More of Calgary

Here are the pictures of the hotel. It might not seem like something worthy of it's own blog post, but you have to remember that I often sleep in a bunk bed in a shared room at a dingy youth hostel. The only hostel in Calgary was $30 a bed, so I ended up convincing Amy that if we put that $60 towards a real hotel room, it would be worth it. The Fairmont Palliser downtown had an amazing deal, and the location was perfect (that's the hotel and the Calgary tower in the picture above).
The lobby had a great marble-and-warm-lighting kind of atmosphere.
And the room was "cozy" with all the nice toiletries and cushy bathrobes.
I also loved the pool! (though I didn't take this picture)

I really should be studying for finals, but it's more fun to put up pictures from my weekend trip to Calgary. Overall it was a nice weekend away with my friend Amy, and the highlights were the zoo, dinner at the revolving restaurant in the tower and staying at an elegant hotel downtown. Oh, and Denny's for breakfast, but that's just cause it brought back memories of childhood roadtrips in the States with my family!

Anyway, for today, some pictures from the zoo. I really enjoy zoos, and Calgary's was small enough to walk around in a couple of hours with a pretty good range of animals. If you've ever been to the zoo with me, you know I've developed a bit of a fixation with monkey exhibits in my adult life. Picture from Ebay where an unloved Gundy is selling for $115 USD!

Who knows why- Mom thought maybe it was because Carole and I had much loved identical stuffed monkeys named Gundy and Mindy (yes, Gundy comes from the brand name Gund, and Mindy rhymes with it). My orange Wrinkles slippers were named "pumpkin" and "pie", and due to an inability to reach a compromise, both Carole and I named our polar bears "Pola." Good thing we developed some creativity later in life!

Anyway, as for the real monkeys, four of the species had adorable babies born within the last three months. And, of course, I took pictures.
The one above is my favourite. A bit alien-looking but so cute when she ran around.
The spider monkey is above, and the one below was so tiny, the babies head seemed about the size of a quarter.
Of course, there were other animals too.



More to come tomorrow (that is, if I survive the statistics exam...)

Still here

I'm still alive and in Edmonton. All I can think about is my schoolwork that has to be finished over the next few weeks and my trips to Toronto and Halifax for the summer. Especially now that spring has come to Alberta, it just makes me want to jump on a plane. But first I have to finish this beast of a research report. It was quite discouraging Wednesday when I realized I had written 20 pages and had only done the appendixes, references list and title page. If you're wondering why I start with the stuff people usually do last, it's because I like to get the "easy" stuff out of the way and have the satisfaction of crossing four things off my to-write list. For example, writing the "meat" today took the whole day for six pages. Yikes- it feels like wading through mud. I'm hoping that if I work non-stop tomorrow I can finish most of it so I can relax a bit on Easter Sunday. And then I have Monday for final proof-reading. I'm learning a lot- did I mention that? It's slow going because it actually requires thought (instead of just typing whatever comes into my head and relying on my writing ability to make it sound intelligent even if it isn't). I don't know if anyone would be interested, but here are the research hypotheses (which condensed, means I'm looking at ways that teaching and classroom management affect classes like Carole's where all the kids just talk in Turkish instead of listening or participating in English :)
Among Turkish Preparatory Year students in English language classes, the higher the quality of teaching that the teacher provides and the more collaborative the teacher’s approach to classroom management, the less the unsolicited use of the first language in the classroom. This effect will occur because the higher the quality of teaching the teacher provides and the more collaborative the teacher’s approach to classroom management, the greater the students’ perception of class robustness will be, and the greater the perception of robustness, the less the unsolicited use of the first language in the classroom. However this relationship between perception of class robustness and unsolicited use of the first language will be larger for students with high self-efficacy in the class than for students with low self-efficacy.

Last Week of Classes

The semester is screeching to a close, and I am coming to terms with all of the work that I need to finish. I have all of April; one huge research report, three exams (one for pronunciation, easy as pie and two really difficult ones, statistics and research methods). Oh and a statistics problem set that I'm trudging through at the moment. I find the professors notes completely confusing, and it probably doesn't help that I have Shakespeare's As You Like It on DVD in the background.

I re-discovered the wonders of the public library last weekend. I had been just getting books from the university library, they had everything I needed for school, plus I could find the literary classics, slightly dated travel guides and even 1980's knitting pattern books. But when I went to the main branch of Edmonton public libraries downtown, I just wandered around drooling. There were so many books, magazines, audio books, CDs, DVDs that I would love to look at! How to choose between fiction, travel, crafts. I got too overwhelmed and put most of it off for another day. They also had an annual booksale in a basement parking lot. Library booksales are increidble, and you would not believe the number of tables (or the number of people!) Thankfully, I made a logical decision to limit myself, which also allowed me to finish looking in under two hours. After all, I have a very small bedroom, and no bookshelves.

This may sound weird, but my other big excitement last weekend was doing my Canadian tax return! This is the first year I've done my own Canadian tax return (I figure Dad's accountant needs a break), but it's not intimidating after having figured out tax returns in four other countries (one in Chinese). Plus, I found that one of the programs, ufile, is free for students, and it was a breeze! Amazing. Even if I had to pay, it would be well worth it. No extra forms to fill out about student credits or income from two provinces, it's all taken care of.

And my last bit of news, which may make some readers jealous (and hungry) is that I went to Red Lobster this week! I hadn't been since I lived in Ontario, and apparently they don't have them in the Maritimes (strange?) But it only took two bus rides and a short walk to find one in Edmonton! The salad tasted the same, the biscuits were divine, and the whole resturant had the same feel as the one we used to go to in Thornhill. I was really wanting to get scallops, but I eventually thought they might not be as good in land-locked Alberta in winter as they are fresh from the sea in Digby! I went for crab linguine instead. Here's a picture I found online to remind you...

Chuzzle

You know you're not quite disciplined enough for graduate school when you find yourself playing Chuzzle instead of writing your pronunciation paper.

I Gave in to Etsy

It's been a few months now that I've known about Etsy (thanks to Maureen mentioning it on her blog). Every so often I went on, spent hours drooling over handmade jewelry and made a wishlist. I always managed to talk myself out of purchasing though:
1. The exchange rate was really bad for a while
2. There were so many pieces I loved, I couldn't afford all of them, yet I couldn't pick a favourite
3. It might be easier just to buy something in a store
But today I gave in. Real stone earrings are way too expensive in stores in Edmonton, and the exchange rate has been improving. Plus these two pairs of earrings really jumped out at me. I had decided to sleep on it, and then I got dressed this morning and went to my jewelry trees. It turns out I needed something cheerful with some blue and red to brighten up my navy hoodie/coral tee combo. Sure enough, there was nothing that would work! So both the earrings are in the mail, I'll let you know when I get them if I'm still in love with Etsy.Look how cute!!!

Spring has sprung?

Yes, it's been a while since my last post, but I've noticed the other sister/cousin/friends blogs are all lagging too, so maybe it's just that time of year. Anyway, that gives me lots to report!

Two weeks ago I went down to Banff to see Louise before she left for South America. It's always nice to get out of Edmonton, and I really like the relaxed atmosphere in Banff. Plus the Greyhound bus ride is always a nice six hours of staring at the scenery (five hours of flat and the last hour of mountains). The Greyhound in Alberta is a bit better than Chicago or Toronto, but it's still a surreal place. Every single time I ride on the bus I overhear someone talking about the criminal justice system or their previous misdeeds. While waiting for my connection in Calgary, the couple next to me spent an hour comparing their experiences in the jail system. It seems that women's prison is "way different" from men's prison, and that provincial jails are much cushier than federal prison. The things you learn...

Banff was great except that I was really, really sick most of the weekend. I rarely get sick and I can only think of two or three times that I have been that sick. Part of it was my fault, I wouldn't give up my chance to try snowboarding just for a sore throat and cough. Louise and I went up Sunshine where she's been working in a restaurant on the hill. We took a 15 minute gondola ride to get to the village and we went to her staff accommodations to get layered and geared up. One of her friends had extra snowboarding equipment I could use, so the only downside was that I didn't have snowpants. We started on the learning slope (you couldn't really call it a hill) and Louise patiently taught me the basics. I was pretty lucky to have such a great teacher, and I felt like I was picking it up pretty quickly. I didn't feel completely confident to go to a real hill, but Louise, as a friend, knew that it would be the only way to learn (it's much harder to snowboard on a slope than on a hill!) So, she decided that we would not be allowed to go inside for a warm lunch until I had gone down the real hill at least one time. Unfortunately my camera wasn't working, so the only documentation of my snowboarding experience is a dark snapshot on Louise's cellphone. These pictures will give you an idea, but it was overcast and snowy when I was there.Louise was most worried about the getting off the ski lift part at the top of the hill, but I aced that test (ie, did not fall over and force them to stop the ski lift so others didn't trip over me). Then came the hill, which seemed extremely steep, but I made it down without any big issues. Of course I fell over many times, but I mastered an efficient way to get back up (involving rolling onto your stomach, then standing up facing the top of the hill so you can get your balance before continuing). All in all, it was a very successful first time down. Most of it should be attributed to Louise's superior teaching skills, and a bit to my natural ability. I could see myself trying again some weekend, and really enjoying it. But, as it was, as soon as I got inside for lunch, all the snow started melting on my jeans and I got really chilled. And breathing cold air was really painful for my throat. So, back to Louise's place to change into dry clothes, then a hot beverage to drink on the gondola back down.The rest of the weekend I was a pretty lousy guest... I had a fever that night and then couldn't move much the next day (possibly fatigue from being sick, possibly from the snowboarding). Thankfully Louise took good care of me, and I advised while she packed for her trip. She's in the Galapagos Islands at the moment, and wandering around Ecuador and Peru for the next few weeks. I was thinking of going to join her after school's done, but I decided just to time my visit to Toronto so we'll be able to meet up when she returns and I can hear all the stories.

Yes, I am going back to Toronto for a visit from May 4-11. I'm very excited, and already planning out all the things I want to do and see. It's been 2 1/2 years since I was last back for a visit, and it wasn't very expensive just to buy a one-way flight from Edmonton and then another continuing onto Halifax. As for the summer, I'll be working with the same language school I worked with last year, although the girls from the UAE won't be coming back (sad). Instead, I'll be working with Hollywood in Halifax, which should be smaller and much less stress. Plus Carole has decided not to teach, but to do some studies at Dalhousie, so I think we'll be able to enjoy our time together more (she'll want to hear my stories, but we can also talk about things other than camp!)