Monday, February 27, 2006

Practicum Starts This Week

It's been a while since I've last updated. I got news of my placement about 2 weeks ago .. I'm going to be doing my practicum at an Elementary School near my apartment (near the university actually) this term. I'll be teaching a grade 6 class of 20 students. Many of the students at this school are ESL (English as a Second Language) and are from low economic backgrounds. I'm actually pretty excited - it's going to be so different from first term and I'm hoping I'll "click" with it more since this is more towards the age group I'm comfortable working with.

It's sort of hard to believe that March is already around the corner. I have another 2 weeks of classes (not counting this week)!! WOW! (Finally too!). The only thing that sort of stresses me out these days is the thought of where I'll be after June. My lease will be up at the end of June and most likely I will be unemployed.. *sigh*. Things are very up in the air these days. To go back to NB would be a lot of trouble (I dread the thought of finding a way to bring all my stuff back) and probably wouldn't lead to employment as a teacher. Anyways, wish me luck. My ultimate dream would be to be employed somewhere here in Ottawa as an elementary school teacher... that way, I wouldn't have to worry too much about moving and getting used to a new city.. ahh but realistically speaking, that's not going to happen. Realistically, I won't even have a teaching contract. :(

Anyways, I was sick 2 weeks ago. It was sort of a bizarre flu. I thought it was the stomach flu but I didn't vomit or anything, but boy, was it a PAIN. Fever, chills, stomach pain, gastric pain, stiff neck (from sleeping so much)... ugh. I missed almost one week of class too.. felt insanely guilty for that (I'm so type A).

I'm finding that spring is starting to gradually find its way into my head. I'm yearning for the fresh warm air, the beautiful sunshine, the chirping of birds, the sound of flowing water, and FLOWERS! I can hardly wait until it's warm enough not to cringe when you step outside. Won't it be nice to be able to leave the window open all day? ahhhhh...

Lots of people are on their March Breaks these days. Unfortunately for me, no March break for me this year. We have all of two days off because we happened to coincide with the public schools' March break. I'm looking forward to it.. it'll be the week we just finished with classes so at least that work will be completed (although there will probably be a ton of work to do to prepare for teaching).

That's it for now. Ciao! (stay warm.. frigid week ahead).

posted by jaryee @ 3:25 p.m. 2 comments

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Busy Weekend

Tomorrow is Monday :( Yet Again. :(

We're supposedly going to find out our placements tomorrow..it's going to be a very taxing day. I hope I get into an elementary school - I've been dreaming about the little kiddies!

Speaking of teaching, on Friday, I went to skate on the Rideau Canal (Dow's Lake) in the evening. On my way out, I saw a couple of kids from the school I was at last term.. the only problem was I forgot most of their names..haha! Plus, they sort of did the Ostrich thing where they pretend they didn't see you (you know, it's not cool talking to a teacher outside of school hours). Also, I had no idea what to do.. to go over there and talk to them or to just say hi and leave. I did sort of say hi but they did the avoid eye contact thing. Hmm. It was all just very bizarre. Perhaps I need to be like superman and have a secret disguise?

Anyways, this whole weekend was a ton of work. One essay & a long range plan. We actually have 3 assignments due this coming week but luckily I had finished one two weeks ago. Also had to do a chapter summary to present to my group *yea*. It's sort of overwhelming to think of all the things that need to be done. My goal is to get all possible assignments completed that are due during practicum finished BEFORE practicum starts. I also need to really buckle down and get my job applications submitted, work on my interview question answers and get my portfolio in decent shape.

In a bit, I'm going to go meet up with some YG friends for dim sum (hehehe - this is for all the other yg members out there that are not in Ottawa ;)). Caroline is in town for the weekend and she brought about 15-20 of her friends! OH MY. When I called her yesterday to find out how many people she'd be bringing to dim sum, I only expected about 5-7 people.. instead she said 15-20 people. *Gulp*. Good thing we thought of making reservations!

This afternoon I hope to be able to hit Winterlude. It began last week and I didn't really go see anything. This is actually the first weekend that the weather has been cooperative enough to have most of the activities anyways. I really want to see the snow/ice sculptures. I think that would be cool. Gotta grab the opportunity to do all these things - who knows where I'll be next year?

Today is also the last day of Chinese New Year. Toddle loo to the celebrations for my year.. *sigh*. It only felt like New Year's for a day. I guess that's what happens when you are a student and when you live in a city that isn't Chinese?

Speaking of celebrations, Valentine's day is this week. I keep forgetting. HAHAHAHAH!!! I actually find that I'm in a very anti-valentine's day mood this year. Not because of anything to do with my relationship, but more because it's so darn commercialized it feels like it's so fake! Actually, I can't say I really associate Valentine's day with anything terribly positive. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to my attitude. At least I've got an idiographic view point. (HAHAHAHA.. Idiographic/Nomothetic are two words that are being stressed in my schooling & society course - I've been trying to incorporate them into my essay that I've been writing this weekend :P)

BTW, for anyone who gets a chance, watch the movie "Ciao Professore". It's an Italian movie with English subtitles about a professor and how he deals with teaching in a poor city called Corsano. It's a great watch, really enjoyed it (our essays were based around this film & a reading).

Alright. That's it for now. Happy to see the Sun Shining today!!!

posted by jaryee @ 8:29 a.m. 3 comments

Monday, February 06, 2006


Danny & I after the run Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 6:19 p.m. 0 comments


My Duathlon Team (Our final finishing time) Posted by Picasa

posted by jaryee @ 6:17 p.m. 0 comments

I Ran 8K!

Wooohooo! I ran 8km on Saturday! :D The weater was too nice (warm) throughout the week so the Rideau was not in great condition. It was actually closed day of the race. Two days before the race, they sent out an email saying that the skating part of the triathlon was finito and that it had become a duathlon that was composed of 8km running and ~5km cross country skiing. The rules still stood that they needed to have at least one female per team. That left me to either run or ski. Boy, was I worried or what.

Turned out that it wasn't as bad as I thought. It seemed like the run would be insanely long and thoughts like "I'm going to die" and "I'm never going to be able to run that" went through my mind for abour 36 hours. Day of, yes, it was very exhausting and semi painful, but I made it. Walked probably about 3-4 mins tops throughout the whole 8km. Took less than an hour to run (about 56 mins I believe it was) and we still managed to be the last team in (not last in total since some people still came in after us - though it's still pretty sad because these people were going to continue on with another 5km of skiing). It also made me feel rather stupid and terribly out of shape (even though I don't think I'm as out of shape as the normal person) when everyone ran past me (even the people in the 65+ category). There was also lots of pressure not to walk because there seemed to be nobody walking (ok, there were, but very, very few and only near the end). Oh well. I'm still proud of myself for finishing since I've never considered myself to be a long distance runner AND I didn't train for this race! (Running outside is sooo different from running inside).

Anyways, I'm off to bed. Hopefully I'll get more done this week (I bet I spent all my energy this past weekend worrying!!!)

posted by jaryee @ 5:57 p.m. 0 comments