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!