Adventures with God

Well, another month has come and gone, and where was I? I don't know. I have had a lot of fun this past month actually. For my graduation, my family came to visit, there were friends from Holland (just for me! not really) and friends from Ottawa. I spent some time in Niagara Falls and made my first long drive on my bike out to Simcoe for the Canada Day long weekend. The drive was beautiful up until I made it to the Merrittville highway on the way home, and a wasp found its way into my helmet. But I didn't die. It was pretty great lighting fireworks in the yard, playing some Dutch Blitz and eating crepes and chocolate pudding and strawberries for breakfast! My Korean kids went home that weekend, and I'm so glad that job is finished, but I miss them a lot! Most of them will come back in September so I'll have to visit them.
    Work is going pretty good. I have 3 classes a day now and except for a fairly minor disaster yesterday (more a lesson in my giant character flaw than anything), things have been going pretty smoothly. I have great students, great coworkers, and a great boss. So great in fact that she gave me 2 days off next week so that I could go to my favourite band's concerts. Hanson is doing two promotion concerts for their new album, The Walk, out July 24th (but if you want it now, like I know some of you do, you can preorder it from their website, www.hanson.net and get an immediate download, which I've done, of course). The shows are in Providence, Rhode Island on July 20th (at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel) and in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 21st, (at the Avalon, right next to Fenway Park). I've never been to their concerts before, but I've heard great things and am going with seasoned vets. Of course, after all this was planned, tickets bought, hotel rooms booked, etc, they announced a show in Toronto at the Guvernment on July 31st. Tickets for that go on sale Thursday y'all (for you diehards) but it's looking unlikely for me to attend that one. But you never know.
      It's been oppressively hot here for a while, the grass is mostly brown, there's talk of drought in these parts, but it sure is fun on my bike when I don't have to wear my rain gear for weeks on end! Today, the mugginees broke, with forecasted lows of 15 tonight. I haven't been sleeping great because of the heat, but Monday was the worst, when I dreamt that my sister and I were being hunted down by man eating lions. Eventually I killed one, of course, but it was unsettling. I woke up 40 minutes after my alarm should have taken me out of my dream, and it meant for a pretty rushed morning. But I made it and my students and I had a good laugh about it. They said the dreams came from watching Corpse Bride, which is beautifully done and not all that scary.
    Well, I'll leave it at that. In one week, I'll be in Oshawa, preparing for a pretty sweet road trip and an amazing musical weekend! Man, if you're sad about missing these shows, don't worry, I'll take lots of pictures and blog all about it!

Okay, so it's been June for nine days and 23 hours, but forgive me! I have been very busy. I have never had a slow summer that I can think of, and have usually worked 10 or so hours/day, and, well, old habits die hard. I spend my mornings up at Brock, and most of my afternoons too actually. Then I head all the way to the opposite end of town (with a quick stop at home to change my clothes and trade some of the text books I need) to spend the rest of my day. It's been pretty crazy, but manageable. I love my job at Brock. My university students are looking at tag questions (Nice day, isn't it?) and on Friday we spent more than 25mins (my planned game time) figuring out when we use "isn't it?", "haven't you?" or "doesn't he?" After a moment of panic, we discovered a very clear pattern, which I won't bore you with, but I assure you, it was the best grammar class I've ever had. This busy-ness will continue right until the end of June. June 26th is my last day with my Korean kids, and the second day of my reading week with Brock. I think July 9th I get a level 3 speaking class at Brock for the summer semester. And that will run until August 13th. Everything after that is a mystery. I mean, adventure. My scoot is running really well after a very expensive oil change, and I put 1000kms on it in a little more than a month, just around St. Catharines. I don't know if that's a lot, but I'm very proud of it :D And I've spent all of $24 on gas in those 5 weeks. I just got a great little hair cut for my grad, which is Friday morning. My dad and brother and sister are coming my way, along with my Dutch Don, Karolien. She just happens to be in Kingston these next few weeks with her guy, Niek for work, so she'll be here too. It's gonna be a crazy partay. If you're in the area Friday, please come by my house either in the afternoon or later in the evening - the pool will be open, there will probably be a little fire, and a lot of lounging. Give me a call so we can arrange to offer you refreshments. Otherwise, maybe we'll meet for the Canada Day weekend. You never know...