Smells

Does anyone else associate smells with events in life?

Anytime a moped/scooter.whatever they're called thing drives by here, you get a lovely whiff of a gasoline-ish substance.

I associate that smell with the bumper boats @ Ontario Place circa 1997/1998 (Symphony of Fire days).

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