So I went to Montreal for the weekend after my first practicum block and our seventh (or eighth...depending who you ask) anniversary. I was pretty glad to be done the first bit of practicum + going to Montreal to see Gillian made it a pretty good weekend. We didn't do anything special, just ate at an Indian restaurant (since we have yet to have it as a type of food in the past ...7 ...years).

Also we ate at a Vietnamese place Pho Cali on sunday before I hopped on the train back. They don't do very good Bun Thit Nuong (vermicelli, bbq pork!) but I didn't feel like eating pho. I guess it's one of those places that has good pho but not much choice on anything else? I think we'll try a different place next time. Oh yes, I forgot the main reason I was writing was to say that I then bought a few Vietnamese subs to bring back to Kingston. I would've taken a picture but I've eaten them already... mmm.


( Two pictures... there weren't many )

Today I was reminded about my big problem with Canada. This morning, October 28, when I got up to go to school, it was raining, which is fine, I'm okay with rain. Later on in the day, when I'm ready to go back home, I realize the rain has turned into snow. Actually, come to think of it yesterday it was hailing, then sunny, then rainy. I guess I should be used to it coming from Halifax but I remember the good ol' days of a few flurries on two occasions in the entire winter.

For our last day of the thanksgiving weekend we went to a farm that had a corn maze for people to wander through. We went with my littlest cousin and the farm gave us a little sheet to mark off animals as we found them in the maze which explains the pictures of animals. We didn't find them all and eventually gave up. After that we went on a hayride, had a picnic lunch and then looked for pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.


( Pictures of a maze )

So I had my first week of teaching before thanksgiving (This is currently my second) and although I'm only teaching one class, I'm now realizing how busy teachers really are! I mean, you know teachers are busy but then when you are one, I can almost barely keep up...
Oh well, it's just the first practicum...I have 3 more...

Anyway, for the Thanksgiving Weekend, Gillian came to visit and we went to a family gathering in Peterborough for dinner on Saturday. Good times. We also went to a farm to explore a corn maze on the Monday but I'll put pictures of that up later.



( Thanksgiving...no pictures of turkey, but of an emu? )

Today I went apple picking at an orchard that I've been hearing about since August. It was worth the wait, because the apple cider doughnuts they make there are fantabulous. We went to the orchard in the morning then went to my aunt's for dinner where we played Rock Band and sang some fun tunes on the piano...

Overall, a nice saturday before I begin practicum.

( Apple Cider Doughnuts! )

I guess not many check this anymore seeing as how no one has posted in 16 weeks! Well, I go to Queen's Education program now and my cousin wanted to see a picture of my bachelor, so I have a few photos from a typical day this week. It was gloomy the whole week...probably because this is the last week of classes before our first practicum.

( A typical day until the evening )

Big news: This year is the 100th anniversary of Anne of Green Gables!

In even more exciting news, we recently had a takoyaki party with my language exchange partner!

( Yummmmmm )

Aside from that, Gillian will be going to Montreal next year, and I will be going to Kingston, Ontario for school. Hopefully they'll have takoyaki there.
Also, I won't be going to Japan with Toshi for the last 2 weeks of may, Gillian and I will go to Europe instead. Maybe I will have to go to Japan in July!

So the moral of this post: come to PEI this summer, we'll have takoyaki.

So a couple weeks ago we went to Varadero, Cuba for a week. It was my first time to an all-inclusive resort, and let me just say I put on a couple pounds (I'm sure). Aside from that, it was pretty fun, not much to do but it was nice to just hang out in the sun and check out a couple cities in Cuba.

The people were great, though always wanting a tip for everything, like the girl who held the door open at the restaurant. The food was so-so...it was never -great- though the sit down restaurants did a nice job, the buffet had good variety but was not super yummy. Though I eventually got sick of fried stuff. The beaches and resort were beautiful, the water (even in the 'winter' of Cuba) was great.


( I wanna go back to sunny days )

San Diego, California was warm, sunny, full of Vietnamese people and lots of good food. So, I spent 5 days there eating food with Vietnamese people in the warm sun. Of course we had to get there first. Our first flight was canceled! Then our flight the next day was delayed by 5 hours!

Anyway, long story short, we got there, I met a million cousins and first cousins once removed that I had never known (some who had just come over from Vietnam in September so they didn't know any English), ate lots of Vietnamese food and had all you can eat Japanese food once! Another important detail is that we went to a karaoke box with Japanese songs! I'm all out of practice here in Halifax, the city of no Karaoke box!

Well, my computer already crashed once trying to type this, so I'm just going to post it.

( Sunny days )

Just to let everyone know, we did eventually make it to California. Our flight to Toronto was quite on time at 6am but our flight to San Diego was delayed like 5 hours, I believe first due to snow not being removed fast enough and then our crew being illegal and having worked too many hours and for our safety they had to get in another crew. I don't ever want to be in the Toronto airport ever again.

One weird thing I noticed was a young girl who was sitting next to me on the flight to Toronto who called someone when we landed saying something about how she bought this ticket in the middle of the night and hopped on this plan and said her parents would kill her if they knew. She said she didn't tell her roommates so I guess her parents live in TO? It was weird.

There was also a man sitting behind me who liked to jab his touch screen which didn't help me sleep.

Oy.