Time Off

It's day 2 of my summer vacation and so far it is lovely. I have been doing some little jobs here and there like organizing my school stuff and starting to make phone calls to get things settled for China but mostly just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful spring sunshine. Yesterday I went for 2 long walks and it was fantastic. It is so fun to watch all the trees getting their new leaves for a new season. The grass is turning green and my spirits are definitely lifted.

I have also gotten my baking hands back to work. Yesterday I made falafels for supper as well as a carrot cake (with cream cheese icing of course!) and a big batch of granola for the family. I missed cooking while I was away student teaching so it's nice to be at home in my own kitchen again (well technically my mother's kitchen but she doesn't seem to mind sharing!)

I've also been busy help plan some birthday parties since my parents are both celebrating their birthdays next week. But mostly it's just nice to be able to do whatever I want without that niggling guilt in the back of my brain for all the school 'stuff' I could/should be doing. I have already started to fill in my social calender for getting together with people the rest of this week. I have a feeling it won't be hard finding things to do every day...just different things than when I am officially working:)

I'm off to finish organizing all my school stuff. Right now my bedroom floor is covered in papers which is a little inconvenient for getting to anything else in the room:)-

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:)

Spring Break!

Well folks, I made it to Spring Break. I realize how much more teachers look forward to Spring Break than the students do:) This last week was a good one but a tough one at times. I am teaching 3 classes a day, and I am starting to feel like I know the students a bit more and the routine is starting to set in which is a good thing. Each day I am learning things and having new experiences which I guess is what practicum is supposed to be about. Of course there are some students that drive me crazy and make me wonder why I am in the profession, but on a whole, the kids are good and the teachers are very encouraging. I had my first official observation with my faculty supervisor and he had only positive things to say about my class. That was a relief. Not that I think my teaching is bad, but it's always nice to have someone say good things about you:)

I drove home last night to start my spring break. I took the more scenic route and it was quite beautiful. There were hills and turns in the road! A difference from the usual route on the trans-Canada #1 highway.

So far my weekend has been relaxing which is nice. I am heading to Thunder Bay on Monday to visit some camp friends. I am really looking forward to the time out East. I hope to get some knitting done and we'll probably create something tasty to eat. Speaking of tasty things, I am planning on making pasta tonite with a nice garlic cream sauce. I really love making great meals from scratch. There's something satisfying about knowing you made every part of your meal and that you could survive without pre-packaged foods from the store if you had to.

Well that's probably enough random rambling for now. I'll let you know how the trip to TBAY goes, maybe I'll see a moose or something fun like that!

One more week

This is my last week in the classroom for the school year.  It's pretty exciting!  Next week is the big backpacking expedition and then it's off to camp.  It should be a pretty laid back week on the school front.  I've got lots to do to get ready for my backpacking and then camp, but that's mostly at home in the evenings.  

It is beginning to look like spring all around me these days.  The trees have buds that are about to burst which means that green will soon be upon us again:)  I totally missed spring last year during my travels, so I am soaking up the beauty of this season even more this year.  Last night Kendelle and I walked over to a park close by and had a good time on the swings.  It's really therapeutic to swing back and forth.  It's amazing how well conversation will flow when you are just relaxing and not staring right into each other's faces.  I would recommend a swing set for any type of serious conversation you want to have!

Anyways, just a few thoughts as I relax on a Sunday night.  Hope your weeks will be filled with joy!

Where does the time go?

Hard to believe it's been 10 days since my last post.  I don't know how things go so quickly.  So what's happened since the last time...let me think...

-had a fantastic 30 Hour Famine with the youth in my church.  There were 24 kids who came and they raised over $2200 which I think is fantastic.  I'm hoping that while the kids won't forget the fun times they had, they will also remember some of the lives of children in poor nations that they heard about.  We really tried to make it real to the kids participating in the famine that they might be hungry for 30 hours, but some kids are hungry every day.  I don't know how much stuck with the kids, but hopefully even a small piece of awareness is in them now that wasn't there before.

-Taught a couple fun lessons to my kids at school.  There are only 2 more days of full class with the kids in my placement.  Next week most of the students will be at work experience around the province and then the last week of April is my big backpacking expedition!  I'm already thinking and planning for the food I will bring on this trip.  I love cooking on expeditions so that should be fun.

-I've been doing some pilates with Kendelle, which is really challenging but I like it.  Actually, I need to do them tonite (it's been a few days since we last got at it).  I definitely work up a sweat while doing them, but I think they're interesting and they allow me to work at my own ability level which is great.

-Camp is taking a bigger part of my thoughts these days.  Only 2 1/2 weeks till I'll be out on the island.  I'm excited to be able to live in the great outdoors for 4 months.  And having no tv won't be so bad either:)  The community that will be out there is looking really fantastic.  There are quite a few people joining the team who I've never met which will be great because I'm always up to meeting new people.  There are also some people coming out for the spring that are good friends from the past few years when I've been out.  All in all I'm sure this is going to be a great year.  I'm looking forward to seeing how God will work in miraculous and amazing ways yet again.  There is something special about camp and watching God at work and living in a community that is working to reflect Christ.  It's really exciting!

My life really isn't all that interesting these days.  Spring has finally sprung and I"m loving the sunshine and warmth.  Green things are poking out of the ground in the gardens and the trees are going to burst in a couple more days.  I love the newness of Spring!