Stress relief and Halloween

My life seems to be full of ups and downs. I guess that's normal, but I am stuck in this cycle of being mega-stressed, then being OK, then being mega-stressed again, etc. This week I was talking to my car-pool teaching friends about this and we came up with a nice list of stress relieving activities and ideas. I am going to be generous and share it with you!

-physical activity (we go swimming, but if your knees are OK you could run or do something else)
-yoga and or meditation (this helps to control your breathing and focus on your internal organs so I hear, I haven't actually tried it yet)
-a glass of wine (I prefer red, and it sure does take the edge off after a long day)
-a bath (after living in bath-free Mexico, I relish in taking a nice, long, warm bath)
-writing down and analyzing the stress-causing things (this helps to identify what it is that's stressing you out and freeing it from your mind in a way, I do this once in a while but I don't find it's the best one for me)
-there is one more thing... but I'll let you figure that one out and keep this blog PG-13

As for Halloween, we celebrated at school yesterday and it was a massive success! All of the cycle 1 (that's grades 1&2 for non-Quebeckers) teachers and I dressed up as one of our colleagues (a grade 2 teacher). When we told our friends and families about this, they were all appalled: "Oh no, she is going to be so offended." "Wait, isn't that like making fun of her?" We knew her well enough to anticipate her reaction correctly - she LOVED it! It was such a hoot! So there were 5 Madame Ls at school yesterday and our students even joined in and called us Madame L. It was awesome! I am very very sorry I don't have a picture of it, but I will try to describe our costumes so you can imagine the 5 of us. First of all, Madame L was dressed up as Glinda, the nice witch from the East, in a beautiful pink dress with silver stars on it and a silver wand accessory. MM was dressed up as 'leather L', so she had a leather skirt and jacket on with a white button up shirt and a fur belt, her black high heels completed the look. I was 'outdoorsy L' so I had taken my inspiration from pictures of her at camp with the kids. I had running shoes on, black yoga pants, a white T-shirt and sweater, and a brown vest. M was dressed up as 'working L' so she had a beige pant suit on. JC (who is a man) was dressed up as 'just out of the shower L' so he had a bathrobe on. The real killer was the blond wigs we all got, we had matching hair, and matching bright lipstick and our make-up was really well-done, exactly like L's! Oh and we also had little black roller suitcases, because apparently last school year that was her 'school bag'.  So really, it wasn't at all offensive, I think she took it more like a compliment that we all wanted to look like her. It goes without saying that she does dress really well, but it's not your regular teacher look, which is why we chose to dress up like her. So fun.

Tonight I'm going to wear the same wig, a sparkly shirt and black pants and heels and I'll be 'la femme Nikita' or Lady Gaga... it all depends on if I find a toy gun or how I do my makeup.

Updates

Well, I know you are just dying to find out how market day went at school. It was AMAZING!!! The students cooperated and counted and added and subtracted beautifully. Yay!

I am so glad I have absolutely NOTHING planned for this weekend. I needed it. I have already worked too much (correcting spelling tests and such). I also have to handwrite all of my student's names and personal info on our report cards. The report cards won't go out until the end of November, but I have to use a beautiful French calligraphy that I myself am learning, so I am giving myself a lot of time. It's actually kind of fun, though, in a weird way. I feel really accomplished about having written a name beautifully on the report card. French calligraphy really is beautiful. Still though, I do prefer computers and typing. If I were to handwrite this post, I would probably still be on the first sentence. Oh and just in case you are curious, here is an example of this beautiful calligraphy:

Market time!

Teacher self: I am so excited for tomorrow! This moment right here is how and why I know I am meant to be a teacher. Tomorrow we are setting up a market in our classroom. Today I had the students decide which fruit or vegetable they wanted to sell (they had to work in groups and cooperate to do this... all but two groups were able to do it without my intervention). Then they had to decide how they would sell their fruit (in bunches or one by one) and how much it would cost ($50 strawberries were ruled against by a unanimous vote). Finally (this was the best part for all of us involved) they had to create the product they were selling using paper, magazines, and their imagination. I have some beautiful carrots, strawberries, cherries, watermelons, apples and bananas.

Tomorrow they will have to buy and sell their produce. I'm giddy with anticipation to see whether or not the little munchkins will be able to cooperate, add and subtract to make this thing work!

Wife self: Paul and I mailed all of our immigration documents yesterday! The package is a good inch and a half thick and includes various pictures, emails, journal entries, and even my honeymoon blog entry! Now we wait... it could take up to six months to get an answer... please think of us and hope it's less than that!

Myself: I had a bad bit of PMS the other day and was feeling super negative. I need to remember to count my blessings. By the way, your comments make me feel awesome - I really like knowing that someone out there is reading what I'm writing! Have an awesome day!

I'm on a train

I'm amazed by the fall and it's colours.
I'm amazed by my iPhone for choosing the best songs and allowing me to write this.
I'm amazed by how much 6-year-olds learn in one and a half months.
I'm amazed by my exceptional husband.

What amazes you?

Too frustrated

Blogger was a big poop head and erased the mega-long blog I had written especially for you.

So long story short: if you are an ex-pat returning to your home country, be prepared for a LOT of paperwork.

I had to jump through hoops to get my healthcare re-instated. It still isn't and wont be until January 2011, because I was out of the country (province really) for over 6 months in 2010. BUT I got to go to the doctor's today... it took a bazillion hours to get there and the ride was quite an adventure, but I'm too frustrated to write about it right now.

Sorry this blog sucks... blame blogger!

Les plaines d'Abraham

There is no easy way to say this and I'm sure I'll create a conflict. This is a big deal, because I hate conflict. Here it goes: I hate hate hate the ongoing French/English debate that still exists in Montreal. Sometimes I'd rather speak Spanish. Actually it happens quite often.

Q - "English or French?"
A - "sólo hablo español"
Q - "Separatist or federalist?"
A - "sólo hablo español"

I've never actually tried this, though I think I should start. How can it be that in such a multicultural, civilized world, I feel GUILTY, yes guilty is the appropriate word, for speaking my two mother tongues? In a group of anglophones (as they're called here) I feel guilty speaking French, or even if, God forbid, the group begins a discussion about Quebec and Frenchies, I feel guilty for not being able to just sit there and accept their comments. I definitely cannot just 'go with the flow' for this one. The opposite is also true. In a group of francophones I feel guilty speaking English, but also for being able to relate to 'les maudits anglais'. This internal conflict has been raging within me for a long, long, long time. Actually for as long as I can remember. I honestly do not think there is an easy answer, and I do realize speaking Spanish and embracing a new culture is just a way to 'escape' the problem.

The only solution I have found, and continue to search, is to surround myself with open-minded people who accept me for ME, not for a language or the ideology and culture that accompany that language. I also sincerely hope that I can teach my students this value of open-mindedness, so that they never feel judged for the language that they speak.

PS - Just a little disclaimer - I realize I am writing this blog in English, the reason is twofold: 1 - I did most of my schooling in English, thus writing is easier for me in English and 2 - I can reach a larger audience in English (not by like becoming a popular blog, but I mean friends and family wise - those who speak French or Spanish usually also speak English, the opposite is not always true)

Grand-maman

Today we got together with my dad's side of the family to celebrate my grandma's 82nd birthday. She is so cool. We had nice long chats about life and I find she is so impressive in so many ways. Mostly because I feel like she is very open minded for an 82-year-old. Some members of the family have been rallying to try to get her to want an iPad so they'd get her one for Christmas, but honestly I don't think she'll ever open up to that idea - but she is open in the sense that she listens and always answers very diplomatically in a "I'm gonna stick with my way of doing things" kind of way. I am amazed at how much change she has seen in her lifetime. I realized today that it was a big deal for her to get a TV, first a black and white one and then a colour one. It was a big deal that her son (my uncle) had to take Ritalin in elementary school - ADD was a very new concept back in the 60s. Not only that, I started thinking about how different our newlywed lives were. Here is a bit of compare and contrast:

My grandma and grandpa met at church - Paul & I met at a rugby party.
They had a very small wedding - we had a fairly big wedding.
They went to Quebec for their honeymoon and my grandma was so nervous about the wedding night that she took her bath with her watch on (which totally ruined her watch) - We went on a huge cruise ship for our honeymoon and neither one of us was very worried about the wedding night.
They came back to Montreal after their honeymoon with 10$ and the hope that my grandpa's paycheck would arrive soon - We came back to Montreal after our honeymoon with some money in savings and me (the wife) with a full time job to support us both.

Some similarities now:
They didn't have a car when they got married - We don't either.
My grandpa's name was Paul - Paul's name is Paul.
They dated for three years before they got married - we did too.
Then they had 52 wonderful years of marriage together - we sure hope we will!

That's it for today. I love love love my grandma. Oh also, she dried and kept the rose we gave her on our wedding day. She's awesome.