Introducing... my friends

I don't really have any friends. No one likes me.



Bethany S. My "favourite person in British Columbia". Bethany has been a great friend to me since day one, she threw me a big birthday bash when we had only known each other for a month and that solidified her as one of the best people in the world.


Tiersa. My "second favourite person in British COlumbia". Here are the reasons why I like Tiersa. She likes Dr. Quinn, She likes obscure musicals - AND knows all the words to the songs, she does not like soft fruit (just like me), She is 'neat'.


Ferin is cool.
Mike is a lumberjack so that pretty much makes him like Sully - whom we all know is at the top of my 'best people EVER list'


Jon and Heather. They are just nice and funny and smart and nice. I said nice twice because they are really nice nice.


Tom is a tree biologist. I don't know what that really means. You'd think that would make him a huge nerd - BUT he's not (really) He is quite hilarious and we always have fun.


Bowen ALWAYS makes me laugh. EVERY time we talk he makes me laugh. Arlan - my Huron County brother that I found in a van down at the park. (literally).


I just wanted to put this picture in to show you that Bethany is pretty. AND also because Tom thinks I am taking a picture of him - but I'm not. So it always makes me laugh.

And speaking of Laughing. Here is Bo wearing Jingle Balls underpants at our Christmas party over his jeans.

To the tune of Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Esther is coming
Oh Esther is coming
To spend Christmas in Kamloops

Shes moving here
to Golden Bridge
In the middle of nowhere.

The Gerrits' will be
together
for the first time
in over a year

Oh Esther is coming
Oh Esther is coming
To spend Christmas in Kamloops

Hot or Not

One time I heard about this website called Hot or Not .com. where you look at pictures of people and judge them on a scale of 1-10. Very mean. Also quite funny because people put pictures of themselves on it hoping to get a high 'hotness' rating.

I was going through my pictures yesterday and found two from this month. and so

Hot (with my friend Tiersa)



and

Clearly - - - NOT Hot

Dear Grade Two Students

A few things for you to take note of.

It is December, my name is NOT MRS. Gerruppps.

The fact that your foot hurts - doesn't impede your ability to print.

I dont care if someone is staring at your lunchbox, or touched your desk, or looked at your pencil, or spelled the word THE wrong, or, or, or, or etc etc.

Why is it that if someone touches you, the automatic response is a hiperventalating conniption fit? But if you fall during ice skating - on hard ice - you couldn't care less.

No you may not go to the bathroom 3 minutes after recess. Thats what recess was for!

You guys are pretty darn cute when you play and smile and are nice to eachother.

Introducing..... Kamloops

I thought that I should spend the next few posts introducing ya'll to my new life here in Beautiful British Columbia. And it is beautiful. I think that Kamloops is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. I love the rolling grass and sagebrush covered hills, bluffs and mountains, I even love the brown hue of the land. Now, to be honest, I must point out that Kamloops pretty much looks exactly like the set of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - which plays a big part in why I like it so much.

The city itself is located where the South and North Thompson Rivers meet, hence the name "Kahm-o-loops", the Shuswap Indian word for "meeting of the waters". The surrounding countryside is a combination of dry forests, grasslands and desert like hills. While forestry has now surpassed ranching as the primary industry, ranching is still an important component in the makeup of the area.








How is that not a beautiful scene?



One of the things I love most about Kamloops is that no matter where you are in the city there is a view. You can be in downtown and see hills, you can be on top of the mountain and see a beautiful view of ranch and grazing land, you can be on the highway driving out of town and have a view. It's amazing.



This is a picture of Riverside Park in downtown Kamloops. It is a beautiful park on the side of the river that has swimming, a water park, tennis courts, rollerblade/walking/bike trails, and free concerts every single night in the summer. I spend a lot of time there in the summer.

What I like about Kamloops
1. Despite the fact that it is built on hills and no roads are straight, it is very easy to get around.
2. It is a city - but feels more like a big town.
3. It has all the stores you need to survive. (Well... except Old Navy...)
4. The people are nice.
5. TONS of activities to do - hiking, snowboarding/skiing, snowshoeing, concerts, theatre, movies, museum, art gallery, bowling etc.
6. It is the tournament capital of Canada.
7. The country music capital of Canada is only 60min away.
8. Living expenses are relatively cheap - even if buying a house is not.
9. Good radio stations
10. Great Cell phone reception - whether you are on top of the mountain or in a valley.
11. A fun history
12. Good tourist attractions (will be introduced later)
13. Cowboys and Lumberjacks make up 90% of the population.

I like grade 12

I would just like to say that my favourite class at KCS is probably the grade 12 class that I teach on Friday's. Number one because my super cool sister Vanessa is in it, and two because all her friends are in it and we have a lot of fun. They make fun of me, and I tease them and they often get away with calling me Nikki. They rarely pay attention to what I am lecturing "just show us the overheads! gash!" is an often repeated phrase. But they do respect me and like me and it is SO exciting to see young people who are nice and fun and who honestly LOVE the LORD and want to serve him with their lives and their actions. It's encouraging to hear them talk about God, or to see them worship in church and to see how they spend their free time volunteering together, or doing outreach or edifying eachother.

SmArt People vs. Smrt People

I've realized recently that some people are VERY smart, and that I am not one of them.

Example #1 The other day my sister was talking about some friends of hers that invited her to go to Cuba. I told her that it would be a very long drive. And I still hold to the fact that Cuba is attached to land. The internet and the encyclopedia are both wrong.

Example #2 I'm reading a paper on Youth Ministry written by the associate pastor of the church I work at and I was only at the third line before I had to look up a word.

Now, before I moved to BC I never thought of myself as stupid. Now I do. I began to think that perhpas BC is bad for my mind - and my self esteem. Then I realized I know more Dr. Quinn trivia than anyone else in the world. So I am just smarter in areas that don't require knowledge of geography.... or words.....

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this website to Daniela Popa, whose tireless efforts resulted in the formation of the new Nikki Blog. Daniela, you need to inspire more people to blog - it makes the world a better place.

The Begging of a New Era - Or at Least NEAR the Beginning

Due to the harrassment, uh, I mean the ENCOURAGEMENT of a number of people (especially my Romanian Peeps) I have decided, after a long hiatus from the Blogging world, to continue to update you all on my new life here in Kamloops. As par my last blog, I will keep it fairly light hearted and very humourous because we all need a good laugh once in a while.

Laugh of the day from one of my second Grade Students : "Miss. G? Where is Mr.G?" I carefully explained that none of the boys in Kamloops have realized - as the song goes 'what a catch I've grown to be' and that although my biological clock is ticking there is yet to be any options for Mr. G's in my life. Well, actually I said "There is No Mr. G, YET"