to help her make a decision (wow, weird as I am trying to decide about a job)
2. Sabrina needs someone to embrace her activity level (been going to the gym every day)
3. Sabrina needs 3kg of fresh red meat per day (haha)
4. Sabrina needs work (true)
5. Sabrina needs her beer to golf (not quite true as I hate beer)

Post your own if you get the time...

19 more days...

What's new? Hmm...not much unfortunately. I've been working fairly steadily, got called in to the high school finally for two days last week and taught French for a couple of days. It was fun, i saw a lot of my old teachers and got to hang out with high school kids, which is nice because they aren't putting up their hands to tell you they're tooth is wiggly.

The weekend was uneventful. Had a nice dinner out with my mom and watched a lot of movies. The weather just really sucks. I'm so glad I had that summer holiday in California, because it might be the only hot relaxing by the water week I get all summer. I think I might miss it in Port and then arrive in time for the frost in Dawson Creek.

I've been going to the gym a lot though, which is great. I'm trying to look good for Mike's grad. I actually like lifting weights on the circuit training machines, I just find the treadmill boring, and running on pavement makes my hip and shins too sore. Hopefully I'll find some nice trails in Dawson Creek.

This week is the relay for life, though, so that should be fun on Friday evening. Anyone want to donate some money for me to walk for 12 hours, let me know! I haven't really had time for the fundraising as most of it was done while I was still on my practicum, so I'm feeling like I should actually do something now.

Well, let's hope for some sunshine soon.

Only 19 more days and I'll be in Regina!

Lots of visits and pics of Dawson Creek

Here are some pics of Dawson Creek!

So, I have officially graduated twice now and am a real teacher! (will post the pics once Jessie sends them to me) Yeah! I even have my actual teaching certificate and education degree to prove it! This is good news, because I just applied for a job in Dawson Creek. It's a .60 posting at an elementary school, which means it's only three days a week. One day in an intermediate french class, one teaching technology and one teaching immersion kindergarten. It's not high school, but it would be a good start for me I think, and would guarantee that I have something to do in Dawson Creek, as I know Mike will be super busy. However, he was told that he'd be working 4 days on 4 days off, which will be nice, because even though he'll be very busy while he's working, at least we'll have some time off together every week.

I've just said good-bye to my friend Myana, who was here visiting since Monday. It's so nice to have friends come and visit me, and I'm looking forward to seeing Jenn again in two weeks and to the girls night that we are planning. I'm so excited! And, in only 24 more sleeps, I will be going to Regina to see Mike! I almost can't believe that it's finally time for us to move and start our careers and live in the same place again! I'm really looking forward to it though. I think it's going to be a fun adventure.

I'm also excited because I just saw the new Harry Potter movie preview with Myana, (we went to see Shrek the 3rd) and I also just watched a preview for the movie The Golden Compass, which is based on one of my favourite books by Phillip Pullman. If you haven't read it, you should before December when the movie comes out. The preview looks really good too, they have Nicole Kidman playing Mrs Coulter, the villain, and I think she actually fits the character perfectly. Daniel Craig (007) is also in it. Speaking of books, Myana and I went bookstore shopping while she was here, since there isn't any other type of shopping you can really do. We went to the two usuals on Johnston, but we also discovered two stores that I've never been in that were just lovely. One called Queen Bee and the other is called Literati books. The latter is a cute little second hand shop with very nice used books and the Queen Bee has a lot of fantasy type stuff and fairies hanging from the ceiling, and the lady that works there gives you a tarot card instead of a bookmark.

So, it was a fun few days, although we would have liked to go to the beach for a swim. The weather has been pretty crappy and cold though, so I hope it warms up before I have to leave! i need to have a few swim days in Sproat Lake before I move to the cold north!

If you want to watch a video of Dawson Creek, click on http://www.tourismdawsoncreek.com/videos/

Hope to see many of you before I move away (Keep July 19th open in Victoria for a possible going away/welcome back Mike party! Also, it's our anniversary that day!

Moving to Dawson Creek

This past week has brought a lot of exciting events. On wednesday, I graduated for the second time with my Bed. from Uvic. The ceremony was nice and they said my name right this time! I got some nice pics taken, which I will post as soon as my friend Jessie sends them my way.

The other exciting news I wanted to quickly post is that I just found out that Mike's posting is in Dawson Creek, BC. So, we are very excited and looking forward to starting our new careers there.

I will post some more about Dawson Creek later, but if you don't know where that is, it's in Northern BC, almost on the alberta border. It's a small town of about 11 000, but it has plenty of stuff to do and schools for me to teach at. So, I'm hoping that we will like it there! And, we may even be able to buy a house sooner than we thought!

Music teacher

As I mentioned before, I spent this week subbing for the music teacher at Alberni Elementary. It was fun, although I didn't study music education, so I basically watched singa longs and musicals all week. Unfortunately, I had to watch the same ones over and over again with each class. But, thankfully, tomorrow is the last time I'll have to listen to "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" !

My sister and Billy sent some pictures on a CD of their drive across Canada, and so I was able to see some pictures of my hubby for the first time since January since they stopped in Regina and saw him. He is supposed to be sending me some pictures soon, but I'm still waiting! They aren't the best ( a little blurry) and he'd just shaved his head for cops for cancer, but here they are. There is also a picture of me and Megan before she left.

I can't wait to go to Regina. I just booked my hotel and my hostel while I am there. I leave in 37 more sleeps! And, I've been informed today that Mike should know where he is being posted next week some time. The people from Saskatchewan just found out, so he should be coming up soon. I can't wait. Hopefully it will be soon enough to apply for teaching jobs for next year. I've also become obsessed with looking at houses and condos on mls.ca and choosing random cities, so it would be nice to know which one I should actually be procrastinating on!

Before I go back to being bored, I must share a funny story about my niece Jenna, who just turned four. She's very proud of her uncle Mike becoming a cop in Regina, but unfortunately, sometimes words are easily mixed up, as her daycare lady discovered. A few weeks ago, while Jenna was at daycare, there were some helicopters flying above the house. The boys were all outside shouting "look, copters". Jenna, thinking that copters must mean cops, as in police officers, confidently tells her daycare lady that she knows where copters come from. The lady asks, where?

And, Jenna replies, thinking fondly of uncle mike, "copters come from vagina!"

The lady wasn't sure what she meant by this, but Jenna explained that her Uncle Mike was going to be a cop and he lived in vagina. Melissa told me this on the weekend and I just about peed my pants laughing. Although, I must admit that even my grade ten kids giggled when I said my husband was in Regina. Okay, okay, vagina is a funny word. I'll admit it. But much funnier from a 4 year old proudly bragging about her uncle mike coming from there. Although, of course, he did at one point.

Anyways, that's my story for the day. Back to "Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban". Exciting is the life I lead.

Amanda visits and Kindergarten all in one week

I am now back in Port Alberni again, after visiting my Dad in Vancouver for 2 days last weekend. It was a lot of fun, and I finally found a dress to wear to Mike's grad in Regina. (I'll be there on July 7th). I also had to say good bye to my sister Megan and Billy as they headed off to Ottawa. I am informed that they arrived on Wednesday without having thrown each other into Lake Superior--way to go guys! Hopefully they will find a nice place to live.

This week was nice and relaxing, but busy at the same time. On Monday morning, Amanda (from Ontario) met me at my Dad's house in Vancouver. We went out for breakfast and then took the bus together to the ferry, and then the ferry to Nanaimo. I was lucky enough to be able to hog her for 4 whole days of her 2 week visit, and we had a lot of fun in PA together. On Tuesday, it was a beautiful day so we went to the Harbour Quay for a walk and some donuts from the Donut Shop. Then, we checked out some book stores, and saw that yes indeed, the guy with the really blue eyes still works there. That evening, we had dinner at Batstar, a short walk from my house, and then watched Dreamgirls, which, we decided had way too much singing.

I got asked to teach kindergarten all week, so I taught from 9-12 each morning, and then we hung out afterwards. On Wednesday, the weather wasn't as nice, so we drove up to Parksville to go mini golfing (neither of us are meant to be pro golfers) and then walked the beach, stopped for ice cream at Whiskey Creek, and took a stroll through Cathedral Grove.

Yesterday was the hottest day I've seen since California, so we went to the lake for a picnic. It was hot enough to tan in a bathing suit, but the water was still like ice, so we didn't swim. Then, last night we went to see the Pirates of the Caribbean . I couldn't believe that it actually started on opening night in Port Alberni! Usually we have to wait a few weeks to get the movies here. And, alas, now Amanda is on the bus on her way back to Victoria. We had a goodbye breakfast this morning before I went to work, and then I drove over to the bus stop to say good bye. Amanda, it was lovely having you here and I can't wait for our next visit! Have fun in Victoria with everyone!

I would post some of the dozens of pictures of the week, but I'll have to wait until Amanda sends me them since they are on her camera!

Hope all is well...stay tuned for next week when I get to teach music and a grade 3/4 split class!

Oh, and some recent news from Mike--no word on the city yet but his troupe has finally earned their "blues" today, which means that they get to wear the blue pants with the stripes now, after about 6 or 7 weeks of trying. So, congrats to troupe 46!

Where are we going?

Well, it's not the North west territories, although mike scared me by asking about whether I knew how to build an igloo, did I like husky dogs, and other questions, and then after 10 mionutes of torturing me with questions and making me think we were going to various provinces in Canada, finally told me that we are staying in BC! Yeah! So, now we are sending in a list of 15 possible detachments where we might want to go and hopefully they will actually choose one of them. At the top of our list are areas in the interior, okanagan, and southeast part of BC, as well as some lower mainland detachments like Hope and Chiliwack. We shall soon see!
(well, in about 4 weeks at the most....) So, it's another waiting game for a little while!

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for somewhere not too tiny or up north...

Adventures in Regina and California

Pictures from California...

Here are me and Bronson at Huntington...he liked to play with the locket Mike gave me...

Bronson in his cute new outfit Jenn and I found at Gymboree...plaid just like Dad

And, here we are at Venice Beach...Bronson liked to eat the sand...

I am now in Port Alberni and have some excellent news...I just returned from the school board office and my meeting with my old principal Greg Smyth, who is now doing hiring for the district. He told me that I am definitely on the TOC list and that I could get a full time french position possibly for September. The only unfortunate thing is that I still don't know where Mike is going to be posted and I don't want to accept a position and then let them down.

My trip to California was amazing, it was so nice to relaz and suntan and read a really good book (Inkspell, the sequel to Inkhear--very good books). I also had a lot of fun visiting with Matt and Jenn, playing Niagara finally, and playing with baby Bronson every morning so that Matthew could have a shower and Jenn could get some more sleep.

Pasadena is a beautiful warm place. The university is just gorgeous, I couldn't believe how nice the campus was. Even the water fountain has coloured tiles behind it. There is a turtle pond, and roses and gardens and courtyards to sit in, and the buildings have amazing architecture. We also went to Huntington gardens one day, visited the pool three times at Caltech, which was loveley, nice and cool, with the mountains and palm trees in the background, and went in to Santa Monica to go to Venice Beach on the Thursday. The beach was nice and warm and I even saw some dolphins swimming by. We did some shopping of course in Old Town and some other places and I got a few nice things. We also went for dinner in Little Ethiopia and lunch at Caltech where we got to sit and watch a free concert. It was a lot of fun, and a perfect way to end my 6 years of school. I even saw a celebrity on my plane ride back from Burbank to san Fransisco. I kept looking at this woman that looked just like Jessica Alba, and was trying really hard to hide (big sunglasses, scarf, long sleeves when it was 30 degrees out) and she had a woman following her around carrying her stuff who was obviously her assisstant. Then, I heard a guy talking about how hot she was and how she was on the cover of Mazim, and I figured that I must have been right. Mike was pretty jealous when I told him. Ah, hollywood. Can't wait to go back and go to Disneyland next time!

It's hard to believe that I am no longer a student. I graduated once last year, but I knew that I was going back to school, so this time it feels very strange as I am actually finished this time! No more working for free!

I'm hoping that I get called this week for tocing--it would be great as I really need the money to pay for the move until I get reimbursed from the RCMP.

Well, here are some of my pictures...actually, they are above, because I can't figure out how to move them to the bottom...sometimes I am still blogger challenged...and apparently i can't turn them the right way either...any tips on putting pics on blogs? I usually don't do photos, so I could use a tutor...for instance, how do you move pics around, and delete them once they are there?

Above, you see the turtle pond at Caltech, the auditorium with the mountains in the background, me and bronson at Huntington, the Japanese gardens at Huntington, Bronson in his cute new outfit, and then some pics of us at Venice Beach. There you go!

In other news, Mike is doing well in Regina and will find out on Friday what province he will be posted too...so keep your fingers crossed for BC or PEI! Also, I got a great seat sale and have booked my flight to Regina leaving July 7th and returning to Victoria on july 17th...which means Jenn and Matthew and Bronson, that Mike and I will be able to visit with you that weekend!

Well, off to do something, not sure what though, I'm jobless and not a student...weird feeling, but it's sunny and warm here so maybe I'll go and read!

I'm back

So, I realize that it's been a long time since I've been in the blogger world, but I am now officially finished school for good. No more practicum, no more classes. I have now stopped working for free.

And, I'm on holidays. In california!

A lot has happened since I last posted and here are some higlights:

I went to visit Mike in Regina, after 10 long weeks of missing him. It was an awesome weekend, and it was really cool to see where he lives and goes to school and to meet some of his friends and troupemates. I even got to get fingerprinted. He's doing really well there too, and I can't wait to go back for his graduation in July.

Then, I worked really hard packing and cleaning and marking for a month straight and moved out of my apartment on April 30th, thanks to a lot of help from my mom with the cleaning. I stayed with my friends Sarah and Fraser for the last week of school and then I had an awesome last evening on the 4th, which included a picnic in Beacon hill park with my friends and then dessert and a game at the Medds house, who drove me to the airport at 4 in the morning for my flight. Thanks!

It was hard saying goodbye to everyone, but I know i'll be back to visit. Also, I'm just so excited for this part of my life. I'm done school and mike is nearly done, and I have nothing to worry about for the rest of the summer...I can relax, hopefully toc in PA and read lots of good books!

My students and soul cafe girls were so sweet when I left-thanks for the flowers and cards and presents!

And, now I am enjoying the 30 degree weather here in Pasadena. I'm visiting Jenn and Matthew and baby Bronson, who is a lot of fun. On my first day, we went out to a pottery painting place. Then we went shopping yesterday and I bought a dress and a book. Last nnight we drove in to LA and I saw the hollywood sing for the first time. We then went in to Little ethiopia for dinner. It was my first time eating ethiopian--it was delicious.

Well, today is the pool day....more about my california adventure soon!

Spring Break

Well, a lot has happened this month, some of it good, some of it bad.

On the bright side, next week is spring break and I'm heading home on the monday for a few days. It will be nice to relax, although I also have to plan two new units for French and English. Plus, I have to mark the Macbeth assignments they've been handing in all week, although I will admit that I'm actually having fun with that since they are very creative so far. I've gotten poems about Lady Macbeth, volunteers to perform soliloquy's for the class, and newspaper articles from the "Castle Times". I'm having a lot of fun teaching English, and I can't believe how fast time is going. It's the only time in my life that I am going to want time to go by quickly, other than, maybe, during labor or a dentist appointment.

I'm also going to be visiting Mike in 24 days, and then in May am heading off to California for a week to visit Jenn! Yeah for big income tax returns!

On the sad side, as I've told many of you already, Mike's Grandpa (Dave's Dad) died on February 28th, of a massive heartattack. He was found that day by Mike's Grandma. I went to the funeral on Saturday, which was nice, but very sad, especially because Mike couldn't be there since he's in Regina. It's hard to have bad things and family emergencies happening when Mike is away. His mom also is fighting breast cancer right now, and although things are looking good, since she had a lumpectomy to have all the cancer removed and there is no sign of it in her lymph nodes, she is also going to have radiation in Victoria sometime. So, let's hope that everything goes well for her and that the cancer doesn't spread.

One cool thing though, is that Melissa (Mike's sister) has organized a team out of family in Port to run in the relay for life in Port Alberni in June, so we will be doing fundraisers and all sorts of things for our team to raise money for cancer.

I've also been dying to do some writing lately. I can't believe how long I've gone without really writing. I mean, I've done some, but not nearly enough. I went to a reading recently though, which was a lot of fun, and I am planning on going another night too, and actually reading a poem myself.

So, that's what's new in my life. 6 weeks left of practicum, 3 1/2 weeks until I get to see my hubby! Let's hope the plane gets me there on time for my visit!

The groundhog was wrong

Okay, so as far as I heard, there wasn't supposed to be 6 more weeks of winter. But, today on my way home from Oak Bay, it was snowing like crazy and blowing my car over the wind was so strong.

My practicum is getting better, and I'm finally able to control my difficult French classes. My supervisor came today and said I was doing really well. There are only 36 days now until I get to go and visit Mike, so I'm really excited. There is also only 2 and a half weeks until spring break, which is great. I get nine days off to relax a little and do some planning. I'll probably go and visit my mom in Port Alberni too.

I can't believe that I'm leaving Victoria in only 2 months. I'm very excited but at the same time sad to leave all the friends that are still here. I'm especially sad to leave my church, because it really is like my family. But, the idea of not knowing where we will be moving or what people we will meet there is very exciting. I've never lived anywhere other than Victoria for school, so it will be a whole new experience to move somewhere new and be looking for a job. I can't wait to find out where we will be going!

Well, I am off to see a movie tonight with some girlfriend, as long as they aren't all still sick. Everyone is sick here, except me so far, thanks to a lot of ginseng and Vitamin C. Here's to 36 more days!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Haven't posted in a long while. Just wanted to say I'm still alive, but just barely. Practicum is taking up all my time, and missing Mike is taking up the rest. He's now been gone three weeks almost, and I'm counting down the days until I go to visit him, which is exactly 50. Will try to post more often now, but I currently am part of 6 blogs. Yes, 6. Sounds crazy I know. But I've got one for my Macbeth class, so that is keeping me busy. Anyways, not much else is new. Just lesson planning and talking to Mike. Although I do have a new roommate to keep me company--my friend Elissa is staying with me for a while. So, all is good. Must go, as I am on my way to a Valentine's day dinner with a friend who is also missing her husband on Valentine's Day.

Success!

Wow, blogger actually let me sign in to my own blog today! That's a first, as I've been trying to post my exciting new for a while now. On Friday afternoon, while Mike was in Port Alberni visiting his mom, he got the call we've been waiting for from the RCMP, and it turns out that he will be starting his training on Monday the 29th of January. He will fly out some time on Sunday, but won't know the specific time until a meeting with the Recruiter on Thursday. We're very excited and I am so happy that he finally gets to do what he's been waiting years for. I'm really going to miss him, but hopefully the time will go by quickly and I will make it through my practicum alive!

We are now madly rushing around trying to prepare everything for him and I've also given him a list of the things I need him to do before he leaves, since I get the daunting task of moving out of our apartment by myself--yikes.

So, we spent two hours at the mall today and ended up finding him another pair of dress pants, three ties, two dress shirts, some black dress shoes and thanks to my shopping skills, a reversable belt. yes, it's black on one side and brown on the other. So, he has most of the things he needs, but there are still a few more stops to make. It should be a very busy week in the L'Heureux household!

And, don't be surprised if my blog becomes slightly more depressing once Mike is gone, and feel free to come and visit me often!

Blogger frustrations...

Does anyone know how the new blogger thing works? Why do they have to go and change things just when I finally figure them out? My other blog with my practicum is in the new account and I can't seem to sign in even though I created an account yesterday. I really hate it when they update things and make everything more confusing--it's just like what they did with hotmail.

In other news, I've been trying to remember to post this for a long time now, but I found out some good news about my church. On Christmas eve, we decided to take an offering since it was a Sunday, and all four services' offerings would be sent to an orphanage in Kenya that one of our missionary couples works at. Well, it turns out that we managed to raise 33, 500 $ in one day! I think that's so amazing, so now the orphanage can purchase the land they wanted to use for farming for food and money for the orphanage. It just shows what a difference one group of people can make at Christmastime.

I'd write more about how my practicum is going, but if you are interested, you can always read the practicum blog some of my friends started (the one I haven't been able to log in to successfully). It's quite funny: www.shmacticum.blogspot.com Check it out for all of our teaching adventures!

G'night!

First week

Well, I'm finished my first week of practicum and very happy that it is the weekend. I went to bed before 11 last night and it was Friday! That's how tired I was. And, I slept in until nearly 10. I'm not a fan of getting up at 630 to drive Mike to work so that I can take the car and be at the school before 8:30. But, hopefully I'll get used to the early rising soon.

The week went pretty well I think. I got two keys and a room with a desk in it to do work and keep my stuff. I also got to teach a few surprise lessons since the snow kept my teacher from being on time two days in a row. It was okay though since they were just writing a test. I'm looking forward to actually doing the teaching myself, although I'm not enjoying all of the planning. Right now I'm about 1 act into making notes on Macbeth, and I'm thinking it's going to be hard to get my grade 11 classes to enjoy it. They seem kind of lazy so far. Hmm. I'm going to start a blog for them though for discussion of Macbeth rather than having them write boring scene questions like we had to do in high school.

Today is Mike's last day of work at Tim Hortons, which is awesome. I'm looking forward to spending some more time with him until he leaves for Regina. I think we are going to go out for dinner tonight to celebrate since we got a gift certificate from my sister to go for dinner at Moxie's. Yum. Bellini.

Hmm, what else is new? I still haven't taken down the Christmas decorations, although that is my goal for this weekend now that I have some more time. I'm trying to get organized before I actually start to teach. Also, since Elissa is coming to stay with me soon, I want my house to be clean.

Last night Megan and Billy came over to visit since they were in Victoria for the day. We played a board game that we got for Christmas called Artifact. It was pretty fun, although I messed up the rules. Afterwards I went to the mall with them and got a really warm tuque that I am planning on wearing in Regina, although right now it's cold enough in Victoria to need it. When will our crazy weather end in Victoria? It sure felt like Saskatchewan the other day with the frozen snow and the incredibly blue sky--quite beautiful actually.

Well, since I have nothing interesting to share, I think I will go do some reading!
Happy weekending

Back to high school

Well, today is officially my last day of freedom before I start at Oak Bay High School until may. And, I accidentally slept in until 1030. I woke up around 9 and meant to get up, but then somehow managed to fall back asleep. Must have been tired.

My holidays have been great though, when I really think about it. Went over to Sarah and Fraser's last night for a game. We played Cleopatra and I kicked their butts. Yeah! I never win games unless it's the first time I've ever played them--and then it's usually a fluke because I really don't know how to play yet.

I still have to take down the Christmas decorations. I'm trying to think of an excuse to keep them up a little longer, but I should really do it before I get too busy with lesson planning. I read over my first French unit this morning and already have lots of ideas, so that's good. It's a unit on inventions, and I think I'm going to make them create their own invention out of old recyclable materials and things they can find for free. Makes me think of mine and Jenn's first invention--the flying machine. Can't remember what worked better--the helium balloons or the coat hangers with shirts for wings?

Still wish I could fly. What I wouldn't give for a firebolt 2000. Okay, I just read the 5th Harry Potter book. It was actually the first one I read, can you believe it? They are very good. I need to get the 6th one now. Hopefully JK will write another soon.

Speaking of writers, check out this post that my favourite author put on her book blog. Sad but true for all you fellow writers out there. What can we do but have two jobs? (teacher as writer or writer as teacher?)

Buon Natale and Happy New Year!

Well, this is my long overdue Christmas post. I'm home now and just had a great New Year's nap. Even though Mike was also taking a nap on the couch, which means that I squashed myself into the love seat. Still a good nap though.

Last night was a very mellow New Year's. Mike and I went to Sarah and Fraser's house to play some games and eat food. We did do a dutch tradition that I recently heard about called Olie Bolen, (sp?) which involves deap frying small balls of dough and then dusting them with icing sugar on a platter and sharing them with friends before midnight. Oh, and eating A LOT of olie bolen. Today my pants smelled of olie bolen (similar to the smell you get when you make french fries). It was a lot of fun though and I enjoyed being the traitor (once again) when we played Shadows over Camelot.

Christmas was an exciting adventure as well. We went to Port Alberni on the 23rd and Mike went to play hockey while I visited with my mom and sisters. Then, we went to Ashley's house for an early birthday party since her birthday is on Christmas day.

On Christmas eve we had famlily portraits taken with Mike's family, then went to see The Nativity Story. It was good but Mike kept falling asleep near the end and I had to elbow him a few times. Afterwards we went to Mike's Dad's place to have our Christmas with them. We opened present and had a big fondue for dinner. It was very yummy.

We then spent the night at my mom's house and had Christmas morning at her house. My little sister woke us up at 7:19 am and we got up to open our stockings and presents and then my mom made us waffles with strawberries (our Christmas morning tradition). This year she made so many that I froze the extras and ate them throughout the week. Very yummy.

At lunch time we went to Mom #2's house to open gifts and see Mike's sister and our nieces, then to the nursing home to visit Mike's grandma, then my nonna and nonno. Christmas is always a busy day for us since we have 7 parents between the two of us!

For dinner we went to Mike's sister's house and ate a delicious turkey dinner and cranberry stuffing. We played a game and then since we were so tired we decided not to spend the night (the nieces are tiring after a while and require a lot of energy). So, we made it back to my mom's in time to catch the end of her Christmas dinner and visit with the Italian side of my family. For those of you who don't know, this is the side which includes Crazy Uncle Bruno. They are also the side that always gives cash and since me and my sister's are the only "kids" in the family, we tend to get spoiled. Hence the fact that I've been shopping every day for the last three days....
It was nice to see them quickly before they went home though, since nearly every Christmas I wonder if it will be my nonno's last. He will be 95 this year, so he's getting very old and is just starting to lose a bit of his memory. As my nonna puts it, "nonno repeats a lot". (In Italian accent). I always enjoy visiting my nonna though, it usually gives me some new little tidbits about her very exciting life before she came to Canada and more ideas for my novel about her life and the many poems I have already written. This time, she told me about how when she and her family fled Ethiopia to go back to Italy, she had to leave everything behind in their house. She remembers, 67 years later, every memento from her wedding that she lost. Her Dad hid them in the attic in a box--her high school diploma included. She still has a beatutiful black and white photo of the two of them on their wedding day though, with lips and cheeks tinted pink.

So, Christmas was lovely as usual. Enjoyed the build up, the lights, seeing family, and thinking about the true story of Christmas.

Then, on Boxing day the craziness began. We were awoken with 2 phone calls. The first informing us that Mike's mom, who hadn't been feeling well since Christmas eve, was in the hospital and possibly having her appendix removed. The second, informing me and my sisters that my Dad (who worked Christmas night in Vancouver General hospital) was now a patient in the hospital and they believed he had the Norwalk virus. So, he couldn't come to Port as planned for the boxing day dinner we were having with him. It sucked because we were really looking forward to it. But, we tried not to let the bad news ruin the relaxing boxing day we had planned. For the past few years we've always had to work boxing day, which kind of ruins Christmas since you have to get up at 5 am to make it back to Victoria in time. So, we slept in anyways and stayed in our pyjamas and played board games, waiting to hear back from either of our hospitalized parents.

In the end, my Dad ended up coming to Port for our Christmas with him on the 28th instead, which worked out well. We had an awesome ham dinner (thank goodness) and opened presents and played games. He gave me a lovely hard cover boxed set of the Lord of the Rings, with illustrations.

Mike's mom ended up having major surjery to remove her appendix and part of her bowel where they found a tumor and just went home from the hospital last night. Thank goodness they are both okay though.

Well, that was our Christmas. It was the longest Port Alberni visit we've had in the past few years so it was very nice and I'm looking forward now to a week off before it's time to start teaching!

Hope all your Christmases were a little less exciting and that your New Year's is very exciting!

p.s. Happy Birthday to Emily Noelle Linde, our youth pastor's new little baby, who was born on Christmas Day! What a nice Christmas present. :)