Mom and dad would be so proud

Last night, I cooked rice...in a pot! (You have to understand that the only time I've seen someone cook rice in a pot - with any expertise - is when we go over to my aunt's house for dinner)
Yup, I grew up with the fabulous invention also known as the rice cooker. Magic in a machine. Stick in the rice, water, press and button, come back and *poof*, cooked rice.
Anyway, I did it. No burnage on the bottom. Maybe a TAD soggy, but that's one of those, "how dry do you like your rice" things. It wasn't dripping or anything, just a little bit softer than rice cooker quality.
1 cup rice, 2 cups water. Boil for a bit (as long as it took me to remember I was cooking rice after settling in front of the TV), turn heat to low boil for 15 minutes, turn to lowest heat (with the lid on) for the time it took for me to go down to put my laundry into the machine and come back, and then let it sit (still with the lid on) for a random amount of time (until my tv show got to a commercial).
I think it was a fluke that it worked out so well.

Huh?!? with a splash of FAB

The scene:
Very sunny, blue sky-ed lunch hour. Fluffy white clouds in the sky. A sprinkling of teeny tiny raindrops falling from above?!? Feels like a mist.

It was a huh?!? moment.

.5 seconds later, flash to Miss J smiling at the sky, sighing of happiness, in absolute amazement of her life.

P.S. This was partly due to the fact that I was under the influence of a toxic substance: knowing that I was walking to the rink and going skating for the first time in Neuch.
Result of said event: Happy doing edge work on a quarter of the ice surface (rest was for hockey boys) and condition of double fwd inside twizzles were a-ok.

Fete des Vandanges

You may have noticed that I'm not taking the time to put accents where they should be in words. Sorry.

Here's a little story for you boys and girls:
Once upon a time, there was a canton (equivalent of Canadian provinces) called Neuchatel. Now, Neuchatel was known for producing good wine from its very own vineyards. The Neuchatelois were so into their wine that for two weeks in October everything would stop so that the communities could help with the grape-picking. Neuchatelois of all ages would have two weeks off from school, work or whatever else they were doing to help this harvest. During this time, they would also have a festival (known as the "Fete des Vandanges") to celebrate this wonderful occasion which people from near and far would come join in the festivities. While extra help isn't needed anymore, to this day, students still have two weeks of holiday at the beginning of October to celebrate this tradition.

This year, the festival is this weekend although the "holiday" doesn't take place for another week.

To be expected from this weekend:
- lotsa wine
- lotsa confetti
- lotsa people
- lotsa music
- lotsa parades
- lotsa costumes
- lotsa food

I've finally been carded

...on the bus.
So it does happen. They do have spot-checkers for bus cards/passes/tickets.
There was a police guy and a transit guy on the bus this morning on the way to school doing their rounds. I did see them write up a ticket for someone. Tsk, tsk.

On a slightly related note, they don't really card people in bars here. The drinking age is different too. 16 for beer and wine and 18 for hard liquor. It's that whole European thing I guess...that people enjoy their alcohol and don't always drink to get drunk, so it doesn't really matter that the age is lower. It's all about responsible drinking and the fact that drinking is part of the culture.

Multi-tasking on the can

Some public bathroom stalls here have ashtrays in them.

Is this because:
1) People who were smoking going into the bathroom need somewhere to butt out so that they can concentrate on the task at hand
OR
2) People need somewhere to put their ashes when multi-tasking on the can
OR
3) Some other reason?!?

I've ruled out the option that people go into stalls to sneak a smoke, because you can smoke basically anywhere here.

Makes you wonder.

East-SIDE

I live in Hauterive, a small "town" just East of Neuchatel (a "city"). You may know that I also reside in Scarborough, just East of big city Toronto.

I guess it is my destiny to always represent the East-SIDE (you can't see it, but I've twisted up my hand into a semi-E shape).

While downtown this past weekend, I brushed past someone who I swear to goodness said "bumbaclot". (He wasn't a local) No joke. It made me think of my fab TFT boys.

Lovely

What is it about Rachmaninoff's "Variations on a Theme of Paganini" that makes me stand up taller and want to do spirals and edge work?

What is it about being in a cold rink with pop music blaring that makes me smile?

I finally did it.
I walked down to the rink and ventured inside. FAB.
There were about 6-7 girls on the ice skating. 2T up to 3Sal attempts.
Some did their programs (endurance not quite there...early in the season), some were in lessons. Lots of good flow. Some nice posture, but often eyes down.
I'm a judge, I can't help it.
I talked with the skating coach and hopefully I'll be on the ice soon.

I miss it.

Sick sick sick

So I'm sick.
I have a stuffy nose, the worst cough ever, tired eyes and weird feeling inner ears.
My cough is almost at the "phlemy stage" which is much better than my current dry, hacking, my guts are going to come out cough.
I think it's destiny for teachers to get sick in their first week or so of teaching, regardless of year. It's those icky kiddies germs. Sort of like how everyone gets sick in residence at university. It just gets passed around from person to person.
I'm also pondering the thought that my body is needing to learn how to fight off Swiss germs. I'm going to stick with the idea that I got sick with some new-fandangled (at least to my body) Swiss germies as opposed to something boring like just catching something from someone at school.
Makes my life more interesting.

P.S. Teaching is hard to do when you're under the weather.

Third time's a charm

I can't say that I necessarily had any problems with livejournal, but I think that blogger has more features that I will enjoy.
I'll be (yet again) transferring posts from livejournal to this page and perhaps adding pictures as well?!? I've thought a little bit more about how much personal info I want to divulge on my blog, so my transferred posts may be slightly different from the originals.
Fingers crossed that this the permanent home for my cyber-thoughts.

Toblerones

Not just a chocolate bar, but a part of history.
So on the bus ride to and from Creux de Van, we see toblerones. They are concrete versions of the chocolate bar. Individual pieces.
The Swiss used them in World War II near the French borders to keep the tanks out. The French tanks. The French at this point were taken over by the Nazis.
The toblerones would either stop the tanks from being able to go through, or slow them down enough for the Swiss to kill off the occupants of the tanks.
The Swiss have been thinking about removing the toblerones now that World War II is over and all, but have decided to keep them there as a part of their history.
That is what I learned today.

End of week one

Congratulations to me! I've survived week one of my teaching career.

Congratulations all the other teachers in the world for surviving the first part of the 2004-2005 academic school year. Us teachers are a great breed aren't we? It draws such diverse personalities, backgrounds and experiences. I haven't been in a staffroom where I haven't met a person with a great "story".

Is the same true for other professions?

First day of school and today

Yesterday was the first day of school.
I was really excited. My first set of classes...ever! I had a little giddy moment with a couple other experienced staff members who rolled their eyes at me.The classes were only 25 minutes long due to a shortened schedule, so there was only time to give a couple course handouts and give a brief intro.
But it was ok I guess. I survived, I've already picked my "favorite class" and noticed students that could be "problems". I shouldn't be doing that already. It's only human though, right? Just as long as it doens't change the way I teach or the marks I give.
I feel like when I'm in front of a classroom I'm a different person. I'm acting. My voice changes. My posture changes.
It's really interesting.

Today was the first day that we did work in the subject matter. Just a review class. It was really interesting. I had a moment of, "oh my gosh, I'm the teacher and what I say goes, so I'd better say it right so the students don't get confused". I had a moment of worry when many students were completely confused by what I thought were review questions from early high school. I had a moment of brilliance when I realised that although it was all review, I needed to reteach the concepts on the board before I assigned the questions. It was a time to learn from my mistakes, be proud of myself, be content with my life and how far I've come.

Booyah.

Fondue

I do not enjoy fondues.

I should rephrase that. I do not enjoy cheese fondues.

I've tried real ones twice, and I still don't like them. The first time I think a lot of wine was added. This past time (with the rest of the staff from the school) there wasn't as much wine, but it was still not too good tasting.
I do not like the taste of alcohol. I'm also very daring in the cheese department. Cheese on pizza and pasta and a couple other thing are fine, but those are all pretty mild cheeses so I'm okay with that. It's the really strong stuff I can't handle (yet - I'm hoping living in Switzerland will cure that).
The cheese in the fondues I've had weren't very strong kinds, so that wasn't the problem. It's the alcohol I can't deal with (also wondering if lving in Switzerland may help this problem).
This time around though, I found a way to make the experience more bearable. Don't dunk the whole piece in the cheese. Not only do you get to eat so you don't starve while everyone's busy eating, but it minimizes the gross taste and the chance that you drop your piece of bread into the cheese (thereby avoiding awkward situations).
The crust part on the bottom of the pot it pretty good tasting though.

Other fondues:
Instead of cheese in the pot, you dunk raw meat and seafood into oil. Yum.Also a potato fondue. One of the staff members who couldn't eat bread dunked potatoes into a sort of creamy tomatoe-y sauce. It was really good. Like pasta-ish.
Of course the chocolate fondue. Apparently it's not really common here. Families may have it at home, but it's not really a big Swiss thing. The restaurant we were at with the staff did have it though. I think maybe it's getting more mainstream because of the tourists and stuff.

Hiking

So people hike regularly here in Switzerland.
People who know me well realize that I not a very outdoorsy person.
They need to know that on my third day here, I ventured out behind my apartment into the forest and hiked for an hour on my own. Not following any major paths, but wandering through random areas. I know, I live on the edge.
I was hoping to reach a look out point (I live on a mountain) after hiking up so that I would get a great view of the town below and of the lake and the alps in the distance. That never happened. Apparently there isn't a lookout point. So I just kept hiking for the "fun" of it. It wasn't too bad I guess. Sorta steep and since it had rained that morning, it was a little slippery (I don't own any hiking shoes, just regular sneaks).
One interesting thing I can across during my adventure in the forest was an exercise station (I passed another one on my way down - a different route). It was two bars parallel to the ground that you could hang and do chin ups on. There was a sign beside it telling you what exercises were recommended, how and how long to do them for. I found this interesting because I remember seeing things like this in Toronto. Since I don't hike myself, I don't remember what the occasion was, but I'm sure they exist.

Two days ago, I returned from the half of the orientation trip with the students from my school that I was scheduled for. During the trip, we went hiking in Locarno. It was a 4 hour hike. Can you believe it? And I'm not a slow walker. We did stop for lunch for about half and hour though. So maybe I should say a 3.5 hour hike. The "difficulty" wasn't too bad. Some parts were a little tough on the quads, but for the most part is was downhill, so my knees became a little sore. The greatest part of the hike was the fact that while we were hiking in the forest, the river was right beside us. You had to remember to look up every so often (looking down to watch your footing) to take in the scenery. It was unreal. Mountains covered with lush forests. Little huts and monasteries hidden amongst the trees. Huge rocks in the river. Waterfalls. Beautiful. My favorite part was stopping for lunch. The person I hiked with (you could go at your own pace) and I detoured down off the path onto the rocks by the water. I became a kid again and started wandering. I jumped and hoisted myself from rock to rock (they were huge!). It was great because the boulders were so big and close that you could manouver yourself to a rock in the middle of the river and be surrounded by the rushing water and look up at the beautiful sky and the scenery all around. At that point, I wished I wasn't with the group so that I could wander some more and play all day. Another thing I did was make a rock pile. I'm not sure what they're called, but the little tower things that people leave to show that they were there. I tried to make one as close to the middle of the river and in a sort of unique area so that people would notice it. I have faith that people will respect my creation and won't knock it over on purpose. So I've left my mark in Switzerland.

Sidebar: I wish I could attach pictures to this. They would help illustrate my stories, because my words just don't do my adventures justice.

This coming monday, we're going hiking again. This one is supposed to be really long and tough. So much so that we get a fondue at the end to celebrate the accomplishment of finishing the hike.

Happiness

I watched a show on BBC Prime about happiness. Who has it, how they get it, etc. It talked about twin studies, nature vs. nurture...all the typical stuff. Apparently happiness has to do with the left side of your brain.
I don't know if I count as a "happy person", but last night I had that wonderful feeling of happiness. Or maybe it was just calmness. Or satisfaction. It's that feeling that you can't really describe.
I was walking to the bus stop from school at 9:30pm. It was dark outside, the streetlights were illuminating the trees. It was cool with a slight breeze. I couldn't help smiling. I had a skip in my step.
I felt wonderful.

Privacy issues

Since I'm new to this, and I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to trust, personal space, someone hunting me down because they know all about my life, I've been doing some editing.
Until this point, I had mostly used people's first names (no last names) and then named some specifics in my life, but I'm wondering if that's a smart thing to do?

How candid can I be on this blog?
What if my kids come on here and somehow something I've said makes me lose their respect as a professional?
What if certain people didn't want to be mentioned?
I using only first names enough?

I guess this is the problem with the web. Everything's fair game.

I mean, the URL itself gives personal info away.

So I've decided to think about it some more, but in the meantime, I've edited my previous posts to take out names and stuff.

Comments would be greatly appreciated, because I'm going to worry myself into a hole about this.

Cheers,
*L*

Welcome Class of 2005

Cyber welcome thoughts go out to the "school" Class of 2005 who have probably just arrived to the country.
From Zurich airport, they are whisked away to a hiking adventure in Grindewald until Saturday morning, afterwhich they will get on a bus going to Locarno where they will meet the fab Miss Jao (all teachers but one were assigned to go on just the first or second half of the trip to allow for extra prep time) on a boat cruise.
Students don't arrive back to Neuchatel until Monday during which they will get to know the city and get ready to start classes on the following day.
And so it begins...

Proofreading

You may notice many spelling and grammatical errors in my posts.
Since I tend to type out whatever comes to my mind as it comes to my mind, often my fingers can't quite keep up with my thoughts and so I carelessly leave out words.
I consider myself a pretty fast typer, but I have a bad habit of looking at the keyboard when I type (although I've found that I don't really need to), so I don't notice my spelling mistakes and types as they happen.
As my posts tend to ramble for quite some time, by the end of them, I don't feel like going through the whole thing over again (partly laziness, partly fear that I'll want to add more and waste more of my time that I should be spending preparing for school), I just post them.
It's mentally exhausting for me to type out these posts...I don't know why, but it is...so when I finish one, I'm ready and eager to just hit post and then move on to the next thing on my list.
So sorry for the mistakes. I like to think that they add character. If nothing else, it definetely tells you a little bit about my personality (if you're like me and analyses everything in the world and why it's the way it is).
Cheers,
*L*

Excerpt from e-mail to family: "update on days 3-7"

Sent September 2, 2004 @ 11:55

day 3:
jet lagged (couldn't fall asleep at night, but would sleep in...a lot)
duvet is incredibly hot. sleep with my teal star blanket instead took the bus to the market. fabulous! lots of fresh foods. fruits, vegetables, cheese, a whole stand for mushrooms, fish, and flowers!
bought myself a bouquet of flowers just becasue i like fresh cut
flowers, and just because i'm on my own so i deserve some flowers!
prices were pretty steep (as usual). i'd say they're a little more than grocery store prices, but whatever. it's fresher. example: small pint of raspberries = 4.5CHF. smae goes for blackberries (which were superhuge). i ate the blackberries on the way home becasue they were getting squashed in my bag (soooo juicy) and my snacking left evidence. red fingers! another example: 1 ear of corn (on the cob) = 1CHF.
had an iced tea in an outdoor cafe by myself. i thought iced tea was "the glace", but here it's "the froid". weird suisse people. always wanted to eat at an outdoor (european style) cafe by myself. this place didnt' really serve food, so i just had a drink. i read a suisse newspaper while sitting there (it was already on the table) and it all made sense (it was in french).
noticed that doors push to open (even ones with knobs to turn), as opposed to them swinging towards you). think about it. it's opposite to canada.
cool thing: supermarket has an escalator for grocery carts. yup.
since the store is multileveled, they'd built little escalators for the carts. you push the cart in, then get on the normal escalator as your cart moved up beside you.
weather: sunny (between 28-30C)

day 4:
jet lagged still (woke up at noon - ie. 6am)
breakfast of nutella (bought yesterday at the brocery store) on bread.
and some raspberries too.
watched woman's volleyball final (olympics) on tv, where china beat russia in 5 sets (good comeback!)
have a couple mosquito looking bites.
went hiking in the uphill forest behind my apartment. strenuous. (my calves were sore before today from walking up and down hills - i live on a mountain, right?) never really got to a good lookout point to take pictures, but apparently becasue i went through random paths instead of the really major one they've got. you may not remember, but in some paths in toronto, there are pit stops where you can do exercises. they have them here too. i saw two. one for doing curl ups (with directions for easy and hard) and the other for stretching
(with directions).
sat on sunny balcony to write in journal
oven in degrees C
egg yolks here are really really bright orangish/yellow.
watched the weakest link in french ("le maillon faible"), closing ceremonies, jamie oliver (cooking show) and others.

day 5:
tried to start an internet journal (more details to come)
went grocery shopping. noticed that the cart moves slower so that you're at the top (or bottom depending on if you're going up or down) before your cart has hit their destination (the escalator thing - i was trying to figure it out when i went home last time).
finally finished my water still in my water bottle from pearson
international water fountain...by feeding my flowers with it.
weather: grey and breezy during the day. sun hot. early evening = heavy winds.
surprised at the number of ethnic people i see around. and strange to not hear them speaking their native tongue (or english) but french!
wonder if people look at me and know i don't speak french.
watched on tv: would wants to be a millionaire (french version), the nanny with fran drescher and her funny nasal voice (in french) met the "concierge" today. sort of like a landlord to the apartment.
my laundry day is wednesdays. every two weeks! learned about garbage procedures. no dryer. hang dry everything. washing machine goes by temperature. she was really really nice. whole conversation in french. ok!
my doorbell is a rotating knob in the middle of my front door.
went into mcdonalds to see prices (curious). meal = 12-13CHF! mcflurry = 3CHF.

day 6:
called mom at work @ 5:30pm (oops, i mean 17:30). noticed that she spoke a lot of chinese (was that on purpose, or did i just notice it becasue i haven't heard it in a week)
getting over jet lag? ok with duvet ... used the eye cover thing that i got free from BA.
went shopping in market again (saturday, tues and thursday mornings).
bought some postacrds, but upset that none show the town i live in (east of neuchatel, but TINY).
when cut yellow zucchini open, area around seeds are a little green in colour.
talked to the other math teacher about teaching. seems really nice and willing to help.
registered with the town. "commune/police des habitants". i had to register not with the city of neuchatel, but with the town of haute-rive, because that's where i'm living (habitating?).
had my first "pain au chocolat" (here, called "croissant au chocolat") this morning on the way to the bus stop (yup, there's a bakery on the way to the bus stop - this could be a bad thing). 1.70 CHF. not too bad.
watched: french survivor! ("koh-lanta") it was the season finale too!
apparently, i get a wireless internet signal in my appartment. too bad i don't the person's password, or else i'd get free access!
ambulances are red and white with blue flashing lights. sirens sound "european" (what i imagine they'd sound like in europe before i got here)
took photos for various documents in photobooth in train station
(amelie moment!!!)
talked to dad around dinnertime when he called

day 7:
had first official staff meeting, but only with new staff and the principal, to go over a couple things.
i keep feeling like i want to take pictures of all of this because it's such a big deal to me, but then don't think it's appropriate or that other people will think i'm weird. it's SUCH a big deal to me that i'm here. not only is it switzerland, but it's my first job ever! everyone else seems like it's just another normal day in their life. like it's not interesting. or exciting, but i feel like it's the coolest thing ever!
met individually with the principal to go over a couple things.
principal gave me a brochure for the local figure skating club.
hopefully something will happen there.
met other teachers for the first time. wine and cheese. principal did a little welcoming toast. felt young. all returning staff seem really nice. they all seem really close to teach other. very small group (think would be cooler if more people).
met next door neighbour. saw her coming up the stairs behind me and said hello and asked if she had a cat, because there's a cat crate outside her door. she has three cats, two turtles, a guinea pig and some fish. i talked with her for a bit. she seems really really nice. said to ask her if i had any questions. all in french. ok!
talked to "P" (returning teacher) who was in my apartment last year, and was his first year teaching last year. made me feel exctied for the year and reassured that it would all be ok.

think that's it.

cheers,
*L*

p.s. i've taken pictures about all of this, but still haven't tried to put them into my computer

Observations

I'm trying to figure out what the Swiss are like.
There's lots of stereotypes flying around, but who wants to believe those when you can figure the truth out for yourself?
In '97, I remember saying hello to everyone I walked by, but maybe that's only because it was a much smaller town and maybe they're friendlier there?
Here some people say hello (let me say that I'm never the first person to speak, I always wait for the locals to say hello - maybe I should change that), but I feel like the majority don't.
In Hauterive, where I live, it's a smaller town, which seems to have a lot of families with young children. I feel like when walking through the town, everyone seems really nice and welcoming and happy.
In Neuchâtel, most people are smiling and friendly as well, but maybe because it’s a bigger city, it doesn’t feel as warm? I feel like I say hello to more people in Hauterive than I do in Neuchâtel.
I always wonder if they don't say hello because they look at me and see a foreigner and so don't think that I'll understand them, or whatever other reason. This could be the case, as I'd think my ethnicity would give it away, although I'm surprised to see quite a few different ethnicities represented here in town.
(Had a conversation with a gentleman from Pakistan who was selling produce at the market, and we were talking about Canada and he mentioned that when he moved from Pakistan, he decided not to go to Canada because there were already too many people from Pakistan there. Interesting.)
Anyway, I find it's always easy to read children and teenagers wherever you go. They give you a good sense of what an area is like because it shows for example, what kinds of family values are being taught among other things.
All younger children that I've crossed paths with have said hello to me.
Some teenagers act all tough and stuff. Some seem really nice. Since there's the whole smoking society thing going on here, it may cloud my judgement just because in Toronto we're so brainwashed by anti-smoking things. Maybe also because I can't always understand what they're saying, so that too may cause me to not judge properly.
One incident yesterday that always makes me happy. On the bus to school. Teenaged boy offered his seat to an elderly gentleman. You don't see that all the time in Toronto anymore. And I can’t say for sure that it happens all the time here in Switzerland. I mean, it was the first time I was on a bus that was busy enough that when the gentleman came onboard there were no seats left.
I don't want to stereotype, so I'm not going to try to describe what the Swiss are like in two sentences. I’ve just described my experiences and thoughts (isn’t that what this whole blog thing’s all about?). Take what you want from them. In the mean time, I’ll keep people watching and try to get a better idea what Swiss people are all about.

Computer-savvy

I'm starting to tinker around with different settings, some html codes and stuff so I'm going to be going back through the posts to revamp some of them and make them more "fancy".
I really do impress myself sometimes (sorry to those who'll think that there's nothing fancy about this page at all - it's a big step for me to even do things like add links to text!)

Excerpt from e-mail to family on Day 1

Sent August 26, 2004 @ 18:12

The trip was fine. Smooth. Watched the movie on the back of the seat in front of me. Sat beside nice people. Strange that night time only last a couple hours (think of the direction we were flying).
I took some pictures of stuff to sort of document my journey. Once I figure out how to connect my camera to the computer, I'll send them your way (until next week, I'll be using a school computer).
I tried to remember everything about the trip. Once in Geneva
(airport), the background music was "White Flag" (or something like that) by Jewel.
It wasn't too bad with my luggage on the train. It was really empty, and they wait so long at the station that I could just carry one piece on at a time, get off and get the next piece. I had a cart to wheel everything around at the airport (cardboard box with skates arrived fine...didn't even have to go to a different place to pick them up).
After arriving in Neuchatel though, didn't have a cart, so had to try to figure out how to carry/wheel everything. I found that I could clip the smaller suitcase to the larger one without any problems.
Remember we're six hours ahead here (it's almost 6pm on Thursday). My body feels like it's friday...timeless. I mean, I don't know what time it is. My body feels really awake, but my eyes are a little sore.
I only napped for an hour or two on the first flight.
I thought it was funny that on the second flight, it was filled with businessmen/women wearing dressy clothes, whereas on the first flight I didn't look odd wearing sweatpants.
Bought a duvet/pillow/covers a little while ago. (I arrived here much earlier - one schedule, but this is the first time I've been near a computer) The school paid for everything, so that means I don't get to bring home my swiss purchased bed items. That also meant that I don't feel guilty about buying a $500 really down filled duvet. Is that normal price in Canada?
A box of kleenex (I think I have a slight cold - or maybe allergies) cost me ~$2.50 Jeez. I guess stuff here is really expensive.
My apartment is really really nice. Really big. Except the kitchen is really small. Well, not too bad, just the fridge. It's the size of the fridge that I had in first year university. Aparently they don't get much more bigger than that here. I'm going to try to convince them to get me a bigger one. If they were willing to spend that much on bed stuff, who knows?
I have a balcony (overlooking the lake). Ikea furniture. LOTS of closet space. Almost too much.
The second room has a bed, and I belive the couch in the living room pulls out to a couch as well. My place is so great!
The weather here today is like Toronto. It's been raining off and on since my arrival, but the sun is shining.
I saw where the skating rink is in the town, so I'm going to have to look into ice availability.
There's an Esprit clothing store downtown, and some other stuff that I haven't seen yet.
The town is half like you'd imagine a Swiss town to be, and the other half is more modern, but not like Toronto. I guess "European", but I don't know how to describe it.
The keyboard I'm using is different too. @ is not above the 2. " is instead. £ is above the 3. ~ and # are on the same key just to the left of the enter key. ¬ and ` are where the ~ should be. (under the esc key).
Grocery stores close at 6pm or something, except at 8:30 instead on Thursdays. Perfect. Maybe I can pick up some food on the way home.
I'm going over to another staff member's house for dinner. That'll be good, because I don't want to cook.
I've met the two other new staff members today already. They seem nice.
It's a little weird hearing the french around me. Especially since they talk with a different accent than the French speakers in Canada.
I haven't had any communication problems yet, but I guess I've only had to speak when buying a train ticket and say thank-you and hello a couple of times.
My TV doesn't get too many channels either. Too bad. It gets ~40 which is a lot, but only 2-3 in English, and all of those are CNN type of channels. Boring. I watched a couple cartoons in French today and part of the Olympics. I flipped past the Italian, German, and Arabic channels.
I think I'll leave it at that for now.
So I'm here, and I'm fine.
Will e-mail again soon,
Cheers,
Limin

P.S. I found it really odd that when I left you guys, I was surround by people who were crying a lot. It felt really really weird. They all just looked so sad. It makes you wonder where they were going (the people beside me on the first flight were headed for Abu Dabi - they're Lebanese/Canadians who couldn't speak much English).

Day 1 - filling in the blanks

I just posted part of the e-mail sent to my family the evening of my first day here. So, hopefully this will be shorter (if you haven’t noticed, I tend to rant).
I just wanted to do a little re-cap of what exactly I did the first day I was in town.
After arriving and meeting the principal at the part under the train tracks at the station, we wheeled my luggage back upstairs to the front door. I remember riding up an escalator and as we came to the top seeing McDonalds come into plain sight. Now that was weird. I don’t really remember seeing any McDonalds the last time I was in Switzerland, so this almost made me laugh.
After wheeling out of the station, we head to a navy blue Volkswagon (Jetta sized) and load up my stuff. We then drive to the school to pick up my keys and some other stuff. I remember being told in one of the interviews that the school was really close to the train station, and let me tell you know, that it’s basically across the street. We just did a little U-turn (I remember the principal saying you weren’t supposed to do this at the spot he did it at) and then drove two seconds to the school. The school was exactly what I’d imagined it to be, from the pictures that I’d seen on the internet, or from pictures that I was shown in interviews.
I met "L", the office guru, and was taken on a little tour of the ... (where offices, the staff room, some staff apartments, meeting rooms and a grand looking, umm, foyer/hall-thing are) and the ... (where the library and classrooms are).
Next we hop back in the car and take a roundabout way to get to my apartment so that I can sort of see where downtown is, the Universities (seems like Neuchâtel’s a school town), the super important skating rink and different parts of the city. We get to the apartment after driving through a very quaint old looking mini-town, up four flights of stairs and voila and huge, clean-lined, fab apartment that’s all mine! I’m given about two hours to settle in and advised to try to stay awake to make my body get used to the time difference (6 hours ahead).
I unpack, explore, clean, stare and think. It still doesn’t really hit me what’s going on.
My phone rings and it’s the principal giving me extra time before I’m to be picked up for the next thing on the list.
I meet "L" in front of my apartment and meet two other new teachers, "S and A" (husband and wife) in the car and head downtown to buy bedding because, well, there was none at my apartment.
EPA is the store of choice, and it’s a mini department store which also has a supermarket, so I’d equal its quality and selection is a miniature Walmart. You can read about my purchases in a previous entry.
I’m dropped off at my apartment with my new goods and then get driven back to school where I hop on the internet to send my first e-mail home.
I then meet the other new staff member and am invited over to his house for dinner (which will be discussed when I post another e-mail). It’s my first ride on the city bus and we chat the whole way, so I did notice a bunch of stuff that was going on around me, but not enough to write them down. "J" is a FAB cook.
He walks me home because it’s my first night there and who knows if I’ll find it (I did have faith in myself – I have an over heightened sense of security – which I don’t think is necessarily good) and then I plop myself on the couch, watch some TV and some time past midnight go to bed.

By the way, it still never really hits me that this is my life.

"une fig et trois noisettes comme d'habitude?"

I'm SO Amelie. Well sort of (let me be happy in thinking that I am).
Amelie is my favorite movie of all time.
This morning, I picked three figs from the tree near my apartment and bought a "croissant au noisette" from the patisserie at the train station on the way to school.
FAB.

Excerpt from e-mail to family on Day 2 (another one)

Sent August 27, 2004 @ 19:56

it's 7:39pm right now. I just finished dinner. I ate with the other math teacher and his wife at an authentic pizzeria. They wanted to find something on the cheaper side, and that's what we came up with.
A pizza was $16. But it would fill you up. We ordered two between the three of us to share. I ended up paying $17 on the bill because we needed to pay for tip (tax was included in the prices, but tip wasn't) and the drinks each cost around $3-4 although was only had pop and stuff.
After finishing this e-mail I'm going to take the bus home and relax.
Things I noticed that I either forgot to mention:
- when the street light goes from red to yellow, the red light stays on while it turns yellow. I guess this is to make sure that people don't get confused if it's going to turn red or green if they're just driving by and weren't early enough to witness the change
- one car had chinese characters emblazoned on the back winshield.
what were they? the first character was something I know for sure.
the second character was something i've seen, but don't rememebr what it is. it's like li of li chi (strength), except has a dot on the top, instead of the top being part of the downstroke. shoot. i don't remember what the first character was, but i knew how to read it and tried to remember it so that i could tell you in the first e-mail. i guess five hours is too long for me to remember.
- i've seen two chinese restaurants so far. will try them at some point i'm sure, just to see what they're like.
- I've seen some asian people wandering around. Haven't heard them talking, so don't know if they speak chinese or french or what. or if they're tourists, or live here...

Since the last e-mail:
- opened my bank account. I'm apparently Mrs. "LJ", because they don't have the other options.
- downtown has lots of cool stores (of all kinds). haven't gone in any really, becuase i'm saving that for tomorrow. La coste, Kookai, The Body Shop, Bata (shoe store), H&M. A creperie, a chocolaterie.
- There's a market Saturday morning that I'm going to go to.
- Lots of cafe#s (European style) that look amazing.
- I think for the first time, I was really excited. I think seeing the stores, the cafes, that was great. But I also got my first moment of panic about preparing for classes. I'm still really worried about teaching these courses.
- beside me on the table, is the teacher's timetable (which I'm not sure if I'm supposed to see - I'm using the smae computer I did yesterday). I'm apparently not teaching biology, but teaching the 3rd math course that I feel even less comfortable with. But the other math teacher, from the looks of it is only teaching two courses? I'm going to have to ask about that next week, because the principal sure didn't tell me about that third course. I mean, I didnt do ANYTHING to prepare for that course. I didn't even ask the teachers at "ACI" about it. But I do notice that in the first semester, I've got 12 Calc kids, 6 Geo kids, and (yikes) 17 in the course I'm not as fond of. 4 calc and 5 data management for the second semester. Can you say SMALL?!? Wow. Seems like most of the studnets here aren't taking math/science courses. I mean, I guess their
interests lie in the arts/humanities. Lots of peopel taking "issues in Human Rights" and other such courses.
- seen 3 McDonalds. I've seen a poster for something with Shrimp in it for there. Will go in tomorrow to tell you about it.
- the husband and wife (who's born in 1980, so I'm not the youngest by that far - I saw the passport when we were doing bank stuff - husband's in 1975) met when he was teaching at a Canadian school in Malaysia. They got married in 2000 (they'd known each other for two years prior). Last year they were in Canada (where he was teaching - I'm not exactly sure if she can teach - she's here "helping with the computers") and the year before that they were in the International/Canadian?!? school of Milan. He was teaching Physics, and she was "helping" with the elementary school.

I think that's it. I'm going home now, and hopefully there'll be something good to watch on tv. (Oh, appently there's a DVD drive on my laptop. Too bad I don't have any DVD's with me)

Cheers,
Limin

Excerpt from e-mail to family on Day 2

Sent August 27, 2004 @ 15:48

well, today i woke up at 11am. or sort of like noonish. somewhere in between there.
my bedroom has eastern exposure, so it's very bright (which i really really like). i can't decide if i was really hot, because of the sun, or because the duvet was really warm. it's super soft, but the funny thing is, the cover that i put on top of it (the theme of my place is blue. blue shower curtain, floor mat, bed spread, etc) is a little starchy. i guess i just have to work it in.
last night, i went over to another new teacher's place for dinner. he was here since august. he's 32 years old, from oakville and he's the other biology teacher. he seems really nice i guess. his mom was here visiting him. she's a real estate agent ... dinner was impressive. i think this guy (the mom did no cooking, we just sat and talked as he cooked) is more into cooking than you cronch. we had antipasti (?) which was basically a plate filled with crackers, cheese (not too cheesy tasting...pretty normal light yellow cheese), olives (i didn't eat any) and salami looking type of meat. then a romaine lettuce salad with tomatoes, raw mushrooms (which didnm't taste as bad as i remembered them being when i was a kid - maybe becasue here they were just small slices) and a homemade dressing (i think i saw him put in mustard - grey poupon looking type of bottle - he said something about anchovies, balsamic vinegar? - it was a creamy brown colour).
the main course was roasted potatoes and grilled lamb. i remember not liking lamb (or maybe because dad wasn't good at cooking it), but this was really good. it has a bunch of herbs on it, and he grilled it in a pan (he said he would have rather grilled it in the oven, but the potatoes were in there). they had wine, but of course i dinedm't want any. i smelled it, and it smelled like typical wine. stinky.
i am now using my laptop. the new math teacher's wife is the computer person. the math teacher is caucasian (late twenties, early thirties?) and wife is Malaysian. They met while he was teaching at a Canadian school in Malaysia. It's a Dell, and definitely not as fancy as dad's but I'm sure it'll do just fine. It had the touchpad, no nipple (which i don't like anyway - it hurts my finger). I'm going to ask if I can have a mouse anyway. Just because I'm more comfortable with them.
I haven't really looked at what "entertainment" the computer has (read as "games" - there's no DVD drive). A quick glance in the Start Menu shows typical Windows games. ... The keyboard's "normal" again.
I guess the American version (although there is a key with the
British currency Pound sign. But I don't know how to get it. It's not shift. It's to the right of the main character.) ... What else?

Today:
- saw a lizard crawling up the wall beside the sidewalk where i was walking.
- walked to school from home. don't wear a watch, so have no idea how long it took. people at school guess over 40 minutes.
- guy drove by with radio blaring music that kids listen to in Canada ("Yeah" by Usher and Ludacris)
- i take any number 7 bus to get to and from home to school
- cars here are small. they don't have bums. they're mostly
hatchbacks or stationwagons. tiny cars. i wonder if having an
american car here is like having a european car at home?
- streetlights turn yellow before they go to green (ie.
red-->yellow-->green). I'm sure they do the reverse too, but I
haven't witnessed it.
- pedestrian signals are red and green coloured bodies, not
yellow/white bodies and a hand.
- Neuchatel is bigger than Leysin. (or maybe it seems that way right now, because it's new). I look at Neuchatel like it's got layers at different altitudes (it's on a mountain, just like Leysin). There's the level below the traintracks. The traintracks. The level above the traintracks. The level above that, and one more. I'm on the seond highest level. The school's on the traintrack level. I need to walk to the level above the traintrack to take the bus. Then walk across the traintrack level to get to school. Downtown is below the
tracks. So is the skating rink (I guess you could say the level below the tracks is right by the lake). I remember Leysin being like a winding ssss-ing road up the side of the hill. Neuchatel seems like it's got parallel roads (at the different levels aforementioned) and then some roads that connect each one.
- Mom, remember that TV game show called "The Weakest Link"? I
watched it on TV today (at noon). The original British version (don't know if they're reruns, or if it's actually still going on). You know, with the lady with short hair the seems rude? The TV channel was BBC Prime
- Last night I watched "The Newlyweds - Nick & Jessica" on MTV Europe.
They were in English with French subtitles, so that was nice.
- I haven't eaten yet today (it's 3:30pm right now), but am not super hungry. I wanted to eat on a patio today, but didnm't see one that stuck out on the walk here, and am now here at school and busy writing this e-mail). I think I'm going to open up a Bank account later today.
- little kids (but not all - I'm going to ask why) wear yellow
fluorescent/reflective vest type of things. I see them walking around the streets with them. Some are by themselves, some with other children and adults, some with their parents. I'm guessing it's a safety thing required if you're under certain age, becaucse the kids don't seem botehred by it. I could see Canadian kids not wanting to wear something like that (because they're not used to it, and would think that it's weird). I saw a little infant not wearing one. And I don't think it's a height thing, because I saw a taller little boy wearing one, and a shorter one without one. I can'mt figure it out.
(I keep pressing the n and m key together - I guess I stil lhave to get used to this laptop.)
- I must say. My place is huge. Very very spacious. And all walls are white, so it just looks rediculously empty.
- there's apparently an Ikea near here. Not in town, but nearish. My furniture in my house is mainly Ikea. I like Ikea stuff. It's clean looking.
- today, the weather is very sunny and hot. i like it. i'm wearing a tank top and a skirt.

i think that's all for now.
bye,
Limin

The trip

Written on September 6, 2004 @ 13:28

“So, I’m on an airplane heading to Switzerland. That’s normal right?” Sure I was excited, but just to be on an airplane, not necessarily because I was heading toward my dream come true. I am one of those weird people who like airplane rides. Everything about them is great. Even the food.
So I’m kinda squished in the window seat, but at least I get a good view. I wanted to remember as much as I could about the whole trip (well, I guess I could say the same for everything in life that I do, however this just seemed especially important to remember). I remember not being able to hear the P.A. talk about safety and intro to the trip because my aisle companions where chatting up a storm in a language I couldn’t understand. I remember feeling bad for asking my neighbour to move her arm from the armrest because I wanted to get hooked up to the sound system to be ready for the movies (personal screens!). I remember waiting a long time on the taxi-ing runway before we started our acceleration for take off. We were actually third in line, and while we were going out for takeoff, I saw two planes that were wait their turn to take off. Watched the obligatory safety movie (wondered if I would actually know what to do if an emergency happened and found it funny that the flight attendants now don’t need to demonstrate how to use equipment, but are only there to point out emergency exits).
The flight was extremely smooth. Listening to the flight attendants and their British accents were fun too. Before any of the movies started (there were 12 options of TV channels/movies to choose from) there were previews for each. I decided to start with “13 going on 30”. I found out that they don’t call “pop” pop, but by their specific name. No peanuts for snacks of course (we are in the era of allergy alerts) but little pretzel bits. Dinner actually came very soon afterwards. There was a choice of some chicken thing and fish with pasta. I got the fish. It was quite tasty. It was a dish of fish, pasta (cream sauce) and some steamed veggies. There was the usual of a bun (and butter) of course. The “appetizer” part was a tomato and cheese plate (pretty swanky!). Dessert was an apple crumble type of thing. I remember my aisle companions giving me their leftovers. They were so sweet to do so, but I was actually full, so didn’t want it. As my companions were settling down to their naps, I was still watching the movie. I didn’t feel too tired or anything, and it was still pretty light outside. By the time the movie was over, it was dark outside, the cabin lights went out and with the pause in between movies, I was trying to decide what to watch next or if I should indeed try to take a nap in hopes to trick my brain that I was on a 13 hour flight (we were flying east, so weird stuff was happening with time zones, and it wouldn’t be dark outside for very long). I really tried to stay awake so that I could watch my second movie selection (“Shrek 2”), however, I seemed to have dozed off for an hour or so. For the entire movie. Darn it. And there wasn’t enough time for a third showing of any of the movies (I think I was going to watch “Cat in the Hat” next and possible “Beauty and the Beast”). I did watch some TV shows though. “Everybody Loves Raymond”, “My Wife and Kids” and some others that I don’t know what they were. I find it more comfortable sleeping curled up, and I was just the right size to curl my legs up so that my knees were on the back of the seat in front of me (which was reclined – so was I). Sometimes I shifted so that I was a little on my side and my knees were against the window. Most of the time airplanes seem cold, but this time wasn’t so bad. I wanted to take off my contacts and switch to glasses so that my contacts wouldn’t get too dry, however I didn’t remember to pack a contact case in my carry on with me (although I did have my glasses). In the morning, we got a mini breakfast. A lemon muffin, yogourt, something else that I forget and of course some sort of drink. Yet again, my companions offered me their yogourt, but I declined (secretly I wanted the muffin, but they put them in their bag). On the descent, I remember listening to the comedy radio channel (because the TV channels weren’t showing anything anymore) and hearing Bill Cosby do a clip. I also remember seeing that we did a circle in the air before landing at the airport (why?) I remember seeing Big Ben, that big ferris wheel thing, the river…that made me excited (I’m sure I’ll be going there sometime this school year). The landing was extremely smooth. No bumps or anything. A smattering of applause (doesn’t seem to happen as much as it used to). I also returned my headphones that I was initially planning on smuggling (I did get a little travel packet including socks, toothpaste, toothbrush and eyeshades – which are coming in handy right now). All in all, good flight, and Heathrow Airport, here I am!I say goodbye to my companions, (they stayed on the airplane as I got off because they’ve got wheelchairs waiting for them – they could walk though. They moved in and out for me and walked to the washroom) and headed out. Made a pit stop at the loo passed through the bag check area and was free to wander for about half and hour until I needed to by at my next gate. Unsure of how far away my next gate was, I headed towards to the gate. Along the way, I was sidetracked. I kept my eyes and ears open (I had that wonderful, “I’m so alive” feeling) and gulped in the sights and sounds. Pharmacy store “Boots” that I remember having in Canada when I was younger (actually still have a tube of pink hair gel that I used for ballet recitals and exams from there), Harrod’s (I have to buy something there where I go to London), HMV (had no idea how much their currency was worth, so that sucked), the Nike store, some electronic store and happily, Burberry! I noticed kiosks that let you go on the internet (for a cost) and a cool mailbox. In front of some store that was giving out samples, I had a piece of “Toffiee” candy (spelling wrong – it’s the same stuff they have in Canada, comes in a box, round, flattish pieces, caramel coloured on the outside, chocolate coloured on the inside, chewy and good).
At the gate, I notice that I’m really underdressed. On the flight from Toronto, I’m fine. There are some people wearing nicer things, but others wearing casual wear (I’m wearing a t-shirt, sweats and my Shox sneakers). Here however, I see many business suits. On both men and women. My favorite is the guy with the suit and a pink tie with the huge Louis Vuitton monogram duffle. There was a family though, that was speaking English to each other and carrying Mountain Equipment Co-op backpacks. Nice. In the little tunnel to the plane grab some free British papers (“The Daily Telegraph” and “The Times”) and get on the super small plane that’s half empty (the first flight was full). In the row behind me is a screaming child. Fun. This plane is a 3+3 seater (the first was a 3+4+3 seater). The flight was only 45 minutes long so we didn’t get any movies (no private screens anyway). I did notice the first class people get warm towels served to them (we were only separated by a curtain – funny, the LV monogram guy wasn’t in first/business class). We got a little breakfasty type of thing. I don’t really remember what it was, but I know it had fruit salad, a piece of Lindt milk (red wrapper) chocolate and orange juice. Now I’m not sure if the lemon muffin earlier mentioned was on that flight or this one and we got something else on the first one. I’m telling you, although I really try to remember every single detail, my brain just doesn’t let me. Sad. The ride was not so smooth. The descent was pretty freaky, and I was surprised that the captain didn’t come on the P.A. and say something about turbulence (unless it wasn’t and he was just having a hard time that day). There was definitely a moment where the plane dropped and that roller coaster tummy still up in the air after your body started falling down feeling hit. So much so that I grabbed the arms of my seat out of reflex and someone else in the cabin let out a yelp. Great. It was fine, though. I had an aisle seat this time, so I didn’t really get a chance to see much of what was going on around and down below. The guy across the aisle from me was reading a journal article about some math thing that I couldn’t quite make out. All I know if that I saw some integral symbols amongst other things.
So we’re at Geneva Airport. Everyone hurries off the plane. I’m here. No turning back now, and yet I still don’t feel anything extremely special. I just know that I need to catch a train to Neuchâtel that’s going to leave pretty soon (or else I have to wait two hours for the next one).
Go up an escalator, go down an escalator, go across a bunch of move-ators (while hearing Jewel’s “White _____” in the background – I do remember some trivial things I guess – I think I remember this specific thing because it reminded me of my brother who likes Jewel) through customs (where I need to speak French for the first time – this sort of shocked me into the fact that it’s all happening) and then to the carousels to pick up my luggage. A quick trip to the toilet before the luggage arrives in a bathroom where the stalls are big wooden doors that actual close like you’re in a little room and then wait with the rest of the group for our luggage (I think most of the people on the flight didn’t have luggage because they were just heading into town for the day – or a couple days – for business). I grab my luggage (which I’d forgotten was sort of heavy – I wonder if I looked weird having so much luggage for just one person) including the cardboard box (which luckily I didn’t have to go to a different place to pick up – the Toronto people thought I might have to) and I’m off to find the train station. I walk through the airport alone (the feeling of “I’m so alive” isn’t there anymore, it’s more like a “I’m by myself when everyone else is being met by friends or family”) toward to train station. Get my ticket for the train (that leaves in 20 minutes) again using my French skills (a little bit of a shock again because sure I’ve heard French since I was in Switzerland last, but not so fast, not so with a Swiss accent, not so…I don’t know – it was just weird – a great weird) head into an eerie elevator with my cart piled full with luggage and go down to the train platform with is in a subway station looking type of place (also a little eerie). I’m reminded that I’m in Europe because there’s a person beside me smoking (I’m sure this will take a little getting used to because you can hardly smoke anywhere in Toronto and Kingston now). I take a couple pictures, get some weird looks from people and the bus comes. I remember that I’m not first class and get into the second class part thankful that the train will be in the station for a long enough time for me to drag my luggage on the train one piece at a time. Scared that the train will leave without me, I don’t get off the train after my last piece of luggage has been yanked aboard to put away my cart. I’m hoping the Swiss won’t hate me for it. I settle myself on board and instant have a 1997 Leysin moment, remembering sitting on one of these trains having a life changing experience. I keep my eyes open to see if I recognize any of the scenery going by and I think I see something past Geneva that look familiar, but I could be mistaken. My eyes get so incredibly tired, and I doze off in between each stop. I see the word Neuchâtel appear out the window and scramble to gather myself at the door. I’m a little disorganized as the train stops and I pull some stuff off as people waiting to get on stare. My contacts are so incredibly dry from napping that I can’t blink and when I do, my right contact shifts. I can’t see, and I’m not sure if someone’s on the platform waiting for me and I’ve got all of my belongings awkwardly strewn about. I take quite some time to organize myself so that I can see again and that I can carry all of my stuff (backpack and purse on shoulders, cardboard box under arm and small roll-y clipped to big roll-y – which took quite a bit of effort in itself) and since I don’t see anyone on the platform that I recognize which is pretty empty by now since the train has long gone I head toward to exit. Roll town the ramp and see the principal of the school (whom I met in May in Toronto) at the bottom running in. Shake hands, some small talk about the trip and then head toward to exit to his car. I notice a grocery store type of thing and Mc Donalds. Head outside and of course have no idea where I am and what direction I’m facing (which I really like to know). Get into a navy blue Jetta type of Volkswagon with the backseat filled with kiddie stuff (I know he has young children) and drive two minutes to the school which is basically across the street.
I guess everything’s about to begin…

From my experience

Written on September 6, 2004 @ 12:42

Some suggestions for those who might want to teach internationally:
1. Go on the internet and surf around to the Council of International Schools, the European Council of International Schools and TES websites. Here you can find job postings, links to school websites and more information about teaching internationally.
2. Perfect your cover letter and résumé. I got permission from my references to give out their business and home contact info to make it easier for the schools to contact them at various times. I also warned my references that I was contacting schools throughout the year so they may be contacted at any time about me.
3. Look into job fairs.
4. Keep a record of which schools you contacted, when, in what capacity.
5. Be persistent. While I don’t actually know if schools like being pestered with e-mails, everyone I’ve talked to thinks persistency pays off.
6. Be optimistic (but that’s just my opinion on how you should be in life in general).

The job search

Written on September 6, 2004 @ 12:42

My job search actively began on November 30th, 2003. While I had a goal of teaching at an international school in Europe (first choice Switzerland) for a couple years, I couldn’t really do too much until I was in my final Bachelor of Education year. I’d asked people who went through the job search procedure and some people who knew the market and worked in the field during third and fourth year of university about if there was anything I could be doing at the time to start making connections or doing background research. The overwhelming response was that I needed to at least be in my final year before trying to do anything.
In the summer before my final year, I started making some connections with people who were in the business to find out when I should start pursuing my dream and how to go about doing so. Still, not much help, especially from a source who was highly recommended (and would prove over the course of the year to be a disappointment).
Once school began, I continued to find out what I could or should be doing and found out about some websites to look to and a general timeline of when international schools would be starting to look for faculty members for the following school year (the conversation in which I found out all of this information was the sole meeting that I found helpful with the “source”). I also was reminded that it would be next to impossible to get my dream job, because most European international schools hire only experienced teachers. This piece of information was in my mind the whole year, and while I’m usually really good at being optimistic when chasing for dreams, near the end of the year, I really felt like there was no hope for the cause (partly thanks to the “source” who wasn’t very encouraging).
Visits to the European Council of International Schools website led to multiple introductory e-mails (thank goodness for e-mails, because I don’t think I would have been able to snail mail everything that I’d done this past year) and attachments of résumés (or curriculum vitaes as everyone else in the world seems to refer to them as). My e-mail introduced myself, where I was in my career, what I would be qualified for, some tidbits about myself, why I wanted to work for their school. It wasn’t too long and then of course I attached a copy of my résumé to the e-mail. I first went to school websites and those that looked interesting were on my hit list of places to contact. Over the course of a couple weeks I e-mailed schools in Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium and Germany.
I started to keep a record of the schools that I contacted, when, how, to what address, if they responded (and how), what attachments I included, any follow up e-mails, etc. I tried to make it as detailed as possible just to keep me organized. It really helped when it came time to re-contacting schools to know which ones had already written back to ummm, crush my dream.
While looking at the ECIS website and looking at the stats of the different schools, I remember considering if I wanted to work at a small or large school, looking at the number of staff there were, if the school was k-8, k-12, 9-12, etc. As the year went on, I think that was less in my head, I was just looking for something. Anything.
I was warned that many schools would automatically respond and say that they weren’t interested because I didn’t have any experience. Most schools just didn’t respond at all. Some schools were nice enough to respond to say that they’d received my e-mail, that they didn’t know what their openings were at the time, suggestions of when and where to go to look for posting for the school or that they didn’t have any positions that I would be qualified for. I liked getting e-mails back. Even if they were just politely turning me down, at least I knew that they’d taken the effort to look into it, or at least the time to respond.
I did my first set of e-mails at the end of November through to the middle of December. I then left them for a bit and in mid February through to March did my follow up mailings, this time with a more detailed e-mail and still attaching my résumé.
February 6-8, 2004 I participated in the Teachers’ Overseas Recruiting Fair run by Queen’s University. I knew that job fairs were where many peple made connections and secured postitions with international schools and that TORF was a great fair that attracted many schools from around the world. I didn’t realize however the lack of European schools what would be attendance.
Eitherway, I still decided to go for it, because who knew that would happen, and it would be a good experience for me regardless. I must say that it was really disheartening constantly being told by schools that I didn’t have experience so they weren’t willing to even talk to me and interview me. I did secure some interviews and saw what a fair was like though and that was really good. It made me re-examine my résumé and write an extensive personal statement which I found helpful to get ideas from when making my cover letter/e-mails to schools.By the end of March, I was pretty sure that my dream wouldn’t be coming true. Most schools had written back to say “thanks, but no thanks” so I was giving up hope. I was going through a pretty tough year outside of my job stuff, so I was already emotionally already toast. The added optimism of working at an international school was taking a lot of energy and by the end of March I had decided that I needed to turn my attention toward securing a job in Toronto instead (which was my “back-up” and definitely attainable). I left my international job search behind except for the odd e-mail to specific schools that posted specific positions that I would be qualified for. I was making strides with getting a position with the Toronto District School Board by getting on the “eligible to hire list” on both the elementary and secondary panels, so I was getting excited about that.
Strangely, I got an e-mail from a school in Switzerland one month after my last correspondence to them (before which I hadn’t heard had a response) saying that they would be contacting potential candidates in the near future. I remember thinking nothing of it, because I had gotten similar e-mails from other schools and then a week later getting another one saying “sorry, but we decided not to pursue it further with you”. Then, to my surprise, in the last week of classes at Queen’s I received a call from my dad saying that a school in Switzerland had called home to ask about me. A couple e-mails later, Mr. "N", Principal of "school" was setting up a phone interview to take place early Wednesday, April 21st, 2004. I got up early that morning, nervously got myself and my thoughts together. Made small talk with the lady that I was staying with and waited by the phone for what I thought would be the most important phone call of my life.
After a phone call that wasn’t for me, the phone rang and I picked up to a voice introducing himself and the school that he represented. Nervously, I answered questions about myself and thoughts of teaching abroad in my first year as a teacher. We talked about curriculum, the school itself and then the conversation quickly turned to figure skating. Odd I remember thinking, and then the conversation was over, with promises that someone at the Toronto office would be in touch to set up a videoconference interview. Over a week later, I was wandering downtown Toronto finding the building that housed the Toronto offices for "school". Here, I met "D" and talk with her for a good 45 minutes about me potentially working for the school. We discussed some of my experiences, I asked lots of questions about the school and yet again, the conversation turned towards figure skating. We finished up with "D" promising that "Mr. N" would be in touch again.
Quite some time later, an e-mail arrives stating that "Mr. N" will be in town for the weekend and would it be possible for us to meet. Of course I say, details are ironed out and on Sunday, May 16th, 2004, I find myself driving around the Yonge and St. Clair area searching for a place I’d never heard of. Some parking problems later, I introduce myself to "Mr. N" and take a seat. Many questions about the school are asked, and lots of discussion about the staff, school, and city ensues. After I finish my barrage of questions, a contract suddenly appears and the twilight zone begins. Is this happening? Why is it happening? Why did no other schools even try? What’s wrong with this school? Why do they want me? Was I the only person that applied for the job? Did they just like me because I was a figure skater?
I head up to Kingston that afternoon with my mind full of questions and confusing thoughts. While there, I talk with a trusted friend for advice, e-mail mentors, receive a call from my dad who was in Taiwan at the time and speak with an person in the business who I wish I had spoken to earlier in the year.
Over a cup of tea we discussed my concerns and the strange way that international schools tend to interview. I’m so glad that I had to opportunity to speak with her.
Some things that were on my mind: Do I want to teach grade 12? Do I want to be at a school that only offers Grade 12? Do I feel comfortable teaching Grade 12 math?
Finally, mainly convinced by others that I could handle it, I e-mailed back the school to say, yes, I would be joining their teaching staff for September 2004.
Yes, it happened.

The incredible bus system

Written September 4, 2004 @ 23:15

Switzerland is known for its train and bus system. For a country so small, and for a town as small as Neuchâtel it’s pretty impressive how tight the transit ship is here.
So far in my adventure, I haven’t really taken advantage of the train system (‘cept my train ride into town from the Geneva Airport), but I’ve been using the bus almost every single day and it’s cool enough for me the want to write a little something about it.
So the buses in Neuchâtel are like the streetcars in Toronto, except they’re not on rails. I guess that would mean that they’re normal buses, but run by electricity.
To get on the bus, you can either enter from the front door (like on the TTC), or like most people, enter from the other doors on the bus. There’s a little button beside each of the doors that you press for them to open once the bus has stopped. The door open, you get on and find a spot to sit/stand.
The buses are all the extended buses with that rotating accordion-like part in the middle. I’ve never been on a bus that’s so completely packed like rush hour rides at home in Toronto, but it’s been busy enough that all of the seats were taken and some people were standing. The bus system is so great that lots of people take it and they might as well have all of the buses be long to make sure that there’s enough room for everyone that wants to ride it.
You may wonder how they know that you’ve paid if you don’t get on from the front and pass by the driver. Well it seems that it’s all based on trust (for the most part). Apparently sometimes an inspector comes around to make sure that you have a ticket, however the whole time that I’ve been here, I haven’t seen one. But if you’re caught without a ticket you have to pay a fine, or if you’ve got the wrong type of ticket you have to pay something too.
Tickets can either be purchased from the driver if you get one from the front door or at the little machine at each of the bus stops. The price of tickets varies depending on the route that you want to take, how long you want to be able to ride the bus for (normal tickets last for an hour – so you can transfer, or make pitstops as long as you end your trip within the hour, but you can buy tickets that last for 24 hours), your age (half price for children), if you’ve got a dog (you have to pay for your pet to board the bus)…it’s a little confusing I suppose. The machine at one of the stops today actually ate another teacher’s money, so that sucked, but I personally haven’t had any problems with the buses. You can also buy a multi-trip tickets from kiosks (the school gave me a six-trip ticket to use when I first arrived to get me going – but I think you can buy other increments), and passes for different lengths of time. I’ve just recently purchased a year long bus pass. Of course, like most things, the longer amount of time you purchase for, the cheaper each individual trip will end up being.
Now, because I’m young, I lucked out. Apparently, 16-25 year olds get a cheaper rate for bus passes than adults (and those younger than 16 get an even better deal). Woohoo! I think I saved about 100CHF, which is quite a big chunk of money.
The city of Neuchâtel is divided up into different parts with of course different bus routes. It costs a different amount depending on which route you want to ride on, but it’s the same price regardless of whether you’re going to be on the bus for 3 stops or 13 stops.
Now, the bus itself has some pretty cool things (at least I think so, but I definitely notice strange things, and take special interest to other “non-interesting” things).
Kind of like the “stop requested” signs on the TTC, there are signs hanging from the ceiling of the bus. There’s one by the front of the bus. And one or two (I don’t remember exactly – I think two though) other ones in the middle of the bus. These buses tell the destination of the bus (the bus number and route), the time (accurate of course – it’s Switzerland for goodness sakes!), the next stop (each bus stop has a name) and when stopped at a stop, the current stop. The sign just continuously cycles through these pieces of information. Now, I’m trying to figure out how the bus knows where it is. I’m guessing that it gets all of the info through the electric “whatever-it’s-called-thing-at-the-top-of-the-bus” wiring. When the bus is at a stop, the cycling information stops and instead the name of the current stop flashes. So how does the bus know which stop it’s at? Does the driver do anything? I’ve been on a bus where the bus stopped a little early because of traffic, and the sign still flashed the appropriate stop, but then the bus stopped again at the stop once it was there (while the sign went back to the cycling in between). An outline of the bus is painted to show the area where is should stop, but it’s not like there’s anything in the road to tell the bus where it is. A mystery indeed.
When you want to get off the bus, instead of pulling a cord you need to press a button near the door that you want to exit (similar to those found on the TTC) which turns on a light by your door. The driver will stop, and only the doors on (and hence have had their buttons pressed) open, unless someone presses a button from the outside to get on as a door that no one is getting off at.Anyway, it’s a really good system, and I think the signs are cool.
In case you’re wondering, I get off at the Hauterive stop to get to my apartment, and at the Rocher or Gare stop to go to school. The main bus station is at Place Pury which is downtown, so I’m often getting off there to do shopping (especially when the market is on).

Ode to the yogourt

Written Monday, August 30, 2004 @ 17:38

Originally posted (with problems) Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 14:39

…this one’s for Z

Around the end of May-beginning of June of this year, knowing that I wasn’t quite ready to embark on my teaching adventure, so went crawling back to "school", home of my fourth year practicum and “Z”, biology teacher extraordinaire.

Anyway, I’m taking as many resources as possible (thanks to Z, and two super-helpful math teachers) and during conversation with Z, he mentioned that it wasn’t the Swiss chocolate that he’d love to gorge on if he was to visit me, but the Swiss Yogourt?!?

Thankfully, "L" from "school" stocked up my fridge with a little sustinence just prior to my arrival so that I wouldn’t have to frantically find food for the first couple of days. My kitchen held:
3 nectarines (wonderfully juicy and sweet)
2 loaves of bread Gruyere cheese (mild thank goodness – I’m still a little wimpy in the cheese department)
Butter
Ham slices
Cherry tomatoes
Milk (super creamy @ 2.7%, which is lighter than the 3.2% they’ve also got in the store)
Orange juice
Non-bubbly water (also good – still not a fan of the Perrier/San Pelligrino frou frou, although this I’m definitely going to conquer)
4 Swiss eggs
Some kind of fancy looking cheese (I haven’t opened it yet, and from the label, can’t figure out what it is)
1 bar of Lindt Lindor milk chocolate
AND
2 cups/tubs of strawberry yogourt

My analysis of the yogourt:
The yogourt is of the mixed variety (not fruit on the bottom) and quite yummy smelling. Very very creamy tasting and bursting with strawberry flavour. Smooth. Refreshing. Yum. Chunks of strawberry quite large and enjoyable.

Overall, thumbs up!!! (Although I still don’t think it can compare to chocolate…sorry Z)

A dream

Written Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 12:22

Originally posted (when the problems all began) Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 14:38

In the summer of 1997, just before Grade 12, I took my OAC core French credit in Leysin, Switzerland. A company in Ontario ran a month long program that let students take a French credit while staying in a small Alp town in Switzerland and shelling out a pretty big wad of cash. I jumped at the opportunity to go to Europe, because back in elementary school I didn’t have the opportunity to go to Paris.
My elementary school, "school", used to have the best field trips. The Intermediates (Grade 7 and 8) had an opportunity to either go to Paris, France or Yucatan, Mexico. For some reason, there was no option of going to Paris and so I went to the Yucatan Peninsula instead (which was super-fun in itself).
So, since I’ve got the best parents ever (it’s pretty amazing the lengths they’ll go to for their childrens’ happiness) I was heading to Leysin on what would be my most eye-opening experience up to that point.
I was young, 15 to be exact. I’d never been outside of the continent before (although I was a pretty well traveled young lady, courtesy of mom’s previous jobs at travel companies) and been away from home for such a long period of time. Switzerland was my first chance to be on my own and rule the world. I’m the youngest of the family you see. I’m the youngest relative of all the relatives I know (or at least at that point I was). For the most part, I hang/hung out with people older than me. I’m a girl. The point is, I was really looking forward to experiencing something on my own that I could totally call my own. I think one of my happiest moments of the trip was just standing in Leysin, the sun shining brightly, looking down on some clouds and the town below.
Europe was always one of those places I’d wanted to see. The culture, the huge tourist monuments. Museums. Sites. Sounds. I wanted to take it all in.After coming home I just felt so good about myself. It was like I’d breathed in a huge breathe of air and felt so rejuvenated. I was on a pretty good high.
I knew I wanted to go back again at some point, but I didn’t know how, or when it would happen. I thought that it may come in the form of a vacation a long time away.
Flash forward to second year university. Skating on the "team", happily going about my business, not thinking too much about the future, fully in love with a sport that I was drowning myself in. Insert "J", team captain in the year prior, now completing her "CE" degree at Queen’s. "J" was a volunteer coach for the skating team that year, and doing a great job with it. In conversation with her, I also learned that she was going to be doing her alternative practicum in Switzerland. This was also around the time that I was beginning my application to get into the MAS (Math and Science) Concurrent Education program which "J" knew of and gave me advice about.
Flash forward to a couple months later, and "J" is talking about getting a teaching job in Lausanne. I must admit that this is where my mind is a little fuzzy. I’m pretty sure that "J" somehow got me stuck on my goal to return back to Switzerland as a teacher at an international school (right out of my B. Ed.), but I can’t figure out if it was after knowing that she did it, or what. All I know is that somewhere in there, a seed was planted, and in true Limin fashion, I just went at it at full force.
This goal was my way to return back to the country that made me beam. I’d be returning back on my own, while still young enough to discover more and feel independent and strong. I also knew that being my money-pinching self, I couldn’t just pick up my stuff and travel around Europe just spending left right and center.
I know that I definitely had the goal come third year, and I’m pretty sure that I’ve got my story straight, but I know my memory fails me. Often.

The departure

Original post on blog.com on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 @ 14:29

As mentionned before, I left Toronto at 6:15pm on Wednesday, August 25th, 2004. Flying on BA92 out of Pearson International's Terminal 3, the thing I was most excited for was watching movies on my private TV screen on the back of the seat in front of me. I was a little dissapointed that this was an overnight flight, because then I would miss out on good quality "movie-time" in order to try to adjust my internal clock by forcing myself to sleep.

Lead up to arrival at airport:

Spent the whole morning packing. I am indeed a last minute packer. I am also a procrastinator. I like to call it "working better under pressure". Call it what you will, but it's a strategy that works for me, or at least one that I'm going to stick with for the time being.

I really wanted to swim in the morning before leaving for the airport (making the grand total number of times that we used the pool this summer = 2 --> it's been a cold summer), but despite Dad's last minute efforts, the pool water remained a little bit of a greenish tinge and so I didn't really want to go swimming. Plus, I think the water would have been a bit too cold (I'm a bit squeamish). So the pool count remains at one (thanks to Lindsay, Rachelle and Shanna on a lovely weekend earlier in the summer). Good thing though, because it was down to the wire with me and my packing.

I had alloted some of my fancy-schmancy new Samsonite roll-y luggage as my limits for this trip. On August 3rd, AMJ International came to my house to pick up 8 packages (one medium sized suitcase -- part of my fancy-schmancy set, one 4cu.ft. cardboard box and six 2cu.ft. cardboard boxes) for a sea shipment to Switzerland which wouldn't arrive until mid September (does it really take that long to get there?), so I supposedly didn't have very much to pack (or at least had tried to ration of just enough stuff to last until my shipment arrived, making sure to include a little of everything -- who knows what kind of attire would be appropriate for different occasions?). Whoops, didn't realise that I'd be making lots of purchases in the two weeks prior to departure.

Anyway, so I've got my large roll-y, my carry-on roll-y and my big MEC backpack to tend with. After much stress and with the help of super-packer dad (the engineer), everything fits in. Large roll-y = HEAVY! Me thinks I'll have to pay extra at the airport, but I'll have to, since I'm sure not leaving anything at home.

Quick shower (new super expensive hair-do is short, so doesn't take long to air-dry), good byes to the cat, quick photos in front of the house and we're ready to go (half an hour later than I had planned, but still ok).

[Insert: Come to think of it I didn't really say bye to rooms of the house like I usually do when I go away for a substantial period of time]

Traffic was a little iffy near the airport, but I was also pretty tired, so I napped through most of it. Like usual, I woke up ten minutes before the destination ready to help my dad anvigate to the right terminal. Terminal 3 (the semi-new one...it's still really nice looking with lots of bright windows and stuff) was easily found and parking wasn't too bad. Rolling the luggage was fun too (I love roll-y luggage!). Found the British Airways counter, waited in a pretty long line, was amused by the machine that covers up stuff with plastic (so that your boxes and/or luggage won't get damaged or broken into) and then got to the front of the line and then went to speak with a nice lady (who sadly didn't have an English accent). I noticed that BA workers need to wear pretty hideous red, white and purple/blue blouses but then was told by the nice, accentless lady that my big roll-y was too heavy. By 4kg. Darn figure skates. And I couldn't even pay extra money for them to take it onto the plane. 32kg max or no dice. Of course I'm not going to leave anything at home, so I'm given a cardboard box to put access weight into. I roll luggage out of the way, notice that the airport is suddenly feeling really really hot and try to reorganize with the help of dad (again, the engineer) and my brother (also, the engineer). Mom, grandmother (Apo) and cousins (Atzen and Amin) stand and watch. Sorting complete. Head back to counter, cut the line (the lady said so!), explain behaviour to some people still in line giving weary looks and everything's a-ok (actually big roll-y's now a little too light, and a little sorting at the counter happens). So I deal with paperwork while dad and my brother surround the cardboard box with bright orange airport tape (which cuts of at 30cm intervals or so). Watch the big roll-y, carry-on roll-y and the cardboard box bet conveyoured away. Phew.

Since I'm stinky feeling, I want to find a handy duty-free shop that sells perfume. Instant fresher-upper (I wan't going to buy a whole bottle...just "test" it!). Couldn't find one before the gate, so instead posed for some last minute family photos.

Line up to enter the gates, say my final goodbyes (not too big a deal - mental note: didn't see any tears in parents eyes) and walk on through. The strangest thing though, was that I was surrounded by crying people. More like sobbing people. Everyone in front and behind me in line looked absolutely, well, sad. It made me wonder where these people were going and where they were coming from. Or under what circumstances. I must say that it put a little damper on the whole experience. I mean you never want to see people who are so incredibly sad, especially when I was feeling so happy.

Pass through the "scan you baggage and body" area (some people still sniffling) and wonder if I beeped when I walked through because I have a metal plate in my head. Okay, well, not really, but it sounds cool. I mean, it beeped, but then when the buy used his little wand to see if I was harbouring any metallic devices, everything was ok. Mental note: he didn't go near my head though, and that where I've got screws holding my jaw together. Maybe they don't do that so people won't feel embarrased if they do have metal devices around/in their head (do braces on teeth make beeps?)

Quick scan of the area reveals duty free shops! Beeline for the perfume section and I must say that I'm a fan of Magnetism by Escada. I think that's the right one.

Potty break, rides on those conveyour belt things, and arrive at my gate.

Not too long, and I'm on the plane. Last minute ticket change reveals that I'm not in an aisle seat afterall (darn it...no extra leg room), but a window (not bad, not bad). Did you know that airplanes have an upstairs?!? I guess that's where the seats that become beds are. Darn it, don't get to see them. Walk through first class with the bigger, armchair-like seats (with footrests) and into the "normal" area (designated as "World Traveller" -- ooooh aaaah). Meet my neighbours, an elderly husband and wife couple from Mississauga, originally from Lebanon (don't speak much English) headed for Abu Dhabi. And we're off...

...off and running

Original post on blog.com on Monday, August 30, 2004 @ 11:12

Well, I've decided to start up a blog. Figure it'll be an easy way to express my thoughts and ideas about life and such.

I am an amateur when it comes to computer-type things, so you won't see any fancyness on this page, but who knows, maybe someone will help me spruce it up a bit or something.

I've just recently embarked on truly a dream come true. For about 4 or 5 years, I've been hoping to get a job teaching at an international school in Switzerland. Details to come on the history of said dream and the steps leading up to everything coming true. Anyway, the quick bit is that I'm here in Neuchâtel, Switzerland getting ready to teach at "school". I arrived on Thursday, August 26th around noon (local) after leaving Toronto at 6:15pm the night prior (T.O. time).

I'm going to end this post here. Much updating and reminiscing to come.

Giving it a try

So I'm starting new.
I'm thinking that it'd be nice to have a blog, so I head over to blog.com to set one up. I was really happy for the first little while (read: 1.5 days) but then disaster struck. I'm posting, and posting and suddenly the contents of my posts don't show up on the page and I can't seem to edit my posts! (Anyone have any similar experiences?)
Anyway, I'm getting frustrated, so I turn to livejournal.com instead, hoping that it'll treat me a lot nicer. We'll see how that works out.