Culture Day

Today in my class we had 'Culture Day'.

Also known as 'Chaos Day'.

Also known as 'Awesome'.

For the past few weeks students have been working on projects about different countries around the world. Today they brought their projects to school along with a traditional food for a potluck lunch and a story, game, piece of music or something interactive from their culture to share with the class.

It was a fantastic day. The projects were really well done and the activities were fun. Some students (and obviously me) had on costumes, some made movies, some made activity sheets to go with their station. It was a great fun-filled day.

Our very last presentation did me in though. I laughed. We all laughed. We all went crazy. I'm still smiling thinking about the craziness that happened during the last presentation. How could a presentation on Australia get crazy you ask?

WELL, let me tell you.

Apparently, Cody Simpson is from Australia.

So when this student put on a CD for us to listen to some "Australian Music" - Cody Simpson blared out. (Ai ai ai ai).

And you can't listen to Cody Simpson and not dance. Especially if you are eleven... or twenty-nine...

So our multi-cultural day ended in a full-out dance party. And it was awesome.

Especially when the kid who did his project on India busted out some pretty fantastic Bollywood moves.

Top 10 Obsessions

1. Sharpies
2. Facebook
3. Pinterest
4. Thrift Stores
5. Crafts
6. Jericho
7. Warm Beds
8. Warmed-up bean bags (usually aids #7)
9. Slippers
10. Painting my nails

Fun/Whiplash - it's all the same thing.

I just wanted to share a picture of me having fun with some students. And by having fun I mean getting whip-lash. I like hanging out with these kids. They keep me young and make me laugh.

My Family is Pretty

On Sunday my family headed down to Kamloops lake to take some nice family pictures. They turned out really well. Here are some of my favourites.

Ew.

If you are a girl, you will most likely be able to relate to what I'm about to write about today. If you are a boy... hopefully you won't be too traumatized by what you are about to see. And if you are a boy (or my mom), I want you to understand that the picture and story I'm about to share with you, are in fact, your fault.

It all started when I was born.
A girl.
With hair.
That grew long.
And, lets be honest, pretty glorious. I have pretty nice hair.

The one time I decided I didn't want long, luxurious, curly hair. So in grade 10 I cut it off, whereupon people called me ugly until it grew back. Ever since then I have had long hair. And it's nice. I like it. People compliment me on it. In fact, last Sunday my hair was so nice that three (THREE!) random people (read: strangers) actually reached out and ran their fingers through my hair. I know. That's weird. Really weird. It has never happened before, but it did actually happen on Sunday and works well to illustrate my point. The point that I have nice hair.

I'll get to the point of my 'hair-raising' story (see what I did there? 'hair-raising' so clever). Because I'm a girl, with a lot of hair, I gotta tell you, I shed. Quite a lot. A LOT. And occasionally the train in my tub/shower gets clogged. With hair, and shaving cream, and product, and missing razors, toothpaste lids, all sorts of treasures. Last Thursday I realized it was just about time to unclog the drain. I'm fairly environmental, so I try to avoid products like Draino, and I have this fantastic product called the Turbo Snake that works amazingly. And it gets out EVERYTHING.

Now for the gross part. The stuff I found:




Ew.
Seriously. NASTY.

Hope you all have a good day! ;)

The best feeling in the world

The best feeling in the world (for today anyways):

Visiting a friend in the hospital and getting to hold her brand-new one-day-old baby as long as I wanted and not having to share her with anyone!

Seriously. I gotta get me one of those one of these days.

Grammar can be fun!

I had a good day at school today. The kind of day where you come home and pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that you did a smashing job and deserve a raise.

The reason I was such an awesome teacher today was that I made grammar class not just fun, but absolutely roll-on-the-floor hilarious. This post might not do it justice, but I'll try.

I teach a split 5/6 class - which is a challenge, but also has it's bright spots. I try to do separate lessons as much as possible so that the curriculum and IRPs get covered. Today after setting the 6th graders to their work (wahoo subordinate clauses - bleh), I started working with the 5's on sentence types. Seriously guys, grammar is not exciting. Whenever I have a super boring grammar lesson I always apologize to my students and say, "I'm sorry guys, sometimes we just have to learn things and it's not exciting. And we have to do it cus' the government says we have to. So don't get moody with me, be mad at the government. Write Stephen Harper a letter or something to complain, don't whine to me, I can't do anything about it."

But today it was hilarious. So hilarious that most of the 6's ignored their subordinate clauses and participated with the 5's in a lesson they had already done last year. Because it was funny and they wanted to be a part of the hilarity. Why so funny? Because I used funny examples.

Declarative Sentences: State a fact.
e.g. Zac Efron is dreamy.
Then they all groaned so I crossed out Zac Efron and wrote Taylor Lautner. (More groaning)
Zane can't stop talking.
Then they all groaned so I crossed out his name and wrote Nathan. Then crossed it out and wrote Caleb, and kept doing that about 8 times going through the kids who talk all the time. It was funny. And everyone was laughing and getting all defensive (in a good funny way) so I crossed off 'can't stop talking' and wrote in 'is very smart and pretty.' (which was funny because it was mostly boys.) then as they were laughing I added more. 'But only between 7 and 8am. The rest of the time he smells. A lot.'

Interoggative Sentences: Ask a question.
e.g. Why isn't Zac Efron Miss. G's boyfriend yet?
How come people think Taylor Lautner is cool, when he clearly isn't?

Exclamatory Sentences: Express strong emotion.
I love Zac Efron! (Do you sense a theme yet?)


Imperative Sentences: State a command.
(by this time we were out of control having fun and laughing so I wrote...)
Be quiet!
Get to work!
Do your homework!

and one of my students yelled out:

Stop being bossy! (Which made us laugh more, because I was being bossy, and it was an imperative sentence.)

So I wrote it on the board and added to the end

"Stop being bossy!" said Owen. In detention.

Oh we laughed.

It was so good to be reviewing and learning, but laughing so hard. And it's so good to have a relationship with my students where I can healthily tease them and they can tease me back. Laughter is good. Relationships are good. Being a teacher is not always about being the boss, it's about being a role model, and encourager, an entertainer, an advisor, a discipler, and a trainer.

And today I was.

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse.

Monday was one of 'those' days.

It's taken me five days to calm down, and now I can look back and see that it wasn't really that terrible. It was still terrible, but not THAT terrible.

It all started when I woke up and it was still dark out. Nobody likes that.
My students were crazy.
I had to leave school right away at 2:40 beacuse I had a meeting all the way up the moutain AND across town. So I didn't get to clean up, or do marking, or leave feeling prepared.
Went to my meeting - which was good.
Drove 1/2 way down the mountain to church. Where I realized I forgot my purse at my meeting location 15 minutes away. And no one was going to be there the rest of the night.
Cooked dinner for 40 young adults at church, even though I didn't want to.
Drove back to get my purse.
Drove ALL the way home at the very bottom of the mountain on the other side of town.
The door was locked.
We NEVER lock the door.
EVER.
My cell phone was dead.
The neighbours were all out trick-or-treating.
I was tired and crabby and just wanted to go to bed. I went over to my friend Gracie's house to use her phone. But do you think I have my sister's phone number memorized? No. Why would I? It's on speed dial.
Called the wrong number.
Called my mom to get my sister's number.
Called my sister. She didn't pick up.
Thought I'd call the church where I left her.
I worked at the church for 5 years. Do you think I have that number memorized? No. I ended up calling my pastors home instead.
Called the church. Talked to my sister and told her to come let me in the house.
Eventually made it home, way past my bedtime.

And just when I thought my night couldn't get worse....



My dog died.

Back inthe day when Sandy was a puppy... and alive... :(

Bad Idea

As much as I love every single one of my students, I have to say that sometimes they follow through with bad idea's.

Take for example what happened on Monday. I told them an interactive Bible story. So whenever I said "Esther" they had to cat call, when I said "Mordecai" they had to clap and cheer. "Haaman" got boo's, and King Xerxes called for them to stand up and shout "long live the king!"

Just a new fun way to tell a story that they have heard before.

The assignment: Choose a Biblical hero and turn his/her story into an interactive one that you can share with the class.

Now, I'm not a newbie at teaching anymore. I know full well that when an open assignment such as this is given, it will lead to distractions and a few kids not doing what they are supposed to be doing. While working with another group, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one group of boys was clearly goofing around. I storm over there.

One of the boys is holding his nose and trying not to cry. He is clearly hurt. I ask the boys what happened.

"We were working on our assignment," they replied. I gave them 'the look."
"Do NOT tell me that you were working on your assignment,"I say in my best angry teacher voice. "Do NOT tell me that is what you were doing. Clearly you were NOT working on your assignment. What is going on here?"
"Really Miss. G. We were working on our assignment!" the boys insisted. I kneel down to the boy who is hurt and ask gently,
"Bobby*, can you tell me what happened?" He looks up at me with tear filled eyes,
"We were working on our story!" I once again give him 'the look.' You know, the I-don't-believe-you-stop-tying-to-not-get-in-trouble-we-have-a-problem-here-Look. He continues. "We were doing the story, and I was being the water, and they were being Jesus and Peter and walking on me!"

First of all, I get 10 000 points for not immediately laughing at them. Secondly, I gave them my 'look' again and said, "Well boys.... didn't really think that one through did you?"

Shamefaced, and smirking a bit all four of them start giggling at what a bad idea they had followed through with.

(*Names have been changed to protect identity)

Seattle

So last weekend me and Esther took Bethany and Vanessa on a mystery road trip to Seattle. None of us had ever been there before and we found so much fun stuff to do. It was a great, great, great weekend away. Americans are nice, even if they dress weird (have you been to peopleofwalmart.com?), And even if one radical anti-Obama fanatic told me that eventually the US would take over Canada so I need to participate in his riot against the US government. The weather was great, the drive was great, the boarder was great, my sisters are great. It was all.... great. Here are few pictures of what we did. Step One: Road trip games! Which I totally won.
Step Two: Drive through Bellingham and point out all the stops of interest on Me and Bethany's doomed trip to Vegas. We were so hungry by this point that we stopped at the first place that looked like it had food. It also was a bowling alley. Apparently that is a popular thing in the USA. I had no idea. I'm thinking that bowling and eating at the same time isn't particularly sanitary. Oh well.
Step Four: Your only hint for our first stop is the ever so hot Sam and Dean Winchester - from the tv show "The Adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester." aka Supernatural. Which we *never* (cough cough) watch. We ended up at a haunted corn maze in Everett WA, which was AMAZING. They hired professional actors to dress up as ghosts and sasquatches and people chasing you around with chainsaws. It was really well done. Good fun. And I don't care that some of you don't approve of my choice of Friday night activities. We laughed.
Five. Pike Place Market. Pretty good, but a bit disappointing after thinking for 3 months that it would be like Granville Island in Vancouver. Granville Island gets 100%, Pike Place Market gets a 70%. However, the singing, fish-throwing fishermen were quite cool.

Six. Tea and crumpets and a horrible rendition of an Asian tourist photo. We are so white.
Seven. This guy. Dumb. Seriously. You cover yourself in silver paint, fill your pockets with birdseed and then expect me to PAY you? No. I'm sorry. You are not contributing to society whatsoever, and your 'job' is dumb. You are a terrible street performer, you don't entertain me, and I don't care how bad the recession is - do something useful.
Eight. Laugh at the note attached to this t-shirt.
Eight. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Yum Yum.
Nine. Hat store. Awesome. I have so many pictures.
Ten: Blue Man Group. ahhhh maaaaze ing. So fun.

Eleven. Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory. Seriously. To die. for. It was delicious. I'm pretty sure heaven tastes like cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Don't Ignore The Signs.

I bike a fair bit. Quite a lot actually. For the last two summers I've biked to and from Barkerville from Wells on a daily basis and here in Kamloops I bike to work every day and if I'm going anywhere in town that is not up a mountain I try to bike.

About a week and a half ago - my free, super ghetto bike - started giving me signs that perhaps it was in need of some TLC. I didn't give my bike any care and continued to ride it - although slower and more careful than normal. Something was definitely not right with my bike. It just didn't feel... solid... safe... normal...
(Me on a ride in happier days)

Yesterday my bike fell apart. Literally. As I was riding it.

I was biking to work like normal (all of 2km) and just before work, as I was peddling away, my handlebars fell off. Full out, 100% fell off my bike. That was awkward. Luckily I was going slowly around a corner and up an incline so I was able to jump off and not crash/kill myself. Then I carried my bike in one arm, and the handles in the other, the rest of the way to school. I'm sure I looked dumb, but I was alive. AND my patheticness caused our building manager to fix my bike for me! Woot Woot!

Happy Thanksgiving & Other Holiday's

I really like holidays. I love the Sunday of a long weekend because I know that it's not the end of my weekend - I still have another day off.

mmmmm. bliss. Throw some turkey at me and it's pretty much heaven.

So today I present to you my top eleven list of things to do on a Holiday Weekend.

1. Sleep in.
2. Eat french toast (preferably made by someone else - high 5 to my sister Beth for this mornings breakfast deliciousness)
3. Get all dressed up - take extra time with hair and make-up.
4. Have a morning nap - and you are already looking all pretty, so pretend you are a princess at the same time and that your handsome prince charming (who BTW looks like Paul Walker) will wake you up.
5. Hug people and be nice.
6. Eat good food. Like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc.
7. Do crafts.
8. Have an afternoon nap.
9. Play games.
10. Go shopping.
11. Stay up late.

Smiles. And I'm going to do it all again tomorrow!

the unanswerable question

Hey Guys,

I have a serious problem. A conundrum if you will. A question that needs answering and a riddle to be solved. I've taken to asking my question to everyone I meet and after a brief moment of serious thought and reflection, no person has been able to give me a straight answer.

I can't sleep, I can't eat (I can't eat? Someone make me some pork - 50 000 bonus points if you can tell me where that quote is from.) I can't even look at myself in the mirror anymore. I'm a failure because I can't solve this one life question. I'm hoping that among my wide-spread audience (all 12 of you), there is someone out there who can answer me this: If I ate myself, would I be twice as big or disappear entirely?

See - - You are thinking about the answer to that question aren't you.

Your welcome for bringing this thought provoking question to your attention.
Happy thinking!

Object Lesson

Yesterday I got toothpaste in my eye.
It really hurt.
I mean, my eye was minty-fresh, but also blurry and in a lot of pain.

I often do object lessons when trying to teach a skill or a concept to a group of kids. I think object lessons are valuable, fun and really can get a point across. Yesterday my point was that we learn to do things by observing and watching other people - and that other people teach us and show us how to do things.

For the object lesson I put on a plastic bag and blindfolded a kid. I told him that there were two things on the table. He had to figure out what they were, and then use the objects - on me. He quickly figured out that it was toothpaste and a toothbrush and after building it up for a while that I had never in my life brushed my teeth, (which, BTW is a lie) I told him that he was going to have to show me how. Blindfolded. Because he was such an expert on teeth brushing.

And that's how I got toothpaste in my eye. And on my neck. And through my eyebrows. And up my nose.

It was a great object lesson for the kids. And I learned something too - don't let kids near your face with a brush and/or anything that may require an eye-wash station.

Sometimes I say dumb things

Sometimes I say dumb things. My problem is that I personally think I'm hilarious, and I forget that not everyone knows me and has the same opinion. So sometimes I think of things that are really funny, so I say them out loud, and then people give me a weird look because they don't know how truly hilarious I really am.

Like today.
During an interview.
Obviously not the best place to say something dumb.

The question: What makes you really sad?
I thought for approximately 0.007 seconds before I blurted out "people killing kittens."
Which, in my defense is REALLY sad.
But is also a dumb answer. Good answers would have included: child soldiers, poverty, rainy days, cancer etc.

But when I was asked the question, all I could think of was this video.

I don't know why. I haven't seen or thought of that video for 5 months, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. Watch the whole thing. It is WELL worth your time.

I also said another dumb thing. This guy was firing off, literally, a million questions about everything ranging from hobbies, to relationships, to jobs, to traffic tickets, to family etc. And it's going quick.

The question: What's your opinion on marriage?
Me: Yes please!!!

I probably should have clarified - not to him, just in general. I'm pro-marriage. I also could have said, "I support the concept of marriage. I think it's a good idea."

But I didn't say that. That would have been too normal.

But normal is boring.

School Supplies

I don't know about you, but not once in my childhood or adulthood did I get "back-to-school-mustard."

Masqurade

My last night in Barkerville was a blast.

I attended the Fireman's Masqurade Ball, which is a victorian tradidition in Barkerville dating back many, many years. Everyone had to dress in formal victorian wear (or the best they could come up with), wear masks, fascinators and get formally announced at the door. There was a formal sit-down dinner and then a dance.

I had a beautiful dress all planned out, but 5 minutes before we left when I put it on, the zipper split so at the last minute I had to borrow a dress from a friend. It worked out ok, but my dress was better. Sad, sad, day.

It was an awesome event, not just because it was something random that I had never done before, but because the only people allowed to come were people that worked in Barkerville. It was great to just hang out for an entire night with all the people that make the town come alive during the day. No entertaining tourists, no strangers, just all Barkerville people. It was great.

Here's some pictures.

Stanley

Since my first day here this season, a group of friends and I have been planning on driving to a town called Stanley which is along the Cariboo Wagon Road that leads to Barkerville. Our plan was to go as soon as we had a nice evening. That nice evening came on August 5. (I kid you not, August five was the first nice evening). Because the Cariboo Wagon Road (often considered the 8^th wonder of the world) is 160 years old, it is virtually impassable unless by foot, we drove around and came in from the far side instead.

Stanley was a booming town just like Richfield, Barkerville, Camerontown, Marysville and Wells, but when the gold played out, the town became abandoned and slowly rotted into the ground. Today all that is left is a dilapidated cemetery and two buildings. We walked around and explored the area for quite some time before heading back to Wells.

When I wander around these old cemeteries I often think of the people that lay beneath the rotting, moss covered headstones. Is there anyone left in the world that remembers that that person is buried there? What kind of a life did the person live? What kind of legacy did he leave?

I think when I die, I’ll have a florescent pink, twinkle and neon-lighted statue built on my grave - Las Vegas style. With my life story engraved around the bottom. Ooohhhh, OR the statue will talk and move and tell my story. It’ll be a major attraction that people will come to see from all over the world. Forget about me? Heck no!

The truth is, I’m not concerned with the legacy I leave here on earth. Obviously I want to be a decent person and have people think well of me, but my few years on this earth is so little compared to eternity that I’m living for that part of my life instead of this one.

Today, think about what legacy you are living for.

My Granny

On Monday my mom and Granny came to visit me in Barkerville. My granny is out here from Ontario so I was really glad that she made the trek all the way to Barkerville to see me. We had a great time meandering though the town, visiting with all the characters, shopping, seeing a show and eating lunch. As part of the day my mom, granny and I got our picture taken at L.A. Blanc Photographic Gallery and Studio where I work. I really wanted us all to be outlaws, and I had granny in this awesome dress and buckskin jacket and cowboy hat, but she didn’t like it so she got a fancy dress instead and me and mom were outlaws.

It was hilarious. Granny was laughing and complaining the whole time.

On our way to the stage, she said, “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me?”

My response? “You lived through World War Two, and THIS is the worst thing that has ever happened to you?”

That sent us into fits of laughter for the rest of the day.

Arts Wells

Last weekend was the long awaited Arts Wells Festival. This festival is a celebration of all things art. Music, dance, crafts, painting, drawing, weaving, instruments etc. You name it and it was probably there (including a workshop on how to play the bass - not the guitar, not the cello-like instrument, but the washtub-broomstick-string combination).

Last year I didn’t attend the festival, but this year I purchased a weekend pass and had a surprisingly good time at the festival. I was impressed with the quality and quantity of bands that performed and although I had to work and couldn’t attend any of the workshops, I did wish I could have gone to a few.

The Arts Wells Festival draws in people (mostly hippies) from around Canada and the states. For 4 days around 10 000 hippies descend on the town of Wells (population 250). Tents are pitched anywhere and everywhere and despite large amounts of drinking and smoking there is very little, if any, crime. Everyone is polite and curteous and friendly.

On the first night of the festival I knew that I was in for something different. An impromptu band popped up in the middle of the street and started playing music. A crowd formed and the crowd started to dance. In the middle of the street. The entire weekend was like that.

Although I am not a hippie - far from it- I decided to use the weekend as an opportunity to observe a culture different from my own. While participating on an exchange with Canada World Youth I learned that no culture is “weird’, they are just “different.” So I bring you my list of observations and I do not state them because they are ‘weird’ I state them because they are ‘different.’

1. 10,000 campers + 3 public showers in town = smelly weekend.
2. Dreads are really cool. Double cool if you play the cello or violin.
3. Pee wherever you want. On my front lawn, no problem.
4. Camp wherever you want. The baseball field, the ditch, my back yard, the side of the road, whatever works for you.
5. Dance. All the time.
6. Men can wear flowery silk skirts.
7. Barefeet make you 100% more hippie than the guy beside you wearing sandals.
8. Clowns are the new fad. Forget vampires, it’s all about clowns now.
9. Make music whenever, wherever with whatever you can find.
10. You are never too old to be a hippie. (85 yr old)
11. You are never too young to be a hippie. (1 month old)

I actually really enjoyed myself on the weekend. Caught up with some old friends, danced a bit, watched many, many bands and just chilled. Good Times.