Ski Bunny or Student?

Hello everyone on this balmy Tuesday afternoon. I say balmy as according to my weather app, it’s only -4’ outside, which is practically summer in Lennoxville at this time of year. It was a slightly more bearable walk to school today! School so far this semester has been going really well. I am really enjoying all of my classes and all the preparation we are doing for our practicums in March. However, it does sometimes feel like I’m back in grade school, since I have all my classes in the same classroom with the same people. I cannot complain because I’m part of a great group of pre-service teachers. Outside of classes, I am no longer the social media intern, so I have a lot more free time. I miss my job a lot, but it has allowed me more time to focus on Golden Key and to go skiing. I’ve skied more this year than the past 4 combined! It’s shaping up to be a great winter semester!

At the start of the semester, I had 6 classes on my schedule. One of the classes I was registered in I had never heard of before, and despite thinking I had memorized my degree requirements, I accepted that it was there, paid my fees and showed up to class. However, we later found out that it was only made a mandatory class for the incoming students of 2014 meaning no one in my year was required to take. While we were disappointed we did not get to have the profs teaching the course, it lightened the course load a little bit and the profs offered to do the course informally for those still interested. In terms of my other courses, I love them all. For any parents who are reading this, I am sure you have heard about DRA, or Developmental Reading Assessments, from your child’s teacher, and that’s what we are learning how to administer in my Language Arts class right now. Everyone in my class has been paired up with a first-grader at Lennoxville Elementary School and we did the DRA with them today. After we complete an assessment profile, we will be designing and implementing a mini-lesson to pilot with our student and then have a mock parent-teacher interview with our professor regarding our student’s reading progress. This class really makes you feel like a teacher.

In math class, I had a big teacher moment the other day when I bought my math manipulatives kit, complete with tangrams, base-ten blocks, pattern blocks, etc. Since I am hoping to teach math during my practicum, hopefully I can use them in my lessons. I loved math growing up in school, however teaching math is another skill entirely, I can no longer give up when my student does not understand how to perform an operation or does not see why an answer is wrong. We’ve covered place value and geometry so far and each week we have a short quiz on concepts from Grades 1 to 6. A side story for you: Most people know that geometry and spatial sense was never my strong point in school, which is what we covered yesterday in class. Our prof put one of those wooden block puzzles on our table yesterday, the kind with different shaped blocks that you put together to make a cube. The other students at my table put it together in maybe 3 tries or so, but I think I sat and struggled with it for minimum 20 minutes. However, my competitive nature kicked in and I did not give up, and finally, FINALLY, put that darn cube together.

Last Friday, we had CAST, also known as the Conference of Associate and Student Teachers. CAST is where pre-service teachers meet their associate teachers and supervisors for the first time. It was held in the Gait on campus. The conference was really well done and I feel much more prepared for my practicum now. My host teacher and I got right into planning the units I will be teaching while I am there and I already have my first evaluation set up with my supervisor! Scary! Yesterday, I actually went into my school since it was a planning day and got to tour the school, meet the other teachers and staff, and see my classroom. Ayer’s Cliff Elementary is a beautiful school in a very small but nice town. There is one class of every grade, each with about 15 students. All the classrooms are in the same hallway, except for pre-Kindergarten and the resource room. Going to the school allowed me to do better planning, because I could see the resources I will have available and the space I will be working in. I am going to be teaching Language Arts, Math, Art and Drama while I am there. I better start planning!

Outside of the classroom, I have been spending a lot of time outdoors. Vicki and I go skiing at least once, if not twice per week down at Jay Peak. At the start of the year, there still was not too much snow there, but every week, they get a bit more and it is slowly starting to accumulate and make the conditions better. Since we do not have class on Wednesday, we go Wednesdays and Saturdays. We’ve had all kinds of weather so far, from rain to wind to bitter cold to beautiful sunny days. What I really need to do is throw my bathing suit in the car so that when the conditions are not optimal, we can go to the waterpark.

We’ve had some pretty fun weekends this month as well. The first weekend back, my housemates and I went to watch our first Gaiters basketball game. After you take a moment to silently shame us for taking four years to get to a game, please continue reading. We finally made it, and that’s what counts. Gavin came with us too and who knew he was such an avid basketball fan? The following weekend, my housemates and I had a house party here, and the theme was “The Codfather,” an under the sea mixed with Italian Mafia theme. We felt neither theme was ideal on its own, so we combined them (to any of my friends from Wenonah who read this, throwback to WCIT Lord of the Musicals). It was a lot of fun and we had a good turnout of our extended group of friends. Try to guess some of the songs that were featured on the themed playlist.

 

Ahoy mates! 

This past weekend was the best one yet. On Friday, to celebrate 10 years since the release of High School Musical, our friends had everyone over to watch the first movie. On Saturday, Vicki and I skied all day and then came home for the third annual Chili-fest. For those who do not know what that is, three years ago, our friend Sara brought a tradition from home to Bishop’s – a chili cook-off! Different teams each make a chili and they are sampled in a blind taste test to determine a champion. What started with 5 chilis in 2014 grew to 12 chilis this year! The theme was Tom Hanks, so each chili was labeled with one of his movies. In order to be different, Vicki and I made a chilly chili, also known as a dessert chili. We found an awesome recipe online for a dessert that looked like a real chili, made with pudding, brownies, maraschino cherries, shredded coconut, chocolate covered raisins and whipped cream. In addition to our chilly chili, there were traditional chilis, noodle chilis, vegetarian chilis, chilis with meat other than ground beef and a gluten-free, low-calorie chili (aka boiled chili peppers). Craving chili yet? Once all had been sampled (minus mine and Vicki’s), the results were calculated and were as follows:

1) Sleepless in Seattle – Hannah “Returning Champion” McLean

2) Big – Sara “Vegetarians are People Too” Conway and Gaby “The recipe came as a vision in my sleep” Patenaude

3) The Terminal – Gavin “The Newcomer” McGuire

Following the sampling, everyone had a bowl (or bowls) of their favourite chilis, and then Vicki and I served ours. The bowl was licked clean, so I guess it was well received. While we all digested the immense amount of chili we had eaten, we brought out the board games and dance music and had a really great evening at Chilifest 3.0. Thanks to the Delta girls for hosting and to everyone who shared their delicious chili recipes! It was a lot of fun to attend this event for the past 3 years.

On Sunday, Gavin and I went snowshoeing at Mont Gosford, the mountain with the highest peak in Southern Quebec. We left at 9am in the morning and hiked from 10:30 until 4:00pm. Needless to say, I got my 10 000 steps in that day. It was my first time snowshoeing and my first time climbing a mountain in the winter (sans chair lift) and I have to say, it was an absolute blast! Debatably, I liked it better than skiing because there was no sitting around waiting on the chair lift. We walked about 12km or so, and the view from the highest point we reached was beautiful. It was a great day and beautiful weather. We thought it was going to be cold, but within the first kilometer we had removed at least 2 layers of winter clothing. We were a bit ambitious with our first ever climb but now we are hooked and I cannot wait to go again.

After a big day of outdoor activity, Golden Key had our Winter Potluck with Vice-Principal Miles Turnbull at his house in Lennoxville. We just welcomed five new officers on to our executive team so it was great to socialize with them at the event and get to talk with other members. Our faculty advisor Dean Murray was there, as was Dr. Turnbull’s partner Wade. Dr. Turnbull is an amazing chef! He made baked brie, salmon, pork loin, Thai-curried carrots, risotto – and that was in addition to the plates brought by members! Simone was the official greeter and I was the bartender. I made Skor bars for the event, and my plate was clean when I came home, with several requests for the recipe. However, my plate was not empty because Dr. Turnbull let us take home the leftovers! I’ve got dinner for the next week! I want to extend a huge thank you to Dr. Turnbull and Wade for hosting us and to all the Golden Key members who attended. I had a lot of fun, as I always do at our events, and cannot wait to move forward with our other Golden Key initiatives this semester. Speaking of which, we are kicking off our Better World Books drive, so dig out your old books and donate them to our drive!

Tonight, Vicki and I are going to Speaker’s Night to hear from those running to lead the SRC next year. Earlier, I went to ask my housemates if they wanted to go, then remembered that I am the only one who next year’s SRC will affect. Regardless, I am looking forward to hearing from the candidates. In other exciting news, my little sister is coming up for Winterfest this weekend and I could not be more excited! 3 more sleeps until she gets here and the freshly 18 year old Lauren takes on Quebec!

Have a great rest of your day/week!

All my love,

Erica xoxoxoxo

  

Winter Break 2015

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! Happy 2016!!! Hello from a very snowy and cold Lennoxville! I hope that you celebrated the end of 2015 and the start of the new year in style! I would also like to extend a not-so-warm welcome to winter, which has made its appearance in Ontario and Quebec. While the skier in me is happy that snow has finally arrived, the “student that walks to school in freezing cold Quebec” is not as impressed.

So now that I have caught my blog up on my past semester, I want to share a bit of what I did over the winter break. While it was my busiest break by far, it was definitely one of the best. From Disney to Christmas celebrations to seeing friends and family, I think I just about managed to squeeze everything in – well everything except a nap! But as I always say, I can sleep when I’m dead, so here is a look back on everything I got up to this winter break:

On the night I got home, one of my best friends from home and neighbour, Alex, picked me up at the end of my carpool and we went out for dinner to State and Main. The food and martinis there were sooo good! Alex is a huge fan of “You’ve Gotta Eat Here” so always knows the best new places to try. After dinner, we drove around the Hamilton Mountain to look for the best Christmas light displays. Little did we know that there is actually an annual competition and people register their houses online. We looked up the winners from last year and toured around the Mountain to see the best displays. No two houses were alike – some were themed, some had music and some had radio stations to tune into, like the last one we visited, which was by far the best. All in all, it was a great first night at home.

As I mentioned in my last post, celebrating my 21^st birthday lasted almost a month. In fact, I’m pretty sure I celebrated until the 22^nd. How did I manage to celebrate for so long, you ask? Well, earlier in the year, my mom and I were talking about turning 21 and she suggested that for my birthday, we take a trip somewhere in the United States. While she was thinking something along of the lines of Vegas, I instantly said that I wanted to go to Disney World. Surprised? Didn’t think so. Her response was to remind me that I was turning 21, not 12, but I was quick to explain my reasoning. When I worked there two summers ago, my friends there introduced me to a game called Drink Around the World, a game played at EPCOT. To those unfamiliar with Disney World, EPCOT is a Disney amusement park that features a world showcase, in which 11 countries are represented. For the game, you go around the showcase and buy a drink from every country. Fast-forward to December 13^th and my mom and I were on a place to Orlando! We stayed for three nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort in the Aruba section, though we spent hardly anytime at our resort. We landed on the Sunday and went straight to Hollywood Studios. It was not in our original plans to visit Hollywood Studios, but we heard about the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, a holiday lights display in the Streets of America and could not pass up the opportunity to see it. What’s more, 2015 was the last year for the lights show which has been on for the past 20 years; needless to say, it was an opportunity not to be missed.  All I can say is WOW! No Christmas lights display I have ever seen can compare to this one. There was music and a show coordinated to the music, there were moving parts, a spinning globe, a dancing tree – you name it, they had it. My mom and I spent a good chunk of time taking pictures and videos but no camera could do the show justice. After being thoroughly impressed by the show, we walked in the pouring rain over to the Boardwalk for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Trattoria Al Forno. We had to walk through a resort to get there and we passed by their pool, so we stole some towels in order to dry off before going to the restaurant. We still looked like wet dogs, so they sat us near the fire, which we were thankful for. The dinner and dessert were delicious! It was still raining when we left the restaurant, so we decided to call it a night and head back to Aruba.

On Monday, we went to the Magic Kingdom, which opened early for resort guests (thank you extra magic hours). This enabled us to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the ride that opened while I was working there, without waiting for 2 hours. My mom had never ridden it before, so it was fun to take her on it. We used our fast passes to do three more rides and then we went to the Crystal Palace for lunch. The Crystal Palace is a character buffet with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eyeore, who visit your table while you are eating. Earlier that morning, my mom had picked up a birthday button for me, so the characters gave me a birthday card and sang me happy birthday. It was so great!! And the food was delicious too! We were very full when we left, but got outside just in time to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade. I still remembered all the words to the parade soundtrack. Following the parade, we did the Jungle Cruise ride, which had been made over for the holidays as the Jingle Cruise, and the animals and scenery were decked out as well. We did a few more rides and then we went to the Disney Springs (the new and improved Downtown Disney) to do some shopping. After picking up a few souvenirs, we went to the Contemporary Resort for dinner, where we saw one of the creations for the Holiday Gingerbread Display, which was a large version of Elsa’s Palace from the movie Frozen. To make the palace, the designers used 273 eggs, 222 lbs. of icing and 423 lbs. of chocolate!It was very impressive! We then hustled back to the Magic Kingdom to watch Wishes (the fireworks show) and Celebrate the Magic (the lights show on the front of Cinderella’s castle), both which had an added touch for the holidays! They were sooo beautiful. We then watched the electrical parade, picked up some more souvenirs, marvelled at the castle and sadly, said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom.

Tuesday, the day for Drink Around the World finally arrived! We started the morning with Mickey waffles and then headed to the EPCOT. We rode our favourite ride, Soarin’, but unfortunately, when we wanted to ride Test Track, the ride broke down and everyone had to get out of line. The World Showcase was also decked out for the holidays, featuring a “Holidays Around the World” celebration, for which every country had some way of showing how the holidays are celebrated there. We met Father Christmas and performed carols in the streets in England, watched a man in Germany glass-blow ornaments, and saw the candlelight processional narrated by America Ferrera in the United States. While we celebrated the holiday season internationally, we did the Wine Walk around the world showcase. For this, we got 6 2-oz glasses of wine – 2 in Germany, 2 in Italy and 2 in France. This was a more cost-effective of way of drinking around the world. We ended our tour in Mexico, with dinner and margaritas at the San Angel Inn and then watched the EPCOT fireworks, Reflections. We then went back to the Boardwalk to go to Jelly Rolls, a duelling piano bar, which I was finally old enough to get into. It was so cool! There were 4 rotating pianists and you wrote your request on a napkin and took it to the stage for the pianists to play. On the night we were there, there were 2 birthday celebrations, an engagement and an anniversary in the audience, so the pianists played songs for them. We stayed there until just before 1am, were back at our hotel in bed by 2 and were up again at 3 to go to the airport and come back to Ontario.

On Thursday, Gavin came down to visit me, and my dad took us and Terri to the Buffalo Sabres game that night. Gavin had never been to an NHL game before, so it was a real treat to take him to his first game. While my dad and I were decked out in our fan attire, Gavin, a dedicated Toronto Maple Leafs fan, refused to wear a Sabres shirt. We went to the Lexus club for dinner and then watched the game against the Anaheim Ducks. While we were not successful in making it on to the Kiss-Cam, the Sabres were successful in beating the Ducks!

My birthday celebrations continued over the next weekend. On Saturday, my mom, Lauren and Jamie and I went for our annual Festive Specials at Swiss Chalet, which were delicious as always. On Sunday, I went to Toronto to meet my granny and see a show downtown. She takes me to see a show for my birthday every year, and this year we saw Kinky Boots. We were supposed to go in the spring, but my work schedule did not leave me with a spare weekend to go, and the show was scheduled to end in November, so we did not think I would get a chance to see it, but luckily it was extended through until March. And thank goodness it was because it was one of the best shows I have ever seen! Thanks Granny for taking me!

On the 21^st, it was Gavin’s birthday, so he picked me up in Scarborough and I went to Port Hope to spend the day with him. It was unfortunately very gray and rainy that day so our plans of walking around the main street of PH were foiled, but we still went out for a really nice dinner with his parents and visiting aunt. Little did we know we were actually going for dinner and a show – we went to a restaurant called the Carlisle Inn, which is in a very old building, and while we were waiting for our dessert, a little bat came flying in! The waitress was too scared to even enter the room! Thanks to the help of two of the cooks, the bat was removed from the room! It was a birthday dinner that will not be forgotten!

On Tuesday, Gavin drove me home (in his new car!!!) and then stayed in Ancaster for the night. My grandparents from Winnipeg had flown in that day, so I introduced Gavin to them. After dinner, we tried to go see Star Wars, but it was sold out everywhere, so went to see the Hunger Games instead. The next day, we went out for our annual Christmas lunch at the Hamilton Golf Club, which was delicious, and then went to Limeridge Mall to sit on Santa’s lap. Usually, we only do one photo, but Gavin, and my mom’s boyfriend, Ron had not sat on his knee in many years, so we had to do a small photo shoot.

 

The day did not end there. Gavin and I drove into Toronto to go to a party at his friend’s house in Scarborough. We went to his sister’s place in the Distillery District first, put on our Christmas sweaters, then went to the party. It was my first time meeting his friends from high school, and they were all very sweet and welcoming. Actually, I knew one other person there, a friend named Meaghan, who had gone to Camp Wenonah for many years with me. It was nice to see a familiar face when I walked in the door. We did a Secret Santa gift exchange, for which I wrapped up homemade hot chocolate powder and Bailey’s, and received Starbucks coffee and tea – it’s like my Secret Santa knew they had me! We stayed there pretty late and then I used Uber for the first time to get back to Gavin’s sister’s place. It was a very fun night  - hopefully I get invited back in the future.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we went for a walk around the Pan Am Games site and saw the renovations going on in that area. I got dropped off at Union station and had a #ItsASmallWenonahWorld moment, when I ran into one of my co-workers while waiting for the train. She had been in town for the Wenonah Staff Christmas party, which I had unfortunately been unable to attend due to my family lunch. The rest of the day flew by as I scrambled to get all my presents wrapped and under the various trees. We then went to my dad’s brother’s house for dinner, where I had a small-world Bishop’s story when I learned my aunt’s mom once taught in the Eastern Townships at the school where I did my first practicum and completed her science degree at BU! What makes it even better is that my uncle’s friend was over, who is a BU grad, so we had 3 Gaiters at our Christmas Eve dinner! How crazy is that? Following dinner, we went to my friend’s annual family Christmas Eve party where I saw all my friends from the street I grew up on. We did not stay for too long since we had to go to bed so Santa could come!

Christmas was as crazy as usual. We woke up and spent the morning with my mom and grandparents and then went to my dad’s to spend the afternoon with my dad, step-mom and step-brothers. Santa and my family definitely spoiled me, and I am very thankful for everything I received. I got a lot of new running gear, including a water bottle belt, a new winter shirt, mitts and a neck warmer so I can continue running in the Lennoxville winters. I have already put them to great use. We then went to see my maternal side of the family and drove out to my mom’s brother’s house in London for Christmas dinner. My uncle and his girlfriend hosted us in their new house this year, so it was a little less squished than past years. It was great to catch up with all of my cousins. My one male cousin Duncan told me all about his new job with Mattamy Homes; for his current assignment, he is designing a subdivision in North Pickering! Much to Ron’s dismay, the rumoured annual dancing and singing party did not happen, but we did have a car racing competition, in which my grandpa lost a lot of money in various bets. One of my cousins got a selfie stick for Christmas, which was used to take our family photo, in which my grandma sported the latest fashion – the schnauzer hat. Never a dull moment at Christmas with the Websters!

On Boxing Day, I shopped for a grand total of 45 minutes, only to experience the disappointment of the century when the one item I went to buy was NOT on sale. Lured in under false hopes, I bought the watch anyway. We then made a family outing to see Sisters, the new Tina Fey and Amy Poehler movie, which had my mom and I in tears laughing so hard, whole everyone else in the theatre slightly chuckled at the movie and laughed at my mom and me. Following the movie, we went to my dad’s for a turkey dinner and spent the night there. The entertainment for the evening was Jamie and Connor’s new laser pointers, straight from the streets of Italy.  They were shining them into our neighbours’ houses, to the point that two of them actually came over to yell at the boys! Lucky for them, Terri fended the angry neighbours off, but told Jamie and Connor they would have to fend for themselves if any more neighbours dropped by.

On the 27^th, I FINALLY met up with Elena for our routine visit to Cora’s for brunch. As per usual, I ran into several people that I knew, including a former fellow flautist from high school band, a former soccer teammate and a friend’s younger sister (Small town problems). It was great to catch up with Elena, and hear about her semester and job at my old skating club.  She is now choreographing solos and has skaters competing. Our visit was cut short as she had cousins from out of town visiting, but it was still an afternoon well spent. That night, I went to see my friend Andrea and test out her new hot tub. Verdict – it’s wonderful. We did not have much time to catch up at her Christmas Eve party, so it was nice to have her all to myself for a few hours. We then served as Jamie’s personal Uber service, only to have him light the way home with his laser pointer and recount his evening with his friends wandering the streets and pointing the lasers into houses. And Terri thought the boys would not like the gift…

On the 28^th, the Brady Bunch went axe throwing. Now, if you’re like me, you might be wondering what the heck axe throwing is, but it is exactly what it sounds like. You throw axes at wooden target boards. Terri had heard about it from her colleagues so we decided to give it a try. We went to a place called Bad Axe Throwing in Mississauga and had a two-hour session, complete with a throwing lesson and many competitions. We were in a garage in an industrial park and had the gym to ourselves.  Dad, Terri, Connor and I were a team (the Bulls-eye’s), and Lauren, Tyler and Jamie were a team (the Bad Axes). We threw the axes with two hands, one hand, eyes closed, upside down, on the diagonal, and two at a time. To end the session, we had an every person for themselves contest, for which Jamie was the overall winner. Despite my initial hesitations, it was so much fun!

   

On the 29^th, I drove up with my granny to Collingwood to meet up with Gavin and his family who were staying in the Blue Mountain Village.  On the way up, we stopped for lunch with my granny’s old neighbour, Pat Carter, who I had not seen in many years. We used to make gingerbread houses with Pat every year. She now lives on a farm north of Toronto in a beautiful, beautiful home. When we were there, she had just finished renovating her basement. She is now a grandmother and has three grandkids of her own. I learned all about them over lunch. It was a real treat to see Pat this break.

I then stayed with Gavin and his parents over New Year’s. Unfortunately, there was almost no snow at Blue Mountain, so we did not get to ski, but spent time shopping in downtown Collingwood and in the Blue Mountain Village, went hot tubbing, and saw the Collingwood Ice Sculpture display. We went out for dinner the three nights I was there, the first night for Greek food with his parents, the second night for a sushi date and the third night all together for New Year’s Eve. New Year’s was a lot of fun – we went for a really nice dinner, then drinks at the Westin hotel and rang in the New Year with the midnight fireworks. Happy 2016!

I traveled back to Ancaster on the 1^st and then mom, Lauren, Jamie, Ron and I went to do the Chedoke stairs, which is a set of 289 stairs up the side of the escarpment. We went up them 10 times. Starting the new year off right. My calves have not stopped hurting since then. I then had one last meal at home and packed my suitcase to go back to school.

For my last day of break, we had my Zucker family Christmas at my granny’s place in Scarborough. First, I went with all of my cousins to see the Ross Petty pantomime, which this year was Peter Pan. It was a bittersweet show, as it was the last time Ross Petty would be in the show. But the show did not disappoint and I did not stop laughing throughout the entire performance. After the show, we went back to my granny’s house for dinner and gifts, and Gavin joined us for dinner. I had no idea what my family would pull out to “welcome” him, but sure enough, as he pulled into the driveway they started chanting his name as he walked up to the door. And of course, the brag book was pulled out and all my baby pictures were on full display. Despite it all, the evening was really nice – a great way to end my break.

And today I drove back to Lennoxville with Gavin and his roommate Chuck. We were on the road for about 7 hours in total,  and only encountered one bad patch of snowy weather. Now, I’m catching up with all my roommates, and eagerly awaiting Jen and Hannah to come home. I start classes at 9am tomorrow morning and can’t wait to see what this semester will bring!

Happy first day back to reality to everyone heading back to school and work tomorrow! Thank you to everyone who spoiled me rotten this winter break! Wishing you all a happy, healthy and successful 2016!

All my love,

Erica xoxoxoxox