Almost Finished

Only a weekend left in Edmonton! Thankfully I have a road trip to some national park called Elk Island (to see Elk, Bison, etc.) and a free K-Os concert to keep me occupied. I am so looking forward to my week in Toronto, especially seeing Michelle, Aunt Carole & Bill, playing tourist with Louise and spending all day wandering the ROM and AGO. Oh, and just travelling is good enough for me... put me on a plane! As for the flu pandemic, it's not on my mind at the moment, and I don't think I'll be wearing a mask on the plane. I am glad that I thought to buy that Nectarine Mint antibacterial hand gel when I was last at Bath and Body Works, though!

Anyway, these last few weeks have been pretty intense school-wise, including preparing for my very first presentation at an academic conference (well, we were co-presenters). It was the Alberta TESL mini-conference and my pronunciation instructor spoke about how to teach pronunciation and then each of the students in my class spoke for 5-10 minutes about some successful tasks we used in out tutoring sessions this semester. I think we all did a great job, and I was thankful that, as Carole pointed out, we were forced to get over our fear of public speaking at as teenagers. I felt anticipation but no nerves, and I trusted my memorization to remember what I was supposed to say. Anyway, this is our pronunciation class after the presentation, and also my closest friends in the TESL program:
Dr. Tracey Derwing, Miao, Me, Sabine, Amy, Bonnie & Jun

The nice thing about all the hard work this semester is that it paid off! And, since I don't think anyone from the UofA reads this, I think this is a safe place for one sentence of bragging? I got an A+ in Teaching Pronunciation and in my Education Research class, and an A- in my Statistics class! I was relieved with the stats grade (I didn't understand 90% of what the professor said) and really proud of the research grade because it was such a difficult class. Of course, grades really don't matter that much, but at least I'm leaving the opportunity open if I want to go for a doctorate ten years down the road.

Anyway, this week has been one giant to-do list. I've crossed almost everything off, including handwashing all my winter sweaters, going for a physical at the student health centre (I just walked in: convenient and free) and figuring out the Canadian tax system. I'm celebrating my first free "nothing-that-I-should-be-doing" afternoon by watching Funny Face.
If you haven't seen Funny Face in a while, I highly recommend renting it and singing along: it's such a cheerful movie. I was also considering Roman Holiday, but that always makes me melancholy at the end.

Last random thing to report: the opera. This week I went to see La Traviata by the Edmonton Opera Company. I splurged a bit and sat in the very front row, centre, about six inches to the left of the conductors head. It was worth it! I felt like I was the only person in the audience, I could see every expression and the voices were so much more intense than they are from the speakers in the second balcony. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the second balcony and obstructed view seats- I would never have been able to see all of the arts performances I've seen around the world if I had to pay full price! Next year they are putting on Rigoletto, Othello and the Pirates of Penzance, and I'll be back to the nosebleed section where starving students belong.

I was thinking I should put a clip of the opera on here, and this is one I stumbled upon. The song is an aria from La Traviata, but the Muppets make it more interesting!