Korea!

Wow, just think, if I'd have waited until now rather than posting in December I could have made it seem as though I never left Asia ;)!

I did though, and good thing too if you consider just how much I managed to cram into my 6 months at home! *shakes head* I still can't quite believe my fall and winter were as busy as they were! Everything just went by so fast! And now, here I am, sitting on my bed in my new apartment in Gwangju, South Korea.

Well then, starting up where I left off, we did actually manage to get in some decent skiing over New Years (although only for a day - I wanted more!) and the Chalet-time with the gifties was as awesome as ever. I think at the height we had nearly 30 people up there! Sadly,cousin Joseph and I managed to miss each other on the hill once again - one day, one day we'll make it!

After that it was back to school for a short while as I worked to finish an entire first year online bio course in under a month while still working at Indigo, sorting out travel documents, tutoring, dancing and circusing. This turned out to be great fun as I often used home labs as an excuse to bake. Fermentation lab using yeast? Bread please! Banana DNA extraction - clearly calls for banana, hazelnut chocchip muffins *grins*. I also managed to work in seeing friends before I ran off, chilling with both sides of the family, Twice! And going out with the cousins to see One for the Money - which was actually a lot better than we expected. I'm super glad that even with Katherine Heigl's atrocious jersey accent they managed to really keep to the flavour of the books :). I didn't manage to see too many shows this year (though I did see the National Ballet's preparations for Sleeping Beauty!) but Jess, Em and I did make it out to American Idiot, the musical based on Green Day's music. It was enjoyable but not my favourite (maybe if I was just a more dissatisfied person in general?)

The end of January/beginning of February saw me not only finishing up with tutoring, bio and working at Indigo - farewell! I'll miss you! (but promise to return) - but the end of living on the lake front with Julianne as we both moved into our parents places to prepare for our respective departures (hers to London, mine to Korea).

Of course, no February is ever complete without the event that is Kat's bday and this one was fun as per usual. Similarly, flights out were scheduled for the 15th so as not to miss Em B's bday on Valentines :). Packing also took place around this time - *shakes head* I'd forgotten how annoying it is to pack when you are moving to another country for an entire year. So much stuff! Everything made crazier by the fact that Ma and John were heading off to Costa Rica only a few days prior to my departure. Nevertheless, everything got packed - though now that I'm here I'm wondering if some things couldn't have been left behind and others brought instead... Oh well!

Getting all that stuff to my hostel in Seoul on my first night was definitely a trek. I'm so glad I ran into Lauren, a nice Seoul-ite who offered to help me! I'm also really glad that I had my friend Minjung, her sister Sojung and their dad to help me get my stuff to their place while I stayed with them, and then from there to the bus stop! (lol, I'm making it sound like I brought far more than I did. I had my travel backpack, rolling suitcase, rolling carry-on and laptop bag. Perfectly possible for one person to transport but quite unwieldy down busy city lanes).

I spent my first night in the Hongdae University area and my first morning exploring (read: getting lost until I figured out the street sign system (which no Koreans ever actually use)) on my way to ballet class (yes, in true me fashion, I went to ballet the morning after arriving - it was so hard not to go, knowing it was there... having spent all that time on the plane ;) ). The flight itself, by the way, was incredible. I went Toronto to Newark, Newark to Beijing and then Beijing to Seoul. Seems a bit zig-zaggy until you realise that it's actually the shortest flight path because... You get to fly over the North Pole!!! Oh my gosh! So beautiful! I don't think I can even begin to describe watching the sun set and rise over the curve of the globe. So colourful despite the black sky and white snow underneath! Loved it. Sadly, I was so busy watching this that I took no pictures...
Another thing I failed to photograph as we passed over it was the Gobi Desert. As the sun had risen, Siberia was mostly cloud covered, and people were still asleep, I had politely closed my window when asked to. When I clued in what we were about to fly over however, I quickly flung it back up (the people were all awake and being fed at this point) - just in time to catch the last of Siberia and the first of the Gobi. Soo gorgeous. Wind and snow swept sand dunes make for incredible landscape. It was just so barren! and the sky was so clear! I was devastated however, when I clued in that our flight path meant that we'd also flown over Lake Baikal in Siberia - and I'd missed it! I'm now trying to convince myself that it's okay as it was likely covered by clouds but I think I'll just have to find a way to pass over that area again some day ;).

That afternoon I met up with Minjung and her sister for some Seoul sight seeing which included dressing me up in hanbok, traditional Korean clothing. I also got to have hotpot while sitting on my first heated floor :).

My stay with Minjung's family in Seoul was delightful. She and her sister are great company (SoJung knows so much history!) and their family wonderful hosts! Their mother kept me excellently fed on traditional dishes such as Bulgolgi and Ddeok guk (usually eaten during the lunar new year) and even had us make Kimbap (Korean-style sushi). Minjung, Sojung and I also braved the cold (it was -13C! This is apparently the coldest Korean winter since 1951!) to go check out Geoyonbuk Palace, the 14th century palace destroyed by the Japanese in the 16th century and then rebuilt in 1865. It's located right in the centre of Seoul and it's absolutely gorgeous. Seoul, and Korea as a whole, is made breathtaking by (no, not the pollution coming over from China) the fact that there are mountains everywhere. I'm not kidding, they are literally all around. No exaggeration. Yup, so Seoul? Very pretty. Very cold at the moment though. From there we went to Insadong, the traditional market area, to check out the shops and try out some snacks. There was the traditional court desert made from honey and corn starch (and filled with nuts) - omg! the guys making it were hilarious, they sang out all of their actions in order to get peoples attention. so funny! and hoduk, dough pockets fillet with warm honey and nuts, and the walnut treats! Mmmm hoduk. They just ooze deliciousness.

From Minjung's it was back off to the airport for me. From there I was to be transported to my orientation site in Jeonju. Hmm... I just realised I never actually explained what I was doing here... I am a guest native English teacher placed in the public system as part of EPIK, the Korean government's English Program in Korea. I personally am located in a Middle School on the outskirts of the City of Gwangju in the Southern Jeolla-do province in the Southwest of the peninsula. EPIK brings in teachers twice a year and the orientation for all those headed to the south of the country was held at Jeonju University. Orientation itself was great. Made so many friends from all over the world, many of whom, including my orientation roommate Tracy are not located in Gwangju - providing me with a great excuse to go traipsing around Korea on weekends. This is completely possible as Korea, despite it's huge population, is a tiny country requiring only 5 hours to cross :). Training itself was fairly intense, but there was still time to learn some basic Korean and some Taekwondo (We had the Jeonju University Team, many of whom are members of the Korean National Team, do a demo at our opening ceremony. They were Phenomenal! Just incredible. Their coach coaches the national team and had everything choreographed to music with comedic breaks in between for stage cleanup. I called it Taekwon-dance. These guys (and girls) were breaking boards while flipping 7 feet in the air!),  as well as to head out on a field trip to check out Jeonju's famed traditional Hanok Village and try their take on Jeolla-do's bibimbap (verdict? I like Gwangju's seafood-based ones better :) ).

After training, it was time to say goodbye to those headed to other cities and hop on a bus to our own :). So far I quite like Gwangju, I am living out in the suburbs to the West. It takes about 45 mins to get into down town by bus (half that when it's not rush hour) but it seems to take that long to get around even for those who are closer! Thus far I've managed to head into town twice, the first for exploratory purposes (people claim that Gwangju is too unwieldly to be walkable, so far I've found that this is not at all the case... then again, I really like wandering :) ) and the second to get my back account. I really like the down town area, there are lots of cute narrow streets, a decorated canal and good cheap food. My area is also really cute and easily navigable, it's like a tiny little city in it's own right. It's an industrial park so it's not the richest area but friends who lived here previously have said that it's up and coming. My future co-teachers have all told me similar things in addition to warning me to expect some trouble makers (Which, of course, being me, made me very happy :).). My co-teachers all seem really nice, we were all in school for a meeting and to clean our desks yesterday. Afterwards, the eldest took us all to lunch as a welcome to the year. We had deliciously spicy octopus bibimbap :).

And that brings us up to now. Teaching doesn't start until tomorrow because today was a national holiday. Although I originally planned to head out for some more exploration, I somehow wound up staying home and sending out updates like this one (as well as lesson planning of course). Anyhow, I think I might head out for a walk now while it is still nice and warm (Gwangju on the whole is so much warmer than Seoul!). Until next time!

Updates :)

... ... ... lol, I'm not really sure where to start on this one, I've been meaning to do an update for quite some time now, but somehow the time to do so just keeps slipping away - leaving me sitting here typing, of course, at 1am on a night where I might actually have had the opportunity to catch up on some sleep :P. Ah well, no time like the present :)

So as many of you have probably guessed or are aware, I am no longer in Asia and have not been for quite some time now (several months at least). The trip was amazingly lovely and I definitely recommend checking out the links posted below for more detailed updates on what I got up to while I was gone. Suffice it to say that I had an incredible host family (thank you so much!) and made tons of new friends from all around the globe. Also, the food was absolutely unforgettably delicious *grins* I could definitely go back just too eat. The cultural monuments and breathtaking scenery was nothing to scoff at either - but the food? Mmmmm. Just so good.

I managed to extend my trip into early September before I had to come home and begin sorting out plans for the future. Spent the rest of that month working at Indigo, catching up with friends in the city, continuing to enjoy my pool and returning to dance and circus classes - boy was that return a bit painful. As a note, I don't recommend picking the hardest class in the city as your first one after a month off, but then, I've never been known for my smarts ;).

Towards the end of the month I somehow managed to squeeze an entire 150hour TESOL course into a week and a half while continuing to work and catch up with friends. Good thing too, as shortly thereafter I wound up with not one or two, but three part time jobs! Needless to say, the next two months were spent largely running from one job to another with the odd dance or circus class thrown in  as I was working nearly full time on a market research project, part time at the bookstore and tutoring students on the side. I can't really complain too much. I chose to keep all three jobs and, while working 84hrs over 7 days a week does get tiring, I thoroughly enjoyed working all three of them *smiles contentedly*.

Somehow I also managed to fit in Rosh Hashanah with Jess's family which was as delicious and festive as events with her family always are (thank you for inviting me!), the CNTower stair climb with the Brat, Tri, Robert and Zia Diana which was great, Opera Atelier's production of Don Giovanni with Devon and Jess - verdict? Hilariously awesome. The production was phenomenally done. The score itself beautiful - Mozart always is. I loved the way they fit the comedic lines into the music. The plot however... well... it was an opera, let's leave it at that, Cirque du Soleil's Totem (also with Jess) - soo good! The double trapeze act was unbelievable and I loved the clowns!!!. I also saw the National's production of Ratmansky's new Romeo and Juliet with Papa - it was absolutely fantastic! I may even prefer it to Cranko's version. Scratch that, I do! Loved it. Especially the end. We had Greta and Aleksander dancing and Papa couldn't believe that they were as old as they were. So beautifully done. I also managed to somehow graduate during that time (on November 11th too) and finally managed to get tickets for Ma, Papa, Nonna and Nonno which was great! There was also yummy food involved in that as my graduation gift from my Nonni included jewlery, half a coffee cake and a homemade Salami - I love being half Italian!  Akk! And how could I have almost forgotten!    That day was made extra special by the fact that I managed to get last minute tickets for Em H, Linna, Jen and myself to go see the Alberta Ballet's production of Love Lies Bleeding based on the music and life of Elton John. OMG, soo unbelievably good!!!!! Very very very unabashedly gay, and sooo sooo sooo good! The dancing, as always, was spectacular, and I just love Jean Grand-Maitre's choreography! It makes you just want to get up there on stage and dance with them, such great lines. The highlight though, was definitely Yukichi Hattori's portrayal of the Elton Fan *shakes head in disbelief* He is one incredible, incredible dancer.

Things started to wind down mid December when most of my market research work came to an end and I was able to return to the more relaxed pace of Indigo at Christmas-time, several dance and circus classes a week and some tutoring work ;). *Contented sigh* Aw, Christmas. Totally my favourite time of year. I don't know how anyone can dislike Christmas music and all the lights and decorations everywhere. It's just so happy. And the food! There's always food at Christmas. And baking! I love baking. I made so many pumpkin/squash muffins this fall - and ate most of them too! Same goes for the apple-cranberry muffins I debuted (several times) earlier this month. Thankfully I can't say the same about all of my x-mas cookies 'cause I'm pretty sure I'd be a giant beach ball if I could. Baking was a little quieter this year with only my mom and Em B helping out. That's okay though 'cause I'd already managed to catch up with most everyone else and Em had lots to share having just returned from her 'round the world trip (so jealous)! December also included a great visit to Toronto by Henry W and his girlfriend Erika, over from England to visit with her fam. Had a great two days catching up and wandering about the city. I miss all you guys! More of you need to visit!!!

Christmas itself was great. Finally got to see the cousins again - on both sides! Papa was in Mexico for the actual event, but we went to brunch just before so all is good. and I guess that brings us up to now. Future plans include a woburn gifty reunion dinner tomorrow (or, rather, later today now that it's 2am) and then off to Blue with the lot of them for some skiing (hopefully... not too sure about that part, what, with the lack of snow :P) over the new years weekend!

Right so, time to get some of that sleep! A Happy New Year to all and to all a good night!
xo


PS. Did I mention that I'm moving to Korea to teach in February? Well, I am. Also. I need to finish (read start and complete) a Bio course with Athabasca before then... ah well, that's what the new year's for ;)

Taiwan!

Ally is in Taiwan, you can follow her adventures here:
SayTaiwan
or here:

Ally Around the World

And We're Off!

I guess it's about time for a post eh? lol, that having been said, I think I'm still doing pretty well frequency wise :P.

Updates, updates... nothing too crazy to report since last postage.  The World Archaeological Congress was fun - presentation went well, met loads of great people (including some I would have met much earlier had I actually been on campus at all this year *looks shiftily innocent*, as well as experts in the field and, Vince, who I actually met a few years ago when he was in Oxford organising a Haida visit and repatriation!), had an awesome roommate (Yay, Athena!) and had a great time talking archaeology & ethics with museum people, archaeologists and indigenous communities members. Indianapolis is a cute little town (okay so it's technically a city but it's small and adorable so I'm calling it a town *wrinkles nose*. It's sleepy enough that the idea of a Saturday evening out entails driving in circles around the downtown core in old cars :P). Indianapolis is built around the White River. It oddly reminds me of Calgary actually - the centrality of the river, the largely flatness of the city, the 'skywalks' connecting all the buildings and - most wonderfully - the sheer amount of public art prettifying all the street corners :)!. It made me very happy - as did the Eiteljorg (pronounce Idle-georg) Museum. I definitely think the prettiest part of the city though was the canal walk area near the eiteljorg, and my favourite view was that looking along the canals toward the factory that dominates the skyline in one direction - weird I know but it's an oddly charming picture. In addition to getting to chill & go out (I forgot how much archaeologists liked to party :P) with great people, we also got free admission to the Indian Market festival, which was fun to see. And, because I stuck around for an extra morning, I managed to make it out to the Brickyard to check out the Indy 500 Motor Speedway - it's huge, there's even a golf course in the middle of it!!! The museum there is really cool, they have the chassis of all the former winners there so you can see the evolution of the Indy cars :). As it was a sleepy Sunday morning, I and a couple got to not only go on a 20 mile/hr (let me tell you how exciting that speed is, I swear I walk faster :P) ride around the track but, to check out the control tower, private event booth, garages and press room - control room was definitely my fav :).  After that it was a hop over to the airport (thank you hotel driver guy from the other hotel who wasn't supposed to drive me anywhere without payment but who, not only picked me up from the Brickyard, but drove me out to the airport for free!! You rock and deserve only good things in your life :)!) and back on over to Toronto - omg, possibly the best discovery of the trip??? How nicely they've done up the Detroit airport! So unexpected! Favourite part was the crazy psychedelic light-and-sound show in the kilometre long tunnel that you have to cross to switch terminals. Sooo Trippy!

Got about 4 days back in Toronto to get in some circus, dance, work and Spanish speech writing before it was off again to Mexico City with Papa for his wedding. It was lovely. The house there is stunning - so awesomely laid out! I also loved the way they did the banquet hall - so colourful!! And the food? To die for! it was soooo yummy. The Tamales, the empenadas, the tortillas, the meat, the chili, the dried mangoes in chili,  that cacao-y sauce they put on chicken that I can only remember the name of half the time :) Mmmm soooo good! Esperanza's family are all lovely as well, and it was fun to try and re-learn some Spanish while I was there - thank you so much Ximena for helping sort out that speech & being Papa's official wedding translator - You are so awesome! Also, so happy that all of Esperanza's family can and love to dance :D! Esperanza also took some time away from the preparations to take us out to see Teotihuacan. Soooo happy-making :D! I got to climb the pyramids of the moon and sun and just generally roam around for a morning - unfortunately it started to rain and Papa was getting hungry so I didn't make it over to the temple of the Quetzal, but that can be for next time *grins*. Also, it meant we got to eat in a cave and check out a traditional dancing performance that Ximena recomended :). Definitely a fun trip. I'd love to go back and see Mexico City proper. It just reminded me so much of northern Peru and the (loosely termed) house we lived in there. Weird how I feel so much more at home in those types of places than in hotels or nice houses... lol, probably scared that my natural clumsiness will cause me to break something if I'm in a place that's too nice ;).

After that it was once again back to good old T.O for some time spent enjoying the city and earning some form of income. Managed to finish up the last of my MRP and get moved into my place down on the harbourfront with Ju - we have an outdoor pool! It makes me so happy! and fell into the daily routine of dance-pool-work. Met up with the gifted girls as well as some of the scarborough crew. Saw Captain America which was awesome, went to the midnight opening of HP7.2  post-work with Jon, Emma & Jess - also awesome, so weird to think that an era which has pretty much spanned a good part of my life is over... *semi-sad face*... what else? Mostly I worked and danced a lot :P. I did get out to a few fringe shows this year and they were all awesome! Saw the one Alan was in which was hilarious, went along with Alan to see Through the Tulips which was excellent and managed to get tickets (after lining up an hour early on only the second night) to Kim's Convenience which was absolutely FANTASTIC - just impeccably written, timed and delivered, it was simultaneously incredibly moving while being laugh-out-load, bottom of the belly, gasping for breath funny. Soo good. I don't think I can emphasize how good it was but, basically, if you ever hear that it's being re-staged: Go! Oh, and let me know so that I can get tickets too :).

Saw Dream in High Park's Winter's Tale a few weeks ago while being background support for em during the launching of her non-for-profit Intermission... it was okay, there were good and bad parts. Not bad over all but not excellent either. An absolutely fantastic show was Billy Elliot, which Jess, Spaghetti, Tri, Robert, Nal and I all saw last night. Soo good. A bit slow in the beginning, but boy did it pick up. Something I would definitely go see again :). The kids, especially the little boy and the one that plays Michael, are just phenomenal! The one who played Billy was excellent too - our Billy was more of a dancer than a singer, still excellent though! Many of the girls are also wonderful dancers - they don't necessarily get to show it on stage but the ones I've seen in class have all been really good! It's on for four more weeks and there are loads of discount codes floating about, so for those interested I recommend you go :).

And that brings us up to now! Which leads me back to the title of this blog post - I'm running off again :D! This time to Taiwan for the(ir/ Republic of China's) Centennial Celebrations. It's all very exciting. I get to do a homestay, travel around taiwan, blog about what I see and eat and then meet the President/attend the formal celebrations. Long story as to why and how, I am sure I will get into it at some point but yeah, for now you can follow my trip here (there will be pictures!):

LINK TO ALLY'S ADVENTURES IN TAIWAN :)!

Hope you enjoy, updates will come once I am back. For now, I am off to pack - I leave tomorrow morning so I really need to get on that ;)!

 Addendum:
In a brief (long) break from packing Ju and I watched Transformers 2. This reminded me that I also recently saw Transformers 3 - henceforth known as The Film Which Does Not Exist (TFWDNE). What the heck were they thinking??? On what planet would the movie Sam and McKayla break up??? Having just rewatched the second one, I'm pretty sure she loved him for him :P. I realise that they break up in the original cannon, but let's face it, they changed enough for the movies that they didn't need to be worried about that. I might not resent it quite so much if the new female could act, was anywhere near as hot as Megan Fox or had some personality, but she fails in all three points - ugh! She's just such a useless female. And the banter sucked! the whole point of those movies were the explosions, transformations, awesome banter and the hotness of Megan Fox doing traditionally male things - not having a wimpering useless female who does nothing but look spotless. Urgh. She didn't do anything helpful!!! and she was horrible for Sam's character! He's always been pathetic, but now he was both pathetic and pugnacious - it was almost as though with McKayla gone they had to find someone to fill in those shoes. *wrinkles nose in extreme displeasure*. As you can tell this upset me greatly. To the point where her lack of a character ruined the movie to such a degree that not even the ridiculousness of sector 7 guy could dig it out. Hence the fact that it is TFWDNE. okay... I'm done now...

Tales of Posting and Alice

Wow! This must be some kind of record! Three - no, wait! - four posts from me in almost as many days is a frequency of postage unheard of since my earliest years as a blogger - I must be getting young again ;P!

Anyhow, I figured as I have the time (not really :P) and the desire (more of the reason) I should do my post on Alice now :). WOW! is all I have to say. I'm not usually the biggest fan of Alice in Wonderland. I don't particularly like the story, the movies or anything else related to it. It's just a bit too weird, darkly undertoned and drug trip-y for my tastes. I also saw the English National Ballet perform the Derek Deane's version a few years ago and wasn't that impressed. The new version choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon for the Britain's Royal Ballet and our National though - Stunning! So well done. The story arc he worked out with Nicholas Wright was perfect, linking all the pieces together and allowing everything to really come to life. The sets and costumes were often just right, with an interesting use of the digital projection (funny, while I really liked the mixed media sets in Fumbling toward Ecstasy and Ma really liked their use here, I found it oddly distracting at times, though understandably necessary in portraying falls down holes...). Mostly though, I think it was the story, linking the real Alice from the 1800s and Lewis Carroll to the characters in the story, and further to the readers who enjoy it even today, that made me happiest. That being said. The dancing was phenomenal! I really enjoyed the choreography, but Jillian Vanstone really brought it to life as Alice (I was so impressed with her!! That role must have been exhausting. She never got to stop!! She is quickly becoming my favourite of the newer crop of girls), and Greta Hodgkinson just did a perfect job as the red queen - she managed to be regal, terrifying and hilarious all rolled into one. you could tell how much she was enjoying herself there. So great. Jiri Jelinek also did a wonderful job as the caterpillar and Aleksander Antonjevic was brilliant as the white rabbit! Rex Harrington also did a great job coming out of retirement briefly to play the foppish king of hearts :). Favourite male role though? Hands down Robert Stephen as the Mad Hatter. I definitely lied when I said we had no incomming males. I'd forgotten a number of them had made an impression in Russian Seasons. Robert also caught my eye as Sancho Panza in Don Q - he was such a character. In Alice though, he proved that not only can he act and do ballet, but he is an excellent tapper! Yes, that's right, Tapper :D. Sooo much fun! overall verdict? A no brainer Go See It!!! It's on in Toronto until the 25th :).

Yupyup, other'n the fantastic-ness of that I haven't got much else to report (unsurprisingly ;) ). Though I did have a very dance-y weekend, spending Saturday out at Jess and Sophie's recital - which was great for the record! I think their tap numbers where my favourites of the show!

I also seem to be being assulted by Oxstalgia from all sides. Yuka's show, which apparently went well was last weekend, X-men was filmed in Hertford and, the setting for Alice - Christ Church of course! It didn't really hit me hard at the beginning, when it was 1862 Oxford, but the end made me miss it for sure!

Anyhow, plans for the next little bit consist of getting a bunch of stuff done before heading off to Indianapolis for the WAC congress next week and then Mexico the week after. More posting to come when I actually have something to report again. Much love!

Calgary Continued

After playing about in Drumheller on the Friday,  we decided to stick around in Calgary on the Saturday and take in the Glenbow Museum before catching the matinee of the Alberta Ballet's production of Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (the new ballet choreographed by Jean Grand-Maitre to the music of Sarah McLachlan)  - such a great day! I'm not usually the biggest fan of any museum that's not of the natural history variety (i.e. ones that do not contain mostly bones and stones) but the Glenbow has got to be one of the best I have ever seen!!! I was told by a number of people I had to go, and boy were they right! The layout is well thought out, the displays tasteful, engaging and informative in a fun way that allows you to actually experience what they are trying to portray rather than just see it in a blank case. Loved the Canadian History and Indigenous sections. Honestly, why could we not just have spent our youth in there learning history rather than in class??? :P Seriously though. So well done :). Fumbling Toward Ecstasy was also excellent. Many of the pieces were mostly made up of variations on a theme, but the steps just looked like so much fun and the movements so athletic that you wanted to see them again and again! Definitely worth seeing if they take it on tour!

Sunday was a bit more of a relaxed day (as is fitting for mother's day - though in our case ma took advantage of our lazy morning to get work done *shakes head*). Went out for a bit of a wander to see more of the city - did you know that Calgary has foot placings on their air vents so that you don't get your heels stuck?? Such a good idea! They look like these jumbo massive foot prints :D - Before heading off to the Saddle Dome to catch the Stars on Ice tour. Omg, it was soooo good. Kurt Browning was there (of course!), Jeffery Buttle (He's so adorable - definitely the next Kurt Browning ;) ), Shawn Sawyer (and his inimitable standing centre splits), Sasha Cohen, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier (they were so in synch! It's so hard to believe they are no longer a couple), Joannie Rochette, Evan Lysachek, Kyoko Ina and last, but not least, Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir!!!! We got the tickets not knowing they were going to be there (worlds were the week before after all) and then found out they'd joined the tour the show before. Sooo happy I got to see them live!!! Scott looked a little worn but all in all they were just breathtakingly amazingly ... there are just no words, they were so good!!! They did a slightly altered version of their long program from worlds and another of their gala piece and let me tell you, if they'd skated like that the week before they might have beat Davis & White even with it having been their first comp this season. <3<3<3! I just love them all so much!!! and the group piece was a bunch of Jive numbers! Never been happier!! (How is Tessa such a phenomenal dancer??? I mean I'm glad she stuck with skating but the dance world is missing out! and Scott! *shakes head*). And Sasha, Kurt and David also did this wonderful clowning piece with a balloon. Love. Needless to say, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day (week) and still am whenever I think about it :). My mom may have gotten slightly sick of hearing me repeat 'they were just sooo good!' after the 20thousandth time... she started to respond with 'I know, I was there too...' ;). *sighs happily* I also got to try bison pastrami that night, which is delicious btw, before heading off back to T.O in the morning so I could make it to circus on time.

After that it was a week to sort my self out before heading back to the grind of writing. At that point Devon had moved out (I miss you!), So I fell into my lovely writing, dance, work, writing rhythym and managed to get a great deal done before moving to my parents floor on the last weekend in May. The last weekend in May also happened to be the circus student show (which I was not in, but did get to see), Brokeh. It was fantastic! John's rope act was wonderful despite my having seen it repeatedly by that point (any time he started to practice I'd stop whatever I was doing and watch no matter what position I was in). Libby and Mary Margaret's hoop act was also lovely, but I think the kids my have stolen the show! there was a triple trapeze act and one with three on separate trapezes. The best though were five young girls on the mobile together which was just incredible. So in synch and visually stunning!!!

And that brings us up to now. Gotta run, have tickets to see Alice with ma tonight and don't wanna miss the talk! More on that later I am sure!

And so comes the crash... (with more updates included ;) )

ugh, you know that exhausted, worn feeling you get after... well, exhausting yourself? *nods* yup.

 I definitely need more sleep than I've been getting. I think my body is rebelling at the absence of adrenaline, sooo tired *yawns*. Speaking of Adrenaline, did you know it was the first hormone to be identified? Way back in 1895? Yupyup. Strange how the body works, I was so excited coming off the post-finishing/finding out I was going to Taiwan high that I began planning extra side trips left, right and centre... now I'm just feeling so drawn that I'm too tired to make attempts to sort everything through and stressed that they won't pan out! Enough about that tho - more on updates instead :). 

Right, so *does a quick peek backwards to see where see left off in terms of actual proper updates * what? March? Oh dear, sorry about that one! (lol. Not that, I'm sure, anyone is suffering too much from not having been updated on the mundanities (nope, not a word. yes, it's staying right where it is ;) ) of my life over the last few months). *Quickly runs to grab calendar to remind herself what she's been up to. yes. she is that old* I did wind up seeing Onegin with Linna and her mum. It was lovely. The new sets and costumes were rather neat and the second and third acts were just amazing! In terms of comparison with the old one, I have to say that while I loved the costumes and thought the set for the first act was really interesting (in a good way!), there is something to be said for the simple romantic country feel of the old one. I also saw Rex Harrington the last time (though Aleksander Antonjevic and Piotr Stanczyk did a phenomenal job, particularly in the third act) so that was a lot to live up to. His ballet talk before this performance was just adorable too! The Mixed Russian Program was also quite lovely... well barring Apollo which, while danced quite well and choreographed by my favourite choreographer, remains my least favourite ballet of all time. Symphony in C was well done (though, of course, did not quite match up to the Bolshoi's rendering of it ;) - I'm not sure how I feel about a number of the younger female dancers who are being promoted in the company... hmmm... I will have to keep watching. And what's up with our huge lack of incoming males? ) *sighs happily* I  just love Balanchine's choreography though. It was Devon's first ever ballet and she quite liked it too I am happy to report :D. Russian Seasons by Alexi Ratmansky was really good. I loved the colours (minus the little box hats all the women were wearing... very odd...) and choreography. So well done. A nice blend of modern balletic styles with the feeling of classical. I was initially worried when I heard that the National was putting on new modern-style Romeo & Juliet next season but now that I know Ratmansky's the choreographer I'm really excited to see it. This one was very contemporary without feeling in anyway disjointed. Loved it :).

Hmmm... what else have I seen lately? Ooh, got tickets to Calendar Girls with Jess, Devon and Tacha for Jess' birthday. Thoroughly enjoyable :).Some of the accents slipped a few times but overall very well done and highly recommended. Also saw Alan Shonfield int the Scarborough Players Production of Much Ado - I love that play! Definitely my fav Shakespeare comedy. It was well done and definitely good value for money. Also Alan, you make a wonderful drunk ;). Other than that, spent most of April dancing, circus-ing, seeing the fam for Easter, working at Indigo and marking papers - with a little bit of writing fitted in on the side. I will not mention the election other than to say... well... it'll be interesting to see how well our country's reputation survives. Just remembering what 8 years of Bush jr did to that of the States makes me shudder.  

Best part of April though was definitely the visit from the French branch of the family. I got to host the girls at my place and the rest at my parents just across town. It was loads of fun to have them here :). Also, the return to full fledged French immersion for the week was great mental exercise for my brain - completely shot my ability to speak english at work the day after they left though! Got Ma to help me take them on a tour of the old parts of the city - which by their standards was brand spanking new of course. Went up the CNTower, explored ChinaTown and Queen street, headed out to Niagara for the day - where we not only got to go behind the falls - Thank you Fabien - and stay for the light show in the evening but, met up with a troop of Star Wars re-enactors who had a real working R2 unit with them!!! So awesome!!!. Met up with the rest of the family for the day on the Sunday and had a blast playing bop-it and introducing the French cousins to Rummy-cube (to which our family is addicted and at which we are uber competitive). Apparently they are now training so we can have a real tournament next time they come back to visit ;). And just generally had a great time :D. Can't wait until either they come back or I make it over to Normandy for a visit.

Had a crazy few weeks there as I went back to work for two days right after they left before I took off to visit Ma in Calgary for mother's day. This was my first time back there when it wasn't winter in about 12-15yrs so it was rather nice to get to see the city again. It really is beautiful and there are so many art and culture initiatives that it's hard not to get jealous - Mayor Rob Ford take note, you can be conservative and cultured - who knew?! So many awesome things got packed into that weekend that I couldn't even choose a best part to that trip if I had to! Headed out to Drumheller and the badlands on the Friday (the town looks exactly like the one in Pixar's Cars. No joke. I couldn't stop laughing) to see the dinosaur museum - Dinosaurs :D!!! The collections at the Royal Tyrell Museum are incredible and soo well presented. I loved all of the displays and the fact that many were interactive. Plus, Dinosaurs! The badlands themselves are pretty awesome too. We got to go for a wander and the geology is just wonderful. Multicolored layers of chalk, ironstone, coal and shale set against the backdrop of a cotton-puff cloud sky. The drive up to it is really impressive too. It looks this massive rend in the patchwork quilt of the prairies that just comes out of nowhere. So cool to see. We also went on a bit of a hunt and managed to track down some mini-hoodoos. Nothing like the size of those in the Grand Canyon or Cappadocia but very cute all the same!

Uh oh! Time to head off to ballet. More on Calgary later!

DONE!!! :D - And the Promised Update

Guess what??? Guess what???  (you know what the best part of this moment right here is??? That I have so much to say and so many updates to do that I could put nearly anything right here *grins* and so many exciting ones too!... hmmm... I suppose I could start every paragraph of this post off with a wondrous thing I have to tell... but that seems overly complicated... and I don't think I could possibly decide what should come first! ... also, as it's getting pretty late and I'm pretty low on sleep (thank you crazy-writing adrenaline!... also sleeping on a mattress on my parents floor in a (teeny-tiny, I might add) room which, in addition to having an absolutely stunning view of the city & lake Ontario (sooo gorgeous!), gets the early morning sun *shakes head*), I'm not sure how coherent this post would wind up actually being. Example, my brain just got very excited about the fact that I used brackets, in brackets, inside brackets! And then proceeded to view my sentence like the math equation it isn't. See, clearly time for bed. :P. ... but not before some updates of course (wouldn't want to leave you hanging! I now how nasty cliffhangers can be ;) ) <--- Oooh, more brackets! <--- teehee! on a complete and utter side note, until last year I'd never realised just how fun putting in footnotes could be. Nor how addicting... I totally just spent a good number of seconds trying to figure out where the footnote button was so I could put the previous comment as one *shakes head* clearly writing has gotten to me... also, I am such a nerd!  - right! definitely bed time! not only has this digression taken on a terrifyingly expansive life of it's own, but I'm sure anyone reading it right now is pitying themselves horribly. Or they stopped reading it. Either way, I sound like I'm fourteen again - not a bad prospect to be sure - ahh, to be as young as once we were and smell the flowers of youth! - okay then... I'm not even gonna pretend I know where that one came from *shakes head and takes a moment to allow the slightly more lucid portion of her brain to regain control* )


I finished writing :D!!!! Well, I still have to edit, and write the presentation for the conference later this month. But those shouldn't take too long and other than that I am good and finished *grins widely*. lol, you'd think I had been writing for far longer than a month and a bit with the amount of weight that feels like it's been lifted off my shoulders! Still though, I did spend nearly every waking hour (and many of the sleeping ones) not spent at work or at dance typing non-stop (and my hand keeps spasming because of it too! Funny, one would think circus-ing on it right after having broken it would cause it to react far more than would typing... that having been said, I have been doing an awful lot of it :P!) But it was soo worth it :). I just love it when something wants out of your head so badly that it basically writes itself (oh, great, now I sound like I have an alien occupying my skull...). All 20,000words/80pgs of itself that is - phew! Seriously though, I'd forgotten how calming it was to wake up absurdly early in the morning type until noon, dance, shower, work, come home type until two, sleep for a few hours and repeat... such a soothing rhythm... until of course you crash... but that is totally allowed once you've finished ;). *Sighs* I love living. ... I hafta say, writing at my parents place up on the 17th floor (really 16th... what is up with people's total fear of the number 13 anyhow? It's just such a lovely number! and good luck too. Not to mention my birth date :D - yeah, yeah, I know. Not helping :P) with all the windows/sliding glass doors open and the sounds of the city floating in is in no way bad either!

But yeah, all of this self directed learning has definitely made me pine for Oxford. That and the nice weather. Oh how I'd love to be a-lounging on the quad lawn! (With all of my England people of course!) That way I might have a tan too :P. Sooo pasty (for me) due to an extended & rainy spring and my sequestering during this productive time. Speaking of Oxstalgia (yes that's a word. no you wont find it in a dictionary. yes I made it up...), you know what else brings it on? X-men! Saw it on Sat with Devon, Tacha & Jess and I have to say it was pretty good. I still prefer Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart of course. But they are a little hard to beat ;). *shakes head* If only I'd know that door into NBQuad from under the bridge that was forever locked was locked because it contained a space-time portal leading into a KA-like pub! Just think of the potential for study! Also... darnit! Why weren't the mutants there when I was??? ;)

Possibly more exciting than x-men though (what could be more exciting than x-men you ask? well.. I have to admit I'm kinda excited for Transformers 3.. no Megan Fox though so... oh... that wasn't what you were asking...), and arguably more exciting that the fact that I've finished writing (if you are anyone but me that is), is that I AM GOING TO TAIWAN IN AUGUST :D!!!!! I'm one of two Canadian youth, joining two youths from another approximately 124 countries, headed to the RoC to participate in a Homestay celebrating their Centennial - soo excited!!! You can bet I will be Blogging about and uploading loads of photos of  my experiences there :). More details to come but I will definitely have a (non-rambling) travel blog up and running before I go in which will be documented all of the adventures, cultural forays and food discoveries that come my way. Prominently placed link will go up sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that!


And with that, I am off to bed!
Until the morning, when I will endeavor to provide some actual, and possibly even coherent, updates ;).
'Night'night!

So much for that...

lol! Well then, looks like I'm not hiatus-ing in order to finish up my master's research project-writing after all. Unfortunately, while I would love to do an update, writing that particular paper is still top priority... which means this is more just a short break during which I allow the hyperactive part of my brain to ponder some inanities so that the other half of my brain can actually get to work sorting out what I am meant to be doing ;)....
 ...wow ...
who knew that was all I had to type for it to work? and to think I was about to go on a long flowery digression about how I can't seem to focus when its raining out... hmmm... right. mental note, next time there is no work being done, type a sentence about dividing your mind and discussing inanities :P.
 And back to work we go!
much love.

Too much to Write, So little Time!

Akkk! Sorry guys! I know I said I'd do an update but I've been working on finishing up my thesis/at indigo non-stop since the family left/I got back from Calgary! I promise I will do an update as soon as I get this finished (which hopefully means sometime in the very not-too-distant future :D). Keep well until then :)!

Spring Reawakenings

My apologies for the constantly shifting state of the blog at the moment! I figured that after 8 years it was probably time to update the formatting (I know it's a bit cluttered, I'll be playing around and working on fixing that whenever I have time in between work,work,dance and school over the next few months) ...  Spring just always seems to awaken a cleaning-organizational frenzy in me that knows no bounds! Finding ways to avoid thesis-work has nothing to do with it, I assure you ;).

Truly though, it seems to happen with the first appearance of a warm summer sun (which admittedly disappeared again somewhere in amongst the snow, hail and rain that mysteriously returned this past weekend :P). I suddenly need to be even tidier than my normally-OCD-ish habits. I scrub down the house, have an overwhelming urge to get rid of anything superfluous - an urge which usually runs afoul of my equally strong tendency toward pack-rat-ishness - I go through all my emails, clean out my computer files and, now, apparently revamp my blog!
 
It's actually rather funny to sit back and watch the two parts of myself fight it out. There's just something incredibly satisfying about shedding all those unnecessary gizmo's, gadgets, old clothes and unused objects. It's lightening and relaxing in a way I can't quite describe. It's almost as though you're somehow magically relieved of any unwanted burdens. Living with the very basic stuff you need and one or two keepsakes is just so freeing - part of what I love about backpacking I suppose. And yet, at the same time, there's something so heartbreaking about giving up something that's been with you through experience after experience, holding all the memories that have somehow become buried under the weight of fresh info in your brain... loosing that can just be so devastating. Particularly when whatever gets lost is gone before you're ready - before you've come to terms with those memories or found some other vessel to contain them (yes mother, I'm looking at you and that time you threw out my yellow duck when I was 5)...

That was one of the great things about living abroad for so long. Having only what I needed there with me but knowing that all of my other stuff, my memories and my childhood keepsakes were held back here in Canada for me. At the same time it's funny how much stuff you can accrue without even intending to. Moving back from England I had that problem. I seem to be having it again now that I'm moving to a new place in a few months time (more on that later!). It's funny too how when you do come back, you realise that you don't really want all of that stuff. The memory of it is enough... that and knowing that it will continue to be loved elsewhere by someone else, or at least be put to use in some other way. In many ways having my parents move (again) while I was in Europe this past summer was hard because I felt like, once again, I was losing my base and my tether to who I was (there is definitely something to be said for having all of your stuff in one place or within easy access!) and, yet, when I came home and sorted through my stuff to determine what was staying with me downtown and what I would send up north, I realised that almost all of it was going to go up north, And, more importantly, that I didn't really want to have it here (with the exception of my books of course - those I always want nearby!). I wonder sometimes how much of my wanting to keep things is the archaeologist in me. Wanting to preserve things for future generations, so that my potential future kids and kids' kids can get an idea of what it was like to be me, to live in this time... silly really, my room up north almost already feels like a museum... and I'm wondering now if I should change it to be more in sync with me. Or should I leave it as a monument. There have actually been many times where the fact that I've kept things has proved useful. Still, something tells me I'm leaning more toward the former. Being me though, it's likely I'll find a way to combine both options ;). At any rate, I definitely want to do a clean out and sort through of all of my stuff when I move in the summer. Something to do with closing the academic chapter of my life? Certainly not the childhood one as I've no plans to grow up - nor the educational one as I've no plans to stop learning!

Strange... that's basically what this blog has become for me... A place where I can unload all of my experiences, unclutter my mind and leave it open and airy to make way for new things without losing any of the old. It's also in many ways just as much a monument to nostalgia as is my museum of a room up north. Reading back over previous blog posts is great not only because it reminds me of what I've done, but how I thought, who I was, and how I've become who I've become. It's great to see the ways in which I and my perspectives have changed, not changed, reverted and fluctuated over the years (a bit vain I realise, but also very humbling in that it shows both the good and the bad).

I'm sorry, not sure what prompted the philosophical leanings and introspection of this post (ugh! but looking at the language you can tell I've been in the academic world for far too long! Hopefully the next post wont be so bad!). I do seem to go off like this whenever I encounter a milestone event (and yes, by that I do mean yet another graduation :P) don't I?  I guess it just means that change prompts introspection in the same way that spring prompts cleaning ;).

From a practical perspective, in addition to rearranging the furniture (so to speak) and changing the background, I updated the links on my side bar - they're all fantastic sites and you should check them out if you haven't already!
I do have some life updates to post about (such as the move mentioned in passing above). Nothing too exciting though as I've now been in the country doing the same thing for approximately a year (can you believe that this time last year I was on my way back over to Europe? *sighs* Not that I don't love Toronto, because I do. I love nearly everything about it, from the uber polite and friendly people to those somewhat grumpy ones who still apologize, from the charming little pockets of downtown, to the lake, the sky scrapers and our wonderful parks. Still, I'm just not the type to stay in one place forever... and ten months is beginning to feel nearly that long! Fortunately I'm off to Calgary in a few weeks to visit ma who is working out that way and then off to Indianapolis (of all places) in late June for a conference, so I suppose I can't really complain ;P)  Anyhow, boring or not, I will do an update all the same ;)! That being said, I am, unfortunately, going to be late for work (in addition to having a very burnt omelet for lunch) if I don't stop blogging soon!

More updates to come, I promise!
Happy Passover/Easter/any other holidays I am missing!

Happy Birthday to me :)

Akk! well I believe I now officially qualify as old... 23? really? Where has all of the time gone??? lol. no really... I can't possibly have been on this planet for 23 years and *glances at clock* 146minutes already... longer really if you consider the time between me typing this and when it gets posted... longer too if you consider the approximately nine months I spent in utero (I really don't want to think about when exactly that would have started - blech). Of course then you get into all those existential debates over when someone becomes a person... not that it matters but surely in our society, given the emphasis placed on individualism this can't possibly be considered to have happened until after a child develops theory of mind (the corollary of this being of course that not only would abortion, but infanticide prior to such an event, be considered perfectly acceptable under current societal mores - ah, how right those Spartans were) Yikes! For a birthday post this has certainly taken a rather rapid morbid turn... It's probably fortunate there is little likelihood of children in my near future ;)

*shakes head* On to less socially awkward topics perhaps?? lol. let's see, what have I been up to since last posting? I should probably wish my Blog a very Happy 8th Birthday to start off with! I would share some of my birthday cake with it, but as it is... inanimate? can something which doesn't even exist outside of the neural circutry of of a computer system be considered inanimate?...I really do think the best solution for all is for me to just eat an extra piece in it's honour ;).

Right, and back to updates! Spent New Years Eve on my couch reading a teen novel and watching the CNTower do nothing particularly exciting. Best evening ever. After the craziness of last term it was wonderful to just relax and unwind and not have to be anywhere! (sorry to the four parties I skipped out on... ;) ), after that it was off to spend time with the family and finally get to visit with the newest addition - she's so cute! and has the best middle name to boot! Not that I'm biased in that opinion of course ;P - before getting a whole week off!!! lol. In truth January as a whole was fairly tame. A bit of going out here and there, time spent hanging out with friends :D, Ma's b-day. Got to spend some of my x-mas money on my annual shopping trip with Kat, did a lot of dance, decided to take up the static trapeze again alongside the silks (although only once a week - downsview is just too far away!), started playing soccer again... broke my hand... yes, I realise you are meant to play soccer with your feet :P. Last I checked however, people were also meant to kick the ball toward the net, not toward the defensive player standing right in front of them *wrinkles nose*. It was pretty funny really. I kept playing of course, but my hand ended up swelling up to three times its normal size (a bunch of the blood vessels on the back broke) and no one figured out it was broken until approximately 3 weeks later - well... I kinda suspected when it didn't hurt enough to be a sprain except for when it was vibrated slightly while on the streetcar or subway (yes, these are classic diagnostic tools :P) - but nothing showed up on the first x-ray and when I went to ask for a second a few days later, the doctor accidentally realigned everything while manipulating it, which made everything feel so much nicer! When I finally did end up getting the second set done it showed a break clear accros the waist of my scaphoid (in my right hand of course). Got a CT scan done which not only confirmed that one, but showed that I had also broken my 4th metacarpal... but that's okay because everything was in near perfect alignment with no bone loss *grins*. This was fortunate of course since by then it had already been about 5 weeks (the results accidentally got sent to London, On...) and I never bothered to get it casted.... still haven't... I went back to doing circus the week after I injured it, have gone on two skiing weekends and have been playing soccer and dancing throughout! *grins even wider* I can even do pushups! (with my hands in fists) though handstands and cartwheels and kneehangs on the silks with only my right hand holding are still out of the question.

lol, but yeah. February was fun. I had initially booked most of it off work in order to get my MRP done for early graduation but ended up using the time off to dance, play soccer, actually go out clubbing, attend doc's appts and organise skiing trips instead. Kat's bday was fun, apparently I've been in a relationship for quite some time and only just found out about it? *raises eyebrows inquiringly* Omg, lol. we did two skiing long weekends up at the chalet with a bunch of the old woburn crew. Sooo much fun! *shakes head* the first one was all boys plus amy and i. the second was a bit more rounded out (and by that I mean 4 girls 15 guys...) so you can imagine how that went :D. *shakes head* Soo great. We will definitely do another get-together in the summer :). On the second trip up I even survived four days straight of langan's company ;P - thanks for driving!... and carrying my poles ;) and I got to see Evan, and Alan, and em :D:D:D! :D. I forgot how much I'd missed you guys- all of you guys, not just the aforementioned ones!!! It was great, the conditions were amazing and even some who weren't skiing came up just to hang out so it was pretty awesome!!! Ooh! I also got to see the Ballet Trokadero de Monte Carlo (the all male troupe that performs on pointe) with em and Ju which was hilarious! It was also in the Winter Garden Theatre which I'd never been to before and is absolutely stunning!!! I'd love to go back! I seemingly also (wow, that's a lot of 'also's in one paragraph! ) used the time to become addicted to the BBC version of Merlin and watched the entire three seasons over the span of about a week. Sooo adorable *grins* merlin-aurthur interaction makes me so happy. I've decided Devon's Merlin and I'm Arthur. Minus the fact that I like to do most of the cleaning... but that's only a minor detail... as is the fact that Devon has still not used her magical powers in my presence (she claims it's because I can't yet know she has said magical powers) but one step at a time. And no, we are not crazy :P. Living in our house is just a special kind of adventure :D. March has also been pretty good to me, some interesting weather lately, but I got to see El while she was in town last weekend, and went for cake with David on Thursday while he was here *coughs* though I'm still wondering how he was in the country for two weeks and I only saw him once *looks around suspiciously* Saw the Kirov/Mariinsky perform Swan Lake with Papa and Esperanza last week - it was phenomenal!!! So incredibly good. The whole company was nearly impeccably in time and Uliana Lopatkina was dazzling (not that you'd expect anything else!) But yeah, stunning!!! I really can't decide between them and the Bolshoi. Then only solution clearly is to just see more of both ;)! Then yesterday was Linna's welcome home party (Yay! Linna's back :D!) Where I got to see everyone (with a few added and some taken away ;) ) again! and Mrs B even convinced Mrs Mo to come for a surprise visit :D!!! This week was Don Q with ma. Fortunately casting was changed at the last minute and we got Sonia Rodrigues. She was so dead on, particularly in the last act. It was so lovely and breathtaking to see! Though not the awkwardly long 16count balance in attitude. What was that about? That was just mean! So, yeah, I suppose that brings us up to now :P

I Suppose I'd have to say 2011 has been pretty good so far. Started out slow, but it has definitely picked up. It's also been really interesting to be able to watch all of the uprisings in the middle east through the lens of my friends who are there - I am very glad all of you are still safe! Hopefully it will stay on in this vein? Aiming to see Onegin with Linna next week, and then it's Russian mixed program with Devon the week after :). Hopefully I'll be able to get decently priced tickets to Billy Elliot, ooh! and cirque's Totem when it comes!

I'm sure there's more and that I'm forgetting but it's just reached 1 am and I am starting to yawn so it should probably off to bed with me! Muchos love to all and to all a good night/year/life! A la prochaine!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

Just wanted to say farewell to what was a thoroughly awesome and enjoyable 2010 and welcome in what I hope to be an equally great and amazing 2011!!!

Have a great one!

Wow, what a term!

I keep meaning to do a proper update but never seem to get a chance! This term's been really fun, but ridiculously busy (not that I haven't had some time for relaxing - i.e. it's been nothing as bad as second year ;) )... but yeah, I suppose it's rather fitting I haven't updated yet! Nothing terribly exciting has happened, but it's been kind of nice to have only had one class, with interesting readings on change and seminar experts that switched topics every week. Mix that in with some dance, circus and working at Indigo to get my fill of socialness :). Have made some great friends at work as well - good for some Kareoke, Halloween-ness and just general fun around the store. Plus, who doesn't love books? ;). TAing has also been fun (Intro to bio anth&arch out at UTSC this term). A bit tiring though - I have 150 students! (3 tutorials worth) which means I end up spending all day most thursdays out that way - it's kinda nice though, brings back memories. Yes, I do miss scarborough :P and the fall colours of the valleys are always fun to see :). Miss living with em now that she's left me :P, but love living with Devon so that's all good. Only seen a bit of Ju and Jess, the former 'cause we both work all the time (we did get to see HP7.1 though! and then 6 and 5 in reverse order :P), the latter 'cause she took off for India and now Montreal :P. The boys too, I have not nearly seen enough of - Evan understandably as he's at Queens, Langan appears to have been willingly swallowed by law and donning :P. I have however, gotten to hang out Vince and Amy loads lately for skating purposes :D. Funfun! Wish I could do more dancing (naturally) but it's been nice to get to circus too. Hopefully I'll be able to fit some soccer back in next term as well :D. Let's see what else? Got to see Wicked again with Ma, Nal, John and Robert for the latter's bday :). Went with Jess and Devon and Alan to see Rock of Ages which was hilariously awesome!!! Also caught Cirque du Soleil's Banana Shpeel with Jess which was okay but not amazing... Saw Tangled the other day with the girls. very cute - yay Heymian :). Linna's going away party (I miss you!!! Hope you're having fun in Germany) was hilarious and awesome. O'Noir was great. How I loved listening to the boys attempt to eat in the dark *laughs uncontrolably for a bit*. The food was really yummy too! :D. Saw a few other movies too... not very many though! Ballet-wise, Cinderella with Kat was good as always... I did realise though that while I love Kudelka's comedies, it's not just his swan lake that isn't emotive, but a lot of his pieces... not four seasons though, that's gorgeous. Went to see the new mixed program with Em H, Chroma was nice, not amazing though and, sadly the national is not as good as the Bolshoi (naturally ;) ) at Balanchine so the latter's version of Serenade was happily not supplanted in my mind - we shall see for theme and variations later this season though. Emergence however, the new one by crystal pite, was incredible. Canada has produced a lot of great modern/contemporary ballet choreographers lately! and this is from someone who doesn't even like watching modern/contemp that much! But yeah, it was just fantastically amazingly brilliant. I don't think there are enough adjectives to describe it :P. Love it. lol, it's definitely been the little things that have made this term fun :D. Chatting with Jeremy, learning from amazing dancers, not being in the library all the time (though I did enjoy the law library while I was there ;). ) Hmm, I must be getting old. I just checked my calendar to figure out what else I'd done :P. Sara's wedding of course :). Mrs B's book club too. Just generally hanging out. Events at the store. Cake Boss was crazy (well, he wasn't, the event was). Gordon Ramsay was lovely (believe it or not :P). Meeting Kathy Reichs was fun. The Romeo Dalaire/Emmanuel Jal event on eliminating the use of child soldiers was wonderful and awe inspiring, as were the latter's and Ishmael Beah's books. And Margaret Trudeau was great to hear from :). Ooh! and the Terracotta Warrior display at the ROM (which I only just saw this morning) was really nicely presented!! CNTower Stair Climb with Amanda, Zia Diana, Jess (who got the ridiculous time of 18.19), Robert and some of their friends was also great fun. As was beating my previous time at 21.28 - no torn hamstring this year was always good too ;). So yeah, while it's not quite traveling, it's been good. *nods happily* I'm sure there are a great many stories and fun events that I am forgetting to tell you of, but it is bed time now so that I can catch up on sleep lost trying to run around and get everything done this past week. I've been successful though! Cookies are all baked and awaiting tinning/wrapping at Ma's tomorrow, Gifts are all bought and wrapped bar one or two, the house is clean (mostly), I just ate a three-minute cake in a mug, assignments are all marked, papers handed in, tins and wrapping things purchased. Yup *nods happily* all that is left is tinning cookies/laundry tomorrow, meeting up with Em, Ben, Langan, Evan and Alan on monday, working and proctoring an exam (at 8.30am in scarborough - who planned that :P?!) on tuesday, working and meeting up with a briefly returning Wendy and all of the girls on weds, hanging out and going to see 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' with Em B on thurs, and finally working on friday morning before meeting up with the fam for xmas eve and, of course, xmas day :D. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!! xoxox :D. PS. for all those who get distressed by excess x-mas music and early appearing hair bells ;) Click Here - Merry Christmas :)! 'nightnight and farewell!

Seliger!

Teehee. For all those wondering what Seliger was really like, check out this clip (thanks Haidar!) and this one.

And for anyone missing the morning exercises, here's another ;)
I think that, bar Wavin' Flag and We Will Rock You, that about covers the songs I'm never getting unstuck from my head ;P
Dvai Rossiya!

Creepy Crawlies and a Love of Life

As I gazed into our makeshift fruitfly trap upon arriving home this evening, I realised two very important things:
1) That Bananas are not supposed to move
and
2) That it was probably time for me to update my blog.
What these two things have in common and why squirming formerly-banana-looking-mush should remind me of my blog (perhaps it's the similarity to my thought processes/brain matter?) I genuinely do not know. I do however now know that, in addition to making a cheap and excellent fruitfly trap, sliced banana in a bowl of shallow water covered over with lightly punctured plastic wrap, if not changed frequently enough, presents the perfect breeding ground for maggots. Lots of them.

Needless to say, I haven't touched them yet. I spent some time watching them (I named them all Maggie, em suggested Edward or Bella but I don't think any of them sparkle quite enough. Besides, they all had far too much personality to be named after those two :P) and then decided that, rather than waste it, I should put the time I'm spending patiently waiting for em to come home so we can tackle our new pets together to good use and update my blog (and so, the real link between the two things comes to light ;) ). The only problem being that I have now been tackled by a serious case of the creepy crawlies... as in I can just feel them crawling all over me... all the time... in my hair, down my back, on my nose... ugh, *wrinkles said facial feature and squirms in disgust* and it's not even Halloween yet! so out of season! and so not cool!
But you know what are cool? Snakes at balls, and churches made entirely of bones *grins*, and trips to Europe which are only meant to last a little over three weeks but grow to last three whole months and encompass jaunts over to Israel and Russia *grins even wider*.

Yupyup. Those Definitely count as cool *nods rapidly, maintaining aforementioned wide grin while simultaneously attempting to surreptitiously brush off any lingering feelings of creepy crawliness*

lol, and with that lovely prelude, I shall delve into where I've been keeping myself these past few months and why exactly it is that I love life ('cause it's just awesome, that's why :D).

Let's see, where did I leave off? *quickly checks previous postages* Ah yes, WFR re-cert weekend! Awesomely great and mosquito-bitten as per usual. Gotta love sleeping on the ground, looking at gruesome pictures, cleaning dirt out of chicken-breast wounds and running long simulations involving carrying individuals long distances in makeshift litters (or, alternatively, being strapped to one yourself when you really, really have to pee ;) ) with people you just met :D. So much fun!

After that, it was back to normal life where showers exist and bathing is the norm for a week or so in order to pack and finish up last minute details before running off to europe for a time.
So our trip started with first class flights (why have I never traveled with Papa before? Ah, yes, now I remember, 'cause apart from the comfy chairs, I've rather worryingly discovered that I actually prefer economy class. and backpacking. and roughing it. and.. yeah... How weird is that??? Not saying I'm complaining about having awesome food or being able to afford box seat tickets to things like the Vienna State Opera Ballet (their Coppelia was so good!!!!) and the Budapest Opera (also great!) and Mozart and Vivaldi and various other concerts, 'cause those were amazing and totally worth it. But yeah, apparently I actually prefer my general budget traveler technique *shrugs* who knew?:) ) over to Budapest (with a brief stop in frankfurt) where we spent our time leisurely (for my pace anyway, Papa disagrees ;) ) exploring the city - on foot of course- and eating deliciously yummy food. In addition to dancing to and listening to traditional Hungarian Music (love it), we also got the opportunity to waltz to the Blue Danube while overlooking said river on the terrace of Fisherman's Bastion up on top near Buda Castle one evening which was Am-a-zing *smiles happily* I still say Papa is one of the best Viennese Waltzers out there - not that this makes up in anyway for his snoring which kept me up the whole trip, even when we were in separate rooms :P!!! But yeah, pretty awesome :D. Being in Hungary was made even greater in that it really made me aware of my hungarian roots... boy am I ever hungarian in nature. I mean, I knew I was Italian already, but Italian-Hungarian I definitely am. They're all just so jovial and music/dance-loving and food-loving and open and ... loud? well, maybe not quite to the same degree as the Italians... perhaps hearty is the word I'm looking for... Yup, definitely felt like the other half of me was finally explained :). Can such traits even be passed down genetically??? Papa always acts so white-washed I have no idea how I could have gotten them otherwise! Anyhow, next it was on to Vienna where we got to explore the lovely city, listen to great music, check out the swarovsky store and see amazing Ballet. Of course, no visit of mine to Vienna is complete without a trip to the Schonbrunn Palace. And, so, just as when I was four, I dragged Papa over to see it with me (it's scary how much you can remember from when you are four!) - though this time I didn't make him climb up the hill to the Gloriette with me on his shoulders... I thought I might actually be old enough to do that one on my own by now ;). Ooh! we went to the strudel show while we were there to learn how to make appel strudel and I got to be the assistant (yes, I still get excited about such things :P) and I even got a diploma for my efforts *grins stupidly*. After Vienna, it was off to Prague and it's breathtaking sunsets over the Vltave River. Omg, was Prague ever gorgeous. That is definitely a city I would absolutely love to visit again. Such rich history with stunning architecture and loads going on - friendly and fun loving people too! I just loved all the little winding streets and the gloriously old churches! We were also there during the spring music festival (and all the rain and cold brought on by the ash cloud) so the sounds surrounding us were just incredible - classical organ concerts, string orchestras, marching bands, everything! Hilariously, Papa also ran into one of the smithys/coin makers in the market who remembered him from when he used to work there just after the iron curtain came down. It was great. The guy said, and I quote, "but you had more hair back then" *laughes evily*. If Prague was a hit with me, the town of Kutna Hora and it's ossuary at Sedlec went down even greater *grins*. Can you imagine what a church filled with the bones of over 40,000 people is to an anthropologist??? Heaven, that's what it is :D!!! Sooooo coool!!! The arrangements were just so pretty!!! And there was even a Chandelier (and we all know how much I loved those as a child ;) ) containing every bone in the human body!!! What's not to love??? *sighs happily* Yupyup. Everyone looked at me really strangely when I asked if I could live there. I can't for the life of me fathom why!

NEWS FLASH: We interrupt this riveting post to bring you an all essential creepy-crawly update. Okay, just wandered into the kitchen for some food, and I gotta say, what's in the bowl is now more maggotty than it is banana-y... Oh em, please do come home soon :P.

So, after our trip 'round the former Austro-Hungarian Empire it was time to head back to Jolly old England in order to meet up with Ma and Nal and get this whole graduation thing over with! Omg, is an Oxford graduation ever hilarious! I have never before seen so much bowing, random strolling, unnecessary clothes changing and poorly pronounced latin! I have no idea how Claire, Julia and I managed to remain composed throughout, but let me tell you it was a struggle! and the instructions from the old lady who was Hertford Dean of Degrees (yes, that's right, Oxford Colleges have dean's of degrees) beforehand! lol! It went something like, 'now, the DPhils will... the MSc's... the M...' and on and on, insert something about jumping up and holding her hand like it was the happiest days of our lives and, then, when she finally got to the BA's it sounded something like 'and then, well, you'll no what to do *smile*' No we wont!!! We're the only ones who;ve never had a graduation yet!!! *shakes head* yeah... And then there was our Rad Cam inspired photo shoot afterwards ;) and seeing everyone in the Turf for a final pint (or half pint in some of our cases *points to self*) at that lovely establishment. Yupyup. Papa took off the next day leaving Ma, Nal and I (the latter two of us who had attended the Bollywood themed Ball at the Union the night before my graduation and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves playing with snakes, dancing to bad music, getting hennaed at the last minute, ensuring Nal got her first try of Shisha (you should have seen her face, I don't think I've ever seen such an expression of pure bliss!) and gorging on food) to take in the sunshine and hang around Ox a bit longer. *Sighs happily* I'd forgotten how much I love that city! and in Trinity term too! How did I ever leave??? Out of the Blue was busking (to our everlasting pleasure - love them so much!) and Nal finally got to ride on a punt - Yay! Punting!!!! and yeah, just lying on the lawn and seeing all the pretty buildings... and of course all my friends! But yeah, after a few days the others took off (Ma homewards and Nal off to London to visit Daggs before heading on to Paris, where she stayed extra long too - similarity in travel much? ;) ) and I moved into Jo's abandoned room to live with Tabby and Jess Evans (and, by default Mark!). It was just so great to see everyone again!!! And of course there was Yuka's Ballet Classes! I've missed them so much! And Yuka! It was great to see Tiger and Dragon again as well! They've grown so much!!! and Tiger still has so much energy!!! I got to attend rehearsals and help out with the show again too (my god am I ever terrible at spot lighting *shakes head in dismay*) which was loads of fun :D.

A few days after the others left, I decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip to Amsterdam - such a great choice!!! Amsterdam was awesome!!! I had no idea I was going to love it as much as I did! I stayed in a Christian Youth Hostel (cheapest place I could find) right in the heart of the Red Light District (talk about juxtaposition!), met some great people and just had a genuinely great time! *sighs happily* I returned to much ballet-ness of course and the news that we were going to have an Arch and Anth reunion at Caroline's in London on the coming weekend - soo much fun!!! I've missed you guys sooo much!!! and Caroline's such an awesome chef!!! *hugs all around* but yeah, miss you!!!! Heading in to London meant I also got to see Charlotte - Yay!!!!! and, when I headed back that way later in the week on my way to Isreal (yup, that's right, Israel. At some point in my travels with Papa we discovered that Jessiann would be in Israel at approximately the same time I would still be in Europe and that, if I extended my trip, I could pick up cheap flights and come visit. So naturally, being me, I jumped at the opportunity :D) I got to see all of the Sterland family (including the gorgeous portrait Julia had painted of me - Thank you so much!!!!), watched one of Charlotte's gigs and we girls painted the front door hot pink. It looks amazing *grins* apparently now everyone on the street wants one!

Got a ride to Heathrow (which was great!) late one night, and even managed to sleep a bit on the lovely cold floor before my 6am flight (now, please tell me, why don't they have benches in the check in area at airports?) to Israel. How to describe Israel??? Jess met me at the airport and we took one of the local group taxis back into Jerusalem. It's incredible to watch the landscape change from costal mediterranean to Judean hills and know that on the other side of those is barren desert. Jess and I had such an awesome time. We stayed at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital where Jess was living and had just the most gorgeous view and great access to hiking trails. My first full day in Jerusalem was, unfortunately, a Saturday. And, uuber religious as it is, nothing in Jerusalem was open. So, naturally, being us, we decided to head over to the Arab village of Abu Gosh, where we spent a thoroughly enjoyable day wandering the town, exploring a French-run 11th century crusaders church (which backed on to a mosque ;) ) and playing in the park/watching the world cup with all the young boys in the village on the big screen TV they'd set up under a tarp next to a drink stand on the top of a mountain. Life doesn't get any better than that :D. Next day it was off to explore Masada and check out the dead sea from the Israeli-side - and this time there was mud to get covered in *grins widely and shakes head* some of the pictures are priceless. mostly it's great for your skin but man does it ever smell of sulfur and it definitely stains your clothes! Given that Jess had appointments, we decided to only do a half day the next day and, so, headed through the security wall to the West Bank in order to make our way to Bethlehem and check out conditions on that side of Palestine (we decided against going into Gaza as the whole blockade ordeal had only just gone down the week before and we weren't too sure how safe it was with tensions running high, though I'm sure now we would've been fine). Palestine was pretty great, though the wall is really daunting. And feels unnecessary. The people were really friendly and I managed to garner my first proposal of this trip (the count eventually reached 7, all arab, naturally. More on that later ;) ). The next day was the day we finally explored old Jerusalem, and it was pretty incredible. Oddly enough for a place so sacred and fought over, to me it didn't really give off that much of a vibe... that being said, there was definitely a vibe down at the wailing wall, and somewhat of one at the Dome of the Rock, which non-Muslims are, unfortunately, no longer allowed to enter given the current situation. Such a shame, I'd've so loved to go in. I love mosques in general and that one is supposed to be breathtaking inside. Old Jerusalem itself is pretty neat. Lain out in quadrants, the armenian and christian quarters are pretty dead, although there is definitely life around the tomb of Jesus and the church of the Holy Sepulcher (which I managed to investigate thoroughly late in the evening once all of the other tourists had left or headed off for dinner). The Jewish quarter too was fairly quiet in the residential areas - or at least I thought so, until later that night I discovered that the walkways in that quarter are really on the rooftops which provide a breathtaking view of the city and are a great place to listen too/watch the sundown call to prayer. In general, it was the Muslim quarter which was liveliest, filled with shops and stalls with yummy food and spices and everything you could want (well, bar pubs showing the football/soccer games, those were in the Christian Quarter ;) ). Through rather entertaining circumstances, I somehow wound up helping one of the store owners (Beduin trader, naturally) close up his shop once Jess had headed off back home. So much fun! He was really intelligent and entertaining and I even got a lovely pair of earrings as thanks in exchange for a kiss (well, several) on the cheek! These exchanges did not, however, result in any proposals... not sure whether this was good or bad thing as there was a high likelihood I may actually have said yes! :P. Once it got truly dark, the old city came alive once more, this time with lights, as my trip just happened to coincide with the light festival, so I spent a great night partying out in the streets with what felt like the entire population of Israel!!! After a nice sleep in the next morning, Jess and I decided to head up north to the Keneret, or sea of Galilea, for some more beach/exploratory time before getting some more of that (plus world cup watching on giant screens along the beach) in Tel Aviv, where we also met up with some of her family (and discovered Jess was allergic to sun. I'm still laughing - in a polite sympathetic way of course ;) ). All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip. We didn't make it to the Red Sea (I miss it!) or the Golan Heights (next time... or maybe from the Syrian/Lebannese side), but it was great all the same!

At some point while I was in Israel, I was given the opportunity to extend my trip once again (which in this case, amounted to suspending my flight home and hoping fervently that there would be seats free when I needed to come back :) ) as I got confirmation that I'd been accepted to attend a government-funded youth forum in Russia... so I decided, what the heck, flights from England to Russia are cheap (less than a quarter of the price from here!) and transport to the forum was free, as was everything while I was there, I wouldn't even have to pay for my visa if I didn't do any touring (I did, so I had to pay)... I was never gonna get a chance like this again, might as well take it!

Best decision I ever made :D. Seliger was incredible!!!!
Picture a camp site in the middle of nowhere (it was 12hrs by bus SE of St Petersburg and 8hrs NE of Moscow) on a peninsula in a region that looks like the Muskokas filled with enough tents to house 3000 to 5000 people and populated with the most awesome group of intelligent, articulate and largely well-built/attractive, 18-35 year olds from all over the world (and I mean all over. take the most obscure countries and they were represented... with the exception, curiously enough, of the United States of America... Canada was represented though! by me and another Canadian - I miss you Kim!!!!) you've ever met, and voila, you have Seliger. It was great. We slept in tents of three, had camp fires of 15-20, showered in the lake, took turns making food (trucks came by every few days to drop off food and supplies), gathering the water, chopping the wood and doing the cleaning (when the Russian participants actually let us rather than insisting we were their guests!), got lectured by experts on a range of topics in the mornings (I was in the global politics section. There was also Art and Design, Environment and Sustainability, Civil Society, Business and Innovation and Mass Media), could attend whatever seminars we wanted/present our own projects in the afternoon (which for me, often involved mediating discussions and learning russian - Ya nemnoga govarit po-russki. Ya Lublu Rossiyu!! and I miss it very much too!), were woken up at 7:30 am by the Russian National anthem blaring through the trees, followed by the most ridiculous selection of 'wake up music' (including, but not limited to, the chip and dale theme song, russian cartoon songs, ghost busters (no joke!) and Queen) prior to 'the morning exercises' which consisted of 25mins of alternating HipHop/Peppy Aerobics for the girls (and any boys who chose to stay) and a 5k run for the boys (and any girls who chose to go). It was hilarious!!! So much fun! and you got to cool off/shower by jumping in the lake afterward!!! and had access to a beach, wind surfing, kayaks, catamarans, a high ropes course, bikes, trampolines, a variety of sports including beach volleyball, dance workshops and soccer/football - we even recreated the world cup!!! I played on the Nigerian team :D. we sadly got knocked out in the quarter finals, but that's not so bad considering there were 46 teams and ours had the handicap of a girl (namely a specific girl <- me, the other girl who was playing was certainly no handicap!). There were also concerts and parties every night (alcohol free due to the nature of the site - boy did I ever feel at home :D - and it certainly did not prevent any hilarity from ensuing!!! loads of ridiculous kissing games and limbo games and jumping over the fire games of the type that usually only result after significant levels of alcohol have been imbibed were played with alarming frequency... and by me as well!) it was amazing :D!!! I made such good friends and I miss you all :'(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hugs to everyone* None of us ever wanted to leave!!! Sadly, most of those of us from elsewhere missed out on meeting President Medvedev as his visit was delayed due to the spy swapping so he wound up coming the day after we'd left... I'm told, however, that it rained the entire time he was there (we'd had gorgeous weather the whole week) and only cleared up again once he'd left!

But yeah, Russia was unbelievable. I loved it so much! I definitely want to go back at some point. This time to Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostock to visit all my friends in Siberia!!! As mentioned earlier, I went early in order to get some touring done, Flying in to Moscow 7 days before the conference and then jumping over to St. Petersburg and heading in to Seliger from there. Moscow was really neat. I got to see the Red Square (and a military graduation! and a military Parade at the Kremlin for that matter!) and St Basil's and the Kremlin and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and well, everything really. But most importantly, I managed to wrangle tickets to a sold out performance of the Bolshoi. *smiles happily* talk about dreams come true. they were putting on a Balanchine suite (I know!!!! not only was it the Bolshoi, but they were doing my favourite choreographer!!!!!!! soooo sooo sooo happy! I swear I went into shock when I found that scalper and got the tickets. I had despaired of ever getting any since I knew they were sold out before I even left England!) They were incredible. Words can't describe them. I've seen individual dancers that good. but never a whole company *sighs contentedly*. Although I made some great friends in Moscow and had a genuinely good time (and found out I'd been at the same performance and missed meeting up with Kate!) it was St. Petersburg that really caught my heart. The Hermitage was incredible, the city as a whole is architecturally gorgeous. the landscape on the flight over was breathtaking. I saw the bay of finland!. the Peter and Paul fortress, Lenin Square/finland station and the Aurora (the ship that started the October Revolution) are all pretty cool. St. Isaac's is amazing and seeing the Spaz na Krovi church (the church of christ the saviour on spilt blood- think the 'have you heard there's a rumour in st. petersburg' scenery from the Anastasia movie) was a dream come true (despite the fact that my wallet was stolen just outside of there, which sadly meant I never made it to the Peterhoff palace (next time!) or the Kirov (which is okay since they're coming this way :) ) - thank you so much to the staff of the restaurant who gave me enough money to see the church and live off of for the rest of the night!). But you know what was most incredible??? The fact that on my first night there the sun didn't even begin to set until 2am and was right back up at 4! Not quite full white night since St Petersburg is 6 degrees south of the Arctic circle and it was a week or so after the solstice, but there was still midnight sun!!! a sight I never really thought I'd see until I properly got to the arctic. It was amazing!!! a bit maddening, but really really cool!!! It started to get darker earlier on the further we got from the solstice but it was still pretty light even at midnight when we were at the camp. In Saint Petersburg it's also really neat because all the bridges along the river Neva go up at 1:30 to let the big boats through and you can watch them! (they don't go down again until 4am though so you'd best not get stuck on the wrong side of the river!)

After all that lovely adventure in Russia (and an overnight bus ride back in to Moscow) it was back to England for me. Upon landing, I decided to go straight to Cambridge to pick up my suitcase and, more importantly, visit Tabby (and his mom, sister and Erica)! As a bonus, I also got to see Simon :). Cambridge is really nice. I still maintain that it's not as nice as Oxford. Though as Tabby pointed out, there may be sentimental reasons for that ;). After completing my tour of Cambridge (and falling asleep at a dinner party. What?! I hadn't slept in ages at that point ;P) it was back in to London and Charlotte's for me! This time to say a final good bye (and watch the world cup final). We had managed to re-book me a flight home (which would be changed the day of from the icky-late-arriving evening flight which I hate, to the much more convenient mid day flight which I love, so that was Happy!) - good thing too, as by that point I was well and truly out of money!. I stayed a Charlotte's (I miss you!!), got to visit the family once more (which led to a highly entertaining excursion to find suitable wrapping for the portrait. We succeeded and it survived though!!!), attempted to get back in some semblance of dance-shape and had a fortuitous meet up with El, Jess and Caroline in Camden :D. *sighs contentedly* Definitely an amazing trip and a style of travel (the Ah!-I'm-not-sure-what-I'm-doing-next-or-how-I'm-doing-it style) I shall definitely have to repeat in the future ;).

Uhoh: NEW CRITTER UPDATE: Em's not coming home, I'm gonna hafta be a baby-killer all by myself!!!! *sobs* what am I to do???? (deal with it later clearly. I mean, in the immortal words of Scarlet O'Hara "After all, tomorrow is another day")

Yupyup, so since I've been home it's been pretty relaxed, basically just spent time applying for jobs (successful, I now have two), trying to figure out where/how I'm living next year (less successful), reading (always successful ;)), dancing, circus-ing, hanging out with the family and friends, seeing Miss Saigon with Em B (it was good!) and, most recently, going up to the cottage for the long weekend (*sighs happily* I love tubing. And the hilariousness of our family... especially the younger set). And that brings us up to now, when I should really deal with the fly/maggie/banana situation and then head off to bed. The former of which, oddly still hasn't managed to kill off my general love of life ;).
*hugs and love to all - yes, even the maggies*

Weather to Blog, or not to Blog, that is the question

Having contemplated it several times over the past week, I decided that today shall be the day I finally get around to blogging - it just seemed like such a lovely blustery morning to do it (that having been said, morning somehow appears to have escaped me and afternoon is fast approaching). I just love blustery mornings (particularly when I'm all cosy and warm inside) they remind me of fall (which it is quite clearly not at the moment, Oh my gosh, the weather we've been having lately has just been phenomenal, so gorgeous and sunny and summery! Well, apart from the minor blip where it snowed in between two days in their gorgeous teens and the hail storm we got on my birthday (Yay! Hail!). I even have a tan already! And I didn't even try!). The best part of blustery days though, is that they remind me of Winnie the Pooh and the several stories about him which begin that way, and that makes me happy :).

So odd. The amount of time I spend talking of the weather... *shakes head in distress* I noticed this the other day. It's like ever since having spent so long in England, I feel like it's the only appropriate topic of conversation! I've totally forgotten how to converse with people!!! Gah! I used to be so good at drawing people out and asking the right questions and making conversation so that no one ever felt awkward but I've totally forgotten how!!! I'm just too scared to broach any potentially dangerous topics! Why? I don't know. *wrinkles nose* Oh, I'm still perfectly capable of playing a crowd in social situations and mingling quite happily and talking with long established friends is still easy enough - though I do find myself awkwardly looking for topics of conversation more often than I used to... People here are perfectly content to give you their opinion on anything/everything the second you meet them so why I should expect them to be as reticent as the Brits, I have no idea... urgh. So difficult! *shakes head* must work on this. Talking is what I'm good at.. must regain former competence!

*laughs* ah well, what can you do... right! Updates :D! Let's see, where did we leave off... Ah, yes, reading week & the Olympics! After spending some time in the basement with our skeleton - he was an adorable old man who lived for a remarkably long time (I think the documents, once we were finally allowed to see them said 87!) giving the extent of the pathologies on him! His poor collar bone! and sternum! and ribs! and left hip socket! and spine! and elbow! and, omg *shakes head* I do not want to see what my skeleton is going to look like when I'm that old... for that matter, I'm kind of scared to know what it looks like now! - it was time for the Olympics to begin :D! We kicked of the event in proper style with an Olympic openning party at our place during which we somehow managed to fit 20-some-odd people in our teeny-tiny living room -thank you Evan for fixing the tv so we actually got ctv :D! Omg, sooo good! I lovew the olympics soo much!!! and these ones were just so magical despite the tragedy they started off with and the general lack of snow. So many great stories, and wins, and near wins, and performances and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier terrorising tourists and the Brian Williams meat Brian Williams thing. lol! The last few days especially were just incredible! and winning that Hockey Gold (or both of them rather :) ). Well let's just say I still get shivers just thinking about it :). Aghh! most intense game ever... so many near heartattacks there! So great though :). It really was just incredible - even if I did have to suffer through Jess and Em calling me repeatedly from various venues around vancouver to brag ;P - just kidding, I love you guys, really. Oh! and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's dancing! Incredible!!!! so was Yu-na Kim's. but really Virtue and Moir were just breathtakingly gorgeous *sighs happily* and Moir's antics in general were great "we came in second - no I'm just kinding, we won!" lol. Sooo good! The Olympics just make me so happy! I love them so much :D. Our closing ceremonies on the other hand... lol. I swear the rest of the world was sitting there watching going 'I don't get it...' but I really did like how they had the mime bring up the last arm of the cauldron so Catriona LeMay Doan could finally get to light hers :) - so happy making!
In the midst of all this, it was time to head off skiing with the gifted boys and Wendy (who is leaving for vancouver for ever and ever on wednesday - noooo, Wendy, don't gooo!!!!) up at Blue. Sooo much fun, with lot's of hilarity ensuing :). Honnestly, I think Wendy and I may have been the only people NOT to blow dry our hair *shakes head* plus. trying desparately to lose at poker so I could go to bed and still managing to clean most of them out was pretty fun - as was the rediculousness of watching them get up early in the morning so that they could play computer games :P.

Next it was time for a crazy few weeks involving getting all my work done, presenting at the Medusa series, marking proposals, tests and papers, attending various seminars, going to the movies, hanging out with friends, dancing and playing soccer as per usual, end of term/year parties and just generally having fun :). My 22nd birthday was fairly uneventful (apart from the hail!) as I spent the time writing an 20 page essay, but all in all, it was still pretty good :). I have to say, I really really enjoyed TAing - yes, even the essay marking. In fact, I kinda really enjoyed the essay marking part too :D. And I really hope I get to do it again next year! Anyhow, all I have left now is my MRP/thesis-y thing (which I still haven't settled on - no worries, there's still time ;) ) and one more IR course and then I'm done - YAY!!!!. The best of the seminars was definitely the one organised by the other MAIR students (which took place on a crazy filled weekend which also included protoring an exam and seeing Jane Goodall speak live - she's so very British!!!). The conference was on negotiation in IR and there were some really great speakers - may favourite two of which were Brian Stewart who gave the key note address (I swear nothing major has occured in the last 50 years without his being there!) and Paul Heinbecker, former Canadian ambassador to the UN. Very interesting.

Yup, so, that brings us up to now :). OOh! I also got to re-see Kudelka's Swan Lake with Ma... I think I like it better now that I've gotten over my blind hatred for his choreography... I still say that this one has no emotion though... it's just... beautiful but not heartwrenching in any way really... it's so much less emotive than Bruhn's version. Linna and Ma both agree. The patterning is absolutely Stunning though! Oooh! also saw the mixed program they did in March with Ju... man is 24 preludes by Chopin weird... it was kinda cute in an awkward way though... and a number of them made me laugh. Suite of Dances was adorably good though :). And four Seasons was stunning as always... though I swear they added more intricacy too it and made it even better! Soo ecited for Onegin in June now! they have the pictures from the model sets up in the studios down at walter carson and they look amazing! Just took ma to see GlenGary GlenRoss by Soulpepper as an early morther's day present since I wont be around (aka she blackmailed me into it ;) ) last night and the acting was incredible - so believable! Hmm what else? can't remember if I mentioned it before but Sound of Music with Papa earlier this year was also amazing! there was one scene in which the captain looking bashful did exactly what Langan does when he's nervous - so unnerving!! Speaking of which, Congrats to all the boys for getting their engineering rings!!! and to everyone else who is now officially done their undergrad for that matter!!!! Yay-ness :D! I'm no longer alone!!!! Well... not that I've technically graduated yet, but neither have they ;).

Uhoh! Time to get dressed and head out to Wendy's going away lunch (Noooo!) and then Nal's (and my) belated b-day dinner (Also, why is it now raining? I said lovely blustery day, not rainy day. Ah well, I suppose rain can be good too :P). Then it's off up north to re-cert my wilderness first responder this coming weekend, and then to England (with a minor 3 week stopover in Budapest, Vienna and Prague prior and some sticking around and travelling to as-of-yet unplanned destinations with Charlotte afterwards ;) ) in order to graduate the next :D. Wish me luck and the best of summer to you all!