Swim on Home!

Happy Easter Monday everyone (or what's left of it anyway)! I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend filled with family, friends, food and chocolate of some sort! I had a great Easter, potentially my best yet, especially since this year I had more surprises up my sleeve than the Easter Rabbit himself. Speaking of that rabbit, he certainly spoiled me this weekend, delivering me presents in Ancaster and Lennoxville and something tells me that I haven't received all of his gifts yet. Anyway, now that I am all hyped up on chocolate, here is a look back on my fantastic week. 

(For Uncle Andrew - A Spark Notes Summary: Monday - exam, Tuesday - Lennoxvenice, Wednesday - practicum, Thursday - road trip, weekend - Easter) 

It was a busy week here leading up to the long weekend. On Monday, I wrote my exam for my Kindergarten and Elementary Curriculum class. Before the exam, my friend Vicki and I tried to guess what the exam essay question was going to be based on the hints our professor had given us and I guessed that we would have to relate Robert Fulghum's "Everything I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" to all of our other readings. Guess what the exam question was...exactly that!   So I felt pretty good about myself as I was reading the introduction page of the exam and I think that my actual essay turned out ok, but we will see. Following my exam, I had my last shift working in Mackinnon, which was bittersweet. I had a great semester working as a duty helper in Mack and made a lot of new friends along the way. I experienced everything from "Club Mitch" to watching residents eat cookies off the ceiling - they never failed to keep me laughing. I wish them all the best of luck as they begin their lives as off-campus students. 

As I walked home Monday night, it was raining pretty hard but I did not think much of it. There had been talk about the rising water levels in the rivers near campus, but up until Tuesday, there hadn't been any flooding. However, since Monday had been so hot, a lot of snow had melted and combined with the rain, we awoke to a very soggy Lennoxville on Tuesday morning. The rivers had overflown and our campus and the roads near school were covered in water. There was so much water that students were getting their inflatable rafts out to float around and someone even went waterskiing through a parking lot! Lennoxville became Lennoxvenice and by the afternoon, campus was shut down to off-campus students. All exams were cancelled and postponed. Luckily, I did not have an exam so it did not affect me, but Elizabeth and Jocelyn both had cancelled exams. Our biggest concern was that the student dinner would be cancelled (it wasn't, so we got to enjoy a bbq meal). It kept raining all day on Tuesday and the water levels kept rising, eventually flooding out the apartment buildings near the river. Students were evacuated via police BOAT on Tuesday night! 

Comparing our school to Hogwarts!  

This is usually a parking lot. 

Also, on Tuesday night, I entered an Air Transat contest to attempt to win plane tickets to Paris! Here is the link to go online and vote for me (and Jocelyn). We are re-creating the Mary Kate and Ashley movie Passport to Paris. Click the link, then click the thumbs up in the bottom right hand corner of our photo, click ok and submit your vote! Today (April 22nd) is the last day to vote and I need all the support I can get! 

 http://statigr.am/contests/transateurope/700052199754464419_289186566?langue=en#/detail 

On Wednesday, I went for one last visit to Princess Elizabeth. The streets of Lennoxville were still flooded so we had to take a different route to get around all the water. My students were all surprised to see me and it was nice to get to see them again and tell them about the flood. That afternoon, I was supposed to have my professional interview with my professor for my practicum course but campus was closed again so it was postponed. So instead, I went to the final knitting club meeting of the year. Two girls trekked through the water to come from campus - the things we do for knitting! That night, Jocelyn and Hannah invited our friends Mitch, Phil and Mark over for dinner, in exchange for Dewies guest passes to use for Easter brunch. It was also our friend Mike's birthday, so Taylor, Tim and Mike came over for cake. Unfortunately, Mike is gluten-free and Hannah had made the cake before he confirmed he was coming over so he was offered a gluten-free beer and a bowl of fruit instead. Post-dinner and cake, I spent the rest of the night working on my practicum portfolio to use in my interview the next day. 

The streets of Lennoxvenice 

Thursday morning, I showed up at my prof's office all ready for my interview only to find out that the schedule I had signed up on was actually for the following Wednesday and not this past Thursday. In her email, my prof said she was available to reschedule Thursday and Wednesday so I had assumed when looking at the online sign-up that the first slots were for Thursday. I was wrong. Anyway, she had time to do my interview while I was there, so I was able to present my portfolio that I had been up until 2am completing. Essentially, the portfolio is a collection of my lesson plans, evaluations and reflective logs from the year and its purpose is to show my growth as a teacher since September. In the interview, we had to go over our portfolio and discuss our development of Quebec's Professional Competencies for teachers. It was almost better for me that I showed up 6 days early for my interview, as it was only supposed to be 20 minutes but I was in my prof's office for 40! I guess I had a lot to say. 

My portfolio! Blood, sweat, tears and 8+ hours of work all in one binder!
(Good thing I had sheet protectors)

Following my interview, I met my friend Ashley in Tim Horton's to work on a project and I went to the gym. Then, I had to hurry home because....I WAS BEING PICKED UP TO GO HOME FOR EASTER! Here is the backstory: up until Wednesday morning, I had been planning to stay at school for Easter, as I had exams to study for, projects to do and only one week left of school, so I did not want to go through all the travel hassle to go home, come back and then go home again, especially via public transport. However, on Wednesday, the girls from Dundas who drove me home last Easter messaged me to say that they were going to be renting a car to drive home and offered me a ride. I hummed and hawed about it, talked to my mom and finally decided that I would go. My grandparents were flying in from Winnipeg, I did not have too much to do here and Danielle and Alana are graduating this year and won't be around to drive me again, so I decided to go home for the weekend. However, I told my mom that I was going to stay at school. Alana and Danielle picked me up in the rental car and we spent the afternoon on the road back to the GHA (Greater Hamilton Area). We pulled up to my mom's house around 10pm and conveniently, my grandparents had just arrived - I went up to door and surprised them all! I think they all got a bit teary-eyed. My plan worked! I had been worried that my mom wouldn't fall for my trick, as my text the night before had been pretty vague and I had been avoiding texting her all day to make sure I didn't give myself away. The one downside to surprising her was that my bedroom aka the house storage closet was full of stuff so I had to sleep in my sister's bed that night. However, the bed sacrifice and the 9 hours on the road were all worth it to see the looks on my mom and grandparents' faces when they had opened the door that night. 

I knew that my dad and siblings were going to my granny's house on Friday so I had my mom text them and find out what time they were leaving for Toronto. At approximately noon, my sister sent my mom a message saying that they were leaving at 12:15, so I had to scramble to get ready and go over. My mom called my sister to say she had something important to drop off to be taken to Toronto, but my dad was impatient that morning and had no desire to wait around. Luckily, we met them on the road and I was able to surprise my dad and siblings when I hopped out of my mom's car and climbed into my dad's. I bet they are glad they waited around for the "important package."

Phase 3 of the surprise happened at Johnny's Burgers in Scarborough, where I surprised my granny while she was waiting in line to order food. I then had a Johnny's Burger for the first time, which was surprising to everyone as apparently they had all been multiple times before, especially my dad - it was the burger joint he had gone to all through high school. We took our 6 hamburgers, 1 hot dog, 4 cartons of fries and 2 cartons of onion rings back to my granny's house to enjoy. Then, I got to call upon my landscaping experience to help my dad and granny with some yard work, including digging out a tree stump and chopping down some cedar trees. Around dinnertime, Terri and her kids and my uncle and aunt showed up and I got to surprise them all! We then had Good Friday supper, complete with salmon (for the holiday observers), turkey, scallop potatoes, spetzla, napa salad, pink pudding and blueberry strudel and a side course of mini eggs and Lindt chocolate rabbits. It was a great meal and a great day, and Phases 2, 3 and 4 of the surprise were successful! 

Surprising Granny at Johnny's! 

Saturday, I woke up expecting the Easter Bunny to have visited my dad's hunt but unfortunately, he had not yet stopped by. I spent the entire day waiting, passing the time with studying and trips to the grocery store, pool and Walmart. He came right before Easter Saturday supper but we had to wait until after eating to hunt. Tyler, Connor, Lauren, Jamie and I each got out own pails and raced around the house to collect mini eggs and malt eggs that had been sprinkled on various surfaces on the main and second floors. I just want to point out that we were a group of teenagers running around the house and fighting for mini eggs - just goes to show that one is never to old for an Easter egg hunt! After collecting (and for me, eating) all the candy, we watched Saving Mr. Banks, another treat from the Easter Bunny and ate Easter cupcakes made by Lauren and sous-chef Tyler. 

Easter hunt #1! 

Sunday, I had planned to have an Easter sleep-in but those plans were foiled by the home reno team that showed up at 8am. I was up and ready to hunt for Easter eggs by 9am but Lauren and Jamie were still sleeping so the hunt was post-poned until 11. The Easter Bunny made the hunt a bit more challenging in our mom's backyard but we successfully found all 42 hidden eggs, with some assistance from our grandpa, who was pointing out eggs from the balcony. After our hunt, I went to visit my friend Alex and his family down the road and spent the afternoon there before coming home to help get ready for Easter supper. Our cousins from Oakville came over for dinner, however they were down one member as my cousin Claire had left for Florida that morning to cheer at the World Championships. Her family and my grandma are flying down on Wednesday to cheer her on. Too bad the competition wasn't two weeks later because then I could have gone as well! It was nice to see the other 4 though, especially Jaye, as she has been accepted to study at Bishop's in the fall, so I was trying to not-so-subtley promote my school to her throughout the evening. 

Easter hunt #2! 

After dinner, Alex and his brother came over for leftover carrot cake before heading over to a different neighbour's house for a backyard fire. We were obligated to share our cake with them because during the baking process our electric beaters had broken so they kindly lent us theirs. I made a brief appearance at the fire and after reliving the typical Ancaster high school party scene for half an hour, went back home to spend one last night with my family. 

Today, I got up bright and early at 7am to hit the road with Danielle and Alana at 8. My one request was that we stop at a Starbucks somewhere along the way, which we did before we even reached the highway. It's not a complete trip home without a Chai Tea Latte! We made really good time coming back, despite missing the turn off for Autoroute 30 and having to go through Montreal. I think I am cursed with being bad at directions and getting lost, even when I am not the navigator.  Anyway, I was back in Lennoxville to spend Easter Monday with my housemates by 5pm. I told them all about Easter in Ancaster and they told me about the Easter dinner they had gone to with all our friends on Saturday. I would have liked to have gone to the dinner but I am glad that I went home and got to spend some time with my family. As a bonus, when I got back to my house, my mom's Easter package had arrived (not that I need anymore chocolate). 

Lapin de Pâques au Québec 

Somehow it's past midnight already, meaning it's now Tuesday and I only have 5 days left in Lennoxville. Providing everything goes well with my exchange application, these will be my last  days in Lennoxville for the year, which is a scary thought. I have 5 days in Lennoxville, then 17 days in Ancaster and then it's off to Florida for 3 months! My dad and granny are driving out on Friday to pick me up (the day after my dad's birthday) and we will head out on Saturday. But right now, I need to bring my attention back to my school work and finish the semester off before my brain goes on vacation! So good luck to everyone on their final exams! The end is definitely in sight! 

Wishing you all a wonderful week! Next time you hear from me, I will be in a different province, halfway done my BA and packing to go to the happiest place on Earth! 

All my love, 

Erica xoxoxoxo

PS Good luck to my cousin Claire as she competes with Team Canada in Orlando this week! 

PPS To my best friend Elena, if you are reading this, I did not forget your birthday!! I am just planning something extra special for you when I get back to the province! Happy 20th birthday!! xoxo