Well, Ive made it through week 6 of 7 and still enjoy teaching (well mostly!). Its hard to believe that my time in Winkler is almost over. I came into Winnipeg for the weekend to relax and enjoy some friend time as well as get a load of marking and test writing done. This last week coming up will be lighter on the planning end, but there are always many things to tie up in a last week anywhere. I am excited for what is ahead of me but also a bit sad to be leaving my new friends behind in Winkler. I have not made a lot of new friends, but the ones that I have made are pretty sweet and it will be hard to say good bye (at least for now!)
BUT summer awaits with all the fun of cabins and lakes and boats and of course friends. I dont have too many plans made yet, so if you have suggestions of where I should go or what I should do, leave me a note. I have about 3.5 months before I fly away to CHINA. Its still pretty hard to think about moving to another continent on the other side of the globe. But alas, before I wish away what is left I am going to go and enjoy a Friday night with friends, a movie and some wine.
See you in a week when I finish my final practicum and become a TEACHER (at least one who can get paid!)
Friday, April 24, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Mental Health Day
Today was the beginning of week 5 for me of my final student teaching practicum. It also was a professional development day. I signed up for an Asian cooking workshop in the morning and then a yoga session in the afternoon. I called it my 'mental health' day. IT's important for teachers to find ways to release stress and kick back to keep a sane state of mind. I made Thai mussels, hot & sour soup, sushi and other tasty asian foods. It was delicious:) My afternoon was much more relaxing and calming and I really enjoyed it. I think I'm going to start doing more yoga to increase my flexibility, relax and increase muscle tone. It was one of the more enjoyable forms of exercise that I have found.
Since my last post, I had a bit of a stressful week at school, but that is all behind me now. I got through it and I'm moving forward. There are tough weeks in any profession, and last week was just one of them. I went home for Easter Weekend which was great. I relaxed with my family, watched movies, made Easter bread, ate too much Easter bread and played games. Of course there was some time spent remembering the actual reason behind celebrating Easter, but spending time with my family was also a big blessing.
I have 3 weeks left in this placement and they are going to fly by I am sure. Spring is moving in steadily, with melting snow, growing puddles, budding trees and warmer temperatures. It's so nice to have sunlight into the evening instead of living in seemingly perpetual darkness!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Thunder Bay
SO, I just got home from a lovely mini-vacation to Thunder Bay. Now not everyone would think of TBay as a destination spot but when good friends live there the 20 hours of driving needed to get there and back are no big deal. The picture was taken at Kakabeka Falls which is about 25 minutes out of Thunder bay. It's beautiful;)
I met M&E when we worked at Pioneer Camp together, and we've become good friends since. It was great to hang out with friends even if the snow storm made us change our plans. We had hoped to enjoy the beauty of the Thunder Bay area, but crazy amounts of wet snow made us change our plans. E and I decided that we would spend tuesday in the kitchen making delicious things. First of all we had to make french toast for breakfast and then a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies to take to E's co-worker who had switched shifts with her to make sure we could have one full day together. Then we started our fondant for decorating cake before heading out to get groceries. While out for groceries we also managed to stop at this great tea shop called STEEPERS! I picked up some delicious 'Pink Grapefruit green tea' and 'peach rooibos' tea. It was a hard decision to pick only 2 types of tea to take home. I wish we had a tea shop at home...maybe one day:)
The weather continued to deteriorate, so we decided to make homemade lasagne and finish decorating our cake (that we still had to make!). Homemade lasagne took on a whole new meaning as we brainstormed together. We made our own pasta AND our own ricotta cheese for the lasagne. Our lasagne was probably the best I've ever eaten. Add a bit of wine, some bread dipped in oil+balsamic vinegar and a crisp caesar salad and you've got a high class meal all made in your own kitchen! There's no stopping the two of us when we get in the kitchen. M sort of hid in the basement while we were in our cooking frenzy...probably a wise decision. We roped him into helping with the clean-up after we'd managed to dirty almost every pot & pan in the kitchen. Thanks M!
Our cake turned into cupcakes (which to be honest didn't taste all that great because we tried a new recipe that involved cherry jello) but we had a lot of fun playing with the fondant to decorate the cupcakes. Our frosting was also another adventure that can be saved for another blog post! Take a look at this blog to see what we were aiming for in our decorating. You can check out M&E's blog to see what our cupcakes looked like (that's a hint for you two to get those pics up on the world wide web!) We topped off the evening with some knitting and tea. Needless to say, we had a good time even if the snow didn't stop falling for almost 24 hours and we ended up with over 6 inches of heavy, wet white stuff on the ground:)
On Wednesday M and I tried to be studious and productive at home while E was at work and then we went to Starbucks to read and have a hot drink until E finished her shift. It was a laid back day but nice since I was on Spring Break.
Today, my parents and I decided to drive home the American route. It was lovely to see something new. There is really no difference in distance or time but the scenery changes a lot more and there seem to be more small towns along the route. It would probably be a lot slower in the summer when traffic volumes are higher because there are no passing lanes on the American route and it's all 2-lane hwy, but it was really pretty.
Now that I'm back at home, I have a list of things to get done tomorrow. High on my list are getting the paperwork together for my contract with Clifford School in China, and getting my lesson planning done. Hopefully I can get lots done during the day before I go out to my friend's party in the evening. There's always Saturday as well, so I plan on taking time for friends and family as well during the day.
That's probably enough random details for one blog. Thanks for reading to the end! (if you're still reading:)
I met M&E when we worked at Pioneer Camp together, and we've become good friends since. It was great to hang out with friends even if the snow storm made us change our plans. We had hoped to enjoy the beauty of the Thunder Bay area, but crazy amounts of wet snow made us change our plans. E and I decided that we would spend tuesday in the kitchen making delicious things. First of all we had to make french toast for breakfast and then a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies to take to E's co-worker who had switched shifts with her to make sure we could have one full day together. Then we started our fondant for decorating cake before heading out to get groceries. While out for groceries we also managed to stop at this great tea shop called STEEPERS! I picked up some delicious 'Pink Grapefruit green tea' and 'peach rooibos' tea. It was a hard decision to pick only 2 types of tea to take home. I wish we had a tea shop at home...maybe one day:)
The weather continued to deteriorate, so we decided to make homemade lasagne and finish decorating our cake (that we still had to make!). Homemade lasagne took on a whole new meaning as we brainstormed together. We made our own pasta AND our own ricotta cheese for the lasagne. Our lasagne was probably the best I've ever eaten. Add a bit of wine, some bread dipped in oil+balsamic vinegar and a crisp caesar salad and you've got a high class meal all made in your own kitchen! There's no stopping the two of us when we get in the kitchen. M sort of hid in the basement while we were in our cooking frenzy...probably a wise decision. We roped him into helping with the clean-up after we'd managed to dirty almost every pot & pan in the kitchen. Thanks M!
Our cake turned into cupcakes (which to be honest didn't taste all that great because we tried a new recipe that involved cherry jello) but we had a lot of fun playing with the fondant to decorate the cupcakes. Our frosting was also another adventure that can be saved for another blog post! Take a look at this blog to see what we were aiming for in our decorating. You can check out M&E's blog to see what our cupcakes looked like (that's a hint for you two to get those pics up on the world wide web!) We topped off the evening with some knitting and tea. Needless to say, we had a good time even if the snow didn't stop falling for almost 24 hours and we ended up with over 6 inches of heavy, wet white stuff on the ground:)
On Wednesday M and I tried to be studious and productive at home while E was at work and then we went to Starbucks to read and have a hot drink until E finished her shift. It was a laid back day but nice since I was on Spring Break.
Today, my parents and I decided to drive home the American route. It was lovely to see something new. There is really no difference in distance or time but the scenery changes a lot more and there seem to be more small towns along the route. It would probably be a lot slower in the summer when traffic volumes are higher because there are no passing lanes on the American route and it's all 2-lane hwy, but it was really pretty.
Now that I'm back at home, I have a list of things to get done tomorrow. High on my list are getting the paperwork together for my contract with Clifford School in China, and getting my lesson planning done. Hopefully I can get lots done during the day before I go out to my friend's party in the evening. There's always Saturday as well, so I plan on taking time for friends and family as well during the day.
That's probably enough random details for one blog. Thanks for reading to the end! (if you're still reading:)
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