Sunday, 19 January 2014

Winterfest Wonderland!

Hello everyone! Today's post comes to you from the Mackinnon common room where I am eating dinner while the surrounding residents watch the NFL game. I feel slightly out of place due to the fact that I am the only female in the room and also a duty helper so I hope I am not cramping their style. I just needed a table and WiFi, which is how I ended up here. Anywho, tonight marks the end of a fabulous week and I am excited to tell you all about it! (Ok five girls just arrived so I feel a little less outnumbered)

Alrighty, so the week started off wonderfully as Monday was my first day back to practicum! Despite having to get up before 7 (which was slightly painful), it was 100% worth it to see my students again! They all remembered me and asked me about my holidays, but were slightly thrown off that I was there on a Monday. On a side note, even my students are aware of my addiction to Starbucks as the firs thing one said to me was "Miss Erica did you get to have Starbucks over the break?" I did not get to teach anything unfortunately but I was able to chat with my associate teacher about her plans for the upcoming weeks, so tomorrow I will be helping her with reading assessment. I also want to ask her if I can create a project to do with the students about the Olympics. I want to do a project with them that I did in grade six where each student chose an aspect of the games to focus on and gathered information about it and then shared it in some way with the class. I was thinking that with their iPads they have so much access to different types of media coverage that they would all be able to come up with something super creative, so I will chat with my teacher about it tomorrow. I also got to go out on duty during recess for the first time which would have been fun except for the fact that the playground was one giant sheet of ice and I kept falling down (which the students thought was hilarious). If my playground in elementary had been like that, it would have been a blacktop recess for sure. It was hard to leave practicum but I had to get back for my first Monday of classes. 

I had two classes - my practicum small group meeting and Introduction to Kindergarten and Elementary Curriculum. My one professor is away in Africa so it was his wife (who is a prof at McGill) who taught the first class for K-E. She is really nice so I did not mind. We had to tell a story about a teacher or learning moment that motivated us to learn so I told a story about when my high school music teacher failed my playing test in front of the entire class. For some reason, I found it really motivating to try to prove her wrong the next time I played the solo. Following class, I went to knitting club, which is now on Mondays and brought Hannah along with me, who is quite the avid knitter herself. I was so proud to hand my finished hat to Wendy, the head of the club and as a reward, got a new ball of wool to make a new hat. After that, I went to Provigo to do my weekly shopping and then went home for our first family dinner of the semester, cooked by Jocelyn. I then did some homework and had a fairly early night as it was an exhausting day and I had a big week ahead. 

Tuesday I woke up early and went to see Dr. Gulliver, who is the chairperson of the education department. I needed to get a letter of approval from him for my exchange application. He was impressed at all the planning I had already done so he was happy to approve my request. I then tried to go see the exchange coordinator but the line was too long for me to wait in. She is really busy right now with all the new international students who are still trying to sort their semesters out. I then went for a swim and to my two afternoon classes, the Reading Process and Child Development. I am really, really enjoying the classes and feel like I learn a lot about kids and learners by the time both classes are over. I then tried to go to the exchange office again but the coordinator was busy. Again. So I went home, did some homework, CALLED MY SISTER BECAUSE IT WAS HER SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY and then went to the first Student Ministry dinner of the semester, where we had stew and chocolate cake for dinner. A lot of our friends made an appearance so these dinners are becoming quite the social outings. Sarah said they are serving about 300 people each week. After that, I had my first night class, History of Children's Lit. It was with one of my favourite professors but it is going to be a lot of readings and a lot of work. And some of the early works that we have to read are written in such old English that it takes me a few tries to figure out what the author is saying. But as long as I put in the work, I am sure it will be a good class. 

Wednesday I had planned to go to the exchange office again but got sidetracked doing homework. Then, I was supposed to go to a trial fitness class at the gym but when I got there, nobody else was at the class, not even the instructor! Apparently, I was the only one who wanted to do some extreme fitness on a Wednesday morning. So I ran on the treadmill for a bit and then went to my afternoon class. I had also signed up for a free yoga class trial after class, so I went to that and it was really nice. Apparently, the football coach wants the football players to try out a yoga class so there were a bunch of football boys there and they were trying so hard to do the poses! I'm sure by the end of the semester, their flexibility will improve! Following that, I had planned to go to the library to do a reading but I saw my friends Jason and Steph as I was leaving and they invited me to do the free Zumba class with them (did I mention that it was trial week at the gym?). So I stayed for half of the class and then went and signed a textbook out of the library and took it home to do my reading. I came home and made hamburgers for dinner (PC menu burgers, not home made unfortunately) and we had a nice family dinner, followed by some homework and then a screening of the Bachelor. Jocelyn and I found out that Sarah is also an avid Bach fan so our Bachelor parties are growing. If you are in Lennoxville and need some great reality tv in your life, our Bach parties are open to all. 

Thursday, I made another appearance at the Exchange office but again couldn't get in to see the coordinator. It was just not my week apparently. I went for a swim at the gym and then to class. In reading process, we had to get into groups for our term project, so I am working with my friends Jason and Vicki and a new to the program student Shayne and we are doing a class lesson on spelling. I think it would be cool to do some sort of spelling bee or test simulation where students are given different disabilities to portray while trying to spell the words. Just a beginning idea. Following class, I went home and then to Provigo to buy some sushi to take with me to work that night. I was on duty with Vicki on Thursday so I went down to campus and started off the night eating sushi with chopsticks (impressive, I know) in the Mackinnon kitchen. Vicki and I did a round together, I met some more residents and then we watched Scott and Tessa in the common room together. I was so excited that the tv was free to watch the show and happy that Vicki wanted to watch it with me. We then took turns doing rounds on the half-hour and worked together to "encourage" residents to leave once quiet hours started. The residents were really fun though, showing me their beer mountain (a collection of beer cans and bottles duct taped together in a closet) and their funny videos. One of the RAs Rob had a "Beat the Hangover" event in the common room at 1am, so all the residents came home from the Gait to get gatorade, hot dogs and Kraft Dinner before heading to bed. One of the residents there introduced herself to me and said that she had read my blogs last year which helped her choose Bishop's. Similar to when this happened in October, I almost started tearing up I was so flattered. I am so happy that I have been able to meet some of my previously unknown readers! 
Sushi date for one! 
After a late night (aka 4am bedtime), I got up to go skiing at Jay Peak with my friends Rob and Dave. They had told me they were leaving between 8 and 9 so I got up and made my lunch and waited in my bed for their text. They didn't wake up until quarter to 9 so changed the pick up time to quarter to 10. Once they got me, we had to go pick up their other friend Max in Paterson who then forgot his passport so it was about 10:20 by the time we left Lennoxville. The drive to the border was smooth but then we got chosen for a search at the border and what an intense search it was! They made us empty all of our pockets and looked through our jackets and were frankly, not very nice to us. I guess they were just doing their job. So we were finally allowed into the USA but then we made a wrong turn and got lost which detoured our trip by another 40 minutes. We finally made it to the hill by 12:30. Luckily I had my lunch to eat in the car. The conditions were beautiful once we got there though! I skied the first run with the boys but they wanted to do the trails in the forest so I skied on my own for a bit and then met up with them for the last hour of the day. When we were coming down our last run, Rob wanted to do a glade run which I told him would not lead back to where we were parked but he didn't believe me and down we went. Like I had predicted, we were on the wrong side so luckily, we could take the shuttle bus back to the parking lot. Despite all the inconveniences, the skiing was great! And I had a nice nap all the way back to Lennoxville. 

That night, my housemates and I went out to the Dragon Society's Keg Party, which was a fundraiser for the fraternity and the cheerleading club. There, I ran into a few Japanese exchange students and 2 of them are students from Yamaguchi and knew some of my students from the fall. One of them has a class with me so I introduced her to several of my friends in the program that were at the party as well. The party was not as packed as we had expected but that was ok because majority of my friends were there, including Vicki, making her first appearance off campus. We were on the dance floor dancing and all of a sudden the music started getting better and we looked up at the DJ and it was our new friend Shayne from our Reading Process group! We stayed and danced until maybe 1:30ish and then left and brought some friends back to our house for a bit. All in all, it was a great first night out for me and I am excited for more fun nights to come!

I swear Sarah was there we just didn't get a picture with her on my camera! 
Saturday, Elizabeth's friend Maddy who lives at the bottom of our street invited us over for brunch, so Jocelyn, Hannah, Elizabeth and I went over and had mimosas, eggs, toast, bacon and fruit salad with Maddy and our other friend Sarah. I then went home and went for my first outdoor run since Halloween (and wore my fancy new running jacket - thanks Dad!). I had only planned to go for 40 minutes and set my timer accordingly, but my alarm went off when I was still 15 minutes away from home! My ankle hurts a bit now but nothing like in November, so I will rest it, ice it and stretch it a lot before I run again. Then my housemates and I went to the Winterfest Rail Jam, which is when the SRC sets up a whole bunch of outdoor activities in our Quad, including a scaffolding with rails for skiing and snowboarding on and there is a competition for boarders and skiers. There was also a ball hockey tournament, ice bar, and a DJ and dance floor. It was an absolutely beautiful day and a ton of my friends were there so it was a great afternoon! One of the guys who lives across the road from us was in the competition so we were sort of cheering him on. We treated ourselves to hot chocolate and bailey's from the ice bar and cuddled under the space heater to keep warm once the sun went down. The competition wrapped up around 5pm so we headed home to de-thaw!





That night, Hannah's frosh group was having a reunion party, since our friend Kevin, who was one of the leaders, was back in town before he leaves to go on exchange in Japan. The party expanded beyond just the one frosh group so we went over to hang out for a bit. When we got there, there were balloons and party hats and cake - they had turned the party into a birthday party for Taylor, though his birthday is not until May. I think they just wanted to smash the cake in his face which they did after singing happy birthday. Poor Taylor :( at least it was good icing! There was a huge concert at the Gait that night but we did not want to pay the $10 to go so we stayed at the apartment party. I have made a promise to myself to try to go out a bit more this semester but by the time 2am rolled around I was ready for bed so Vicki, me and 2 residents left around 2:30 and they walked me to the main road before going our separate ways. 

You can't really tell but I am hugging the dog that was at the party! 
And today. I spent the morning doing homework, talking to my dad and uploading some shots of the weekend to Facebook. Oh yes, and I accessed my virtual child account so spent an hour raising my new baby Bridgette! (see photos below - she is already 8 months old!) Then, Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah and I went skating at the campus rink. Our skating club is growing! We were joking about getting WP skating sweaters to wear when we go now. Maybe I will have to whip something up at knitting. I did some more homework in the afternoon and then packed up my dinner and homework to go to work. The night got off to a rough start, as security did not yet have keys for me to use, so I was a bit stuck with how I was going to get into the building. Luckily, a fellow RA Sam let me in and another lent me some keys in case there are any lockouts. Luckily, Sundays are only 11:30 nights so I will be able to get home and rest up for practicum in the morning! 

She's growing up so fast! 
So as you can see, my life is just as busy as usual. I might have to allow myself a little sleep in sometime in the near future to catch up on sleep. I do not work any late nights this week which is nice. Other fun things coming up this week include: going to the Golden Key executive meeting tomorrow and Big Buddies starting up on Saturday, followed by a fundraiser in the evening. I have lots of school work to do on top of it all so time management will be key! And it is supposed to get pretty cold here so good thing I am all set with my parka and new Sorel boots! 

Wishing you a wonderful week! 

All my love, Erica xoxoxoxoxoxo

PS Other important news:
1. Happy 40th Birthday to my Uncle Andrew! Hope you are enjoying your surprise vacation weekend!
2. Happy 19th Birthday to my best friend Andrea! The lucky duck got to go see Wicked last night which I am sure was amazing! 
3. My sister and mom were in Indianapolis for the weekend at the "Cheer-lympics." Haven't heard the final results yet but I am sure that they were wonderful! Go Sharks! 

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