Iranian Yalda night

Iranians celebrate the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, by eating, singing and being together. I was honoured to be invited to this celebration last night.

From here

The music was amazing. I did not know any of the instruments before, but I did recognize the sound of the music. It reminded me of the music in the movie 'Incendies'. It also made me think of 'Aladdin' and being in the desert with camels under a tent, though I think these are some stereotypes I need to get rid of. The man who was singing had an incredible voice, and though I don't understand Persian, I could tell the songs were all about love. They also read from the poet 'Hafez', who writes about love and existence and the meaning of life, as my friends told me.

From here

The food was good too. There was watermelon, pomegranate and oranges. There was also cake, nuts and chips.

I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in a different culture. I felt as though I was travelling, although I was still in Montreal. It definitely made me want to visit Iran though. Maybe one day I will go with my friends!

Christmas parties

Chronological order of work Christmas parties I've attended:

2008: In Puebla, Mexico. No wine or alcohol served. Bad food (I decided not to take the vegetarian option, thinking they'd serve traditional Mexican food, but unfortunately it was steak - I only ate the vegetables and was hungry). There was great entertainment though, singing, dancing, and circus-type dancers on stilts!

2009: In Puebla, Mexico. No wine or alcohol served. OK food (learning from my previous mistake, I opted for the vegetarian option. It was a vegetarian lasagna that left me hungry, whereas my friends got turkey and all the fixings). There were most likely prizes. I know there was a bit of line dancing, but overall, this party does not stand out in my memory. My friends and I most likely did something more fun together afterwards.

2010: Montreal. Lots of wine, great food, the school gym was decorated and the entertainment was awesome. Teachers had dressed up and made us laugh. Dancing was great and a good time was had by all.

2011: Montreal. Incredible decorations including a champagne pyramid, an ice sculpture, carved fruit. The food was also incredible: cheese, shrimp, escargots, foie gras, fruit, salads, deserts! No singing or dancing. Prizes were also amazing: we all received gift certificates and there were more individual draw prizes. Crazy prizes like trips, watches, etc. were given!

Family Christmas parties are different in that they usually involve carolling or singing and musical instruments, traditional Québecois food (tourtières, cassoulet, fèves aux lard, etc.), decorating gingerbread houses, and children running, screaming and playing.

My own Christmas parties I hosted in Mexico included decorating, deserts, music, and Home Alone.

Why am I telling you all this? I don't know, but I feel like each of the parties I attended give an impression of the values the school upheld. If this same statement applies, what does that say about me?

The weather

Yes, I will be talking about the weather. If I wanted to live in London or Vancouver, I would. I have often said I hate winter, but I take it back. I just hate being cold. Winter I actually enjoy now that I know how to dress appropriately and am not worried about looking like a fool with a gazillion layers on. I love the snow, I love seeing my students play, I love building snowmen, making snow angels, skiing, skating, or just walking around. The snow makes everything look pretty. Especially when it's sunny and the flakes are glittery. Ahhh...

Now this winter has to be the worst of the worst. I know technically it hasn't arrived yet (December 21st is the 'official' day as I understand), but usually around Halloween time, we start to get snow in Montreal. We got a bit of snow on November 17th, but it has now melted. What we've had lately is grey, drizzle, grey, rain, and more grey weather. I reiterate, if I wanted to live in London or Vancouver, I would. But I don't. I may have a tad of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) because this grey dreariness makes me want to sleep and just be lazy all day, every day. It's not even that cold, it's just annoying.

Canadians will know that Canada withdrew from the Kyoto protocol this week. I don't know of anyone who can argue that global warning doesn't exist and that we shouldn't do our part to eliminate harmful emissions. I feel like I do my part, as much as I can, by buying locally, recycling, composting, and doing countless little things, but it is horribly depressing when the big guys don't do anything. It makes me feel like the small things I'm doing are just worthless. Now I feel like winter is on strike. It's like it's trying to prove that global warming does exist. I wonder if the big shots hate winter so much they're doing this on purpose and trying to make winter disappear? I could totally make a game out of this with my students: 'Ways to save winter'. Here's hoping for a white Christmas, wiser politicians and for future winters of snow for my students to enjoy!

Winter 2009

Memorable moments

Today's memorable moment was not watching a woman sleep with her mouth open on the train. It was not witnessing a few students and parents argue at the bus stop in a different language. It was not having dinner with just my dad (although it might be a first). Nope, today's memorable moment was realizing that my students are actually learning. They did a little cut and paste activity in order to create a funny face and then we sat in a circle while each child presented their work. And they were ALL able to! I was so proud of them for remembering the vocabulary words we'd just learned last week! Also, on a random and funny note, last week while they were drawing themselves on huge paper (they traced each other's silhouettes), I had one student draw their private parts and another draw poop! These memorable moments are what makes teaching Kindergarten so great!

Fear

This week with my students we talked about fear a lot, what with Halloween coming up and all. We had an interesting discussion about whether fear was in our imagination or whether it was real, and how we could differentiate the two. Fear is totally healthy when it warns us of imminent danger, but when it eats at us and it is all in our heads, how do we control it? My tricks for my five-year-old students were to:
1. imagine you're in a nice place
2. sing really loudly

3. laugh at your fear (this trick is the one used in Harry Potter to scare away Boggarts)
4. turn on the lights
5. look away (if it's a scary movie)

As adults though, we are faced with different kinds of imaginary fears. I often worry about horrible things happening to people if they don't show up on time (maybe they got caught in a car accident, maybe they got kidnapped, etc.). I also sometimes worry about my own inadequacy. These imaginary fears we have as adults are more difficult to control it seems. Staying positive and keeping in touch with reality definitely help, as well as having good people around to reassure you (my husband telling me I'm the best really helps).

What are you afraid of?

You are beautiful

Dear everyone,

This week during my daily train commute to and from work, I had an odd kind of realization. I noticed how beautiful people are. I was sitting across from a woman one day and was thinking, wow, she is really pretty. Next I saw a young girl walk on the train who was absolutely stunning. I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to tell them without sounding like a creepy weirdo. Does this happen to anyone else? Do you ever notice that the people around you are beautiful and may not know it? do you know of any appropriate way to let them know?

From your creepy weirdo friend who thinks you are beautiful.

It's already October! Time sure does fly! I'm still happy and busy at school, though a few students have started acting up, though that's pretty normal for this time of year. They've gotten to know me and each other and are now testing the boundaries. I have to work on not taking their mishaps personally. Usually things run smoothly in my classroom, but then at recess or lunch or other classes, my students will hit others and do 'bad' things. Any experienced teachers out there have a magical trick to stop this behaviour? Or to help me not to take it personally when it's reported back to me? That is something I am working on as a teacher right now.

Thanksgiving is here in Canada and I wanted to do a cheesy 'what I am thankful for' post today. In no particular order, I am thankful for:

1. God, goodness, the 'thing' that interconnects us all and makes us feel one.
2. Nature: the trees, air, oceans, animals, etc.
3. Family. I am even luckier to have more and more people to call family now that I'm married.
4. Friends, the real kind and the we're just getting to know each other kind.
5. My health. I went to the doctor, the dentist and the optometrist yesterday and all around, I'm in very good health. The dental hygienist was amazed that I drink coffee! And I'm getting new cool glasses.
6. OK I'm stopping this now because it's boring and way too cheesy... but I did it anyway. I have my list of things I love and am thankful for and I won't forget. Gratitude is important. I find that people like to complain a lot and tend to forget how blessed they are. If you are reading this and you have a computer, you are already better off than a lot of others.

Sorry I have been MIA - I wrote about the labour day long weekend but am apparently not as good at learning new things as I thought I was and couldn't figure out how to publish my blog with the new layout, and then I lost it. It's not on my blog editing list. Oh well.

Also, I forgot that working made my busy and tired. So blogging gets dropped way down on my list of priorities.

BUT I have a cute anecdote from school today I wanted to share. Two of my students weren't participating in our morning circle and songs this morning, so I asked them to go sit at their tables. Later, I asked each one what happened and why they hadn't participated and these were their answers:

Student #1: "I was still sleeping" (he did arrive to school late)
Student #2: (in a Darth Vader like voice) "My throat just really hurts" (he was absent yesterday)

They both had really good excuses. I felt kind of bad for sending them to their tables, but they definitely were not participating so I can't bend the rules just for them. In general this school year has started out being AWESOME! I have great students and I am just so happy to see them every day. I'm also happy about myself as a teacher, I feel really good and patient!

Wonderful friends & nature & Help

Today's blog will be divided in three (or more) segments:

We love our 'Ontario friends' as we often refer to them. Shared McGill memories, shared values and similar dreams makes us grow closer each time we see each other. We enjoyed spending time with them around the pool in the backyard, playing Monopoly (though the baby didn't quite approve), eating Mexican food, getting a parking ticket and planning how to get out of it, walking around McGill and the Old Port and going shopping. Can't wait to see you again!

Aren't her sandals the cutest?

Nature: I think I've mentioned we have been going on bike rides, hiking, etc. This week we had a new outdoorsy adventure. We went canoeing around the Boucherville Islands (see it here on the map). My parents rented a kayak, and since Paul & I had once fought in a kayak during our honeymoon, we decided to go for the canoe. A beautiful hour and a half of singing, paddling, and looking at different kinds of birds and fish later and we were done. It was a very fun afternoon. Oh and in other news, on a bike ride the other day, we discovered a vineyard in St. Bruno and it's actually good! If you live in or around Montreal you should try it. Here is the website. 

Please ignore my over-sized bum and enjoy the view.

The Help: My good friend lent me the book the other day and I started reading it. I enjoyed hearing the words spring to life, so much so that on a rainy, dreary Sunday like today, I decided to go see the movie. It was my dad's suggestion, and though I know I should have read the book first, I couldn't help myself. I must say the critics aren't lying. It is seriously amazing. One of the best movies of the year, if I dare say so myself. Now I just have to finish reading the book. I don't think it will be too hard, because I'm expecting the book to have more details anyway. 

Now I am getting ready for the first day back to school. I won't have any students in my classroom yet, but I'm getting that nervous/excited feeling about starting a new school year. I don't even have my outfit picked out yet! I should probably get going on that!

Choosing my religion

I've started going to church again. And after stating that, I always feel I have to defend myself. If I said, "oh I'm going for a run" or "I'm heading to the gym" that would be OK and accepted by society. But church? Why would I do that?

I've mentioned this in previous posts and I'll repeat it again. I strongly believe that humans have to evolve in three spheres (perhaps there are more I haven't noticed yet) in order to feel content, or at least I do. These are the intellectual, physical and spiritual sides of self. I think that our society is obsessed with the first. You have to be smart, study a ton, and work a ton in order to be successful, right? Oh and then comes in the second part - if you don't look 'just right' you won't get as far in life, so you better be active. I feel that the spiritual side often gets ignored.

I've had a strong sense of faith since I was very young and I know that a lot of this is inherited from what my parents taught me and the fact that I grew up going to church on Sundays and to Catholic school. I think my sense of faith has stuck with me though, a faith that I describe as knowing that there is a benevolent force out there, knowing that we all fit together somehow, that we have a purpose and are not just here haphazardly. This sense of faith is a great feeling that is with me pretty constantly, but nurturing that spiritual side of myself has been a new 'need' of sorts. I like to take time to think, pray, meditate, and just 'be'. It helps make me feel centred. But, with a job, friends, husband, life, errands, that time - not just 'alone time' but spiritual time always seems to be the first thing scratched off the 'to-do' list.

I'm still not convinced that I believe in organized religion, so maybe I'm taking the easy way out here. But Catholic church is what I know. I like the tradition of it, I like knowing what to expect, I like gaining a better understanding of Bible stories. Maybe I should really look around and find something that feels just right for me, because I have to admit, I still sometimes feel like a fraud in church. Like maybe I'm not quite supposed to be there because I'm still taking out the bits that I like and not accepting the whole thing. But shopping around for a religion also feels wrong. I like the idea of Ramadan, and I have yet to try the Unitarian church Dawn mentioned a while back. But for now I know that going to church once a week makes me feel good, helps me grow and is making me more aware of who I am and what I believe in. I guess there is no short answer when someone asks "Why do you go to church?"

Change ahead

Well I've made it a year as a blog-writer and still find it very fun. Since my return from Florida, I have partaken in many outdoorsy activities with my family (surprise, surprise - those who know us know that this is always what we do with free time on our hands). My dad, Paul and I went on two bike rides. The first one was a huge uphill climb and the second one was more of a stroll. I prefer the stroll. I also prefer a women's bike seat and am still hoping for an Amsterdam-style bike purchase in the future.

On Saturday, my mom and sister joined us for a hike up a nearby ski hill. It was HOT and there were a few times we stopped because I thought my heart would jump out of my chest, but the view was beautiful and it was a good time. After the hike we jumped in the Memphremagog lake (I really like the lake's name) to cool off and stopped for poutine at a diner, which may have cancelled out the calories burned during the hike, but that wasn't the main goal anyway (burning calories that is).

View of lake Memphremagog from Owl's Head ski hill.

Other than that, I chopped my hair off! Actually the hairdresser did. I'd been thinking about it since April and was too chicken to do it, and finally I just did. I really like having short hair, it's the easiest thing in the world to up-keep, and seeing as I spend about 0.2 seconds on my hair, it's a great style for me. I have a wedding coming up at the end of August though, so I don't know if there is any 'special' way to do short hair so it looks nicer, but suggestions are welcome!

Before

After

Now that it has been a year, I'm thinking I may want to change the focus of my blog and I need your advice. I have come up with three different options, let me know which one you think is best.

A - Keep the blog as it is, random thoughts, etc.

B - A teaching blog, reflections on my teaching that will help me improve as a teacher could be written here

C - A 'historic' blog of sorts, rewriting some of my best journal entries from when I was a little girl/teenager

Which option do you think is best? A, B or C?

Highlights of my trip to Jacksonville

Well, the real highlight was meeting my nephew and seeing my family (in-laws sounds a little weird, doesn't it? so I'll just call them family), but here are a few other things that were notable:

1. I arrived at the airport and since I hadn't checked any bags, I just walked straight out. Thank goodness for technology, because I was able to notify one of my friends in Montreal via Skype that I needed Paul to call his family via Nextel because I didn't know where they were. I was chatting on Skype while trying to find them, and for a while we all got scared that maybe  I wasn't at the right airport. So I went up to an officer and asked him, "Am I in Jacksonville?" and he answered, "Yes mam, this is Jacksonville International Airport." After 45 minutes I realized I was at the departure level and needed to go down a flight of stairs to the arrivals! Not one of my proudest moments, but at least I was in the right city!

2. First impressions of Jacksonville = lots of highways, lots of space, everything super beautiful and well-organized. My sister-in-law and her husband live in a really nice suburb. There was also a southern feel to everything, including the architecture. I kept feeling like I was in a novel.

3. Amazing cleaning products! My sister-in-law and her husband have a very 'green' house, and Paul & I also enjoy eco-friendly everything, so it was neat to see she had made her own cleaning products that smelled heavenly and worked so well! She also had a super cool vacuum and mop. I swear I would clean more if I had some of those! Oh and I used them because I helped clean the house before the baptism.

4. Pizza on the grill = delicious! The recipe is actually my husband's (well he found it on the internet, but you know). I helped make the tomato paste and the dough from scratch. Then in the evening when the whole extended family had arrived, we cooked the pizzas on the BBQ. It was so good! The dough tasted even better than usual.

5. A beautiful church and deep conversations about God and religion with my sister-in-law were inspiring and eye-opening. It helped get me in the mood for my nephew's baptism, which was beautiful.

6. Shopping! Right now the Canadian dollar is high and American prices are usually lower anyway, so it was a great time to buy in the States. I got a little carried away at the Dollar Tree store because they have some an amazing section for teachers! I really am excited to be able to decorate my classroom!

All in all, it was a great trip. It was just so good to see family again and to meet my nephew, I don't think words can describe it. Just picture one big happy family I guess. From discussions to helping to watching the Kardashians on TV, everything just felt so comfortable and right. I am so excited to get to spend Christmas with them this year. A year apart was really too long!

Quick Harry Potter review

*spoiler alert* Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows Part 2

1. At first I was a little disappointed by the music. It was very dark and you could barely make out the theme, but it definitely helped to create the mood of the movie.
2. Snape's acting was incredible!
3. I loved the way Molly Weasley delivered her 'Not my daughter Bitch!' line.
4. I had imagined a real baby when I read the book and the part where Harry is in the in-between, not a gross-looking Voldemort fetus. Gross!
5. The actors kind of sucked during the epilogue - I guess they just don't know what it's like to be an adult!

All in all, I was very very happy with the movie. Great fighting scenes and very true to the book! Now I'm just so sad that it's over...

My personal pensieve

Moving back to my parent's temporarily means going through 6 huge boxes in the garage and deciding what is worth keeping. I'm not a hoarder - at least I don't think I am - but I do like to keep things. And really, old notes, drawings, and letters all act like a pensieve because as I read and looked for hours and hours on end, I felt myself being magically transported back to that moment in time and re-living the memory.

I made a few interesting finds that I will share with you today:

I wrote this in 1999 as a part of an 'all about me' project. I have one of those projects for each year of my life, approximately and I find that not much has changed. In general, I still have the same core values I discovered I had when I was about five years old: mainly that all people are equal and have the right to be treated as such. Anyway, I still think arguing about politics is pretty boring, but I now realize it needs to be done. Ironically and funnily enough, the people closest to me who argue about politics are my very own brother and sister and I now have to admit that they are a lot of fun (despite the fact that) / although they like to argue about politics and the government.

Next are samples of my artwork at age 9:

Now this is especially embarrassing when you have siblings as artistically gifted as mine. Notice that in the first picture, the flying birds DON'T HAVE WINGS! I was nine years old, which means I definitely knew what birds looked like when they flew... oh dear. In the second picture, I am most likely drawing dinosaurs for my younger brother and the poor thing can't differentiate a long-neck from a T-Rex because they all look exactly the same! This is still a problem in my life today. Sometimes I'll draw an animal on the board, let's say it's a horse, and a student will raise his hand and say, "Miss, is that a dog?" People say that I'm creative, but it definitely doesn't show in my artistic abilities!

Billy Elliott

Paul and I drove down to Belleville, Ontario this past weekend to visit our great friends. I drove (and I'll admit I complained) for four hours straight (no stops for 'I'm hungry, tired or need to pee' breaks - this is a first for me!). I complained mostly about the music - I swear the shuffle/random button on Paul's iPhone doesn't work and it seems like we ALWAYS listen to the same songs. I finally got him to put my country mix on and belted out tunes until we got to Belleville.

Friday night consisted of catching up and spending time with our friend's wonderful 7-month-old. She is SOOOO cute! She stares, sits, does 'flirty eyes' as I call them, grunts, smiles, coos, and is just awesome! I could stare at and play with her all day. We had a great barbecue dinner and then watched a few episodes of 'Modern Family'.

Saturday we drove out to Toronto to see the musical 'Billy Elliott'. We were so lucky to have almost front row seats. We were like five rows from the stage! The musical was amazing and made me want to learn more about the coal-mine strike. I've decided a good way to judge a movie or show is if it makes you want to learn more about it. Definite win for Billy Elliott. It also made me feel a little bit bad about myself because there were so many amazing children in the show! I mean the kid who played Billy Elliott was phenomenal! He's a triple-threat as my friend says because he can sing, dance and act and he does so better than some adults out there! It was great to see so much natural talent. Afterwards we went out for dinner and walked around in Toronto a little bit.

Sunday we went to Northbeach! It was a beautiful day for it, sunny with a little breeze coming off the lake. The waves were just the right height. It was a perfect day. It was baby's first day at the beach, so that was a great event to be a part of. We had a picnic and swam a bit. The drive back went smoothly. We hit some traffic in Brockville, but that was also about the time my bladder was about to burst so we stopped for a bit and when we got back on the highway the traffic had disappeared!

All-in-all it was a perfect weekend! Thanks to our friends for inviting us! Can't wait to see you again in August! In other news, Paul and I are still watching all of the Harry Potter movies before seeing the last one in Imax 3D (we watched the fifth one last night). Stay tuned for my 'review' of the final movie!

Star Wars --> Harry Potter?

Summer vacation = watching lots of movies. Paul and I first watched the Back to the Future Trilogy, then the Star Wars Trilogy (the original ones, so the 4,5,6 ones... it's so confusing! and I still haven't seen 1,2 and 3). We're now onto Harry Potter 1 through 7 Part 1. And I noticed (or maybe Paul mentioned it) that Star Wars and Harry Potter are oddly similar. Case in point (oh and maybe spoiler alert for those of you who have not read or seen the entirety of these movies):

1. Both take place in imaginary yet realistic worlds.
2. Axis of good and evil is clearly defined.

http://io9.com/5522961/geek-love-his-and-hers-star-wars-t+shirts

3. Awkward love triangle in both, where the second main character (Han Solo / Ron) is convinced the other two are an item, but in reality they have a brother & sister relationship. They (Han & Ron) end up getting the girl in the end.
4. The hero (Harry Potter / Luke Skywalker) has a strange relationship with the villain: hate them but are similar to them in certain respects. Darth Vader is actually Luke's father and ends up having some sort of sympathy because he doesn't kill him. Lord Voldemort and Harry's wands are made of the same core (phoenix feather), Harry can speak parseltongue thanks to Voldemort and both are orphans.

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/lord-voldemort/images/17773462/title/harry-potter-voldemort-photo

So, if you'd like to write a smash hit, incorporate these elements and you've got yourself a winner! These seem to be the main points that make an adventure story work. I haven't studied comparative lit or anything, so don't judge me if this is horribly of-course, this is just my own opinion. What do you think? Are there more of these epic stories you can think of?

PS - Every time I go to write Star Wars, I accidentally write Star Wards... weird.

PPS- If you love Star Wars and Harry Potter, you might want to read about Bob here: www.smacksy.com

I could be a princess

Kate and Will's Canadian visit has caused many people to question to role of the monarchy and yaddi-yadda. My personal opinion is that it sucks that they use our tax dollars to have an awesome vacation, but I still think it's cool that they are a prince and princess. I think all over the world, different monarchies have secretly been paying Disney to infect the minds of young girls like me to think that princesses are just the coolest thing ever!

I actually had a student this year come up to me and tell me in a super indignant voice:

Student - "Miss, she says princesses are real!" 

Me - "Well, they are."

Student - "No, Miss, like she says they're not just in movies."

Me - "Actually, Canada has a queen, it's the queen of England."

Student's eyes go wide - the realization sets in - "That means princesses DO EXIST!"

Me - "Yes, yes they do."

So that's kind of my point of view. Yes it's a waste of time, money, whatever, but it's just soooo cool! It's kind of like if dragons or dinosaurs or fairies or elves existed. 

Oh and I've recently come to think that I could be a princess because I've been eating out with friends a lot and I figure that's what rich people do. They eat nice food, they smile and wave, and look good. I could smile and wave. 

See?

The only thing I couldn't do is obey all the rules. Showing my shoulders is probably a no-no, my smile probably isn't white enough, my hair isn't long enough and most importantly, I would HATE to be in the public eye at all times. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a complete klutz. Getting out of the car or sitting nicely are not my forte. Still, I'll keep dreaming!

One year later...

Paul and I enjoyed our first year wedding anniversary together on Tuesday. We opened up a bottle of wine our friends had given us as a wedding gift, and used our fancy decanter for the first time.

The fancy castle feel was a perfect setting!

We then went out for dinner. It was a perfect evening, and the table they sat us at even reminded us of our honeymoon dinner table on the cruise ship! I'm at a loss for words because nothing truly conveys how much we love each other, are at ease around each other, can play around and fight with each other. It truly is magical and I hope the feeling continues for years to come!

Yesterday we invited some friends over for dinner. Since they had made us a home-made Persian dinner not long ago, we decided to treat them to an authentic Mexican meal. Our first stop was Jean-Talon market where we got limes and avocados for exorbitant prices (when comparing to Mexican prices of course). We also stopped at 'El Rey del Taco' to buy:

• one kilo of 'carne al pastor' (pork meat marinated and cooked in a special way that makes it so delicious!)
• tortillas
• totopos (nacho chips)
• obleas (a dulce de leche treat)
• Totis (a snack my students used to eat in Mexico and I love!). 

We couldn't find little green tomatoes at the market since it isn't the season for them here, but we did find them in a can at the supermarket (la Costeña, if you want to buy it). 

My Mexican husband told me more than once that he didn't need any help and I should kindly just leave the kitchen already. He cooked up a feast (well, prepared more than cooked I guess, since the meat was already ready).

Side note: I just spend close to an hour trying to find a software program that would let me insert text to a picture and then import it here. I downloaded GIMP, but that program didn't even open. Something called X11 opened instead and sent me to a blank screen. Awful. So I deleted it. I then downloaded myphotoedit, and that seemed to work well when I first opened it. I tried to add text but I couldn't change the size no matter how hard I tried! So I deleted that too and you are now getting a picture without text inserts telling you which dish is which. You'll just have to try to use your imagination and figure it out. BUT if anyone out there is reading this and can help me, please let me know how! I see lots of cute pictures with drawings or text on them on other blogs!

On this table, you see: Totis, frijoles, guacamole, salsa verde (both homemade and La costeña), Corona, and random chips! These were all starters.

For the main course, we had gringas, which consisted of:

• the Al Pastor meat I mentioned earlier
• cheese 
• tortillas
• pineapple
• cilantro
• onion
• lime
• green or red salsa

Afterwards, we watched the movie 'Seven' which I had never seen before. For those of you who don't know me, I am a scaredy-cat! I went to bed really late because I kept getting the image of that sloth man's face when I was trying to fall asleep! Oh but I really did love the movie! And the food! And the friends! And the love! 

Hope your summer is just as fun, and if you know how to edit pictures easily on a mac, please let me know!

Gardening Part 2

Here are a few pictures of the garden's progress:

The lettuce is doing well, the tomatoes might be ready for August, but the rest looks tiny! 

I pronounce it 'ant' not 'aunt'

June has just rushed by me! It was full of concerts, end-of-year stuff (concert, graduation, report cards, water balloon fight, etc.) and BABIES!

One of my very best friends gave birth on June 18th to a beautiful baby girl. I got to see her when she was just three days old! This is my friend's second child and her delivery was super fast and easy, she said she wished it on any mother.

My sister-in-law just gave birth to my nephew two days ago in Florida. I'll have to wait a month until I meet him for real, but from what I can see in the pictures, he is just perfect!

I love being an auntie!!! I'm sure the fact that I love kids in general helps with this. Oh and a colleague of mine also had a baby a few days ago.

In other news, my husband and I are temporarily living in Laval (one of the suburbs of Montreal) and I keep singing Arcade Fire songs in my head. It is very different from anywhere else I've lived, which is weird because I have lived in many different cities. I'll definitely need to adjust and get used to having about ten malls and a bazillion stores everywhere I turn.

Other than that, I've been enjoying summer. Watching a lot (too much?) of TV... especially HGTV. I think I'm addicted. It's bad. And then husband and I went to Ikea and bought a bed. The summer sale was on (you know that commercial 'Start the car, start the caaaaar!'?) and it was a steal.

We're off to finish up cleaning my friend's apartment and walk around the Jazz Festival. I LOVE the Jazz Festival!!! I hope your summer is treating you just as well!

A very busy week!

Oh my goodness, you're in for a long post! This is like three-posts-in-one (I didn't know if I should put hyphens there, but I did anyway, I think it looks better this way). OK so first major event: I went to Quebec City with 26 students and everyone came back alive and kicking! Yay! My favourite moments were definitely the re-enactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, swimming at Université Laval's Olympic-sized pool and visiting the Parliament building. It was a very educational two-days, and there was never a dull moment. We walked A LOT (I had one little girl in grade four swear to me that her legs would fall off if she took another step, but that fortunately did not happen). There were no injuries, and no major incidents. Two minor incidents occurred. One grade six girl lost her camera on day one, but found it on day two, so that doesn't really count. And on the bus ride back, a student had a major nightmare - sleepwalking thing where he screamed at the top of his lungs and scared everyone, but really, he was OK, so that doesn't really count either. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment:

English vs. French little soldiers with hilarious strategies!

Parliament of Quebec

National Assembly of Quebec

Next super important event, which I'm not sure if I had mentioned previously, is that we officially bought our condo! If anyone out there is a property virgin (I'm copying the term used by HGTV's show), oh my goodness, here are a few things you need to expect: 

1. Falling in love with almost every condo you see.

2. Going back and forth between deciding on one or continuing to look.

3. Continuing to look and seeing horrible condos. 

4. Being super stressed about the possibility that someone might buy your dream condo. 

5. Someone buying your dream condo.

6. Going back to the drawing-board, looking some more, not being sure, feeling like giving up, thinking 'this is such a huge investment I don't know what to do', thinking about all of the pros and cons of every decent place you visited, thinking about location, cost, etc...

7. Finally deciding on a place and reserving it (ours is a new development so we didn't have to do the make an offer and wait thing - I don't think I could have handled that - I was stressed enough about this huge decision as it was)

8. Waiting to get the mortgage loan approved at the bank.

9. Finally putting the down-payment on the place and looking forward to having your own place!

That red dot means it's OURS!

So that's where we're at now. But now we are in another overwhelming part of the process because as I mentioned, we are buying a new development so we have to choose EVERYTHING! I'm great at decision-making in my classroom, in a crisis situation, or at a restaurant, but not when it comes to LONG-TERM, you-have-to-see-it-every-day, very high-commitment-type decisions (and yes, I do realize I am married, haha). I already have asked for advice from a few friends, and we have started shopping online, but we are a long way from being finished this 'choosing the options' part of the deal. 

Finally, I'd like to end this post with a few concert pictures and stories. Monday night, my cousin's fiancee calls me up and says:

Her - How'd you like to go to the NKOTBSB concert tomorrow night? 

Me - Um I'd LOVE to! How much are the tickets?

Her - Oh don't worry about it, I've got box seats! 

Um ya, so I unexpectedly went to an AWESOME show in a super posh and swanky way. I felt so important! And the concert was amazing! I'm more of a Backstreet Boys fan, but I recognized and sang along with almost all of the New Kids on the Block songs as well! Their singing and dancing was awesome, and it was great to feel like I was 15 again! It brought back great memories! 

I took these with my phone, so the quality isn't great, but you can tell the Bell Center was packed!

The festival season has arrived here in Montreal and right now the Grand Prix weekend, the Francofolies and the Beer Festival are all going on at the same time! Last night we went to see Marie-Mai at a free outdoor concert and boy can she sing! It was a great show! 

So there you have it! Quite an update! As the summer progresses, I'm sure I will have more interesting posts about life (we're moving soon) and various festival events! 

Movie tickets contest! Up Mommy Creek: Our 1st Giveaway: Free Movie Passes from Cineplex!...

You (and I) could win free movie passes!!! Check out the blog below (written by one of my high school friend's sister who is pregnant and who just tells it like it is) and you could win free movie passes! Yay! *Only available in Canada* (sorry international readers)

Up Mommy Creek: Our 1st Giveaway: Free Movie Passes from Cineplex!...: "One thing you may not know about me is that I am a huge movie fan. My first job was in a movie theater, and I worked for quite a few years i..."

Why?

So I've had a few people question me about the name of my blog and why do I even have a blog in the first place? I decided to use this blog to offer explanations.

1. The title of the blog is in French and translates literally to 'the adventures of a fart'. Yes, you read that right, fart. It's my nickname. And it's not even because I fart a lot, it's just that it rhymes with my name (at least in French it does). My husband started adding it to my name a while back, and my siblings thought it was just great, so it stuck. When I had to title my blog, I thought it'd be cute. But now that I work in French-speaking territory, it's a bit embarrassing when my colleagues ask, "Why is your blog called 'adventures of a fart'?" And I try to explain that it's a nickname, but I think everyone is convinced that I fart a lot, or maybe I just smell... hmmmm...

2. Why a blog? Now that I've been on the 'blogosphere' (horrible word) for a while, I have come to notice different types of blogs. There are those that give information about something, the funny ones, the ones that try to be funny, the mommy ones, the preachy ones, the photography ones, the 'I want to sell you nick nack' ones, the 'I want to get noticed' ones, etc... I'm not trying to have a special kind of blog. I don't think I fit into any of the above-mentioned categories. I've kept a journal since I was six years old and I like journal-writing. I had stopped for a while because once my boy-drama settled, I felt like there wasn't much to write about. But I enjoy the act of writing in itself, so I figured if I had a blog, I might feel like writing more often. Which is why this came to be. It's a sort of journal, but obviously not too personal. Basically I just like having a place to jot down my thoughts and memories so I don't forget what I do, what I like, what I'd change, etc. And I feel like sharing it is kind of fun! Knowing that friends that are far away can keep in touch with me this way is awesome! So there you have it. I hope you enjoy reading!

Adventures in Gardening Part 1

On Monday, my husband, dad, brother, sister and I all got together to plant a vegetable garden (my mom would have been there too, but she was out of the country on a business trip). My brother and sister are moving into a new apartment in July, and their landlord is very nice and allowed them to plant in May, because planting in July would have been silly. We started with a trip to Home Depot where they bought a variety of plants, earth, and manure. Then we headed over to their new apartment.

To be honest, I was a bit discouraged when the landlord showed us the piece of land we had to work with. It seemed really hard and was full of rocks. We all worked together to turn the soil around and pull out the weeds that were there, and in less than an hour, we had something to work with! I pulled too hard on a root though, so I hurt my lower back, but I knew I'd be fine in a few days. Also, we found a few treasures (what looked like part of a teacup) while we were digging around, but thankfully no bones or other creepy things! At this point, the 'garden' looked like this:

Everybody working together!

We added some leaves that the landlord had kept since the fall to use as compost and we also added the earth and manure. The garden now looked like this: 

Kind of an inside joke

We then planted the various vegetables (and other things) my siblings had picked out. There was: green lettuce, reddish lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, raspberries (not pictured), chilli peppers, cucumber, pickling cucumbers and calla lilies. Here is the final product:

Watering the calla lilies

I am hoping to update the garden's progress during the summer and letting you know if it was successful!  Also, during this afternoon, we had the cutest little visitor! A baby squirrel that had not yet been corrupted by the big bad humans came up to us and even climbed on my dad! Here are a few videos. Enjoy the cuteness! 

Climbing on dad:

Eating nuts: 

A visitor from Boston

After a busy week, it feels so good to have a three-day weekend to relax! We had a friend visit from Boston this weekend. She was our neighbour in Mexico and is originally from Washington state. On Friday after work we went for a picnic on Mount Royal with some friends. Actually, we only knew one girl there, but we met lots of her nursing friends and we had a great time. We sat right by Beaver Lake.

On Saturday morning, C came to work with me. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I lead groups of small children (they are about 2 and 3 years old) in basic gymnastics skills in order to develop their sense of balance, hand-eye co-ordination, etc. It's called 'Le tour du monde de Karibou' and it's great fun!

We then went for lunch at a place called 'Kilo' in the Village. It was AMAZING!!! I have to say, it was a beautiful sunny day so the terraces were open and people-watching was fun! We had sangria and sandwiches and everything was delicious!

Afterwards, we walked to the Old Port to get some ice cream and walked and walked some more. We saw a street entertainer and watched him for a while, we walked to Notre Dame church and then back home. We rested for a while and then went out for dinner at La Banquise, which apparently has the best poutine in Montreal (there's a picture here if you don't remember what poutine is), but I was a bit disappointed this time. I've been before and liked the food, but this time it seemed like the fries were cold, the sauce wasn't salty enough and the cheese hadn't melted. Honestly, I prefer the poutine from the small pizza place that's just around the corner by my house!

Sunday morning we went to Chez Cora for breakfast, of course and I had the usual: a crepomelette with spinach and cheddar. We then walked along St. Catherine's street, went into various stores and visited the underground mall. I bought shoes. I think I have a little problem with summer shoes. They are just so pretty!!!

My friend C had to go back to Boston, but the fun didn't stop there! We went over to our friend's for a lobster dinner last night, which was amazing. I LOVE lobster! I had forgotten how good it was. It tastes like the ocean, and with the garlic butter dipping sauce he had made, it was perfect!

The plans for today are to help my siblings plant a garden. We'll see how that goes!

First things first

Here is the IOU:

I don't know if anyone else is an iTunes freak like my husband and I, but we like to have all of the song information on iTunes. Last weekend I decided to go through my iTunes and double check that every song on there had the artist, song, album, year, and wasn't a duplicate. It was time-consuming, but rewarding.

Then, I think I won about a bazillion brownie points for being a good wife. Last Saturday was a rainy, grey, dreary day and it must have been about 10C outside (which is COLD for May). And of course, there was a rugby game to go watch. Sometimes my hubby and I aren't too bright. We drove and drove in circles about three times before realizing the rugby game was at the same college my sister studies at, and we could easily have got there by metro. Anyway, we got there and the game hadn't started yet, so we waited in the cold freezing rain. When the game actually started I was disappointed. The games I have seen have all been played on nice days, so the players run fast and play hard. A rugby game in the rain is like watching everything in slow motion. They kept falling down because of the mud and the game was much slower than it usually is. So here is where the brownie points end, because I got bored. I was wet and I was cold. So I went home. Husband got a ride after the game with a friend so it was OK.

This has always been my favourite rugby move, since it reminds me of cheerleading!

Oh my goodness people, I know you're Canadian and it's May, but it is NOT flip-flop weather!

On Sunday, my sister and I took my mom to the spa for a Mother's Day massage! We all got the 'thermal' bath treatments, so while my mom got her massage, my sister and I caught up in the sauna, the hot tub, the relaxation room and the cold waterfall. It was an awesome afternoon and I recommend it if anyone is looking for a spa near Montreal! http://www.skyspa.ca/

IOU

Here's an IOU... I haven't had time to write this weekend. I have been too busy cleaning up my iTunes, being an awesome wife, hanging out with friends and going to the spa. I'm sure you can't wait to hear all about it. I'll update you ASAP

À la ville de Montréal

J'ai eu une très mauvaise expérience ce matin dû au ménage du printemps. J'ai stationné mon auto vers 16h30 mardi après-midi et je comptais repartir mercredi matin à 8h pour me rendre au travail, vu que la période interdite affichée est de 9h à 10h les mercredis. À ma surprise, ce matin (mercredi) à 6h50, la sonnerie de la remorque m'a réveillée. Je me suis préparée et je suis sortie à 7h30, juste à temps pour récupérer ma voiture. Surprise, je leur ai demandé à quelle heure les panneaux orange avaient été affichés. Ils m'ont dit ne pas le savoir et de me diriger vers la Ville de Montréal pour plus de renseignements. J'ai vérifier sur le site internet et j'ai trouvé cette information 'Les panneaux orange seront installés la veille des opérations, entre 15 h et 20 h.' Je trouve ceci inacceptable et je suis certaine que je ne suis pas la seule dans cette position très stressante. Je vous suggère de placer les panneaux orange AU MOINS 24 HEURES avant l'intervention de nettoyage. Ceci éviterait sûrement plusieurs mécontentements de la part des résidents. Merci de prendre le temps de lire mon message et d’y répondre rapidement.

the sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful and so are you

My husband tells me I'm ridiculous. Apparently I'm a loser for loving weddings, especially royal ones, and then sharing my thoughts about it on Facebook. Well so be it. I'm not ashamed about my loser-ish ways. I love life and I'm a happy go lucky person and if I like something, I'll tell you. (Also, this pseudo-rant might be brought on by the fact that we just watched the Glee 'Born this way' episode, which was amazing).

Life is really grand. Spring is in the air and I just love it! I've been substituting in a Kindergarten classroom this week and I'll be there next week as well and it is just amazing! I've had a great weekend too. Friday was my brother's birthday and we went to the restaurant to celebrate. Afterwards I went to my friend MM's birthday party and got to meet loads of really interesting people.

Saturday, Paul and I went rollerblading along the canal. We started out near Atwater market (where our potential condo will be - more on that later) and went all the way to the Old Port, where we stopped for lunch and ice cream.

Photos courtesy of Paul (view his blog here)

Beautiful day

Old Port of Montreal

So there you have it! Have a great week!

Easter with mexicanos, gringos and Frenchies

We had friends visit from Friday morning to Sunday night. First to arrive were P&Em; we went to the airport to pick them up at 8am and I only circled the pick-up area five times (the airport security men are very serious about the 'no-waiting' zone). We headed home to drop off their suitcases and to meet up with our friend H, who also lives in Montreal but is part of this crazy friend group because... OK maybe you need a bit of background info before I continue.

Where we all met in 2006

So Husband and I met in Mexico in 2006. We met through mutual friends at a rugby party because he is a rugby player. I spent the majority of my time in Mexico in my study abroad year (2006-07) learning Spanish with rugby players, so I have a foul potty mouth in Spanish, which is surprising to most because I almost never swear in French or English. The cast of characters of friends who came to visit are all related to rugby playing in Mexico. P studied with Husband and played on the team. Em is P's girlfriend, she is French and met P studying abroad in 2008. H is Spanish from Spain and was studying abroad the same year I was and also played on the team and now lives in Montreal. T is French and was also studying abroad and playing on the rugby team. J is American and lived and played in Mexico before any of us met, so he is kind of the founder of everything and the reason we all met (kind of). To summarize:

P-Mexican, lives in Monterrey
Em-French, P's gf, lives in Monterrey
H-Spanish, lives in Montreal
T-French, lives in NYC
J-American (aka gringo), lives in Boston
me & Husband, live in Montreal

The boys at Mount Royal look-out

Walking in the Old Port

Ok, back to the story. After dropping off the suitcases, we walked to the bus station to pick up T and then we all went out for breakfast right in front of Place des Arts (a must-see in Montreal). Then we walked home to drop off T's suitcase and walked up Mount Royal (another must-see). Em & I had great chats on the way up about Mexico, living abroad, and life in general. We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day and a great view of downtown. We then walked down to the Eaton Center and the underground city toward the Old Port where we stopped to have beers and lunch. It was a great long lunch and we talked and laughed and reminisced about the good ol' days in Mexico. We then walked around the Old Port and walked along the St. Lawrence river. We walked back home and then went to H's house for dinner, where J met up with us. He prepared his famous paella (I may be biased but I do think it's the best in the world) and we had some wine and were merry.

H's paella

poutine

Saturday morning I had to work, but the rest of the crew woke up late and had a breakfast of champions (French toast) prepared by Husband. We met up at the Olympic Stadium, where they went up the elevator thingy that overlooks the city. H & I stayed behind and looked at the Olympic swimming installations. We were going to go to the Biodome as well, but the wait was 45 minutes and we decided it wasn't worth it. But if you are visiting Montreal with children, I highly recommend the Biodome, which is like a zoo but separated into different ecosystems. We went to the Eaton Center again, where P tried poutine for the first time. He said it was just OK. I say it's delicious, but it does look gross. Em wanted to buy shoes and they don't have Aldo in Monterrey, so we went and she bought awesome black heels. We then went to Peel Pub to watch the hockey game. The Montreal Canadians were playing the Boston Bruins so J was the odd man out in the pub, being from Boston and all, and the Bruins ended up winning so the hardcore Canadians fans were that much more hostile towards him. Thankfully nothing serious happened and thankfully I wasn't there to get stressed out about it, because Husband and I had tickets to a play that Santa had given us at Christmas, so we missed the game but caught up with our friends afterwards. After our play and after the game, we went to St. Laurent, which is a happening street in Montreal full of bars and clubs. We first went to a place called Upstairs (which is where we went last time we went out). It has pornographic art on the walls, OK music and a very young crowd: mostly university students. After a drink there we got sick of the pushing and shoving and debauchery and decided to go elsewhere. We went to Ballroom, which was a lot bigger and had great old school rap playing. I loved it! Oh and MM met up with us, another Montrealer who studied abroad with us in Mexico.

Walk around the lake by my parent's house

Sunday morning we all went out for breakfast at Chez Cora, which is the most amazing breakfast place ever. J had to leave us at this point, so we parted ways and after a delicious meal we decided to go ice skating at the Atrium (it's an indoor skating rink). An old 79-year-old man who does crazy figure skating there taught me how to skate backwards, but also told me that I wasn't that good at skating in the first place so I should probably just focus on going forwards. My parents had graciously invited the whole crew over for Easter dinner. We made it to the suburbs and I was amazed that the crazy animal rugby players I know were able to be civilized gentlemen around my parents. T even cut carrots (an amazing feat for someone who 4 years ago was unable to eat an orange properly). My siblings were there with their respective partners so all in all there were twelve of us. We had turkey, carrots, yams, turnips, potatoes, and colourful eggs (my dad always makes dyed eggs for Easter). We went for a walk around the lake and then had desert (hot crossed buns, obviously). We dropped T off at the bus station, then came home and watched The Hangover. H went home, and P & Em left at 4am to catch their flight.

It was an amazing weekend. They are truly great great friends and I can't wait to see them again! This weekend also made me realize how amazing Montreal is. I LOVE Montreal and I think more friends should come visit and discover how great it is! Hint hint...