Learning from teenagers and students in kindergarten and pre-school

I am having a lovely visit with friends that I met through a program to connect newcomer families with Canadian families. Our friends through the program eventually moved to another province, and I'm visiting them now. The kids are obviously growing up! I can't believe how tall they are getting to be. Perhaps I am shrinking though?

I was so incredibly impressed by a lovely supper prepared by A, who is a young teenager. She made a lovely chicken dish with tomatoes and spices, as well as a salad garnished with lime juice. I don't know many other people her age who can cook so well! She seems to be doing very well in her new junior high school.

I was woken up yesterday morning by another A, who is in kindergarten. She explained that it was time to put a puzzle together, and she also noted that one of my eyebrows was white and the other one was the colour of my hair. She informed me that they looked like "Grandpa's eyebrows!" She'll be home from school soon, so I'm sure that she will have something interesting in store or some kind of plan!

Yet another A (there are a lot of kids whose name starts with A in this family!) is in pre-school. He is so adorable! We went for a walk the other day, and he had this indelible attraction to mud and puddles! He isn't talking very much yet, but he does have some interesting things to say when he does talk.

I went shopping with M. yesterday in downtown MH. It's kind of funny to see hills all around the city, because I am used to a very flat landscape. We had a nice time smelling all of the lotions and perfurmes at the bargain stores!

I tried to make a salad today the way that A & M had made it: lettuce, tomatoes, onions (optional), lime juice, corn oil, and salt. It was approaching the right quantities, but it wasn't entirely correct. I'll have to try again later on and get some more tips when everyone gets home.

Attending a Conference in a Backpack

So I shoved all of the stuff that I thought that I might need into my backpack, and got on a bus, and headed off to my first out of province conference to do a presentation of the research that I had been working on for the past months. I wonder how many people choose what they are going to wear by thinking about what might look best after being crumpled into a backpack?Anyhow, whether there are many or few, that is what I did....

I am finished!

I am finished my undergraduate degree....unless I somehow managed to fail something. I am thinking that that is not the case though. I can't believe that I am done. For the first time in my life, I have no homework to do. Thank goodness. After I get over my initial shock, hopefully I can enjoy this....while it lasts!

How I pulled my shoulder nearly out of joint

I decided that today would be a good day to go shopping for summer clothing. Not so. First of all, I couldn't really find what I was looking for. I decided to just try on a few things, including these cotton shirts that were on sale. I thought that they would be good for warm weather, and they were only about $3 each. Yeah. Sales. But when I tried it on, I realized that you could sort of see through the shirt, and this wasn't necessarily terribly complementary. So then I needed to take the shirt off. And I couldn't, because it was stuck. So I tried all sorts of things, including trying to pull it down over my legs (wouldn't fit over my hips), trying to pull it over my head (nearly ripped it). I'm thinking, "Who designs these things? No wonder this thing is on sale, because it is dangerous." And then after trying all sorts of things, I wondered if I was going to have to call the clerk in the store...b/c I was seriously and embarrassingly stuck in this shirt. But then I had one last attempt and bending over and pulling the shirt over my head with all the power that I could muster. And it worked. But I seriously hurt my shoulder in the process. Not a successful shopping trip.

Oreochromis niloticus (Nile Tilapia)

So I had a conversation about white water rafting in Uganda in the frozen food aisle of Safeway. Yes. I had followed my mother into the store as she was doing some shopping after a meeting that we had both attended. But I couldn't find my mother. So I did the next best thing, which was to pick up a shopping basket and wander around the store and try to look purposeful while pretending to grocery shop while looking for my mother. And before I found her, I discovered that it was free sample day! Woo hoo! And to my surprise, the Safeway free sample lady was giving away breaded tilapia fillets. So I delightedly tried one. And I realized that they reminded me of something else: white water rafting in Uganda on the Nile. You see, when I was white water rafting, the guide was talking about Tilapia. Apparently it is quite common. I can't remember specifically trying any, as I was staying with non-Ugandans. But I do remember that most of the food that I saw in markets was kind of the exact opposite of the Atkin's Diet. Lots of carbs. Lots and lots of carbs. Almost everything on your plate is a carb in a variety of different forms. So I was so taken with the carbs, that I must not have noticed the Tilapia. Strangely enough, I had just come from a meeting about Uganda before I ran into the Tilapia in Safeway.

Research Activities

Well...I've been cutting out slides like mad, and I've gotten the presentation down to around 15 minutes. Although I'm a little nervous, it is good getting all of this public speaking practice. I used to absolutely detest public speaking when I was a lot younger, but now I've more or less (depending on the time) come around to feeling more positive about it. It can be somewhat enjoyable actually. Last year at this time, I thought, "oh, I need to get research experience, I need to get research experience." So I spent my summer doing research, and then I've spent the last year doing research. And now I want a break from research! I like it, and I think that I would like it to be at least a part of my career....but now I really want a break!

Not quite finished

So there were some other unedited ramblings that I needed to have a go at. Sometimes I'm not sure if some of the phrases that I used are learned from Northern Ireland or not. I guess that I'll have to see if people look at me terribly quizzically or not.

I am so close to graduating, and I can't help thinking that if I hadn't switched faculties, I would be graduating with a B. Mus. instead of a B. Sc. (Hons). But I think that I'd take the B. Sc. (Hons) anyday. I did not enjoy my musical studies. I like music, but really, I am a social sciences/sciences type of person. This degree suited me a lot more. And I've met a few people that I was in music school with, and a number of them are working in shops that have nothing to do with music...and are planning on getting other training. But I admire them for sticking to it as well. A B. Mus. is certainly an accomplishment!

When I left the school of music, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself. I was kind of lost. I had wanted to be a doctor before that...forever....and then I realized that I wanted to aim for that again. But during my "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" phase, I went and got tested for Holland Types. I turned out to be an SAE. Social. Artistic. and Enterprising. Interesting. I think that the typical doctor has another type. Like involving Investigative and Realistic or something. But that was my type, and I still wanted to be a doctor, and the psychologist administering the test looked at me a little quizzically. But we'll see where this all takes me. But low and behold, I didn't know what it was called, but what I want to do is called social medicine. So I guess that that is where the social comes in. And I wouldn't say that I am "out-there" about art, but I like artistic things. I think that you can be both an artist and a scientist. They come in different proportion I suppose. I feel like I am sort of on the line between the two, if there is a line. I have a friend who is incredibly scientific, but also incredibly artistic. And I don't feel like I spread out that far on the line. I'm more just kind of hovering around it with little fringe bits on either side.

But yes. SAE. That is me, apparently.