The Times and Tribulations of JY: April 2005

Friday, April 29, 2005

Enough Rain Already!

Geeee.. you think it's rained enough YET?!!?!?!? I think it's probably easier to count the sunny days we've had in the last two weeks: 3 days (maybe)!! If it doesn't flood, there must be some sort of miracle work going on underground..cuz it's been raining pretty heavily for the last two days.

Anyways, it's Friday.. again! At the rate time is going, I've been trying to make myself not procrastinate because I have a feeling that as soon as I turn my back, it's going to be time to move and I'll be freaking out.

I'm so frustrated with this university. Actually, I've already got it in my mind that all universities don't really get back to students on questions and concerns. HOW ANNOYING! I emailed the registrar yesterday about them putting "Minor in CS" on my transcript, but of course, nobody got back to me. Come'on people, I had to run around and around and around for 1.5 months last summer to get permission to finish my minor, and now I have to run around for another month to get it to appear on my transcript? GIVE ME A BREAK! AND I emailed U of Ottawa's faculty of education to find out whether I'd be able to change my concentration from Junior/Intermediate (gr 3-10) to Primary/Junior (K-6) but their automated response was that I had to wait 24-48hrs because it was busy over there... well, it's been more than 48 hours now.... am I ever going to hear from them? I considered calling them, but then didn't want to be one of those pushy people that couldnt wait their turn. Hmm.. what should I do?

Speaking of my concentration, I have been sort of uncomfortable with being in the Junior/Intermediate program rather than the Primary/Intermediate program. Of course, for some stupid reason I chose the Junior/Intermediate program while I was filling out my application forms. Reason I feel uncomfortable with my decision is because I really rather be working with young children than teens. I think I'd be happier with the younger group. On the other hand, there is a bigger demand for secondary school teachers and probably higher pay to match that. But is it worth not doing what I truly want to be doing? I've already made the decision to be a teacher and that in itself took a long time to get to (I think it's what I was meant to do in life.. I wanted to be a teacher when I was little, I always played "school", my volunteer work has mostly led me back to working with children, but most importantly, I just love kids!) .. so why not go all the way and work where I am truly happy?

I don't really have much planned for the weekend. I'm hoping the weather will clear up so that I can start planting some of my flower seeds... mmm

Alright, that's it for now.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Rain, rain, go away

Hiho! It's another week (omg). This past weekend was a slacker weekend. I woke up with sinus pain both on Saturday & Sunday (joy) so I didn't really have the initiative to do much. I did get around to transcribing some chinese kid's songs for my students who have been requesting that we learn some new songs for a while. I also did up a poster for work which I'm pretty happy about (gotta love templates!).

The weather has been pretty miserable these last few days. The sun is finally shining after 4 days of rain (and 4 more days of rain to come!). There is actually a flood warning now.. *sigh*. The grass seems to have also miraculously turned green.. I guess god must have been busy one night with a paintbrush?

CCANB (Chinese School) is currently busy planning summer activities. They plan to partake in the Canada Day parade (again) and asked me to be in charge. I don't think we have the capability to come up with anything new, but have decided to try to at least make the truck a bit more interesting than usual. Anyhow, I'm not overly excited about organizing that :P They are also making plans for their annual summer camp which is always the highlight of the summer (for CCANB of course). This year will be the first year that they don't have teachers coming over from Taiwan. Apparantly every stop that the teachers make has to sit out one year?? I had no idea.. I don't ever remember there being a year that they didn't come! Anyways, this shall be interesting. They have been trying to convince me to stay until the camp is over.. it could happen, but I don't know if I want to tie myself up with camp during my last week here?

Recently, I discovered that teachers have portfolios. Boy, that would have been nice to know a few years ago :P Apparantly they keep recommendation letters from other professionals, letters from previous students and parents, examples of curriculum they've planned, pictures of activities, etc in those portfolios. Hmm.. I figure I should try to get some stuff together before I leave for Ottawa.. better now than when I start to job hunt eh? Gah.. another thing to do. My mind is whirling!

I don't know how I'm going to pack or what I'm going to bring over. I guess the biggest dilemma now is: how long am I going to be in Ottawa? one year? two? It's not really worth purchasing too much if I'm only there for a year! My parents have already decided that they want to do a yard sale this summer.. purge as much stuff as possible as they are planning to leave the province in about 3 years. When I look around my house, there is so much STUFF that it makes me shiver at the thought of how much work its going to be to get ready to move half way across the country!!!

Alright, I haven't accomplished much since coming into the office so I think I better do something now. Ciao.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Semi-Work Frustration

Ah.. sweet bliss it's Friday. The end of a busy week!

So my title here all has to do with some mis-communication at times in the office. Sometimes I feel as if my boss(es) just throw things at me to get finished without properly communicating the information to me. There are times there have been things that have been mis-communicated and I think they think I forgot or I missed some piece of the information. *sigh*.. it can become such a frustration sometimes.

My job is technically just 'secretary' but I'm also serving as a webmaster, computer technician (ya, it's funny because I'm not all that informed about solving computer problems) and a financial everything.

Financial stuff.. within a university system can sometimes be rather overwhelming when you haven't been trained with the basics. Every little piece of activity has to have some reasoning behind it. I'm responsible for making sure we receive each child's monthly tuition from the preschool, deposits, any expenses coming out (cheque requisitions, purchase orders, etc..) and reconciling the accountS (there are at least 5 accounts that have regular activity!). When I first started this job (2 years ago), I was told to reconcile the accounts even though I didn't know how a P.O. worked or what came out of what account. It was sort of mind boggling because the finances of that office were in such a disorganized mess! There was paper work still randomly floating around a year after I started to get some organization in the office. I actually like the high intensity days when there are things being thrown at me left and right, but what frustrates me is that sometimes they expect things to be done a certain way or by a certain time and things haven't been properly told to me. I guess every job has it's ups and downs and my job ain't that bad!

Enough about work. These last few days have been pretty busy. Was at the music festival again on Wednesday and taught again that evening. Then, yesterday morning I attended another festival class which ran longer than I thought it would, so that made me miss another student's festival class! At least I attended one class each at the minimum! My parents are back now and it's nice to not have to do everything anymore..hehehe..

My mom made me laugh at the airport yesterday. She turned around and said she had purchased a ___ (insert big item purchase here), as if it were an everyday occurance! I'm not going to write what the big item purchase was because I'm not sure the news is official yet and also not sure they want to whole community to know yet :P (Trust me, things spread like mad around here).

Speaking of spreading news: on Sunday, I was at Chinese School and at least 2 people stopped me to say that they heard I was leaving in the fall. I was like...!?!?!??! how did YOU know?! Man.. word travels SOOOOOOOOOOo fast. Apparantly there is also a piano teacher that lives a few streets down (no idea who she is) and even SHE knows I'm leaving !? Ehhhh.. it's a bit freaky? Just to know that people know me who I don't know? Errr. Anyways, back to Chinese school.. they were saying things like "we are going to miss you" and "we are losing you???" and I felt so touched! I haven't been as active within CCANB for the last few years, but even after being semi MIA for a few years, I'm still remembered. It's nice to be missed ;)

Alrighty, that's all for now. Ciao!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Tuesday's P.S!

Thanks Stella, you reminded me of what I was thinking/dreaming of today!

I was driving past FHS (high school) this afternoon on my way to fill up the car with some expensive gas (on the plus side, it's been going down by 1 cent each day, lucky me: I waited til I really needed to fill up so I got it at 94.9 cents/L!) when I saw all these high-schoolers lounging around on the fields near the school. It brought back some really fond memories of my friends and I meeting outside for lunch on beautiful sunny spring/early summer days. Ah.. those were the days of my grade 12 year.. fond memories because all of us were anticipating graduation (plus we were having that grade 12 syndrome).

Anyhow, last thing before I really go to bed. There's a looming teacher's strike over here (they are in the position to go on strike, but haven't yet) and so the high schoolers are getting 2 hr lunch breaks (because the group of teachers supervising the first hour will get their full hour of lunch break after they finish their supervision schedule..and the 2nd group gets their full hour during the 1st hr..). Anyhow, today, on CBC, they were saying that because of the 2 hr break, students were getting into "trouble". Trouble means "hanky-panky" in the woods near the Ecole St. Anne (French School), drinking and getting high off drugs. Hmm!!

GNITE!

Monday Madness

Yesterday was insane! I went to my students music festival class at 3ish but they were running an hour behind schedule. Top it off with my brother going MIA at lunch time when I was suppose to pick him up and then finding him only to discover he needed more time before coming home was just too much for me. I had to skip out when they started my student's class and return quickly. Anyhow, after the class, I had to race home to teach. I was exhausted! Still am feeling it today too... bad news is that tomorrow is going to be similar to Monday :(

I'm currently starting to rack my brain over when I'll be able to head down to Ottawa to find a place to live come Fall. I really do not think it'd be nice to be homeless :P

Anyhow, I'm off to bed now.. gnite.

JY

ps./Thanks Jung for your hello on your blog.. hope everything is well with you too!

Monday, April 18, 2005

Glorious Weekend!

The weather was absolutely GORGEOUS this weekend! Yesterday, we reached a sunny level of 21 Degrees C! OH MY! Everyone was out and about in shorts and a t-shirt. It was sooooo nice to be outside! I had the windows wide open and used the weather to my advantage (mostly!). Did more spring cleaning yesterday such as washing the cars (without freezing my hands off), raking, sweeping etc.. Plus, now I can hang clothes outside to dry on the line. I may have mentioned this before, but I really like to watch clothes flapping in the wind on a clothesline.. there's something beautiful (? ok.. not the right word.. maybe its "freeing") about it!

I was thinking yesterday, summer always makes us feel so free. Free spirted sort of. Perhaps its because most of us relate the summer with vacation and therefore everyone is in better spirits? I'm already starting to imagine all the things I'll get to do when I'm on summer vacation as a teacher..lol! BTW people.. even though teachers get paid over the summer, it's more like they squeeze your pay that is really meant to be for 9 months into 12 months.. :(

The week has finally arrived: Music Festival. I'm seeing those kids walking into the building with their pretty spring dresses and shoes.. boy, does it bring back memories of TERROR. Hehehe.. why do I make them do it? It's a good way to learn how to control your nervousness and to gain perspective about competition. Anyhow.. this week is going to be pretty brutal because of it. I've got to attend one class this afternoon and then teach again this evening; another student on Wednesday morning and one in the afternoon + teaching in the evening; Thursday will be most brutal: 1 student at 9am, 1 at 9:45am, on at 10:30 (which I absolutely cannot attend, but it's ok) and one at 3:10pm plus picking up my parents at the airport at 11!! (forget blogging on Thursday! :P). Boy, will I be ready to flop down on Friday!

All this beautiful weather is making me feel like going outside.. hehehe.. it's pretty nice out again today, but not as warm. Maybe it's time to start swimming again? I wonder how I'm going to keep up with my cardio now that the good weather has begun?? I usually like to swim in the summer as it's less sweaty ..hehehe.. of course, the pool schedule is pretty inconvenient for me and it's also really busy there, so I'll have to figure something out. Plus, I like to go for walks in the evening by the river.. it's just so peaceful and nice! Lots of Frederictonians enjoy a walk along the riverside in the evenings.. I will definitely miss it when I leave (who knows though, I may be back for the summer(s)..HEHEHEH!!)

Alrighty, thats all for now! Ciao

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Whoa.. time is a speed demon

Ahoy mates! I can't believe tomorrow is Friday. Seriously.. what's wrong with this week?! Why is it passing so quickly!? AHHH.. I have things to do you know!? Oh ya.. speaking of thigns to do.. I have to email someone.

I was thinking of having a BBQ on Saturday.. but upon further reflection, I think I may end up being too lazy/busy. I'm not quite sure what I have to do.. but I'm sure there are things to do. HAHAHA! Hmm.. forecast calls for sunshine which means the outdoors will be calling at me and urging me to spend time outside.

It looks like I'll be able to work up to August.. yea.. more money (boy do I need it :P). New projects starting up means they need people in here to do things... the only downside is that this office is so so so so hot in the summer.. it's really unbearable. We have no air conditioning and the computers are always running. I swear, the moment you leave the hall, the temperature rises a couple of degrees.. from the office into the private office.. another few degrees.. it's such an oven! On the more positive note, it can't be as bad as those people who are working on the 4th floor science labs with those hot machines running..... (possible way to lose weight easily?? hahah)

Time to leave for lunch.. ahh I have to teach again tonight. Then I better find some initiative to figure out what I'm going to do to keep 6 kids busy for 2 hours on Sunday (we finished the 2nd textbook). I'm so underpaid for teaching!

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

In Need of Some Eye Props

It's getting harder and harder to get out of bed these days. Maybe it's all because of daylight savings.. I'm still feeling the loss of an hour?? (how pathetic is that). Coffee doesn't seem to be doing the trick this morning, in fact, I feel like I took some medication.. I feel like jelly! Someone should invent some eye props.. keep those eyes opened somehow?? hahaha.. it already sounds painful!

It snowed pretty much all day yesterday.. was sort of surprised that it kept going that long. Good news is it wasn't a very heavy snowfall and that we are expecting warm weather in the next few days (rumour has it that it's going up to +14 on Saturday...woho!!). My thoughts are starting to turn to BBQ season.. haha!

My parents will be back next week which means an end to the endless slavery that has been occuring in my house for the past month and a half. YA! People who don't really know me all that well tell me all the time that I should appreciate living at home because mom and dad do everything for me. Well, true to some extent (and believe me, it's not that I don't appreciate them, I DO know that they do a lot for me..) but really, do you think I don't do anything around the house? HAHAHAHAH!! I've been "trained" to help out so I consider myself quite efficient when it comes to cleaning and chores. Heck, I've had to go help clean out apartments after students have lived there for a whole school year.. think of how GROSS that can be?! *shiver*. Anyhow, back to my point: It'd be so much easier to just clean up after myself and to take care of myself rather than having to care for two people! BUT I do admit, I will try harder not to abuse my parents when they get back.

Okie dokie.. not much left to report. byebye

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Another False Start

Ahhh..snow is on the way!! :S Especially after such a beautiful weekend, what a slap! I spent the better part of the weekend outside.. well, sort of. Had an early breakfast at Cora's on Saturday morning but it was rather windy and cold. After breakfast, I headed to the library and loaded up on novels and then proceeded home to bed ..hehehe!! Well.. I was really tired because I had stayed up "late" (2:30am) Friday night after going to "Roll up the rim" with a bunch of friends.

I enjoyed a nice walk on Saturday evening and did some gardening work in the late afternoons of Friday and Sunday -- still have lots more to do too!! Anyhow, it was lovely being outside and I can't wait to start planting my flower seeds *hehehe*

(April 11)
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Yesterday became so busy that I didn't have a chance to finish my post.. so here I am again this today. This morning we held an open house in the preschool for parents to come and look at the projects and units done by the students in one of the professors classes. It was sort of crazy in there with so many people and kids (and chicks!). Speaking of chicks, they are growing insanely fast.. I swear.. it's shocking!

Exams have started here at the university and I'm not really noticing to tell you the truth! I guess it's been a year since I've really been a student and my lifestyle has changed so much. The people that surround me have changed a lot too.. I've met so many people this year and it's been so much healtheir for me. It's also been a refreshing year that has allowed me to focus on what I want out of my life (in terms of career and my interests), getting in shape and getting healthier physically AND pyschologically.

I'll be sad when I have to leave this job in all honesty. I've had a great opportunity to work with great people. It's been a really good learning experience in a work related sense as well as a person and education related sense. Sort of hard to describe, but it's been pretty good. (and man, am I overpaid or what..hehehe!!) I've met quite a variety of people.. some are slightly off the wall but most are really nice and have actually become my friends.

OKOK.. enough of that.. it's not even close to my last day at work anyways!!

I'm taking a day off work next week so that it won't be so insane. On Thursday of next week, pretty much every single one of my students that is in the music festival has a class..There's no way I'm going to be able to attend all of them especially since some of them overlap! Oh boy. At least it's not all the first timers overlapping.. then I'd feel really bad about choosing. Their pieces are improving quickly (thank goodness) and we've been working away pretty intensely these past few weeks.

Alright, off to do my cardio now. Ciao

Thursday, April 07, 2005

No Name #2

It's Thursday night and I am tired.. actually, make that exhausted! I did 45 mins of nonstop cardio (a record for me, I did an hour of cardio one day but that was broken upinto two times) and did the weekly cleaning (allergies force me to vacuum and mop everyweek).

Anyway, I was talking to some of my co-workers about teaching and it made me think..teachers are REALLY stressed out. Did you know that when they are on bus duty, theyhave to be at school before 7am and stay until the last bus leaves? On top of that,they also have to prepare their own class work, mark papers or tests. Oh ya, and don't forget lunch duty. The thing that would probably stress me out more would be dealing with students that have bad attitudes and PARENTS that don't support the teacher. What a underpaid and under respected profession. As one of my co workers said "anyone who goes into Education can't have an ego". How true. It sort of makes me furious at the way we treat teachers.. Remember my previous comparison of teachers and the medical profession? Well, all these on duty type situations are sort of the "on call" and the"after hours" that the doctors put in. Of course, I still say that doctors are morestressed out and overworked than teachers, but teachers are right up there. Today's society demands so much of students which in turn puts more pressure on teachers. Plus,all of the social problems we see....

The little weak chick is getting a little better everyday. He was actually fluffy today and looking cute. Too bad they don't stay that size eh? hehehe..

I guess I'm going to finish up here.. it's getting late. I just wanted to say thanks to all my supportive friends! You guys put a big smile on my face when I received greetings from you about my acceptance...THANK YOU!! :D

Another look at the Irises from an Ants perspective

Umm.. I forget what kind of flowers these are!

Pretty spring Irises

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

YUPPI and Ahchoo!

YA!! My paranoia has paid off! I got accepted into the BEd program at OU! That's the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Ottawa for anyone that needed clarification :) I checked my status online on Monday and it said Admitted. I was shocked! I didn't expect them to post the real status!

I got my official acceptance letter in the mail yesterday along with a package. There was sooooo much information to look at and fill out. I had to confirm that I wanted to attend the university by April 15th (next week!!) plus send in $200 as a deposit by the same date.. whoa man. At this rate, I'm going to be so broke!

My feelings now are stunned/excited/nervous/worried. I feels surreal that I'm going to be there next year, in the school system, doing intern work, in a different city. Aie yie yie, so many things to do and plan before I leave! Plus, I've got to be tested for TB, get my criminal record check in order, fill out those forms about courses I want to take and figure out how to fill out the form about my internship (they are asking questions like: What major intersection do you live by? What are your top three choices for schools?)...errr.. I dunno? My mind is whirling!

Update on the chicks in the classroom: There was one wobbly one that was born.. his legs were really weak and he couldn't stand up properly. He's better now. There was one that had to be helped out of his shell and he's reeeeeeeeally weak. Well, better than yesterday. We thought he wouldn't make it through the night but he's up and around today. He looks like one of the baby chicks to the other baby chicks.. so you can imagine.

The weather is going up to +13C today! OMG!! WOW! My flowers are blooming.. I'll try to take a picture of them today.

Alright. That's all for now.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Exhausted

ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! AGAIN!! I just typed out a blog and it's GONE!! ARGGhhh..how irritating!! It's just like the old days when you would type a long email to someone and then for some reason it didn't send and have to re-do it over and over again! (!()@*#(!)@#*()

Anyways, I was saying *sigh*, Sunday was a better day than it was the last time we were at school. The kids were better behaved (after I gave them a "stern" lecture about being polite and not talking over other people!). Some of the students were able to translate "I use a cup to drink (tea, coke, coffee, water, milk) and a bowl to eat (cookies, cake, watermelon). Pretty good eh? I'm throughly impressed with some of them! Now I'm just wondering whether my standards are too low or if it really is a "break through" that they're able to piece together basic sentences.

The chicks have hatched! OMG, they are so cute. Cute little chirps and they look like yellow cotten balls walking around the tank. I'll try to get a picture sometime. Ah.. how adorable.

Alright. I forget what I previously wrote about. So on that note, byebye!!

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Rain, Rain, Rain and more Rain

April showers bring May flowers, so I guess I'll have to suffer! The forecast shows rain for the next 5 days :( On the up side, the snow is pretty much gone and my flowers are starting to flower! I'll post pictures when there's actually something interesting to see.

So the flu is still going around .. arrgghh. One of the girls that works in the office was sick this week and was also using my computer.. *sigh*.. I'm starting to feel like I'm getting sick.. so I'm trying to battle it off.. wish me luck.. I really really really don't want to be sick again!!! ARGHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh

I've been teaching a lot this week.. in fact, I've two students this morning. Actually, they are my piano teacher's students! She's away for the weekend and asked me to cover these two lessons..
Tomorrow is going to be another "lovely" Sunday.. especially if I'm sick. *sigh*

Ok.. I don't have much to say (again). I'll keep it short. Don't forget Daylight Savings starts tomorrow!!! Stay healthy!

The Times and Tribulations of JY